12 Geniuses Podcast Don MacPherson

Artificial intelligence is touching elements of our lives that most people couldn’t have predicted even five years ago. No aspect is being disrupted more than our work and our jobs. As Michael Kanaan said on 12 Geniuses back in 2021 in The Future of Artificial Intelligence, “there is no job on the planet that AI doesn't have its rightful place to do the job better.” Exactly how jobs will be redefined is largely dependent on the mindset companies have toward their talent and these new tools that are able to do magical things.

In this interview, Deloitte Consulting’s chief futurist Mike Bechtel discusses the two common ways in which companies are approaching the artificial intelligence revolution. Mike says that some companies are using AI to cut costs and replace people with technology. Other companies see AI as “rocket fuel” for their talent. While the “short-termists” that are using AI to minimize expenses might please shareholders for a brief period of time, Mike says the companies that have a longer-term view on the combination of their people and these powerful tools will ultimately be winners in this unique period in business. Mike goes on to talk the differentiating traits that leaders should be seeking as they hire new people in an AI workplace and Mike shares his advice for how individuals and leaders should think about career development into the future.

Mike Bechtel is a managing director and the chief futurist with Deloitte Consulting LLP. Mike helps clients develop strategies to thrive in the face of discontinuity and disruption. His team researches the novel and exponential technologies most likely to impact the future of business, and builds relationships with the startups, incumbents, and academic institutions creating them.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Mike led Ringleader Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2013. Before Ringleader, he served as CTO of Start Early, a national not-for-profit focused on early childhood education for at-risk youth. Mike began his career in technology R&D at a global professional services firm where his dozen US patents helped result in him being named that firm’s global innovation director. He currently serves as professor of corporate innovation at the University of Notre Dame.

Our lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to keep us on track—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these routines (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) tend to be performed automatically. But when we’re more mindful about these actions—when we focus on the precise way they are performed—they can instead become rituals. Shifting from a “habitual” mindset to a “ritual” mindset can convert ordinary acts from black and white to technicolor.

In this interview, Harvard Business School Professor Dr. Michael Norton discusses his new book “The Ritual Effect” and how the power of establishing rituals can enhance performance in personal lives and at work. Dr. Norton explains how a ritual is different from and a habit. He talks about how to create rituals that last and he says a bottom up approach is the best way to establish effective rituals in the workplace. To finish the interview, Dr. Norton’s discusses what research has taught him about what people commonly get wrong about their money.

Dr. Michael Norton is a leading behavior scientist, behavioral economics researcher, Harvard Business School Professor, and business speaker obsessed with unlocking the secrets of human behavior and well-being, from happier spending to the power of rituals. Dr. Norton’s research focuses on behavioral economics and well-being, with particular attention given to topics such as happiness, spending, and, most recently, rituals and habits. His book The Ritual Effect focuses on the surprising and versatile power of rituals. 

For generations, when you purchased a car what you bought is what you got. That is changing. It’s accepted that self-driving, electric vehicles are the future. However, what many people might be surprised to know about the future of the vehicle is that cars, trucks, and SUVs will operate more like a cell phone than they do like the vehicles of yesterday. They will be get feature updates, adapt to your particular needs, and continuously improves using massive amounts of data much like the ubiquitous smart phone.

In this interview, Álvaro Marquez - product designer and customer experience expert - discusses driverless vehicles, the concept of the Software-Defined Vehicle, the infrastructure necessary to enable mass electric vehicle adoption, fleet management and ownership, and how humanity will benefit from a reimagined relationship with vehicles. Álvaro says that as vehicles become more capable and connected they will become a viable “third place” (after the home and workplace) where some people connect with others, go for privacy, manage their personal lives, watch movies, and even do activities like sing karaoke. While Álvaro says a vehicle will not replace the smart phone, it will offer a more comfortable place to do many of the activities people do on their phones.

Álvaro Márquez is an established figure in the field of user-centered design and experience strategy, currently serving as Chief Experience Officer at icon incar where he leads an international multi-disciplinary team in the development of future-oriented R&D projects for the automotive and mobility industry. His work is globally recognized for his thoughtful, systematic and occasionally irreverent approach, which tends to explore idiosyncratic moments of every day life from emergent futures.

Since Dr. Matthew Johnson first appeared on 12 Geniuses in September of 2020 to discuss The Future of Psychedelics, popular opinion in favor of this category of drugs has surged and so has the research and potential uses for psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, ayahuasca, and other drugs that fit into the broader category of psychedelics. Dr. Johnson and his research have been critical to fueling these growing trends.

In this interview, Dr. Johnson discusses the advancements in psychedelic research that have been made in the last few years, how favorable public opinion about the use of these once taboo drugs continues to grow, and he closes the conversation with his sobering advice for people who are experimenting on their own with these drugs, going on weekend psychedelic retreats, or even going to South America to have ayahuasca experiences with a shaman.

Dr. Matthew Johnson is Senior Investigator in Psychedelics at Sheppard Pratt and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University where he is one of the world’s most published scientists on the human effects of psychedelics. He has conducted seminal research in the behavioral economics of drug use, addiction, and risk behavior. Dr. Johnson published psychedelic safety guidelines in 2008, helping to resurrect psychedelic research.

Throughout his career, Dr. Steven Austad has been exploring aging, longevity, and life extension in a variety of animals. He has written multiple books, including “Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body’s Journey Through Life” and “Methuselah's Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives.”

In this interview, Dr. Austad discusses the topic of longevity and the progress being made toward curing some of humanity’s most devastating diseases - specifically heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s. He shares his belief that humanity is on track to make cancer a managed disease. Dr. Austad talks about new drug discoveries made in the last four years that should dramatically improve our ability to fight our most devastating diseases and he even talks about the surprising benefits being realized from the use of popular weight loss drugs. He goes on to address how science has effectively extended life over the last 125 years, but many people who are going to live much longer haven’t changed their attitudes and expectations about their retirement age.

Dr. Austad has dedicated his career to understanding the science of how and why we age. He is a distinguished professor and Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has done field research in The United States, Venezuela, East Africa, Micronesia, and Papua New Guinea. Dr. Austad’s books include “Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life” and “Methuselah's Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives.”

“Peak Oil” is the point that global oil production is set to begin its decline. “Peak Auto” is the point that global automotive production will begin its decline. “Peak People” is the point that global population will being to shrink. All of these points are set to happen during this century according to futurist and author David Houle.

In this interview, David Houle discusses how oil use, the number of vehicles around the world, and the number of people on the planet will all begin to decline in this century. To replace oil production, David shares how electric vehicles will become the norm supported by renewable energy along with innovative battery storage capabilities. To facilitate the trend toward vehicle decline, David says the idea of owning a vehicle that people drive 5% of the time is outdated. Fleets of driverless cars are a much more practical solution even as more countries experience affluence. China recently began a decline in population in 2023 and the rest of the world will experience the same as the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declines in industrialized countries. David says that as girls around the world continue to advance in educational opportunities, the global TFR will decline below the 2.1 TFR required to maintain the number of people on the planet.
To finish the interview, David also talks about what these declines mean to the global economy and how people should be using this information to plan for their futures.

David Houle is a futurist, thinker, and keynote speaker. He is the author of “The Shift Age,” “Shift Ed: A Call to Action for Transforming K-12 Education,” “Entering the Shift Age, Brand Shift: The Future of Brands and Marketing,” “The Spaceship Earth,” and more.