For half a century, Bob Johansen has been forecasting the future. Clients, including Procter & Gamble, Walmart, and McKinsey, trust his vision. Moreover, he is an instructor at the Army War College.

Along with coauthors Joseph Press and Christine Bullen, Bob has recently released “Office Shock: Creating Better Futures for Working and Living” — his 13th book.

Ostensibly, Office Shock peers a decade ahead to describe the workplace of the future — the officeverse. Today’s office towers face strong headwinds, as the purpose and function of tomorrow’s office spaces will be rejiggered to prove a more equitable, accessible, purposeful, climate-positive future for knowledge work. 

But host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart says Office Shock is about much more than real estate. It’s about looking to the future now to take immediate steps to better prepare for what’s to come.  

“It's actually easier to think ten years ahead than it is one or two years ahead,” Bob says, discussing the effectiveness of taking a “futureback” approach to planning.

Bob and his coauthors are associated with the Palo Alto, California-based Institute for the Future, a spinoff from RAND Corporation founded in 1968. IFTF is the world's oldest continuously running futures research and educational organization.  

OTHER BOOKS BY BOB JOHANSEN:

• The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything

• Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present

• Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World

Photo: Bob Johansen, Institute for the Future
Posted: May 29, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:59
Episode: 11.41

 POPULAR RECENT EPISODES:

• No Matter the Circumstances, Resilience is a Muscle Anyone Can Develop

• The Secret to Becoming an Extraordinary Leader: “Dux te ipsum duc”

• Stop Waiting For Someone to Anoint You a Leader, and Just Be One

Dr. Henry Mintzberg is one of the world’s most highly regarded business theorists, having written more books -- 22-- than the Beatles produced #1 hits. He is an organization and management rock star.

In his latest book, Understanding Organizations … Finally, Dr. Mintzberg likens running a company or non-profit to coaching a professional sports team: You wouldn’t use the same tactics in football as you use in hockey or baseball.

Yet many CEOs mistakenly take a one-size-fits-all approach to structuring their operations. After observing and advising organizations for more than five decades, Dr. Mintzberg concludes there are seven “species” of companies and philanthropic groups, each requiring a distinctive playbook.

As Dr. Mintzberg explains to host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart, correctly identifying which type of company you own or work for is crucial to its sustainability and profitability. 

[To listen to Dr. Mintzberg’s January 2019 appearance on Monday Morning Radio, click here.] 

Photo: Dr. Henry Mintzberg, Understanding Organizations … Finally
Posted: May 15, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 48:46
Episode: 11.39

RECENT EPISODES:

• Planning Your Next Live Business Event in the Post-COVID-19 Era

• The Secret to Becoming an Extraordinary Leader: “Dux te ipsum duc”

• Sometimes, Ignorance is the Perfect Preparation for Running a Successful Business

When Victoria Pelletier sets her mind to achieving a goal, she won’t let anything or anyone stop her. Nor will she blame anyone but herself when things don’t go the way she planned.

Those two personality traits — being unstoppable and making no excuses — have been a recipe for success since she became the chief operating officer of a multinational corporation at age 24. Decades on, after holding senior roles at American Express, IBM, and Accenture, she now advises owners, CEOs, and board members on how to adopt her approach to business and life.

Victoria tells host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart that anyone, regardless of their socioeconomic background or the adversity they may have faced, can achieve professional growth and inspire others to do the same. 

Photo: Victoria Pelletier, Accenture
Posted: May 8, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:02
Episode: 11.38

LAST WEEK: This is the 1986 Song Whose Popularity Never Ends: Hear the Fairytale-Esq Story of Dave Combs’ “Rachel’s Song” — and the Business Savvy that Propels It

The days of the imperial CEO are bygone. Today’s business and organization leaders empower everyone, regardless of rank, to be heard and contribute to success. 

That’s the premise of David C. Tate, a licensed clinical psychologist and lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. David is the co-author of Conscious Accountability: Deepen Connections, Elevate Results.

Financial performance still matters. But David teaches that in the modern workplace, the means to success often matter as much as the ends.

David and his co-authors, Marianne S. Pantalon and Daryn H. David, embrace a leadership approach they dub “conscious accountability,” and offer a seven-step process — CONNECT — centered on the benefits of social awareness, values, and relationships.

C — Creating Clarity

O — Opening Up Engagement

N — Nailing It

N — Noticing

E — Exchanging Feedback

C — Claiming It

T — Trying Again

Listen and profit now as David explains to host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart how following the CONNECT roadmap leads to greater job satisfaction, elevated relationships, and better business outcomes. 

Photo: David C. Tate, Conscious Accountality
Posted: April 17, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 48:18
Episode: 11.35

Dux te ipsum duc is Latin for “Leader, Lead Thyself.”

The concept is at the heart of business growth coach Bradley Hamner’s formula for transforming owners and executives from “slaves” to their companies into masterful architects of growth and success.

Bradley is the founder of Business Growth Curator, a consultancy that coaches owners and executives on how to grow their confidence and leadership, develop an effective team, scale their companies, and make a difference.

Since launching his first business in 2009, with no customers, no leads, and very little cash, Bradley has established or built seven companies, with an eighth on the launchpad.

The secret to inspiring employees to improve their performance and satisfaction, Bradley tells host Dean Rotbart, is to address your own shortcomings first. He did just that and has been generating exceptional value for himself and his clients ever since.

