Authoring Your New Script: April Rinne on How to Flux (and Thrive) in Constant Change
Dr. Chris Stout
LinkedIn Top Voice | Best Selling Author | Adventurer | Startup Whisperer | (Accidental) Humanitarian | APA's "Rockstar" Psychologist | éminence Grise
April Rinne is equal parts global authority, advocate, ally and adventurer. She spent the first half of her career focused on global development and financial inclusion, and the latter half on the “new” digital economy and the future of work. For more than two decades, she has seen emerging trends early, understands their potential, and helps others do the same.
Today, April is an acclaimed futurist, sought-after speaker and trusted advisor—especially known for her role as a bridge: between startups and governments, executives and customers, between for-profit and for-benefit business models, between developed and developing countries, between those excited about change, and those resistant to it.
She is not afraid to buck conventionality, seeing things differently, or seeking to level-up her ability to help others reshape their relationship to change.
April’s work and travels in more than 100 countries have offered her a front-row seat to witnessing change at both local and global levels. This includes the better part of four years spent solo?without?a permanent address but with?a?backpack and an insatiable desire to better understand how the rest of the world lives.
Her areas of expertise include policy reform, global expansion, the future of work, travel and tourism, sustainable development, and emerging markets. April is an acclaimed keynote speaker and contributes regularly to news and media about the new economy, future of work and global citizenship. She has presented at a wide range of events, from Davos to the EU Commission, industry convenings and private workshops.
April was Chief Strategy Officer at Collaborative Lab, a firm specializing in international microfinance, impact investing and regulatory reform; Global Director of Water Credit at Water.org; an Adjunct Faculty at the International Development Law Organization; Director of the World Wide Web Foundation; and advisor to numerous social enterprises and financial institutions. As a lawyer, she helped draft new legislation and created new investment vehicles for groundbreaking business models in several emerging markets, which are considered global best-practice standards today.
She‘s been an advisor to startups, companies, financial institutions, nonprofits, and think tanks worldwide, including Airbnb, Nike, Intuit, and the World Bank, as well as governments ranging from Singapore to South Africa, Canada to Colombia, Italy to India. Her new book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change will be a main focus of our conversation.
April holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.A. in International Business and Finance from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a B.A. in International Studies and Italian?summa cum laude?from Emory. She is a Fulbright Scholar and studied at Oxford University, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the European University Institute.
She’s a World Economic Forum - Young Global Leader and is ranked one of the "50 Leading Female Futurists " in the world by Forbes, and she’s hiked everywhere from the Himalayas to Aconcagua, runs an impressive half-marathon pace, is a certified yoga instructor, and an amazing handstander .?
I was thrilled to have April on, and a tip-o-the-hat to our mutual friend Michele Wucker for connecting us. I’d felt like we had great deal in common and overlap – we were both Global Leaders with the World Economic Forum, we’re both into “global citizenship” and travel, and we’ve both thought and written about portfolio career development a great deal. So this is a real treat for me, and I know it will be for the show’s audience.
April transparently, and poetically starts her book with her experience while at Oxford that seems to have somewhat influenced not only a trajectory for her work and her new book, but also her desire to rebuild family, to live a life of meaning and to be a lifelong advocate for mental health and humanity. She shared this and unpacked all that to start with, and then shifted into her work experiences, and then the book,
Speaking of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change , here is a sample of the high praise from few notables about it:
Our mutual pal Michele Wucker, Bestselling author of The Gray Rhino and You Are What You Risk, said "April will help you to replace the old static script of your life with a Flux Mindset: a new way of thinking and being in the world that will help you to write and revise many drafts of your own future. Developing your Flux Superpowers will help you navigate an uncertain world, tap into your sense of purpose, and make the best risk decisions."
Flux is a Next Big Ideas Club Honoree and is named one of the Best New Books of 2021 by Men's Journal.
We start with exploring how April came to writing this book, why she titled it “Flux,” our scripts (I loved how she says we need to treat constant change and uncertainty as a feature, not a bug), and shifting mindsets.
April walks us through the Theory of Flux and its three steps, the essential elements of a Flux Mindset and how it alters how to think about careers, goals, leadership, or success?
We have a great discussion of the eight flux superpowers, which she calls a “Bento box for the mind.”
1. Run slower
2. See what's invisible
3. Get lost
4. Start with trust
5. Know your "enough"
6. Create your portfolio career
7. Be all the more human (and serve other humans)
8. Let go of the future
In her book, April provides discussion guides at the end and the exercises and figures in each chapter that I found to be quite instructive.
We end with some guidance for listeners who are overwhelmed with change and facing anxiety or burnout, her career advice for someone who is worried about where the future of work is taking us, and the seeming paradox of her being a futurist, yet having a superpower be "Letting Go of the Future." We went deep in looking at a world that clamors for "more, more, more," and her perspective on Knowing Your "Enough" and how we can figure out what our enough is.
And April’s answer to my asking her about what are some of the ways she lives your life in full is not to be missed.
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Global Change Futurist ?? | Transformational Speaker ?? | Career Portfolio Guide ?? | Author of FLUX: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change ?? | Powered by Joy & Gratitude ??♀?
2 年Dr. Chris Stout, thank you SO much! I am blown away by your generosity and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. Writing one's own script and living one's live in full are beautifully aligned. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to share my message with others. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Tryn Brown (she/her) Kristen Frantz Catherine Lengronne Maria Jesus Aguilo