Politically High-Tech
A podcast with facts and opinions on different topics like politics, policy, technology especially AI, spirituality and development! For this podcast, development simply means tip, product and/or etc. can benefit humanity. This show aims to show political viewpoints and sometimes praises/criticizes them. He is a wildcard sometimes. For Technology episodes, this show focuses on products (mostly AI) with pros, cons and sometimes give a hint of future update. For Development episodes, the podcast focuses on tips to improve as a human spiritually, socially, emotionally and more. All political, AI lovers and haters, and all religions are welcome! This is an adult show. Minors should not be listening to this podcast! This podcast proudly discriminates bad characters and nothing else.
Politically High-Tech
305- The Power of Ignorance: Unlocking Innovation with Alan Gregerman
Alan Gregerman challenges conventional wisdom about innovation, revealing how companies consistently misunderstand and misapply creative processes, hampering their potential for breakthrough thinking.
• Most organizations approach innovation backward by gathering employees in conference rooms rather than encouraging exploration outside the office
• The "99% rule" shows throughout history most innovations have been adaptations of existing ideas or observations from nature
• Cross-departmental collaboration struggles because companies emphasize differences (0.7%) rather than similarities (99.3%) between people
• Maintaining childlike curiosity is essential for innovation but most adults lose this trait between "the school bus and the world of work"
• Breaking out of expertise and embracing "enlightened ignorance" creates conditions for true breakthroughs
• Humans remain the source of creative ideas while AI and technology serve as enablers that bring those ideas to life
• Restructuring organizations into cross-functional "pods" instead of departmental silos creates environments where innovation thrives
Alan's new book "The Wisdom of Ignorance" is available October 14th wherever books are sold. Connect with him at alangregerman.com or on LinkedIn.
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welcome everyone to politically high tech with your host, elias. You know what this guest is gonna get an award already. Yes, I, you know this is not a participation Trophy kind of thing. I'm against that. Believe me, I am. He has the most Interesting glasses. That's the award he's going to get.
Speaker 1:For those of you who are listening and feel free to Correct my colors, because I find my color perception is not as great, and if my ego was a person, it'd been killed A hundred times already. So don't worry about it, more of them could be killed. He has like a fissure pink with some teal, I think, or green. I mean he has very. I mean he's making me look old and outdated, like I'm from the 1800s or something. I. This is such bad, you know, and you know he's much more seasoned. I'm not using the old word that I am All right, let's just say it like that. And he's, you know he's keeping that youthful fashion in spirit. So if that doesn't tell you where this conversation is going to go, I think you're in a coma. If you have some brain cells, even suspicious brain cells, you have an idea where this conversation is going to go. I think you're in a cone if you have some brain cells, even suspicious brain cells, you have an idea where this is going.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I normally don't introduce him this way, but he has a lot of credentials, especially innovative. I am gonna throw business consultant, I mean. All I'm gonna say is he's gonna challenge the way we normally think and some and to be honest, some of it sounds bonkers to me. I mean, how can little children teach adults? Is he mad? How can a little toddler teach an adult anything? Or just maybe there's a method to his madness, just maybe. All right, and on a serious note, he does got a lot of credentials. And before we get into it, let's welcome Alan Gregerman.
Speaker 2:Greetings. Thanks for inviting me. Delighted to be on the show.
Speaker 1:Oh, no problem.
Speaker 2:So, for starters, when you want the audience and the listeners and the viewers to know about you, I want them to know that I'm super passionate about innovation and that I believe all of them have the power to innovate and all the companies and organizations they're part of have the power to innovate. But I also want them to know that most people and most organizations go about innovation all wrong, and so hopefully during the conversation we'll get into that. We'll talk a bit about it. I've been an innovation consultant I hate to admit it for the folks who are just going to listen to the audio, they won't see that I have a little bit of gray hair for 37 years. So I started our company we're an innovation consultancy.
Speaker 2:37 years ago, at a time innovation was you had to actually kind of kick in the door a little bit to tell people they needed to be more innovative. Wasn't a trendy thing. Now everybody talks about innovation. You can't go on a corporate website that doesn't say we're innovative. I don't believe they're all innovative, but you gotta say it right. It's like the lowest common denominator or the what do they call that? The minimum daily adult vitamin requirement, and so everybody talks about it. But I think they go about it mostly in the wrong way. So hopefully in our conversation we'll share and talk about and exchange some ideas about, how innovation actually happens and how we can all use it and how we can all be way more innovative.
Speaker 1:That's true People just throw innovative, innovative, innovative. The difference is, see, this is, this is my skepticism. Cynicism comes right in. Are you really innovative? Or are you just saying that because the buzz where you want to fit in with the cool Because like this, I'd say, like that, the nerd that tries to fit in and be cool People see it and say, ah, get out, you're not cool, you're not innovative. You're still playing with those little, I don't know, GI Joes from 1990s. We're in 2025, for Christ's sake, but play in a video game or something. Okay, we don something. Okay, we don't do that anymore. Probably a little too dramatic, but you get my point.
Speaker 1:Some companies do have that old mindset, but he's just trying to innovative. Because they're trying to. You know, they desperate. The kookies will call that thirsty. Okay, let's just say that you know, and that's low-risk. Take a little gen z slang. Yes, be feared, I that you're. You know, millennials. We have master. I will say 80 percent of the gen z slang. So you're not that cool and I'm happy that I'm giving you fear and chills. I don't care if it's considered cringe. Okay, that's all I'm gonna say before I derail this. Um, any credentials you want to show off to our professional, intelligent audience, audience including you, gen Zers. But just don't admit your cringe, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so I'd like to say that I have a lot of credentials that really aren't typical for somebody in business. But, to sum it up, I have a whoa, I have a PhD in geography, actually, and so that's not the typical business credential. But I've worked as a subway mechanic, a hotel housekeeper, a librarian, I assembled office furniture and delivered it. I've had a lot of different jobs that are part of my credentials, I have to be honest. But more importantly, I hope my credentials are that I'm an open-minded guy who's kind of keen on learning and curious about most things, and I hope in the conversation we'll get to the notion because you mentioned earlier, my first book was about what adults can learn and companies can learn from children about how to be innovative. And if I were to pick the number one thing, as kids we were all curious, okay. As adults, somewhere between, like the school bus and the world of work, most of us lost the knack for being curious, and that's a fundamental thing you need if you're going to be innovative.
