Episodes

The Iowa Idea: Jason Narducy “Just Start Moving.” In this episode, I’m joined by Jason Narducy, who Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune describes as “a first-rate songwriter and band leader.” KEXP says “you won’t see more indie rock cred than on the CV of Jason Narducy.” Hailing from Evanston, IL, Jason has recorded and toured with Bob Mould Band, Superchunk, Verbow, and his current project Split Single have a new album, Amplificado, out June 25th on Inside Outside Records, which was recorded at El...

The Iowa Idea: Ed Hess “Inner peace… that’s the human journey.” For the first episode of year two at The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Ed Hess. Ed is Professor Emeritus of Business Administration in the Darden Graduate School of Business at the Univ...

The Iowa Idea: Paidi O’Reilly “We have to innovate the way we innovate.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Paidi O’Reilly. This is another show that draws on the connections between Iowa and Cork. Paidi is an innovation specialist, lecturer, and trainer focused on building innovation teams that pursue bolder targets by thinking bigger, starting smaller, but moving faster. He has guided and mentored individuals and teams innovating in EMC, Dell, Motorola, VMWare, IBM, Goog...

The Iowa Idea: Ed Morrison “There’s no best practice, only promising practices.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Ed Morrison. Ed is director of the Agile Strategy Lab at the University of North Alabama. Ed started his career in Washington, DC, where he was legislative assistant to an Ohio congressman, staff attorney in the Office of Policy Planning for the Federal Trade Commission. After leaving Washington, he joined a corporate strategy consulting firm, where he conduc...

The Iowa Idea: Bill Schmarzo “Don’t create boxes, create swirls.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Bill Schmarzo. Bill is an author, professor, innovator, and consultant. He is the author of four books including The Economics of Data, Analytics and Digital Transformation. Bill is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Hitachi Vantara where he was responsible for driving Hitachi Vantara’s Data Science and “co-creation” efforts. He was selected for Hitachi Limited’s 2020 So...

The Iowa Idea: Jon Levy “You’re Invited.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Jon Levy. Jon is a behavioral scientist best known for his work in influence, human connection, and decision making. More than a decade ago, Jon founded The Influencers Dinner, a secret dining experience for industry leaders ranging from Nobel laureates, Olympians, celebrities, and executives, to artists and musicians. Guests cook dinner together, but can’t discuss their career or give their last n...

The Iowa Idea: Nina Lohman “Worry less about the label.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Nina Lohman. Nina is a Writer, Editor, Publisher, and community builder. Her writing explores how the lived experience of chronic pain can be understood through medicine, theology, and philosophy. She is the Founder and Publisher of Brink, a literary journal dedicated to the hybrid, cross-genre work of Creatives who tend to reside outside traditional artistic disciplines. She is the ...

The Iowa Idea: Stephen McDonnell “Nothing cures fear faster than action.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Stephen McDonnell from Cork, Ireland. Stephen is a leadership, performance, resilience & team development consultant, facilitator of transformation and cultural change professional who has been helping organizations across a broad range of industries globally. Stephen believes that every person & team has an abundance of unexplored potential. Stephen’s passion and pu...

The Iowa Idea: Andrew Sherburne “It’s all about trust and relationships.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Andrew Sherburne. Andrew is co-founder and Executive Director of FilmScene, Iowa City’s nonprofit cinema and a producer/director at Northland Films. His most recent film, Saving Brinton, was named one of “the Best Movies of 2018” (Washington Post). Andrew’s filmography includes Gold Fever (2013), which earned the 2013 International Federation for Human Rights Film Aw...

The Iowa Idea: Ben McDougal “You don’t need this book.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Ben McDougal. Ben is a tech founder, multimedia marketer, entrepreneurial ecosystem builder and inspired author in the connected era. He evolves ideas into reality and accelerates others through the art of connection. We dig into Ben’s journey as an entrepreneur and network connector, starting with his early foray into web design and SEO, to his work as an intrepreneur, to his proces...

The Iowa Idea: Nate Kaeding “The importance of design.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Nate Kaeding. Nate is the Director of Business Development for Build to Suit, Inc. a construction management and real estate development firm based in Bettendorf and Coralville, Iowa. Nate is an active venture capital investor in several Corridor businesses and real estate developments including: Involta, Higher Learning Technologies, Pullman Bar & Diner, St. Burch Tavern, Big Grove B...

The Iowa Idea: Varun “It happens all the time.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by researcher, entrepreneur and author Varun Murugesan. Varun is cofounder and Head of Research at Apple & Banana where he believes that everyone can do fruitful research. Varun has spent his career immersed in psychology, technology and design at organizations like Facebook, Unitedhealth Group and Best Buy, along with rising startups across the country. When he’s not sharing perspectives, colla...

