Nobody is born a leader. Yet we seem to believe that there is a set of skills that will turn us into leadership perfection. Aga doesn't believe that one bit. This is why she wrote the book "Leadership by Design". It is a 12-week course in designing your personal leadership practice. In this bonus episode, łukasz asks Aga about the reasons for writi…

Season 11 of the Catching The Next Wave podcast was about doing. But, it turned out that doing is not just about putting something into the world, it is a much more nuanced concept to ponder including aspects like curiosity, open-mindedness, accountability, and much more. We started by distinguishing between thinking and doing only to arrive at a c…

So many of us are afraid to be different and stand out of the pack. Our guest, Andrew Lacanienta, a senior strategist at George P Johnson Experience Marketing, thrives when he can share his uniqueness with others as long as what he does is truthful to himself. Andrew holds a PhD in Experience Design so we just couldn’t avoid the topics of experienc…

What do life-long learning and building communities have in common? David Nebinski, the host of the Portfolio Career podcast and a Community Operations Manager for the Chief of Staff Network Community says that communities are places for a social learning experience, which allows for creating a common language and stimulates accountability. We dive…

What can the mixture of curiosity and making things visual do to your collaborations? It is one of the many topics we discuss with our guest Anna van der Aa, a coach, researcher, visual facilitator, and songwriter. We discuss the notion of clean coaching using clean questions and we dive into evidence-based decision-making as a way to do things in …

How to define inventors of our times? This is a question, we try to answer with our guest, Daniel Owsiański, a VP of Technology at volt.io. We talk about the creativity of teams versus individuals, productivity versus effectiveness, and leadership versus management. We discuss the need for self-organizing teams and embracing the process, which is t…

Creative industries offer the potential for going global with local flavor, unlike any other scalable businesses that are alike everywhere you go says Alice Loy, a co-founder of the world's first accelerator for creatives called Creative Startups. Alice argues that we need a new economy based on new models of investing and she says that creatives n…

What is hype and how mischiefs and propagandists can help you build it? Or, in other words, how do you get people to hear and follow you? This is one of the many topics we discuss with our guest Michael F. Schein -- a writer and the author of the book “The Hype Handbook”. We also talk about thinning in bets, the future of social media, and the trap…

Every opportunity is a learning opportunity, says our guest Latifa Al-Khalifa – a Social Entrepreneur, STEAM education advocate, and a founding member of Clever Play, a purpose-driven startup with a mission to inspire, educate and empower 1 million children in MENA STEAM skills by 2030. In this insightful conversation we dive into the shape of the …

Culture can only be defined at an intersection of data argues our guest Theodore Edmonds – a creativity researcher, cultural futurist, artist, wellbeing entrepreneur, data analytics inventor, and a transdisciplinary academic. We talk about the third spaces, the different flavors of creativity, and Aristotelian notions of hedonism and eudaimonia and…

To do or not to do? This is the question for this 11th Season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast. We hope to investigate the difference (or the connection) between thinking and doing. We also hope to dig into understanding how our guests help themselves to put things out in the world and what helps them to do so. Stay tuned for the new season of…

In the anniversary 10th season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast, we went down quite a few rabbit holes with our guests. Some of them were challenging, some were reflective, some were eye-opening. We discussed topics of abusing natural resources, cracking own productivity, dealing with change, learning, innovating, experiencing, and transformin…

Have you ever thought about whether for an experience to be memorable does it have to always be extraordinary or is ordinary also an option? This is one of the rabbit holes we visit together with our guest Mat Deurden, an Associate Professor of Experience Design and Management in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. We unpac…

Everything is connected much more than we have ever realised. We are dependent on the nature that surrounds us much more than nature is dependent on us, in fact. This is why we should stop perceiving nature as something to conquer and start seeing it as our life-support system, argues our amazing guest, dr Sylvia Earle, also known as “Her Deepness”…

It is no longer enough for governments to measure GDP, they should finally use knowledge of sociology and psychology to figure out how to measure the quality of life. And part of these metrics should be about the value of experiencing rather than possessing things. Together with James Wallman, the author of “Stuffocation” and “Time and how to spend…

Have you ever considered how being human-centered might not be a good idea? How any centricity is a wrong focus for design? With Gilbert Cockton, a professor emeritus from the Northumbria University and the University of Sunderland, we discuss the need for a big picture to be able to strategically move forward with any project. We talk about the de…

The pandemic showed us that change is non-optional. But what remains to be figured out is how to make it good and lasting. With our guest Ruud Janssen, the co-author of “Event Design Handbook” and “Design to Change” we discuss what it takes to implement change you wish for. We deliberate what is more important, process or outcome, and we look into …

