Today Ian is joined on the Wild Side by organisational psychologist John Amaechi. When John takes us on his career journey, we quickly feel his sporting entrepreneurial spirit coming through. Simply being told “you can’t” inspired one kid from Stockport to be the first Brit to make it in the NBA and the other, Ian Millner to co-found one of the world’s best advertising agencies, Iris. 

After a decorated NBA career, John got back in tune with one of his lifelong passions - psychology. Pursuing this formally at Penn State, John then formed his consultancy, APS Intelligence.

Things get really interesting when Ian and John delve into the psychological aspects of the workplace and the biases we may have in place when we picture certain roles. Together they unpack the misconceptions around the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ and the associations the term ‘entrepreneur’ brings to mind. John then shares his view on the traits he thinks should be celebrated versus the ones that are currently held in high regard.

They then move on to call out some of the business terms that may actually be detrimental to the entrepreneur, ultimately attracting the wrong following.

John brings his unique view on work to the table and how he thinks, balanced with our own self-awareness, we can find that harmony between our job and our lives.

Having lived and worked in both the UK and US, John shares his views on the differences between those two cultures - from perception of failure to even the very definition of work and the unrealistic expectations that are often set.

When it comes to “talent”, it’s never been more important to know the skills we’re looking for.

Especially with the nature of the jobs we do always in flux. 

Regardless of market, John then talks about “the cascade of consequences” we can create if businesses jump on trends too quickly.

We then hear John’s insightful definition of what “being on a team” actually means. 

Many of us may think we’re in teams - but drawing analogies from his NBA career, John suggests we might need to adjust our definition or what teamwork really is.

John leaves us with his two cents - if you want to succeed, there’s a level of mundanity that comes with it.

John Amaechi

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaechi/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/entrepreneurs_inthewild/ 

TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@entrepreneursinthewild 

X: https://twitter.com/EitW_podcast 

Executive Producer Addi: https://addi.london/ 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/addi-merrill/ 

Iris Worldwide: https://www.iris-worldwide.com/ 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iris/ 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/irisworldwide/ 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.