Cultivating a Future Ready Mindset
If plans don’t always pan out, how can we best prepare for the future?
In this episode, Rich sits down with Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt who was Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist and is now a Stanford educator and an Executive-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at NYU Stern.
During the conversation, he shares insights into how to ritualize and embody cultural values, how to prepare for the future and the power of choosing to show up.
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Key Quotes
“Instead of planning, we should invest more in preparing. Because planning is usually external. It’s timelines, it’s spreadsheets, it’s steps, it’s milestones, all of those things. But preparing is internal. It’s your mind state, it’s your emotional readiness to adapt.”
“ Innovation is a permission problem, not an idea problem. People don’t need more creativity. They need more psychological safety to use it.”
“If you wanna create an environment for innovation, I would recommend using rituals and not rules. Rituals are sticky and they’re human… Leaders have specific values in an organization that they wanna activate, bring to life. I think rituals are the best way to actually do that.”
Practice Makes Profit
Making collaboration seamless by assessing alignment.
League of Strategic Minds
What strategy myths hold organizations back from being more successful?
Winsights: Ideas for Advantage
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, said, “I bet 70 percent of the innovation we do focuses on slightly improving a process. That incremental invention is a huge part of what makes Amazon tick.” Do you and your team have a process to stimulate innovative thinking throughout the year so that you’re always providing new value to your customers? Innovate and evolve or risk becoming obsolete.
References
Time stamps:
(00:00) Deep Dive Interview with Frederik
(47:34) Practice Makes Profit
(50:34) League of Strategic Minds
(53:16) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage
Links
Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds
Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt on LinkedIn
Rich Horwath on LinkedIn
Rich Horwath on YouTube
Rich Horwath on Instagram
Strategic Thinking Institute Website
Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC Book
New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System
Sign up for Rich’s free Strategic Thinker Newsletter
About the Guest
Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt
Author: What’s Next Is Now.
Google’s First and Former Chief Innovation Evangelist
About the Host
Rich Horwath, Founder & CEO
Strategic Thinking Institute
Rich is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including his most recent work, STRATEGIC, which was named a “top 4 must-read business book for 2024” by Inc. Magazine, and a national bestseller by USA TODAY. He has been the top rated keynote speaker on strategic thinking at national conferences for nearly 20 years.
This Episode Brought to You by the Strategic Thinking Institute
Sharpen your strategic thinking for long-term success.
The Strategic Thinking Institute has developed hundreds of resources to help leaders at all levels think, plan, and act strategically. In addition to facilitating workshops and strategic coaching with executive leadership teams, STI has assessments and products for functional groups such as sales, marketing, finance, human resources, operations, information technology, account management, business development, accounting, clinical, medical, and other technical specialties. STI’s experience in a wide range of industries brings your team the best-of-breed practices and resources to enable your team to outthink and outperform the competition. Remember, be strategic … or be gone.
Strategic Minds Podcast Episodes
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 1 – Gold-Medal-Winning Strategy
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 2 – Blank Page to Billions: How An “Ideas Guy” Strategizes
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 3 – Strategic Leadership Shaped by a Service Mindset
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 4 – CEO as Architect of the Future
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 5 – Constructing Creative Strategy
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 6 – AI, Atoms, and the Science of Strategy
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 7 – Storytelling to Strategize
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 8 – Transforming Complexity Into Clarity
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 9 – Think Big, Move Fast, and Own the Outcome
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 10 – Growing Talent into Competitive Advantage
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 11 – Road Trip: Scaling Brands To Succeed
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 12 – Insights from Inside the Beautiful Mind
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 13 – Business Checkmate: Techniques from a Chess Master CEO
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 14 – “All In” on Strategy: Insights from a World Poker Champion
Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 15 – Battle-Tested Strategy: Lessons from a Four-Star General
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