How many of the companies or people you admire got where they are by following a process? And how many took advantage of a lucky break or serendipitous pivot? We almost never think about the role of chance — the randomness in the path to success. Matt Ballantine is a sociologist who works in technology and co-author of a new book called Random: How to Thrive in an Unpredictable World. He's spent thirty years helping organisations try to change. In this conversation he explains why organisational barriers tend to have very persistent roots, why best practice is almost always survivorship bias in disguise, why the most exciting sports tend to have randomness written into the rules, and why pattern-spotting is both asset and blind spot for us humans. Listen to this episode to learn: Why the laminated notices in a company toilet tell you so much about its values Why best practice is something you think you can install - and good practice is something you have to arrive at What German researchers found when they studied the coin toss in penalty shootouts Why LLMs give you a different answer every time The first act of randomness leaders should embrace Links Order Random the book: https://securityblendbooks.com/products/random Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattballantine/ Related episode: #24 with Neil Mullarkey: https://podcast.curiousbusiness.co.uk/e/neil-mullarkey-improv-your-business/ Related episode: #6 with Dan Klein: https://podcast.curiousbusiness.co.uk/e/dan-klein-gen-ai-curiosity/ Chapters 00:54 — Sociologist or technologist? Why the distinction matters 01:56 — Baudrillard, McLuhan and the blurring of reality 04:15 — Why change keeps failing 05:26 — What grows back when you only deal with the surface 07:31 — The toilet test: reading company values in laminated notices 11:46 — Why Matt isn't a fan of best practice 13:08 — How a book about Random-ness came about 14:28 — Cards as a facilitation tool 16:48 — Apophenia: the compulsion to find patterns where none exist 18:34 — Who is the book for? Why is the book for? 19:12 — The format: why it's not really a book 25:03 — How the book can be used 25:56 — The five meanings of "random" 27:56 — Three reasons randomness is useful 28:34 — Facebook, Friends Reunited and survivorship bias in tech 30:06 — Businesses ofter don't like uncertainty — but they should 31:48 — The ovoid spheroid and randomness in sport 33:39 — Does randomness fly in the face of AI? 35:54 — The Watford employment agency: October 1993 38:15 — The first act of randomness every leader should embrace -- Thanks for listening. Curious Business is here to bring you insights, experiences and ideas from founders, leaders and experts to help you think differently about your business and its marketing. My name is Stephen Morris and I help start-ups and scale-ups get momentum in their marketing and pipeline. Like to know more? Book a discovery call: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/discovery/ Or sign-up to 'The Prompt' my monthly newsletter: https://www.curiousbusiness.co.uk/signup/ If you'd like to talk about how podcasts can build reach, enhance authority and fuel your pipeline, visit: www.curiousbusiness.co.uk.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.