Speaker 1:Traditional-minded people mic drop curiosity. Are you curious? Let me speak to the adults that are 25 years young and older. You know, I would say the 18 and 25, that's kind of the gray area and definitely older. Do you feel old in your thinking because you're not being curious, you just go by the routine, just do your told, question things, especially if it seems off or outdated. I mean that's an honest question to ask. I mean it's funny. Me, as a me personally, I've selectively used the curiosity you know, mostly because it was either fear or I just used the excuse I don't got time to think about it. I mean that's the main thing, I don't got time to think about it. My kids are doing this. You know you get caught up with all these things. I think curiosity takes a backseat. Mild case and worst case scenario is just Gone and they got to find that curiosity and revive it, if you will.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's like a necessity. I mean, the reality is, as you know, because you talk to so many people about a fast changing world, whether it's AI or other stuff the world five years from now. We don't know exactly what it's going to look like, but it's going to look way different than the world now. If I'm not curious about what I need to learn, what I need to know, what I need to do, I'm not going to be relevant five years from now. So I'm not the youngest guy on the planet, but I'm constantly learning things. I'm not going to be relevant five years from now. So I'm not the youngest guy on the planet, but I'm constantly learning things. I'm constantly asking questions.
Speaker 2:I am wandering around looking for cool ideas, looking for clues as to where the world is going. I'm going into restaurants in which I not only order from a QR code, I'm not even sure a person's going to deliver my food. You know, maybe a robot's going to deliver my food. You know, maybe a robot's going to deliver my food. I go into modern art museums to try and figure out what artists are thinking about. I go into neighborhoods that are kind of energetic and lively at night. I go to concerts by artists I've never heard of, or certainly never heard their music, and so I just feel like, if we're going to keep up, we got to see where the world is going and we got to get there.
Speaker 1:You know he's young where it counts the heart and the mind, because once you are old, at those two areas how can I put this bluntly he's done. No, yeah, you're dead, you're going to die. All right, I'm just going to say it like that, that you're gonna die, if you know. Just look, he may have gray hair. For those of you all, he's like he has black hair and all I don't have a lot of hair, let's be honest.
Speaker 1:Oh no, he wants to be honest. Fine, I'll be honest for the audio people. I'm trying to spread propaganda misinformation right there. Never mind he ruined it. He ruined it. No, but no, but it's no.
Speaker 1:But it's good to have that curiosity and me, I'm trying to rebuild that back. It's been dormant as it's like a kid just play with the light switch, it's on and it's off, and it's on and it's off. But I want to keep it on, like jam it on to, even you know, permanently on. That's like go. I want to reach to, to, to be clear about that, because IF, like you, just why don't you just go by the motions with? You know it becomes autopilot. Yeah, your life becomes autopilot. Just do A, b, c, d, wake up, brush your teeth, do work, come home, sleep and then that cycle repeats itself in a day. You know days, weeks, months, years, decades fly by real quick because you're just so stuck in the routine. I mean, you know, look, stay curious people. You know I'm sure I took that somewhere. Don't copyright strike me, but I know it's cheesy for you, but stay curious.
Speaker 2:No, you can't do that and think about this. I mean, most people are going to the office on a Monday okay, and they're hoping the week is okay, but they've had a nice weekend and now they go more of the same old whatever it's called. And then they say we're doing okay, our company's doing okay, my job is okay, my career's okay, and maybe it is that Monday and maybe it is next Monday, but a few Mondays from now it's not going to be okay. You know, your career is going to get disrupted by another person or AI or some combination. Your company is going to be disrupted not by somebody in your industry, but by somebody who has a way, better idea for how to do what you do. And so after a certain number of Mondays, we better be curious, because if we don't, someone's going to eat our lunch.
Speaker 1:You've been warned, especially those of you who want to stick to the dinosaur age. You've been warned. This is not the first time I've warned you. Remember the last season. I say if you don't use AI, your career will die. They got a little ring rhythm to it. All right, I have said that and it is becoming more true and true. I'm trying to prepare for the next couple of no forget, forget um years, months, okay, at best months, forget years at this point, because it's just accelerating so quickly. It's true, five years from now, who knows, I gotta have a. I'm gonna do these podcast interviews, do a holographic thing for all I know, you never know, and then it's going to be interesting. I probably would be freaked out, but I'm going to use it anyways, because I need to get with the times regardless.
Speaker 2:Well, I feel like a conversation still can happen between real humans. If you were a hologram, I'd be less engaged with you. So I think there'll still be a lot of things humans are going to do, but we got to magnify what makes us human and let machines do the things that help us to be more successful as humans. So I won't go into a lot of that stuff, but I think your point is clear. We got to get with the program, or a bunch of different programs, and we got to keep learning and be curious and grow. Well, we're just not going to be relevant.
Speaker 1:Yep, and you said a lot. When a YouTuber becomes, you know, for famous, to who the heck is that we forget them? Right, irrelevant, you know we throw that around. Come on, my millennials, let's go back to the heyday of YouTube. We use that term a lot. All right's he? No, but he's he is right, let's be a little serious for a second. He is correct. And now I got I don't know which one to start with. You got, you gave me good, too good, you know. Let's start with the business. Look, I think that's going to be important. Businesses want it, they want it done. But why? It's priority, but why? But why do they do it so badly? Why? What do they get wrong about collaboration? What? The co-workers just hate each other, they're different tribes or they all want to rebel against the boss? What?
Speaker 2:is it simple version of why we get collaboration wrong? Then I'm glad to share with you my thoughts about innovation, because I believe if we don't collaborate, we're not going to innovate. But let me talk about this. So I go around the world and I have the privilege of speaking to lots of different audiences, and I always do an exercise at the start of a presentation in which I ask people to pair off with somebody they absolutely don't know, they've never met before, and I say if that person in some way looks a lot different than you, pair off with them. If they're older, like me, you know, I might pair off with you. If they have an accent, if they're from a different country, if they have a different color, if they're a man or a woman or whatever their gender is. And I say here's what I want you to do. I don't want you to talk about work at all. What I want you to do is I want you to find 10 things you have in common with that person that have nothing to do with work, and then you're going to write a list of that. People write that down and as they're doing it, they're actually building a bond with that person, because how can you dislike somebody who's like you?