The Iowa Idea: Scott Smith “How to Future” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by futurist and author Scott Smith. How to Future: Leading and Sense-making in an Age of Hyperchange, co-authored with Madeline Ashby, was published in September 2020. I was introduced to Scott’s work by friend and podcast guest Nick Scappaticci. Scott is a founder and managing partner of Changeist, a futures research and consulting partnership. He has consulted to a range of global institution and ...

The Iowa Idea: Rachel Williams “There are people who work really hard at it.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Rachel Williams. Rachel is a native of Eastern North Carolina. She holds a Ph.D. in Art Education and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from Florida State University. She is an Associate Professor of Gender Women’s and Sexuality Studies and Studio Art at the University of Iowa where she has worked since 1999. Her writing appears in Southern Cultures, Meridians, the Journal...

The Iowa Idea: Abby Covert “Maybe we don’t know.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Abby Covert. Abby is an information architect, writer, community organizer, and all-around awesome human. Abby served as President of IA Institute, co-chair of IA Summit, and Executive Producer of IDEA. She is a founding faculty member of SVA’s Products of Design program, Design Operations Summit and Advancing Research Conference. She invented World IA Day, bringing IA education to thousand...

The Iowa Idea: Jim Sherlock In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Jim Sherlock. Jim is Director of Information Security & Technology Implementation at Pearson. Jim’s teams are responsible for protecting more than 250 million sensitive records that are processed and maintained by Pearson’s global Assessment platforms. Jim is one of the inventors on the US patent on automated testing error assessment systems. Jim continues to push the bounds of Ed Tech and is exploring virtual r...

The Iowa Idea: Saul Kaplan “You can’t analyze your way to transformation!” Welcome to The Iowa Idea Podcast. In this episode, I’m joined by Saul Kaplan. Saul is an innovation junkie, the founder and Chief Catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory (also known as BIF) and author of The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant when the World Is Changing. Saul started BIF in 2005 with a mission to enable business model innovation. BIF makes transformational change safer and easier ...

The Iowa Idea: Dr. Kenneth G. Brown “An opportunity to get better together.” Welcome to the 75th episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, where I’m joined by Dr. Kenneth G. Brown. Ken is a Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship in the Tippie College of Business at The University of Iowa. He also serves as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Program in Business. Ken grew up in Maryland and earned his PhD at Michigan State. His award-winning research focuses on e-learning, engagement, leadership devel...

The Iowa Idea: Annie Duke “This is going to be such a weird podcast.” Welcome to this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, where I’m joined by Annie Duke. Annie is an author, speaker, and decision strategist. Her latest book is called How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices. Annie’s previous book, Thinking in Bets, is a national bestseller. I highly recommend for innovators and strategists. As a former professional poker player, Annie has won more than $4 million in tournament poker...

The Iowa Idea: Dan Klyn “What has been will always be.” Welcome to this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast where I’m joined by Dan Klyn. Dan is a wonderful human. He teaches information architecture at the University of Michigan School of Information, is co-founder of World Information Architecture Day, past President of the Information Architecture Institute, and is a founding member of the teaching faculty at Building Beauty. In 2011 he co-founded The Understanding Group (TUG) with Bob Royce, a...

The Iowa Idea: Justin Ahrens “If somebody wrote a story about your life, would it be interesting?” Welcome to this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast where I’m joined by Justin Ahrens. Justin is the Chief Evangelist at Rule29 and the author of Life Kerning. Since 2000, Justin has led his creative agency and Certified B Corporation®, Rule29, in a commitment to smart business, great design, and helping others think differently about the world around them. Justin and Rule29 have been recognized by ...

The Iowa Idea: Gregg Bernstein “Writing is the superpower for researchers.” Welcome to this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast where I’m joined by Gregg Bernstein. Gregg establishes user research practices for growing organizations, and wrote Research Practice: Perspectives from UX researchers in a changing field. He spends his days advocating for and practicing user-centered product development as lead user researcher for Webflow. He speaks around the world about his work at conferences and comp...

The Iowa Idea: Dan Clay “Attend to the people side.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I sit down with Dan Clay. Dan is currently professor and dean of the University of Iowa College of Education. Prior to this, Dan served as the dean of the University of Missouri College of Education since 2010. At the University of Missouri, he was also on the board of directors of the Missouri Innovation Center, a business incubator/accelerator. Dan and I explore his journey from growing up in a sm...

The Iowa Idea: Ophira Eisenberg “Go towards the people that are saying yes.” In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I sit down with Ophira Eisenberg. Ophira is a standup comedian, writer, and host of NPR’s national syndicated comedy-trivia show and podcast Ask Me Another. She is a regular host and teller on The Moth Radio Hour. Ophira’s comedic memoir, Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy was optioned for a feature film and her comedy special Inside Joke is available on Amazon and iTu...