This bold statement by Melanie challenged my perspective. We often see burnout as an inevitable outcome of ambition, and performance.

Melanie and I unpack why so many leaders are experiencing burnout, not just as “overwork,” but as nervous system overload. We explore the invisible rules about success and how they impact leadership. Are you silently running on empty, normalizing exhaustion as excellence? Many high-achieving professionals find themselves in this cycle.

We discuss practical strategies for regulating your nervous system, reframing your identity beyond performance, and designing organisational cultures that prioritize emotional repair. Burnout is a consequence of our choices, boundaries, and how we define personal value and identity. We explore how societal conditioning, amplified by the internet, drives us to benchmark ourselves against unrealistic standards, leading to constant striving as opposed to thriving.

This relentless “always on” mentality prevents our nervous systems from resting, pushing us past our natural limits. It’s a critical lesson for all leaders: valuing self-care is not a weakness; it’s a strategic necessity for sustained effectiveness.

The conversation then shifts to how organisations can design cultures that reward emotional repair and psychological safety. We discuss simple yet impactful changes, such as scheduling dedicated lunch breaks, ending meetings early on Fridays, creating hydration stations, and modelling boundaries by not emailing leadership after hours. The core idea is to value human beings beyond their roles and metrics.

People do not operate well under fear or exhaustion, as these states hinder effective thinking and decision-making. Leaders should be taught emotional regulation as part of leadership development, to highlight that sensitivity is a strength, not a weakness. Now more than ever, we must challenge the myths that strong leaders are constantly busy or never vulnerable, particularly as AI takes over more task-oriented work.

This involves fostering adaptability, having a “plan B” for careers, and detaching self-identity from job roles to maintain well-being and thrive amidst continuous organizational shifts.

What cultural shifts do you believe are most critical for preventing chronic stress in leadership today?

The main insights you"ll get from this episode are :

Society has normalised exhaustion as excellence, and this is exacerbated in

the Internet age by more striving to ‘have it all’, which causes stress and leads

to nervous system overload/burnout.

- The para-/sympathetic nervous system is designed for the body to rest but

‘always on’ is glorified and busyness does not equal productivity; we over-

define ourselves as individuals through work, and this identity can be taken

away.

- Leaders must pause, stop, reflect, and seek help if necessary – (high-

functioning) burnout can be avoided by ring-fencing self-time and resetting:

 Scan (your body)

 Tell (yourself the truth)

 Own (your decisions)

 Prioritise (yourself)

 Intentional (actions)

 Transform (willing to change)

- Cultures that reward emotional repair can start with small steps such as no

meetings on Fridays and modelling boundaries; removing fear and exhaustion

enhances productivity.

- Pre-AI experience is valuable for the new AI era to bring humanity to the data

point, help us thrive and remain viable; this involves anticipating change and

reskilling, using transferable skills from jobs and life experiences.

- Human aspects such as vulnerability and remaining flexible and joyful should

be part of leadership development; we need emotional regulation for

individuals, teams, and the overarching system to keep us all healthy.

Find out more about Melanie and her work here :

https://drmelaniegraycoaching.com/

Bruno and I discuss the human side of innovation and the strategic role of AI. We explore how leaders can foster creativity and manage uncertainty by adopting principles from martial arts and leveraging AI for better decision-making.

Bruno brings a unique perspective, combining engineering rigour, martial arts mastery, and deep reflection on embodied leadership. We explore different perspectives on how to master generative conflict for Innovation success and making strategy an embodied practice. The insight on the intersection between martial arts mastery, strategy and leadership brings a new lens that every CEO should learn: how to engage in “generative conflict.” So how to 'use' fear and agression in a smarter, more constructive way, which is consensual, respectful, collaborative and vulnerable.

Bruno sees innovation not just as systems and strategy, but as energy and embodied behaviour. The difference between doing and managing innovation is really key. Doing is about turning ideas into value; managing is scaling that process across hundreds of ideas, accepting uncertainty and potential failure. This distinction really hit home because if something is truly innovative, it comes with a big element of uncertainty. And that means failure is always a possibility, even if you do everything right.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Finding innovative solutions for leaders that address the human side of innovation and AI’s strategic role beyond the hype; innovation is energy and embodies behaviour, away from processes and tools.
• The difference between ‘doing’ and ‘managing’ innovation is important: the former is about transforming ideas into money (in a corporate context); the latter is doing it at scale, i.e. concurrently developing hundreds of ideas.
• Creativity brings something to life and is an inherent part of human nature - innovation is very personal, from which we can harness failure and maximise learning to create something of value.
• Whilst uncertainty and ambiguity always exist, senior leaders can remove ambiguity in the form of strategy, as an unknown or unclear strategy spreads uncertainty. Strategy is like embodied practice – need to feel it in the real world.
• Martial arts redirect fear and aggression rather than eliminate them, providing a good lesson for CEOs in how to engage in generative conflict, which is consensual, respectful, collaborative and vulnerable.
• Strategising and innovating demand conflict, and innovation can be seen as the equivalent of sparring practice: articulating and creating something that then becomes the discussion point.
• Playing Lean is a (serious) board game for innovation, providing a safe space between the classroom and the front line, but the emotions and experiences are real – real skill transference and a team activity.
• Augmented strategy using AI is currently very superficial applications of LLMs, which are worthless in the bigger picture – we must optimise decision-making processes and understand decisions as humans.
• We must first map out the requisite data, insights, and knowledge, and then leverage specific AI to create multiple scenarios; hybrid intelligence uses AI to enhance human creativity.
• Asking customers (in a B2B environment) for feedback is invaluable for innovation – it is of great importance to have people with (life) experience who will understand the issue, and AI cannot replace this.
• The simplest practice leaders can implement immediately is to listen and play back what they heard to check correct understanding, thereby inviting others to bring forward their thinking.

Find out more about Bruno and his work here :

https://www.pesec.no/

What does this mean for leadership behaviour and psychological safety in teams ?

Jessi and I discuss what trauma actually is and why it is present in organisations. We explore burnout, disengagement, and toxic culture, emphasizing the importance of intentionally designing leadership to counter these issues. Our discussion goes beyond typical well-being perks to explore the invisible dynamics of trauma at work and how leaders can unknowingly amplify it.

Jessi Beyer, a crisis mental health clinician and SWAT negotiator, defines a crisis not as a dramatic event, but as any situation where circumstances exceed a person’s ability to cope. This means that seemingly minor deviations in workplace behaviour—like chronic tardiness, increased irritability, or uncharacteristic outbursts—can signal an employee is in crisis. Recognizing these subtle shifts is crucial for early intervention, preventing situations from escalating to more severe emergencies.

However, leaving these signs unheard is toxic. Many leaders feel discomfort when addressing an employee’s struggles, often citing lack of time or fear of saying the wrong thing. However, even a brief, genuine moment of connection can make an employee feel seen and less alone, planting a seed for future support and for their nervous system to calm down somewhat. The analogy between an organization and a human nervous system, is so important when we see that a leader’s tone, pacing, and language directly regulate the team’s emotional state. The “vibe” created by leaders profoundly impacts how employees feel, behave, and perform.

Leaders who show up with empathy and a willingness to sit with discomfort create an environment where employees feel safe to bring their best selves to work.

Listen for further insights and practices to help you anticipate and intentionally regulate your team's nervous system

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Prevention starts long before a crisis, responding to people’s worst moments; trauma can show up in everyday situations, hence trauma-informed leadership for situations in which circumstances exceed a person’s ability to cope.
• In the workplace, deviations from standard behaviour are warning signs for intervention; crisis requires safe regulation and emotional precision must overcome discomfort by creating a moment of connection.
• It is important to regulate the human nervous system, and organisations are systems that have an impact on their team’s state – an organisational culture must indicate safety, and leaders’ energy has a downstream effect.
• Culture is what you tolerate, based on lived experience, and leaders can interrupt harm in the moment by questioning to de-escalate the situation; addressing people directly is a way to anticipate the situation.
• Creating a culture in which other people see the harm demonstrates solidarity and ideally permeates all functions; it must be more than just a box-ticking exercise to dispel hyper-vigilance.
• A flat hierarchy allows a leader to be approached by taking a curious (and empathetic) view - leaders have experiences that make them toxic, often subconsciously, and psychoeducation can be helpful here.
• Daily practice to build a positive culture involves applauding the behaviour that you want; engaging in small, interpersonal exchanges makes a big difference, leading to incremental change over time.
• Awareness when it comes to change starts with recognition before action: the best leaders are often not those with the supervisory title, but those who inspire trust and support, with boundaries, and change lives.
• Healing from trauma requires learning that you have agency – work can be a place of healing with trauma-informed leadership: recognition, empathy, and a willingness to be uncomfortable and exposed to the full human experience.
• Compliance in the short term does not ensure professional growth, and leadership requires real listening without fixing, judging or shaming – essentially emotional regulation, restoring capacity, and fuelling performance.

Find out more about Jessi and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessierinbeyer/

https://jessibeyerinternational.com/

Even with vast amounts of data and advanced AI, organizations struggle with decision-making.Russell and I explore why this is so. Because the problem isn’t always technical; it’s systemic. We discuss case studies where this happens and we see this pervasive structural issue. Dropping an amazing gadget into an ecosystem without addressing “structural changes” like incentives, rewards, and identity within the organization can lead to rejection. It’s not just about changing tech; it’s about changing the “collective habit of the system.” This idea of small impactful experiments and measurable success is key to creating momentum for adoption and scaling the understanding of the value of AI-human collaboration to drive organizational change.

Leaders must address these systemic barriers in order for the organisations to intentionally redesign workflows, processes, relationships and results.

What structural changes does your organization need to make to truly embrace AI-driven insights and transform decision-making?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Decision-making is still a big failure point in transformation; even if data is perfect, humans still don’t make the right decisions due to excessive information and emotional aspects that cloud our judgement.
2. The (dysfunctional) product innovation process clearly displays the consequences of a poor decision over the course of idea to product – despite huge input, many products don’t succeed.
3. The competitive process of gaining customer insight is exacerbated by huge amounts of data and embodies a pervasive incentive system that is punitive if things go wrong or fail.
4. AI makes things worse with a glut of data - we need a balance between humans enabled by AI (to provide sanity checks + intangibles) and the use of AI to synthesise and curate huge volumes of data.
5. To keep humans in the loop, we must intentionally slow down in the rush to automate as AI + human outperforms either on their own; we can partner with AI to make sense of unstructured data as part of a stage gate model.
6. Structural and systemic issues remain obstructive - leaders must disrupt the system to facilitate sustainable transformation, but legacy human systems are not as quick to update/upgrade as legacy tech systems.
7. Leaders need compassion for this evolution and should aim to reshape rather than reduce their organisation; a pragmatic approach to understanding the tech and a vision for the organisation’s purpose and mission are vital.
8. The potential of AI in future could see it empower us to make better decisions; it is time now for action to experiment and succeed on a small scale as a decisive factor for transformation.

Find out more about Russell & his work here :

https://www.zs.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellsevans/

Mark Preston’s journey began in January 2023 after reading “Cobalt Red,” a book that exposed the horrific conditions of artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC. Cobalt, a critical mineral used in modern technology, primarily comes from the DRC, with a significant portion sourced from artisanal mines where an estimated 200,000 children work in dangerous conditions. This realization, coupled with a quote from C.S. Lewis about the tendency to feel without acting, motivated Mark Preston to take action. We walk through their journey from awareness to action : the horror of artisanal mining, their vision for impact and scale and ultimately justice for children through rectifying broken systems.

The Freedom and Justice Partnership employs a two-pronged strategy: “ground war” and “air war.” The “ground war” focuses on immediate relief by funding education for former child miners. The “air war” involves advocacy and policy work, with Mark Preston and Carl engaging with Parliament and various committees to influence policy changes. They are particularly focused on the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which will hold large companies accountable for their supply chain integrity, creating a cascading compliance effect for smaller businesses.

The overarching goal is to rectify broken incentive structures that harm both the environment and people, while simultaneously providing relief to those suffering. We discuss the importance of agency, emphasizing that charity should empower rather than create dependency.

Mark Preston encourages listeners to visit freedomandjusticepartnership.org, read “Hell on Rare Earth” to understand the issue, and consider donating to support their cause.

Find out more about mark and the partnership here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-preston-contact/

https://www.freedomandjusticepartnership.org

https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Freedom-and-Justice-Partnership-61558804512321/

Donate here : https://www.freedomandjusticepartnership.org/donate

Research indicates over 75% of leaders remain in reactive behaviour, often avoiding difficult conversations and triggering hyper-vigilance within their teams. This creates an “intention-impact gap,” where good intentions don’t translate into desired outcomes.

Susanne and I discuss the antidote to this 'immediacy' and presence. Sounds simple right ? A surprising fact from executive coaching: many powerful leaders struggle with authentic self-expression. Suzanne shares a compelling anecdote from her mother’s barbershop, where high-profile clients found solace in being treated as simply “people,” not titles.

This highlights a core business lesson: authenticity builds connection, reducing the “lonely at the top” phenomenon. People stop seeing us and interacting with us as human beings when we lose touch with our true selves. Developing the courage to be “most fully yourself” is a priceless journey, transforming not just personal interactions but also team dynamics and organizational culture.

How often do you adjust your communication to fit perceived expectations rather than expressing your genuine thoughts?

The insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. This Could be Everything offers actionable exercises for leaders taken from life lessons, e.g. we perceive famous people as less human, powerful people are just people, we must learn how to interact with all types of people.
2. It helps to pay attention to subtle clues, understand how to create a good interpersonal experience, enable people to relax, share things and get to know people – an interest in serving other people requires trusting yourself first.
3. We can recognise authenticity, curiosity, warmth, and openness in people (as well as the opposite), particularly in a work scenario; faking it is uncomfortable for authentic people, and we must grant ourselves the freedom to be ourselves.
4. Outward signs of leaders not trusting themselves are a lack of creativity, innovation, healthy debate, and challenge; not acknowledging the work of others – we can reflect on the quality of our conversations to learn about ourselves.
5. Leadership coaching involves speaking truth to and challenging people in order to advance them - we can all have impact if we share with the intention to serve; leadership is about being brave enough to speak up and following your instinct.
6. Immediacy is one of most important – but underutilised – aspects of coaching, because whatever is happening in the here and now gives a complete picture of how people act in other situations.
7. It can be difficult to build the immediacy muscle without it feeling confrontational - there must be a feeling of safety to address real issues; this can be based on our own personal history of speaking truth but taking small risks improves it over time.
8. To shift out of reactive behaviour leaders need self-compassion and an understanding of their behaviour – it is important to convert the inner critic into an inner champion in order to be able to serve others.
9. Leaders need to foster a different mindset to focus on the positive despite the inevitable negative that comes with the job; they can act by taking on feedback, being curious, learning, adapting, connecting with themselves, being flexible, and having conversations.
10. Artistic unity, as in a piece of art or music intended to create a feeling, is a means of communicating for alignment and results, requiring humanity and emotion to tell a good story – the message is nothing more and nothing less, but ignites hearts and minds; leadership is an art after all.

Find out more about Susanne and her work here :

https://susannebiro.com/

Meggi and I discuss the concept of mindful rebellion - which isn't about anarchy, but about strategic influence and finding your voice in complex environments. This discussion explores the psychological impact of organizational identity on personal well-being, the challenges of reinvention, and the power of strategic, quiet disruption within established systems.

An interesting take on mindfulness as an antidote to the potential pitfalls of AI. While AI can augment human capabilities, it risks making people “cognitively lazy” by replacing critical thinking and skill development. Learning mindfulness alongside AI skills from a young age can help individuals leverage AI’s benefits while preserving their capacity for presence and independent thought.

Mindfulness became a crucial tool in meggi's own journey to prevent burnout and in turn informed her concept of mindful rebellion, a gentle yet powerful approach to challenging the status quo for greater innovation and employee satisfaction.

The challenge of distinguishing between healthy self-reflection and destructive self-doubt, and allowing yourself to mourn during transitions, but not getting stuck in a negative space. This resonated deeply with me, as I know how easily we can fall into overthinking, especially when facing big changes or career shifts.

How to foster and accompany this change ? The “submarine technique” for creating change within organizations was one idea. Instead of pushing loudly against resistance, working “under the radar,” gathering evidence, and building momentum with champions before emerging. This strategic patience allows new ideas to strengthen and gain support, making it easier for leaders to say “yes.” and enable them to cultivate environments where challenging the status quo leads to greater engagement and retention.

This approach feels so relevant in today’s constantly changing workplaces, where reinventing ourselves and our businesses is the new normal for keeping up with technology and market shifts.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

1. Mission-driven organisations can be outwardly compassionate but internally harsh; when organisational and personal identities merge, the outcome is akin to complex family dynamics – difficult moments mean we appreciate what binds us and feel a sense of belonging, but without becoming (too) attached to the need for external validation.
2. We are all constantly evolving, moving through phases of (maybe radical) reinvention, changing priorities, learning from difficult moments along the way - the younger generation do not speak from a place of lived experience or pain and this gap between the generations is widening.
3. Upskilling is the new normal and requires transferrable skills across sectors: our superpowers here are hard skills like craftsmanship (analytical, strategy, etc.) and soft skills like empathy, that come from life experience, e.g. ‘unofficial’ skills from family life or hobbies that can be a USP in bringing our whole selves to a job.
4. The difference between healthy self-reflection and destructive self-doubt is mindfulness – understanding the principles of non-judgement, being aware of a negative mindset, feeling and acknowledging feelings and then letting them pass; artificial positivity can be dangerous, and mastery of self is important (especially in teams).
5. The ‘submarine’ technique can be used to develop positive case studies to convince people of change, i.e. running small side projects under the radar to make the bigger point and then surface with demonstrable success, displaying strategic patience to help leaders support new ideas in a tangible, specific way.
6. ‘Mindful rebellion’ (based on the PCM personality model and Rebel Talent by Francesca Gino) is about finding our voice, accepting who we are and speaking up authentically; mindful rebel managers working with mindful rebel talent is a potent combination for successful intrapreneurship, even in bureaucratic setups.
7. William Bridges’ three phases of change – the ending, the neutral zone and new beginnings – emphasise sufficient time in the neutral zone for introspection and challenging old scripts; in the absence of clarity, courage and confidence, the Japanese concept of ikigai is a good starting point for true alignment.
8. Mindfulness can be the antidote to AI, making us aware of the risks - going through the pain ourselves will enable us to derive the biggest benefits from AI; curiosity about mindfulness and rebellion allows us to test them out in micro habit form, experimenting with an open mind and being bold with ideas.

Find out more about Meggi and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrombach/

https://mindset-mastery.ch/

https://meggirombach.com/

Most change models are built for organizations, not people. They're layered, complex, and quietly ignore the messy, human reality of what it actually takes to shift human behaviour at scale.

The journey of leadership in an era of constant change demands a shift from traditional, often performative models to a more human-centered approach. By integrating insights from high-performance environments like adaptive sports, leaders can cultivate clarity, provide genuine support, and leverage the undeniable power of encouragement.

The three pillars of information, support, and encouragement offer a pragmatic framework for simplifying change, ensuring that transformations are not just enacted but are truly sustainable and impactful. Drawing on lessons from elite and adaptive sport, Carlee unpacks why clarity is the most underused leadership tool in the room, why encouragement isn't soft — it's neurochemical — and why inclusion isn't a values statement, it's a performance strategy.

Furthermore, intentional inclusion becomes the non-negotiable foundation for innovation and resilience. As AI reshapes the landscape of talent and work, human-centered leadership, characterized by curiosity, learning out loud, and deep empathy, is more crucial than ever. It’s the human element that will drive AI’s true potential, connecting technology with purpose and fostering cultures where everyone can thrive. The invitation is clear: reflect on what you want to be proud of, and just begin.

Whether you're leading a global transformation or a team of five, the fundamentals don't change. And they're more human than most leaders dare to admit.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Performance happens quickly in sport and is built on the continual pursuit of betterment and excellence to achieve small improvements through hyperfocus and continual refinement.
2. This approach can be transferred to work in the form of incremental gains, priority-setting, awareness of environment, self-leadership, understanding individuals’ needs within the context of the team; the celebratory energy of sport – as well as dealing with both wins and losses – is also very helpful and positive.
3. A holistic approach (physical, emotional, and psychological) and balance are beneficial, but the power of clarity is often lacking in leadership, which requires big picture thinking in a world of change and the confidence to support a team when times are tough.
4. Traditional models for change are coming up against future models – they are helpful but can become overwhelming; consultative conversations are very constructive and simplicity provides clarity, particularly for messy human issues, such as breaking down change into information, support and encouragement.
5. Good support (from leaders) means providing information about what change entails, what development for the new role looks like, removing barriers to support, providing tooling/resources, addressing team dynamics, and making it clear where support comes from (e.g. informal chats, formal company communication channels, internal/external resources [ChatGPT]).
6. Encouragement drives performance and is the anchor for delivering success, and ongoing praise functions as a barometer along the way; inclusion must be intentional and representative - a lack of innovation and reach impacts performance; small adjustments count and provide connection in communities.
7. In terms of inclusion in the workplace, AI brings learnings, insights, skillsets, growth and development, and elevates innovation; we have to shift into an AI mindset of investing in tools and making them accessible, as well as upskilling for career development - leaders must remain human-centered in the face of shiny penny syndrome, learn out loud, and be curious, empathetic and caring.
8. ‘Leading out loud’ means looking ahead and wanting to be proud of one’s achievements as a leader in challenging times; this includes striving for AI excellence to leave a long-term impact – leaders should just begin and continue to take one step at a time as their authentic self.

Find out more about Carlee and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carleeawolfe/

https://aceandarrowconsulting.com/about/

In an age saturated with AI-generated content, how do businesses ensure their message resonates and builds trust?

Wes and I discuss this shift, and that artificial intelligence is forcing us to be more human. For founder-led businesses, this means reflecting the founder’s values and convictions. Small businesses have a distinct advantage here, and large corporations struggle to replicate this personal touch but as AI models become more sophisticated, the challenge for businesses shifts from mere content quantity & quality to genuine quality and uniquely human branding.

The strategic move is to focus on what makes your brand uniquely human: case studies, core values, proprietary models, and authentic storytelling. The shift is clear: a strong personal brand, combined with the company brand, creates significant market advantage. This moves beyond traditional lead magnets (like free e-books) which are losing relevance as AI provides instant information. Instead, focus on demonstrating expertise and reliability through genuine connections.

How are you leveraging your unique human element to cut through the digital noise and build trust?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Uncertainty about the future is the death knell for a business’ value and a good motivation to adapt; the founder-led business model requires communication with and the involvement of other team members to bring about change.
2. An AI world demands constant reinvention and questioning; it is difficult to stand out in the marketplace unless a business is unique, but AI means we crave the human element of collaboration and authenticity.
3. It is all about creating relationships/human connection – the goal of social media is to get people off social media onto the website, and the goal of a website is to get people off the website into a human conversation (to make a sale).
4. Smaller, founder-led businesses can leverage advantages and opportunities that are not open to large businesses, with the combination of both a personal and a company brand providing a valuable competitive edge.
5. Privacy is paramount now; LLMs surface the best information, which means companies must provide genuine IP; the tools will get better at presenting this information to the right people at the right time = quality over quantity.
6. LLMs are challenging language and our use of it, and it is important to have a consistent voice and language (style guide) - tools can help by writing copy based on prompts but having your own unique language is powerful.
7. In terms of visibility and branding in a crowded market, it is imperative to focus on the most relevant platforms (e.g. LinkedIn for B2B) and use tools to syndicate out to other platforms - every business has a human story.
8. A high-performing website needs a UX that guides the eye through the core message in order to grasp it and interact with it – vibe coding will advance to meet the needs of website design, where tech provides the labour and the human adds the value (moving from content to process).
9. In the age of LLMs, businesses must build authority, trust and reputation, and indicate their sustainability; visits to websites are still relevant and less traffic does not mean fewer enquiries - qualitative metrics count, and drawing out positive opposites from missteps helps to determine future direction.

You can find out more about Wes and his work here :

www.uplift360.com.au

https://www.linkedin.com/in/westowers/

This perspective highlights the strategic use of informal networks and collaboration to drive systemic change. For decades, we have had the narrative focused on “fixing women” to fit leadership moulds rather than addressing systemic biases and looking at how to fix the system.

In this conversation we explore how the very skills often dismissed as "soft"—context awareness, emotional agility, adaptive thinking, collaborative workload management—are exactly what drives systemic change. Research backs this up: women managers disproportionately champion DEI initiatives and build stronger teams. Yet these skills remain undervalued.

Why? Because we haven't disrupted the power dynamics that determine what "leadership" looks like.

Real change happens when we: Build cross-functional coalitions; Make implicit power structures more explicit; Consciously leverage privilege to create space for different approaches ;Use informal networks intentionally & strategically to create momentum

This isn't about adding more women to broken systems. It's about redesigning the systems themselves.

Jodi generously shares her research, insights and experience as weexplore how leadership, courage, and values converge—and how factors like caregiving, generational wisdom, and a career-long view can transform how we lead today.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Leadership is about collaborating, creating better workplaces/community environments, and bringing together courage and values - caregiving, generational wisdom and a career-long view of impact can transform leadership.
2. It takes courage to transcend hierarchy - leadership is not a title or position, but a lifelong practice to overcome the fear of retribution; finding moments of clarity aligned with our values makes this easier to withstand.
3. Integrity and clarity bring courage and confidence; we always have agency, which can become leadership capital and have a lasting legacy – the need for women to constantly codeswitch between multiple identities brings many skills, e.g. communication, holding space, EQ, context intelligence, etc.
4. The skills to navigate complexity involve mental and emotional agility; we can use these skills to disrupt systems and biases to leverage strategic thinking and relationships - formal leadership provides a platform and greater sphere of influence (to bring about change).
5. It is important to seek allies in a network of champions and create our own spaces - being effective is an act of disruption and diplomacy, and positioning goals in the context of the mission and organisation appeals to people’s decency.
6. The informal nature of power dynamics makes values-driven leadership difficult to maintain against a backdrop of value clashes – a career journey will wax and wane in terms of value alignment, but courage comes from the collective, by building a diverse and cohesive team in an effective space for shared values.
7. Younger generations see leadership differently, and have more interest in racial justice, feminism, LGBTQ rights, etc. - different experiences give rise to new questions and subsequently new thinking.
8. Smart organisations will capitalise on the knowledge and ideas of young people and bring it to the leadership - intergenerational experiences count and should also counter age and learning humility in both directions.
9. Courage in an (AI-)augmented, hybrid world will still have the same values and practices but there will be a need to create more space for human interaction, for listening, creating feedback loops, and learning about others.
10. It is essential that we develop deeper self-connection and self-trust in the face of buffeting forces – the human operating system doesn’t really change; we must still put people first and recognise our own courage by finding our voice, taking a stand, paying attention to our behaviour in the moment and being generous.

Find out more about Jodi and her work here :

https://www.jodivandenberg-daves.com/

Simon and I discuss why this is often observed in organizations. What appears as insurmountable complexity is often rooted in inefficient processes and workflows. The key is distinguishing between inherent complexity and self-imposed inefficiency. Complexity often feels like the default in organizations, making simplicity seem impossible. Given the blurring of boundaries, the shifting paradigms and the need for constant change, we need to review our capacity to manage complexity.

Reinvention is key and all transformation shares the same human map – parenting can sharpen leadership skills given that a parent’s mission is not to succeed, but to help others succeed, just as leaders can sharpen their teams skill to develop themselves and each other, and constantly question each others' assumptions.

We explore how to frame complexity and how to create space enough to see things differently. For teams, especially in agile and DevOps models, it is so important to understand how teams fit together within the overarching organizational goal. Ideally, interdependencies between teams should be minimized to avoid slowdowns. If interdependencies exist, teams must synchronize their efforts by aligning with the same goal, which informs their prioritization.