Speaker 2:So the reason I mentioned this is, as humans, we're 99.3% the same. Okay, but we focus exactly what you were saying. We focus on the 0.7% that makes us different. Okay, which is a lot of BS, to use a French term. Ok, and so my view is this what companies get wrong is they enable people to focus on the difference. You're younger, you're new here, you work in IT, you work in HR, you work in sales and marketing. You'd sell your own kid, you know, if you could. So we let them focus on that before we focus them on we're all the same and we're in this together and we're trying to climb a mountain together. Let's make that happen. And so it's not unnatural that people will then say it's me against them. Why would I collaborate with them?
Speaker 2:But if I can get people to say they're a lot like me, they care about family, they care about community, if they're a New Yorker, damn, they really like New York. No, I like New York too. They want the best, you know. They want to learn new things. So let's focus on the things that we can agree on. We got hobbies, we like music, I like jazz, but you could like a different kind of music. I'm okay with that, but let's focus on the things that we have in common. Now, when I walk in a room with you, I suddenly say to myself I'm a lot more like you than I realized. Now let me use our differences as the raw material to be brilliant.
Speaker 2:But companies don't do that. They immediately put us in our group. Okay, you're assigned to this group. They immediately say you're a newbie. What are we gonna learn from you? I would argue. The newest people in an organization are the people that know the most, because they've been somewhere else. Come on, you know, everybody else thinks exactly the same way, because we've been sitting between these walls for a while. So I guess companies just don't appreciate. Let's start and get everybody to believe, first, that we're a lot alike and second, we're in this together. And third, we got a compelling thing we got to do. We got to create a new product. We got to solve a problem. We got to do something and create a new product. We got to solve a problem. We got to do something, and now let's make it happen.
Speaker 1:But they don't do that ah, you know what he says something very profound. I'm gonna have a angry comment actor like I normally do. If you disagree, feel free to express that, but I know most of you deep downside you agree with this. Come on, we got people who you know you're right. No, he's right, I know that's a bad example. We got the education people together over here. We got the operations over there that they're at their departments. What makes them you know, that's the tribe right there, essentially. Oh, and sometimes there's even sub-tribes. There's the fashion girls and the math guys. Okay, there you go that. Those are your little sub tribes, for education are the pro-immigrant people, and then they got the and the other ones. It's just the more I care about that. I'm pro-college people. They go sub tribes. So it's very simplistic. But you get the point and I think the book he's referring to correct correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1:This, the, the necessity of strangers, won't be surprised because you're getting to know someone who is very, of course, perceived um, not be different in terms of the physical features, but you're trying to find commonalities, which you know some strangers do bond quick because they find commonalities. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, oh, you like that too. Oh, you like yankees, oh yeah, oh yeah, meds, they stink. There you go you. Nothing unites people like a common enemy. That part is true, I know, that's look, that's. That's just not in politics, even in sports too. Okay, um, just see yankees versus meds, red sock, forget it. That unites it to five people, I'll say, even greater than politics. And it's still that extremely toxic. If you will, I mean you, pick a tribe, or you could, if you're in the middle, like I am normally, no, no, just step away, just don't be involved. Don't, don't be involved, because you might get whacked with a bat. Ok, that's all I'm going to say, all right, so, oh, man, you know, go ahead.
Speaker 2:You're exactly right, but we're in tribes, and exclusively in tribes, and we bond with them because we allow ourselves to and our organizations encourage it. If our organization said we need the expertise of your department, but we need to all work together, because all these departments are what it takes to get a new product launch, to talk to customers, to engage their input, then the world changes a bit. And imagine this I always say go to any company and then go to what's called the executive floor Okay, and what are you going to see? You'll see the CEO and the COO and the chief marketing officer and the chief information officer and the chief human resources officer, and they all sit up there because they understand that if they all talk together, they get a better result. Then go to any other floor in that building and you see all the engineering people together and all the HR people together and all the IT people together.
Speaker 2:It's like they're organized like a zoo, okay. It's like Lemur Island, okay. So you can only hang out with the Lemurs. So here's what I would do. I would say let's break our organization up. Let's have pods of people in which there's a person from every department and with different seniority sitting together they can find their tribe. I mean, they can meet them at the coffee pot or at a conference room, but let them all talk to each other and share ideas about what they know. We'd be way better off as companies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we would be. You know diversity of ideas. I mean, you know each of these tribes got blind spots that they're not paying attention to. And so for the parker sale, no, what about? And I'm going to use immigrants there. What about if they don't know English? English, can you put it into different languages?
Speaker 1:If it's a language product, there you go inclusivity, and then the engineers are gonna try to figure figure that out. Maybe they just say, oh, I think all of them know english. I mean random example, and then the other ones from what I'm gonna use um ito, make sure it's compatible with multiple devices, not just with Apple products. Make sure it's compatible with Android products as well, just to get a bigger customer base right. So you know things like that. I mean, you know we get to think. You know the thing about diverse. You know people, in this case people with diverse departments. They have to cover so much blind spots that they could come up with a truly innovative and a product that could bring their company to the next level, creating true evolution. Instead of just all the engineers work together, all the ITs are separate, all the educators are the next floor, whatever it is Right. So it's, it's yeah, uh, yeah, I mean, I totally agree actually, and a lot of this is this is a reason he's just calling you out.
Speaker 1:That's why you suck at innovation okay, if you're c, if you're a ceo or cfo or cio or coo, all these acronyms.
Speaker 2:If you feel offended, please feel offended, please you know, and then just get your butt out and hang out with other people, get out of your department, talk to other people who have to do other things to make you successful. Think about entrepreneurs. I mean, I think back 37 years ago I started our company. We were like in a dumpy townhouse and then we grew to like 25, 30 people. We all were still in this dumpy townhouse, but we all talked to each other. We screamed across the room, we said here's an idea. Anybody got a thought. We argued, we discussed things, but all the different ideas came together and made us better.
