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In this episode of The Remix with Shawn and Wang, we hear a clip from Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast on long term thinking. Seth Godin is the man! He is a hall of fame marketer and has been featured in our podcast previously because he has such profound insights that help us think about everything in a new and better light. Not only do we hear a clip from Seth Godin, but we also talk about: What book Wang has read recently and what the key takeaways from the book were for him Shawn summarizes the book in a key statement We hear a clip from Seth Godin that talks about the origins of Superman and how this relates to long term thinking Shawn talks about the hidden downside of long term thinking and Wang realizes its not all roses Shawn talks about the flexibility and agility of Amazon Wang and Shawn debate whether the average person thinks long term enough Shawn shares a 10 year goal and one of his weird goals Wang shares his list of long term thinking vs. short term thinking and candidly shares where he has thought about things in the short term rather than in the long term Shawn shares his thoughts on long term thinking within consulting and how big companies are thinking about things in the long term Wang shares a story about Elon after getting a huge payout in Paypal and how he thought about the next thing to work on Shawn and Wang share their thoughts on billable hours and why it may not be the best metric to use to motivate employees and Wang talks about IBM sales and what they did to motivate employees (and it wasn’t through a specific metric) Shawn sums it up in a beautiful equation Show us some love! Rate and review us on iTunes and subscribe to The Remix with Shawn and Wang to get more of our thoughts and thinking. Already subscribed, rated and reviewed us? Let us know what you think of the podcast or if you have questions you want to ask us about long term thinking, tweet us! @shawnkanungo and @wangyip

Wang knows nothing about basketball – do you think that Shawn and Wang should start a podcast about basketball? Are people interested in Wang’s thoughts on basketball? Probably not. In this episode of The Remix, we hear a clip from a16z – a podcast by Andreessen Horowitz where Dick Costello, the Founder of Twitter talks about the best characteristic of CEOs. Listen in on Shawn and Wang’s thoughts on this clip and on: The 100 most famous athletes in the world and the surprising players that are not on the list What the best characteristic / trait of CEOs is The idea of experimentation, failure and taking risks and why it is so important to have a culture that is okay with taking risks Why Shawn thinks that organizations aren’t taking risks Would things be different if people were guaranteed jobs? Shawn presents a counter-example and provides his thoughts on why guaranteeing jobs does not work The best way to be innovative or to develop an innovative culture at organizations Wang postulates on why organizations are not as innovative as they could be and where that mindset might have come from (is it about avoiding risk and failure? was it from school and the education system?) What Shawn wants to leave behind as his legacy Wang shares a story from his work on how he manages people “Can I go to the bathroom?” – should we be asking for permission? Shawn shares a story about the blackboard in schools and how we engineered students into a factory model What advice Shawn has to help organizations be more innovative If you haven’t already, subscribe, rate and review us on your favourite podcast community and let us know what you think! Are we training people to be employees? How do we push people outside of their comfort zones? What advice do you have to help companies be more innovative? Let us know on Twitter! @shawnkanungo and @wangyip  

Shawn and Wang seem to be on the same brain wavelength – are we morphing into the same person? Some of our audience members enjoy that we have conflicting, sometimes opposing views – will this change whether audiences will listen to us? We hear a clip from Adam Grant’s podcast (and Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast) where Adam and Malcolm debate a wide variety of topics. In particular, one story that we did not talk about in the podcast episode which I found fascinating is the story of Malcolm Gladwell’s job as a journalist. He had moved over from Canada to work for a news company as a journalist and there was a bit of some reluctance among the journalists to do any stories about hurricanes – mostly because you would get stuck in a city out in the middle of nowhere and you would not how long you would have to stay. When Malcolm was sent out to do a hurricane story out in Columbia, he decided that he would go to South America’s Columbia instead of Columbia in the U.S. When his boss found out, he blamed it on the fact that he’s Canadian and that he did not that there was more than one Columbia (but in fact, he had purposely done a bad job so that he wouldn’t get those assignments in the future). Doing a bad job to avoid work? Awesome. We also remix our thoughts on: Why Shawn is a big fan of Adam Grant and Malcolm Gladwell We hear Adam and Malcolm debate teams vs. individuals Wang arguably thinks that the best player in the NBA is Lebron James (please no hate mail or death threats) and his impact on teams Shawn asks Wang whether he has seen this team vs. individual effect How you engineer a team so that you get the best results – Wang talks about his role as a manager and what he tries to do when he manages or leads a team Shawn argues that this is one of the most difficult things to do – why? Why is it that a team can be successful in a certain situation and why they might not be successful in other situations – Shawn shares a story about his buddy Z and him and the different scenarios where he has succeeded and not succeeded If you haven’t already, subscribe to The Remix with Shawn and Wang – we’re on your favourite podcast player (Google Play, PocketCasts, iTunes, Stitcher, IheartRadio) . Also leave us a rating and review because it helps us improve the podcast and find new listeners. Tickets will be coming out soon for the live event! Tweet us and let us know what you think about The Remix. Do you like the podcasts that we are featuring? Wish that there was another podcast that we should listen to? Can you engineer a better team? @shawnkanungo and @wangyip P.S. If you left a review on iTunes and identified yourself as managementconsultant, please let us know so that we can provide proper attribution for your review!  

Back in the day, you may have heard about this freakishly athletic individual named Bo Jackson. He was, and maybe still is, one of the greatest athletes – ranking in the top 5 in numerous top athlete lists across all sports and disciplines. Our very own Shawn Kanungo is an expert on Bo Jackson – back in school, he did research and wrote a report on Bo so he knows him like the back of his hand. More recently, Shawn did a speech about Bo Jackson and whether or not he’s an anomaly and it’s one of the reasons why we talk about him in this episode of The Remix. We remix a clip from Noah Kagan Presents. Noah Kagan is a serial entrepreneur who was previously at Facebook, Mint and is now Chief Sumo at AppSumo which provides other entrepreneurs with the tools that they need to be successful. Noah talks to Bo about his childhood, his life as he got into professional baseball, his transition into the NFL and finally, his life after, even talking about some parenting advice. We also learn: What Shawn has been thinking about recently and why people may pay for something that may be widely available Shawn’s advice for content: “just put it out there” Why Wang has been thinking about copy writing (what the heck is that?) and what that has to do with the Method hand soap Is Bo Jackson an anomaly? Watch Shawn’s speech to find out more about Bo Jackson. Bo Jackson’s mindset for choosing what to do next after sports Why Wang pulled the clip and the contrast with another episode of the Remix where we talked about narcissism being the key trait of superstars The debate between being a generalist and a specialist – Shawn and Wang talk about the merits and approaches that people should take to advance in their career Wang’s career path, what skills he might need in the future and how he ‘reinvents’ himself every 5 years Wang’s advice for generalists (find intersections) and specialists (find other skills you can learn) Shawn’s thoughts on being a generalist vs. being a specialist and where he fits within the spectrum Why Shawn regrets his talk on Bo Jackson If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Remix so that you can get future episodes of The Remix straight from our brains into your ears. We also set a stretch goal for a live podcast – again, subscribe for more details. What’s your view on being a generalist vs. being a specialist? @shawnkanungo and @wangyip

Welcome to our new Gary Vaynerchuk followers! As some of you loyal followers know, Wang is not the biggest fan of Gary Vee. Why? There’s nothing specific, just that Wang is not a big fan of Gary. Shawn shares a clip where Gary is doing an interview on BBC radio (UK) and they ask Gary about the complainers in life who are not winning or ahead in life. Is this the turning point in Wang’s life? Will he eventually listen to Gary Vee’s podcasts on a regular basis? Find out on this episode. Here’s a short recap of the items we discuss in our podcast: Shawn asks Wang about a review that he read on the last episode of the podcast – who left the review? Gary Vee’s evolution over the time that we have followed him Gary vs. Wang – who would win? (Spoiler: Gary) Who we create the podcasts for and why it may not appeal to everyone The benefit of having two hosts Gary’s response to the complainers in life Shawn’s thoughts on the complainers and why he agrees with Gary Wang shares his key takeaways from Gary’s passionate response Shawn shares a story of a woman who asked for his advice on innovating their company and what he told her Ask for forgiveness or ask for permission? Shawn shares an unusual piece of advice for employees in companies Wang’s advice for those that do not have the time to innovate What do you think of Gary Vee? Do you like his energy? Enthusiasm? Raw passion? If you do, subscribe to our podcast and hear more from Gary Vee, Shawn and Wang! Leave us a rating and review and we will feature your review on a future episode of our podcast. Have comments for Shawn or Wang? Tweet us! What are you starting? What’s stopping you? @shawnkanungo and @wangyip