To truly foster cooperation, and simplify processes, organizations must rethink individualistic incentives like performance reviews and bonuses, moving towards global optimization. Building intentional communities who align and swarm together can also help cut through the chaos of complexity, and become a blueprint for ho to navigate it more effectively;

Approaches like sociocracy and visual cause-and-effect diagrams to facilitate collective debugging and ensure that improvement efforts are focused on the right areas, building on the belief that people are good and that understanding complexity requires multiple perspectives and humble challenge

Whether it’s in your team, family, or community, knowing your goal and helps you prioritize, say no to distractions, and ultimately, make a significant impact. To move from “doing more” to “doing smarter,” leaders must define clear goals (the “one goal”), then establish the conditions necessary for their teams to achieve them. Just as a gardener provides water and light, a leader cultivates a safe environment, fosters learning, and ensures clear direction. For instance, if a team’s goal is to innovate, the condition might be dedicated “learning time” or a “speak-up” culture to surface roadblocks.

Whether it’s in your team, family, or community, knowing your goal and helps you prioritize, say no to distractions, and ultimately, make a significant impact. What is your one goal and how do you actively challenge assumptions within your leadership team to foster genuine improvement?.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Having shared goals but different approaches rules out a collaborative approach to identify differences, ultimately impacting on decision-making and therefore productivity.
2. Reducing complexity can involve trimming it (by reducing process complexity, for example) or paying more attention to the signals that matter (with a clear goal) – focusing on progress towards a goal minimizes complexity to focus on the goal.
3. Leaders can use the thinking process (five focus steps) from the theory of constraints to decide what to simplify: clarity on a single goal; cause and effect diagram; step into action; filter reality based on the goal; work out the obstacles.
4. Innovation comes from constraints and the biggest obstacle in organisations is assumptions held by leaders; people generally welcome change if it is an improvement, well communicated and well managed.
5. Reinvention is key and all transformation shares the same human map – parenting can sharpen leadership skills given that a parent’s mission is not to succeed, but to help others succeed.
6. Compliance is based on punishment and rewards, whereas choice is the ability to make decisions - in a team environment, the manager’s role is to magnify the role of the team to be better.
7. To progress towards a goal, certain conditions need to be true, and these conditions need to be created – there is no guarantee of success but it increases the chances of success.
8. Creating the conditions for teams to grow together requires the removal of interdependencies – understanding the overarching goal and enabling teams to synchronise (and function independently).
9. The ideal is to have one team across the entire value chain (no interdependencies); otherwise, teams need a shared goal to cooperate (no conflict); goals, performance reviews and bonuses obstruct cooperation by encouraging individualistic performance rather than the collective.
10. Achieving a goal requires learning; intentionality; hearing all voices (diversity); sociocracy/holacracy; we need humans as AI can weaken both our thinking and our (inductive and deductive) logic skills.

find out more about simon here :

https://curiouscoffee.club/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simoncopsey/

Research shows that leaders effectively employing empathy boosted productivity by 87%, innovation by 86%, and profit by 84%. These aren’t just “soft skills”; they’re hard metrics that directly impact your bottom line.

Melissa and I talk about why leaders often underestimate empathy and how to move past that. If you’ve ever felt like you’re hitting a wall in your leadership, or that your team isn’t as connected as they could be, this may be part of the answer. This is a common leadership pitfall: expecting people to adapt without understanding their perspective.

Leaders who lack self-empathy often create roadblocks, forcing their teams to “go around” them to get work done. This isn’t just inefficient; it erodes trust and hinders progress.

I particularly loved Melissa's analogy of Stradivarius violins. They are beautiful instruments, but you only get their true value if you know how to play them. Without that skill, its potential remains untapped.Empathy is similar – it’s a powerful tool, but you need to know how to “make the strings sing” in your leadership. Our conversation made me reflect on how many leaders might intellectually understand empathy but struggle to connect and operationalize it daily.

We discuss how actionable empathy drives innovation, scales across teams, and why top organizations are placing it at their core. We explore the critical difference between empathy and self-empathy, and how a lack of self-awareness can derail even the best intentions.

How do you actively cultivate empathy & perspective-taking in your leadership approach?

Melissa shares her experiences, research and insights from working with leadesr and teams all over the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Making empathy actionable to help leaders operationalise empathy for themselves and their teams, using it to drive innovation and understand connection through perspective-taking.
2. Leaders don’t view empathy as a skill and are often not connected to their people, representing an immovable object that people have to circumnavigate; without actionable empathy for themselves, they cannot apply it to lead others.
3. Helpful to reframe empathy as strategic awareness rather than weakness – it takes courage to practice empathy whilst making difficult decisions; leading well requires the correct perspective.
4. Four steps to self-empathy: self-observation, which leads to self-reflection, which leads to self-awareness, which leads to self-compassion.
5. Judgement and empathy cannot exist in the same place: empathy in action is compassion, and a low-empathy culture ultimately produces weak leadership.
6. An empathic culture has a leader in touch with what’s going on, making everything more efficient - empathy is important for middle management because they lead both up and down, and touch the most people.
7. Practicing empathy takes discipline and energy and empathy fatigue can set in, especially with emotional empathy, which drains neurological reserves.
8. Scaling empathy within leadership is about building a culture, living the asserted values - leaders are often unaware how their actions affect their people, which is the very opposite of inspiration.
9. Operationalising empathy on a sustainable basis must be discussed in teams and integrated; it runs alongside change management and can survive hypergrowth if it is part of the culture and comes from the top.
10. Leadership is an organism, whereas management is a machine - the former grows and requires nurturing; similarly, empathy in an organisation hugely improves productivity, innovation and profit.
11. As a machine, AI has no empathy or perspective, so doubling down on the human connection enables better navigation of AI/tech; training people in empathy will hopefully make compassion the norm.
12. AI can take over menial tasks, leaving people to shape the global perspective, social responsibility, etc.; empathy allows us to tap into human potential, scaling humanity as opposed to tech.

Find out more about Melissa and her work here :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Empathic-Leader-Transforms-Leadership-Productivity/dp/1964014581

https://eqviaempathy.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaoXSEWeILo

What does it mean to move from KPIs to outcomes, from silos to more interconnected ecosystems of teams ?

Moving from project to product is more than a process change; it’s a mindset shift. Tim and I discuss who to help organizations connect their outcomes, their work and their teams into living value streams so that they stop measuring activity and start measuring impact.

Our discussion highlights a crucial point: “When work is still being organized as programs or projects, and there are plans that have got start dates and end dates, that’s usually an indicator that the mindset is still in that project mentality.” This perspective reveals a core issue in many “agile” transformations.

The traditional project approach, with its fixed timelines and temporary teams, often hinders true value delivery. Instead, long-lived, cross-functional teams that “roll the valuable work into the team” rather than “staff a project over people” yield superior results. This fosters psychological safety, boosts performance, and increases adaptability.

The best foundation for success is collaboration and starting small. The perception of mindset and metrics can be changed using value stream mapping/metrics-based process mapping, quantifying before and after, crossover times and rate of completeness to provide data and success stories right from the beginning.

How are you shifting your teams from temporary assignments to continuous value delivery units?

Tim share his wealth of experience and insight from orking with teams and leaders all over the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Helping organisations connect their outcomes, work and teams into living value streams to measure impact over productivity and bring about sustainable transformation in the delivery of outcomes.
2. Claims to be agile or devops-driven are often waterfall projects in disguise - a clear distinction between project mode and product mode is often stymied by organisational infrastructure.
3. Cohesive teams outperform projects that are simply resourced, a model that is very dependent on specific skills and requires a shift (from t-shaped to i-shaped) towards m-shaped - cross-functional teams deliver value and are adaptable, permitting value management instead of scaled resourcing.
4. Value streams – comprising two components of flow and end-to-end – begin with a need and end with a perceived value, but the entire process and how it all fits together must be understood.
5. The perception of mindset and metrics can be changed using value stream mapping/metrics-based process mapping, quantifying before and after, crossover times and rate of completeness.
6. Shifting from output to (connected) outcomes involves mapping the constellation using simple visualisation to demonstrate connections within the organisation and what values each team delivers.
7. Constellations of bright stars then join together to meet strategic goals and boost engagement; keeping an eye on KPI dashboards within the confines of safety and governance allows progress to be determined by OKRs (create focus, then align).
8. The best foundation for success is collaboration – leaders need to make way for an experimental mindset and micro shifts that start small with one team and tell a story which serves as a catalyst for wider implementation.
9. Flexible frameworks can establish what tools work in a given organisation, avoiding the hype around ‘the right solutions’, using comfortable language and focusing on the principles rather than the labels to bring the values to life.
10. Recommended action to move from a product organisation to a product operating model is to ascertain what the need is; establish how progress will be measured; define a strategy; discuss how to test it; and build feedback loops into the system of work.
11. When other strategies have failed, it is important to focus on the retrospective learning, looking at what did work against the backdrop of the change curve - creating communities embraces the people issue to unlearn ingrained habits.

Find out more about Tim and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/company/stellafai/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdbeattie/

https://www.stellafai.com/

What if your voice, not just your words, could build deeper trust and connection? Tom highlights that audio communication activates the brain’s pleasure centre. People often trust what they hear more than what they see.This trust mechanism is invaluable for leaders aiming to foster genuine two-way communication. It moves beyond formal messaging, making leaders more relatable. Human trust is becoming more and more important as we move into an AI generated era.

AI will not replace humans enjoying each other’s company, having interactions that an audience can feel, and building niche communities that create impact beyond monetisation, spark movements, and give rise to new communities in turn.

Think about it: have you ever felt like you “know” a podcast host, even without meeting them? This phenomenon creates a powerful, intimate connection. Tom Fox calls it “your voice is in my head” and notes how listeners pick up on inflections, emotions, and authenticity. Tom and I discuss how organisations can leverage this and Tom outlines five reasons in the business world to have a podcast: thought leadership, relationship building, audience engagement, content creation, and sales – a B2B podcast does all five, conveying information and creating an authentic voice.

The power of this approach is also that people get the chance to use their voice to build and inspire communities, wherever they sit in the hierarchy, and all voices can be heard.

What untapped communities or conversations exist within your organisation that, if amplified, could lead to significant cultural shifts?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Initially a segue from corporate compliance (making businesses more successful) and blogging (for marketing purposes as a sole trader) to podcasting (and the community behind it) as a means of communicating beyond writing.
2. The audio format of podcasting is very different from video - hearing something instils more trust than seeing it, and voices/inflections are remembered and recognised – despite being as old as humankind, storytelling still resonates.
3. The effectiveness of podcasts is measured in terms of social media touchpoints with an audience (listens, engagements, views, etc.) based on an IAB certified download (listened to for 60 seconds or longer).
4. This method highlights customer engagement and the impact of voice - leaders can use internal podcasting as a supplemental form of communication to share messages and foster two-way communication within their organisations.
5. Podcasting is about having fun while learning - it is informal and very important in the hybrid world; its democratising power offers companies leverage to surface diverse perspectives and facilitate bottom-up communication.
6. The choice of guests and hosts on internal podcasts must be considered –successfully navigating the politics of internal podcasting must focus on the ultimate goal, e.g. personalise the C-suite or explain a policy.
7. The human attention span has changed dramatically, and a corporate podcast could replace other forms of communication, being used for short-form content as snippets for inclusion in a video, for instance.
8. AI will not replace humans enjoying each other’s company, having interactions that an audience can feel, and building niche communities that create impact beyond monetisation, spark movements, and give rise to new communities in turn.
9. A podcast can meet a market need, capitalise on an opportunity or focus attention on a particular area of an organisation, seeking out the unheard voices and giving them a platform.
10. Podcasts enable us to learn from other experts; continuously connect the dots of the bigger picture around us; listen to people tell their stories; and build our network: the microphone is a mirror for our culture – when leaders start listening, cultures start changing.

Find out more about Tom and his work here :

https://compliancepodcastnetwork.net/

https://www.texashillcountrypodcastnetwork.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasfox13/

tfox@tfoxlaw.com

The conventional wisdom of “command and control” in leadership is crumbling. A rapidly changing world demands a different management model, one built on “power with” rather than “power over.”

Rod and I dig into why nobody is smarter than everyone and explore the power of collective intelligence in organisations. In a fast-moving world, a top-down hierarchy stymies progress and innovation; networks require different leadership that is not based on levels or departments, i.e. not horizontal or vertical in structure. In fact, networks are the lever for effecting lasting change, and harnessing the potential of an organisation.

Rod vividly recalls a pivotal moment at Blue Cross Blue Shield: “The world moves faster than any CEO can think.” He realized no single leader, no matter how brilliant, could keep pace with rapid change. This insight sparked a shift from traditional hierarchy to a networked approach. This led to the unlocking of collective genius. In an AI world, how can we keep that human creative genius ?

We explore extending the principles of collective intelligence to the development of artificial intelligence and integrating the learning from human and crowd sourced wisdom.

Rod shares his insights, experience and research from working inside and with organisations on building a more collective and distributed leadership and decision making structure.

Are you inadvertently stifling your team’s collective genius?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Culture-building meetings with external parties are often more productive - having internal leaders act as facilitators off-site and bringing together a microcosm of the business gives everyone the same voice.
2. Success depends on seeking first to understand then to be understood; asking clarifying questions; engaging in small mixed-group discussions; ensuring diversity of opinion; no censorship; and participation over disruption.
3. Debate often gives rise to ‘lowest common denominator’ solutions; preferable is looking at the outcome regardless of agreement and disagreement, always having group decisions and avoiding polarisation.
4. Uncovering what we didn’t know we knew as well as what we didn’t know we didn’t know is very important in a rapidly changing world - networks are better at this; successful companies know that it drives efficiency and leads to growth.
5. Mining and leveraging collective intelligence (CI) is based on four attributes that work together: diversity of opinion, independent thinking, local knowledge, and an aggregation mechanism.
6. Bosses who become facilitators make growth, adaptability, innovativeness, and the ability to pivot more likely - intentional design for CI busts leadership myths and creates conditions for sustainable growth.
7. Senior leaders must accept divergent thinking, which is traditionally sorely lacking in the West, and companies must be free markets of ideas (with a decision-making structure).
8. In a network, miscreants become contributors and leadership is about facilitating constructive conversations where everyone is heard and diversity is welcome - everyone has an obligation to speak up in a safe space.
9. Slowing down to move fast under pressure reduces resistance - leaders ideally keep their opinions to themselves to allow CI to run its course and come to a (different) solution.
10. If everyone’s voice is heard, everyone is accountable – in a network, accountability is to peers, and is an effective mechanism for experimenting, keeping what’s working and discarding what’s not.
11. CI principles are critical for AI as they will determine whether we build a tyrannical AI on an enormous scale (enemy of the state) or evolve human intelligence (accelerator of humanity).
12. Fast thinking (biases, false confidence) vs. slow thinking (rational, deliberative, doubtful): AI could enable the former at the speed of the latter, thereby playing a constructive rather than destructive role.

Find out more about Rod and his work here :

https://rodcollins.net/

This requires a new approach to human adaptation, not just technology deployment.

A rich discussion with Nikki about how to move past chaotic AI adoption to focused, fast-paced organizational learning cycles, understanding at the same time that AI speed is unprecedented. We explore how leaders can transform, innovate, and amplify their impact in the AI age.

Many organizations are grappling with the “Shiny Object Syndrome” in AI adoption. It is vital to keep business fundamentals in sight given that AI is ‘just’ a tech to help meet business objectives, yet shiny object syndrome prevails in many companies - strategic business clarity does not come from AI.

Now is an opportunity for every business, also to stay competitive – the fundamental operating cycles are getting faster, and models are changing (from pyramid to molecular).

We discuss how to ensure sustainable transformation, through continuous iteration in rapid 90-day cycles. This sprint-based approach allows for quick wins, builds internal capability, and maintains relevance in a fast-changing AI landscape.

The result is Agentic-Human Reinvention; where humans and AI amplify each other, where output becomes exponential without more hours. Where people become People Squared.

Nikki shares insights from her 25-year career helping top brands reinvent their culture and capabilities.

What specific business objective could AI help your organization achieve in the next 90 days?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Organisational learning cycles help leaders trying to navigate the rapid changes AI is wreaking on work – it is the greatest disruption in modern human history, and most leaders are ill equipped to deal with it.
2. It is not just a matter of AI adoption, but how to help humans adapt and relinquish evolutionary design to co-evolve with AI for a new reality that reshapes roles and value creation models.
3. It is vital to keep business fundamentals in sight given that AI is ‘just’ a tech to help meet business objectives, yet shiny object syndrome prevails in many companies - strategic business clarity does not come from AI.
4. Clearly defined AI projects create sustainable change, which requires continuous and rapid iteration – in cycles – for specific use cases to create the highest ROI and demonstrate the value of AI.
5. The superficial application of AI erodes trust and wastes resources; this new tech must be taught rather than learnt, which makes it more valuable yet also more difficult to create a culture of trust in it.
6. Deploying AI must begin with the people, not the project - AI is forcing a deep change in human beings who feel threatened evolutionarily by a lack of safety, certainty and comfort.
7. Embracing risk and navigating uncertainty is an identity/mindset shift and the starting point to determine which zone of genius remains and what must go; AI as a co-worker follows the reinvention of the people, the process and the tools.
8. Personal transformation is the first step towards reshaping the philosophy of leadership guided by core values; continuous learning is now the ultimate superpower to turn knowledge into wisdom.
9. Clarity, courage, and conviction could be joined by a fourth ‘c’, curiosity - we all have access to infinite intelligence, but it is our own inherent curiosity that will distinguish us from others – innately human skills make us valuable in an AI age.
10. Flipwork is a response to the scale and speed of change and how to approach transformation in order to make it a reinvention engine; people2 is about collaboration between humans and AI.
11. The aim is to amplify not replace the human by building a world to bring out the best of humans - agentic human reinvention beings with a personal case study that is then developed for deployment in organisations.
12. The adoption of AI (at scale) as a team member is challenging at both individual and organisational levels as it requires reimagining the business as opposed to simply implementing tech.
13. At individual level, the challenge is about trust – job security, data privacy, rogue use of tech, AI slop, fake content – as not trusting the effects of AI will prevent its adoption; AI upskilling helps people think differently about it to adapt skill sets.
14. The unit of value is decreasing in organisations, affecting community - hybrid must contextualise humans and machines and embody teams of specialists operating with speed, precision and ability to adapt to any given environment.
15. Redefining hybrid also changes cultural codes and organisational design; redesigns the role of HR; reimagines planning cycles; and must keep employees engaged rather than transactional.
16. The power of leadership necessitates leaders to recognise their important new role in the new reality and understanding what makes people (feel) uniquely valuable rather than focusing on (machine) productivity.
17. Expectation management, accountability, etc. still matter and leaders must be willing to shed the playbook for previous success and reinvent themselves, bringing people with them by being explorers, not experts.
18. Constant learning is about moving from a level-1 toolset to an improved toolset to overcome obstacles and move up to level 2, etc. - there are infinite levels, but progress is limited by the time available and attachment to identity/skills.
19. A sense of self that does not come from success is threatening, therefore embrace this change as the best adventure of your life – have fun, build skills, drive change, and trust yourself.

Find out more about Nikki and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua/

https://www.nikkibarua.com/

https://www.nikkibarua.com/newsletters/reinvention-roadmap/

https://www.flipwork.ai/

88% of organizational change efforts fail to produce lasting results. What if the solution isn’t a new framework, but a new conversation?

This episode challenges leaders to reconsider why change efforts fail, pointing to a surprising culprit: a lack of listening and communication. Jeff and I explore how shifting our approach to conversations can transform outcomes and build stronger, more adaptive organisations.

We literally change the conversation, digging into the fact that individuals are often ambivalent about change, possessing both reasons to accept it and reasons to hesitate. This ambivalence is not fixed but fluid, and can be navigated intentionally

Motivational interviewing (MI), originally developed in clinical psychology, provides a framework for guiding individuals toward change they cannot be compelled to make. Motivational Interviewing teaches us to listen for “change talk” and “sustain talk” — people’s own reasons for and against change.

This deep listening reveals the raw ingredients for productive dialogue, moving beyond fixed attitudes to address underlying concerns. It’s about meeting people where they are, acknowledging their ambivalence, and helping them clarify their own path forward. This approach doesn’t dismiss models; it feeds them the human insights they need to succeed.

How do you differentiate between true resistance and genuine hesitation in your teams?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Conversations about change need to be front and centre in organisations – organisational change requires communication, commitment and engagement, making it easy to find excuses not to undertake it.
2. Failed organisational change comes at enormous cost, making successful organisational change essential for the bottom line - everyone is ambivalent about change, but leaders often interpret hesitation as resistance.
3. Change management has unhelpfully popularised the word ‘resistance’, yet attitudes towards change are not fixed - the many reasons why people are for or against change fluctuate; tweaking this balance can move the needle towards change.
4. ‘Resistance’ attributes intention without discretion or discernment, whereas it might be due to a lack of understanding or training - calling people resistant is self-fulfilling; likewise silence does not always signify defiance.
5. Motivational interviewing (MI) for organisational change can be defined as a set of conversational tools and skills for helping people move towards change that you can’t make for them – this makes it relatable and teachable.
6. Understanding how to listen differently, speak differently, and help build belief in different modes of communication means that small steps can be interleaved with immediate effect (MI-inspired microskills).
7. Learning to listen for change talk (someone’s own language of change) and sustain talk (someone’s own language against change) brings to light the ‘raw ingredients’ for a different kind of conversation.
8. Frameworks and models (i.e. planning) for organisational change don’t work, are unsustainably expensive and alienate staff; ‘all models are wrong, some are useful’ is true if they are used consistently.
9. Overinvestment in models makes it difficult to undo and reveals the gap in change management: clients have expectations of a certain model but generally only half the tools required for successful organisational change.
10. Change is constant, which makes a relational infrastructure essential - change fatigue is real and driven by the low success rate; transformation is necessary to remain competitive but it can be stressful to revisit it all the time.
11. The cycle of change is a relational activity to build the social tissue of an organisation, not a process flow, roadmap, etc. – a different approach positions the relational piece as a solution to the problem.
12. AI is transforming multiple aspects quickly but is not immune to the laws of change adoption (like the Internet before it) – the issue is to get people to adopt it, which is a highly relational pursuit.
13. AI will not eradicate the problem of talking and helping others to change – it makes people worse at communicating, therefore exacerbating the problem – and is still a long way from being able to help us solve these problems.
14. Interaction with AI is by default transactional rather than involving empathy and human connection, but the way we speak to each other about change matters, and requires skills that most leaders have never been taught.

Find out more about Jeff and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wetherhold/

https://www.jeffwetherhold.com

https://www.miforhealth.com

Now more than ever this phrase rings true for leadership in teams, organisations and society as a whole. The inherited leadership model is destructive, not productive in today's interconnected world.

Never has it been more important to challenge the status quo, to unlearn old formatting and build new patterns so that organisations and teams can thrive. The best way to avoid risk is to actually do nothing.- Celine's observation highlights a critical issue in modern leadership. Many organizations inadvertently foster environments where inaction is safer than innovation. I see this firsthand frequently.

Leaders, fearing blame for mistakes, often maintain the status quo. This “risk of doing versus risk of not doing” dynamic stifles creativity and energy. We need leaders to challenge this complacency. Rather than trying to be the best, leaders should challenge themselves ethically and morally; pursue human pastimes to maintain emotional and creative ability; hold space to think and feel; and improve the quality of relationships with their people and between people - leadership is a collective ability, not an individual pursuit.

Celine shares her insights and experience from working with leaders all over the globe and from researching her book : Dare to Unlead.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. The inherited leadership model is destructive, not productive: it is evident in the corporate world that leadership has been transformed into an industry, making it difficult to progress (business- and human-wise) in large, industrialised companies.
2. Toxic patterns are reproduced, resulting in a male-dominated, ego-drive, territory-obsessed culture with the heavy infrastructure of prediction and control that is slow, outdated, inefficient, and comes at enormous personal, social and planetary cost.
3. Red flags often come in the form of multiple small indications, such as cultural, ethnic, and gender homogeneity at decision-making level; a prevalence of no vs yes; and difficulties driving innovative projects forwards because leaders are risk averse.
4. A lack of accountability for not doing the right/wrong thing leads to complacency and ‘yes’ people who maintain the status quo, leaving no room for new blood or change, which in turn produces stagnant energy that is directed into negative politics.
5. In the workplace, we have to be with people we haven’t chosen or who aren’t like us, giving us an opportunity to develop our diversity muscle in terms of dealing with different opinions, worldviews, etc. against a clear mandate of making the business work.
6. Leadership is about enabling something productive; creating value across the board; and mobilising all talent - energy and power are omnipresent and can be either a constraint or an opportunity, depending on the mindset.
7. Familiar power structures are still honoured, e.g. one knowledgeable expert has the right to overrule all other opinions, but they are no longer applicable given that managers now are often less knowledgeable than their direct reports.
8. Knowledge and relational work has changed the foundations of old decision-making systems, with more agility and diversity required - leaders must stop seeing themselves as the centre/top of the system, and rather as an enabler of a network.
9. Leaders must foster strong, effective connections in multiple ways, including making themselves dispensable - mentoring other good leaders to overcome the parent/child dynamic and step into the less comfortable environment of an adult/adult relationship.
10. Late-stage, extractive capitalism is unhelpful in that it encourages us to seek an ‘easy’ solution and gives way to a ‘strongman’ approach: when it comes to mobilisation vs manipulation, the former should be top of mind for any engagement professional.
11. The new identity in the workplace is not tied to roles or locations, but is part of a larger, living ecosystem in which people must feel valued and welcomed - hierarchy can remain, but the relational aspect is more relevant, and everyone is important.
12. Relational energy is scaled by spreading the load and opening up the vision to everyone – it cannot simply be replicated as it is a living system, therefore new versions can be created by connecting the energy centres in the system for mutual benefit.
13. Leadership practice based on liberty, equality, and fraternity (from the French culture):
14. Liberty: allowing for more (creative) freedom in the system (reducing control, trusting people to play); becoming free yourself (questioning our behaviour and latitude)
15. Equality: connecting freedom at a collective level (having a network model); maintaining a cohesive network (no bureaucratic control)
16. Fraternity: wanting to be together with very different people; promoting co-activism
17. It is important to build a ‘we’ space – internal social media let down by algorithms that fragment rather than connect; community audio (e.g. internal radio/podcasts) gives people a voice without a visual image that can have an excluding effect.
18. Storytelling and relational leadership in the AI era must value the human aspect to heal, teach, lead and let people be human, otherwise we will have more rebellion and an increasingly negative impact on the planet.
19. Rather than trying to be the best, leaders should challenge themselves ethically and morally; pursue human pastimes to maintain emotional and creative ability; hold space to think and feel; and improve the quality of relationships with their people and between people - leadership is a collective ability, not an individual pursuit.

Find out more about Celine and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/celineschillinger/?originalSubdomain=fr

https://www.figure1publishing.com/book/dare-to-un-lead/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dare-Lead-Relational-Leadership-Fragmented/dp/1773271822

https://weneedsocial.com/

This is the question Kate and I discuss - the urgent need to rewire work and change the way we view talent, skills and the workplace. One of the shifts is moving from viewing individuals as mere “employees” to recognising them as “contributors.” This change fosters a sense of agency within any organizational system.

The topic of agency highlights a crucial shift: workers have agency to choose and the long time loyalty contracts are gone. People, particularly the younger generations now prioritize health benefits, time off, and flexible working over pay raises. This signifies a deeper desire for lifestyle integration and genuine care from employers. It’s about feeling valued for one’s skills from day one, having a voice, and ensuring long-term employability, especially with AI on the horizon. If our identity is tied to what we know, how do we adapt when AI “knows more”?

Historically, the more people got used to new tech, the less anxious they became. But with AI, it’s the opposite! The closer people get, the more nervous they feel. This isn’t just about understanding the tech; it’s about our identity and status tied to what we know versus what we’re willing to learn. This paradox calls for a fundamental shift: from being “know-it-alls” to “learn-it-alls.” Leaders must foster environments where learning and adaptability are paramount, rather than relying solely on existing expertise.

If you had the opportunity to redesign work in this department how would you do it differently ?

The insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      It is people, not technology, who breathe life into businesses and keep them competitive; the pressure businesses are under puts a premium on talent and GenAI is increasing the gap between average and high-performing employees.

-      Hiring, development and promotion must be right for a business to unlock opportunities, but workers have more options than ever before - Gen Z feel work is broken and the lift provided by augmented AI does not fix what is broken.

-      The proximity paradox, i.e. the nearer people get to AI, the more nervous they are about it, is the opposite of past experiences with tech – if people are worried about losing their jobs and using AI, they will not innovate and look forward.

-      This paradox is also a human paradox – GenAI provides no reassurance as it is always changing and learning, which is at odds with a system that values knowing over learning: know-it-all v learn-it-all is a threat to identity and status.

-      Companies must care about guiding employees so that they stay relevant, and managers must have honest conversations with employees about how AI will change their jobs – this may well involve not having all the answers.

-      The employee turnover rate is driven by the labour market and HR must know what the company’s reputation is externally to prevent the top talent from leaving in a flexible and fluid talent supply – motivation is key here.

-      More agility in the workforce requires intentional work redesign - fixed v flex v fully flow roles - to solve real human problems and supply gaps through e.g. offshoring, right-shoring, making use of global capacity centres.

-      Leaders must be able to work across temporal, digital, cultural and behavioural boundaries, and across generations, i.e. manage paradox, sense markets and people, have a global mindset, and embrace DE&I.

-      Upskilling is crucial, as skills are the real currency in the AI era; businesses must make clear what opportunities they offer but it is difficult to move to skills-powered talents practices if we don’t know what skills we need in future.

-      Leaders must hire based on skills and relocate skills internally, which means less cohesive teams, but the benefit must be demonstrated and governed - the transferability of skills becomes essential for both employees and employers.

-      Change is easier under the right leader, who must understand what really creates value and what human skills will become premium – a commitment to breeding great leaders is urgently required.

-      Leaders need to be empathetic; inspire a team; understand what the impact of AI is going to be; and build sustainable businesses with a healthy workforce to drive up productivity.

Find out more about Kate and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-bravery/?originalSubdomain=uk

https://www.mercer.com/en-gb/insights/people-strategy/future-of-work/podcast-new-shape-of-work/the-skills-powered-organization/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sustainable-People-Strategies-Organizations-Employees/dp/1394181299

How do we ensure that our organisational strategy truly reaches the front line of operations, preventing it from remaining solely at the board level?

Matt & I delve into this critical challenge facing leaders today. We uncover how to bridge this gap, ensuring your strategic vision translates into frontline execution and sustained growth.

The tension between “explore” (innovation) and “exploit” (business as usual) is a constant balancing act for organisations. and we need to inherently foster both. But how ? 

The Square management system provides an architecture for leaders to scale their culture without stifling innovation, a critical balance for companies. Matt shares his journey, from transforming underperforming sports franchises to investment banking and corporate development, where he observed how different companies created or captured value. He realised the importance of intentional organisational design when asked how to maintain culture across multiple offices and states, leading to the development of his book and approach.

“square” does not imply a rigid, binary system but represents a dynamic space for culture. He defines good culture as the alignment between an individual’s perceptions, beliefs, and values and the company’s systems and procedures. The “square” changes in size and shape depending on the company’s needs. Discover the four "I"s—Identity, Instruction, Intercommunication, and Information Feedback—that form the foundation of an effective organizational design. We discuss how leaders can utilize this system not just as a culture tool, but as a comprehensive operating framework, especially vital during M&A integrations or major reorganizations. 

How do you balance freedom for innovation with the need for operational consistency in your organization ?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Regardless of sector, there are commonalities in terms of workplace cultures and thriving, i.e. understanding where value lies and how to create or capture it - the square management system is an architecture for leaders to scale culture without suffocating innovation.

-      The Culture of Alignment is a philosophical exercise around how to run a company, a model for operationalising strategies into tactics, as strategy often stays at the top, without penetrating the front line.

-      Rather than copying what others have done, it offers a way to intentionally structure a high-performing organisation, with direct tools to provide for growth and scale - not a blueprint, but an invitation to create a bespoke model.

-      The system factors in both alignment and flexibility by understanding what the culture is and intentionally designing for it: the culture is the square, but the size of the square and the walls can change.

-      The square comprises: identity (do customers and staff know what we stand for), instruction (expectation for performance standard across the organisation), intercommunication (flow of information across the company), information feedback (data and information on the company and employees).

-      The fifth i in the middle of the square is constrained independence (the known degree to which an employee can action their own ideas) = culture; a lack of constraint leads to mini squares = chaos.

-      Most companies fall short in one area: identity deviation erodes trust; instruction deviation leads to a varying standard of performance; intercommunication deviation produces a disconnect between the publicised view and the reality of the culture; information feedback deviation sees companies failing to assess themselves.

-      The system must offer space to pivot (e.g. startups) yet ensure constraint where necessary (e.g. hospitals, factories); when scaling intensifies, there must be adherence to the full system: intentionality, completeness and constitution.

-      It also acts as an operating framework for diagnostic purposes, e.g. flagging employee churn as a sign of misalignment, and as a container for ‘business as usual’ and innovation (degree of innovation depends on the size of the square).

-      The square allows for known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns, but if these are not communicated by leaders, employees fall foul of them unwittingly; the system enables leaders to be in alignment with their employees.

Find out more about Matthew and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewdperson/

https://townsquare-advisors.com/

One particularly striking data point: 70% of people face obstacles asking questions at work. 

This statistic underscores a core issue. Curiosity is often cited as a value, yet many environments make it unsafe to ask for clarification or challenge ideas. Fear of looking incompetent, challenging authority, or slowing down progress often silences valuable input.

Julie and I discuss how curiosity, respect, and self-awareness can transform organisational life. We explore practical strategies for leaders to foster psychological safety and inclusive collaboration, using Julie's own unique journey and the powerful “Seven Forms of Respect” framework for guidance.

We often talk about “soft skills” in organisations, but as teams become more global and complexity increases, these skills are anything but soft. They’re foundational. We discover a refreshing perspective to curiosity, respect, and self-awareness, showing us how to make these invisible dynamics tangible and actionable. This in turn allows leaders to shift from just “knowing” to truly “learning” — a real leadership superpower in our changing world.

Recognising your “rubber band” stretchiness - Understand personal boundaries and breaking points, and communicate them to others is also key as it prevents snapping and strengthens relationships. This episode offers key insights into navigating complex team dynamics and maintaining a learning mindset in high-pressure environments.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Being a self-taught organisational development consultant taught the critical value of sharing resources and building communities in times of crisis; there is tension and friction in any community but making the invisible relational dynamics tangible helps to understand them.

-      When it comes to learning from other people, curiosity and self-assessment are required for the shift from knowing to learning, and to decode the different dynamics; curiosity requires questions, but do people feel safe enough to ask questions?

-      Internal narrative and cultural formatting influence communication - we are all members of multiple cultures, communities and identities simultaneously, and inward curiosity is a prerequisite: What matters to me?

-      Our multiple identities mean that we must slow down and reflect to enable good decisions to be made from a place of curiosity; leadership rituals (e.g. meeting facilitator rotation) can help teams maintain curiosity when under pressure, create empathy and force listening.

-      Using the seven forms of respect as a framework for collaboration helps understand how respect is relative, dynamic, subjective and contradictory: Procedure, Punctuality, Information, Candor, Consideration, Acknowledgement, Attention.

-      A useful analogy here is with language: the organisational level represents the national language; departments represent dialects; and the individual is represented by their own language – we all need to be multilingual.

-      Intercultural working results in unclear messages, which lead to perpetuated actions and unmet expectations that were never made explicit - a team must understand what respect means to them, not by guessing, but by asking others.

-      Inward curiosity is about self-reflection and admitting what challenges us and what our expectations are – this can be difficult to acknowledge given that it can be perceived as a challenge to our identity.

-      Curiosity in practice means approaching conversations curiously and asking ourselves two questions first: Do I want the other person to learn from me? Am I willing to learn from them? This applies in the workplace and in our private lives.

-      Context, such as corporate, personal communities, etc., can make a difference to the outcome given that some relationships are more transactional (e.g. tech company) than based on investment in people (e.g. governments) - it is easier to practice curiosity when there is less emotional attachment.

-      The golden rule of respect is to treat people the way you want to be treated. The ‘rubber band rule’ holds that we can all stretch, if we want to, for other people; if we overstretch, we snap and break but often blame others for this.

-      The stretchiness of the band varies depending on contexts, which require different boundaries; it is about adapting, reframing what you can do rather than what you can’t, and feeling safe enough to make a counteroffer.

Find out more about Julie and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliepham2/

https://curiositybased.com/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/curiosity-at-work/id1761849370

TedEx : https://youtu.be/Jb0aQ2gE4tU?si=izPd0kf_1OfzW7Bz

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMatwOESTROb6qJF5qYf1Kg

Hilton and I unpack the hidden dynamics of organizational change, and the influence of informal power dynamics on transformation. Most change programs falter, not due to strategy, but because leaders often overlook the invisible power of trust and connection networks. Amidst the 'talent' lists and org charts, do you know where your powerful influencers are in your organisation ?

Hilton shares his powerful “people, not pixels” philosophy, explaining how technology investments frequently overshadow the critical human element. It is difficult to budget for, and prioritise, translating a ‘people not pixels’ approach into culture change; similar to what we are finding with AI today, digital transformation stands and falls with the people and the culture of an organisation, not the technology. We also dive into the “3% rule" from Innoviser, exploring how identifying and activating informal power networks can create significant momentum and surface untapped potential and highlight the 'key influencers' in your organisation. This conversation challenges traditional views of leadership and offers a fresh perspective on cultivating a resilient, adaptable culture.

Discover how to transform your approach to change by understanding the relational and emotional infrastructure that truly drives performance. Learn why acknowledging emotions and mapping your organisation’s real connections are non-negotiable for future success. Look at where and how you can unlock potential in your teams and organisations.

How can you use data differently to understand the potential of your organisation ?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

o  C-suite is under such immense pressure that people are overlooked and investment is made in technology, which becomes an efficiency tool that is quicker to implement and yield results than changing people’s habits.

o  We ignore previous failures and neglect to learn lessons, yet without an enthusiastic commitment of the culture to change, strategy will flounder and adoption will slow – the vital balancing act is to engage humans proactively: tech + humans, not tech v humans.

o  The invisible part of culture is where it has been made amorphous and ambiguous, so that it is seen as the ‘soft’, human-related aspect of change when it is actually the most challenging aspect – to motivate, entice and energise others.

o  How humans behave and make decisions within an organisation is important because of how we interact with each other across ecosystems – the many decisions that are made (or not made) on a daily basis must align with the strategy.

o  Culture can be defined as the worst behaviour tolerated by management - this is pivotal to sustainable transformation because of the importance of the relational and emotional infrastructure when building culture and performance.

o  Functioning informal power networks and humanly - not digitally - connected organisations are built on the basic tenets of humanity, i.e. trust, advocacy, commitment and energy, which in turn are reliant on relationships as the currency of systems.

o  In terms of influence, leadership impact involves many other parties on the edges who build communities, create momentum, and unlock hidden potential (cf. Innovisor’s rule that 3% of employees drive 90% of change in an organisation).

o  The inherently human approach of organisational network analysis to define the connectors in the organisation enables leaders to unlock potential by engaging those people who provide the ideas and the energy and invite trust.

o  Agency is diluted by a lack of clear accountability – a more informal structure is possible if leaders acknowledge human characteristics; are transparent and authentic; are explicit about latitude for failure; and encourage enthusiasm, curiosity and creativity.

o  Passive constraints make consequential management difficult as systems favour familiarity but ‘early warning radar’ humans are those who are (not obviously) the influences on others – this is the disconnect between sense-making at the top and what people experience on the ground.

o  Emotions drive decision-making but are not spoken about because they are messy, uncomfortable, and vulnerable – organisations that ignore emotions and how they play out in teams do so at their peril.

o  Emotionally literate leaders would bring about different outcomes by unlocking hidden potential at the edges of the organisation – the pressure on leaders to succeed is excessive and often comes at the expense of cultural sensitivity.

o  It takes confidence and courage for leaders to ride out the exciting, exhausting and unpredictable ripple effect when like-minded people find each other; it is a missed opportunity not to ‘dimensionalise’ emotions and secure – immediately and deliberately – the foundational elements to withstand today’s speed of change. 

Find out more about Hilton here :

Culture & Strategy - Building Your Competitive Advantage

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiltonbarbour/

The future of work is not about humans versus machines. Instead, it belongs to those who master a unique hybrid skill set. This blend combines AI literacy with essential human capabilities. Literacy in today's world lies in the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn - this has never been more true as it is in today's partnership with Agentic AI.

Andréa and I delve into the what these combined forces could look like, and how to build the framework for operational implementation. Digital transformation requires a hybrid skill set that fulfils the three different facets of transformation (cognitive, behavioural and emotional), which in turn align with the aspects of workplace culture (how we think, act and interact).

We discuss how to build a culture of trust in AI, essential for successful collaboration and highlight a critical distinction : humans interpret data semantically, giving it meaning and purpose, while AI processes it syntactically, based on patterns and probabilities. This difference impacts decision-making and ethical considerations. 

Leaders of the future must be honest about and clearly see what tasks should be augmented using AI and how the time saved should be spent, i.e. what does AI do best now and, consequently, what should humans do better?

How are you ensuring that you, your teams & your organisation are developing the skills necessary to complement AI’s analytical power and drive results together.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Democratising access to a hybrid skill set means defining how to navigate the ‘fear vs. opportunity’ narrative of human potential in a world of AI, harking back to ‘man vs. machine’ as opposed to embracing a ‘man with machine’ approach.

-      Digital transformation requires a hybrid skill set that fulfils the three different facets of transformation (cognitive, behavioural and emotional), which in turn align with the aspects of workplace culture (how we think, act and interact).

-      The cognitive transformation element, i.e. decision-making, is the most problematic for leaders as humans still believe in the old way of making decisions; leaders are most exposed to this risk due to their past successes.

-      In the words of Rasmus Hougaard, “ego is the worst enemy of leadership” and hampers effective decision-making - AI makes new things possible and humans are taken aback by the exponential rate at which we must learn and unlearn.

-      Prompting, data sense-making and re-perception mean that we need to craft better input for AI but also ask humans better questions - unexpected questions open our minds to novelty and creativity.

-      Our inherited educational model rewards good answers, not good questions, yet this stifles creativity and re-perception; the latter goes against the human (and educational) grain, but AI tools represent a good sparring partner.

-      Rather than a product-centric approach, we are now called upon to make sense of data, but AI and humans interpret data differently: humans interpret it semantically (adding their own perspective); AI interprets it syntactically (as tokens without understanding meaning).

-      The problem inherent to AI is that it does not understand or give meaning to its decisions and has no conscience about the action taken - humans must have responsibility for giving data meaning and not outsource this to AI.

-      AI learns on a binary basis without context; tasks that are too demanding generate bad outcomes due to a lack of adaptability and long-term perspective - AI requires a predictable environment to perform well.

-      Uncertain tasks result in hallucinations, generalisation and transparency problems (how conclusions are reached); hallucinations result from the need to provide an answer, and humans need to be able to recognise this.

-      AI does not fail often and boosts the need for humans to accept failure and fail more through smart failures – the value of learning is higher than the cost, but automation reduces the scope for failure.

-      Emotionally in terms of transformation, what does it mean to feel in the world of AI? AI’s empathy is code, not consciousness; it cannot prevent the uncanny valley effect of providing empathy but not reciprocating feeling.

-      Leaders must embody such reciprocation, blending efficiency with the HITL (human-in-the-loop) empathy touchpoint; the complexity of the human discernment process requires building a culture of trust in AI.

-      The cognitive dimension is about training people to understand how AI works and how to use it well to collaborate successfully: Do people feel reassured or scared? Do they feel that AI complements or substitutes them?

-      Leadership endorsement of the tool increases positive perception and builds trust as the lubricant for collaboration. Messaging and communication are also important, as is agency, both individually and collectively.

-      Outsourcing decisions to AI does not relieve us of responsibility - AI is not responsible legally, morally or technically, and our responsibility increases the more we outsource (risk of the ‘many hands’ problem).

-      Leaders of the future must be honest about and clearly see what tasks should be augmented using AI and how the time saved should be spent, i.e. what does AI do best now and, consequently, what should humans do better?

-      AI is not coming for humans - those humans who use AI well are coming for those who don’t; there must be an understanding of the sense of urgency as we cannot afford to miss the boat.

Find out more about Andrea and his work here

https://andreaiorio.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaiorio/

https://betweenyouand.ai/

Rasmus and I delve into the research and questions of how leaders can embrace AI to become more human in their leadership, and how can this accompany them on the journey of navigating uncertainty and a more transactional workplace.

Currently less than 20% of leaders are ready for AI, despite it being a strategic necessity – it is an uncomfortable prospect that AI will take our jobs, but we can counter this by embracing AI and being better human leaders.

AI democratises knowledge, strategic thinking and decision-making - it will flatten organisations and leaders must embrace this, aiming to embody gratitude, humility and selflessness. This shift from ego to eco, and from doing to being is the key to leveraging what AI can enable in our humanity. Leaders must guard against cognitive laziness and human disconnection caused by AI, and actively challenge its outputs to ensure true human engagement.

AI surpasses humans in information access and processing speed, making it unwise for humans to compete in those areas. Instead, leaders should focus on what AI cannot replicate : Awareness involves understanding oneself, emotions, biases, and others. Wisdom is the ability to ask good discerning questions, distinct from AI’s knowledge. Compassion stems from a true intention to support & connect on a human level, which AI lacks despite its ability to process emotional data.

Rasmus shares his research and insights from his latest book 'more human' and from working with leaders and companies across the globe on how to create more human centred leadership in today's workplace.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      AI augmented leadership requires three core competencies of awareness, wisdom and compassion: AI will have more information and faster processing power than any human brain but cannot be completely human.

-      AI can help make us more aware if we use it as a sparring partner, providing it with everything there is to know about us to help us make decisions based on multiple different perspectives - context and mindset are vital here.

-      Our neuroanatomy is uniquely human in that we perceive, discern, then respond (sentience). In terms of leadership, this translates to awareness (of biases, emotions and systems), discernment (wisdom not knowledge) and compassion.

-      We are formatted to ‘do’, but AI requires us to react using our soft skills and human traits - being human at work is the blueprint for future leadership, driven moreover by purpose.

-      It is the choice of every individual leader to ask not just what AI can do for me, but also to me: AI makes us cognitively lazy given that it is confidently both wrong and right - we must not fall prey to accepting its output without question.

-      AI also has huge user bias – we must challenge it and have it challenge us, deploying mental hygiene when engaging with AI to make us more aware, wise and compassionate, fostering a mindset of equanimity.

-      Having an AI proxy carries the risk of putting information in the hands of a tech firm, but once it has all the requisite information, it can provide very helpful answers in the form of outside-in views with psychometrics, etc.

-      Asking AI for compassion-based responses highlights blind spots and gives actionable feedback to push us back into human compassion and awareness, e.g. asking for the worst possible outcomes of a potential decision.

-      The workplace is more humanly disconnected than ever – despite digital connection – and leaders can radically reimagine communication and collaboration by asking AI for inspiration.

-      We can use the speed of change to act intentionally but must decide whether we do it in humanly healthy or unhealthy ways, i.e. using some of the time we save to pursue human tasks like conversation, reflection, strategic long-term planning.

-      AI democratises knowledge, strategic thinking and decision-making - it will flatten organisations and leaders must embrace this, aiming to embody gratitude, humility and selflessness.

-      The hope is that AI will elevate humans to accomplish more creative work and elevate leaders to become beacons of humanity – we are called upon to reinvent ourselves, learning to toggle between human capacities and the AI algorithms.

Find out more about Rasmus and his work here :

https://www.potentialproject.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasmushougaard/?originalSubdomain=dk

Lindsay and I have a rich conversation diving deep into holistic transformation, the impact of AI, and how to navigate change in today’s rapidly evolving world. Organisational change management is often deployed too late, which speaks in favour of taking a holistic approach to transformation and asking from the outset: How do people change? How do they view themselves and their work?

Digital transformation is not just about implementing new software but also about how people change their thinking. AI is an excellent example. To get actual value from it, individuals need to rethink their roles and personal value. It’s about micro and macro changes happening together.

It is as ever, centred around the inner work we need to do as leaders to ensure that we are mastering what keeps us human, as well as looking at challenging the status quo constantly. AI is changing business models and the way we work, causing some organisations to dispense with this ‘inner work’ and hoping AI will do it for them. Curiosity is key! If people aren’t curious, they won’t help identify risks or roadblocks. 

We talked about how important it is to show up as ourselves, even in professional settings. We also discussed gender parity and how much more we need to do. Lindsey shared her strategy for dismantling stereotypes: present all facets and encourage others to do the same. The more people meet others who don’t fit their stereotypes, the more likely they are to abandon them.

How can we create the conditions for curiosity to be present, and for leaders to learn, unlearn and relearn to enable more holistic and sustainable change ?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Change must be internal first of all, as well as holistic, and also on a micro and macro level; AI is changing business models and the way we work, causing some organisations to dispense with the ‘inner work’ and hoping AI will do it for them.

-      Yet 95% of AI pilots fail because it is not a plug n play solution – even companies that are taking an informed approach to AI have individual employees seeking their own tactical solutions.

-      AI means that we must all be good prompt engineers to succeed in the future, but many people underestimate the learning and effort this requires, and want to jump straight to the productive output, skipping the hard work.

-      It also demands organisational and individual buy-in, understanding how it changes people’s value proposition to the organisation and that they must redefine their inputs, outputs and added value, maybe redefining their identity.

-      It is crucial at the beginning of a transformation project to understand where authority sits and how decisions are made – decision-makers must lead the process – and how much curiosity there is.

-      A lack of curiosity is the biggest obstacle to change, and organisations must be open to different (external) perspectives and to pivoting mid-way through the project if necessary.

-      A ‘levels of agreement’ exercise with the people involved can help to determine the way forward, seeing failure as a point of learning that is painful but productive – but overidentifying with a job makes it very difficult to fail.

-      Particularly in the age of AI, we should try and separate ourselves from our jobs and find a working environment that suits us, where we can present multiple facets of ourselves to address bias and be authentic to elicit a positive response.

-      Anxiety about a project is generally informed by something, which must be understood to move forward, away from fear and stagnation, and winning over those who are resistant in order for them to be included and invested.

-      The onset of AI in the transformation sector saves time when researching companies and creating materials – this will change how work is priced, what the value proposition is and what the human value will be.

-      More affordable services will be opened up to those outside the corporate sector, such as charities, and AI will make things accessible, democratise access, and change the quality of conversations.

-      Context switching is a vital (consultant) skill that AI can help with, and we are all called upon to deepen our AI expertise as a tactical move, treating AI like a person and getting used to talking to it.

 Find out more about Lindsay and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-phillips-atx/

Alfredo and I discuss the need for more regenerative financial models and to start really working in small communities and joining together into a network of networks. Current models are very redistributive (e.g. taxing success, subsidisation for those with no access) but pre-distribution gives everyone a stake; if communities win, everyone wins and gains autonomy and agency.

We discuss the need for more diverse thinking and more equitable access to funding and business opportunities. Generating new ideas by combining what already exists and creating surplus value that can then move around is the key, but we need to do this better, faster and in collaboration. Building entrepreneur-led ecosystems requires prioritizing ownership, pre-distribution, and maintaining a human scale. It is easier to build from scratch, and this will be the challenge of transforming established institutions and organisations, but they will have to transition, whether they like it or not.

We know that innovation often stems from unconventional approaches and questioning established norms, where individuals without traditional backgrounds can bring fresh perspectives. Hitting “walls” in conventional paths can be a catalyst for divergent thinking, pushing beyond perceived limitations to realise that seemingly permanent constructs can be circumvented

Leaders need to step outside their echo chambers, we spend way too much time talking to people who look and think like us and we should be actively broadening horizons by reading, talking to people outside our immediate circle, and exploring new ideas.

This is not on one person or community, but is a generational effort to influence and impact the systems we seek to transform

Alfredo generously shares his intentional design principles, experiences and personal journey to setting up the world’s first shared prosperity community corporation (SPCC) operates at the intersection of workforce, education and entrepreneurship with a focus on equity, economic transformation and rethinking leadership.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Innovation comes from the fringes: when pursuing a goal, hitting a wall makes you realise you have to find a different way to get round things – these walls serve as ‘flexion points’ rather than obstacles on the path to a breakthrough moment.

-      Community-based entrepreneurship makes innovation possible with few resources, as constrained resources force commitment, agency and risk-taking -asking for help from the right people creates something organically.

-      Process of identifying an issue/problem and finding the most transformative thing to move forward and grow; this is generational work, starting small and moving through systems to aspiration.

-      Design principles offer constraint, and the focus should be on ownership first (for ownership democracy and shared prosperity) for everyone to have an interest – distributed ownership is required for a regenerative economy.

-      Current models are very redistributive (e.g. taxing success, subsidisation for those with no access) but pre-distribution gives everyone a stake; if communities win, everyone wins and gains autonomy and agency.

-      Present VC models are designed around the founder and investors as opposed to everyone involved – a ‘winner takes all’ approach; pre-distribution means nobody does anything on their own, often building on others’ work and ideas.

-      Humans evolved in small groups and that’s where we work best, small groups connected to other small groups: an ideal community has 150 members, with multiple communities – nodes – forming a network.

-      Can bridging the economic divide be built into corporate transformation plans? It is easier to build from scratch than transform existing systems, but all institutions will ultimately have to transition whether they want to or not.

-      Radical reform on an institutional scale does not work as the institutions expect; they are too bureaucratic and unadaptable, not just to changing systems but also to changing mindsets and paradigms.

-      A contingency plan for possible implosion is to move away from institutions in order for humans to flourish in small communities, without the oppression of large institutions but also without the rejection of capital markets.

-      Empowerment and humanism are a force for good, but capital is not bad – it is a tool that needs to be used properly, with systems and structures that work better together and involve people (more).

-      Community-owned platforms in the age of AI need a niche to survive against catch-all LLMs, e.g. by creating a user interface for smaller communities, or accumulating local niche databases that have value, then federating with others.

-      Regeneration = generate then regenerate; generating new ideas by combining what already exists and creating surplus value that can then move around, but we need to do this better, faster and in collaboration.

-      Emerging challenges must be tackled using constant evolution. One example would be transforming the three biggest cost drivers in modern society –  housing, education and healthcare – into local income generators by making them community-based (decentralized).

-      A bold regeneration experiment for leaders would be to read, learn, talk to people outside their immediate circles, broaden their reach, seek diversity, explore new ideas, remain open-minded, flexible and adaptable, and pilot on a small scale.  

 Find out more about Alfredo and his work here

https://www.sharedprosperity.co/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfredomathew/

https://www.alfredomathew.com/

Allister and I discuss what being future ready really means in today's workplace. Everything we know, do and think is already obsolete – whilst a scary concept, it is also an empowering way to look at the world and identify what we can improve, a paradigm shift from the old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke’ …

Curiosity is highlighted as one of the 3 leadership superpowers. It involves challenging and questioning the status quo, similar to a child constantly asking “why.” This can help uncover hidden assumptions and new possibilities. Leaders should create environments where employees feel safe to share ideas without fear of ridicule, as they go through the FROST ready already cycle. Scaling through small yet impactful changes to our systems and cycles to create sustainable change.

AI is discussed as a powerful tool. However, it has limitations and should be viewed as augmented intelligence rather than a replacement for human skills. It is important to stay focused on higher-level value-adding processes and uniquely human abilities such as critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence. By developing these skills, individuals can remain indispensable in the workforce.

Allister shares his stories, models and experience of working in and accompanying organisations and leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Everything we know, do and think is already obsolete – whilst a scary concept, it is also an empowering way to look at the world and identify what we can improve, a paradigm shift from the old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke’ …

-      A Future-Ready Mindset builds on the growth mindset but adds ‘the fuel for your future’ – a heartfelt reason to do what you do in the service of others with a commitment and energy to bring about change.

