The Half-Life of Facts with Samuel Arbesman: Why Knowledge Keeps Changing
Release Date: 10/22/2025
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The Innovation Show
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Who Killed Nokia? How Fear and Emotion Derail Strategy, Innovation, and Truth-Telling.
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Nokia didn’t lose the smartphone battle because it lacked smart people or a strategy deck. It lost because fear and shared emotions quietly reshaped attention, filtered information, and weakened truth-telling. Quy Huy (INSEAD) and Timo Vuori (Aalto University)—authors of the 2016 research on Nokia’s collapse—explain how leaders hid emotions behind “technology and finance talk,” how dissent was punished, and how misaligned fearformed: executives feared competitors and shareholders while middle managers feared their bosses. We connect the dots to psychological safety, power traps,...
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BlackBerry once ruled the business world. Presidents, CEOs, and Wall Street relied on its encrypted devices. Then the iPhone arrived — and everything changed. In this episode, Jacquie McNish, co-author of Losing the Signal, unpacks the untold story behind: • The improbable rise of Research In Motion • The 2011 global outage crisis • The NTP patent war • 9/11 and encrypted messaging dominance • The internal fracture between Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie • The Storm failure • The QNX pivot and BlackBerry’s second act A fascinating case study in leadership psychology,...
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The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift with Kevin Evers-esv2-96p-bg-10p
The Innovation Show
In this episode, Aidan McCullen welcomes Kevin Evers, editor at Harvard Business Review Press and author of There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift. Together, they explore how Taylor Swift built not just a music career—but a global business empire. From fearless reinvention and blue ocean strategy to her mastery of fan engagement and brand evolution, Taylor Swift’s rise is a masterclass in innovation, leadership, and vision. Learn how her career mirrors the strategic moves of top businesses, and what leaders, entrepreneurs, and creators can take away from her...
info_outlineFacts change — and that’s a good thing.
In this episode, Samuel Arbesman, complexity scientist and author of The Half-Life of Facts, joins Aidan McCullen to explore how what we know — and believe to be true — constantly evolves.
Together, they unpack how facts have a “half-life,” why collaboration matters in a changing world, and how exponential knowledge growth reshapes science, strategy, and society.
In this episode:
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Why facts and truths decay over time
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How science self-corrects — from the Brontosaurus myth to the spinach iron story
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The concept of “meso-facts” — slowly changing knowledge
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How exponential growth drives innovation and discovery
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Why curiosity, humility, and adaptability are essential for leaders
📚 Guest: Samuel Arbesman — author of The Half-Life of Facts, Overcomplicated, and The Magic of Code.
🌐 https://arbesman.net | https://arbesman.substack.com
🎙️ Hosted by Aidan McCullen — international keynote speaker on change, transformation, and innovation, author of Undisruptable, and host of The Innovation Show.
💼 Brought to you by Kyndryl – helping leaders harness the power of technology for smarter decisions and faster innovation.
👉 https://www.kyndryl.com/ie/en/institute
📘 Connect with Aidan McCullen:
🌐 https://theinnovationshow.io
📰 Substack: https://thethursdaythought.substack.com
📕 Book: Undisruptable
🎤 Speaking: https://aidanmccullen.com