Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks with Zia Zaman, CEO and innovator, about the use of mathematics to make better decisions in times of high risk in an increasingly uncertain world – where everyone's affected.

Zia Zaman is the CEO of Soteria, previously served as the CIO for MetLife, the CEO of LumenLab, and led the marketing strategy for FAST which culminated in a $1.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft. Zia has spoken at WEF Davos, IIF, Global Summit for Women, Milken, InsurTech Connect, and UN Women. He currently sits on the Board of the Energy Market Authority of Singapore.

Top 10 Takeaways:

01:37 The amount of uncertainty leaders are facing today is only increasing

02:11 Every job function has become a more data-driven function

05:06 A metaphor from ice hockey – “Pulling the goalie”

07:13 The Poisson model vs. the Markov model

14:35 Patrick Roy vs. Viktor Tikhonov

17:00 Malcolm Gladwell and the “Pull the goalie” concept

22:00 The Asness-Brown Model

24:53 Applying this approach to investment strategy

25:39 “Pulling the goalie” in business

32:52 “Pulling the goalie” in public health

Mentioned in this episode:

“Coach Markov Pulls Goalie Poisson,” by Zia Zaman

Poisson Model

Markov Model

Asness-Brown Model, “Pulling the Goalie: Hockey and Investment Implications”

Revisionist History, a Podcast by Malcolm Gladwell

Patrick Roy

Viktor Tikhonov

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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks with Mark McNally, founder of Nobody Studios, about his new vision for venture capital and his goal to launch 100 companies in five years. 

Mark is a serial entrepreneur with a broad base of experience scaling companies from startup through multinational establishment. Mark’s first startup went public on the Nasdaq at the age of 24. He’s “challenging the status quo daily and creating rapid but healthy disruption.” Nobody Studios is unified by its principles of rapid and frugal innovation, a “people first” mentality, crowd first execution in everything, and transparency to its core.

09:09 The strength of peer-led teams

11:37 What’s wrong the way we create companies today?

13:00 What is Nobody Studios?

13:42 A new model for venture capital

16:34 Empowering teams allows them to think differently 

18:23 The power of checking your ego at the door

20:45 The most important thing entrepreneurs need to learn do well is tell their story

30:08 Should you go public?

31:15 Red teaming venture capital

33:45 How Wall Street screwed up venture capital

Brought to you by Red Team Thinking 

Nobody Studios

U.S. Army PSYOPS

Intervention in Haiti (1995)

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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks to former diplomat and executive Dr. David Landsman, OBE, about the lessons business leaders can learn from the world of diplomacy.

David served as British Ambassador to Greece and Albania before transitioning to business, first as a senior executive with De La Rue plc, later as executive director of Tata Limited, the Indian conglomerate’s European subsidiary. He continues to share his knowledge and expertise as a strategic advisor, writer, and speaker on corporate strategy, (geo)politics, and reputation. David is the chairman of Cerebra Global Strategy and the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, director of Digital Cognate, advises for The India Business Group, and is a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School.

Top 10 Takeaways: 

[04:00] The most important skill for diplomats is listening to other people and trying to understand their perspective.

[06:18] Go and see things for yourself; don’t rely on subordinates to tell you what’s going on.

[12:31] Cultivate “the diplomat’s mindset.”

[18:37] Don’t just do something, sit there!

[25:38] Everybody is motivated by something, so incentives matter.

[27:51] How Tata made ethics a priority in business.

[29:22] Using clear messaging to establish priorities.

[31:35] How Alan Mulally used messaging and incentives to save Ford.

[36:51] Sending the wrong signal is very easy.

[38:18] Don’t automatically assume the other guy is mad or bad.

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Red Team Thinking

Genchi Genbutsu or “go and see”

Alan Mulally & Ford Motor Company

Human Terrain System

Four Ways of Seeing

Gillian Tett

Yes Minister (1980s British sitcom)

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

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Cambridge Judge Business School

Cerebra Global Strategy

British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce

The India Business Group

Digital Cognate

Tata Unlimited

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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks to Marc Cox, president of The Company Spirit and the author of The Business Case For Love: How Companies Get Bragged About Today.

Cox believes that the best companies succeed in part because they love their customers, love their employees, and build authentic relationships with both of these critical cohorts. He urges leaders to turn up the volume on emotional engagement in order to drive loyalty and boost profits.

Bryce shares some examples from his own work of how successful leaders used love to not only motivate their employees, but also to rebuild damaged relationships with suppliers, dealers, and other key stakeholders.

Top 10 Takeaways: 

[2:00] Marc makes the business case for love.

[3:10] Bryce talks about how Alan Mulally used love as a leadership tool.

[5:02] Employees want to work for a company they believe in and can be proud of.

[7:00] Customers want something more than a transactional experience.

[8:03] BrewDog is an example of a company that “gets it.”

[9:17] Gymshark is another one.

[16:50] The best companies are those that remain rooted in their founding spirit.

[19:49] Marc talks about how companies that have lost that mojo can get it back again.

[28:10] Companies lose their way because leaders fail to recognize the emotional component of their businesses.

[32:02] Marc explains how you justify the ROI in love.

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Red Team Thinking

The Business Case For Love

The Company Spirit

Brew Dog

Gymshark

Airbnb

British Airways

Bosch Global

Orangina

Crew Clothing Company

East Midlands Airport

East Coast Main Line

Neverfail

American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, by Bryce G. Hoffman

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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, your host Bryce Hoffman talks to Colonel Kevin Benson, U.S. Army, ret., the man who planned the invasion or Iraq, about the painful lessons of that war, and how they led to the creation of decision-support red teaming and the establishment of the Army’s red teaming school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Col. Benson was a senior instructor at that school. He is now dean of The Red Team Thinking Academy, which provides comprehensive red team training and support to the U.S. and allied militaries, intelligence community and national security agencies, and the former director of the School of Advanced Military Studies, the Army’s most elite institution for training strategic thinkers. Today, he also writes for a number of professional journals and websites from Parameters and Army Magazine, to Time and POLITICO.

Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, your host Bryce Hoffman talks to Dave Snowden about how a four-stage approach can help leaders better manage complexity and why smaller, adaptive systems initiate change to improve your position. Dave Snowden is a world-renowned expert in the field of knowledge management who is most famous for creating the Cynefin framework. He is the founder and chief scientific officer for Cognitive Edge, a consulting firm specializing in complexity and sensemaking, and is also the author of several publications, including Managing Complexity and Chaos in Times of Crisis, recently published in conjunction with the European Union. Top

10 Takeaways:

[2:38] The role of the leader in times of crisis.

[6:19] Constraints are the only thing you can manage in a complex system.

[9:20] Trioptican and the benefits of creating a human sensor network to act faster.

[12:00] The Cynefin Framework – what it is and where it comes from.

[16:15] Distinctions between Complexity and Systems Thinking leadership styles.

[20:55] The problem with big consulting companies.

[27:27] Can processes change culture?

[30:15] A complexity-based approach to design thinking.

[31:17] Bryce and Dave talk about how companies can respond to negative publicity.

[38:19] How do you get leaders to move beyond short-term thinking?

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Red Team Thinking

Managing Complexity and Chaos in Times of Crisis, by Dave Snowden

The Cynefin Centre

Cognitive Edge