-      Focusing on the downstream consequences of our work helps to reframe our personal mission - our job enables the company to grow but we also use the company as a vehicle for our own skills.

-      The FROST – Follow, React, Open, Surprise, Tell – growth model helps us change the way we think about ourselves and our mission; for companies to adopt this mindset at scale means embedding this new vocabulary.

-      The Open phase sees curiosity as a superpower – CEOs are often scared of employees having ideas, but all ideas are improved by exposing them to other people. And AI cannot do curiosity!

-      Like children who constantly ask why in order to feel safe and make sense of the world, we too must have the courage to question and challenge the status quo with a change already in mind.

-      Having ideas to address the ‘why’ is the next superpower, moving from knowing to learning, asking questions of ourselves before asking others, and sharing our own ideas.

-      The Tell phase is about using the brilliance of other people, designing the session to encourage the sharing of unfinished ideas and foster a culture of appreciating others’ input whilst being transformative in the process.

-      The ReadyAlready cycle can be used to identify where to deploy AI - pattern recognition at scale makes it brilliant but not without limitations; it is augmented intelligence alongside our value-adding superpowers.

-      Having a personal sense of direction is very important - repeating the ReadyAlready cycle will unlock something new every time and lead to either big or small improvements, but without expectations.

-      For scale-ups to be future-ready, the Follow phase is very relevant - focusing on one thing that could be done better and seeing it through to get results.

-      Treating ourselves to time to think and play allows us to have control over our own future and gives us permission to have ideas and pursue our personal mission with the vigour it deserves, constantly improving things along the way.

Find out more about Allister and his work here :

https://allisterspeaks.com/readyalready/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ReadyAlready-Future-Ready-Mindset-Stand-Shape-ebook/dp/B0FN9F6L59

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisterspeaks/?originalSubdomain=uk

Why start a leadership book with a mammoth hunt?

Nicolas and I delve into the human dimension of leadership and what it brings to society.

Human behaviour is the most unmeasured risk in strategy implementation. To avoid pitfalls, be aware of evolutionary biases such as the false positive decision-making bias. Companies build echo chambers, where people raise a view that is not the same as their boss’s, and then avoid talking about it.

A crucial point: humans achieve greatness through collaboration. A lone human has little chance against a mammoth. Hunting one requires strategy, the right people, and a shared purpose. This highlights a fundamental truth: our collective efforts drive success.

Organisations should acknowledge the inherent tension between individualistic needs, collaboration, and competition among employees, fostering a culture where personal and company goals align.

Nicolas shares his insights, experience and stories of working and researching the human dimensions of leadership and what it means for today's workplace.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      The human dimension of leadership and what it brings to society is key – a failure to understand ourselves and the people we lead is a big problem that is borne out by history (as far back as the time of the mammoth).

-      Collaboration and strategy were needed to hunt the mammoth (cf. the big machine in modern times); nowadays we have lots of smaller, interconnected mammoths but we still need to know how to lead a herd of mammoths.

-      To progress in an organisation requires sharing our learning and leading a team towards a goal: leaders need people with the right expertise and people they trust – very similar to a mammoth hunt.

-      The human ego is problematic when it comes to achieving a common goal, with the apparent paradox between working for oneself and being wired for collaboration, i.e. the individual vs the collective.

-      Leaders in the transactional corporate world must learn to be humble, lead by example, be purpose-driven and role model a positive culture – they need their team more than their team needs them.

-      Leadership, followship and hierarchy counteract the vulnerability, slowness and weakness of the individual; leadership was originally task-related, with different leaders for different tasks, teaching how to lead and how to follow.   

-      Today, one person becomes CEO without the relevant skills/knowledge for all the different tasks and must therefore understand when to lead and when to follow, going against the grain of what it means to be a ‘strong leader’.

-      The ‘mammoth’ approach to leadership involves four levels of team performance - fight or flight, competitive, creative and flow – along with a leadership/ followship framework and a dynamic stability framework.

-      These are old ideas to avoid pitfalls, e.g. if you don’t evolve, you die as an individual and die out as a species – the same is true for companies, yet human behaviour remains the most unmeasured risk in business strategy.

-      Diversification is very risky – if the main aim is to survive and be sustainable, it is vital not to lose sight of the core business; what you do today is most important, otherwise there is no tomorrow.

-      We must understand that as humans we have evolutionary biases (false positive decision-making bias, confirmation bias, anchoring bias), are risk averse and prone to fail.

-      Leaders especially need to accept failure, be proud of it, learn from it and be open about it rather than cover it up, particularly in a corporate culture that is performative and does not reward failure.

-      Facing the ‘mammoth’ forces leaders to honestly ask: am I leading as I would like to be led? Understanding more about human behaviour is crucial as evolution isn’t just a scientific theory, it’s a leadership imperative.

Find out more about Nicolas and his work here :

https://mammothleadershipsciences.com/book/

https://mammothleadershipsciences.com/podcast/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-mammoth-in-the-room/id1761401140

https://open.spotify.com/show/47QueVgXZ8HP6b0fKyNvB6

https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/the-mammoth-in-the-room/5253032

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaspokorny/

Anthony and I explore the power of stillness and breathing into the present moment.

The constant pressure to keep going and keep busy means we never find (the time to find) calm and we ignore the innate wisdom in our body. Bringing inner work to the outside world means being enough and understanding this.

How can cultivating inner calm help us to navigate uncertainty and ground ourselves and our teams in purpose, presence and ultimately allow us all to perform to the best of our abilities ?

How can we recognise the frame we live in and consciously build emotional resilience for the greater good in our teams, our organisations and our lives ?

Leadership is about becoming aware of our inherent value and the impact we have, fostering a culture of care and connection through practices like conscious breathing.

Anthony shares his richinsights from his personal journey and from accompanying leaders all over the globe on their journeys to transformation and serenity.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Raising consciousness means appreciating how much power we have as human beings; being small is often easier but means we don’t understand the bigger frame of life.

-      Breathing is the very first thing we do naturally, yet conscious breathwork is difficult - the significance of breath becomes ‘normal’ but there is so much to it physiologically, metaphysically and spiritually.

-      The first breath of life is the only time we haven’t been hurt and we are filled with wonder and curiosity; the last breath of life is about letting go of everything, and we can be curious about that surrender.

-      We only ever pay attention when we lose our breath, but emotional resilience and intelligence are about being able to take a breath when we don’t want to - we lose our choices and processing power when we don’t breathe properly.

-      We tend to suppress trauma and panic and resort to fight, flight or freeze, which are not thinking processes; we can practise different types of breath for different states, e.g. anxiety, anger, etc., to have them at our disposal when necessary.

-      The fourth choice after fight, flight or freeze is breathe: we lose our breath due to abuse or trauma but it lives on in our body. We can create space by breathing and (re)connecting with our inner child to find boundlessness and freedom.

-      The BRIDGE technique is a way of saving the inner child without returning to the trauma, i.e. to repair our own wounds and become the agent of our own healing:

B = Breathe, R = Recognise, I = Investigate, D = Dialogue, G = Gather, E = Exercise.

-      All learning, including the somatic, is operationalised through discipline and consistency to leave the familiar and move forward - transformation isn’t about control, it’s about surrendering and being the architect of your own soul.

-      The moment we remove the masks we wear and become present is tender, private and individual; we need our will to breathe in and surrender to breathe out, and whilst we do it all the time, we live in a world where wilfulness prevails.

-      Being embedded in corporate life comes at enormous personal cost (burnout is increasing, immunity is decreasing), which leads to a lack of resilience; we associate surrender with weakness and only surrender as a very last resort.

-      The constant pressure to keep going means we never find (the time to find) calm and we ignore the innate wisdom in our body - bringing inner work to the outside world means being enough and understanding this.

-      We adopt personas that we identify with but must be willing to question the labels we’ve given ourselves - we are all walking miracles and can achieve quantum growth that is all about what we become, not what we do.

-      To bring breathwork into the boardroom is to have a team that breathes and thrives together: awareness brings about change and care, stillness and personal rituals are the ‘inner tech’ of being human.

-      Micro-practices help cultivate inner calm, particularly at C-suite level; the mid-life crisis is really a mid-life opportunity – the shell we build to protect ourselves becomes the prison we live in.

-      The process of becoming present uses the breath as the tool to help us to deal with the unknown; when we are unsure or confused is the moment of greatest possibility, but we are ashamed of it and create systems to deal with it.

-      The breath is our best friend and foundational to everything. We have the power to change it and learning about the calming breath when we don’t need it means we have it to hand when we do need it.

• -      Daily practice of 3 minutes of conscious breathing followed by 10 minutes of free writing stimulates flow. After 7 days, reading these writings allows us to see the ‘jewellery in the junk’, creativity that can be brought into other areas of our life.

Anthony Abbagnano is a pioneering breathwork expert and founder of Alchemy of Breath, the world's top-rated breathwork institute. He has helped thousands transform their lives through free weekly Breathe The World sessions, Facilitator Training, and BreathCamp retreats at ASHA in Tuscany, Italy.

Learn more about Anthony and his work here :

 www.alchemyofbreath.com 

Get Anthony's book at https://iam.alchemyofbreath.com/book-podcast 

What truly drives innovation in the fast-paced world of technology? Is it solely the code, the algorithms, and the software?

Michel and I discuss this and more and the answer is a resounding no. It’s people.

We discuss how leaders can navigate the complexities of the tech world by prioritizing, understanding and nurturing the human element, as well as leading with context and clarity. Leaders must take advantage of the foresight and learning that comes from huge market shifts, and iterate on their blueprint for transformation.

What constitutes the new playbook for tech leadership? What’s shifting? Why is this shift necessary?  We discuss the need for a new type of leadership, balancing technical expertise with cultural ambassadorship, inspiring teams with a clear vision and fostering open communication. Constantly reinventing connection and communication as the world evolves in more complex and numerous ecosystems is a call to simplify the human element intentionally. Transparent communication is vital to maintaining trust.

As humans, we need to intentionally guide AI as it develops. While AI excels at aggregating and correlating data, one can question its current ability to anticipate the unknown. AI agents may become self-learning, but they may still lack the human capacity to correlate unforeseen needs and read the deeper invisible relational and emotional energies.

Michel generously shares his experience and insights from his career in Silicon Valley and from working with start ups and leaders in the tech world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Cultivate Context: Engage engineering teams early with comprehensive information to avoid misalignment and foster collaborative problem-solving. 💡
• Embrace Multifactorial Leadership: Balance technical expertise with cultural ambassadorship, inspiring teams with a clear vision and fostering open communication.
• Reimagine Connectivity: Design innovative ways to reconnect distributed teams, promoting alignment and consensus through regular gatherings and transparent communication.
• Balance Chaos and Structure: Maintain a “startup kitchen” dynamic within large organizations to encourage fluidity, agility, and rapid adaptation to change.
• Prioritize Strategic Frameworks: Develop long-term strategic frameworks, encourage calculated risk-taking, and foster a culture of continuous reinvention to anticipate and navigate disruptions.

Find out more about Michel and his work here:

• Beyond the Code: Unveiling the Human Factor in Technology Leadership Innovations - https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Code-Technology-Leadership-Innovation/dp/B0F6LVCXHQ
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellanglois/
• Website - https://michellanglois.us/

Have you ever wondered what it takes to truly understand and drive transformation within your organization? Rethinking leadership itself. Prioritizing coherence, clarity, impact, and purpose can unlock potential you never knew existed.

A great conversation with Erin Herman on rethinking leadership itself. Prioritizing coherence, clarity, impact, and purpose can unlock potential you never knew existed.

Only 14 - 16% of leaders can articulate their 'why' : is this your biggest leadership challenge ? 

One of the ways of addressing this is to ground ourselves in self assurance. Self assurance provides a source of stability that confidence, reliant on external validation, cannot match.

This is particularly important for women leaders, who are still working in and often constrained by a system that was not made for or by them. 

It’s about putting purpose over presence, owning your presence and recognizing that your voice needs to be heard, regardless of whether the system readily welcomes it. This will in turn create different relational patterns and dynamics in your teams and ecosystems.

By prioritising presence and purpose, fostering self-assurance, and celebrating both successes and failures, you can unlock the potential within your team and transform your workplace.

 How do you cultivate self-assurance in your leadership?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Prioritize purpose over presence to build self-assurance. Focusing on the “why” behind your actions makes your presence more genuine and impactful.
• Self-assurance, unlike confidence, is internally driven and resilient. It empowers leaders, especially women, to navigate uncertainty and advocate for equity.
• Organizations should foster “positive failure cultures” to remove the shame associated with mistakes, encourage risk-taking, and enhance team communication.
• Cultivate coherence by aligning personal values with organizational values, actions, and outcomes, which enhances personal value systems and team dynamics.
• Shift from control to curiosity to nurture potential. Leaders should ask more questions, actively listen, and build intentional relationships within their teams.
• Embrace mistakes and reject perfectionism to foster momentum and growth. Recognize that striving for perfection can hinder progress and innovation.

Find out more about Erin and her work here :

website : https://www.theerinherman.com/

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-herman-97832217/

Matt and I delve into the world of digital transformation, and how to design an operating model that allows adaptability, impact and sustainable transformation. Digital transformation is often misunderstood. It’s best defined as working in new ways with new technology. Technology has rapidly advanced, but organisations need to focus now more than ever on aligning people and processes to leverage these technologies effectively. 

We also discuss the importance of aligning people and processes with technology, and explore the concept of scaling effectively through Centres of Excellence (COEs). The shift from project to product to experience ownership is key to driving better customer and employee outcomes. This shift forces organizations to take customer experience design out of a niche marketing function and integrate it throughout the entire organization.

However, to do this there is a big cultural and leadership shift that needs to happen, and this needs an intentional and deliberate approach to both visible and implicit (cultural) aspects of transformation. This involves not only implementing new strategies, processes, and systems but also addressing behavioural failure modes, leadership styles and fostering new cultural characteristics.

Matt generously shares his insights and experience from working with leaders all over the globe in scaling digital transformation successfully. 

What’s your biggest challenge in aligning people, process, and technology to effectively scale growth & digital transformation in your workplace ? 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Digital transformation hinges on bringing people and processes up to speed with technological advancements. Simplify the concept to working in new ways with new tech.
• Centers of Excellence (COEs) should be value-generating teams focused on specific areas: build, guide, share, or create. Avoid trying to be all things at once.
• Successful COE implementation starts with identifying the internal customer and their needs, then crafting a value proposition centered on them.
• Shift from project to product ownership by focusing on the experience; appoint experience owners who manage the customer and employee experience.
• Bridge the strategy-execution gap by establishing an operating committee that translates strategy into tactics, with experience owners playing a role.
• Successful transformations address both visible elements (strategy, systems) and less tangible human aspects like culture, values, and behaviours.

Find out more about Matt and his work here :

Website: www.treelinetransformation.com

COE Online Course: https://treeline-transformation.mykajabi.com/COE-course

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdevans/

Email: matt@treelinetransformation.com

Imagine a world where music transcends borders, uniting people through a shared experience of harmony and rhythm.

Rick and I explore the unifying and transformative power of music and how it can be used to transform situations. We delve into the power of collective intelligence , transformational leadership, the unifying power of music and raising human consciousness through performance;

Creative intelligence, something we’re all born with, plays a crucial role. The industrial era favoured hierarchical structures, a “power over” dynamic, while today, a “power with” approach is needed. Music mirrors this shift; it can be structured and disciplined, yet also liberating and creative.

Rick shares his insights on music as a universal language, and how it fosters sustainable social change. We also discuss the vital shift from ego-driven leadership to a more collective, eco-conscious approach. Music possesses a unique ability to connect people, regardless of geographical, ideological, or cultural divides. It taps into something fundamental within us, creating a sense of shared humanity.

How can we leverage music and deep listening to create more inclusive spaces?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Music’s unifying power transcends borders and connects with fundamental human needs, fostering sustainable social change by promoting shared consciousness and breaking down barriers.
• Raising human consciousness is vital for transformation and leadership, shifting focus from ego-driven actions to collective well-being, supported by leveraging technology to empower individuals to pursue their passions.
• Leadership involves recognizing the ongoing societal transformation from old hierarchical styles to inclusive opportunities, utilizing technology and AI to enable people to follow passions and solve global problems.
• Improvisation in music mirrors adaptability in leadership, requiring a balance between structured knowledge and openness to creative, spontaneous solutions, emphasizing the importance of listening and embracing diverse perspectives.
• Jazz for Peace seeks to create a society that rewards unique artistic expression and leverages technology to support individuals in pursuing their passions, contributing to a more peaceful and unified world.
• Raising human consciousness, even incrementally, can drive innovation and create more regenerative social and economic models, underscoring the power of individual voices in contributing to a collective quest for positive change.
• Recognize the unifying power of music to transcend geographical, ideological, and cultural divides.
• Understand how raising human consciousness can drive sustainable social change and collective intelligence.
• Embrace creative intelligence and let go of ego-driven leadership for a more inclusive approach.
• Utilize technology to support individuals in pursuing their passions and solving global problems.
• Support artists and causes that promote peace and raise human consciousness for a better future.

Find out more about Rick and his work here :

Jazz for Peace: info@jazzforpeace.org

https://rickdellaratta.com

Are you struggling to create lasting growth? 

In today’s interconnected world, the value creation process is no longer confined to individual departments or silos. The unit of value has become smaller, often residing within teams or even individuals. This shift requires a holistic, end-to-end view of the entire value chain.

Tom and I explore how to create growth that truly matters. We explore the myths that leaders need to unlearn, particularly the idea that they can accurately plan for the future. The current environment is characterized by unprecedented change, making it nearly impossible to predict what will happen next. The old methods of strategic planning are now limited. The real challenge is to find ways to see through the change fog, constantly learning and adjusting. 

Discover how to build a legacy through value creation for people, organizations, and society.

👉 Learn the pivotal role of adaptability in today’s world.

👉 Uncover the biggest growth myth leaders must unlearn.

👉 Explore Tom’s valuable formula for strategic excellence.

What’s your biggest challenge in creating meaningful growth?

Each person must understand their impact on the whole. From product creation to its end-of-life impact, every step matters. This concept aligns with sustainability principles, where the lifetime value and environmental footprint of a product are considered from the outset.

Tom shares his wealth of insight, experience and foresight from working with leadesr and institutions around the world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Cultivate a growth mindset to embrace change, curiosity, and calculated risk-taking in both personal and organizational contexts, moving beyond the limitations of traditional planning.
• Unlearn the myth of predictable planning. Instead, adopt a scientific approach of trial and error, constantly adjusting strategies based on real-time feedback from the field to navigate the “fog of change.”
• Decentralize decision-making to empower those closest to customers and technology, fostering adaptability and innovation throughout the organization.
• Use the “valuable formula” by focusing on a core value proposition, strategically marketing it, and consciously allocating capital to create sustainable growth.
• Delay seeking external funding until the need is clear and the company’s capabilities are well-defined, retaining greater control and strategic flexibility.
• Embrace AI not just for productivity gains, but for discovering new business opportunities and models, and proactively address potential workforce displacement through upskilling and innovative solutions.

Find out more about Tom and his work here :

https://www.sagepartners.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomdoorley/

https://open.spotify.com/show/4xDjK2tRJgHbX5WxSITJcF

Imagine a world where creating peace is more profitable than engaging in conflict. A world of 'tech for good' , where technology bridges divides, fosters collaboration, and drives equitable solutions. This vision isn’t just a dream; it’s the driving force behind innovators like Yip, a leader in promoting peace, purpose, and equitable collaboration within the AI and Web3 spaces.

A brilliant conversation full of purpose, curiosity, hope and opportunities. We explore the concept of making peace more profitable than war, the importance of democratizing access to skills and capital, and the vision behind yip's platform, Jedi, in fostering collaboration across emerging technologies. Remaining present and fully conscious of our actions and impact is key to this process.

What if we could understand and implement regenerative economic and societal models that prioritize long-term impact and equity over short-term gains, particularly democratising access for all to more regenerative funding models. We discuss the idea and importance of technical and "human" readiness, to equip and educate people in this common challenge.

Yip is running her first Zebracorn reatreat in June, to start bringing together these systems and minds. Link to find out more : https://www.systain3r.com/

Yip shares her story, insight and dreams of the world she is consciously and collectively crafting to bridge the gap between digital and human for the common good.

The man insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Bridging gaps through a collective approach to complex problems at societal level. Inspired by Muhammed Yunus’ efforts for (financial) inclusion for unbanked people, overcoming the limitations of capitalism with thoughtfulness.

-      Also inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s promotion of compassion in communication and shaping corporate culture by bringing mindfulness to tech companies; a mindset of peace feeding into capitalism and technology to engage with them.

-      Constantly reinventing/rethinking and democratising access can change conversations in systems and communities; the vision for the J3d.AL platform is to make peace more profitable than war.

-      As an advisory platform, it invites people to become a Jedi or find their inner Jedi, sharpening their intuition and standing up for their values. It helps governments identify collaboration opportunities with each other and the private sector.

-      As a (market) intelligence platform, it helps identify opportunities for collaboration in emerging fields of technology not yet mature enough for the mainstream media, e.g. quantum computing, cybersecurity, space technology.

-      The philosophy behind it is to generate a body of knowledge and translate it on a semantic basis from one concept to another, facilitating mutual understanding to break down silos for collaboration to accelerate innovation.

-      J3d.AI has three areas of operations – technology, health and sustainability. Conferences and workshops teach the skills of foresight, wisdom, compassion, and understanding technology and regenerative systems thinking.

-      A ‘zebracorn’ marries a zebra (a company that is both black and white, i.e. both profitable and works to improve society) with a unicorn (a billion-dollar market valuation company characterised by VC funding and exponential growth).

-      Zebracorns are totally doable in an age of tech and globalisation as tech brings down costs and its wise use can enable business; they remain open-minded about what is right or wrong and take account of paradoxes.

-      Vision for 2030: many incubated, mission-driven, profitable zebracorns; more cooperative funding models; use of blockchain technology to enter global financial markets; pooling of resources from diverse fields.

-      Hopefully more women involved in networking ventures to counteract risks to the planet and people - a holistic approach represented in a village birthing (and growing) a movement.

-      The blockchain education program for women at the Frankfurt School of Finance trains women from different ecosystems who can transfer this knowledge to their working field of expertise – the flywheel effect of education transforms systems.

-      Technological literacy and empathy should be taught as part of the school curriculum (cf. Estonia and Denmark respectively) to cater for the shift from industry-age readiness to technology-age readiness.

-      With truly globalised and distributed communities and systems, most viable companies will not follow the current corporate structure; more decentralised, autonomous organisations with projects are already a reality (MVE, minimum viable ecosystem).

-      Transient, antifragile organisms require human skills, such as trust, connection, and humility; playfulness and community mean that everyone becomes a steward of their own ecosystem on the basis of sustainable social consensus.

-      We will need ‘power with’ not ‘power over’ leadership that brings with it absolute clarity and accountability and leaves no room for ego – this will enable purpose-driven cooperation to achieve something different.

-      ChangeNOW 2025: a winner-takes-all technology is not yet visible in the climate resilience space; there are many different solutions, but we need increased dialogue across sectors.

-      CTA: look into new technologies with curiosity to see how they can better solve your own and society’s problems; foster collaboration between corporate and not-for-profit sectors - collaboration starts with curiosity.

Find out more about Yip and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/beautifulbrains/

https://www.systain3r.com/

Pallavi and I delve into the world of self leadership and empowering yourself for joy, fulfilment and better results. Leadership essentially comes from the inner experience not the outer experience. incredible insights on self-leadership ; defining it as having inner clarity, knowing what truly matters to you, and intentionally guiding yourself without needing this external validation. Think about it: How often do we look outside ourselves for answers when we already have the tools within? One shocking stat that really hit home: only 13% of CEOs believe they have the leadership potential available to grow their business today. This highlights the urgent need for leaders to connect with themselves and do the inner work. The next generation requires the skill of self-mastery in a tech-driven world where AI will do the – non-human – rest.

We walk through Pallavi's ATM framework: Arrive in the present moment, Take responsibility, and Make a conscious choice. This is the basis for framing the journey for leaders to break old patterns and create new neural networks, leading to real empowerment and joy.

If you were to ask yourself how much of your leadership potential is available today for reinventing and innovating on the status quo what would your answer be ?

Taking stock of reality, anticipating change and equipping ourselves to lead through the transition curves is key in todays complex environment.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-      Leadership is an inside job but in the modern ‘hustle culture’, we look for success to give us inner joy and fulfilment; yet all the answers are within us – if we can connect to our purpose and master ourselves.

-      The journey of self-mastery, self-transformation and self-leadership requires a framework to transfer what we learn into daily practice to build stronger connections with others and have real tools for change that work.

-      It begins with an ability to have inner clarity about who we are and what is important to us and why; and then the conviction to guide ourselves from within without the need for external factors.

-      Helping leaders to be intentional about leading with empathy and clarity is based on a strong foundation of inner science and an understanding of who they are, as well as the need to take care of ourselves first to be able to better serve others.

-      Empowered leaders do not blame others or the system but take responsibility for crafting their own life first in order to be better leaders. The ATM framework for personal growth gives three steps to unlock true potential:

·     Arrive in the present moment

·     Take responsibility and know what truly matters to you

·     Make a conscious choice

-      They can be applied consistently in our everyday lives and also to any challenging or conflict situation because they help break the automatic response that is programmed in our body and mind.

-      Small actions that create new neural networks lead to increased confidence and empowerment to choose and do what we really want; stressed teams need clear, calm, joyful leaders who understand this.

-      Our attention faces multiple distractions, and we need an adaptive culture to avoid overwhelm and creating more stress for ourselves, i.e. by revolutionising workplace wellness and making work more joyful and collaborative.

-      This is a conscious decision to be taken by organisations, also in the face of technological advancement where AI will change things, but meaning and human connection are imperative to bring about change (in the HR function too).

-      People need to understand how the body and mind work and act intentionally as a result; the next generation requires the skill of self-mastery in a tech-driven world where AI will do the – non-human – rest.

-      Competitive advantage remains in the human element, and human intelligence will help AI – the greatest gift a leader can give their team is to be fully equipped on a personal level to act with compassion and authenticity so as to bring out the best in others.

Find out more about Pallavi and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavi-jain-leadfromwithin/

https://www.pallavi-jain.com/

A fun conversation with Faris about leadership, life and sustainable impact. What is the magic formula to success and does it look the same for everyone ?

Whilst EQ may be where all attention lies, FQ can be just as important and impactful. To achieve success, balance a strong strategy (IQ) with emotional intelligence (EQ) for team buy-in, and focused prioritization (FQ) to avoid spreading resources too thin.

To be successful, it’s critical to have a balance of three components: a great strategy (IQ), emotional intelligence to bring others along (EQ), and focus through prioritization (FQ). Many companies only have one or two of these in harmony. A good strategy involves having a well-thought-out plan. Emotional intelligence is needed to excite others about the idea. Focus is about prioritizing and removing barriers to success.

We also look at what AI brings to this formula - it is most helpful in IQ by coming up with hundreds of ideas; for FQ it can help categorise competing priorities; it is less helpful in EQ as empathetic communication and human connection are still key to creating meaningful relationships, and ideas still have to be sold to other human beings.

Listen as Faris sparkles his gold dust into our ears and eyes from working with leaders and organisations around the globe on this formula for success.

The main insights you'll get from this epsiode are :

-      Experience of teaching children around the world helps in a business context to solve problems through people – it brings emotional intelligence to decision-making, which in turn makes delivering a strategy more likely.

-      Shiageto means to sharpen a tool but is applied to human beings in this context: we can always be sharper, and the same techniques can be used as to teach, such as making things entertaining, simple, etc.

-      Three components are required for success: a) IQ, a great idea/strategy/plan, b) EQ, to take everyone with you on the journey, and c) FQ, to focus, prioritise and remove anticipated barriers; of these, FQ is often the missing piece.

