The Curious Advantage Podcast
The Curious Advantage Podcast explores how curiosity drives success in the digital age. Hosted by authors and business leaders Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown, and Garrick Jones, each episode features conversations with global experts across business, science, and culture. Paul Ashcroft and Garrick Jones are co-founders of Ludic Group and authors of The Curious Advantage and ALIVE: Digital Humans and Their Organizations. Simon Brown is Global Learning & Development Leader, Partner, Talent at EY, and co-author of The Curious Advantage. Together, they share insights and practical tools to help individuals and organizations unlock their potential through curiosity. Learn more at curiousadvantage.com.
Episodes
AI is a contact sport: you learn it by playing with it, not by watching. Andy Baldwin, Senior Vice President of Offerings and Growth at IBM Consulting and Chair of the IBM UK Board, explains why this technology shift is bigger than any he has seen in 30 years of consulting.
Garrick Jones and Paul Ashcroft talk with Andy, formerly Global Managing Partner at EY, about what AI is really changing for organisations, for consulting ...
Most organisations have adopted AI faster than they can govern it. Among the companies Duke CE works with, close to six in ten have embedded AI into their operations, but fewer than one in five have the governance to match.
Sharmla Chetty is chief executive of Duke Corporate Education, which works with leaders in more than 80 countries. She joins Garrick Jones and Simon Brown to argue that AI readiness is not a technology test...
AI is not just another tool cycle. Dr. Michael Housman says it is the third digital disruption, and most organizations are still underestimating how fast it will reshape work, jobs, and competitive advantage.Simon Brown, Paul Ashcroft, and Garrick Jones sit down with Housman, founder and CEO of AI Accelerator and author of Future Proof: Transform Your Business with AI or Get Left Behind to unpack why curiosity, not just techn...
What makes a great question, and why might asking better ones be one of our most important human skills in the age of AI?
In this episode, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones are joined by award-winning author and innovation advisor Larry Robertson to explore the power of questioning, curiosity and intellectual humility.
They discuss why we are born questioning, how great questions help us navigate uncertainty, what humans need to re...
Paul Ashcroft and Garrick Jones are joined by Markus Bernhardt, founder of Endeavour Intelligence, to explore what is really changing as organisations adopt AI.
Drawing on his background in particle physics and his research into AI strategy and organisational transformation, Markus argues that the biggest shift isn’t simply the arrival of new tools. It is the quieter rewiring of how work gets done, how decisions are made...
In this episode of The Curious Advantage Podcast, Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones speak with Javier Echave, Chief Operating Officer of Heathrow Airport, about what it takes to lead one of the world’s most complex operations.
Heathrow is more than an airport. It is a city of 90,000 people, bringing together 400 companies and serving around 85 million passengers every year. Javier explains how curiosity, clear...
In this powerful episode of The Curious Advantage Podcast, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones speak with award-winning educator, author and entrepreneur Brandon Fleming about his extraordinary journey from joining a gang at 12 and selling drugs at 14 to becoming one of the youngest debate coaches recruited by Harvard University.
Brandon shares how a single teacher challenged everything he had been told about himself, recognised his...
Most leaders focus on what they say. Dr. Laura Sicola argues that how you say it matters just as much.
In this episode of The Curious Advantage Podcast, executive communication coach, cognitive linguist and author Dr. Laura Sicola explores the concept of the "leadership voice"—the combination of your literal voice and your unique perspective. Together, they shape how your message lands, how others perceive you, and ultim...
In this milestone 100th episode of The Curious Advantage Podcast, Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones reflect on six years of conversations exploring curiosity, leadership, learning, AI and the future of work.
What began during lockdown has grown into a global platform for ideas spanning neuroscience, psychology, education, business transformation, technology and the arts. In this special episode, the team looks back ...
Professor Robert “Bob” Kegan (Harvard Graduate School of Education) joins The Curious Advantage Podcast to explore curiosity, adult development, and why meaningful change is often so difficult.
Bob explains curiosity as a “delight in the knowing gap” and shares how adults grow through different stages of psychological development, from the socialised mind to self-authorship and the self-transforming min...
Join Simon Brown and Paul Ashcroft as they explore Tara May's inspiring journey from journalism to leading Aspirtech, a company championing neurodiversity and harnessing the unique strengths of autistic adults. Discover how curiosity drives innovation, leadership, and social impact in the digital age.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Neurodiversity and Leadership
02:59 Tara's Journey: From Journalism to CEO
06:06 Understand...
Unlock the secret to building an authentic, high-quality brand in a saturated market.
In this episode, we’re joined by Finn Hall, CEO of Headstrong and former Team GB cyclist, who is redefining the functional mushrooms space through an uncompromising focus on quality, design and curiosity.
Finn shares his journey from elite sport to young entrepreneurship, revealing how a personal discovery sparked a mission to challenge ...
In this episode, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones speak with leadership expert Shawn Vanderhoven about how curiosity, and the often overlooked power of pausing, can transform leadership, decision-making, and team performance.
In a world that rewards speed and constant action, Shawn challenges the assumption that great leaders need to move faster. Instead, he explores how creating space, through better questions, clearer prioritie...
In this episode of The Curious Advantage, former Navy SEAL officer and human performance expert Rich Diviney joins Simon Brown and Garrick Jones to explore what truly drives leadership, performance under pressure, and the neuroscience behind stress and fear. Drawing on two decades in the SEAL Teams, Rich breaks down why attributes and not skills determine success in high-pressure, high-uncertainty environments.
Rich explains h...
Today we are joined by Salvatore Manzi, a communication and leadership coach who helps data-driven leaders turn expertise into influence.
For over 20 years, Salvatore has guided executives and founders through high-stakes moments, from boardrooms and investor meetings to global stages such as SXSW and the United Nations, and even a U.S. presidential campaign. His work focuses on one critical shift. Moving from information deli...
In this episode of The Curious Advantage, Art Kleiner — author of The AI Dilemma — joins Simon Brown & Garrick Jones for a conversation about what it really means to build Responsible AI.
Together, they explore the tensions at the heart of today’s AI landscape: rapid innovation vs accountability, efficiency vs empathy, and the risks of bias, misinformation and unintended consequences. Drawing on the &ldqu...
FBF -- Flashback Friday
In this throwback episode of The Curious Advantage Podcast, Simon Brown, Paul Ashcroft and Garrick Jones speak with Alexia Cambon, Senior Director of Research at Microsoft, about how AI is transforming work and what sets today’s Frontier Firms apart.
They explore insights from Microsoft’s Work Trend Index—including Agent Bosses, digital labour, and Intelligence on Tap—and di...
FBF -- Flashback Friday
In this episode, global HR and HR technology analyst Josh Bersin, Founder & CEO of The Josh Bersin Company, joins the authors of The Curious Advantage — Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown and Garrick Jones — to explore curiosity in the flow of work.
They discuss the role of curiosity in learning and people development, how curiosity supports adaptability in a digital-first world, and why curious ...
FBF — Flashback Friday
In this episode, Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor at Harvard Business School, explores curiosity, leadership, and psychological safety in the digital age.
Drawing on The Right Kind of Wrong (named the Financial Times’ #1 Business Book), she shares practical insights on productive failure, learning, and building high-performing teams.
This episode was originally published January 2024.
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