We in Shawn’s house now! How important are social skills to you? Do you know exactly what to say to start a conversation? End a conversation? The exact questions to ask to have great conversations? If you’re like me (socially awkward), then the answer is probably no and I recommend learning from Vanessa Van Edwards, a best-selling author and a ‘professional people watcher’ who has broken down social skills into a science that anyone can practice and apply to their lives. For example, a great question to ask instead of “how’s it going” is to ask “what’s been the high point in your day so far?” In this episode of the Remix with Shawn and Wang, we hear a clip from the Jordan Harbinger Show where the host (Jordan Harbinger, formerly of the Art of Charm) dissects the top performers in the world and deconstructs these into insights that you can apply into your life. We hear a clip from Vanessa and other tidbits like: Wang and Shawn share our appreciation for our better halves Wang shares the back story of the Jordan Harbinger and the Art of Charm Wang and Shawn have a mock conversation – Shawn shares his technique for ending a conversation Did you know Monterey (California) has a lot of people that look like Wang? I didn’t. What do jokes have to do with ending a conversation? Find out from Shawn Wang shares a technique for ending conversations from Demetri Martin How Wang ends conversations – he has to rely on others…unfortunately We transition into the social skills needed for group conversations – Shawn talks about his strategy for getting into an open circle conversation Wang is a social genius when it comes to entering group conversations (not) – learn what not to do and learn a technique from Vanessa on entering group conversations Is it weird to have a process for social interactions? or weird to take notes about people? We take the time to thank one of our reviewers Want to hear more from Shawn and Wang? Subscribe to our podcast and rate and review us on iTunes. We have been reading reviews so your review could be featured on a future episode! Let us know what you think about these social skills? Do you have a way of entering group conversations? Ending conversations? @shawnkanungo and @wangyip  

One of my favourite quotes is from Gretchen Rubin: “what you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while”. It’s a quote that I think about a lot because to me, it means that what you do on a regular basis (brushing your teeth, being grateful, meditating, exercising) has a bigger impact than what you do once in a while (e.g., going to the doctor, attending a conference). This is why I was so interested in hearing about Barbara’s secret to productivity. Barbara Corcoran was recently on Daymond John’s new podcast called “Rise and Grind” where she shared her story about how she got to where she is today. Barbara is a speaker, consultant, entrepreneur, author, TV personality and she is best known as one of the Sharks on Shark Tank (similar to Daymond). In this episode of the Remix Podcast, Shawn and I talk about: Who is the brain and the brawn on The Remix? Why is Wang listening to Rise and Grind? What is he taking away from the podcast? Find out Wang’s and Shawn’s favourite Sharks and  we discuss whether the Sharks’ personalities are real personalities or ‘TV’ personalities We hear a clip from Barbara about creating lists every 3 – 4 months and what she puts on the list and what she does with the list after Shawn has been doing this for years – find out exactly what he did and what he has learned about the world Shawn’s thoughts on how to do things without resources like money How do you figure out what you should be doing and what you should let others do – Shawn shares an anecdote from his consulting days The importance of having the right mindset at different salary levels We debate between hiring generalists and specialists and we argue about what are the skills that everyone should have these days no matter what job you have “Double down on the things that you’re good at. Screw everything else.  Get somebody else to do it. Outsource / crowdsource automate things as much as possible…. the most important thing on the planet is your time…YOLO” You know what to do! Hit us up on Twitter! Rate and review us on iTunes – we are going to start featuring ratings and reviews at the end of our episodes. @shawnkanungo and @wangyip

We are super excited to bring you another episode of the Remix Podcast where we learn about professional speaking and a bit of the things that Shawn does when he speaks professionally. In this episode, we feature a clip from Grant Baldwin who has a podcast called The Speaker Lab. Grant talks to professional speakers to understand how they have developed their speaking business, the tactics and tools that they use and other questions you may have about professional speaking. Shawn and I also talk about: Who has Wang been thinking about recently? Who is Robert Shapiro? Is he related to Stephen Shapiro, the guest that is featured in Grant’s podcast? Does Stephen Shapiro’s backstory sound familiar to you? Who does it remind you of? Why? We hear a clip from Stephen Shapiro on the brick activity and Shawn’s thoughts on human centred design What did Wang takeaway and learn from the clip? Wang talks about a course he is taking from IDEO and what he has learned from the course Shawn shares an amazing story from Freakonomics about Kobayashi – the famous competitive eater and how he was able to beat the competition The importance of flipping the question and reframing the problem Shawn shares another great story about Thomas Edison and the phonograph and the importance of reframing the question or problem The concept of speaking as an experience vs. a lecture and Shawn’s opinion on this concept Wang shares a story of when he sold pizza in university – a ‘problem’ that he reframed You know what to do! Hit us up on Twitter with your questions and thoughts on this episode. @shawnkanungo and @wangyip