-      Deployment as a consultant is often more for EQ than FQ, but the three are interlinked. Cultural differences across the IQ/EQ/FQ formula sit within EQ and questions must be asked to understand/overcome them.

-      Teaching IQ across the globe requires adapting delivery of the content to take account of culture by using different tools and approaches – time must be invested in meeting every individual at multinational board meetings, for instance, in order to create a more level playing field.

-      Small businesses looking to have more impact must define what this means for them. Consider maximum impact by asking, for example: What is a 15% better idea? What would my nemesis do? How will I measure it? What are my assumptions?

-      Advice that is applicable to all organisations is to team up and get to know each other by creating random meet-ups, lunch/job swaps – this opens up conversations and increases success by creating connections.

-      The effect of (gen)AI on the formula: it is most helpful in IQ by coming up with hundreds of ideas; for FQ it can help categorise competing priorities; it is less helpful in EQ as ideas still have to be sold to other human beings.

-      The disadvantage is the weakening of the EQ muscle, e.g. young people are often reticent to speak on the phone - asynchronous is easy but synchronous requires real EQ; having both difficult and casual conversations is good for collaboration, but a tool (AI) is just a tool that cannot close the EQ gap.

-      We must have our own view of the world challenged in order to understand others’; we always have lots to learn and to this end, we should ask one more question than we would normally, and allow more time to listen to the answer, improving our EQ, IQ and FQ.

Find out more about Faris and his work here :

https://www.shiageto.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/farisaranki/

Michael and I discuss this trio and what it means for successful transformation. Digital transformation initiatives often suffer from disconnects across teams, frameworks, and deliverables, and many organisations face complexities arising from disparate people, technologies, and data that have evolved without a unified plan. This confusion inhibits effective collaboration and knowledge sharing among teams, with employees often lacking a comprehensive understanding of the broader organisational landscape.

We discuss Michael’s Process Inventory Framework which ensures that even seemingly non-core processes are accounted for, as they can significantly impact how the organisation operates. By building a complete inventory of processes and validating it across all levels of the organisation, businesses can create a common language and understanding that promotes alignment and drives effective transformation. We discuss measuring the success of digital transformation initiatives as well as managing data driven decision making and the need for accountability & empowerment.

Digital transformation is not just about tech, it is about value and creating value differently. The integration of AI will bring with it other opportunities to integrate processes and data and to create value differently also.

Michael shares his insights and experience from creating and implementing his framework and from working with leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Most organisations have a clear disconnect across teams, frameworks and deliverables and the same patterns: complexity, evolving situations, unforeseen/unplanned outcomes, and a high degree of confusion.

-      Teams working in silos have little understanding of what other teams do, inhibiting collaboration and knowledge – there is no unifying thread, which is essential for successful transformation.

-      The book focuses on this unifying thread by seeking to establish what the business does and codify it (at both strategic and detail level) in one framework for common understanding and vertical/horizontal alignment purposes.

-      The process inventory framework covers every single core and non-core process, starting at the top and working down through the organisational hierarchy to the process level (also increasingly with the help of AI to integrate operational data).

-      Employees formally attest to the inventory, working upwards from the bottom of the hierarchy, to create an accurate basis and semantic structure for planning transformations and driving programmes.

-      The requisite clarity comes from an exhaustive list of processes, followed by a digital initiative – transformation entails profound change and digital integrates new technologies to fuel efficiency.

-      A clear roadmap with an environment analysis (external – trade, economic, competition; and internal – strengths and weaknesses) optimises the change budget and permits precision to flow down through the rest of the programme.

-      Data-driven ways of working come with enormous volumes of data and the challenge of data lineage with a lack of traceability and documentation - data must always be in a proper business context.

-      Operational leaders can use data analytics to empower people and create workflows, cascading goals down to individual processes from the overriding strategic imperative and providing clear accountability.

-      Operational structures can likewise be used to foster accountability and grant autonomy for people to capitalise on their expertise, thereby building a culture to try new things and drive innovation.

-      The process inventory framework provides a foundation for building process capability, continuously updating, defining strategy, driving change and managing organisational change and risk.

-      Sound risk management ensures resilience and an understanding of critical business processes, including those of third parties (cf. DORA, GRC) based on data models anchored in a business context (processes, risks and controls).

-      Breaking down the transformation journey into different stages offers full transparency and an overview for planning/alignment purposes for leaders who cannot know everything that is happening on the ground.

-      Confusion, chaos and complexity underlie every organisation and the integration of AI in processes and functions requires a deep understanding of all said processes and functions; digital twins can help with this.

Find out more about Michael and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-schank/

https://processinventory.com/

A brilliant dive into playfuness and leadership and how they can together help us to grow scalable and impactful businesses. Tracy and I have fun exploring how leaders can unlock untapped potential within themselves and their teams. A general lack of understanding of the impact leadership has influences performance - multipliers in the ecosystem and (accidental) diminishers in the ‘egosystem’, with huge blind spots. After all, leadership is about leading yourself first.

Discovering the power of playfulness, self-awareness, and challenging limiting beliefs to drive growth can create a multiplier effect in leadership. Tracy and I go through actionable insights for founders and leaders seeking to transform their approach and scale their businesses effectively.

Tracy shares her experience, insights and stories from working with founders and leaders across the world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      After successfully scaling an international business – involving enormous highs and lows and major challenges – the realisation that insufficient attention had been paid to the people was a pivotal moment.

-      Subsequent ‘treasure hunt’ in the world of coaching was based on asking: what helps people move to the next level and unlock latent potential? Settled on the field of leadership after reading about Liz Wiseman’s multipliers and diminishers.

-      General lack of understanding of the impact leadership has - multipliers in the ecosystem and (accidental) diminishers in the ‘egosystem’, with huge blind spots. After all, leadership is about leading yourself first.    

-      Leadership of self is crucial, and at different levels, e.g. self-awareness of what we do and think. Like a tree: the trunk is the strategy and actions; the invisible roots are the mindset and thinking, giving rise to the concept you hold of yourself (that influences your actions).

-      The multiplier mindset is about extracting, expanding and leaning into possibility. Tracy has distilled six indicators of success:

·     deep-rooted clarity

·     conviction as the rocket fuel for challenges

·     commitment to deepen resourcefulness

·     trust as the invisible ingredient for belonging, productivity and momentum

·     courage to look inwards

·     playfulness (intense curiosity, radical open-mindedness, proactive experimentation) to dissolve fear and amplify the multiplier mindset.

-      While developing the leadership scorecard, it was vital to intuitively include playfulness and get others to lean into it; to foster courage to overcome negative stories and a fear of failure; to look for alignment with vision and values (i.e. authenticity).

-      The scorecard process is a continuum as opposed to a journey and the model works at different levels, starting with looking in the leadership mirror and understanding the feedback, also from others.

-      Leaders must take ownership of the type of leader they want to be (as opposed to the vision) and also seek to bring out the best in others, often by staying quiet, asking questions and listening to the answers.

-      Effective leaders give people space to reveal their (hidden) treasures and create psychological safety to permit playfulness. The ‘zone of genius’ is not static and is about more than just what we like to do and do well.

-      So-called ‘weaknesses’ tend to be simply areas that have not been focused on; infinite potential requires curiosity to unlock – we must dismantle old beliefs, move forward and expand our zone of genius where we can add the most impact, e.g. by helping others expand theirs.

-      ‘Let’s Play’ will be the title of Tracy’s book, two words that instantly relieve stress, shift energy, and challenge beliefs. We are taught to be logical, but logic can be detrimental to pushing boundaries and exploring, thereby limiting the power of imagination and possibility.

Find out more about Tracy here :

https://tracyclark.london/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyclarkcoach/

Andrew and I delve into the world of purposeful, open conversation and the transformative role it can have in the way we communicate.

We delve into his early experience volunteering with young people with disabilities, which led him to establish Dreams for Kids in 2009, enriching lives through sports. This journey, coupled with personal challenges like social anxiety and racial discrimination, fuelled his growth and adoption of Gestalt communication principles focusing on presence and authenticity.

We explore the current global epidemic of loneliness and how to embrace social anxiety successfully for connection and more meaningful communication. Creating value based communities and building genuine connection through self reflection, intentionality and coming from a place of curiosity is key to enabling this transformation.

Understanding these concepts can help us unlock purpose and counter bias and ingrained stereotypes. We focus on Andrew’s initiative to redefine masculinity - modern masculinity - and create a more balanced, open dialogue on emotions and the necessity for purpose and deeper work to create conditions where people can thrive. Constructive communication must detail agreements and define how they are practiced within an organisation.

Andrew generously shares his experience and methodologies to foster deeper connections through meaningful conversations and reflection. By utilising resources for relational leadership and community-building activities, we can build intimacy and genuine connections within our teams, communities and families.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Human communication, connection and purpose are everything: purpose is a commitment to the service of something greater than the self (as distinct from a calling, which is a unique lived experience used to serve the greater good).

-      Based on the gestalt communication three pillars of awareness (authenticity, curiosity and presence), we must listen to our emotions and feelings - we can only expect other people to be themselves if we are ourselves.

-      Healing = feeling, not suppressing our ‘broken’ or ‘incorrect’ parts and hiding them from others; being objective about authenticity means we can be ourselves wherever we are and whoever we are with.

-      Social anxiety is a healthy response to life - anxiety often remains, but our response to it can change. We don’t control our first thought, but we do control our second.

-      IICAN five-part framework for mastering (social) anxiety in high-pressure environments with a practical system to engineer a constructive response and social flow (flow state with people):

·     Intentionality (intentional, conscious response to how do I want to be, what do I want to achieve)

·     Introspection (quality of conversation determined more by context than content, consciously welcome our emotions, cognitive emotive loop)

·     Curiosity (hyperawareness of self-consciousness giving way to being conscious about others, what do I want to know in the world)

·     Authenticity (earn trust by telling the truth, objectivity with positive intent)

·     Now (constructive existence in the present moment, understanding, listening)

-      Flow triggers require equal levels of skill and difficulty, full presence, and intrinsic motivation as opposed to external factors outside our control, which give rise to TAR (tension in the body; anxiety in the mind; resistance).

-      Challenge is part of leadership but there is always a way to respond with integrity: social communities/teams/cultures create a shared language to overcome reactivity and embrace responsibility for the common good.

-      Constructive communication must detail agreements and define how they are practiced within an organisation, e.g. no gossip, values, constraints and exclusivity.

-      Junto (named after Benjamin Franklin’s secret society) is a men’s leadership community to create dialogue and flow in socially taboo subjects and practice emotional enquiry.

-      Authenticity is an emergent and cathartic way of communicating and it is culturally valuable for men to have a safe space - if we are unwilling to feel our feelings, they will ultimately run the show.

-      Identity is the foundational motivator of behaviour and habit formation and very much (socially) conditioned - the quest is to help men ask big questions and have deep conversations.

-      Where possible, we should aim to be catalysts for meaningful conversations - people crave depth and intimacy but don’t know how to do it; a leader should ask questions and create space for people to talk.

Find out more about Andrew and his work here :

https://www.itsandrewhorn.com/

https://www.wejunto.com/

https://www.instagram.com/itsandrewhorn/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhorn/

A fun conversation with Vaishali as we explore the intersection of technology and human experience through a customer experience and collective intelligence lens. We discuss how to create meaningful customer experiences, by integrating emotions into CX using design thinking, and other tools to help forge deeper connections with customers. 

We explore the necessity to design tailored customer experiences through introspection, curiosity and empathy, and the importance of having diverse personas and perspectives to build relevant and inclusive experiences to adapt to the relevant business needs and goals. The foundations of self awareness and the power of visualisation are key to cultivating adaptability which is essential, and focuses primarily on understanding internal systems to manage external factors and experiences effectively.

The value of collective intelligence and emotional connections in enhancing customer and employee experiences is a main pillar of our discussion. How can we intentionally create forums for support, care and learning to navigate & visualise challenges together, maintain neutrality, share perspectives and manage self-criticism for effective design & communication. Engaging with professional networks provides encouragement and reinforces growth & transformation in CX processes, methods and results

Vaishali shares her insights from her book CX5, her journey and her experience as she highlights the significance of emotions in customer experience desig and the importance of authenticity and empathy in understanding customer emotions.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Career began at a startup early in life, with the opportunity to embrace chaos, build resilience and learn everything - subsequently combining academic study with hands-on experience resulted in excellent life/leadership skills. Found customer engagement attractive and after working on UX projects during COVID, moved into CX.

-      It is important to integrate emotions into CX and the world of technology and be authentic – if you can feel what the customer feels, this facilitates empathy and thus more alignment with the ever-evolving experience (of design).

-      It is good to mirror your design in the way you help clients as CX practitioners rarely have the opportunity to see the design first-hand in practice and the emotional validation is not face-to-face.

-      To intentionally design DX, EX, CX, etc. requires tweaking the frameworks to suit both the people, the project and the business goals. The starting point is to sit with yourself, think it through and create/embody the persona(s), followed by a research/discovery phase to be curious and ask the right questions.

-      The conscious inclusion required for CX means catering for all audiences by putting yourself in others’ shoes, and 360-degree thinking starts with knowing yourself. Consider the aim of the project and create a hierarchy based on business objectives.

-      Set the right course by building a structure for your own thought processes so as to be able to design well; mix and match possibilities (for quick wins); be adaptable; and juggle the different yet equally weighted CX disciplines.  

-      We must stay neutral in ourselves and for operationalisation - when constantly designing, the default thought process is to refer back to previous projects, but this limits capacity for creative thinking. A clean slate is required to be able to leave our comfort zone for the benefit of customers.

-      Visualising things outside of our heads is important as we tend to overthink; this can help us translate our thoughts into tangible concepts for stakeholders. We must then ask stakeholders for their requirements/feedback to create an aligned vision for the CX.

-      Support from other CX professionals is vital: it relieves pressure to share the burden and offers reassurance to hear from others in a similar position - community gives a feeling of hope to create something that is both bigger and of value.

-      CX involves many silent battles that require self-discipline and decisiveness from the designer. We must have the courage to take the first step and be ourselves – the noise around CX can be overwhelming, but the difference is you.

Find out more about Vaishali here : https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaishalidialani/

Are you ready to transform your career journey with science-based strategies? What if it wasn’t about power but about status ? 

A fun & candid conversation with Alison about how as women we can move out of frustration and into personal agency and results in today’s workplace. Navigating the complexities of the workplace can often feel like an intricate dance, especially for women striving to make their mark and navigating status and the use of status can be useful here. Alison & I discuss facing these challenges by understanding the dynamics of status, power, negotiation, and influence, and understanding what it means for us as individuals. 

We particularly explore the importance of status—rooted in both titles and personal qualities—for success and well-being, as well as fostering genuine networking and the concept of “assertive warmth” to gain respect through a blend of care and competence - being a likeable badass ! But how ? 

Authenticity and strategy can coexist harmoniously : Imagine having a playbook that teaches you how to be both kind and assertive right from the beginning of your career - without compromising who you are, what you think or your intrinsic value base. 

Likeable Badass is full of actionable strategies for building and communicating your authentic self more strategically and more effectively. These strategies work across different contexts and scenarios and give you the flexibility to adapt to every situation - you may find you are already doing some of them without realising !

Alison shares her stories, research and insights into how to intentionally craft being assertive and likeable and how to recognise your contributions without waiting for formal acknowledgment. I loved this book, an absolute must read for all women leaders !

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Applying the science of human beings to work applications within the framework of organisational psychology and behaviour, in particular to help women, given that the workplace for women is not the same as it is for men.

-      Success depends on influencing people and fundamental to this is the importance of status, a label that affects everyone but without us necessarily understanding what it is and knowing how to manage it strategically.

-      Status is the respect and regard others have for you and can derive from many channels other than category, title, position or power - we must understand the science of respect and then act with authentic intention.

-      Status is a non-negotiable basic human need as life is better when you feel respected; status decisions are not random and we must convince others that we are caring and capable and demonstrate this with authenticity. 

-      Assertive warmth is crucial: Are you good at what you do? Organised? In control of your environment? Confident? But are you also other-oriented and warm? Both are needed to convince people and earn respect, and women often feel that they can’t be both.

-      Dual promotion is about celebrating your successes while shining a light on others at the same time – the concept of ‘other promoters’ is backed up by science and is particularly relevant for women in terms of caring and connecting.

-      Science gives us a label for what women are already doing and provides women with a space to dial it up and help others; one effective way is via fractal mentoring, involving a diverse group of different mentors.

-      Women tend to hoard ‘status miles’ – in the sense of air miles – instead of using them, but status is a resource to be used like any other to build respect and leverage it for the better.

-      Status is also a finite resource, and we must be discerning about our behaviour – whilst it can be rebuilt, it can also be lost, and we have personal agency over the use of our resources.

-      The cultural and generational differences between behaviours require awareness and we must know our audience if we are to:

·     Understand the game, i.e. break down the science of status by framing it as a problem-solving activity approached with a playful attitude.

·     Master the plays, i.e. knowing that our status is also built by what other people say about us, and we can act intentionally to boost this by promoting others first (principle of reciprocity).

·     Coach others – always offering a space for others to listen and support their growth

-      Everyone has something to offer, and we must start building status from the outset – being authentic and strategic are not mutually exclusive.

Find out more about Alison and her work here :

https://alisonfragale.com/

https://alisonfragale.substack.com/ (newsletter)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonfragale/

https://www.instagram.com/alisonfragale/

Johan and I delve into the world of strategy and execution and how to obtain aligned results. How do we ensure alignement when executing strategy in the digital business landscape ? What effect is AI having on these strategies and operations ?

We discuss the need for simplified methodologies inspired by Agile practices and the fact that despite technological advancements, current strategic processes remain manual, necessitating better use of data, A/B testing, and AI for automated reporting and enhanced strategy execution. Executing strategy effectively is about refocusing on what matters – strategy must be simplified for busy managers to aid implementation, given that the CEO/strategic process is far less digitised than other parts of organisations.

Digital tools enable frequent monitoring and adjustments, moving away from infrequent reviews, while transparency in communication aids progress tracking and alignment. Storytelling is crucial for connecting strategy formation with execution during digital transformation and successful execution requires stepping out of the overwhelm, narrowing initiatives and effective resource allocation.

 ‘Future’ trends in strategy execution are happening now thanks to AI. We discuss how AI helps leaders focus on strategic activities, identify key initiatives and analyse unstructured data. AI also offers help for reactive leaders by providing meta data to suggest activities and support priorities and by creating space for senior leaders to make quality decisions, keep across operations and empower their teams.

We explore the critical role of proactive leadership in connecting operational practices with strategic discussions. By translating concepts like digitalisation and sustainability into actionable projects, organisations can achieve clarity and accountability in their initiatives. Think about how your organisation is adapting to these challenges and where the pitfalls are for you.

The main insights you'll get from this episode :

-      Executing strategy effectively is about refocusing on what matters – strategy must be simplified for busy managers to aid implementation, given that the CEO/strategic process is far less digitised than other parts of organisations.

-      Moving from strategy to execution requires a good methodology and the model is shifting due to behavioural responses and the inability of the C-suite to give strategy meaning and make it actionable.

-      The fast-moving external environment requires agility, but agile has become too binary for the complexity of the topic, which involves two major phases: strategy formation and strategy execution.

-      Strategy formation tends to be overambitious, and management consider engagement with strategy execution too low, but from an external point of view, it starts at the top with a failure to prioritise and take a cross-functional view.

-      A good strategy formation process is both top-down and bottom-up – good ideas combined with management responsibility – but digital acceleration can be a distraction and dilute strategy.

-      The real value of digitalisation is the ability to aggregate deviations to a higher level where they can be resolved quickly and enable faster follow-up – simply ‘beautifying’ the process does not help.

-      AI offers help for reactive leaders by providing meta data to suggest activities and support priorities and by creating space for senior leaders to make quality decisions, keep across operations and empower their teams.

-      Incentive structures do not optimise for strategic aspects as it is the companies that execute well and quickly that will have a competitive advantage, despite not having the most innovative products.

-      In terms of strategy execution, there are four key elements: most important goals (starts with the management team); strategic initiatives (big bets); key activities (how to support initiatives); and regular strategy standups (debriefs, stating commitments).

-      Assessment can be used as a tool to gain different perspectives on execution, e.g. a structured interview with the CEO; looking at the management team; setting up initiative teams with milestones and cross-functional planning – different personas have different levels of resistance.

-      ‘Future’ trends in strategy execution are happening now thanks to AI. Beyond that, there is a trend towards cross-functionality across the board and shorter strategy horizons coupled with new paths to reach goals (quickly), alongside the digitalisation of all roles to create value.

-      AI for its part will improve the quality of plans, capture unstructured information and measure sentiment; ‘analogue CEOs’ must make way for change makers, given that digital proficiency in the C-suite correlates to financial performance.

 Find out more about Johan and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgronstedt/?originalSubdomain=se

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-execution-revolution-with-johan-gr%C3%B6nstedt/id1777413166

https://open.spotify.com/show/1b3wspOi3VqmVYUzlhtwgr

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/3dea6d85-6d46-448f-988f-1f0dfb8c6fb9/the-execution-revolution-with-johan-gr%C3%B6nstedt

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In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, one quality stands out as both a humane virtue and a strategic advantage: empathy. Maria and I delve into the dilemmas surrounding empathy and empathy in leadership, which are powerful tools for fostering engagement, innovation, and customer loyalty while simultaneously boosting retention and revenue.

We discuss the multifaceted nature of empathy by distinguishing between cognitive empathy—understanding another’s thoughts—and emotional empathy—connecting with their feelings. We also discuss common misconceptions about empathy, which can lead to burnout and ineffective leadership. We go back to the necessity for human connection to create meaningful relationships and workplaces. Empathy is about connection - understanding other people’s thinking better can result in compromise and fruitful discussions – and can leverage healthy challenge. both these things are necessary for innovation, productivity and ultimately competitive advantage.

Both employees and leaders share the responsibility of navigating workplace challenges with empathy, especially in hybrid settings. Personal agency, self-awareness, and decisiveness are vital, and as automation increases, the relationship between empathy and AI becomes more pertinent. Leaders must continue to develop human skills like emotional intelligence to remain relevant. 

Maria shares her insights, models and experience of leading with heart and head—because empathy isn’t just about understanding; it’s about building a brighter, more connected future !

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      What is empathy? At work, an accessible definition is the ability to see, understand, and, where appropriate, feel another person’s perspective and use that information to act with compassion.

-      Compassion is empathy in action: it is not always necessary to feel, we can use cognitive empathy to imagine what others are feeling. This can then lead to emotional empathy, i.e. experiencing an increased heart rate when feeling someone else’ anger.

-      Empathy at work should be seen as a means to gather information – to understand the context and move forward with the right step, e.g. making an informed decision by listening.

-      The common misconceptions for leaders are that ‘doing empathy wrong’ means that it goes astray and there are no benefits – it is not about being nice or caving in to unreasonable demands but about balancing decision-making and supporting other people.

-      Empathy is about connection not conversion - understanding other people’s thinking better can result in compromise and fruitful discussions – and can leverage healthy challenge.

-      There are five pillars of effective and empathetic leadership: self-awareness, self-care, clarity, decisiveness, and joy. Leaders must recognise their blind spots, emotional triggers and patterns and understand the difference between self-care and self-maintenance to resource themselves and react well.

-      Empathy centres on balance, but the work/life balance is a myth – it is more of a work/life integration, constantly adjusting on different levels: ‘either or’ leadership in terms of efficiency vs. empathy is also a myth as it is not a binary phenomenon.

-      Clarity paves the way to empathy in that leaving a team in limbo, unsure what they are doing and where they are going, is unempathetic; things must be clearly defined; candour must be kind; and feedback constructive.

-      Covid proved that some people are at their best outside an office; calling people back in to the office means that employees must understand where leaders are coming from - empathy flows both ways and all parties have personal agency.

-      The art of decisiveness is to solicit multiple points of view and synthesise them swiftly to make a decision; joy is about leaders making room for levity when work is hard but not putting pressure on themselves to generate it.

-      AI taking on automated tasks that do not require human skills means that in the future of work, leaders must build the human skills that AI cannot replicate – their value as a leader will go up exponentially if they build empathy.

-      Empathetic AI can be used to combat loneliness or replicate counselling by recognising tone, speech patterns, etc. but humans with such skills are required to put these programmes in place.

-      Balancing the human/AI connection will make us more efficient; AI makes too many mistakes, and human behaviour is too nuanced, therefore AI must be augmented by humans – AI cannot replicate human connection, but it can help with a lack of resources.

-      Transformative experiences involve holding a mirror up to our own challenges and strengths, testing our resilience, and constantly learning. We must recognise that empathy is a strength not a weakness - we are all born with it, but the empathy muscle might have atrophied.

Find out more abut Maria and her work here :

https://red-slice.com/the-empathy-dilemma-book/

https://www.instagram.com/redslicemaria/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariajross/

Resilience is a key leadership ingredient in today's complex world, whether you are inside or outside an organisation, however, for women in the business world it is even more important. Kelley and I explore invaluable insights into navigating these 2 paths of intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship, especially for senior female leaders in tech.

Entrepreneurship requires resilience, resourcefulness, effective problem-solving, and a strong sense of self-belief. Women often face additional challenges, yet they can draw strength from perseverance and intentionally building and nourishing their support systems.

Kelley’s successful acquisition by ServiceNow exemplifies how AI skills can benefit companies globally, and we discussed the need to passionately advocate for women supporting one another, and helping other women rise daily. AI’s potential to enhance diversity and inclusion by focusing on skills rather than backgrounds is a crucial takeaway. Organisations must adapt to recognise diverse capabilities for equitable advancement.

Generative AI offers a promising future by enhancing human creativity and potential, urging us to align with core values for impactful change.

Kelley shares her own insights and learnings, and her vision for a future where women in tech are empowered, and innovation knows no bounds!

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Intrapreneurship is about developing and innovating from the inside - the pros are having an immediate lab, a captive customer, funding and resources, and speed of trust. The cons are having less time (due to the day job), encountering resistance to internal change, and only having the existing resources.

-      The cons of entrepreneurship are that it is scary, lonely and offers no safety (net) or support. It requires key skills from both personal and professional life, i.e. resilience; resourcefulness; vision; aggression; creative problem-solving; humility; an ability to listen, influence, and persuade; charisma; be an inspiration for customers, investors and employees; be well networked.

-      Overcoming multiple rejections and setbacks requires a strong belief in yourself and the project/purpose. Senior female leaders and tech founders do not generally receive validation or recognition from others so must be self-driven.

-      A female leader needs a personal ‘board of directors’, i.e. a group of people they trust, can be vulnerable with, and who can offer skills and advice. Women must help each other in the corporate environment through mentoring and opening doors (build networks by maintaining relationships, having a genuine interest in people, investing the requisite time and effort).

-      Women are socialised to find the win-win via empathy, sensitivity, and incorporating others’ needs – they sell a solution rather than a product, often addressing major problems in society, e.g. medical, social, or economic issues, motivated by the meaningful impact.

-      A frustration with the lack of software to solve HR problems was the reason for building a solution to transform the workforce using AI to make the invisible visible by removing bias and focusing solely on skills. This connects leaders with underrepresented categories and also fosters diversity and inclusion.

-      Transcending bias creates a more level playing field and counters systemic bias. Organisations must change rapidly but people have hidden skills and are boxed in by their roles. Generative AI is a gamechanger in that it can unleash human potential and creativity.

-      AI has gone from diagnostic to predictive to generative; the next step is a gentech AI – with bots completing tasks – and an opportunity to look at what is uniquely human, how we add value as humans in the loop, and how it can make us more creative/generative.

-      Resistance to AI will recede if we understand human motivation and the strategy/core values of the organisation, and are willing to address structure, governance, leadership and people and make the necessary changes.

-      The best approach to transformation is to create a guiding coalition within the organisation that is committed to the change, and then operationalise it. Build the energy first, find the right people and then use tech to extract the good.

-      Women can have it all but not all at once – the rallying cry is to never stop learning, look for a way to help a woman every day, and believe in themselves.

