AI Can Give You Knowledge - Not Lived Experience | Practical Wisdom | Katja Schipperheijn, Award-Winning Author and Executive Advisor

AI can give you knowledge. But it can’t give you lived experience.That’s what practical wisdom is made of - knowing what to do in the moment, with your people.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Katja Schipperheijn to unpack practical wisdom.Katja Schipperheijn is an award-winning author and executive advisor who works with organisations and governments around the world on how people learn and lead alongside AI. Her work is grounded in years of international practice and research, complemented by the Learning Mindset & Leadership Amplifier, a diagnostic tool she built herself. In this conversation, Katja walks you through what practical wisdom really is and how it differs from judgment, how to turn everyday experience into practical wisdom, and what can hold back the accumulation of wisdom.You will learn three practical ‘try-today’ moves:1. Examine your lived experience before you decide.Recall a time you faced something similar and write it down in two columns.Left: what happened - decisions and actions.Right: what it taught you - consequences and lessons.We rely on experience but rarely examine it. Practical wisdom starts when you do. 2. When you feel certain, ask first.Certainty is when judgment kicks in and you stop listening.Practical wisdom grows the other way - by staying open and learning from the people around you.So don’t assume you know. Before you share your view, ask how others see it. 3. End each day with three questions.How did I show up today? Which moment shows it, and who felt it? What will I do differently next time?Reflect, relate, reframe - every evening.Each day gives you experience. These questions turn it into wisdom. Practical wisdom doesn’t just come with the years. You build it by reflecting on what you’ve lived, relating it to real moments and people, and reframing what you’ll do next. And it’s a skill you can start building today.Want to learn more about Katja Schipperheijn’s work?Katja’s website https://katjaschipperheijn.com/ Explore The Learning Mindset Organization and try the free mini-individual Amplifier https://thelearningmindset.org/Follow The Learning Mindset Organization on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-learning-mindset-organization/

Change sucks. But irrelevance is even worse.The future won’t adapt to us, so we have to adapt to it.Reinvention isn’t the dramatic leap you’re bracing for. It’s building options, so you’re never trapped in a life that no longer fits.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Rishad Tobaccowala to unpack reinvention as a skill.Rishad Tobaccowala is an author, speaker, teacher, and advisor with four decades of experience. Prior to becoming a company of one, Rishad was Global Chief Strategist and Growth Officer at Publicis Groupe, the 100,000+ person marketing and business transformation group.  Rishad doesn’t just teach reinvention, he has lived it.In this conversation, Rishad walks you through what reinvention really is, why the more successful you are the harder it gets, how to navigate the in-between, and what makes reinvention possible. You will learn three practical ‘try-today’ moves:1. Name the skill that’s unique to you. Test it: could you take it with you?Your title and company’s budget don’t count.They stay behind when you leave.If you can’t name one, start building it now.2. Help someone and ask for nothing backPick one person this week.Offer an introduction, advice or your time.Do it even when you’re looking for help.Generosity is a strategy. The goodwill comes back. 3. Do one thing a day for your next chapter.Write four headings: learn, help, connect, side project.Tick at least one every day.An article read, an intro made, a coffee booked, an idea tested.365 moves a year. At least 50 will matter. Reinvention isn’t a dramatic leap. It’s small moves, made before you have to, that keep your options open. And it’s a skill you can start building today. Want to learn more about Rishad Tobaccowala's work?Book ‘Rethinking Work’ https://rethinking-work.io/The Rethinking Work Show on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/35FYDfbY7jugKkPMrl7vdKand YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@rethinkingworkshowSubstack ‘The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of thePast’ https://rishad.substack.com/ Rishad’s website https://rishadtobaccowala.com/

You did everything right. The logic was airtight. And still - no. Because logic is only a hygiene factor. You have it, but so does everyone else. People say yes when your yes serves their purpose.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Claire Wang to unpack getting to a yes as a skill.Claire Wang is a pricing strategist who spent two decades pricing foreign exchange, telecoms, insurance across continents. Aligning sales, finance, and marketing behind a single number, with no authority over any of them, taught her that pricing is the ultimate school for influence. She distilled those lessons into her book, The Price of Influence.In this conversation, Claire walks you through why influence is an invitation, how to uncover what the other person truly values, how to make your idea feel like theirs, and how to tell a real yes from an empty one.You will learn three practical 'try-today' moves:1.  Ask for advice, not approval.Don't arrive with a finished idea and hope for a yes.Bring it half-built and ask people to shape it.What they help build, they back. 2. Test the yes with a small ask.Ask for a real commitment: ‘Can I put your name next to mine?’; ‘Can I borrow your team for 20 minutes?’Action is the only honest yes. 3. Write down what would make people say no.The risk they carry.The fear they won't say out loud.Have an answer ready. Getting a yes was never about having the best logic in the room - everyone has that. You get there by inviting people in, not pushing your idea at them. And getting to a yes is a skill you can start building today.Want to learn more about Claire Wang's work?Book 'The Price of Influence' https://mybook.to/price-of-influenceClaire's website https://www.claire-wang.com/Follow Claire on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-wang/

