Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.
Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies since 2003 and was dubbed by The M.I.T. Technology Review as, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.”
He is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. His books have resonated with readers worldwide, selling over 1 million copies in over 30 languages.
Indistractable received critical acclaim, winning the Outstanding Works of Literature Award as well as being named one of the Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon and one of the Best Personal Development Books of the Year by Audible. The Globe and Mail called Indistractable, “the best business book of 2019.”
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guest:
Nir Eyal: LinkedIn
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- The psychology of distraction and how to overcome it
- 4 Steps to manage distractions and internal triggers
- Creating a distraction-free workplace culture
- AI and distraction. And will it take over the world?
Show notes:
- [1:16] What made you come up with the book “Indistractable”? What was the thesis behind it?
- [4:21] What I discovered is that the psychology of distraction reveals that the solution to distraction is much more interesting and much more empowering than the excuse that we keep saying to ourselves, that it’s all technology’s fault. It is not technology’s fault. It is something much deeper and much more empowering that we all can do about it.
- [7:56] The opposite of distraction is not focus, the opposite of distraction is traction. Think about it, traction and distraction they’re antonyms. They both end in the same six letters, ACTION, reminding us that distraction is not something that happens to us, it is an action that we ourselves take.
- [13:49] If you really want to know what someone’s real values are, do not just listen to what they say, but look at what their values are in their heart of hearts. Look at two things: You look at their checkbook, you look at how they spend their money, and you look at how they spend their time.
- [18:22] Bringing it now to a very practical angle for workplaces. Are there any low-hanging practical tips on creating this environment for your teams?
- [19:08] What we find is that these indestructible companies have three attributes, one is they encourage what’s called psychological safety. The second is that employees are given a forum to talk about these problems of distraction. The third characteristic of an indestructible workplace is it is run by people at the top of these organizations who exemplify what it means to be indestructible.
- [25:08] I tell parents all the time, that if you want indestructible kids, if you want indestructible employees, you have to demonstrate what it means to be indestructible, you have to stop being a hypocrite because culture flows downhill.
- [27:00] What are some of your thoughts in terms of how AI will play out in the next 12 to 24 months?
Quotes from the Episode:
About the Host:
The host, Radu Palamariu is the co-author of “From Source to Sold – Stories of Leadership in Supply Chain”. He has been named one of the top 3 Global Supply Chain Influencers on LinkedIn and was featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, WEF, Bangkok Post, and MIT Supply Chain Talent magazine. Radu invites executives to share stories and perspectives around technology, logistics, e-commerce, supply chain, and manufacturing, and their views on how the future will look.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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