-      Vision for women in tech in 2030 – women being brave to change the world, being funded as male-led ventures are, and having more female innovators (either on the inside or outside).

Find out more about Kelley and her work here :

https://kelleystevenwaiss.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Girls-Lessons-Founders-Silicon/dp/B0CN2G9B97/ref=sr_1_1

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Gig-Boundaries-Unleashes-Organizational/dp/1928055605

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelleystevenwaiss/

Peter and I discuss the possibilities of creating a different, smoother approach that seamlessly integrates AI solutions without compromising the convenience and comfort of the user. The exponential speed of tech is disruptive, so a people-first approach is essential to provide a tech solution that does not cause any unnatural change to behaviour or the way we live and does not interrupt the flow of the day.

We explore a more focused market approach, where solutions are tailored to meet the specific demands of users, especially in a post-COVID world where hybrid work models are becoming the norm, and hitting the crucial balance of enhancing security measures without sacrificing user convenience. We need to challenge outdated protocols in schools and airports by advocating for a seamless, human-centric approach.

Our conversation also highlights the importance of aligning marketing strategies with customer expectations and adapting training materials to meet generational shifts. By putting the customer first, especially during economic downturns, companies can successfully navigate challenges and emerge stronger. Companies must also be willing to disrupt themselves so as not to be out-innovated by others who build loyalty along the way - different generations have different requirements, habits and expectations.

Peter generously shares his insights from leading high growth technology businesses and digital transformation initiatives, particularly into how AI is not just modernizing security but transforming it into an experience that aligns with the expectations of today’s world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Physical security technology lags behind other technologies; Xtract One as a leading AI-powered tech company is bringing the physical into the digital to create a transparent, frictionless, non-invasive experience.

-      The exponential speed of tech is disruptive, so a people-first approach is essential to provide a tech solution that does not cause any unnatural change to behaviour or the way we live and does not interrupt the flow of the day.

-      Technology such as airport security has failed to catch up due to its long sales cycle (in addition to factors of governance and bureaucracy). It must be familiar but make life easier and invisible but make the system more efficient.

-      It is imperative to talk to customers about their needs and priorities, and to fit the solution to the business, i.e. the idea must reflect the reality by finding the problem first and working backwards.

-      Complex security situations (e.g. multiple sites) must adopt a digital solution as the start of the digital transformation journey with a mindset of continuous use of tech to continuously innovate the guest experience in order to stay ahead.

-      The approach must be customer-first over invention-first: hyperfocus (with the potential to pivot afterwards) and leveraging data (also internally) to improve the experience and open the door to infinite scalability.

-      The future of the guest experience is a safe environment - large venues obtain vast amounts of data and must use it to give the guest a better experience by reducing the negative experience and rewarding ‘good’ guests.

-      Xtract One’s platform makes it safer and easier to navigate the end-to-end guest journey by innovating with integrity: this means being transparent with customers and explaining in detail what products/solutions don’t do.

-      The physical security industry demands zero risk in the event of system failure, which is why third-party testers verify the products and deploy leapfrog innovation where tech can remove roadblocks.

-      Xtract One employees build a culture of trust with customers and act as a type of concierge by understanding customers’ real-world problems; in terms of their experience, employee are regularly surveyed for their passion for what they do.

-      Sustainable high-growth scaling requires the willingness to say no; growth takes up time, resources and investment but with no guarantee of success - although counterintuitive, leveraging the current position is best for hypergrowth.

-      Companies must also be willing to disrupt themselves so as not to be out-innovated by others who build loyalty along the way - different generations have different requirements, habits and expectations.

Find out more about Xtract One here :

https://xtractone.com/

Alan & I delve into the world of self awareness and personal growth. It all began with a moment that could have been his last. After a life changing car accident, which propelled Alan into a journey of self-discovery and growth, Alan shares how his experience at Cognex highlighted the dual-edged sword of industrial automation: while it propels personal success, it also challenges job availability for other workers. We explore how this moral conflict fuelled his mission at Next Level University to empower individuals with free, open source personal development resources to allow people to take themselves to the next level of who they are.

We discuss using learning sciences to alleviate ignorance-induced suffering, and the importance of awareness, commitment to growth, and the harmony of team dynamics. In a world that often celebrates overconfidence, alongside gathering knowledge must be humility and self-efficacy - leaders often have external self-efficacy but less internal self-efficacy. We must keep the balance between external achievements and internal fulfillment, encouraging ongoing effort and intentionality.

Alan shares not only his personal journey, but also his insights and methods from working with people all over the globe, to help them transform into a fulfilled version of who they really are.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-             The rise of industrial automation will take jobs from the growing population of less educated people; therefore, retooling is necessary and the NLU aims to empower people to create their own jobs.

-             It is free to attend and offers resources and opportunities for those willing to put the work in to grow themselves and their business, reach their potential and create a brighter future.

-             It is a big ambition with a mission statement, core values, metrics, subjects, and vehicles to achieve it, based on self-awareness being a necessity, not a luxury – if we are not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.

-             The root cause of human suffering is ignorance and apathy, i.e. we don’t know (enough) or don’t care (enough); we must learn and find our purpose, caring deeply (enough) to fulfil our true potential.

-             Alongside gathering knowledge must be humility and self-efficacy - leaders often have external self-efficacy but less internal self-efficacy; after all, ‘life doesn’t get easier, but you handle hard better’.

-             There is always a percent error (that requires underlying contingency plans) but being right increases with age – we are never fully right but we become more and more right, and more right than others.

-             The challenging duality of knowing more than others but less than there is to know requires vulnerability and radical humility – we must be able to hold two different ideas simultaneously, as decisions are not always binary.

-             A good modus operandi can be to reverse engineer problems, understanding the calculations that go into decision-making. Comparing self-driving cars with human beings, both need:

·     Accurate current location, i.e. self-awareness

·     Accurate destination location, i.e. a goal

·     Accurate terrain, i.e. direction

-             Humans are wired inaccurately through education, society, etc. and rewiring our thinking helps us make better decisions and be more successful, but this requires accurate data.

-             The subconscious and unconscious brain are much more powerful than the conscious (=intuition); the cognitive function tends to dominate but we must develop all four parts of ourselves, i.e. physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

-             Most people can benefit from working on their inner self - either with a coach (future-oriented, goal-led, external) or a therapist (internal, learning from the past, identity) – to acquire data for consistent re-evaluation.

-             Our blind spots internally and externally require illumination from people we trust – people who care more about our potential than our feelings (e.g. coaches, mentors, therapists).

-             NLU operates an intuitive system for assessing potential students based on eight characteristics: unstable, naïve, manipulative, entitled, delusional, significance-driven, arrogant, immature – a high score results in non-acceptance.

-             The system is based on the experience that actions can lie as well as words, and people can fake most things - such learnings come from pain, suffering and failure, but it is also very empowering.

-             A growth journey involves moving from victim to villain to hero to guide; ultimately it is a quest to be successful externally and fulfilled internally – long-term, this requires fulfilment to take priority over success, but very few people achieve both.

-             Another strategy is to move from the ‘doom loop’ (if you don’t believe, you don’t invest, and you don’t get results) to the ‘success loop’ (a learning loop with five stages: humble curiosity, implement, reflect on action, learn, improve).

-             Chasing the dream is the dream and easy is not the goal – comfort and growth do not coexist, and we must grow and contribute beyond ourselves if we are to find meaning in life: ‘push outside the comfort zone, toward potential, but not out of integrity’.

Find out more about Alain and the Next Level University here :

https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-university-podcast/

https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/

https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros

Elrika and I have a great conversation about the power of play and playfulness in creating workplaces where people and performance can thrive. Light-hearted practices enhance empathy and shared experiences, and despite challenges in remote work, maintaining playfulness is possible in virtual meetings.

Playfulness is often undervalued in adult contexts, yet it’s crucial for brain function, creativity, and performance. We explore the cultural sensitivities around play in the workplace as well as the neuroscientific processes as work. Technology and digital can also be used to leverage play in the workplace and leaders who dare to incorporate playfulness can create more collaborative, creative, and resilient workplaces, and enhance human connection.

Techniques like Lego Serious Play are more than just child’s play; they are strategic tools for inclusion, creativity and balance, even at the highest levels of management.

Elrika shares her research, insights and experience from working with organisations and leaders around the globe on 'how to play' seriously and to enhance the bottom line business results.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Playfulness in adults is important for thriving although sadly scarce. Research into playfulness and its effect on the brain shows that play is rooted in our brain chemistry, so it is part of all of us but not nurtured in all of us.

-      An agile world requires us to consider the whole human and embrace our roots of being playful. One definition of play is the playful onion: play is on the outer layers we can see, playfulness is on the inner layers we can’t see, and the playful centre is where we find compassion, warmth and imagination.

-      The LEGO Serious Play approach allows us to learn from each other’s models and gives us time to reflect on the results, which enables introverts and extroverts to play along by creating a safe space and catering for all personality types – it is overarchingly collective but facilitates individual input.

-      It builds skills, increases challenge, enables flow and does not assume that leaders have the answers – rather that everyone has the answers. Neurologically, thinking and talking use only the frontal lobe of the brain.

-      The hand-brain connection relaxes people enough to listen and be creative and using more of the brain increases divergent thinking. LEGO stimulates multiple processes simultaneously, releasing serotonin (excitement about the process), dopamine (completing the task) and adrenaline (the urgency of the task).

-      In a safe environment, it is possible to build something and break it again, enabling us to fail together and building team cohesiveness. Playfulness in the workplace can also address stress and burnout challenges, providing a feeling of safety to experience emotions: ‘If I can laugh with you, I can cry with you’.

-      Playfulness creates safety, but safety is required to play – this reciprocity needs respect, clear boundaries, and space for exploration and engagement; it allows us to bring our personalities to work, and be less afraid of who we are, and of imposter syndrome.

-      When using play for leaders in organisations with a clear hierarchy, it is important to understand different levels of play and playfulness; sometimes apparently serious people are playful (NOT silly – this is a clear and significant difference).

-      The Proyer approach of OLIW – other-directed, light-hearted, intellectual, whimsical – is good for agile leadership and is helpful when it comes to adapting play and playfulness to build leadership and integrate play into busy work life.

-      A box of LEGO is not playful per se – it is metaphorical and a comfortable tool for neurodiversity, for example. It is not about the toy, but about the story; the toy is just the vehicle, and a simple approach creates time for things to arise.

-      There are national cultural differences vis-à-vis playfulness that can be very culture-specific and delicate, involving power dynamics and offensiveness, for example. There must be simple conversations to define fun, work, and fun at work. Other ways in are mindfulness meditation/relaxation/imagination.

-      The language and tools of play are very significant dependent on the culture – they must be appropriate but different from the norm. It is helpful to remember that the opposite of play is depression, not work – without play we shrink and spiral downwards.

-      Hybrid working gives no outlet to let off steam – the workplace needs something inclusive that can lift spirits, e.g. Jenga, holding meetings outside, jokes on post-it notes, to find levity and air in the space.

-      Although playfulness is innate, people often lack confidence and worry about permission to play - openness to play depends on the leader and the setting. Making the leader the play assistant can reduce resistance.

-      There is generally more resistance at the top of an organisation; C-suite with C-suite will play together, but with different levels it is much more difficult - a level playing field is required to foster experiential inclusion.

-      The transformative power of playfulness is that it brings people together and builds community. Sharing play is a touchpoint and creates empathy across the ecosystem. In fully remote scenarios, toys can be used on screen (e.g. building LEGO together) as well as technology (AI), for digital to enable human.

-      Giving people something tangible for connection and creating a sense of belonging is important in the digital age. This might involve:

·     sending team members something in the post

·     a timed five-minute magic circle – leaving all worries outside it – to elevate our play levels and be a little uncomfortable and playful outside our comfort zone

·     being invited to write ridiculous answers to a question, pushing our brains to think outside the box for a limited time.

Find out more about Elrika and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elrika/?originalSubdomain=uk

A brilliant conversation with Eric about creating the conditions for both performance and people to thrive. We delve into the different parts of this journey to build a culture that enables performance. The acronym LoL—listen, observe, learn— highlights the importance of engaging with employees and clients to understand their challenges beyond financial metrics.

We also discuss the importance of personal interactions, that are vital for building trust, particularly in the digital age. A human-centric strategy and cultural resilience are crucial for navigating crises, and being intentional with our actions to build relationships, communicate effectively and take people with us on this journey is important to building a new way of thinking, acting and being.

We all suffer from complexity bias, and the importance of clarity over complexity has never been more pressing, as we look to lead with empathy, streamline messages and enhance focus.

Eric generously shares his stories, experience and operational tips from his career and from working with leaders across the five generations.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Starting from a fascination with leadership from an early age, through business school, and working for a company that enabled personal growth resulted in a message of impact to pass on in the form of a book.

-      Based on the notion that ‘simple’ plans are not necessarily simplistic to implement, the book offers anecdotes and practical tips for hands-on operationalisation for leaders as the mechanic for the car, and whose people are the vehicle for the journey.

-      LOL – listen, observe and learn – as a foundation for strategy to obtain different opinions to give a new view of how best to act, thanks to a diversity of perspective - no one is ever smarter than the room even if they are the smartest person in the room.

-      Observing behaviours and action is the simplest definition of culture. Visiting with and talking to people builds trust – a roadmap is not a new idea, but without the human element it is just directions, and leadership must navigate both the path and the people.

-      The ‘velvet hammer’ approach refers to the relationship between people and performance – leaders must truly listen, observe and learn, make people feel special, but also give them accountability, balancing head and heart.

-      Clear beats clever, despite this not being the paradigm in most organisations. Clarity can be achieved through simplicity to overcome complexity bias - complex does not mean better, and improvement does not mean adding to.

-      It is much better to master the basics than trying to be too clever; leaders are overwhelmed with information and excuses are introduced – far better is to avoid the noise and be a ‘distraction catcher’.

-      The abc of communication: know when to amplify a message, buffer it, and convey it. To embed this in a culture successfully and sustainably requires feedback, time management, the definition of priorities, and difficult conversations.

-      Cultural resilience is about equipping people to have conversations in the workplace and about having an intentional approach to everything e.g. stay interviews. It acts as a shock absorber when bad news strikes, by building a solution mindset.

-      A ‘check under the hood’ process allows for the tangible measurement of culture by asking questions, obtaining data, and creating a baseline (for scoring) to provide qualitative and quantitative criteria.

-      Six-point inspection - satisfaction, engagement, retention, profit/market share, values, and D&I – can be used to take the pulse of a company and provide a score, and they can be looked at individually or in the round.

-      A score is logical and a reflection of execution rather than strategy while culture helps to execute a strategy by making it more tangible (with data) and less ‘fluffy’ (more operational).

-      The emotional state of the business is an important indicator of success or failure, but the leadership gap requires behaviours training, generational perspective training, and emotional intelligence training.

-      Repeated conversations may hit home on one occasion among thousands, but disbelief can be overcome gradually and lead to celebrating something special that has been created to move forward with.

-      There are five factors of employee engagement to improve workplace culture:

·     create a strong relationship with the management team

·     communicate goals and expectations clearly

·     provide the right material, equipment and information for the desired outcome

·     encourage personal and professional growth

·     and reward top performers.   

Find out more about Eric and his work here :

https://www.instagram.com/clearpathventures_/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-stone-clear-path/

A brilliant conversation with Michelle on creating sustainable conditions for people & living systems to thrive. Michelle offers a refreshing and transformative perspective of thrivability. This concept redefines how communities and businesses operate by viewing them as dynamic, interconnected living systems. We discuss moving beyond the mechanistic approaches and the leadership paradigms that support this, and us embracing a more holistic vision rooted in collaboration, diversity, and shared purpose.

This of course asks for different leadership skills and the intention to create practice grounds where individuals and teams can hone these skills. We delve into the wealth of wisdom in indigenous cultures, and within our selves as we walk through the spiral of conversations as living systems. At each stage we can look at new habits, thinking and feeling. Never have organisations been more in need of cultivating and nourishing the human elements of systems and practition-ing sustainable change to a more inclusive and collaborative way of working. 

How can we all channel our personal agency to create cultures where we collaborate and care and not compete and compare ? 

How do we create regenerative and intentional practice to build Thrivability and competitive advantage ? A platform for world change.. 

Listen here to find out more as Michelle generously shares her research, experience and models form working with individuals and organisations all over the globe.  

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Brand strategy, international marketing and organisational development are all characterised by a lack of relationships with customers, a lack of purpose, and a fiercely competitive internal culture.

-      Research into sustainability involved looking into the notion that everything operates as a machine, separate from each other and nature, and exploring biology to see if the facts of being alive apply to communities and organisations.

-      Went on to develop frameworks that have now been in use for over 25 years based on living systems, survival of the fittest, an adaptive capacity for change, a holistic view of systems, and the wisdom of natural living systems.

-      The four patterns of thrivability – diversity, nourishment, learning, emergence – have significance for us as individuals and collectively; organisations are seen as separate from us and static, but we must see everything as part of a living, dynamic world.

-      Thrivability is an informed intention and practice to enable life to thrive - living and participating enable the setting of an intention whilst being informed enables life to thrive, drawing on indigenous wisdom, intuition, poetry, spirituality, biology, etc.

-      Organisations as living systems must invite diversity in relationship and flow, enabling the emergence of a new whole beyond the level of the parts – this shared purpose then acts like a magnet to bring parts together.

-      Mechanical systems have no capacity for innovation, healing, regeneration, reaction to change, or spark of life - we are the gardeners who cultivate life, without necessarily knowing what we are growing.

-      Collective intelligence is about the integration of diverse parts, moving from ‘compete and compare’ to ‘collaborate and compare’, which is a profound and revolutionary shift in terms of social context.

-      The starting point is being aware of the wholeness of the present moment, then relationality, then belonging in relationships, then individuation, etc.; society should integrate all these aspects (cf. Eastern/indigenous traditions).

-      We can design for integration by tending to relationships, which produces better results, tapping into the wisdom of the whole to find a deeper level of intention, and holding multiple perspectives for a different collective result.

-      Conversations in living systems require constructive, generative, healing exchanges to allow for inspiration and the energy of life to permit thrivability – we must overcome fear and division to navigate diversity and complexity to create a wiser, more peaceful society.

-      Participatory processes nourish all gifts during a process, listen to the voice of the whole, and foster engagement to produce a positive end result – a shared vision and purpose remove competition and ultimately offer scope for greater impact on the world.

-      Thrivability is based on a ‘spiral’ of core ongoing, iterative practices, with the core defined as being alive, then aspects such as:

·     stewardship (reverence and responsibility)

·     new ways of doing, being and seeing (e.g. Art of Hosting leadership movement)

·     tuning into the intelligence of the system

·     discovering new ways of serving

·     safe, native action as the next natural step in the system

-      The tenets of sociocracy, i.e. look for what is good enough for now and safe enough to try, are a good approach to action, as are new ways of sensing, learning and evolving.

-      It is tricky to prove how it will work and measure if it has worked. Peter Block’s book, The Answer to How is Yes, posits that ‘how’ is a defence against action, the barrier we create - there are no guarantees, but we can make it good enough.

-      There is value in monitoring it for it to have a (re)generative effect in itself: Who should notice? Who makes sense of the data? Who receives and responds to the data? It creates more capacity (for life) in the system.

-      Operationalising the model means practicing regeneration as a foundation for thrivability:

1.       Practice and support for new stories and a new language

2.       Methods with practical frameworks and tools around convening

3.       Clear attention to demonstrating value

4.       Community of others for shared learning for nourishment

-      This is intended for all changemakers/leaders at any level in the role of steward - ‘developmental evaluation’ allows us to rethink measurement and resource each other so that we are informed, clear on the intention and commit to a life practice of thrivability.

 Find out more about Michelle and her work here :

https://www.thrivableworld.com/

Jodie and I discuss the shifts that need to happen to create safer and more inlcusive workplaces. Leaders play a pivotal role in nurturing a culture of empathy, understanding, and genuine care. Over and above all, leaders need to know their people and reflect on their behaviours and what they are enabling and hindering in the workplace. Understanding the challenges and opportunities faced by neurodivergent individuals in the workplace, as well as coming from a place of curiosity and care is necessary to cultivate environments where everyone feels safe and valued. Inclusivity isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a catalyst for creativity, performance and innovation. When organisations embrace diverse ways of thinking, and interact with the reality of the 5 generations who work in there, they can unlock new levels of performance and problem-solving capabilities. It is important to clearly define cultural narratives and what behaviours are required, to own our mistakes and fix them to restore relationships, and to call out bad behaviour.

If you are looking for simple and actionable things that you can do to encourage and create the conditions for a safer and more inclusive workplace, listen to this episode as Jodie generously shares her perspectives, stories and thoughts on this important topic.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-A culture of safety and inclusion are essential for performance: from a

neurodiversity perspective, improvements made for neurodivergent people

benefit everyone, e.g. clearer communication and more flexibility.

- Diversity too improves organisational performance, but people are often

overwhelmed by the subject so that no real action is taken. Unfortunately,

direction, guidance and outcomes tend to supersede interpersonal

connections.

- Conscious conversations are required to delve into what people need, and

then resource the skills required to react and respond to needs: ‘fix, deliver,

advise’ should give way to space to listen, be heard and be comfortable with

discomfort.

- The post-covid backlash against the dialogue around mental health leaves us

asking how we equip people to talk about it - this is based on empathy as well

as cultures of care, which mean different things to different people.

- Leaders must know their people in order to support them and help them

thrive; they must reflect, have an adaptable mindset for inclusivity and role

model a different approach, connecting with people 1:1 and building a

relationship.

- Team away days provide the opportunity to talk about something other than

work, build trust on an individual level and thereby create more psychological

safety at a team level.

- Flexible working (post-covid) reinforces the narrative that women can have/do

it all – yet nothing can increase the amount of time available and only a strong

support network can facilitate this.

- The only option to flexible working is often not working at all, and people will

seek out flexibility because getting the right balance at home has an impact

on professional relationships too (ripple/cascade effect).

- Five generations in the workplace now is very beneficial in terms of cognitive

diversity, cross-mentoring, etc. - progress depends on a growth mindset and a

willingness to see others’ point of view.

- Humble leaders with strong people skills who are up to date with the latest

thinking, work on their own unconscious bias and build a strong foundation of

understanding the well-being of their people can be transformational.

- Trying to get people to ‘fit in’ is better replaced by a recruitment strategy that

is aligned around the desired culture; conflict means that people are thinking

differently and providing opportunities to learn and grow.

- It is important to clearly define cultural narratives and what behaviours are

required, to own our mistakes and fix them to restore relationships, and to call

out bad behaviour.

Find out more about Jodie here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-jarvis/?originalSubdomain=uk

A fabulous conversation with karl about crafting our own path in the age of technology. How can we use what technology brings to leaders as individuals and to the workplace ?

Many of us fall into autopilot mode, driven by societal pressures, especially in large organizations, and we discuss work being defined by life experiences rather than the other way around.

Amidst rapid AI advancements, human resistance to change is natural—our survival instincts kick in - but instead of merely managing technological changes, we should embrace them. There is a lack of AI expertise among many leaders and we need to help foster a culture of learning and risk-taking, moving away from traditional education to collaborative learning. This shift promotes inclusive conversations and empathy, crucial elements in a world increasingly influenced by AI. AI should enhance decision-making, not replace human judgment.

Karl shares his stories, experience and insights from setting up his innovation factory and working with leaders and youth all across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Innovation requires an atypical mindset and not accepting the norm – there are always alternatives, which can be more challenging but also more rewarding; taking a ‘detour’ prevents autopilot and keeps the brain active.

-      We have evolved over millennia to follow the norm in order to save energy, avoid risk and survive; it takes a long time to change mental models, particularly compared to the exponential speed of tech and, more recently, (generative) AI.

-      Boundaries and limitations have been removed to make way for AI, but this involves bypassing safety features. What does that mean for humans? We like to feel in control, although we don’t always fully understand the technology.

-      There are inherent problems and risks, and the challenge of AI in business is how it will be managed from a legal standpoint; companies should try out new technology on mock data first, then use AI to make the solution more efficient.

-      We must let AI strategies emerge using synthetic data to then make decisions about which AI-enabled tools will be most beneficial - leaders often do not understand enough about AI and should work closely with those who do.

-      Leaders must be comfortable with not knowing and feel free to ask ‘stupid’ questions on a development journey – the teacher/student approach doesn’t work with AI as everyone must play around with it together to find answers.

-      The hierarchy of leadership will be partly managed by AI (algorithms), i.e. an AI decision support engine, that will redefine boundaries; AI will treat us as humans if we treat it as human.

-      The ‘innovation factory’ initiative is about learning from other entrepreneurs and inventors, and pushing boundaries - cultures can prevent progress and all ideas should be welcome to ‘fail forward’ and add knowledge.

-      Aimed mostly at universities, it goes from no idea, to defining, questioning and pressure-testing an idea in order to reshape and repurpose it, and to develop microproducts along the way (in contrast to an accelerator).

-      Today’s regenerative approach can involve ‘AI for good’, giving us options for us to then make the decisions, e.g. how can AI prevent war? We can instruct an AI solution to help us do good.

-      We still have agency over the technology but will be an AI-enabled society by 2030: AI will help us become more human and less robotic (e.g. robots working in windowless warehouses).

-      When we move too fast, we crash; the current rate of change is very fast and we must be able to mitigate the crash, e.g. reducing our dependency on big tech providers by using multiple power sources, platforms and providers.

-      Constantly collecting data to train models means that we lose sight of threats, such as a virus manipulating us and the data; we must try to guard against these by trusting our (human) intuition and impulses.

-      We can all become ‘micromentors’ to either support someone else or ask for support from someone else - guided conversations are productive and helpful; an education system based on rights and wrongs does not reflect or serve the society in which we live.

Find out more about Karl and his work here :

https://www.karllillrud.com/

https://www.instagram.com/keynotekarl/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karllillrud/?locale=sv_SE

Vladimer and I discuss insights and strategy around digital transformation, marketing and the importance of personal brand in the digital age. The digital revolution has fundamentally altered how companies operate and engage with their audiences. and our discussion sheds light on the pivotal role of digital marketing and innovation in this transformation. With a strong emphasis on personal branding and direct consumer engagement, we discuss how the power has shifted from traditional media to individuals who master social media.

We also dive deep into the importance of active learning, curiosity, and collaboration as well as analytical thinking. AI knowledge, leadership, resilience, and empathy are key factors that will drive success & keep us competitive in the digital age.

As digital transformation continues to reshape the business landscape, Vladimer offers valuable advice for individuals and companies aiming to thrive. His emphasis on personal branding, consumer engagement, and adaptability provides a clear path to success in navigating the complexities of the digital world.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-      International experience in the tech industry mentoring companies and entrepreneurs to help them remain relevant in the digital world - power has shifted dramatically with social media from big corporations to human beings.

-      Social media gives consumers a voice and a reaction for the first time in the history of marketing and communication and stops brands interrupting while open-minded entrepreneurs communicate openly with clients (e.g. Elon Musk).

-      Personal branding is everything in the streaming economy and is at the heart of competitive advantage - large organisations must rise to this challenge by becoming consumer-centric, not boardroom-centric.

-      In the new world order, David surpasses Goliath with speed, agility, lifelong learning, open-mindedness and open communication – the market decides what is good these days (cf. Spotify, Airbnb, etc. who solve consumers’ problems).

-      Traditional, tried-and-tested (marketing) strategies no longer work; companies must build a great customer experience, reinvent themselves, be experimental/ inventive, think long-term and listen to their consumers (‘listening businesses’).

-      Authenticity and openness are paramount, and content drives business. AI will lower operational costs and replace large chunks of the global workforce by 2030 - the only sustainable option in the digital age is to build a personal brand.

-      Personal brands are built through storytelling, gratitude, consistency, passion, openness, curiosity, communication and transparency – they must educate consumers, become the best publishers of information, and build not sell.  

-      AI will generate followers/influencers and disrupt jobs – this requires organisations to undergo a huge mindset shift towards permanent reinvention and being proactive as opposed to reactive.