Doing more feels like adding value. It isn't. Real value comes from what you make simpler for the people who rely on you. But making things simple is hard - someone has to absorb the complexity.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Neil West to unpack simplification as a skill.Neil West spent sixteen years inside Apple as it became the world's most valuable company built on a single principle: simplicity. He ran Apple's services across Southern Europe and distilled what he saw into his book ‘It Just Works’.In this conversation, Neil walks you through what simplicity really is, how to actually deliver it in three steps, how to spot the friction you've stopped noticing, and why being concise is a sign of confidence, not a lack of content.You will learn three practical 'try-today' moves:1.  Simplify your communication.Cut your next message in half. An email, a deck, an update. Half the words. Half the slides. You don't need anyone's permission.  2. Ask ‘Why are we doing this?’Put the question to your team. If the answers don’t match, the purpose isn't clear yet. Get it to one sentence everyone would say the same way. 3. Make one person's life simpler.Pick someone who relies on your work.Find the burden they've forgotten they're carrying.The workarounds. The eye-rolls. The ‘I've always done it this way.’Take one off their plate this week. Value isn't doing more. It's in making life simpler for the people who rely on you. And that's a skill you can start building today. Want to learn more about Neil West's work?Book ‘It just works’ https://mybook.to/bC4ENeil’s website https://neilwest.com/Keynotes & workshops https://neilwest.com/keynotes-%26-workshops

As AI screens and sorts us, the human act of a person vouching for you decides more of who gets the opportunity, not less. So how do you become the person others name - on purpose, not by accident?In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Monique Kelley to unpack networking as a skill.Monique Kelley is the author of Redefining Networking and a professor at Boston University. She built a communications consultancy for Fortune 50 companies with no advertising - solely through the network and referrals she has invested in over 20 years. In this conversation, Monique walks you through what she calls 'earning your keep' - how to get clear on the unique value you bring, how to find the people who actually benefit from it, and how to make that value visible, so the right people can name it even when you're not in the room.You will learn three practical 'try-today' moves:1. Name the headache you take away.Finish that sentence for yourself: the thing I reliably solve for people is ____.Not what you are. The problem you make disappear.2. Engage your warm network.Text one of your contacts today.Offer help or ask for an introduction to someone who'd benefit from what you do.3. Share the story, not the announcement.Post one story this week - a problem you solved, not a win you're claiming.Frame it from your audience's side: what's in it for them.You don't become the person others name by asking for it. You become it by being useful when you want nothing back - until your value is something others can name in the rooms you're not in. Want to learn more about Monique Kelley 's work?Book ‘Redefining Networking: How to Lead with Your Unique Value’, https://www.redefiningnetworkingbook.com/Follow Monique on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquekelleygigliotti/ 

Some people are just born charismatic. That's what we tell ourselves. But charisma isn't a trait you're born with. It's a muscle and most of us have never deliberately trained it.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Olivia Fox Cabane to unpack charisma as a skill. Olivia Fox Cabane is a Fortune 500 executive coach and author of The Charisma Myth who has lectured at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and the United Nations. In this conversation, Olivia walks you through the three components that make up charisma - presence, power, and warmth - and how to build each one so it's there when you need it. You will learn three practical 'try-today' moves: 1. Stop trying to impress. Let them impress you.That single mindset shift is enough to get people to like you, trust you, and want to follow you.Before your next important conversation, make this your goal: find out what impresses you about the other person. 2. Project power through body language. We read power in body language.Roll your shoulders back. Plant your feet. Take up space.Then be still, no fussing with your hair and clothes. Move slowly.When you appear confident, people assume you have a reason to be. 3. Nurture self-compassion.Self-criticism reduces power, warmth, and presence. Next time your inner critic speaks, pause. Name what you're feeling and acknowledge that what you're experiencing is difficult. That’s self-compassion. Charisma begins in your mind. Whatever your mind believes,your body will manifest. This is where you start. Want to learn more about Olivia Fox Cabane's work?Book ‘The Charisma Myth’, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Charisma-Myth-Science-Personal-Magnetism/dp/1405990163Explore Olivia’s website https://oliviafoxcabane.com/The Charisma Myth exercises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO9JEDOKWh4&list=PLgtqPfV4eazd9Re_jwOuVqqfzKA62367U