Everyone can sing better, it’s just a matter of the right training. With the world-famous vocal coach, Greg Enriquez, we talk about the strange instrument that is our voice. We talk about the unrealistic expectations technology raises for musicians and how it should be replaced with daring to try things that are tough early on. Greg points out how …

Have you ever considered that risk-taking is a muscle that needs to be regularly exercised? In this conversation with a productivity nerd, coach in Seth Godin’s Akimbo community, and an entrepreneur at GoGoDone, Heather Chavin we talk about creating conditions to ship your work. We talk about how so many of us are obligers responding to the externa…

In order to face change straight up you can’t do things the usual way. You need a new, unusual approach to doing business. In this conversation with Joy van Baren, the Growth Acceleration Director at Ordina, we discuss the importance of the right mindset, the new way of looking at risk as a risk of missed opportunity. We investigate how important i…

More than three years ago we jumped the rabbit hole of producing the Catching The Next Wave podcast. In this anniversary intro we share the kitchen view on how it all happens. We also introduce the theme of the 10th season - "Down the Rabbit Hole" and chat about the meaning of this statement for both of us. And, as usual, we unravel a few of the ma…

Anthony Rocco and Pim Schachtschabel, our great guests from previous seasons, decided to put their forces together to develop an online course that aims to awake curiosity in people. Together with Łukasz, we got a preview of this course live that got us grateful, confused, and more. Check it out to see what condition your curiosity is in. LINKS The…

As usual, our Season 9 guests at Catching The Next Wave podcast took us into directions we dared not to wander ourselves. We heard daring business and artistic stories, we discussed how to become more daring as a leader and as a person but above all we were taken for a roller-coaster ride to learn the amazing things they all undertook in their pers…

What is the difference between transformative and experience design? Our guest, Paul Bulencea, compares it (after professor Martin Seligman) to the cosmetic versus curative treatment. Together we explore the transformative journey as a way to re-wild yourself, to reconnect with your true nature and your path. Using the example of the College of Ext…

Born in the US and relocated to Syria at the age of 14, our guest Randa Taftaf found a way to combine the two so different cultures. She experienced the start of the war in Syria and then moved back to the US to start a publishing house that aims to create books for Arabic learners that are engaging and true to the cultural heritage of the Arabic w…

Our lives are interconnected with nature. Our art is too. With our returning guest, Jericca Cleland, an incredible filmmaker, we talk about the notion of meaningful entertainment and how it can redefine our relationship with the world. We dig into the reasoning of why we all are so wired to storytelling and what authentic storytelling is about. The…

The cultures we originate from carry inspiration that never ends - in food, in dance, in singing, in writing, in symbols, you name it. With our guest, Lukas Cabalka - artistic director and founder of Creativiva, we talk about creating entertainment that’s memorable and meaningful. We explore the future of the entertainment world through mixing genr…

Can you imagine yourself standing in front of a 30 000 audience singing “I feel pretty”? Our guest, Kasia Santi-Sperczyńska doesn’t have to anymore. Nor does she have to be fearful of singing on the stages such as Carnegie Hall and Banquet Hall of Hotel Plaza in NYC. How did a tiny girl from a tiny Polish village make it happen? We dissect the noti…

What is the posture that makes others follow you? Why are questions so crucial? What can you do to develop your emotional intelligence? What does sonder mean? How is vulnerability helping your leadership? These are only a few of all the questions we investigated with our guest, Brent Lamphier, a seasoned AltMBA coach and a creator of the EQmethod w…

Leadership is like yoga. You are never fully trained, there is always more to learn. So you go and exercise it every day. We unpack this daily exercise with our guest Phillip Collins, a Global Leadership Coach, heading a team of internationally based coaches and facilitators at Action and Theory. We discuss how to embrace risk, minimize waste and c…

In the drive to endlessly fit their curiosity and explore forever new possibilities, our guests Jacek Majewski and Mikołaj Molenda, the co-CEOs at tylko.com, did more daring things than you might imagine. They share some of these stories with us while sharing their perspective on the responsibility of businesses to change their practices to become …

The theme for Season 9 of the Catching The Next Wave podcast seems to have chosen itself. It is DARING and with it, we hope to explore the different facets of what daring means in the professional and private lives of our guests. We also want to see how you could become more daring with your endeavors as you decide to leave your comfort zone and ex…

This is probably the first season in history that generated more questions than answers for us. It has turned out that intuition is a complex and multifaceted term, and that you can look at it from different perspectives: cognitive, cultural, professional, and more. One thing that stayed with us is that intuition is not something opposite to logic …

