Mallie Rydzik: A storm-chasing scientist, writer, coach, and entrepreneur

Summary: In this episode, Dave interviews Mallie Rydzik, an academic and stormchaser who now runs a successful consulting business. Mallie's a serial entrepreneur who also writes, coaches, and hosts the Offroad Millennial podcast. Listen as Mallie and Dave tackle topics including disruptive innovation; nailing social media; the future of education; and dealing with mental health issues -  always focusing on finding ways to be authentic. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:00 – Dave welcomes Mallie 03:00 – Mallie's background in academia and science 03:30 – A host of blogs including Offroad Millennial and Systems Scientist 03:50 – "The future of work is collaboration, innovation and remote teams" 04:20 – Mallie delivers all-in-one strategy and operations consulting 06:50 – Mallie's vision is based on disruptive innovation theory 07:20 – The Innovator's Dilemma 08:50 – Disruptive innovation comes from areas of markets that big companies don't see 10:00 – The lower end of the market is where changes happen 10:40 – Big consultancies like SAP would make a loss engaging with small businesses 09:37 – Don't go past the point of boredom 11:40 – What does disruption look like? 12:20 – Blending of social media; importance of contractors; breaking into low-end markets 14:15 – Tim Ferriss on the future of work 15:50 – What's a career path going to look like in the future? 17:00 – Millennials are shaping the future of work whether they want to or not 17:50 – Desire for authenticity 18:30 – Entrepreneurship: you can have an entrepreneurial mindset within a corporation 20:20 – People entering the workforce post-2008 had to find their own work 21:15 – Is it stressful for people to have to continually sell themselves? 22:30 – Entrepreneurship can be incredibly freeing 23:20 – People do their best when they do what they love 24:40 – "Authenticity" - having work that's an extension of yourself 25:40 – Social media: People don't connect to companies, they connect to people 26:40 – Twitter: Mallie has 35,000 posts 27:12 – You have to be authentic on Twitter to make it work for you 30:20 – Content marketing 32:08 – Mallie's challenges with mental health 33:20 – Having to step back and deal with your brain and body can be grounding 35:20 – It's hard to not know if your brain is going to work against you 37:00 – The solution is to get help, however that looks: family, therapy, medication 39:35 – The legalization of marijuana as an entrepreneurial space 40:28 – School system: what are the benefits of traditional education? 41:40 – Are trade educations starting to drive people into white-collar careers? 42:40 – In the current education system we're taught to learn, not to do 44:00 – Traditional education works for doctors, engineers, etc. 45:00 – Issues with standardized testing 47:00 – People are trained not to think big 49:14 – Think critically about what makes you happy 3 Key Points: Think much bigger than you've ever been encouraged to. People connect with people, not with companies. The future of work is decentralized, collaborative, and project-based Resources Mentioned: Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network Offroad Millennial – Mallie's podcast Systems Scientist - Mallie's consulting business Tim Ferris' podcast The Innovator's Dilemma - Book that inspired Mallie's business Bluefish - Concierge business that's thinking big Credits: Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives