Uncertainty, Friction, Chaos = Podcasting

April was an interesting month for our little show. We bookended the month with episodes and launched new sections of the website. Add to this a steady download rate and a some reviews on iTunes and you could say we have had a good month.

We started the month by recording and releasing Episode 9 - On Innovation in WW1 with Dr Aimee Fox-Godden. This was an interesting topic, and a fun interview. The focus on the Great War or World War One during the centenary years risks topic fatigue, but what we found when chatting with Amy was that there are still untold stories that can benefit the modern audience. Learning about the change agents (not Mulder and Scully) and the way that the British Forces innovated during the period 1914-18 was quite interesting. Innovation, it seems, can be generated from the top, from the bottom, or even within the middle. If you haven’t yet, please listen to Episode 9 for more on this.

The middle of April was spent chasing some guests. Some of these guests are big names, even the biggest, in the nationalsSecurity & strategy studies space. Some of these guests’ interviews had to be postponed for differing reasons. This almost left us with a gap. The regularity of this show isn’t as important to us as the quality of the guests that we chat with. We decided not to rush out an episode just to hit a timeline. Quality discussions are what we are trying to give the audience. 

Hopefully most of you thought a quality discussion was what we gave you with Episode 10 - On Hybrid Warriors with Douglas A. Ollivant. This was an interview that was in the pipeline for a while but conflicting calendars kept in on ice for a while. It was an article that Douglas wrote for War on the Rocks that caught our eye. The topic of hybrid warfare has been raging for a while now and the debate risks becoming dull due to semantics and pedantry. The great thing about Douglas’ piece was that it was agnostic towards the concept of Hybrid War while presenting the case for Hybrid Warriors. Read the article here and listen to Episode 10 to get the run down from Douglas himself.

We have also launched a 360 Degree Report survey on our website so that listeners can provide anonymous, honest feedback.  Please take some time to fill out the survey and let us know what you think of the show and what would interest you in the future. We are very grateful for the reviews that have been posted on iTunes. One in particular offered their definition of war = “War is harder than it looks.” A short, sharp and sweet definition. The reviews on iTunes have been quite flattering. We thank you for the support and the more we reviews we receive the more likely others are to find our show.

We have rolled out across many platforms and understand that some people are having trouble on Soundcloud  and Google Play Music in the US. We’ll keep working the issue and appreciate your patience.

The final announcement we have is that Mick, the humorous host with the most, is involved in a new project called Defence Entrepreneurs Forum Australia. This is a new association that is designed to encourage innovation through an entrepreneurial approach within the Australian Defence Force. Please take some time to visit the website at Grounded Curiosity as well as the Facebook page and Twitter account. It is an exciting new project aimed at junior leaders and modelled off the successful DEF projects in the US.

Thats all we have folks. Until next time, grab a book and crack on!

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