-      WEF skills for the future include self-efficacy, working with others, analytical thinking, creative thinking, leadership, social influence, resilience, flexibility, agility, empathy and active listening.

-      Great content can be created and then spread across different platforms to billions of social media users with very few resources and at no cost (iPhone, YouTube, etc.).

-      We can become unicorns through blogging and gaining momentum through consistent hard work - forward-thinkers push us on and provide the right surroundings to succeed.

-      AI is the bloodline of the contemporary business landscape and offers great tools, e.g. Midjourney for web design and graphic media; Mixo for building websites without coding; Descript for video generation; Grammarly for text.

-      AI will automate tasks, analyse data, improve CX, reduce costs and boost productivity; businesses will increase their use of AI and signal a new era of digitalisation.

-      An emotional connection to the world cannot be replaced by AI, which gives us an advantage – we must focus on patience, flexibility, attention to detail, and leadership.

-      AI can improve business efficiency and will create (AI) influencers – to stay relevant, brands should showcase their authenticity and personality and use AI (hyper)personalisation to drive growth and optimise their workforce.

-      To succeed we must start small, build gradually, be patient, and provide value to create content; active daily learning moves us forward as we live through the biggest culture shift of all time – there are 30+ social media channels, so choose wisely and select a few to use well!

Find out more about Vladimer and his work here :

https://www.vladimerbotsvadze.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimerbotsvadze/recent-activity/all/

https://www.instagram.com/vladimerbotsvadze/

@VladoBotsvadze (X/Twitter)

A brilliant and humbling conversation with John Marks where we delve into the power of social entrepreneurship as a transformative force that blends positive change with financial sustainability. We look at the 11 principles John has taken from his work in international conflict resolution and what it means to fully empower yourself and others and embrace adaptive leadership. 

We discuss the need to decrease the defensive, reactive tendencies we have, regulate our emotions, and add intentionality in order to be more effective adaptive leaders - eventually it must come naturally. We discuss various initiatives, such as improving U.S.-Iran relations through “wrestling diplomacy,” and reflect on John’s own transition from opposition-focused activism to collaboration-centered leadership, promoting a “win-win” approach. It is important to be defined not by what you are against but what you are working for – this paradigm shift can be transformative for people as leaders and as individuals.

We look at the challenges of collaborative problem-solving at different scales, the consistent principles of mediation, and the importance of active listening and mediation in leadership and other insights to improve business culture.

John generously shares insights and stories from his wealth of knowledge and wisdom from working with international actors and conflicts across the globe. If you are passionate about creating positive change in the world but unsure how to balance your ideals with financial sustainability listen here to the rest of this episode which unpacks the rich insights from his transformative book, “From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship.”

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-             Vision is to create a more peaceful world and deal with conflict peacefully; applied visionaries use the ideas of mediation to resolve problems and set up processes to deal with problems.

-             Social entrepreneurship is a means to try and make the world a better place for someone with the skills to launch an initiative and make it happen, beyond themselves, without financial gain as the primary goal.

-             Having purpose can find resources for and with us, e.g. the SFCG mantra is to understand differences and act on commonalities, i.e. find ways for people to agree, starting with what is possible, and building trust during the process to resolve the conflict.

-             An inclusive approach is based on everyone essentially wanting the same thing and commonalities can be used to bring people together, e.g. sport – building teams, both sides being ready and willing.

-             Example of ‘wrestling diplomacy’ [when the US wrestling team visited Iran] gained press coverage and provided leverage for further signalling at a political level – different motivations for different parties but all benefited.

-             It is important to be defined not by what you are against but what you are working for – this paradigm shift can be transformative for people as leaders and as individuals.

-             ‘Yesable propositions’ offer win-wins that make you more attractive to others; it doesn’t mean getting everything you want, rather the maximum you can get, and the same for the other side. 

-             Essential mediation skills are paired with the skills to put together the process, and generally require two different people with two different skillsets; difference should be used as a positive lever.

-             The goal is collaborative problem-solving across all manner of boundaries - the more people are involved in a conflict, the harder it is to resolve, and it is tricky to achieve the scale of reaching multitudes of people.

-             Soap operas for social change aim to represent the diversity of society; they are based on common ground and as such can change attitudes through repetition, familiarity and relatability.

-             Napoleon’s ‘on s’engage et puis on voit’ approach involves trusting the process and letting things unfold – many of the best ideas come from what has already happened: adaptive management is a good approach for social entrepreneurs.

-             80% of work is about showing up, and operational work is important for leaders to keep them grounded. Persistence is required to deeply engage in a project; capitalise on people’s energy; gain credibility; and scale a trust base.

-             Often easier to implement in social enterprise than in business (profit is not the ultimate end) – conflict resolution in business is implicit rather than explicit, e.g. the ‘track 2 process’ charts the unofficial, parallel things that go on.

-             Patience is required for long-term projects; also helpful is the aikido strategy of not reacting adversarially, but rather diverting the opponent’s energy for the benefit of both parties.

-             We need to decrease the defensive, reactive tendencies we have, regulate our emotions, and add intentionality in order to be more effective adaptive leaders - eventually it must come naturally.

-             ‘Yesable propositions’ must understand the audience, accept them for what they are and work with them to try to find a workaround; when you can’t change the situation that exists, acceptance is the only option (cf. Zen).

-             Most transformative accomplishment is to prove what is possible: start something, engage with it, stay with the vision, and do something that makes your heart sing.

Find out more about John and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-marks-36a3569/

A fun conversation with Susan about the power of stories for the human brain. We delve into the eclectic journey that she travelled to link storytelling and innovation.  The human need for connection is ever present, particularly in a digitally connected world. Human connection is about having empathy and understanding others’ situations – essential for innovation & effective collaboration, which requires behaviour change.

The role of stories in creating followers and convincing people is as old as time, and people don’t change much; the prophets moved the word around the world, making them the greatest viral marketers of all time. There is so much power in stories, especially the ones we tell ourselves, which are instrumental in helping or hindering both innovation and collaboration..

We discuss all this and lots more as Susan shares her insights, stories and experiences from working with people & leaders all around the globe .

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      The common trait for innovation is an insatiable curiosity – innovators are constantly asking questions, talking and telling stories with a desire to tell other people.

-             The human need for connection is about having empathy and understanding others’ situations – essential for innovation, which requires behaviour change.

-             The advent of the Internet made it clear that the story was the bridge between new tech/ideas and how to get people to change their behaviour around interacting with the technologies.

-             A ‘tech translator’ needs to use plain language to tell a relatable story that matters to the readers, and CIOs need to take the same approach; they must become storytellers themselves to get the funding/recognition they deserve.

-             The role of stories in creating followers and convincing people is as old as time, and people don’t change much; the prophets moved the word around the world, making them the greatest viral marketers of all time.

-             How did they succeed in selling an idea that wasn’t visible to our human minds, and persuading us to continue sharing their stories long after their death?

1.       They relied on a shared history and looked for common ground (orthodoxy vs. progressivism); evidenced by similar calendars/rituals across religions.

2.       Their basis was in core values; behaviour change requires new, worthwhile values to replace old ones that are no longer sufficient.

3.       Their message was memorable; an innovative message requires momentum for other people to adopt it - stories create both memory and momentum.

4.       They got other people to tell it; identify early adopters who will absorb the message and amplify it, pre-programming others to share it.

5.       The made good use of language; rallying cries ground people to the mission of change.

-             There will always be doubt, even among early adopters, and impactful communication varies among national cultures – we must be clear about the cultural values in the tribe we are currently in.

-             Empathy mapping asks what matters to the listener: What does my listener need to hear to say yes? What is the pain of saying yes? How do I tell a story that mitigates risk? What is the gain for my listener? [think, feel, do, say]

-             Corporate athletes must become amazing listeners before they can become good storytellers by asking their teams for the context before the content; practicing telling the story; and adapting it to other cultures.

-             According to McKinsey, storytelling is one of the top 40 skillsets every executive must have in order to be able to explain and ask for money - pitching is now part of the innovator’s job description as a result of the startup culture.

-             Intrapreneurship programs are aimed at avoiding messy M&As and scientists must become intrapreneurs who budget for the breakthrough.

-             Communication science is not valued enough; many technologies are generated by the spoken word, as opposed to the written word, and it is a good thing to create shortcuts and make life easier, but without losing authenticity.

-             The bigger quest is to ensure that no innovation is lost due to not having a story to help the listener understand it better or because their value was not understood - changemakers need help and tools to tell their story.

-             Behaviour change also involves understanding how stories can bring about huge change (e.g. at the ballot box), but it starts with the story we tell ourselves, which is often the hardest one to stomach.

-             Communities in a digital world should approach behavioural change/innovation with empathetic listening and appreciative enquiry: What is working now? Where is the good? This is the starting point.

-             Shared history is often painful, but there is strength in that - we connect over trauma rather than triumph, and building communities is a way to innovate (even though it can feel unfamiliar).

-             The story of innovation is that developments are now faster and more intuitive; the lean methodology and short innovation sprints make us more supple and flexible and able to look at the learnings from failure.

-             Can we listen even more to our past, present and future, and to those around us? Stories are 22 times more memorable than facts: What do I want people to remember? What do I need them to do? What emotion do they need to feel to take action? What do I need them to say and do?

Find out more about Susan and her work here :

https://innovationstorytellers.com/

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanjlindner/

Nausheen shares her journey from corporate to public speaking coach, and highlights the interplay between confidence and fear, advocating for positive self-talk and learning from failure, illustrated by her personal story and experiences. Finding and speaking with your own true voice is very unusual - particularly in women – and many people are self-silencing or silenced by others. Helping them involves addressing mindset, message, and delivery (in that order).

We delve into the importance of effective communication tools and different approaches, and the importance of finding one’s voice, establishing a personal brand, active listening, overcoming self-doubt, and intentional message sharing to attract audiences and achieve success. It is never too early to start telling your story – being more public and vocal is a good way to build a business, build your confidence and attract people. Breaking away from the conventional path can be a transformative experience – not always easy, but it grants a great sense of autonomy by creating a new identity, building creative resilience and showing ourselves and others that reinvention is possible.

Nausheen generously shares her stories, experience and insights from working with senior leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      A varied career path and eclectic entrepreneurial adventure led to the realisation that anyone should be able to give their best performance in front of a camera; coaching executives is very fulfilling and aligns with her own passions.

-      Finding and speaking with your own true voice is very unusual - particularly in women – and many people are self-silencing or silenced by others. Helping them involves addressing mindset, message, and delivery (in that order).

-      It is possible to fake confidence but not advisable, as the performative aspect allows the projection of confidence without feeling it; in the absence of confidence, we must create a virtuous cycle by proving to ourselves we can do it.

-      This requires the right tools and debriefing after speaking commitments to learn lessons for the future and filter knowledge of the subject into understandable messages that will be remembered, not minimising good content with poor delivery.

-      The approach depends on the individual: introverts who are shy, hate the spotlight, and perform sub optimally require lots of mindset work; confident, ambitious people who develop very specific patterns of speaking and presenting and perform sub optimally require lots of work on message and delivery.

-      Fear and confidence can coexist, but fear must not get in the way of performance - we take action to overcome the fear: people feel scared, do the scary thing and this action creates the virtuous cycle to feed the next scary thing.

-      Confident people talk to themselves and impact their future action positively by taking accountability for doing well (sense of control); insecure people blame themselves and do not let wins positively affect their confidence (removes agency).

-      Scary things are the worthwhile things; we must reframe what fear brings in a creative way and do away with negative self-talk, recognising that failure is part of progress.

-      Building a practice to reframe failure means learning from experience and taking action to prevent failure, e.g. recognising red flags in behaviour and being a better listener to receive information with judgement.

-      It is never too early to start telling your story – being more public and vocal is a good way to build a business and attract people.

-      Breaking away from the conventional path is a transformative experience – very difficult, but it grants a great sense of autonomy by creating a new identity, proving resilience and showing that reinvention is possible.

-      Know what you stand for and intentionally look for opportunities to broadcast your message: do new things to find your voice and spread a worthwhile message impactfully – a conviction of success will see doors opening through which you can then walk.

Find out more about Nausheen and her work here :

https://www.speaking.coach/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nausheenichen/?locale=fr_FR

A fun and insightful conversation with Michelle about the future of learning and the importance of creating impactful and interactive learning experiences. 

Lifelong learning is essential in today's complex world and we need to understand what this means for us as leaders, and how we can equip organisations to create a sustainable learning culture. We delve into the dynamic shift towards digital and social learning environments in the workplace, and what that means for the concept of power and for practitioning - for the way we think, act and interact on a daily basis. 

The challenge for leaders trying to pioneer a culture of learning is the ability to be vulnerable and demonstrate their own learning. Learning is currently not a KPI so is not ‘popular’ as such - in fact, it is one of the first budgets to be cut when organisations need to tighten their belt, yet it is part of what will maintain competitive advantage.. We need to understand how to embrace the new learning paradigm, tools and approaches and how to create the conditions for a culture of learning to become the norm. Only then can we expect innovation, business results and well being to happen at scale.. 

Michelle generously shares her stories, experience and research from working with academics and leaders around the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      A strategic practitioner and leader who values peer learning and is satisfying demand for how to do learning differently and apply it practically.

-      Learning has evolved hugely, not least digitally thanks to Covid - digital learning has moved from e-learning to a much more interactive form to demonstrate that it works, and we can do things differently and better.

-      The communication tool of Zoom became a learning tool as it transcended geographical boundaries, and we all had to immerse ourselves in a new environment - Covid provided a skills uplift / new skillset.  

-      Digital body language is important to read a room online - this is difficult for face-to-face practitioners, such as teachers, but has revolutionised coaching, for example.

-      Teachers need training (‘lift and shift’, e.g. with generative AI) and the current exam system does not teach for future skills – the education system needs to look at the future of work.

-      There is resistance to genAI as people worry about their jobs but its accessibility can be amplified by digital - face-to-face plus closed captions, personalisation, additional support and linguistic tools all make learning more inclusive.

-      The challenge for leaders trying to pioneer a culture of learning is the ability to be vulnerable and demonstrate their own learning; learning is currently not a KPI so is not ‘popular’.

-      Reverse mentoring, whereby a less experienced person mentors a more experienced person in any given setting, is useful as a means to show vulnerability and demonstrate how productive it can be.

-      Openly talking about learning as a two-way process involving self-awareness and humility should be the norm, and everyone should have a learning KPI, e.g. 10% - this learning can also be from mistakes that are then spoken about.

-      Good leaders are humble, curious and require both people skills and technical skills – flatter structures promote not only technical brilliance, but also take into account the softer people skills.

-      Those on the edges are always looking for new ways of doing things, questioning and sense-making but transferring old-school thinking into a flat organisation does not work as personal agency and collective objectives are less clear.

-      Schools are teaching skills for flat organisations, i.e. discernment, critical thinking, an understanding of cause and effect, but hierarchical organisations do not need them and young people are being ‘squashed’ by the system.

-      Thanks to digital, younger people think more in systems terms, which is very useful for DE&I, for example - people must understand that they are both the problem and the solution.

-      Making things personal helps them understand how they are relevant, where they are in the system and where their organisation sits in the bigger system/ society/ world.

-      The triple bottom line with a people first approach eases friction and profit follows as culture, learning and organisations don’t exist without people - like sustainability, learning needs to be a buzzword to enable people to transform.

-      The focus must be on people and making life real, unlike traditional management theory, which separates personal and work life, leading to a huge impact on mental health, the planet, etc.

-      Digital does not equal environmentally friendly – we must question everything, change our habits and have the discipline to think and act differently, both individually and collectively, to change the system one habit at a time.

-      Transformation and the opportunity to create new habits needs the permission, environment, culture, space and ultimately leadership to do so [cf. Learning Habits by Sarah Nicholl; Designing Accessible Learning Content by Susi Miller; Nancy Kline’s ‘thinking environment’].

-      Vision for the future of learning: * eco-learning and working; * learning that embraces sustainability and openness; * collaboration with high-quality conversations and different models for leadership learning.

-      Context is everything and must be understood, and you must also be fluent in the language of your business - dig for evidence, answer questions and find the model that works.

Find out more about Michelle and her work here :

https://www.kairosmodernlearning.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleparryslater/ 

A brilliant conversation with Vera Quinn about how to successfully navigate business challenges and opportunities. Vera puts the focus on people and what we can learn from each other if we are open to embracing this. we live in a world where life and systems in general are set up to reward people who are ‘right’ – a leader's goal should be to have smart people and give them a voice for the right answer to come through dialogue/brainstorming.

We discuss the power of people in a digital world and how this can translate into business growth. We delve into valuing collaboration, diverse perspectives, learning from failures, risk management and understanding cultural differences as a way of finding strategies to manage the different pressures in the workplace. Vera also addresses managing CEO pressures, focusing on impactful work, self-improvement, and aligning actions with goals. We also explore true success through peace and contentment, the transformative impact of therapy, and the importance of taking action to overcome challenges and pursue personal growth and positive influence.

If you’ve ever wondered how to navigate the complex landscape of business growth while staying true to your roots, listen to the full episode where Vers generously shares her experience, wisdom and inspiration.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      People can be whatever, whoever and however they want, from both a potential and self-worth perspective - transient states do not define us.

-      Seeing life through an immigrant lens was very influential personally and professionally to strive for a better life; a formative experience in a sales job talking to people on the doorstep was an opportunity to learn about values.

-      Big moves and changes or once-in-a-lifetime experiences can be very rewarding but require risk and risk-taking is integral to entrepreneurship.

-      Life and systems in general are set up to reward people who are ‘right’ – the goal of a leader should be to have smart people and give them a voice for the right answer to come through dialogue/brainstorming.

-      Leaders can reward speaking up, collaborating and pushing back to encourage risk-taking, and can role model the behaviour of only having the right answer 10% of the time (and reward the process instead).

-      Tolerating risk reframes failure, and failure is what happens when we give up: risk is a part of life and failure is a learning, with role models coming in all shapes and sizes – both younger and older.

-      Bias training looks at everyone’s unique set of experiences and lens on the world: we need to stop and understand others’ lenses and appreciate that different cultures are real by valuing feedback from other perspectives.

-      It will take time to have more women in leadership, but women must organise, support, teach, and advocate for each other – the system will not keep women out as 50% of talent is women and businesses need good talent.

-      Employers must understand why there are fewer women in the pipeline for digital and tech – how can we fix the process, make the roles attractive to women? Barriers take time to break down and there is residue bias in older generations.

-      The pressure of being a successful CEO is created by the stories we tell ourselves. A commitment to provide an opportunity for employees to create a better life for themselves means focusing on what is important.

-      A person’s legacy is forgotten after two generations so it is far better to make the here and now count. In developed countries, we have a responsibility to be the best version of ourselves as we can, having won the birth lottery.

-      Delivering on commitments for the long term means eliminating, automating and delegating for productivity and involves a constant cycle to find the highest and best use of your time.   

-      Definition of success: to feel peace (nothing to do with business) and understand what peace means - peace is about acceptance, not trying to change, being present in the moment and being ok with it.

-      Transformative personal experiences from which we change and learn allow us to influence the most people and this flows out into professional life - leadership is an inside job that can influence the culture at work.

-      Life is short so we must take the step and not shy away from challenge and regardless of the outcome, we will be better for it - everyone has power in their circle of influence.

-      People are always willing to help but we need to ask for it – we are not alone if we don’t want to be; we can change our state immediately by moving in a different direction.

A great conversation with Urs as we delve into the realms of humble leadership and how we can consciously create this practice. We take a dive into the transformative potential of radical humility in leadership and how it can revolutionise the way you lead and connect with your team.

Urs's experiences as a peace-keeper gave him a unique perspective on leadership, which he generously shares with us. In environments where lives are at stake, the ability to build trust and foster relationships is paramount. Effective leadership is not just about making decisions but about understanding and connecting with people on a deeper level. This requires a balance of humility and confidence—a delicate dance that can lead to remarkable outcomes as you master the process intentionally.

As diverse teams become more frequent, understanding and bridging generational gaps can lead to a more harmonious and productive work environment. This also requires leaders to be humble, adaptable and open-minded, willing to learn from the unique perspectives each generation brings to the table.

Urs shares his insights, stories and experience to date from all angles : his peace-keeping missions, his experience as an ultra athlete, as a father and from working with leaders all over the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      An important part of leading with radical humility is to ask bigger and more difficult questions and not judging when dealing with different value systems, for example.

-      Non-humble leaders need to be shown what teams can achieve by a humble leader in a top-down control culture looking down, controlling their own team and demonstrating their ability.

-      Leaders can be humble and confident, humble and decisive, or humble and ambitious; fundamental self-confidence is required to humbly invite feedback; and being ambitious is about asking hard questions.

-      Leaders should show vulnerability and role model humility: demonstrating appropriate vulnerability is one of the quickest ways to build trust as people admire perfection but can’t relate to it.

-      Shifting from ‘then’ leadership (top-down command control in the industrial age) to ‘now’ leadership (with humility) by developing deep self-awareness; training the feedback muscle; and realising the value of focus and the importance of failing successfully.

-      The most important factor in teams are relationships, so treat others as you would like to be treated and lead like a compass – the true test of leadership is how things function in the absence of the leader.

-      Lead with a shared purpose and with full transparency – share your imperfections, your decision-making and your thought processes, engaging in the ‘thinking person’s sport’.

-      Focus should be on organisational leadership as opposed to individual leadership excellence – create a fearless culture, take responsibility for how your team members interact, provide psychological safety, and be direct.

-      Leaders must ask for help and acknowledge and show gratitude for feedback: there is great value in learning together experientially – in different situations, teams have to rely on each other, regardless of rank.

-      The network age is the fog of war with generational and technological changes, and the ‘fog of work’ presents us with a very complex environment: like the immune system, a team gets stronger when it is tested.

-      A multi-generational workforce brings with it opportunities and challenges: to equip the next generation to be radically humble requires teaching a growth mindset, self-mastery and empathy.

-      A growth mindset means that we must overcome our own assumptions, become less judgemental and understand others’ views - we are all works in progress and must do the hard work of honing both intentional practices and a laser focus.

-      Assuming too much trust is a mistake but start small by revealing something a bit more personal and seeing what comes back, i.e. initiating the vulnerability loop. 

Find our more about Urs and his work here :

https://www.urskoenig.com/

https://www.instagram.com/koenigurs

https://www.linkedin.com/in/urs-koenig-ab3828/

Katja and I delve into the world of purpose, spirituality and business, looking at demystifying the subject and exploring how we can connect more effectively to our inner wisdom.

We explore the concept of “universal intelligence” and the importance of personal beliefs, connecting with unseen energies, and uncovering internal strengths. Katya shares her journey from the corporate world to spiritual work, stressing the significance of challenging assumptions and being open-minded.

In an age where the rush of everyday life often drowns out our inner voices, we discuss the positive impact of spirituality in corporate environments by fostering sensitivity, awareness, and intuition, while also encouraging individuals to explore their spiritual capacities and seek guidance for personal development. Letting go and letting things unfold creates a conducive environment, which is necessary both professionally and personally, but even the education system frames emotions and sensibilities as weaknesses.

katja shares her personal story and insights from her journey from the corporate world to spiritual work, and how important it is in today's busy and interconnected world to really connect to something bigger than us.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-      Spiritual is defined variously as believing in a greater power to connect to if we choose or believing in the existence of something beyond the physical and material world; it is not linked to religious or esoteric beliefs.

-      This ‘power’ will not harm us, but help us by adding to our thoughts, emotions and sensitivity; helping us to develop our sixth sense; giving us access to the invisible; and teaching us as we become part of our ‘spirit team’, which is not static, but changes over time.

-      It makes us aware of our unused capabilities and our own immense potential and enables us to exchange with our physical dimension (e.g. in the form of plants, animals) but also with another dimension, as it all revolves around energy, which is everywhere and can change everything.

-      The spiritual world depends on personal parameters but is commonly known as ‘God force’, the ‘divine’, or ‘universal intelligence/consciousness’ - the key to accessing it to remain open, flexible and tolerant in the absence of scientific proof (today).

-      Connecting to something bigger is a hot topic at the moment in terms of having purpose – it keeps us humble and makes us realise that we don’t know everything. We must listen to what is said/not said and tune into the different energies around us.

-      The corporate and spiritual worlds are compatible, e.g. in terms of leading with purpose, sensitivity and empathy, as healing and mediumship help us improve on all levels, understand ourselves better, and realise how big we are (many environments, e.g. corporate, make/keep us small).

-      Orientation and guidance are helpful in both private and professional lives, giving us increased sensitivity and awareness, raising our consciousness of our own value, helping us validate ourselves, granting us inner freedom and wellbeing to overcome challenges and leave our comfort zones.

-      Talking about spirituality openly brought more positive reactions than expected. The law of attraction means that people who want or need it will come, and a grounded vision of mediumship and healing helps blend the spiritual life with ‘normal’ life.

-      Own experience of the spiritual world guided Katja to the truth, reduced her resistance to negative feelings and left her intrigued but not afraid - this curiosity in turn led to learning, (re)training, taking a calculated risk and ultimately being far more fulfilled.

-      Her business is made operational by: * intuitive coaching; * spiritual healing for emotional and physical issues (but always in support of and never instead of conventional medicine); * evidential consultations (communication with loved ones in the spiritual world); * personal development tools (intuitive reading, mind-to-mind/soul-to-soul connection for personal challenges/issues); * spiritual guidance (mediumistic connection); * spirit-inspired auragraphs based on spirit art; * conferences/workshops to teach mediumship (as everyone has the innate capacity).

-      Working with/exchanging energy means it can be done anywhere in the world (via screen) as there are no geographical boundaries; open questions work better as there are no ‘answers’ or predictions for the future.

-      It is a powerful and transformative process that enables belief in oneself, overcoming fears, and silencing the inner critic to reveal our true self and true capabilities in all our imperfections.

-      Letting go and letting things unfold creates a conducive environment, which is necessary both professionally and personally, but even the education system frames emotions and sensibilities as weaknesses.

-      Empathy is not valued in society, and is mostly displaced by logic and reason, yet personal development is required both to be a good medium and a good manager! People are only in their head, not in their heart and solar plexus.

-      The more we can bring about this shift in both organisations and society, the more we can build bridges between the two worlds to take people further in life - being a leader is also about the way you lead your life and the inner work you do.

-      The best way to find that deeper connection is to seek a professional spiritual guide who understands the ethics of the mechanisms of mediumship - fostering a trusting relationship with the guide will open the door and send out signals for the spiritual world to work with you.

Find out more about Katja and her work here :

https://kemhealing.fr/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katja-rehse

A great conversation with Anne-Marie Imafidon about the importance of women’s involvement in technology as well as the importance of breaking stereotypes and having diverse voices around the table for inclusive product development. Tech is no longer niche, but fundamental to life in Industry 4.0 and it is dangerous to have a small number and limited range of people making tech decisions that are also social, moral, political and ethical decisions.

Anne Marie and I discuss tech fluency, democratising tech access and how to foster these diverse voices, distributing power differently and understanding that technology allows us to have a multiplicity of experiences. Diverse voices lead to more inclusive product development, which is crucial for the success of any tech venture in today’s world. A call to action for us all to get curious, get involved and take control. Through her multiple tech ventures, authorship of the insightful book “She’s in Ctrl,” and tireless efforts in systemic change focusing on Science, tech, engineering, Arts and maths, we discuss how to make shaping a more inclusive future a reality from an individual, collective and societal perspective. 

Anne-Marie shares her thoughts, insights, stories, humour and incredible vision for recognising women’s historical contributions and addressing male-dominated industry challenges whilst advocating for a lens of continuous learning amid the 4th industrial revolution to ensure more inclusive technology moving forward. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Passionate about future-looking tech ventures; breaking stereotypes around access to tech for women; engaging with tech and other people to improve society; and looking to effect systemic change.

-      We are making progress in terms of talking about women in tech but currently they are not high-profile and the ‘herstory’ is hidden, which is both frustrating and perilous. 