If someone asked you to teach them to listen - what would you actually say? Eye contact? Nodding? Repeating back what you heard? That's the answer most people give. And none of it is listening.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Richard Mullender to unpack listening as a skill. Richard Mullender is a former hostage negotiator and lead trainer at Scotland Yard’s National Hostage Negotiation and Crisis Unit. He has distilled hundreds of high-stakes negotiations into elite-level listening techniques that work in any conversation, in any room, at any level.In this conversation, Richard walks you through how real listening - the identification, selection, and interpretation of keywords - turns information into intelligence, and how to use what you hear to understand, influence, and connect with anyone.You will learn three practical ‘try-today’ moves:1.  Set your outcome.Before any conversation that matters, decide: what am I trying to achieve? That outcome becomes your anchor. When your mind drifts - and it will - it's what brings you back.2. Listen for the six data points: Facts. Emotions. Motivators. Values. Beliefs. Benefits.Most people stop at facts and emotions. The intelligence lives underneath - in why this person is talking to you today, what they stand for, their deeply held convictions, and where they see their win.3. Sense-check with ‘I get the impression.’Feedback what you heard as an impression, not a verdict.If you're right, trust deepens. If you're wrong, they correct you.Either way, you understand them better. Listening is not a talent you're born with. It is a craft - built in the constant pursuit of excellence. You just keep getting better. And this is where you start. Want to learn more about Richard Mullender's work?Check out The Listening Institute https://listeninginstitute.com/

Hope is not something you feel. It is something you do.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Gidon Lev and Julie Gray to unpack hope as a skill.Gidon Lev survived Theresienstadt concentration camp as achild, built a full life across nine decades, and is still facing forward at 91. Julie Gray is the writer who helped Gidon bring the message of hope to the world - in their book Let's Make Things Better.In this conversation, Gidon and Julie walk you through whathope actually is and what it isn't, how to maintain hope when circumstances argue against it, and how hope follows actions, even the smallest ones. You will learn three practical ‘try-today’ moves:1. Take one action, however tiny. When hope is low, don't wait for it to return before acting. Take the 50-meter walk. Make the lemon cake. Action creates evidence. Evidence builds hope. That is the flywheel.2.     Give yourself credit for what you have already overcome.Look back at three challenges you have already navigated. For each one, ask: how did I do that? The proof you need to go forwards is already behind you. 3. Give yourself permission to imagine things going well. Notice how often you allow yourself to imagine things going wrong. Now deliberately choose the opposite. You cannot hope for what you cannot imagine. Hope is not a feeling. It is the smallest possible yes. And it is available to you right now. Want to learn more about Gidon Lev and Julie Gray's work?Book ‘Let's Make Things Better’,https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lets-Make-Things-Better-Gidon/dp/103504398XTikTok: @thetrueadventuresWebsite: https://www.gidonlev.com/

We can live in a gap between knowing the direction we want to take and actually taking it for years. Because we keep feeding our doubts. Self-conviction is the skill that starves the doubt. In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Pearle Nwaezeigwe to unpack the skill of Self-Conviction.Pearle Nwaezeigwe is a tech policy leader who built a career at TikTok, Twitter, and Meta across four countries, without a map, without an invitation, and without waiting for permission. In this conversation, Pearle walks you through how Self-Conviction starts the moment you get clear on what you really want, how to hold Self-Conviction - even against the voice in your head and the people around you who aren't sure, and how Self-Conviction compounds with every win celebrated and every rejection treated as data. You will learn three practical ‘try-today’ moves:1. Name what you want - precisely.You know the direction. Now name it precisely. Say it out loud. Write it down. You can't build conviction on something you haven't named.2. Map it - and take the first step. Work backwards from where you want to be - these are the steps, these are the people, this is the first move. Then take it.3. Celebrate the small wins - and treat rejection as data. Notice the little things that tell you you're on the right track. Celebrate them. Treat every rejection as a data point. Log them. This is how evidence builds.  And this is how doubt starves. The gap between knowing what you want and going for it isn't about feeling ready or certain. It's about self-conviction - and it's a skill you can start building today. Want to learn more about Pearle Nwaezeigwe's work?Follow Pearle on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/pearlenwaezeigwe/Join the community of the Corporate Socialite:  https://www.instagram.com/thewaecollective/

In leadership, it's not about what you achieve. It's about what the people around you go on to achieve.In this episode of Get Superpowered, I sat down with Ben Bulpett to unpack the skill of making the people around you capable of more. Ben Bulpett is a global marketing leader with over 30 years of building and leading high-performing teams across some of the world's most competitive industries.In this conversation, Ben walks you through how to see potential in someone before they can see it themselves, how to make them believe it, and how to create the conditions where people consistently exceed what they thought was possible.You will learn three practical ‘try-today’ moves:1.  Run the values exercise Ask each person you work closely with to name their six core values and rank them one to six.The answers are your diagnostic: what drives each person and what a meaningful stretch looks like for them specifically.  2.  Name the potential you see in them – out loudThe moment you name the potential you see in someone, you change what they believe about themselves.Most leaders carry that belief privately. Saying it out loud is the act that makes it real. 3.  Give the stretch - and walk alongside it.Don't wait until someone feels ready. Give them the stretch opportunity now – and stay close. Role plays, honest feedback, space to fail safely. Confidence catches up with experience. Every time. The ceiling on your impact isn't what you can do. It's what you can unlock in everyone around you. Want to learn more about Ben Bulpett’s work?Follow Ben on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbulpett/