Episode 168 - Living Real Experiences with Dr. Camille Preston

I have long taken an interest in, and even done research on, this idea of “labor-saving technology.” Maybe it is because I had a front-row seat to a lot of the technological transformations that we now pretty much take for granted.

In ninth grade, I had a typing class on fully manual typewriters, the kind where the keys would jam and you had to whack the return bar. Good times. The next year, the school installed PCs for typing class. I also have lived through dot matrix printers, dial-up modems, floppy disks (the actual floppy kind), cable television arriving, cell phones becoming ubiquitous, and a whole host of other “advancements” that promised to make my life easier and better.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling it.

Making things more efficient doesn’t mean the outputs are higher quality. Rather, they just become more frequent because the actual labor it takes to do an individual thing goes down. However, as nature abhors a vacuum, the reduced time it takes to do one thing is filled by doing other things. Sure it takes a shorter time to get an email than “snail mail.” But imagine if we got as much snail mail as we do email. Only pop culture stars would get that amount of mail, and they have assistants to help them answer we. We have to answer our own emails!

What does it all mean? I’m doing more and more, but does that mean I’m more and more successful? I can be in contact with more people, but am I more connected? I can produce more, but am I more productive? I can access the most advanced health care in human history, but am I healthy? These are the contradictions of our time. We were promised one thing, but we are finding ourselves in another place. The present is not as advertised.

And I’m still waiting for the flying cars I was promised growing up.

To tackle these deeper questions, I have Dr. Camille Preston on Experience by Design podcast. Dr. Preston received her PhD in Psychology at the University of Virginia, for which her work on policing domestic violence received the APA International Best Dissertation Award. That work led to a broader interest in trauma, grief, growth, and recovery.

Today as Founder and CEO of AIM Leadership, she is an executive coach to senior leaders in major companies, a well-traveled keynote speaker, faculty member, advisor, and author. Her works include three books, “Living Real: Redefining Success, Presence, and Happiness,” “Rewired: How to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Be Purposefully Productive in an Overwired World,” and “Create More Flow: Igniting Peak Performance in an Overwired World.”

We talk about how there is a tendency to avoid difficult conversation and suppress trauma, which impacts all aspects of our lives (including being effective leaders). She discusses the challenges of building authentic connections in this technological era. As a result, organizations need to create places where people can build relationships through simple conversations and shared activities.

Camille talks about moving from the “Information Age” and into the “Wisdom Age,” where individual AI will disrupt traditional sources of power and expertise. Finally we discuss her work as a “Business Doula,” helping individuals and organizations navigate transitions and giving birth to new possibilities. After all, times of uncertainty create tremendous potential for growth.

All we have to do is to start embracing the “woo.”

Dr. Camille Preston: https://www.camillepreston.com/

Camille Preston LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillepreston/

“Rewired: How to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Be Purposefully Productive in an Overwired World”: https://www.amazon.com/Rewired-Smarter-Purposefully-Productive-Overwired/dp/0984904107

“Living Real: Redefining Success, Presence, and Happiness”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7T38495

“Create More Flow: Igniting Peak Performance in an Overwired World”: https://www.amazon.com/Create-More-Flow-Performance-Overwired/dp/0984904115

Episode Intro Music - The Tall Pines - “The Key”

Episode Ending Music - Ketsa - ”Dreaming Days”