Speaker 2:So think about we got to be. We're competing against scrappy people right now. Okay, we're competing against people who get together over a weekend, eat several slices of New York style pizza, drink some of their favorite IPAs, drink some artisan coffee that costs too much, and then they come up with like a test idea and put it out in the marketplace. They're not taking the time to dislike each other. They're trying to make something happen. And so we got to have the same mindset. We got to be the people who are willing to talk to different people, are willing to try things faster, are willing to go out and get it out to the customer and get some feedback fast and make it better.
Speaker 1:I agree. Oh, he's encouraging me to quit my day job. You heard that you could clip that if you want. Make a big viral content, I don't care. I just said it doesn't mean I'm going to do it, but we'll see, we'll see. But there you go, drum rolls. You're going to stay in suspense to be decided to be announced, that that was going to be decided to be announced. That was going to be a cliffhanger on purpose. But that's more of my personal battle. You come here to hear my little personal journey but, even though I will, that'll be a solo episode when I get to it, because we got a lot of wonderful guests. I got to say this is great. So I want to switch just to the AI and the human component real quick. Just, I mean, I'm just going to frame this as simply as I can. How can we stay human in an era that's becoming more digitized or, you know, less human, if you will and communication seems to be more?
Speaker 2:artificial. Well, I think you almost kind of answered your question, but let me build on what you said. So I think we're human and we stay human because we stay engaged with humans. I got to be honest as an innovation consultant. I think humans create brilliant ideas and they use AI to help bring those ideas to life. Ok, so let me give you just a few quick examples of what humans have come up with, that machines haven't come up with personalized medicine. Okay, ai enables that.
Speaker 2:But somebody had to say damn, within the 0.7% that we're all different. Some of it is our genetic makeup and some of us are more prone to disease or illness, or I have a bit of trouble losing weight, or whatever the case is. We can now use technology to scan my genome and say, aha, we got to make a tweak here. Ok, so I can do that. Humans never could have figured out the details of how to do it, but they understood the need to do that. Ok, let's say my business is marketing. How many of the people listening to this get so many generic BS marketing communication? I this by that? It's like they don't know me, but companies could know me. They could capture a lot of data about me, analyze it through an AI engine and send me a marketing message. That resonated with me. You know I always like to say I don't need another email, but I'll open every me mail I get, because if somebody shows they know me, I'm all over that, so we can do that.
Speaker 2:Somebody came up with the idea a lot of people, I think I hope this is not too political that we are effing up the planet, okay, and so we got to do something to change our footprint on the planet. Part of that is sustainability, part of it is whether we use electric vehicles or whatever the case we do. Ai can help us be way more efficient at that. But it takes humans to say let's stop. A machine isn takes humans to say let's stop. A machine isn't going to say let's stop.
Speaker 2:So I think there's like so many examples you mentioned earlier. I can. Now I travel a lot for work and a lot of times I'd be frustrated because I would like to talk to somebody in their native language, or at least hear them in their native, because that's where they're passionate. Look, I speak Swedish really poorly. My wife's from Sweden. I could stumble through in Spanish If people really want to know what I believe they got to hear me in English. Ai has tools. Now I can literally understand every other person on the planet using an AI tool. So I think there's so many good things, but the human is the connection and the human is the creativity. And I would be remiss as an innovation consultant if I didn't say everybody listening here can be remarkably curious and creative by being human.
Speaker 1:I will add to that Maybe you can make ads of you speaking perfect Spanish and Swedish. It's just a trick that you master the language. There you go, exposed, right there.
Speaker 2:You know what?
Speaker 1:If you want to gain an international consumer base or audience, that's a great idea. I mean, why not? If you say you stumble through Swedish, well, the AI can help you sound even better. Just make sure it doesn't sound robotic or too clean and perfect. Maybe make it a little more human. Maybe stumble and stutter a little bit here and there to add a little human effect. Look at that. Now I'm scheming with Alan here while we're being recorded Great criminals, by the way.
Speaker 2:Well yeah yeah, yeah, no, but you're exactly here, let me you know, to build on what you just said. So I got a marketing firm. You know, I have this new book out, the Wisdom of Ignorance. I'm kind of nuts about this book. But my marketing firm says you know, alan, wouldn't it be awesome if we used AI to create the audio version of your book? And so I said how would we do that? Out of curiosity, I didn't do it. He said you recite like 10 pages. I feed it into an AI engine and it reads the rest of your book to kind of sound like you. But you hit on it. I ended up reading my whole book. I'm the original artist on the audio version.
Speaker 2:I make some mistakes. Ok, that's part of being human. People expect you know you don't read everything or watch everything and people are perfect. You don't go to a tennis match and everybody hits a perfect shot. Part of being human is we make mistakes and we appreciate each other for that. So my audio book mistakes and we appreciate each other for that. So my audio book, um, it's not perfect, it's not generated by a machine, but I feel like people will say that's a real dude. He read his own book.
Speaker 1:Yep being imperfect, perfect does make you human. I mean, that's the main, that's the main point right there, especially I already alluded to that with the stumbles or or even saying the word incorrectly. I mean, if you want to add that extra human touch I'm looking at again scheming here let's add a human connection with using AI. I mean, but there's so much, you can use Even an education video. I mean, there's so much. The only limitation is really just your imagination.
Speaker 2:at the end of the day, it's really just your imagination you know at the end of the day and your ability to think about, within all these domains, like some of you have mentioned, what are the things AI would be awesome at. So you even mentioned learning. Let's think about training. There's a bunch of training in which, damn, I don't need a human to train me to do that, but there's a bunch of training that is about somebody caring about me, inspiring me, believing in me, patting me on the back when I do well, correcting me in a way that moves me forward. I'd like a human to do that. So I want to learn a bunch of stuff just online or in an AI engine, but there's certain things I want to learn in which I want to mentor and somebody who actually can make me smarter and make me feel good about myself.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, absolutely, you don't need a human for everything that or that I agree with, like how to how to fix my toilet. I actually didn't need a human. Well, I kind of did. Let me not, let me not lie, because they had to do the demonstration, all that. So know, that's a human component actually being needed, okay, and then the recording and all the editing and all that. That's, that's the tech, that's the tech stuff. But but the good thing about youtube and learning, I'm actually I'm learning a lot better, especially on things I was weak at cooking, fixing. Look, I'm doing better because of youtube videos.
