Episode 162 – Curiosity Not Contempt – Zip Your Lips

Episode 165 - Act Now, Regret Later – The Instinct Every “AI or Die” Pitch Is Counting On.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2112599/fan_mail/new] A 1st of July CNBC article titled “Employers who laid off workers citing AI are already starting to regret it” It talks about how automaker Ford is rehiring hundreds of experienced human engineers to work on quality issues automated systems couldn’t address. The same article talk about similar reverses in companies like Commonwealth Bank of Australia and IBM.This is what happens when "now or never" replaces "let's actually think this through." Over the last year or so, I've watched almost every organisation I talk to say “AI or Die”. And it always sounds like the salesmen who say "this deal's only good for the next hour; act now or lose it." There is no doubt AI is changing the world but I also feel the urgency instinct is on a few gears too high. I am not alone. Forrester's 2026 Future of Work report found that 55% of employers who laid off staff citing AI now admit it was the wrong call. Gartner predicts half of all AI-driven layoffs will be reversed by 2027.Today’s story is a cautionary tale about our urgency instinct from Hans Rosling’s fabulous book - 'Factfulness'. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic [https://www.linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3Btj2mywheTjukg1f7u5XShg%3D%3D]

Episode 164 – The Storyboard Secret – What Disney Taught AirBnB

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2112599/fan_mail/new] Back in the late 1990s, as a brand manager at Hindustan Unilever, I was in a briefing for a Jai soap ad shoot. The creative person from the agency was describing a beach volleyball scene — “and there’s a man in a hat, umpiring the game.” I sat there quietly thinking, who wears a hat to umpire beach volleyball?  It was only when he pulled out the storyboard that I saw what he actually meant — a baseball cap. I remember laughing about it later, but it stayed with me for a different reason: it showed me exactly why a storyboard matters.  The writer, the client and the cinematographer need to be picturing the exact same scene — not two versions of “a hat.” Today’s story is about storyboards, but a very different use case. Listen in. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic [https://www.linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3Btj2mywheTjukg1f7u5XShg%3D%3D]

Episode 163 – The Long Walk Back – Never Let Anyone Carry Failure Alone

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2112599/fan_mail/new] For more than thirty years, I’ve held a belief that most football fans probably disagree with. I think penalty shootouts are fundamentally unfair. Football is the ultimate team sport. Every goal is built by eleven players. Yet when a World Cup final can’t be decided after 120 minutes, we suddenly ask one person to carry the burden of winning or losing for an entire nation. That belief began with one image from 1994. If you’re old enough to remember it, you probably know exactly which image I mean. Decades later, one manager who’d lived through his own version of that exact moment did something about it. Not to change the rules, but to change what happens to the player standing at that spot. Listen on. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic [https://www.linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3Btj2mywheTjukg1f7u5XShg%3D%3D]

Episode 162 – Curiosity Not Contempt – Zip Your Lips

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2112599/fan_mail/new] All of us have met that person. The new leader. The consultant. The expert. The person who has barely arrived but already knows what’s wrong with everyone else’s work. Sometimes we’ve been that person ourselves. The strange thing is that the problem isn’t overconfidence. Fresh eyes are valuable. Organisations hire people precisely because they bring new ideas. The problem begins when curiosity quietly gives way to superiority. Years ago, on my very first day in my last corporate role, my CEO gave me a piece of advice that has stayed with me ever since. At the time, it felt like a lesson about leadership. Looking back, I realise it was actually a lesson about something far deeper. This week’s Stories at Work connects that advice with one of the most fascinating psychological studies I’ve ever come across—research that began with marriages but has profound implications for leaders, teams and workplace culture. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic [https://www.linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3Btj2mywheTjukg1f7u5XShg%3D%3D]

Episode 161 – Intuition or Analysis – Six Lives At Stake

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2112599/fan_mail/new] In the world of business, full of buzzwords like brainstorming, analysis, rationality, is there still a role for instinct and intuition? Today’s story will convince you there is. It’s about a split-second decision, made with zero data and zero time to think it through. No spreadsheet. No team discussion. No “let’s weigh the options.” Just a feeling. A feeling so strong that it overrode everything the textbooks say a good leader should do in a crisis. And that feeling saved six lives. The strange part? The person who made that call couldn’t explain why he made it. Not at the time. Not for years afterward, until someone finally helped him figure it out. What he discovered changes how I think about every “gut call” I’ve ever made and probably every one you’ve made too. Listen on. For more #storiesatwork do have a look the playlists of stories on our website - https://bit.ly/SW_Stories Your friends and family can join our WhatsApp group to get copies of our videos. https://bit.ly/SW_WA_11 Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/ Follow me on LinkedIn -->linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic [https://www.linkedin.com/in/i-am-ic?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3Btj2mywheTjukg1f7u5XShg%3D%3D]