[Note: You can listen to Bradley’s podcast, The Club Capital Leadership Podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and here.]

Photo: Bradley Hamner, Business Growth Curator
Posted: April 3, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 49:45
Episode: 11.33

When Jennifer Brown sizes up business and organization leaders on how well they address today’s ever-increasing demand for inclusive workplaces, she describes them on a continuum of four stages: unaware, aware, active, and advocate.

Jennifer is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and founder of Jennifer Brown Consulting, a strategic and diversity advisory firm. She has spent more than two decades helping CEOs and other executives look inward so that they can be more effective in creating a safe and productive work environment for every employee.

Among those companies that have sought Jennifer’s insights are Google, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, CapitalOne, IBM, Disney, and Coca-Cola.

You needn’t be a FORTUNE 500 CEO to benefit from her insights. All you need to do is join Jennifer and host Dean Rotbart for an insightful, actionable discussion of the steps you can take to become a more inclusive leader.

[Be sure to pick up a copy of Jennifer’s book, How to Be an Inclusive Leader, Second Edition: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive.]

Photo: Jennifer Brown, Jennifer Brown Consulting
Posted: March 27, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 58:25
Episode: 11.32

In the Fall of 2007, Eric Johnson, an entrepreneur and designer of satellite communications systems, was on vacation when he received a panicked call from his financial advisor.

“Need permission to sell.”

“Sell what?”

“Everything.”

Eric did sell, and his swift move saved him from getting walloped by the Great Recession and the ensuing turmoil in the markets.

Eric is a renaissance man: an instrument-rated private pilot, surfer, black belt, astrophotographer, angel investor, and co-founder and former CEO of Tourmaline Networks, a software engineering firm. 

After weathering the Great Recession, Eric determined he never again wanted to feel financially vulnerable. So, in addition to his other personal and professional pursuits, Eric set off on a 15-year odyssey to teach himself everything investors, owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to protect their wealth needs to know about finance and economics.

In his book, What the Hell is an Economy, Eric has distilled all that he’s learned into an easy-to-understand read that spells out what an economy is and how it works.

If you're wondering what recent bank failures, inflation, debt ceiling, currency fluctuations, and trade deficits mean for your business — where are the risks and where are the opportunities — Eric shares the answers with host and award-winning financial journalist Dean Rotbart exclusively on Monday Morning Radio.

Photo: Eric Johnson, What the Hell is an Economy
Posted: March 20, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:55
Episode: 11.31

Matt Mason, who since 2019 has served as the official state poet of Nebraska, returns to Monday Morning Radio to discuss his latest collection of poems — At The Corner of Fantasy and Main: Disneyland, Midlife and Churros — and to share his ideas for making poetry and profits rhyme.

Matt, a Wizard Academy alumnus, was last a guest on this podcast in March 2019, shortly after publishing his previous poetry collection, The Baby That Ate Cincinnati. On this visit, he continues to explain the relationship between poetry and creativity in business and entrepreneurship.

Matt hopes that the introspections he shares in At the Corner of Fantasy and Main and The Baby That Ate Cincinnati will touch readers and help fuel his ambition to earn a living by writing, performing, and teaching poetry to a corporate audience.

Turning a passion into a profitable business is never easy. This week, Matt shares his game plan for overcoming the obstacles he is certain to encounter — strategies that can help anyone who wants to be gainfully employed doing what they love.

Photo: Matt Mason, At the Corner of Fantasy and Main
Posted: March 6, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:19
Episode: 11.29

Four sneaky obstacles prevent most business owners and entrepreneurs from becoming peerless communicators, whether in writing, on video, or in front of a live audience.

There is a proven formula to vault over those hurdles, and this week’s guest, Michelle D. Gladieux, reveals how to become the best communicator you can be.

Michelle, president of Gladieux Consulting, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has taught at the college level for 18 years, starting when she was only 23.

Gladieux Consulting, which serves hundreds of companies and thousands of training participants, focuses on leadership and communication topics, strategic planning facilitation, and building creative tools that yield personal and professional development.  

Michelle’s new book, Communicate with Courage: Taking Risks to Overcome Four HIdden Challenges, provides a step-by-step guide to triumphing over fear to deliver your message more effectively and make a difference in the world.

But host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart tells Michelle that she underestimated the import of her book. As Dean observes, Communicate with Courage is really a guidebook on how to live with courage. “And who couldn’t use an extra dose of self-confidence?” Dean asks.

Photo: Michelle D. Gladieux, Gladieux Consulting
Posted: February 20, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:04
Episode: 11.27

Among the giants of self-improvement authors and speakers are Dale Carnegie, Earl Nightingale, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Blaine Oelkers.

Blaine who?

Blaine Oelkers, http://selfluence.com, is not yet as well known as these other inspiring speakers and authors — but he is a modern keeper of their inspirational flame.

In fact, Blaine is America’s only Chief Results Officer — an expert on how to get yourself to do those things you know you should do but aren’t.

In this week’s episode, Blaine will reveal his method of getting an hour’s worth of work done in only 30 minutes. He’ll show us how to create a durable new habit in only 21 seconds. And he’ll explain his WYTAYBA™ secret to unlocking the full power of your mind.

As host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart says, “While Blaine may channel Carnegie, Nightingale, and the others, he is an original — offering unique solutions for our 21st century professional and personal challenges.”

Photo: Blaine Oelkers, Selfluence.com
Posted: February 6, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:47