Speaker 1:I, you know, a human will just be impatient after all. Oh, why are you not learning With a video? Okay, I'll just go back a couple of seconds. The video is not going to yell at me unless, I don't know, a digital ghost corrupted it or something, which I highly doubt. That that's probably like a one in a millionth chance. Let's be honest. But a human losing their sanity is a lot higher than that. Let's just be honest. But a human losing their sanity is a lot higher than that.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, but look, I think you can use technology to produce a lot of the stuff you do, but you've had what like 300 conversations with humans and part of it is the give and take, the interaction, the listening, and it prompts you to think differently. The listening and it prompts you to think differently. I would hate to think that I'm sitting across from a bot that's just looking for keywords and then says, ok, tell me more about this.
Speaker 1:Well, let me be monotonous. Ok, tell me this Conversation concluded.
Speaker 1:Oh you're killing me. You're killing me. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, but to get your point. Well, I mean, the only thing I got to say is look, I don't expect you to listen to every single episode. I mean, that's just bananas.
Speaker 1:But it started solo and started a third season. I started bringing guests. So it was just about what I know what was going on. It was just about what I know what was going on and I was experimenting too. And then the podcast grew and evolved and I became serious with it. About a third season, I started getting more serious about it. I started being more creative with the music, started bringing people on.
Speaker 1:I always wanted guests. I always wanted guests. I got tired of talking to myself on the computer. That was the first 70 episodes and it started episode 80 and on, where I started having some guests sprinkled on. Now there's more guests than solo episodes. Before it was a lot more solo episodes than guests. That was the first three seasons of season four and onward. That's episode 141 on. That's where that's where videos start coming in. There's a lot more guests than solo.
Speaker 1:At this point the guests are dominating and it's great, because I like talking to different people. I don't mind talking to myself, but I feel like I'm done. I feel like I did all I could, you know, doing it the most non-human, interactive way possible. So it needs to evolve. It needs to evolve and a lot of stats clearly show this is now putting my podcast hat that people will listen to podcasts more if they have two or three people in it instead of just a solo. I mean, unless the person's real big um, otherwise people are just not going to listen to it. So you know to your point, yeah, I mean not all of them had 300 um, yes, but but the majority does. Now I will say like a good 60 of episodes is going to creep to 70 at this point. Have guests because, look, I want to share, you know and and talk to people, and it's not just for them, it's for me too. I've been shaped and changed in some of the ways that I've started to notice. It's okay, I'm not what would be a good way? Um, oh, not assuming certain things.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the political thing, I used to think this person says this point racial information, all that. Okay, this person's a Democrat. I got a lot of it right, but there was something I got wrong. That's something I was like, oh oops, you know, thank goodness it wasn't recorded. If it was recorded, I mean that would have been a blunder, but you, you know, it taught me how to think things differently. You know, like there was a decent amount of I'm going to use this political stat that I mean, you know I have few of them, black republicans. I mean, they're not, of course, the black democrats more common, but don't worry, uh, don't, don't attack the guests in politics. Okay, I know you talk about destroying the planet, but that's not really a political issue.
Speaker 2:That's well it shouldn't be a political issue I agree it shouldn't be that I have any political view other than we ought to protect the place we live in oh, exactly, you know, and I said it before.
Speaker 1:So it shouldn't be a political issue, I mean, and then I can actually make it. Well, I don't know if I start explaining left, left and the right version of it is to become too political. Never mind that. I look. I already said look. Republicans call it conservation, democrats call it climate change. They approach how to protect the environment very differently. That's all I'm going to say. This is not a very political episode, that's why I'm not going to elaborate on that. But we should be caring and, you know, find ways just to make it. You know, clean energy stop harming the earth, because look by the nature, earth could strike back.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's already started to strike back with extreme weather, but we should True true that A lot of things shouldn't be political.
Speaker 2:What we eat that shouldn't be political. What we eat that shouldn't be political. Ok. So imagine this shocking statistic Before the 1930s, all food was organic. Ok. That's when we started putting chemicals on it, which somebody just to grow our food without putting crap on it. For tens of thousands of years, people ate healthier food than we eat, and this is 2025. So I don't. I don't see why a lot of this stuff is political. I just believe it's about humans taking care of themselves and the place we live Some of them are going to label you left.
Speaker 1:That's just a reality. So my audience. I won't be surprised I'm going to get at least one comment saying he's left-wing. I said no, just because he cares about Earth eating healthy. I can understand about pro-government and all that, fine, but I'm not hearing pro-government or social programs like that. That's more definitely left.
Speaker 2:I feel like we all should protect the earth. We all have a responsibility to our children and our grandchildren, and we all should take care of our bodies by eating healthy food. I don't believe that's political.
Speaker 1:No, I agree. Like I I said, it should not be political at all, but somehow it is, and this is a shout out to you know this data, this data analyst tech genius, walter harrison? Check out his product about tech that shows you where is the local food. So it's about how data has been politicized. So, sadly, it is being politicized and he used it for, of course, you know, corporate greed and all that. Okay, now that's, that's that's. You know that shouldn't be political either, but that also is political. Uh, what a wacky time. What a wacky time before this be, before this episode gets too political.