Is change good? What does growth mean? When do you need a revolution and when evolution is what you require? Why should you reach out to the edges of your comfort zone? Where lies the difference between possibility and opportunity? You can get immersed in these subjects and many more in our conversation with Carola Verschoor, the author of “Change …

Why do 21st-century leaders need dialogue spaces? How important is daring to be vulnerable? What are the boundaries for? Is leadership a role or a state of mind? Where lies the difference between the being mode or doing mode? Is busy the new stupidity? Should we be egoless as leaders? These are just a few topics that we tackle with our guest, Keren…

Is data and testing always the best path? Or is intuition sometimes helpful in making design decisions? We talk about it with Bernt Meerbeeek, the Product Owner for IoT solutions, and the R&D Manager for UX and Living Labs at Signify. We chat about personality in robotic vacuum cleaners, a cat that speaks human, and whether people are willing to gi…

How to embrace diversity in a meaningful way? What is the role of a leader in that process? Why are women leaving the workforce so frequently these days? What does it mean to cultivate belonging? Where does self-reflection come into the picture? These are a few topics we discuss with our guest, Yuan Wang, a leadership coach for creative professiona…

Is art individual or collaborative? Is it neutral or political? What does it mean to truly be in the world? How does empathy fit into it all? Why is it easier to listen to male than female intuition? These and many more topics we chat about with Kathryn Zazenski, a visual artist and a director of an independent artist space in Warsaw: Stroboskop. L…

How long should you wait before beginning to write your book? This and many other questions we discuss with the amazing writer Ann Morgan, the author of “The World Between Two Covers” and “Besides Myself”. We delve into the world of creative writing, inspiration, process, dedication, and post-publication blues. And we discover what intuition means …

Is there a profession called “genius”? What can we learn from Leonardo da Vinci about curiosity? How is theater evolving? What role do emotions play in collaboration? Are there better ways for life-long learning? These are the things we dive into with our amazing guest, Gunnar de Jong - an actor, facilitator, and entrepreneur. LINKS Stanford Meisne…

Is intuition fast or slow? Is it about making new connections or adapting the existing knowledge? How does wisdom fit into the picture? Is there a connection with cognitive biases? Is our anticipatory brain devoting us from free will? These and many more topics we touch upon in the conversation with Dawid Wiener: a psychiatrist, a doctor of philoso…

We seem not to be quite educated to listen to our intuition these days. It might be our schooling system, the way the business world operates, or perhaps the fact that because we don’t know how intuition works, we are slightly scared of it. In this 8th season of the Catching The Next Wave podcast the hosts, Aga and Łukasz Szóstek aim to catch the i…

Our co-host, Aga, has published a book on September 10th, 2020. The book is a guide on how to create and implement a powerful experience strategy that will help your organization stand out on the market. In this conversation between both hosts, Aga explains how it is time for the next step in thinking about customer experience and what are the ingr…

Season 7 of Catching The Next Wave podcast was about change. We attempted to look at it from the personal, organizational and global perspectives. While you might think that there aren’t many common threads, we managed to find quite a few. Join us to listen to another set of eight amazing conversations with fantastic guests from the domains of soci…

Where lies the difference between tourism and travel? What does it mean to get out of the comfort zone? We investigate the notions of sustainable tourism, transformational travel and resilience in this great conversation with Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll, writers, storytellers and propagators of conscious adventures into our beautiful world. We tou…

What is the difference between equality and justice? What are the best places to start change? These are a few topics we touch upon with our guest Amanda Gigler who is leading the development of Mama Cash (the feminist non-profit fund from Amsterdam) next 10 year strategic guide. We dive into the differences between feminism, activism and social ch…

With our guest, the amazing bond investment expert, Darek Kędziora we dive into the world of financial change that is swiping the world today. Darek shares his opinions (strictly personal and in no way any sort of advice) about how the pandemic impacts current geopolitics and how it is reflected in the world of finance. We touch upon the global tre…

Managing practices of today are still deeply rooted in the industrial era. But there is a new way emerging called: regenerative management. Our guest, Kim Korn (in collaboration with our other guest Joe Pine) are on the mission to make this new way become the new standard for managing organizations. Kim shares with us the foundational ideas for reg…

Can you undergo a process of transformation and keep on innovating? Are opportunities or options the same as solutions? With our guest, Milan Guenther, the author of the book “Intersection” and the founder of the Enterprise Architecture Association, we talk about the change in the context of mature organizations. We discuss the interplay between br…

Let’s be honest - change is tough. First we tend to experience denial, then anger. Once we come to terms that change is necessary and start following it, soon we find ourselves in the dip, the valley of tears. With our guest, Michael Liehmann, a change consultant, we explore the phases of change, its antecedents and ways to make it last in your lif…