Take Your Shoes Off First w/ Julia Freeland
Innovation Interventions and Seeing Clearly with Sawsan Khuri
Sometimes losing yourself down the rabbit hole leads to amazing results! It was on one of these circuitous ventures that I fell upon the work of Sawsan Khuri, the founder of Collaborative Capacities, and a Genetics Lecturer at the University of Exeter. Our shared backgrounds in science, disrupting status quo, and helping kids reach for more made this conversation feel like two friends catching up, despite only just meeting.
Sawsan (pronounced ‘saow' ‘sand’ without the d) is an expert at moving teams through innovative collaboration. She is a Lebanese immigrant who has called several countries home, including the US and Britain. The concept of “taking your shoes off first” resonated on a deep level given her many experiences both personally and professionally in which addressing biases and putting them to the side are critical before a goal can be successfully achieved.
In this episode, Sawsan and I explore how women are raised and the impact messaging and culture can have on our futures, her passion for helping youth think like entrepreneurs, and how she moves people to be more innovative together in her Innovation Interventions. We also discuss what “resilience” really means and why it’s important to call out the elephant in the room quickly.
Get curious and join us for our discussion that winds its way through:
- Why losing sight of what you believe is right is the best way to discover something better.
- How a glass of water can teach empathy.
- How accents get in the way of effective collaboration.
- Why “wifey” is a troubling word.
- How equality became an imperative in Sawsan’s life.
- Why non-linear learning in small steps is the best way to make progress towards a big goal.
I hope you enjoy my first international guest as much as I did!
Enjoy!
To learn more about Sawsan, check out her:
Sometimes losing yourself down the rabbit hole leads to amazing results! It was on one of these circuitous ventures that I fell upon the work of Sawsan Khuri, the founder of Collaborative Capacities, and a Genetics Lecturer at the University of Exeter. Our shared backgrounds in science, disrupting status quo, and helping kids reach for more made this conversation feel like two friends catching up, despite only just meeting.
Sawsan (pronounced ‘saow' ‘sand’ without the d) is an expert at moving teams through innovative collaboration. She is a Lebanese immigrant who has called several countries home, including the US and Britain. The concept of “taking your shoes off first” resonated on a deep level given her many experiences both personally and professionally in which addressing biases and putting them to the side are critical before a goal can be successfully achieved.
In this episode, Sawsan and I explore how women are raised and the impact messaging and culture can have on our futures, her passion for helping youth think like entrepreneurs, and how she moves people to be more innovative together in her Innovation Interventions. We also discuss what “resilience” really means and why it’s important to call out the elephant in the room quickly.
Get curious and join us for our discussion that winds its way through:
- Why losing sight of what you believe is right is the best way to discover something better.
- How a glass of water can teach empathy.
- How accents get in the way of effective collaboration.
- Why “wifey” is a troubling word.
- How equality became an imperative in Sawsan’s life.
- Why non-linear learning in small steps is the best way to make progress towards a big goal.
I hope you enjoy my first international guest as much as I did!
Enjoy!
To learn more about Sawsan, check out her: