Penguin

As a leader, I'd seen the power of language as a submarine commander, and by how changing just very small nuance changes to the words had an outsized effect on the team. Just because something makes sense doesn't mean it's true. It may be a plausible reason, it may be a sensible reason, it may be a logical reason, but that doesn't mean it's the real reason. Okay?

And interestingly, soap manufacturers very quickly switched from a hygiene message to an attractiveness message. The evils of technology, and that stuff is really healthy and good. So if that push continues, I hope that it'll recede before the robots take over. More people would rather die than give a presentation, which means that more people would rather be in the casket at a funeral than giving the eulogy.

Well, our guest today wants to put an end to all of that. Viv Groskop is a stand-up comedian, author, and regular contributor to The Guardian, The Observer, and The Mail on Sunday, as well as Front Row, Woman's Hour, and Newsnight. These are people who have so many speaking engagements that they do not have time to prepare for all of them. It's physically impossible, and the higher up the ladder you go at work, the more responsibilities you have, the more leadership qualities you need to show.

If economic rationality were really all that valuable in evolutionary terms, then male strippers would dress as accountants. But they don't. They dress as firemen. Because we've evolved to find bravery attractive, and we find rational caution, to be honest, rather boring and a bit of a turn-off.

I was just so angry, I deleted all the apps on my phone. Pretty much everything that you can delete. The email that you're hoping for, we're constantly pulling the handle and constantly getting just crap coming out. And we really sacrifice our lives for that.

It would be great to hear from you if there was one nugget that people could take away or start talking about in the breakout sessions that follow this lovely conversation, what it would be. Number one, when you make decisions, give them expiry dates that you enforce a pause because your organisation's going to be biased into action. Oh, we made that decision. We're done.

During this session with your host, you'll have time to reflect on the amazing, rich, and thought-provoking ideas that Rory shared with us over the last hour and to think about how you can apply those in your life and in your work and in your business. I love this question. How do you avoid anarchy when you invite dissent rather than drive consensus? And he said, why don't we launch Diamond Shreddies by turning them through 45 degrees?

And what was fascinating is they did market research, and people actually said they tasted different. The inner critic is a lunatic. We all have that lunatic trapped inside our minds, I think. It's the thing that sounds weird to you, that might be the next amazing innovation.