Episode 13: Foresight and Instilling Strategic Communication Frameworks

Guest Bio

Kian is the Founder & CEO of Geolab, a leadership development and executive coaching firm inspiring the world’s leading organizations to build exponential teams dedicated to solving complex problems through disruptive innovation. Our work helps teams:

• • Create bold innovation strategies through agile leadership sprints
  • Become radically adaptable by turning future risks into opportunities
  • Achieve exponential collaboration in a hybrid work environment

He is the co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book “Competing in the New World of Work” with Keith Ferrazzi, published by Harvard Business Review in 2022. Based on a global research project with 2000+ global leaders during the pandemic ear, the book reveals the best leadership practices that helped the most successful teams thrive in the pandemic, and is a roadmap for hybrid team success.

Recap & Takeaways

• [00:11 – 03:16] Meet Kian and Geolabs
• [03:17 – 05:04] The bionic age and what that means to Kian
• [05:04 – 07:13] Taking the humans out of dehumanized work, and the pandemic as an accelerator
• [07:13 – 09:06] Virtual training and the benefits to hybrid approaches in learning
• [09:11 – 11:07] How the metaverse and online training could reduce global carbon footprints
• [11:08 – 12:57] Pushing the edges of industries, and influencing others to follow
• [12:58 – 15:19] Utilizing foresight in different contexts of growing a company
• [15:20 – 17:19] Using foresight can create better commitment to problem solving long term
• [17:19 – 18:46] Highlighting the San Jose Sharks and how it used foresight to plan out reactions to different scenarios
• [18:47 – 20:24] How Kian and Geolabs help facilitate scenario planning
• [20:26 – 23:06] Frameworks for encouraging how you show up to work more strategically
• [23:12 – 25:03] Why teams struggled to communicate during the pandemic despite software solutions
• [25:24 – 26:49] The employee experience and making collaboration more seamless
• [26:49 – 28:52] Resilience and wellness, and being vulnerable
• [28:52 – 32:04] The power of AI in the stack
• [32:07 – 35:00] Embracing diversity and creating a sense of belonging
• [35:01 – 37:13] Crowdsourcing and bringing key customers into the innovation sphere
• [37:14 – 38:47] What “teaming out” means
• [39:03 – 43:05] “Teaming out” and collaborating with small businesses and smaller ecosystems
• [43:20 – 45:13] Crowdsourcing ideas to solve problems isn’t new
• [45:14 – 47:52] Shifting mindsets, ownership and responsibility, and time and resources
• [47:55 – 48:42] Hustle culture and accepting working differently