How New Things Get Done. The 1%ers

Episode 21: System Boundaries

Darrell and Shana talk about lies, damn lies and system boundaries. System boundaries: the sneaky culprits preventing organizations from an AI deployment aligned purpose. 

Episode 20: Moonshot or Scattershot?

Darrell and Shana talk about the Moonshots EXO model for businesses. 

Eipsode 19: Thinking Holistically

In this pod, Darrell and Shana talk about how the future will require more holistic thinkers.

Episode 18: Seeing in Systems

Shana and Darrell unravel the meaning and importance of seeing systems when attempting to do a new thing. Systems are everywhere! It's time to spot them and put you in charge of what to do about it. 

Episode 17: Unknown Unknowns

The gap between what we see and what is true is often the culprit preventing us from getting a new thing done. Wisdom has nothing to do with age. It is recognizing when you don't know what you don't know, and the old rules are no longer useful. In the age of AI, that is the only thing that is going to matter.

Episode 16: Leadership - Is Elevate and Delegate a good idea?

 Is elevate and delegate actually good advice? In this leadership episode, Shana and Darrell challenge one of management's most repeated principles and ask the harder question underneath it. Better decisions require something most organizations don't have: leaders who can think horizontally across functions, not just vertically within them. They dig into why hiring for systems thinking is nearly invisible in most recruitment processes, why so many meetings exist just to compensate for its absence, and what changes when leaders can finally see the whole board.

Episode15: NEPTUNE Banking

Shana and Darrell use NEPTUNE to think about how traditional banking could be reimagined for someone wanting to do a new thing. 

Episode 14: AI Mission Drift: Inevitable but is it beneficial?

As Open AI opens up for advertising revenue, what are the implications.
It's a question of trust . What is the direction?
Shana and Darrell examine the good and the bad. 

Episode 13: Beating the AI Blues

Darrell and Shana assess the size of the AI iceberg and consider how to survive in a regime when none of the usual rules apply. 

Episode 12: Beyond the Comfort Zone: Reinventing Yourself in the Age of AI

This episode of How New Things Get Done uses Oracle's layoff of 30,000 employees as a launching point for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens when the "invisible contracts" of the industrial age collapse and what individuals and organizations can do about it.
The core argument is that we are entering a world where AI will handle the majority of routine left-brain work meaning the old playbook of losing a job and finding a similar one elsewhere is breaking down. There is no more cheese to find so people need to discover a different kind of value in themselves.
Darrell introduces the "three C's" which are counterintuitive thinking and causality and complexity as the uniquely human skills AI cannot replicate and the ones people should lean into. Shana frames the book they co-wrote as sitting between the woo-woo world of vision and manifestation and the grind-it-out world of Atomic Habits offering a structured and math-grounded middle path to genuine reinvention.
The hosts discuss Joseph Pine's transformation economy as a roadmap for where value is heading arguing that almost anyone laid off from a software or SaaS role could build a transformation business today with little more than an AI subscription. The conversation then broadens into the singularity debate and meaning-making as the core human drive and Norway as a case study in what people do when freed from necessity.
The episode closes with a discussion of the ethics of contradictions at a societal level using UNESCO's failing sustainable development goals as an example and finally whether love reframed by Ian McGilchrist as the intersection of truth and beauty and goodness might be the compass for navigating what comes next.

Episode 11:Route to Market: Benches, Hugs and Fashion

In this episode, Darrell and Shana tackle the part of getting a new thing done that trips up almost everyone: route to market. Using real stories, an entrepreneur who sat outside a Walmart buyer's office for a day and a half with no appointment, a small automotive company whose breakthrough technology got bought and shelved by an incumbent, and Shana's own bruising experience of manufacturing in Hong Kong, they show why having a great idea is necessary but nowhere near sufficient. They unpack the Big Friendly Giant principle (if you're small, you need someone big who has your back), the Innovator's Dilemma as a strategic playbook rather than an academic concept, and why entering a market with an apparently inferior product can be smarter than leading with your best.
The conversation then turns practical. Darrell breaks down a hypothetical "hugs business" in real time using the Law of System Completeness, showing how to inventory every piece a new venture needs before spending serious money. A story about a "happy to chat" bench in an English town that nobody would sit on becomes a masterclass in why context determines everything and why the cheapest resource you have is your ability to think before you act. Throughout, Shana makes the case that AI can now give individual entrepreneurs the kind of system thinking and domain awareness that used to be the exclusive advantage of large enterprises, provided you use it to run toward the difficult questions rather than to validate the answers you already want to hear.

Episode 10: Running Towards the Hard Things

In this episode, Shanna and Darrell explore the "1%er" mindset of running toward the difficult bits, the high impact, high discomfort challenges that define true breakthroughs. Using a 2x2 framework of impact versus comfort zones, the duo discuss how industry giants like Coca-Cola and Starbucks face existential disruption from GLP-1 medications, and how the "ideal final result" (such as self-cleaning clothes) can render entire sectors like detergent and appliance manufacturing obsolete. Shanna emphasizes that while AI serves as a powerful new utility for solving contradictions, the human element, characterized by grit, energy management, and the willingness to be wrong, remains the ultimate driver of innovation.

Episode 9:Reimagining Education for the AI Transformation Economy

Shana and Darrell dismantle the "locked-in" Prussian education system, rebuilding it for a future where AI renders rote answers obsolete. They identify that schools have historically functioned as a complex web of childcare and labor-market stabilizers rather than true centers of learning, creating a "sinkhole" where billions in EdTech have failed. The breakthrough comes from recognizing that the "Prussian" goal of creating order-followers must be traded for Systemic Inquiry—prioritizing curiosity and the human ability to navigate uncertainty over the increasingly automated ability to provide a "correct" fact.
For the five displaced entrepreneurs in this scenario, the opportunity lies in the "Transformation Economy": leveraging AI to compress rote learning into two hours so the remaining six can be dedicated to play, socialization, and entrepreneurial skills. By shifting the compass from providing answers to mastering the "Is it true?" protocol, they outline a scalable model for anti-fragile education. It’s an essential signpost for anyone ready to stop hitting the "easy button" and start teaching the next generation how to ask the questions that AI can't yet imagine.

Episode 8:Shadow Leadership

Darrell and Shana discuss shadow leadership systems. How AI can help you see the system and what to do about it.
 
 

Episode 7: From Jobless to Industry Disruptor: A Real-Time Strategy Session on Building Win-Win Ecosystems

Shana and Darrell build a viable business model from scratch in real-time, starting with just three unemployed people and a simple goal: feed people healthy food. What emerges is a illustration of systems thinking, contradiction-solving, and ecosystem design that could scale to challenge billion-dollar incumbents. Watch out for the moment they identify the true compass that transforms charity into disruptive innovation.
An opportunity signpost for founders thinking about their next venture.

Episode 6: Is Your Business Headed for Chaos? A CEO's Guide to the AI Inflection Point

AI is collapsing traditional work timelines from months to days. This conversation explores how CEOs can use AI to identify organizational contradictions, measure what truly matters, and iterate faster than competitors. The key isn't replacing humans with AI, 's asking better questions and developing the creativity skills that will define future success.

Episode 5:What Makes You Valuable in the Age of AI and How Leaders Can Spot It!

In this episode Darrell and Shana talk about 1%ers as rare birds to spot in your organization. We dismantle innovation theater, explain why brainstorming sessions fail, and use SaaS and pharmacy cases to show what actual AI innovation does or doesn't look like.