Speaker 2:Yeah go ahead. Yeah, yeah, but let me, because I did want to talk a bit and get your audience to understand. You know, I said at the outset part of my passion is getting individuals and organizations to get innovation right. So now I want to throw out I don't throw out a lot of statistics, but I'm going to throw out a statistic that I've been working on for 37 years, and that's simply what I call the 99% rule, and it ought to change the thinking of everybody listening. It turns out throughout the course of human history, 99% of all new ideas have been based on somebody else's thinking or something found in nature. So if that's the case, I can be innovative by just finding a brilliant idea and adapting it to the world or the industry I'm in. But that's not what companies do. What companies do is this Companies get like their smartest people in a room and they give them all a blank sheet of paper or a beautiful whiteboard and they say OK, we got to come up with a new product. Does anybody have an out of the box idea? Like, what a crock Is? Anybody have an out of the box idea? It's like oh great, you guys have used like part of your brain the rest of time. Now we need you to turn on that part of your brain. That's innovative. I mean that's insanity, but I can get people to be innovative. That's innovative. I mean that's insanity, but I can get people to be innovative Every single person listening to this podcast by simply saying don't take out a white sheet of paper, leave the office.
Speaker 2:Wander around. Wander around a city, wander around in nature. Look for things that are remarkable. Write down things that strike you as remarkable. Use those as the starting point for doing remarkable things for your customers. That's how innovation happens. Yet most companies don't do it. They never leave the office. They never sanction their people looking around for brilliant ideas, and that's why they get blindsided. Not because they aren't good, but because somebody else out there is better. Somebody else is more brilliant. People say to me our customers are happy with us. You know we can keep doing the same thing. They're only happy with you because they haven't seen better. As soon as they see something better, you're out of there. So yeah, so I say just get out, and that's the key. And I would go back to. That's what we did as kids. It's like when is dinner time? Okay, until then, I'm riding my bike. I'm causing trouble, I'm being curious.
Speaker 1:So we got to do that as adults, you know what for those of you that want to challenge it, you boring fossil brain people don't challenge him. No, really, put the comment section. You've got a better idea than that this is he's tapping into. I think there's an overarching theme here our he's touching a good part of humanity that we just either deactivate best case scenario for those of you who are stagnant or just get rid of it. You know, and I agree, because when it's true, when I go outside, wander, especially, I was aimlessly bored and start taking notes, you know, and that helped me be more creative. So what if I spin this? What if I put this? You know how and you know how I introduced star mountain, for example, like, but is he crazy? Whatever, you know, just get out to. You have to walk because that's how your brain works. I think both sides of the brains are working in sync together. That's okay. This is the day, okay. This is the intellect, data part, logical part, and there's their creative, innovative part, working together, coming with the best um ideas. Hey, no, it's, it's very, it's very true.
Speaker 1:When you walk out there, start seeing remarkable things and it's not planned, by the way, um, and you know, this is how some cures happen. They wanted to cure um I'm gonna mix up the diseases here. They wanted to cure um one disease but actually help with another disease because they tested on different things. That's how cures for diseases happen. They want to cure aids, for example, but they mind. But they cured something else that they also had a problem with. I mean, things do happen sometimes. You know, you pivot, you pick up ideas, and then you I mean not ideas, but things and clues and designs and you start putting them together and it becomes an interesting idea.
Speaker 2:Well, and you're right. So a lot of great ideas happen by what I think we can simply call serendipity. But we make serendipity happen by getting off our butts and getting out there and engaging the world. We don't know what's going to happen. I'm guessing pretty much everyone who listens, wherever they are in the world, is using Uber either to get a ride or to get food. Okay, did the folks who started Uber know a lot about the cab business? They knew nothing about the cab business. Did they have trouble finding a cab in Paris on a winter night and suddenly said 99% rules in effect? Oh, wait a minute. There's something called GPS, there's something called global positioning systems. I can find somebody with a car and somebody who needs a ride and I can geographically bring these people together. That's kind of cool. Nobody in the cab business thought about that and they've been driving people around since there were cars. So it's all about serendipity.
Speaker 2:Ok, the guys who started Netflix did they intend to disrupt Blockbuster? No, they just wanted to find an idea that would scale, and at the time they were looking for the idea. Suddenly a new technology, spoiler alert the DVD was coming out and it weighed next to nothing and they said we can mail these suckers to people and that's going to put Blockbuster out of business, because they don't have to leave their home, they don't have to pay late fees, we just mail them, and when they mail it back we'll send them another one. But if they don't mail it back, they don't get another video. And so that was the start of their journey. You know the guys who started Southwest Airlines. They didn't know anything about airlines, they just thought airlines should be like a bus, it should be affordable for people.
Speaker 2:Sarah Blakely, who started Spanx she was like a fax machine, door-to-door saleswoman. Ok, like some of your listeners are going, what's a fax machine and who would sell door-to-door? And she suddenly said I don't feel so good. People can see my underwear through my pants. I need to figure out some clothing that puts that panty line out of the way. And that's how she became kind of a billionaire and created Spain Wasn't like she was in the clothing. So I just feel like get up, find a problem that really matters to you and make something happen.
Speaker 1:Listeners and viewers. I really hope we've been paying attention here. There's been so much value, so much value been spewed, not spewed. Come on, man, all right, all right, all right, delivered. This is going to your ears. I hope your ears are dancing with joy. If it's not dancing with joy, you're not human, you're a bot. Okay, yes, I'm going to start saying that. No, no, no. You see, it's a good thing you catch me there, because I tend to be careless with my word. It's true Deliver, deliver. You see.
Speaker 2:No, I'm okay, but you know.
Speaker 1:I'm not spewing stuff. Well, just wrong word choice. I'm going to be serious and this is a serious common activity, instead of the ones I like to engage with the trolls and haters. What is your takeaway so far? I'm going to ask this one more time at the end what's your takeaway? This is your. What's your takeaway of this? What have you learned that you didn't hear before?
Speaker 1:I'm sure you know this may be factual to some of you, and some of you is like what Really? Or some of you just say, oh, this guy is crazy. Try to get to all of you, the positive, the skeptics and the haters. Well, I don't care about you as much, you're just going to hate anyways. You know, I still love you, you know, even though I like to verbally attack you in the podcast. All right. So I got one last one, because I know I'm not going to, I'm definitely not going to break this promise. Let's attack that new book that's coming up, that new book that has a uh chapter one free, by the way. I I I read a little bit of it. I'm not going to give much away. I'm going to be very stingy here. The wisdom of ignorance does that sound crazy to you? How can you be ignorant? Well, how can you find wisdom and ignorance? How people?
Speaker 2:people how I love that question. I mean, I wrote a book about it, so I better love that question. Think about it in simple terms this way If I know a lot about something, I can make it better. I know the ins and outs of it. I can incrementally add a feature, support it better, create a better supply chain for it. I know exactly what to do. But if I don't know something about something, I have a chance to create a breakthrough because I approach it with an open mind and open eyes. I believe it's possible. Or if I suspend my knowledge, I have a chance to make a difference. Think about this example Sinchambanda is one of 13.
Speaker 2:There's only like 13 licensed psychiatrists in the whole country of Zimbabwe 13. There's 17 million people in Zimbabwe. Mental health is distributed around the world. Mental health issues, depression, suicide, same around the world.
Speaker 2:He says to himself damn, there's only 13 of us, there's no way we can help an entire country. So he says I got to step out of my psychiatrist shoes and imagine a way to support young people. And he says to himself grandmothers, they're the most trusted people in our society and I would argue they're the most trusted people in most societies. He decides to train a nation of grandmothers to provide talk therapy to kids who have depression and he puts benches in every town in Zimbabwe and says you're not feeling good, you're thinking about suicide.
Speaker 2:Book a time with a grandmother. Nobody's going to do something drastic next to a grandmother and I believe they might listen, and a grandmother is going to share the same message with them that I share with you, and that is I believe in everybody listening to this podcast. I believe in their power to make a difference, to be innovative and creative. He says I need you to tell those young people you believe in them. They can make a difference. So that's like a radical idea from a guy who was willing to say I'm an expert in something, but my expertise isn't solving this problem. And so the wisdom of ignorance is all about the notion that we either have to not know a lot or we have to step outside our expertise to create a breakthrough, and if we don't, in our industry or in the world around us, somebody else will. Are you convinced?
Speaker 1:listeners or viewers ask the next question. Did he answer that question? Well, I got my opinion and if you figure it out, well, insert cheap Jeopardy music. I don't feel like answering that. Insert cheap Jeopardy music. I don't feel like entering it. Do, do, do, do, do, do. Okay, fast forward. I don't got the patience. My New York anxiety is kicking in. There you go. Warson Psych help right there, right, no, brother, no, that's such a great answer. I mean that's such a great answer. You have to step out of your expertise zone and step into the unknown, and it come to. But the thing is he brought a couple of things that he knew could be applicable to the unknown right, because he put two together. Grandmother was the most trusting. I could deliver that therapeutic service to tackle mental health. That was his expertise. But he had to tie in. Who was trustworthy? Grandmothers? Yeah, especially, I think, america. That's probably the only my push down on america's. We. We kind of treat them like they see now. Kooks, we dumped them in the nursing home, right?
Speaker 2:and we shouldn't right. They should be as big a part of our life as our kids are okay, and I don't believe that's political. I believe that's just about being human.
Speaker 1:I will not argue with that, and I even brought this up in my job. I said no, I think Grandparents Day should be as valued as Mothers and Fathers Day. It's not a big celebration, I agree with you there, of course, why not?
Speaker 2:And why not get these kids to have grandparents come in and have a better appreciation? Let's keep them in our lives. Let's not put them in a nursing home, ok.
Speaker 1:No, I love it. No, I advocate. No, we speak up. I agree because I think America doesn't do such a good job treating some of its elders. I mean, I have to call out I love America. I believe in tough love. I got to call out I love America. I'll leave him anonymous. Once that grandmother died, that family broke apart to pieces and I don't know if it's going to ever come back, because she was the glue. You can't be throwing away human glue, of wisdom people. Oh, that probably went right. Don't throw away your grandma like she's trash. Well, that's probably not part of them, went right. Don't throw away your grandma like she's trash.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so I love America too, but I know that in other cultures older people are more appreciated and revered, and so I'm just going to leave that one at that. But I believe we could learn, you know I say get out we could learn from some other places about respecting and valuing people who are older.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, I agree, because I agree. I mean, I've you know what I could get into it. Am I going to? We need to do better, america. I think I won't be surprised we are low in terms of treating elders well, that we are where. We are pretty low on that worldwide. I won't be surprised. I mean other nations. You can talk about Asian nations, african nations, even some Muslim nations. Well, actually, I'm not sure about them. To some degree, it's normally the man that's in charge, but probably grandfathers yeah, not grandmas, probably not as much. Feel free to correct me. Feel free to correct me because I've been studying Muslim cultures. I got used to it. So feel free to correct me because I've been studying Muslim cultures, I got used to, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. That's another common activity right there, yeah, and Eastern Europe, I think. Does that Western Europe? I'm not so sure either. And well, canada, I was going to leave you out because I don't know, but no, so I but I want to.
Speaker 2:You know. That's one example, but the book, of course, is filled with lots of business examples, and if people reach out to me, I'm delighted to learn more about what they're up to and share with them some examples that I think will get spark their thinking about how they could be remarkable. But I guess the fundamental point is I want people to believe that there's a good type of ignorance, you know. So of course, you put this title out and people go. I'm surrounded by stupidity and there's a lot of stupid stuff going on, a lot of stupid people. That's not the kind of ignorance I'm talking about. I'm talking about what I call enlightened ignorance, and that's the idea that I don't know but I want to learn. So, when you're talking about the things you want to learn, I want to learn how to solve this problem. I don't know the answer, but I'm determined to figure out the information I need to solve this problem.
Speaker 2:That's the kind of ignorance that actually has guided human progress since the beginning of humans. Okay, because humans didn't know a lot of stuff and they figured it out because they needed to know. That's why kids are so awesome to me. Look, small kids. They want to know stuff, they want to learn stuff. How many small kids are born to be able to ride a bicycle? They don't know. But they study older kids and then they try and then they bruise themselves and then they eventually figure out how to balance. I want to, as an adult, figure out the things I want to know that make a difference and I want to learn that stuff. And I'm OK being ignorant at the start. I'm not OK being ignorant at the end.
