Have you ever sat in a pointless meeting wondering, "what am I even doing here?'

Imagine if meeting up with fellow humans felt less like a slow-motion train wreck… and more like a great jam session—where everyone’s locked in, connected, and creating something truly inspirational none of you could have created alone.

Some call this concept the mastermind, when your group becomes more than the sum of its parts, creating something altogether much more expansive and, at its best, transcendent.

On today’s show, we’re here with Dr. Colin Fisher, professor, jazz trumpet player, and author of The Collective Edge, talking about the real science of group dynamics, creativity, and leadership. Dr. Fisher has spent his career studying why some teams become far more than the sum of their parts… while others spiral into dysfunction, groupthink, and soul‑sucking meetings that could have easily been an email.

If you’ve ever watched a brilliant team of superstars underperform and fail spectacularly, this conversation will give you a totally new lens on how human dynamics actually work, and how to build teams that launch you into the stratosphere.

In this episode, we dig into:

How to handle the person who sucks all the air out of the room (without making it personal)
Why 60% of a team’s performance is decided before the first meeting even happens
What jazz improvisation can teach us about flow, trust, and spontaneous collaboration at work
Why the “lone genius” is a myth of marketing
Why we desperately need to talk about what AI is already doing to our teams
And much more..

Find Dr. Colin Fisher and his work at:

Website: ColinMFisher.com
Book: The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups
Substack: https://colinmfisher.substack.com/
Instagram: @ColinMFisher
Instagram: @TrumpetFisher
YouTube: @DrColinMFisher
LinkedIn: @ColinMFisher

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This episode is brought to you by:
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