Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
by Mukesh Gupta
Pushing Beyond the Obvious is a podcast dedicated to help entrepreneurs succeed in a hyper-competitive & ever-changing business environment. We will invite practitioners and thought leaders to share their experience, strategies and secrets about their success, that can entrepreneurs can apply in their day-to-day life. Join us on a journey of discovering new insights every week.
Episodes
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Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable
Introduction: The Emotional Roller Coaster of the Workplace Life and work are never static; they operate on an emotional roller coaster where peaks of success are inevitably followed by valleys of struggle. Far too many leaders view their teams as "resources"—cogs in a machine designed for...
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How to Become an Inspirational Leader
In this episode, I discuss how to become an inspirational leader. I believe that leaders should not start with the goal of becoming an inspirational leader, as that is a self-centered perspective. Instead, becoming inspirational is a result of certain actions and learnings. Key ways to become an...
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The Play Advantage - Why Fun is the New Frontier of High Performance Leadership
Premise For decades, the standard leadership playbook has been built upon an ironclad, yet increasingly fragile, triad: vision, strategy, and execution. While these pillars are foundational, they are no longer sufficient to navigate the complexities of the modern knowledge economy. A significant,...
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Here is Why You Are You Stuck in Middle Management According to India's Top Executive Coach
Premise In this podcast episode, we host India's biggest and best Executive Coach Shital Kakkar Mehra. She has trained more than 1000 CxO's and more than 40000 leaders about how to develop their executive presence. We talk about how the we lead and what is expected from us shifts as we continue…
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The Hidden Leadership Skill: Leading for Evolution
Premise: Almost all leaders today lead in an environment that is ripe with disruptions and ever changing competitive landscape. The challenges of leading in this constantly evolving landscape are very different from that of leading in a stable environment where the current management practices…
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The Bomber with No Guns: 3 Lessons in Strategy from a World War II Secret Weapon
In this episode, I want to share a brilliant story written by one of my favorite marketers, Dave Trott, titled "Strategy is Sacrifice". The story takes us back to World War II. At the time, standard military strategy assumed that for a bomber to survive, it needed more armor, more guns, and a...
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The Most Important Question You Can Ask Your Team: "Are You Okay?"
Welcome back to another episode of Pushing Beyond the Obvious. I recently read a blog post from the MIT Sloan Management Review titled "Your people are not all right," which highlights the immense overwhelm and stress employees are currently facing. This inspired me to talk about a critical...
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How to Be Remarkable And stand out from the crowd
*:first-child]:mt-0"> Standing out starts with choosing to see, think, and act differently from the default, and then designing your work, relationships, and systems around that choice. This means intentionally questioning "how things are done here" and repeatedly experimenting with better ways...
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Here is how to build an engaged team
Teams that are engaged perform better, collaborate more, and stay longer. I often talk about how employee engagement sits at the heart of every high-performing team. The real question is: how do leaders actually build it in day-to-day work? Hire for Attitude Before Skills Engagement starts much...
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3 Ways to come up with Breakthrough Ideas
Premise: In today's fast-paced world, every organization and leader feels the relentless pressure to innovate. We're taught to hunt for that game-changing idea, that single "Eureka!" moment that will redefine our market. But waiting for a random stroke of genius is an ineffective and stressful...
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The Confidence to be VISIBLE with Sheena Yap Chan
Introduction Confidence doesn't always come naturally, especially when you grow up rarely seeing people like you represented in leadership, media, or success stories. In a world where visibility often determines opportunity, learning how to show up fully becomes essential. Sheena Yap Chan, a...
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Don't Solve Problems. Develop Problem Solvers
Premise The real job of a leader is not decision-making. It is decision capability-building and this can be done by creating better leaders from those that they lead. Bad leaders manage how work is being done, good leaders manage whether the work is being done and great leaders create capacity so...
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What Quentin Tarantino Can Teach Leaders About their Jobs
In this short narration, Quentin Tarantino talks about the role of a director and it is a classic definition of what we need to do as leaders to become a leader worth following. Very early in his career, he asked Terry Gilliam on what was the job of a director in the making of a movie and here is...
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How to Trick our Mind and Body to do What We Want
Introduction: The Vicious Cycle of Feeling "Stuck" Have you ever felt completely stuck? Maybe it's a low mood you can't shake, or a physical exhaustion that makes every task feel impossible. When you're in that state, it can feel like a vicious cycle you can't break. But what if you had more...
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PBTO: Goldratts Rules of Flow - Delivering Projects on-time on-budget and on-spec and driving up profitability
This is the recording of a live conversation I had with Dr. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag to explore how the principles from the Theory of Constraints can be applied to multi-project environments (Digital transformation efforts) to deliver projects on time, on budget and on spec. She shared insights from...
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PBTO: Stepping into a World of Exponential Possibility with Sophie Krantz
In this episode of the podcast, we host the inimitable and unapologetically ambitious, Sophie Krantz. We had a conversation about leadership and the need for economic growth and opportunity. We discussed the possibility of creating positive change in the world through frameworks like exponential...
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PBTO: Asking the Right Questions and Questioning the right things with Dr. Alan Barnard
In this conversation with @DrAlanBarnard, we explore how the principles of the Theory of Constraints (originally created by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt) can be used to not only drive significant business results but also to help us make high stake decisions as leaders. In this freewheeling conversation,...
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PBTO: The Art of Leading in an Ever Changing World with Damien Cummings
In this free wheeling conversation, we cover What it takes to lead in an ever changing world What are some of the key skills leaders need to cultivate to thrive What are some of the things that leaders need to avoid to thrive How AI or Artificial Intelligence will change the face of the...