Speaker 1:Take that to heart people. You can be ignorant. Ignorance at the beginning is fine. But if you stay ignorant I'm just going to use the more blunt word, but it's more precise, stupid at this point Then, yeah, that that's a problem. And if you have enough awareness left, seek help. Talk to other people. You know, be human. You know human exchange of ideas. It's one way to stimulate your brain. It's not that hard to do unless you're a loner. And if you're a loner, seek help. Like I said, that's all I'm going to say about that.
Speaker 2:So of course, I would love for people to connect with me. First, I'd love them to read the book. You know so the books can be available everywhere. If they want to hear more of my voice, they can get the audio version. Otherwise they can get any version. They want the actual version. I'd love them to buy it. I'd love them to read it somewhere public. I'd love them to say to other people maybe you ought to read this book. It provides kind of a formula. I was really lucky Mel Robbins wrote for the cover of the book. This book's a permission slip to start doing things before you know all the answers and I just want people to do that. I want them to connect with me. They can go to my website, alangregormancom. They can connect with me on LinkedIn. They can send me an email. I'll respond to emails. If they think I'm an idiot, let me know that. You know I'm eager to hear other opinions. I just want to learn and grow and I want to stay curious my whole life.
Speaker 1:Come on, he's a great person on. Come on people. You know, normally I like to be the cynical, the dark one here, but I want to be the light one here. See, that's some influence right there. Normally I would say do you hate him? Yet he pissed off your traditional thinking, that he ratted your cages mentally because of your traditional stiff-headed thinking. Well, okay, you get the point. People. Um, all that's going to be the link of the episode, of the episode description, which is highlighted points. You'll see how you could contact them. Friendly guy, he likes to talk and he talks some good stuff. I just hope he's not, he's not just a passive thing in the background.
Speaker 1:Take note of this, check his website. It's not the only book he he wrote. He wrote a couple of. I already referred to one in the necessity of strangers. We refer to people, just two people from completely different departments Get together, find 10 things in common necessity of strangers.
Speaker 1:And I think you know it's funny. This is what I've learned and I and if you would have told me this 15 years ago, I would have been adamantly opposed to it because I say you crazy, no people you know will support you. It turns out strangers are pretty supportive because they don't have that bias. Oh, they think they know you well. You know you're going to fail at and what you're going to succeed at. I mean, some of it is true, don't get me wrong, and some of it is false because they tend to overextend what they know. But the strangers? Once you're getting the right amount of information, let's just say that. But if you just talk too damn much and spill embarrassing information, of course you ruin that opportunity. That's on you. Okay, just use judgment and discretion when you do that. So the necessity of strangers, that's no, I alluded to.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure that access was from that, but I won't be surprised, it is. I haven't read it, don't think I'm going to know it or I haven't read it. But you know, get that book, get that wisdom of ignorance, challenge your comfortable thinking. You know, just challenge challenge that traditional thinking. You know, and you know there's he explained it well, there is wisdom of enlightened ignorance. But you know, I love the title. That caught my attention right away. I, I, I thought this he's either a mad genius or just mad. Okay, but hey, it's a hook, it gets, gets your attention. That's what I'm going to say about that. Again. Check his website. I'm going to put his link in as well and you'll see all the stuff that he has done currently doing. Because this is a preorder, it should be out.
Speaker 2:October 14th. October 14th It'll be available. I like to say, wherever thoughtful books are sold If you like it online, buy it there. If you like a bookstore, ask them to stock it. Yeah, no, I just would love to communicate with some of your listeners and get their feedback on the book. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:All right, listeners, that's your CTA, your call to action right there, without Well, I'm already saying that. If you ever figure that out, that's your CTA, your call to action right there, without well, I'm already saying that. But if you haven't figured that out, that's your call to action. I don't have to do anything. For me, that is brilliant.
Speaker 1:Now for my podcast, give a like, share, subscribe, tell your friends about it. And then for the audio listeners, give an honest review. I do say honest. I would say give a five, five star. I don't believe in begging, kissing your butt for it. If it's a great episode, five star.
Speaker 1:If it's a four star was one thing that could be improved. I'll be something, not just this episode is great. To me, that compliment don't mean anything. What made it great I'll continue to work on that and what made it not so great so I could cut. Cut it down either completely or just minimize it or use it when I think appropriate for uh, for example, if you want me to stop with the crazy introduction, I think I liked it personally, it brings some entertainment because you got to be a little bit entertaining.
Speaker 1:You can't just have, can't be smart and know it all that. That doesn't work anymore. That probably worked in 1990s, but we in 2025, for christ's sake? Yeah, you gotta have pizzazz, you gotta have riz again. Charisma, personality, a charisma for the more traditional generations yeah, I think I'm half traditional. No, not even we like. We like early, early progressives in terms of generations. Then the gen z take it to the level that alpha, take it to another and god knows what the beta is gonna do.
Speaker 1:We probably won't find out till five years right now, or 10. That that's probably the only thing. That's gonna be slow. But the ai and god knows whatever technology is coming up. There's already robots that can make babies. Yeah, a thing in china? Yep, I didn't think that was possible, but here we are. So you never know what's gonna happen. The good, the bad, the ugly, the freaky, the unknown and the random. Okay, that's the future and I am actually enjoying the ride.
Speaker 1:From once I could say that's just being doom and gloom about all of it, because it's just going to happen regardless. Hop on a train or get left behind. At this point, the innovation, future train, that's it. That's all I'm going to say. That's my little analogy for that, and if you have a little green, feel free to donate that if you want, you get access to my old, more cringeworthy episodes. You get to hurt me personally, I get to hurt your wallet. Fair exchange, right, which is going to do a little damage anyways. $3 a month, okay, and you get a shout out and I'm thinking about doing some exclusive episodes, maybe.
Speaker 1:Make the Bible more interesting. Some I hate it, some I love it. It that's gonna be controversial. Make it a little more, um, entertaining, but without the disrespect of the lord. That's the only rule. Other than that, um, every all the other characters are fair game for criticism, even the great david and moses, and even what's the? What's the great? Oh, paul, all right, so that's what I'm gonna say about that. So this ends a visual or audio journey. So you're, you're brave, self reaching to this point, and for that I'm gonna say have a blessed day, afternoon or night, thank you. Night, thank you.
