Today we’re taking a no BS look at the world of customer insights, leadership and business visioning with the President of software company Zappi, the ever-passionate and transparent leader, Ryan Barry.

Having led Zappi for over four years, Ryan shares his no holds barred take on company leadership and people leadership, and it’s all anchored on authenticity.

In this special LIVE episode of Looking Outside, recorded at the Insights and Innovation Exchange event in Texas, we look more closely at the symbols and signs that surround us, the study of Semiotics, with semiotician, author and marketer, Dr Rachel Lawes.

Rachel blends her 20 years in Market Research and her academic training as a Social Psychologist, with a focus on how people communicate through the study of semiotics. Rachel describes this as looking more deeply and critically at what is at face-value, and how that can help us make more deliberate decisions.

In these volatile and uncertain times, it can feel harder than ever to achieve things for ourselves and our teams, so today we take a cue from the performance experts, speaking about Motivation with mental performance coach, Lauren Johnson.

Lauren shares the principles of psychology that apply whether you’re an athlete or marketer. The principles of: self awareness to know your own signals before you burn out, self control to react appropriately in the space between external stimulus and your response to it, and of the laws of diminishing returns, beyond that point at which we are truly effective, whether we realize it or not.

In the latest episode of Looking Outside, we explore Exploration itself, and what it means to be truly curious about people, places and the future, with Zak Dychtwald, Founder of Young China Group and author of Young China.

Zak shares how he approaches exploration: from visiting countries that are ‘misunderstood’, to immersing himself in stories about the far off possible future, to building an ‘intimacy’ with foreign cultures, places and people that you wouldn’t get from descriptions by outsiders.

In episode 16 we get grounded in how a strategist thinks, and their process in creating impactful Strategy, with Mark Pollard, CEO Sweathead .

A guide to many creative thinkers and long-time strategists, Mark discusses the role of chaos within orderly processes, the purpose of finding personal meaning in your thinking, and the need to balance intellectualism with practicality.

Episode 15 takes us outside the comfort zone in looking at the darkness in life and in people. We’re talking about True Crime with Jenn Vogel, Chief Revenue Officer, Voxpopme.

Both fans of the true crime genre, Jenn and Jo discuss their seemingly irrational (but actually very rational) fascination with criminal acts, and the true circumstances surrounding them, and what that tells about human limitations and moral boundaries.

In Episode 14 of Looking Outside we explore the mindset needed to break out and do something on your own - successfully. Today we’re chatting with Julie Meyer, Founder and Co-CEO of Eat Well Global, about Entrepreneurship.

Having founded her own company, and constantly writing and reflecting, Julie shares her motivations for bringing ideas to life, as well as what meaningful ‘real why’ lies behind her personal drive to create something impactful.

Looking Outside Episode 13 tackles deeper, critical and courageous thinking, with industry leader on transformative Rethinking, Tom Goodwin, Co-Founder of All We Have Is Now and world-renowned speaker on business transformation.

As someone who proclaims to ‘profoundly not give a shit’, and voices his views regularly to a large audience, Tom shares how he braves feedback and negative perceptions by following the voice of the every day person and championing uncommon perspectives.

In Episode 12 of Looking Outside we explore the influence of Music with music lover and the ever-insightful, Adam Conley, Director of Insights for North America at Mars Wrigley.

While music plays subtly in the background of our lives, it defines our cultures, shapes our psychology, and even influences our physiology. Adam helps us examine music’s impact over time, at a universal human level and a personal one.

To broaden our perspective, in Episode 11 we bring the Curiosity mountain to us direct from the source, with the original Chief Curiosity Officer, former VP of Consumer & Market Insights and Foresight at L'Oréal Groupe, and now Chief Data Officer at Pierre Fabre, Sarah DaVanzo.

Sarah shares her vast experience in “strategic curiosity science”; unpacking what curiosity is beyond intellectualism, stressing the worrying results in quantifying and tracking curiosity over time, and highlighting the importance of immersion when applying curious behavior.

In Episode 10 of Looking Outside we traverse the past and present of Storytelling with educator, scholar, and my good friend from Australia, Dr Belinda Calderone, Philanthropic Proposals Manager at Monash University.

Belinda shares her learnings in creating a compelling case for change through human focused storytelling. As well as the pitfalls of storytelling, where a clear start and end is missing (fairly common!) or not walking forward along the story path.

In Episode 9 of Looking Outside we discuss the evolving expectations of Market Research with MRX guru, Jamin Brazil, co-founder and CEO at HubUX.

Jamin shares techniques he’s developed over 20 years in obtaining deeper market knowledge by evaluating new technologies, embracing social platforms and understanding cultural communities.

In Episode 8 of Looking Outside we explore the power held by Words with wordsmith, curious human and Senior Insights Leader at Mars Inc, Jessica Southard.

Jess and Jo explore how words can be magical, can empower and motivate, but also how they can be destructive and divisive. To do that, Jess shares her personal experience of communication in her Army intelligence days leading soldiers, the transition to the complex world of business, and how she treats words with responsibility raising her three children.

In Episode 4 of Looking Outside we’re joined by down-to-earth insights & marketing rockstar, Michelle Gansle, Vice President of Global Strategic Insights at McDonalds.

Together Jo and Michelle discuss what it means to truly be human-led inside and outside of work, both by humanizing the people we work with and ourselves. And how understanding yourself as a human being more deeply can help pull you out of your comfort zone and into curious new spaces.

In Episode 2 we’re joined by the super smart behavioral economist Melina Palmer, Founder & CEO of The Brainy Business.

Together Jo and Melina discuss how better understanding the scientific workings of the human brain can unlock not just a business competitive advantage but help you better understand yourself.