Anne has been at the forefront of the media world from the beginning of her career. In the late 1970s and into the ’80s she distributed and co-produced Sesame Street around the world. A few years later she helped launch SPY magazine which was described as ‘the most influential magazine of the 1980s’. In the 90s she was the Worldwide Creative Director for Nickelodeon where she created and launched Nickelodeon magazine. She then transitioned into a new career as a journalist and a columnist for the cutting-edge business magazine Fast Company. She is the author of ‘Going Gray’ and ‘It’s Always Personal’ which are both thought-provoking explorations of what’s simmering beneath the surface in our culture and particularly in our work lives and her latest book ‘Risk/Reward’: discusses WHY and HOW we need to embrace RISK.


In This Episode:

You were raised to believe that if you put your mind to something, you could tackle anything. How instrumental do you feel that belief was in helping you to achieve everything you have?
Anne describes how her father was shot through the head in the war and survived and how being given a second chance changed his entire outlook of life.
We discuss a 2014 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that discovered that job-hopping is actually correlated with higher incomes, because people have found better matches, they’ve found their true calling.
“I have said and mean with all my heart I’ve only learned one thing ‘for sure’ in 48 years: Whoever tries the most stuff wins.” Tom Peters
We talk about the importance of valuing and listening to ones emotional senses, “I think we’ve lost the respect of our guts when it comes to decision making”
“I profoundly believe that you can’t have new creative output in any aspect of your life, unless you have fulfilling input…for me that would be going out for a walk in the park, or painting or gardening or hanging out, something that nourishes your emotional, spiritual well”
Anne describes why risk taking is an art, and the importance of timing.
I ask Anne whether it’s about taking monumental, life changing, huge risks or more important to practice regular and consistent risk-taking.
50% of all Americans long to not just be in different jobs but entirely different careers! What stops them?
Anne discusses the power of loose ties and building vibrant networks
We are talking about risk in a business context, but do you think these principles are universal and just as relevant to our personal lives as well?
“If the worst of you is already out there in the world, then you can kind of face it with energy and dignity on some level, even if it’s this shabby part of your past that you would be ashamed of”
I ask Anne what’s been the best risk she has ever taken?
What does a fulfilled life mean to Anne?
What is 1 thing our listeners can do today that will have a massive positive effect on their lives?
Which books or resources have changed/had a big impact on your life?