The Occupational Philosophers

23/11/2022

Boom Boom - That little experiment went OK! 50 episodes and hopefully a few more to follow
You can listen wherever you get your podcasts
https://buff.ly/3lQvdXx

20/10/2022

Do understand the art and science of humour in leadership? Either way - read on (and turn up your volume!)

In Episode 46, we chat with Dr. Vanessa Marcie, Cambridge MBA, FIKE an expert on Humour and Leadership, who is the founder and CEO of Leading With Humour, an innovative consulting firm that helps executives to harness the power of humour in their change management strategies.

And a huge thanks to Vanessa for joining us from the French Riviera on a sunny Saturday morning!

06/12/2021

In Episode 14, The Occupational Philosophers chat with Tanya Chua, a creative and design powerhouse. She is on a mission to bring more creativity into both education and the greater world. Tanya sits at the intersection of art and design, advertising, visual storytelling, and inspiration.

She has been headhunted more times than Mad Men's Don Draper and in a former role, travelled to 35 countries to oversee on-ground PR and be the point of contact for the world-famous DJs that headlined the platform, including Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, and Pete Tong!

In this episode, they explore:

- The mindset and habits you can adopt to help fuel your own curiosity and creativity
- Why employees having a ‘side hustle’ can be great for your organisation
- How creativity can be a force for good and help solve BIG world problems
- The benefits of visual learning and visual literacy to help foster greater critical thinking
- Why the greatest risk for organisations and leaders is in not being creative

As always, there are some great thought experiments such as:

- Bond Villan Lair or University Island?
- Dessert Island Discs

Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts

Say hello https://buff.ly/3lQvdXx and listen at https://buff.ly/3Gis9ed

20/11/2021

The Occupational Philosophers Back Catalogue

In Episode 9, The Occupational Philosophers chat with Eleanor Tweddle - a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and author, with a best-selling book, Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you! (and she is also an amazing coach, consultant, and very funny)

After 23 years of corporate life, working for brands such as Costa Coffee, RAC, Virgin Atlantic, and Vodafone, Eleanor found herself redundant and so began a journey of self-discovery - getting really curious and asking herself questions about who she was and how she wanted to be, reimagining a new way of working and living, and connecting with lots of people - and now Eleanor helps other people thrive in the face of redundancy with her own business ‘Another Door’.

Eleanor has been featured in The Guardian, The Financial Times, Glamour, and Grazia.

In this episode, they explore:

Why staying curious about yourself and what’s possible is key to reimagining your world
The better question to ask yourself when deciding a way forward
What individuals, teams, and organisations can learn about providing space for reflection
Why you should think about what you want to be, rather than what you want to do

They also discover:

How Lego provides the perfect analogy for life
Why you should just stop giving a s**t
And why you should never look a penguin in the eye unless you have a plan

As always, there are some great thought experiments such as:

Twoddle or Tweddell? Is this saying real or utter hogwash?
Guess the ‘RE' song and artist

You can subscribe wherever you like and listen right here https://buff.ly/3x2C6ZU

Loads of good stuff at our website https://buff.ly/3lQvdXx

19/11/2021

In episode 12, The Occupational Philosophers dive into the world of Accidental Mashups, Insatiable Curiosity, and how they drive Innovation.

They explore:

- Why an insatiable curiosity is at the heart of entrepreneurialism (and it's how they see opportunities that other people miss)
- How being open to surprises, coincidences, and mistakes we can deliver some fantastic insights that can drive innovation
- Why innovation is never linear (as much as we would like it to be!)
- The importance of asking curious questions and how two key questions kicked off two of the worlds most innovative companies
- How some of our most famous inventions are the result of accidents and unexpected mashups
- Why the most exciting phrase in science is "Mmmmm, that's funny"
- How unexpected incidences can bring around amazing insights - if you are open to them
- Why you should always take the laundry out ahead of answering the telephone

They also explore such job interview questions such as:
- Why are manholes round?
- Are you a hunter or gatherer?
- What type of tree are you?

As always there are some great thought experiments including:
- Word mashups
- A deep dive into the psychology of choices (and what it says about your life)

Turn up your volume for 15 seconds of audio bliss.....

You can subscribe everywhere and listen right here https://buff.ly/30B8WVy

Come visit our website https://buff.ly/3lQvdXx

03/11/2021

The Occupational Philosophers Ep.11 - We chat with Dr Brock Bastian, Professor, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne. Brock is a social psychologist whose research focuses on pain, happiness, and morality.

His book, The Other Side of Happiness, was published in January 2018.