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PBTO: Learning How to Communicate to Inform, Inspire and Connect People with Col Fink
In this interesting conversation, Speaker, Author and Advisor (and Public speaking coach) @ColFink shares his perspective on the importance of clear and effective communication for leaders. He also shares insights on how to get good at communication and specifically when speaking to an audience...
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PBTO - The Art of Leadership with Pankaj Rusia
In this first episode of a new series, which will be focused on leadership, we host a practicing leader - Pankaj Rusia. He currently works for SAP as the Head of Customer Success for the SAP HR Cloud business are and is based out of Singapore. As the Head of Customer Success for SAP South East...
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What sort of Leader do you want to be with Lisa O'Neil
This the first episode of the current season of my podcast - Pushing Beyond the Obvious and I am super happy and excited to kick off the season with none other than Lisa O'Neill. She is a self described energy and human expert. In this wide ranging conversation about energy and leadership, she...
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All about Performance Management with Stacey Barr - The Performance Measure Specialist
In this episode of Pushing Beyond the Obvious, we host Stacey Barr - The Performance Measure Specialist. She Stacey is a specialist in strategic performance measurement and evidence-based leadership. Stacey specialises in using practical performance measurement as the catalyst for creating a...
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Radical Product Thinking with Radhika Dutt
In this episode, we speak to Radhika Dutt, the author of the book - Radical Product Thinking.
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PBTO S3E1: Imagination – Our Greatest Strength and our Greatest Weakness
One of the greatest strengths of the human race is also one if its weakest link. Our ability to imagine is the source of all the innovations around us that has made our lives and our species so dominant in the also what causes us to trip in a lot of our pursuit. We could end up living in our...
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PBTO S2E10: Things that Matter to being Successful with Anne Sugar
In this episode, we speak with Anne Sugar. She is an executive coach and speaker who has advised top leaders at companies like TripAdvisor, Sanofi Genzyme and Havas, She also serves as an executive coach for Harvard Business School Executive Education.
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PBTO S2E9: Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life And Your Career
In this episode, we host David Burkus and talk about his latest book - Friend of a Friend. In the book he talks about the science of networks and what we can learn from them. He shares a lot of great insights into how to use the science of networking to build a network that will help us get what…
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PBTO S2E8: Empathy - The Super power of a Successful FBI Hostage Negotiator or an Entrepreneur
Who is on the show today: James "Chip" Massey is the CEO of Plowshare Communications, which advises business leaders on strategic negotiations and how to accelerate the sales process by building strong, powerful, and trust-based relationships. Why is he on the show: For more than two decades,...
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PBTO S2E7: Fusion - How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World's Greatest Companies with Denise Lee Yohn
Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Denise Lee Yohn. She is a best selling author, keynote speaker and the leading authority on building great brands and exceptional organizations. Why is she on the show: Her book "Fusion" comes out today in which she shares her insights on the…
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PBTO S2E6: Standing out and Becoming the Best Entrepreneur You can Be
In this epsiode, we host best selling author Dorie Clark. She has written multiple best selling books - Reinventing You, Stand Out & her latest book Entrepreneurially You. She shares great insights on how to create a brand for yourself and also about the importance of being entrepreneurial, even…
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S2E5: Personal Knowledge Mastery with Harold Jarche
In this episode, we host Harold Jarche. He is focused on providing actionable insights for workplace transformation. He works with individuals, organizations, and public policy influencers to develop practical ways to adapt to the technological, demographic, and societal changes facing us today.…
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PBTO S2E4: Rethinking Vertical Movement Inside a Building
In this episode, we speak to the creator of "Vycle" a vertical transportation system that she developed as a project. She rethinks and creates a new product that can help us go up and down, one that doesnt take too much space (like stairs or escalators) nor do we have to wait for a lot of time to...
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S2E3: The Importance of Imaginativefulness in the Creative Process
In this episode, we host Jeffrey Baumgartner (again) and talk about what he calls "Imaginativefulness" and its importance in the overall creative process.
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PBTO S2E2: Jill Konrath - More Sales in Less Time
Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Jill Konrath. As a business-to-business sales expert, Jill's ideas and insights are ubiquitous in multiple forums, both on and offline. Jill's newsletters are read by 125,000+ sellers worldwide. Her popular blog has been syndicated on numerous business...
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PBTO58: Hunch - Where Insights and Foresights Meet With Bernadette Jiwa
Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Bernadette Jiwa. She is a best selling author of multiple books and writes one of the most popular marketing and branding blogs - The Story of Telling. Smart Company named as the top business blog in Australia of 2016. Seth Godin listed it as one of…
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PBTO57: Liminal Thinking - Creating change by understanding, shaping, and reframing beliefs with Dave Gray
Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Dave Gray. He is the founder of XPLANE and author of multiple books including Liminal Thinking. Why is he on the show: He is a visual artist and uses agile, iterative techniques like Visual Thinking, Culture Mapping, and Gamestorming to get people...
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PBTO56: The Inevitable - Technological Forces that will Shape Our Future
Who is on the show today: Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His new book for Viking/Penguin is called The Inevitable, which is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He is also...
About this show
Pushing Beyond the Obvious is a podcast dedicated to help entrepreneurs succeed in a hyper-competitive & ever-changing business environment. We will invite practitioners and thought leaders to share their experience, strategies and secrets about their success, that can entrepreneurs can apply in their day-to-day life. Join us on a journey of discovering new insights every week.
Hosted by
Mukesh Gupta
Categories