Backstage Pass: Ep. 7 - Lisa Bodell: Eliminating Complexity Through The Power of Simplicity
Backstage Pass: Ep. 7 - Lisa Bodell: Eliminating Complexity Through The Power of Simplicity
Lisa Bodell bio
“Complexity is crippling our organizations. It’s stifling our people and keeping them from doing their most meaningful and impactful work.” Lisa Bodell, a global leader on simplification, collaboration, and innovation, has a solution. Lisa shows organizations how to eliminate complexity and leverage simplicity – unleashing creativity and sparking the energy so essential to innovate and compete in a rapidly changing world. FutureThink, which she founded in 2003, works with leading brands worldwide and has become the largest source of innovation research, tools, and training in the world. Lisa is the author of two groundbreaking books, Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters and Kill the Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution. She ranks on the list of Top 50 Speakers Worldwide and captivates audiences with her energy and humor. Lisa’s keynotes leave audiences inspired to change and arms them with radically simple tools to get to the work that matters.
After earning her business degree from University of Michigan, Lisa launched her career at Leo Burnett in Chicago, where she discovered a gift for uniting strategically-driven ideas with forward-thinking themes. She went on to build two successful businesses before moving to New York and focusing on the simplification and innovation space with FutureThink.
Lisa brings a compelling perspective to the sought-after topics of simplification and innovation to over 100,000 people each year. A thought leader and serial entrepreneur, her transformational message has inspired executives at top-ranked organizations such as Google, SAP, Citigroup, and the Department of National Intelligence.
Lisa has contributed her expertise to a wide variety of media. She is a monthly contributor to Forbes and has frequently appeared in other media including: Fast Company, WIRED, The New York Times, Inc., Harvard Business Review, and CNN. She has also been featured in many major books such as Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question, Adam Grant’s Originals, and AfterShock, the 50-year celebration based on futurist Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock.
Lisa has taught innovation at both American University and Fordham University and has a TED talk on the topic. She has served on the board of advisors of several organizations, including the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum, the United States National Security Agency, the Association of Professional Futurists, and the Novartis board of Diversity & Inclusion.
show notes
Today our guest is the founder and CEO of FutureThink, Lisa Bodell. Lisa is a futurist and a global leader on collaboration and innovation. She ranks in the top 50 speakers worldwide, and she is also a two-time best-selling author. She’s an expert in helping people discover how to eliminate complexity through the power of simplicity. In today’s conversation, she shares why emphasizing productivity doesn’t work, and why simplifying your work is the way to go.
Key topics in this episode include:
Why so many people are at a breaking point right now.
How being organized differs from being simplified.
The benefits of simplifying your work and your life.
A better way to say no (that actually feels good).
The importance of leaning into saying “yes, if” statements.
Why people want their time back and how being selfish with it helps.
How your work culture influences the complexity of your work.
What makes Lisa a more sought-after speaker and why.
Why Lisa says simplicity is agnostic and who her main audience is.
Why productivity isn’t the answer in the workplace (and what matters more).
How Lisa applies the things she speaks about to her own life.
How killing stupid ideas has made Lisa’s team even better.
The secrets to making a speaking event a home run.
What the best rooms are to find yourself in and what makes the best group.
The surprising thing Lisa learned about herself as a speaker.