Introducing: Humans in the Loop

I’m launching a podcast! Focused on the intersection of technology and humanity.

I know, I know - just what the world needs - another f***ing podcast. But I hope this one is good and feels different to what’s already out there.

Why I’m starting Humans in the Loop

The loudest voices in tech seem to land in two categories:

1. Weird, nerdy boys, who later become weird, narcissistic men that believe technology will solve all our problems, and that they are uniquely positioned to be the stewards of that process.

2. Doom-mongering outsiders who paint a relentlessly bleak picture of the future in which AI has taken all our jobs and become a murderous overlord along the way.

But I don’t believe these extremes are representative, either of the truth or of the beliefs held by the majority of people. Most weird, nerdy boys don’t go on to be narcissists. Most builders in tech are doing so thoughtfully. Most people see that tech probably won’t save us or destroy us. Most of us sit somewhere in the messy middle.

So I want to delve into that space with thoughtful technologists who believe in making our experience as humans fundamentally better. People who want to build, but in the right ways. Those are the stories I want to hear more of.

Format

Each episode is a discussion with someone smart, thoughtful and working in an interesting frontier of technology. Think AI, biotech, quantum computing, nuclear fusion, climate, healthcare, education, autonomous vehicles etc.

This includes founders, senior leaders, investors, policymakers, thought leaders and who knows who else over time.

Interviews will go out in both audio and video format.

Callout for guests

I’ve already started recording and have lined up some amazing early guests but I’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in being a guest, or know someone who fits the description and might be.

I look forward to sharing more soon.

Simple but hard

I believe leadership is simple but hard. Simple in theory, hard in practice.

Contrast this to things that are complex and hard - like rocket science for example. Or those that are simple and easy - like boiling an egg. Simple but hard things present a unique challenge precisely because we can readily understand them yet find them hard to do.

But it’s often mischaracterised as complex - for a few reasons I can think of:

Firstly we think that the complexity of the world, the market, the technology, the industry and the people, calls for a complex response - overcomplicating leadership to match the environment in which it takes place.

Secondly, the leadership industry (of which I am a part) makes it sound complex. From 800-page academic deep dives, to McKinsey-style white papers, to airport books that bludgeon you with a 200-character idea for 200 pages. [For a funny dissection of these books then check out the podcast, If Books Could Kill] There’s a sense that at every level we are overcomplicating - to sound smart, to sell our services, even to justify our existence.

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, we apply the label complex as a form of coping strategy to avoid the discomfort of simple but hard things.

Take a marathon for example - another simple but hard thing. We all know people who’ve run marathons. Maybe you’ve run one yourself. And perhaps you can think of someone - a more reluctant or doubtful runner - caught up in the theory of optimal training, nutrition, and running gear, at the expense of simply running every day. They are overcomplicating, not as a means to optimise, but as a mechanism of avoidance.

Because in the face of simple but hard things, complexity becomes a place to hide from discomfort.

And there’s an awful lot of discomfort, even anguish, in leadership. If we label it ‘simple’ then we have to confront the deeper questions that arise when leading. Questions like: Why am I doing this? What motivates me? Why would people be led by me? What if I don’t know the answers? What does success really mean? Who am I? What do I really believe in? What’s authentic to me? Where are my blindspots? And the uncomfortable tasks - the hard conversations, letting people go, high-stakes decisions, difficult feedback.

So there’s something more comfy about the complex label. We slip it on like a warm jumper, turn the spotlight away from ourselves, and gaze out there on the tools, techniques and frameworks that will solve the discomfort for us.

Except they won’t.

I know they can help - providing shortcuts, building mental models, avoiding common pitfalls - and I regularly introduce clients to those that are most valuable. But unless they’re coupled with a deeper understanding as to why they might work and when they might not, then we’re an amateur cook following a recipe to the letter, with no understanding of the elemental truths of the kitchen. When life presents a fridge full of random ingredients then we realise we have no idea how to cook from scratch.

When you boil it down, leadership is quite simple - set a mission, communicate clearly, hire good people, measure progress, listen etc. None of these things are inherently complex. Leadership is hard because it’s uncomfortable, and it’s uncomfortable because it’s more about us than we care to admit.

And realising that changes the strategy. It turns the spotlight back on us and forces us to get to know ourselves better in order to lead others.

But this is good news. The work to know yourself might just be the most important and rewarding you’ll ever do. And in acknowledging simplicity you can find freedom. Freedom from playbooks and frameworks, freedom from content and noise, freedom from the question of what more you should be doing.

There is courage in subtraction. An art to stripping things away until your sat with the naked, vulnerable truth. It’s simple but hard.