Meet Jon Levy — behavioral scientist and author of Team Intelligence: How Brilliant Leaders Unlock Collective Genius and the NYT/WSJ bestseller You’re Invited. Jon has spent years studying human behavior and leadership mechanics, advising companies on how to build teams that actually perform—beyond leadership myths and buzzwords.

We often hire “A-players,” roll out values, and assume great leadership traits will carry us. Then reality hits: strategy doesn’t execute itself—teams do. Jon explains why the smallest unit of performance is the team, why stacking stars backfires, and how culture and language shape what people actually do. If you’re trying to align leaders who don’t buy the data, this one’s for you.

You’ll learn how to engineer collective intelligence—the practical habits, roles, and rituals that raise a team’s game, how to recruit and empower “glue players,” and how to make strategy felt when spreadsheets won’t persuade.

• Culture as operating system: the sayings, status cues, and rituals that drive behavior (Apple’s “surprise and delight,” LEGO’s “fireside”).
• Bursty communication: why teams should “work together, then work apart” to boost problem-solving.
• Glue players: high-EQ, team-first multipliers (and why too many stars tank performance).
• Make the implicit explicit: roles, skills, and “player cards” that speed decisions.
• Trust, not traits: honesty, competence, benevolence—and dealing with the dark tetrad at work.
• When data won’t convince: crafting a narrative that makes people feel the better future.

00:00 Introduction

00:36 Coming Up...

01:47 Unpacking Team Intelligence with John Levy

02:47 Insights on Leadership and Team Dynamics

05:13 The Role of Culture in Organizations

13:49 The Impact of Language on Behavior

16:54 The Concept of Glue Players

18:14 The Key to Predicting Success in Basketball

19:02 Characteristics of Glue Players

21:25 The Importance of Team Dynamics

23:49 The Antwerp Diamond Heist: A Lesson in Teamwork

27:52 Making Implicit Knowledge Explicit

29:36 The Dark Side of Team Dynamics

31:29 Understanding Trust in Teams

34:06 The Role of Emotion in Strategy

35:02 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

• Jon Levy — Website: https://www.jonlevy.com
• Book: https://www.jonlevy.com/team-intelligence
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlevytlb

Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast

Christina Farr is an investor, startup advisor, and former health-tech journalist. She’s the author of The Storyteller’s Advantage: How Powerful Narratives Make Businesses Thrive and the creator of the Second Opinion newsletter, where she decodes healthcare and technology for leaders.

Most leaders try to move markets with features, roadmaps, and metrics. But the winners often move them with narrative—stories that rally investors, customers, and teams to build the future with them. Christina unpacks how great storytellers create belief that becomes momentum.

You’ll learn a simple framework to make your strategy legible and compelling, how to pick the right plot for your message, and practical ways to craft origin stories, pitch decks, and CEO communications that persuade.

In this episode we cover:

• The SOAP framework: Surprise, Openness, Authenticity, Pathos
• Seven classic plots for business (from David vs. Goliath to Rebirth) and when to use each
• Case studies: PillPack vs. incumbents; Apple’s comeback; Microsoft’s reinvention; WeWork’s cautionary tale
• Fundraising and sales: decks that move capital and customers
• Leading in tense moments: speaking to charged issues without fracturing culture

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Highlight from today’s episode

01:05 – Introducing Christina + the power of narrative in business

03:05 – “If you really know me…”

04:20 – What is strategy? Story as prognostication

07:10 – Why story beats data alone in pitches, sales, and retention

10:55 – The SOAP framework (Surprise, Openness, Authenticity, Pathos)

18:40 – Engineering surprise; calibrating vulnerability

22:00 – Seven plots leaders can borrow (with modern brand examples)

28:45 – Case study: PillPack’s David vs. Goliath playbook

32:40 – Rebirths and tragedies: Apple, Microsoft, WeWork

36:10 – Origin stories that travel (and ones that don’t)

38:10 – CEO comms on divisive topics, without breaking culture

39:20 – Where to learn more from Christina

Additional Resources:

• Book: The Storyteller’s Advantage — Christina Farr (Basic Venture) -https://basic-venture.com/titles/christina-farr/the-storytellers-advantage/9781541704299/
• Newsletter: Second Opinion - https://secondopinion.media/
• Christina Farr on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/

Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast

In this special in-person conversation recorded at Adobe’s global headquarters, host Kaihan Krippendorff sits down with Malte Bernholz, Vice President of Strategy and Incubation at Adobe.

Malte brings a unique lens, combining years of experience in consulting and technology leadership, to unpack what might be the most significant technological shift of our lifetime. Together, Kaihan and Malte explore:

• The macro forces and creative trends redefining industries in the age of AI
• Why this moment rivals—and perhaps surpasses—the dot-com boom in its impact
• How AI is both lowering the floor of creativity, making it easier for anyone to create, and raising the ceiling, expanding what’s possible for professionals
• How personalization at scale is transforming customer experiences
• And what this means for the future of brands, creativity, and human originality

It’s a conversation about courage, imagination, and leadership at the edge of technological change.

And for the first time, you can watch this conversation as well as listen—check out the video version on Outthinker.com or YouTube.

Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast