The Knowledge Management Series: Annie Murphy | The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain
The Unmistakable Creative Podcast
Srinivas Rao
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2022
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, we're thrilled to have Annie Murphy Paul, an acclaimed author and a graduate of Columbia University's School of Journalism. Annie has a keen interest in the science of learning, a topic she has extensively explored in her work.
Annie shares her journey of writing a book about the science of learning. She discusses the challenges she faced in finding a big idea that could pull together all the disparate pieces of research she was uncovering. It wasn't until she landed on the theory of the extended mind, proposed by philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers, that she found the organizing principle for her book.
In our conversation, Annie delves into the role of leaders and managers in creating environments for people to thrive. She argues that we need to rethink the role of leaders and managers, not as people managers, but as situation creators. They should focus on creating environments in which people can think well and thrive emotionally.
Annie also touches on the impact of personality tests and the tendency of people to attribute fixed qualities to themselves and others. She finds personality tests fascinating, not only because they're used by organizations to put people into boxes, but also because people often want to be put into boxes. This tendency, she argues, overlooks the role of context in understanding behavior.
Join us in this enlightening conversation with Annie Murphy Paul and learn more about the science of learning and the theory of the extended mind. You can find the Unmistakable Creative Podcast on all major podcast platforms. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I had set out to write a book specifically about the science of learning, which was something |
| 0:05.1 | I had become really interested in when my two children started school, and this was now probably a |
| 0:10.3 | decade ago. And I ended up, I tried. I tried for many years to write a book about the science of |
| 0:17.3 | learning, but the problem there was that I couldn't find a big idea that pulled together all the |
| 0:23.6 | disparate pieces of research that I was uncovering in the science of learning. And I really need a |
| 0:28.5 | big idea to get excited about a project. And so it wasn't until I landed on the theory of the |
| 0:34.5 | extended mind, which was proposed by two philosophers. It is not my idea. It's an idea that I borrowed |
| 0:41.6 | from Andy Clark and David Chalmers, but it wasn't until I read their article, which was written in 1998, |
| 0:47.9 | on the introducing the theory of the extended mind that I really realized that like, okay, this |
| 0:53.1 | is what the book will be about, or this is what is this is the big idea that will organize all |
| 0:58.0 | this research that I've been collecting. I'm Sreeni Rao, and this is the unmistakable creative |
| 1:06.9 | podcast where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most innovative and creative |
| 1:11.4 | minds who've started movements, built thriving businesses, written best selling books, and created |
| 1:16.2 | and insanely interesting art. For more, check out our 500 episode archive at unmistakablecreative.com. |
| 1:25.6 | Annie, welcome to the unmistakable creative. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us. |
| 1:29.2 | Hey, I'm really glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me. |
| 1:31.9 | It is my pleasure to have you here. So I actually found out about your work when I came across |
| 1:36.5 | your book, the extended mind. And it was kind of funny because I didn't quite know what I was |
| 1:40.6 | getting myself into as somebody who was really into sort of, you know, becoming more productive, |
| 1:45.0 | taking better notes. I thought, oh, this is going to be all about, you know, sort of brain power. |
| 1:48.9 | And then, you know, I got through the book and realized that you had taken something that I had |
| 1:53.2 | thought was incredibly abstract and made it very concrete, all of which we will get into. But |
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