Brock completed his PhD in 2007 and since then has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. (Yes, that's very impressive!)

His work has been featured in outlets such as The Economist, The New Yorker, TIME, New Scientist, Scientific American, Harvard Business Review, and The Huffington Post, among many others. (Even more impressive!)

He has delivered popular talks, such as at TEDx StKilda, The Ethics Centre Sydney, and Effective Altruism Australia; and appeared on radio shows such as The Minefield.

In this episode, we explore:

Why pain is good for us
How believing in the role luck plays in life allows you to take more risks
How being curious is really important in managing our emotional world
Why leaders need to share their failures more often
What helps teams build trust
How to lead organisations through tough times

As always, there are some great thought experiments such as:

Guess the source of my pain
Defend, Live, Party! What hybrid animal would you choose?

You can listen wherever you listen to your podcasts, check us out at our website https://buff.ly/3lQvdXx, and the link to this show is in the comments below

18/10/2021

The Occupational Philosophers back catalogue

Episode 1 with Dr Peter Lovatt (AKA Dr Dance)

We get so many comments about this episode and the amazing insight into the power of dance and movement on our souls, our learning, our creativity and a fulfilled life in general.
We need to change the way we learn - move first, think later!
Once you move the thinking (and great ideas) will come.

We will share some more morsels of Dr Lovatt over the coming weeks.

You can listen to the show where ever you get your podcasts and the link to this show is in the comments below or go to https://buff.ly/3lQvdXx

13/10/2021

When did we stop drawing Spider Goats? (Tap the gents for your audio preview)

In this journey into the back catalogue, The Occupational Philosophers answer this question and many more including:
The no.1 thing that kills your creative potential, whether that's at work, at home, or in the bath
Some tactics on how to deal with it
Some key ways to have a little less of this creativity killer at work that doesn't make you look like a free loving, sandal-wearing hipster that says stuff like, "Let's get in the flow brothers and sisters, don't hold back, release your inner animal and lets' freestyle"
They also explore Ping pong balls on crack. Who would have thought?

Listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

29/09/2021

Want to meet the co-hosts of The Occupational Philosophers?

Meet Simon - a slightly louder (compared to John), middle-aged Australian surfer man, artist, and published author on creativity.

In a personality profiling tool that he designed himself, his main feature is that he likes stuff.

In his own words....

"Why do I get passionate about building a more creative world? Because this stuff matters!! To create something, to imagine, to be curious is to be human. And guess what’s at the top of almost every ‘future skills’ list needed to thrive in the workforce of now and beyond? It’s creativity, it’s curiosity. It’s the human things that technology and automation can't yet do. As I said, it matters!!

And here’s the deal, we all have this in abundance IF we choose to use it. It’s there, an untapped resource waiting to complement all the great things we do already.

I also think a creative life, a curious life and a life where we use our imagination is a happy life. It’s good for us and it’s good for our soul. It feels amazing to rediscover and reconnect with that part of us we were all born with.

I’d go so far as to say it’s our Superpower.

Hope you enjoy the podcast. We really enjoy making it."

You can find out the 'official stuff' (like the day job) at https://www.occupationalphilosophers.com/meet-the-podcast-hosts/
or scoot over to his FB page at https://www.facebook.com/simonbankscrea8

29/09/2021

Want to meet you hosts of the Occupational Philosophers?

Meet John - a mild-mannered, middle-aged British man with a love of curiosity and philosophy.

On a self-built test, he is 65% smarter than his co-host Simon. something that he hangs on his office wall with pride.

He once was on the UK version of The Block and was seen on billboards all over London in a bright pair of yellow overalls. He sort of won the show....but that's another story.

In his own words....

"I have always been drawn to philosophy and philosophers - finding those ideas, quotations and aphorisms which illuminate something meaningful about life in a succinct way and which can provide a useful guide to how we navigate it.

More than anything though, I recognise that philosophers ask searching questions, continuously, to stimulate deep thinking - and that’s not something we often do in our day to day lives, be that at work or otherwise.

Maybe we feel the pressure to just ‘get stuff done’, or to always have an answer, or we have simply fallen out of the habit - whatever the reason, staying curious and asking questions is the touchpaper to creativity, imagination, and change.

So, I hope the podcast helps you hang a few more question marks on the end of some of your thoughts. Would you like to use this one? It’s free, go on, take it..."

You can read the official stuff at https://www.occupationalphilosophers.com/meet-the-podcast-hosts/

29/05/2021

The Occupational Philosophers Trailer episode is live https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/occupational-philosophers-not-so-serious-business-podcast/id1561719259

‎Business · 2021