Boss Level Podcast

For this episode of Boss Level I took the ferry over to Tallinn to visit the office of TransferWise. TransferWise is creating a fast and cost-effective way of sending money from a country to another. It’s valuation in its previous round of funding was close to a billion. The way they operate is inspiring. Teams have a Key Performance Indicator or KPI that they try to improve. The KPI’s are as customer-facing as possible. How the teams improve that KPI is totally up to them. And just to make it even more complex, but effective teams can also change the KPI they use. I’m talking to Nilan Peiris, their VP of Growth. Links for the episode: TransferWise Nilan Peiris on Twitter Sponsor links: Vijay Govindarajan's Three Box Strategy Model Nordic Business Forum Nordic Business Forum SWEDEN Links for the podcast: Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/P0dpf Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bosslevelpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/bosslevelpod iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/fi/podcast/boss-level/id1041885043 We

I'm visiting New York and interviewing Aaron Dignan, the founder of a company called The Ready. We discuss the future of work and complex, adaptive systems. We try to figure out why cities thrive when they grow and why companies don't. In the end, we reveal the formula for the next unicorn startup. Links for the episode: Aaron Dignan on Twitter The Ready Links for the podcast: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bosslevelpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/bosslevelpod iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/fi/podcast/boss-level/id1041885043 Website: http://www.bosslevelpodcast.com Sami Honkonen on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SamiHonkonen Sami's blog: http://www.samihonkonen.com Links to Nordic Business Forum: Nordic Business Forum Sweden

Today we have a very special guest. Jari Sarasvuo. Jari first became known for his work in radio and TV. Then in 1990 he founded a company called Trainers’ House that delivers management consulting and training for executives. Jari is still one of the biggest owners of Trainers House, but he now has a new endeavour, called Stronghold. Stronghold caters to a broader audience with a combination of digital and face-to-face trainings. Our talk covers Jari’s Twitter mania, his troubled relationship with technology, his digital training business and we close off by discussing self-organizing companies and performance targets. Links for the episode: Vijay Govindarajan's Three Box Strategy Model Nordic Business Forum Nordic Business Forum SWEDEN Trainers' House Stronghold Links for the podcast: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bosslevelpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/bosslevelpod iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/fi/podcast/boss-level/id1041885043 Website: http://www.bosslevelpodcast.com Sami Honkonen on Twi

The first guest for the second season of Boss Level is Linda Liukas. She’s changing the world by helping kids learn technology. Her TEDx talk is just about to reach a million views. We discuss learning, education, writing and technology. A word of warning though, her enthusiasm is pretty infectious. Enjoy. Links for the episode: Linda on Twitter Linda's TEDx talk: A delightful way to teach kids about computers Hello Ruby Rails Girls Montessori education Links for the podcast: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bosslevelpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/bosslevelpod iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/fi/podcast/boss-level/id1041885043 Website: http://www.bosslevelpodcast.com Sami Honkonen on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SamiHonkonen Sami's blog: http://www.samihonkonen.com

This episode is about the simple, but powerful concept of Toyota Kata and how it’s applied at the gaming company King. I’m interviewing Håkan Forss, an agile coach, working for King in Stockholm. This episode is the end of Season 1 of Boss Level. The next episode will be out on the 14th of March 2016. Links for Sami's band Embreach: Embreach on Facebook Embreach on Twitter Embreach on Spotify Periscope: @embreachband Links mentioned in podcast: Sami's blog King Håkan Forss Mike Rother: Toyota Kata on Amazon Blue Arrow Awards Links related to the podcast: Boss Level on Facebook Boss Level on Twitter Boss Level RSS feed Boss Level website

10 000 employees. No managers. Great results. Founded in 2006 Buurtzorg has taken the home care industry in Holland by storm. It has a lion’s share of the market. Clients rate Buurtzorg as 9.1 out of 10. Buurtzorg has been selected as the best place to work in Holland 5 times in a row. This is an interview with the CEO and founder, Jos de Blok. Jos de Blok on Twitter Recent blog post on Buurtzorg My colleague Panu Liira on Twitter

Most people fear snakes. A lot of people fear public speaking. Some companies are lead with fear. Why do we fear? What is fear? When is fear harmful and when is it beneficial? Henkka Hyppönen, today’s guest, is an expert on fear. He recently wrote a book about it called “Why we fear”. At the end of the episode, I’ll tell you how you can win a free copy of the book. Links for the episode: Henkka Hyppönen website Henkka Hyppönen on Twitter Why We Fear on Amazon Why We Fear on iBooks Jon Franklin: Writing for story on Amazon (This is the book Henkka mentioned in the beginning, but couldn't remember the name of) Robert Rodriguez: Rebel without a Crew on Amazon Links to the podcast: Website Twitter Facebook RSS Sami Honkonen (host) on Twitter Sami's website

Today’s guest is Kathrine Kirk, an independent consultant who often finds herself working with conflict-ridden teams that are deemed hopeless. She gave an interesting keynote at the Lean Agile Scotland conference on why team happiness might not be a good thing to aim for.

Today’s guest is Dave Snowden. Dave is the man behind Cynefin, a decision support framework that’s based on complexity theory and cognitive science. In addition to Cynefin we discuss strategy, budgeting, performance targets and other important management concepts. Dave also shares research that shows which is more accurate in predicting human behavior: Myers-Briggs personality types or astrology. Cynefin illustrated Cynefin on Wikipedia Cognitive Edge SenseMaker Honorary Professorship for David J Snowden HBR article: A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making Assemblage theory Constructor theory Aquina’s Summa Theologica

Today my guest is Henrik Kniberg. Henrik is well known for his books and for his work with Spotify, Lego and many others. Henrik works through Crisp, a Swedish consultancy that has published their company DNA online. The DNA consists of all the essential principles, processes and agreements with which the company operates. We discuss the unorthodox organizational model at Crisp, Henrik’s work with his clients, and how his kids, aged 10 and 11, won a robot battle against teams of professional programmers. Henrik Kniberg on Twitter Lean from the Trenches on Amazon Scrum and XP from the Trenches on Amazon Crisp Crisp DNA GOTO Conference Lego Mindstorms Larman & Vodde: Scaling Lean & Agile Development on Amazon Reinertsen: Principles of Product Development Flow on Amazon Weinberg on Amazon

This a special bonus episode on online privacy. I’m talking to Mikko Hyppönen, the Chief Research Officer at F-Secure. Mikko is geek who has over the years become a security celebrity. We discuss privacy, tracking, Reddit, TED and viruses. Mikko on Twitter F-Secure F-Secure Labs Blog Freedome Mikko's AMA on Reddit Mikko's TED Talk: Fighting viruses, defending the net Hacker News Hackers & Painters on Amazon Morris Worm on Wikipedia Password manager on Wikipedia Social engineering on Wikipedia

An interview with Niklas Modig, author of This is Lean. This episode is a neat package of insights on lean. Here’s a few questions you should be able to answer after this episode if you listen close: What is lean? What is resource efficiency? What is flow efficiency? Why is flow important? How can we increase flow? And even if you already know the answer to those questions there’s plenty of great examples and bits of wisdom to learn from. Niklas Modig on Twitter Photo of Niklas Modig and Justin Timberlake This is Lean on Amazon John Seddon Sami's recommendation of a book by John Seddon: Freedom From Command and Control

This episode is an interview with Nilofer Merchant. She was in Helsinki speaking at the Nordic Business Forum 2015 a few weeks back. She’s an author of two books, she has received the Future Thinker award from Thinkers 50. Nilofer also has a popular TED talk and she’s a writer for publications such as Harvard Business Review. Links for this episode: Nilofer's 1st book: 11 Rules for Creating Value In #SocialEra (2012) Nilofer's 2nd book: The New How (2014) Nilofer's TED talk: Got a meeting? Take a walk. Teaching Smart People How to Learn (Article on double-loop learning by Chris Argyris) From Sami's blog: Bonuses hinder double-loop learning Links to the podcast: Website iTunes Twitter Facebook Host: Sami Honkonen

An interview with Spotify's VP of Operations, Simon Marcus. We discuss the concept of a minimum viable company, how Scrum and Kanban are a gateway drug and who should do the thinking in organizations. Regarding Spotify we cover the hierarchy in the company and how the chapters, tribes and squads model is essentially just a matrix with fancy names. Links to the podcast: Website iTunes Twitter Facebook Host: Sami Honkonen Links to stuff mentioned in the episode: Person: Simon Marcus Company: Spotify Person: Marc Maron Framework: Scrum Framework: Kanban Videos that cover chapters, tribes and squads: Spotify Engineering Culture - part 1, part 2 Person: Daniel Ek (Spotify CEO) Person: Henrik Kniberg Person: Will Evans Person: Jabe Bloom Book: Henrik Kniberg: Lean from the Trenches Person: Arne Roock Company: Jimdo Person: Håkan Forss Person: Chris Argyris Company: Crisp Crisp DNA Book: Peter Thiel: Zero To One Book: Jack Welch: Winning Book: Stephen Bungay: The Art of Action Book: Pascal Dennis: Getting the Rig

An introduction to the podcast Learn more about the host: http://www.samihonkonen.com/ Learn more about Reaktor: http://www.reaktor.com