Volition Ben Parry

Volition was originally launched in 2022 to run interviews with people whose careers I admired. To learn about how they switched between different kinds of work, learned new skills, and flexed their agency.
These episodes will continue to be available in the podcast history but with this episode the podcast is relaunching with a new focus. I recently started a new writing project, Skillful Notes, which investigates how people, organisations, and countries build competence. Going forward Volition will host recordings of Skillful Notes essays and case studies, alongside interviews with a mix of scholars who are investigating how we become capable of new things and builders who are becoming more competent in their respective fields.
For this first episode in the new chapter of Volition we'll a recording of the first Skillful Notes essay on Apprenticeship. I hope you like it.
If you have any feedback of any kind please don't hesitate to share.

A discussion with Dr. Michael Bonner. Michael is the director of policy to a minister within the Ontario government as well as an independent historian. His new book In Defense of Civilization is being released in April 2023.

A discussion with Justin Jackson. Justin is one of the cofounders of Transistor the best way to distribute a podcast. Justin has walked an incredibly unique path with his career and it was great to hear a little more about his background and what has driven hi

A discussion with Linda Lebrun. We talked about Substack and it’s role in helping writers achieve financial independence, the cultural divide between traditional investing and the world of tech especially as illustrated by the choice of software tools, and the value of maintaining a private life online.

Ben Sehl is a product generalist. Previously a cofounder of Kotn a beautiful, thoughtful apparel brand For Lasting Ways of Life. Now he leads product for Hydrogen, Shopify's headless commerce framework. In this episode we talk about how he studied semiotics at university and how he brings a philosophy of shared meaning and intention to all his work.