Do you have kids? Are you interested in helping them become the best adults they can be (of course you are)! Listen to this episode of the Remix where we get parenting advice from two podcast clips and Shawn and Wang’s thoughts on this advice. In this episode, we hear a clip from Daniel Pink’s 1-3-20 podcast where he talks to Daniel Coyle, author, best-selling author of multiple books but in particular, the recently published The Culture Code which explores the secrets of highly successful groups. We also hear a clip from The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish who runs the Farnam Street Blog. Michael Mauboussin is managing director and head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse and is a best-selling author and who Shane considers a “Decision Making Jedi”. Recap of the Remix: Wang asks Shawn about his journey as a parent and a Dad and his experience with his baby girl Maya What Shawn and Deepa (Shawn’s wife) fights about (and a consideration for ambitious parents that want to have kids) The personality that Maya has taken on and who she is more like, Shawn or Deepa When Wang will have a ‘little Wang’ We hear a clip from Dan Pink’s 1-3-20 podcast where he talks to 1 author / book, asks them 3 questions, and he does this in under 20 minutes. In this clip, Daniel Coyle shares his advice on how to have better conversations with kids. What Shawn will take away from this clip for his conversations at home How Wang has applied the concept of vulnerability at work Wang shares an embarrassing story of when he first went to OrangeTheory The question that Shawn never asks people and how it has changed his life The celebrity that Wang and Shawn are crushing on and why they like this celebrity We hear a second clip from Shane Parrish’s podcast The Knowledge Project where he explores how to improve the decisions that we make in our lives. In this clip, Michael shares his advice on how to develop your kid’s problem solving abilities. Wang and Shawn talk about our role as parents and as consultants – should we play a different role? Wang shares his thoughts on how parents should be teaching their kids A mind blowing concept on schools and universities and Wang asks Shawn his thoughts on whether Maya should be going to university. What parenting advice do you have for Shawn (and Wang)? How do you have better conversations with kids? Do you agree that schools are engineering kids to be employees and not entrepreneurs? Subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and we are most likely on your favourite podcast player (if you can’t find us, let us know). Leave us a rating and review on iTunes – let us know what you think about this podcast. Are there concepts or podcasts that you’d like us to clip? @shawnkanungo and @wangyip

Shawn and I (Wang) bring in so many great podcasts that inevitably, we get some of them mixed up. In this episode of the Remix, I made a terrible mistake. What I thought was a clip from the Solopreneur Hour with Michael O’Neal (a fantastic podcast that I was listening to recently) was actually a clip from the equally wonderful podcast ‘Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do by Thom Singer’. My apologies to our listeners for re-remixing things and of course, attributing the wrong clip to the wrong podcast (in fact, my mistake was because I was not paying enough attention which is the central theme of this episode). In this episode, Shawn and I talk about why attention pays and: Harold and Kumar – what? And Neil Patrick Harris’ meteoric success Wang mistakenly thinks that the clip is from Solopreneur Hour but it is actually from Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do – apologies to Michael O’Neal and Thom Singer. Thom is key note speaker, best selling author, professional speaker and the host of Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do where he talks to business leaders, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and others on some of the coolest things that they are working on. Shawn’s hidden connection with Neen James – the person we are featuring in this clip! Why Wang decided to clip this episode and the concept of attention as the reason for Peloton (and other companies’) successes Shawn’s deep dark secret that has gotten him free meals, free rides, free hotel stays and more Wang’s view of conversations, especially conversations with people that you see on a regular basis Shawn shares an example of his deep dark secret in practice with his mentor Mike Brodie and Wang shares a story that he heard from Mike Brodie and how it applies to Toastmasters Subscribe to our podcast for more deep dark secrets from Shawn (and potentially Wang) – we’re on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and your favourite podcast player. Leave us a rating and review on iTunes. Let us know what you think! How do you remember specific things with contacts or acquaintances? @shawnkanungo and @wangyip