-      Tech is no longer niche, but fundamental to life in Industry 4.0 - it is dangerous to have a small number and limited range of people making tech decisions that are also social, moral, political and ethical decisions.

-      All decisions about tech carry risks, can be wrong or even harmful on both an individual and wider level; the biggest mitigation lever is to have as many different perspectives as possible.

-      If multiple elements are missing from the tech, it becomes harmful when deployed - we must see the value in everyone; overlooking huge tranches of society can have serious consequences.

-      We must value the impact of tech as opposed to simply its prowess, understand that it enables a multiplicity of experiences to be reflected and this is a serious responsibility; our default is to think that tech is neutral, but it isn’t.

-      Divergent thinking is absent in our (convergent) education system and in organisations: no company is an island, e.g. what they do affects the supply chain, customers, and ultimately society at large.

-      The exponential speed of tech alongside the glacial speed of societal change means that technological advancement will create more problems than it solves.

-      Education must transform for learning to take precedence over knowledge – we need the right structures and support for teachers to stay in post and a culture of learning at all ages and not just in formal spaces.

-      The Institute for the Future of Work looks at upskilling, the new knowledge that is being created, and promoting wellbeing at work through the deployment of tech - an agile learning loop that requires an agile mindset.

-      Tech fluency is about digital literacy and fluency, understanding ‘the basics’ that are applied in different scenarios, but today’s basics may no longer be relevant in five years’ time.

-      Government policy is the biggest lever for democratising access to tech and digital, e.g. civically inspired policy, long-term investment in and funding for national infrastructure.

-      The next 10 years should see formative, positive STEM/STEAM experiences; career permeability into and out of the tech sector; and a more robust policy ecosystem with improved technical literacy.

-      CTA: read Better Allies, Everyday action to create inclusive, engaging workplaces by Karen Catlin; pursue social justice projects such as yesstem’s Equity Compass; engage young people; make high-quality mistakes.

Find out more about Anne-Marie & her work here :

https://aimafidon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/notyouraverageami/

https://stemettes.org/

https://www.ifow.org/

Matt and I delve into the world of driving sustainable digital transformation with all its pitfalls and iterative loops. We unwrap the journey of digital transformation in organisations - which is inevitably fraught with challenges - from enacting organisational change to managing career risks and adapting to the rapid evolution of emerging technologies. Organisational stamina is however one of the biggest challenges we face - not giving up at the first success or failure, but organisations are like people – always looking for a quick fix.

We delve into how taking a systems thinking lens can be transformative, especially coupled with the revolutionary potential of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in industries like construction, which have historically been skeptical of technological advancements due to past disappointments. Generative AI and LLMs, despite the challenges exemplified by Google’s struggles with bias, are lauded for their capacity to revolutionise data management and processing. They promise a future where complex data is not just managed but harnessed to drive decisions, optimize processes, and ultimately, catalyze growth. - leaving time for the more complex human elements to be top of mind. For technology implementation to be successful, it must be rooted in continuous progress, systemic analysis, and the dismantling of operational silos through collaboration and empathy.

Matt shares his insights from his career to date, and the model he developed of how to successfully implement digital transformation - work done right !

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Work Done Right is a collection of lessons learned from various industries with common themes of how best to achieve or not to achieve digital transformation.

-       Society needs infrastructure but is not good at providing it on time and on budget; we must improve processes using technology to help project leaders get it right first time.

-       The Work Done Right methodology is about process, culture and systems thinking – we must view projects holistically as interconnected wholes rather than in silos.

-       Within the system, we must define the quality we want and the systems we need to achieve it but work quality requires a speak up culture, akin to speaking up about health and safety for the greater good.

-       Human error can cause problems but there are rarely systems in place for errors to happen, i.e. people do not speak up about quality/process failures - tech and engineering are very knowledgeable but fail to take account of human factors that are part of the processes/system.

-       Translatability of ways of working from one industry to another is very beneficial, e.g. energy companies approaching other industries that have a good track record for safety of operations in hazardous environments, e.g. aviation.

-       Systems engineering and systems thinking can be used to ‘engineer out’ value risk. Any large organisation naturally builds up silos over time due to specialisation and bureaucracy but derisking is important as doing things differently entails risk.

-       There are competing elements of culture and technology at play in the explore-exploit scenario - change is often initiated for the sake of it without recognising the good reasons why systems are put in place.

-       ‘Splashy technology syndrome’ describes situations in which people desire digital transformation but are distracted by the current tech hype cycle, e.g. crypto, IoT, AI, etc. – FOMO takes over in the rush to use new tech, but any disappointment in the result reinforces the conservative bias.

-       GenAI can be transformational but should not be used for long-term business decisions. There is a widespread data problem in that most data is not used, but LLMs can make sense of messy data, and using 60% of data instead of 10% equates to a huge competitive advantage.

-       Long-term, there will always a place for humans - human decision-making and experience are irreplaceable, but success will depend on using gen AI and LLMs to improve our decision-making.

-       The OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop designed by the military can be applied to any competitive endeavour, can be incentivised and is iterative (build, measure, learn) - it aligns incentives with successful implementation and offers organisations the opportunity to develop a learning mindset through repetition.

-       Organisational stamina is the biggest challenge we face - not giving up at the first success or failure, but organisations are like people – looking for a quick fix.

-       Organisations must determine failure points and rectify them there and then before progressing, with no blame game and no catastrophising - identify why a business objective is not being reached and deploy the OODA loop repeatedly to move forward.

Find out more about Matt and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kleimanmatthew/

https://cumulusds.com/

A great conversation with Mary about the crucial relationship between character and leadership, and how it can enable transformation in organisations and organisational culture.

We dive into the 11 dimensions of character with corresponding behaviours and look at the importance for leaders to balance extremes and manage polarities to promote inclusive and collaborative spaces.

We discuss dismantling the assumption of static character and empowering leaders to embrace personal agency in their decision-making processes. Our conversation goes beyond the surface, tackling the subconscious influences on our behaviour, balancing polarities and looking at the various different levers for developing character, as well as challenging biases in different processes and systems.

What is the impact of taking Character into account ? A significant shift in the environment within organisations, calling for a re-evaluation of leadership selection to be more character-centric.

Mary shares her research and experience from running educational programmes with leaders all over the world on Character and its impact on leadership in today's workplace.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Character development can unleash excellence once unlocked, but linking the science of character to leadership is a relatively new concept. Leadership was on trial during the economic crisis in 2008 – the leadership failures that led to the global financial crisis were not a failure of competence but a failure of character.

-       What is character? Is it possible to develop character? There is no evidence that character is ingrained and cannot change, but it should not be confused with personality, which is semi-stable (e.g. introvert/extrovert).

-       Character is a set of specific behaviours that satisfy criteria, and each one of these behaviours can be developed as a habit. Most of us have underdeveloped character because we don’t know of the possibility to develop it.  

-       There are metrics, e.g. 11 dimensions of character with 62 associated behaviours, and Aristotle called character practical wisdom – the key facet is that any virtue operates as either an excess or a deficiency, e.g. a lot of courage requires a lot of temperance.

-       We need to understand that strengths operate in a dysfunctional way in the face of the virtue vs. vice polarity; operating with a deficiency must be recognised and excess must countered, e.g. tenacity/grit has to be offset to avoid negative outcomes.

-       The link between character and DE&I is that understanding character can create a more inclusive environment in which people can thrive. We judge ourselves on our intention and others on their behaviour, but character is about observable behaviour, and our intentions mask our lack of understanding of others’ behaviours.

-       The culture of an organisation will reflect the character of the individuals in the organisation: intention and behaviours don’t match up, which is borne out by research on self-awareness. Character supercharges the DE&I agenda and helps us get to our real natures.  

-       We have personal agency over our character and must form the right habits to develop it. Character brings laser focus to core beliefs and scripts that we are unaware of and that are difficult to overcome, e.g. vulnerability, trust, worthiness.

-       There are various levers that create an intention to develop a behaviour:  What belief leads you to think it will be a positive or negative outcome? Is it a normative behaviour in my milieu? Does my lifestyle support that? Would I have the ability to do it? We have a choice how we respond to these questions.

-       We need character to counter cognitive biases, e.g. in the recruitment/interview process, and systemic biases where justice and accountability are an exploration (for leaders) to understand how it feels to be in systems not designed for you.

-       ‘Boundary spanners’ have had to develop character to navigate a world not built for them; character enables the development of competence once given the opportunity to do so and levels the playing field more.

-       Leadership development should be about education and awareness of what character is so as to be able to assess it and embed it in organisation. This can be scaled from individuals to groups/teams/organisations using the Virtuosity app, which offers resources for running workshops for groups.

-       The app is a great example of how digital can be used to leverage the impact of behavioural science and is intended to help bring about the paradigm shift required, e.g. post-Covid, the transformation in individuals and the multiplier effect from train the trainer, and the importance of psychological safety.

-       The development of character helps people both personally and professionally – personal development benefits an entire organisation and is a holistic approach that takes life as its motivation (self-leadership).

Find out more about mary's work here :

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-crossan-048ba5269/?originalSubdomain=ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtuositycharacter/

Podcast: https://www.questionofcharacter.com/

Ivey Business School: https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/faculty_research/directory/mary-crossan/

For organisations: https://leadercharacterassociates.com/

For individuals: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/virtuosity/id1632255508

Neal and I delve into the profound impact of empathy on cultivating thriving workplace cultures and how we can scale this skill, particularly at more senior levels of the organisation.

Empathy is often referred to as a 'soft skill' but is actually one of the hardest to enact and is more than a soft skill—it’s a strategic advantage. Executives and leaders who embrace empathetic practices are witnessing tangible benefits in business metrics, marketing, and branding.

We discuss debunking common myths about leadership and collaboration in organisations and conclude that it’s time to challenge the status quo and embrace the paradigm shift. Engaging in courageous conversations, addressing conflicts with sensitivity, and creating a shared vision through empathetic confrontation can be powerful and strategic tools for organisational transformation.

Neal shares his experience, insights and research from his book 'the E suite' and from his operational daily life as CEO of Cybercore Technologies.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      The shift in work-life balance during Covid saw people and empathetic leadership come first as opposed to empathy being considered a soft skill and not representative of ‘strong’ leadership.

-      Executive leaders must seek to apply empathy and openness by understanding context and emotional states and making decisions based on this – it is not about ‘niceness’ and should be reframed as relationship building.

-      The concept of business(-focused) empathy is about understanding the people you work with and using it as a tool to help with decision-making, e.g. how to deal with a diseased tree branch that impacts the tree as a whole.

-      Strategically impactful decisions for a business involve the deliberate and intentional use of empathy as a leadership skill and lever - empathetic confrontation is linked to collective vision and organisational transformation.

-      The most impactful transformations come from a place of safety and understanding the context so that transformation is not combative but involves all parties to solve a common problem.

-      Create unity, not homogeneity by creating a level of trust - intense conversations in a trusted and safe environment can be very productive and senior leaders can create the conditions for empathetic discussion by saying transparently what is going on, inviting people to talk to them and creating psychological safety.

-      Empathy is not always the solution but personal agency can be leveraged using effective communication, for example, by meeting with people for a disclosed reason; not letting emotional states come into play; monitoring reactions; looking for underlying issues and finding constructive solutions.

-      Post-Covid, there is more openness to empathy generally but still many generational differences in terms of what makes a workplace successful, although it is clear that people-first policies affect the bottom line.

-      Talent managers have an opportunity to inform leaders of the impact of empathy using bare metrics (e.g. the cost of firing/hiring v. retraining) or demonstrating the proven ROI of empathy.

-      Leaders must hold themselves and others accountable and practice empathy until they are conversant in it – if they lend their voice to the conversation, people are more disposed to talking.

-      Transformation instigates fear, which thrives in quiet and darkness, so it is important to talk to those who will be impacted, be transparent about the process and honest about the issues.

-      Small changes within an organisation can transform an individual’s experience and future leaders should want to make the workplace the best possible place it can be.

Find out more about Neal here :

https://www.amazon.com/Suite-Empathetic-Leadership-Generation-Executives/dp/1626349940

https://theesuite.com/

https://www.instagram.com/theanxiousceo1/

https://medium.com/@neal.frick/

A great conversation with Paru about being authentic, and defining our own meaning of success. Learning to trust one’s intuition is a skill that many overlook, and we discuss the very essence of authentic leadership, the art of self reflection and how to empower others as you stand boldly in who you are.

Paru shares the trials and triumphs of tuning into that inner voice. It’s about looking back to move forward, reflecting on past experiences to navigate & create the future. This isn’t just about what works in business—it’s about what makes us human in our careers.

Are you ready to lead with authenticity? Are you prepared to break the mould and champion honesty in your professional life? 

Paru generously shares her stories, her life experiences, her insights and her wisdom from working with C suite leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-      Mission: seeing across multiple functions and profiles and speaking authentic truth in the corporate world - leaders must remain authentic and truth is important for stability.

-      There can be kindness in telling the truth, thereby providing a place from which to move forward; many of us have a tendency to bury our heads in the sand instead.

-      The ability to spot patterns and predict next moves led to an advisory role, offering help to avoid falling back into old patterns in order to overcome fear and learn how to manage hypervigilance.

-      (Self-)reflection helps to prevent repetition of mistakes and sharing vulnerabilities builds trust - in short, being authentic saves time!

-      Just as we must encourage introspection and think about who we are, the same also applies for clients - exercises can be for both professional and personal purposes, but the universal truth is that there are no shortcuts.

-      Putting in the work brings epiphanies and results, which we can use as a mirror to reflect back, embracing tough lessons to grow and learn.

-      Moving from hypervigilance to trusting (one’s own) intuition is where genius happens; we must relinquish that which we hold on to and hold up the mirror to ourselves instead of other people.

-      Collating the data we derive from this will show us what happens when we follow our intuition and are ourselves – in the formula of ‘if you do x, I feel y, so I do z’, we can make choices.

-      Legacy means the impact we have on the world by sharing personal lessons learned, learning to trust our judgement in others, and offering stories for people to take ingredients from to maybe apply to their own lives.

-      How do we know when we have reached 100% (of ourselves)? It is a gradual process, and each challenge helps us dig deeper and find that bit more – we can’t really ever know if we are at 100%, as it is a constant journey.

-      It is helpful to be direct with others, to give instructions and information and be who we are - we cannot rely on others to do things for us and need our own backup plan.

-      We must find our authentic version of ourself by spending time alone, regularly checking in with who we are today; as we evolve, we are impacted by extraneous factors but once we find it, we must hang on to it!

Find out more about Paru and her upcoming book here :

https://www.paruradia.com/paru

In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, resilience has become a buzzword, but how do we move beyond buzzwords to action? 

Julian and I do a deep dive into the heart of organisational resilience, unpacking strategies that can help your teams to do more than just survive, we focus on building resilience through fostering well-being, growth, learning, and vulnerability. We discuss the transformative effect of creating a workplace where challenges are shared openly, and optimism is balanced with a healthy dose of realism.

We also touch on the critical role vulnerability plays in team dynamics and how it ties back to character and attitude. We discuss the essence of authentic leadership and the importance of role modelling in catalysing and strengthening collective resilience. 

How can we create these conditions in a hybrid workplace ? 

How can we intentionally cultivate workplaces where people and teams can thrive ? 

Julian shares his research, experience, stories and insights from his ongoing work with leaders and teams.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Thriving is the flipside of surviving – like a plant that thrives with the right food, soil, environment, water and sunlight, in an organisation this means people feel they can learn, grow, excel and make mistakes.
• It is an ambitious concept for organisations as constant high performance is unrealistic and can lead to a culture of toxic resilience, i.e. constant optimism, overachievement and ultimately burnout.
• The middle ground between thriving and surviving means being open about challenges; being real (with people); being optimistic, i.e. rooted in the now but with an eye on the future; and being realistic.
• Organisations should provide check-in times for teams and a comfortable environment in which to share – resilience must be operationalised and it can be developed and grown like a muscle (through discipline and practice).
• Given the diverse profiles in a team, it is important to scale the mindset and create collective resilience - having a mission lifts the team, gives energy from positive purpose, and offers a path forward with innovative solutions.
• There are processes to ‘reduce, regulate and repair’: scenario planning, iceberg drills, collaboration, mitigation ideas, debriefing through difficulties and successes, reflecting on lessons learned.
• Clear roles and responsibilities are required for collective understanding, as are discipline (i.e. a commitment with structure yet flexibility), consistency and messaging – the processes must serve the people, not the other way round.
• Authentic leadership improves team resilience through self-awareness, balanced processing, internal moral perspective, and openness and transparency – very important for interaction.
• Psychological safety is paramount and the responsibility of the leader, with self-awareness the most significant of all as it has the biggest impact on creating a resilient team.
• Hope and optimism are very good things to have in organisational constructs – leaders with hope retain staff, raise profits and have thriving teams with optimistic intentions for the future of both the organisation and the people.
• Role modelling is the most powerful way to influence people and cultures in terms of bringing in pessimists as it offers inspiration but not toxic positivity and grounds people in reality.
• Leaders must create conditions for people to thrive in a hybrid environment through connection and communication, e.g. virtual townhall meetings, in-person get-togethers (with social elements, not always work-based), and open-door policies (also via Zoom).

Find out more about Julian and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julesroberts/

https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com/

Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/company/helping-organisations-thrive-podcast/

Dave and I discuss the art of possibility and how we can change our thoughts and perceptions to allow ourselves to enter the gateways of what's possible.

Ever wondered why visualising things is so powerful ? Ever challenged your beliefs about whether you can draw or not ? We discuss all this and more as Dave leads us through his philosophy of art and how it can contribute to helping us navigate this complex world we live and work in.

We delve into RFID codes, generative AI, and their potentially transformative effects on education and employment, as well as how we can step out of our patterns to think differently - to shake up our habitual routines, embrace change, and take proactive steps toward growth and innovation. After all, the jobs of tomorrow may not even exist today, so staying ahead means staying adaptable, open minded and curious.

So whether you’re a seasoned artist or someone who’s never thought of picking up a pencil for fun, consider this your personal invitation to explore the visual language within you and step away from autopilot and connect to the present moment. Who knows? It might just change the way you see the world—and the way the world sees you !

Dave shares his insights, teachings, experience and visuals from writing and working with artists, leaders and organisations across the globe .

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Humans are mostly on autopilot, which serves us when things are going well, but distracts us from the present moment and possibilities can only be seen in the present moment.

-       Digital overloads and distracts us but ‘possibilitarians’ are acutely tuned in to the present moment and the opportunities that might arise; we cannot know what will happen and it is our limiting beliefs that hold us back.

-       The School of the Possible is about a less structured approach, fostering and teaching creativity, i.e. imagining something and making it a reality. This cannot be taught in the conventional way in that there is no end goal per se, just a question and a direction.

-       Such a school of exploration engenders a community of people focused on what is possible in their worlds and supporting each other as entrepreneurs - an exciting, scary and uncomfortable reality that holds the promise of adventure and learning.

-       Organisations too must take risks to avoid becoming obsolete, as many people are now looking at alternatives to working in organisations - we must all find a way to make a living but nowadays we can create our own customers on our own terms.

-       An unusual approach to teaching creativity in the form of visual(isation) aspects, e.g. using game-storming, as a way to bring people together, help them align on a problem, and draw a complex issue to make it clearer.

-       This low-equipment approach is transformative, facilitating a real connection between body and mind – this allows a group to build something, change their interactions and actually see what is in other people’s heads.

-       The resulting visible, shareable work results in innovation, makes abstract things more tangible and takes the information landscape from fuzzy to focused - images are a universal language and explore things for which there are no words (yet).

-       Drawing is a conversation between what’s in your head and what’s on the piece of paper so it can be surprising – as a process it is intuitive as opposed to cognitive as our brains are pattern-finding machines.

-       Visual thinking uses our very flexible mind and shows us that we are more creative than we think (cf. self-limiting beliefs). Drawings can also use words and symbols, arrows, etc. and help us see that we understand anything new in terms of what we already know.

-       Generative AI will be very disruptive and super empowering for individuals but life-threating for companies when people realise they can do it on their own

- ‘old’ jobs are not missed and lost jobs will be replaced by new jobs that we can’t train for yet.

-       The School of the Possible a school of thought and philosophy, to find the people you want to spend time with - recent research suggests that people want to invest in connections with other people and build shared energy towards purposeful projects.

-       To become possibilitarians and make changes, we must turn off our autopilot. If we step out of the routine, we will throw off everyone else too but small moves can have big impact so we must go off script and see what happens!

Find out more about Dave and the school of the possible here :

https://schoolofthepossible.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegray/

Mollie and I discuss emotional inclusion, what it means and how it can help to humanise the workplace. How do we operationlise the 'doing' and bust the more traditional but very present leadership myths held in workplaces about vulnerability, emotions and 'strong leadership' ?

We explore the lagging advancement in tackling emotional wellness at work and the negative impacts this can have. The urgency for organisations to sincerely incorporate emotional inclusion by offering mental health support and educational workshops has never been more present.

At organisational level, leaders must be the voices of change to overcome the dichotomy of split selves, i.e. home self and work self, and lead authentic campaigns to demonstrate the benefits of a more inclusive ecosystem.

Mollie stresses the importance of a comprehensive approach to organisational emotional well-being and the benefits of understanding employees’ emotions as well as educating leaders and employees alike.

How can senior leaders contribute to this role-modelling of countering existing leadership myths and bringing in new ways of thinking and talking about emotions at work?

How can we move from reflection to action on this topic and ensure sustainable and welcome change in this area ?

Mollie shares her research, experience and insights from working on Emotional inclusion and from working with leaders around the globe.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-       Emotional intelligence is about knowing how to navigate our own and others’ emotions, emotional inclusion is about providing a roadmap of how to put emotions/emotional intelligence into action (also at work).

-       Company DE&I platforms rarely speak about the inclusion that is closest to humanity, i.e. ourselves. Emotions have a bad reputation, despite giving us purpose, creativity, and a sense of belonging, and are the gateway to spearheading productivity as a whole.

-       There is still an intention/action gap around emotions: we wear masks and vulnerability is seen as a weakness – there is fear and stigma around speaking up given the risk of perceived unprofessionalism.

-       At organisational level, leaders must be the voices of change to overcome the dichotomy of split selves, i.e. home self and work self, and lead authentic campaigns to demonstrate the benefits of a more inclusive ecosystem.

-       HR must ensure that there are mental health policies in insurance schemes for employees, over and above basic medical care, as the wellbeing of employees directly affects a company’s bottom line.

-       There is a big divide in leadership regarding mental health: leaders who talk about it but do little, and leaders who want to redefine what mental health within their organisation looks like and make changes, but it is still not enough.

-       Organisations need to create sustainable mental health pillars, but they are difficult to implement; corporate leadership vulnerability must role model behaviour for psychological safety, leading to increased receptiveness, empathy, openness, and authentic ‘team-ness’.

-       We must make inclusion systemic by educating around how inclusive and safe ecosystems boost productivity, and by truly acknowledging each other’s humanness – there has been little progress in emotional wellness since the industrial revolution!

-       Covid was a game-changer in that people refuse to fit into an antiquated workplace model; employees want to see a difference, beyond onboarding bonuses, and are ultimately the barometer of whether emotional inclusion exists in an organisation.

-       We all have a duty to play our part in bringing about change with self-leadership for grass roots action to help people navigate hard times, not questioning what it means to be human at work, reshaping the future workplace and moving forward.

-       Being human keeps us relevant in a tech world - we must embrace the mess and not fall into the trap of false assumptions; we know nothing about anyone unless we ask questions and receive honest answers.

Find out more about Mollie and emotional inclusion here :

https://www.emotionalinclusion.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollie-rogers-jean-de-dieu-285994b/?originalSubdomain=sg

https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Inclusion-Humanizing-Revolution-Work-ebook

Asha and I discuss the current meta-crisis, and the great uncertainty this holds : How can we influence the complex world we live in? What can we see from where we are? What levers do we have for action ?

Life is no longer stable, and organisations are still seeking to be ‘robust’, i.e. stable in an unstable world, so different approaches are required to influence any of this - so what can we do ?

We also unwrap complexity science, systems thinking and how complex adaptive systems (e.g. social groups, the stock market, generative AI) learn at the edge of chaos and discuss how we can have a stable economic system that can sustain, produce, and distribute what we need.

Asha shares her thought leadership as well as her operational experience in what this means for organisations and leaders, from her work with leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       How can we influence the complex world we live in? What can we see from where we are? The current meta-crisis involves two large, intertwined risks: exponential tech (AI, biotech) and our industrial economy and its impact on the biosphere (climate change).

-       Both are causing great uncertainty and mean that life is no longer stable, and organisations are seeking to be ‘robust’, i.e. stable in an unstable world, a technocracy. Different approaches are required to influence any of this.

-       The (various models of) complexity give rise to systems thinking and complexity thinking:

•      Systems thinking looks for patterns and is non-linear - a system is made up of different components with a shared purpose whereby the collective effect is different from the individual effect.

•      Complexity thinking looks at the unexpected, unpredictable and random results (produced by complex systems), which are by definition emergent, not controllable and potentially undesirable.

-       Complexity science looks at how complex adaptive systems (e.g. social groups, the stock market, generative AI) learn at the edge of chaos and asks how we can have a stable economic system that can sustain, produce, and distribute what we need.

-       The concept of a regenerative economy is very interesting, but is it viable and suitable for complex adaptive systems? Our current system is enabling us to flourish at the edge of chaos.

-       We need to consider alternatives to globalisation and our current financial system - complexity economics offers answers (circular economy, an ‘adjacent possible’, doughnut economics) but we are not ready to embrace them.

-       Geopolitical will is required for change; we are experimenting on a small scale (particularly post-pandemic) but it is still a new, fragmented field; regenerative economics must evolve to be accessible for ordinary people.

-       Everyone has personal agency and organisations have a role to play, but how do we navigate the landscape and put in place methods to do so? We must define the purpose and how to measure it, whereby quantifying it easier than qualifying it.

-       Value is always contextual and depends on what is needed. There must be the requisite meaning and culture within an organisation for it to make a contribution to something more regenerative. Covid made us do things we thought we wouldn’t due to constraints, which can be likened to a river flowing faster when it’s narrow.

-       Individual leaders must determine what is helpful in their context, such as collective sense-making with others; reconnecting with what is important; renewing personal power to find and speak with an authentic voice; improving impact; and coming together to act.

-       We need intentionality, an ecology of (developmental) practice, renewal, and a means of taking one step at a time to reach the summit and experience that great feeling together.    

Find out more about Asha and her work here :

https://www.learningthroughdoing.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/regnerativeleadership/

Poornima and I had a rich and fun exchange on building powerful communities to create more inclusive environments

In a world that is increasingly diverse, the concepts of inclusion, powerful coalitions, and allyship are more relevant than ever before. Poormina isn’t just advocating for these principles; she’s calling for a revolution of active allyship. Given the move towards more networked and interconnected organisations - the need for communities of people collaborating for the greater good has never been more present.

Poornima and I delve into the world of allyship through honest introspection and deep curiosity. We discuss the need to confront our biases and privileges - that often lurk unseen, and subtly undermine the very fabric of the systems we live and work in. Just like termites that silently damage a structure from within, these biases can erode the foundation of a healthy workplace. Dr. Luthra invites us to approach such discussions with curiosity rather than defensiveness. It’s not about pointing fingers but about recognizing that we all have blind spots that require attention and that we have both personal and collective agency to create these conditions differently.

Poornima shares her stories, research and insights from her work with leaders across the globe as we look more closely at how we can make inclusion a reality for organisations and communities alike.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Allyship is about taking personal action within communities and networks – a lifelong process of building supporting relationships with people from underrepresented groups and with different intersectional identities.

-       The opposite of active allyship is denial, e.g. the increasing proportion of people worldwide who are anti-inclusion; the majority of people are passive allies of DE&I, i.e. they believe in it but don’t know what to say or do to further the cause.

-       The important shift is from passive to active; being a bystander is not an option given that there is much to address. Not speaking up is the same as doing nothing; choosing not to act makes us complicit in allowing discrimination to continue and we all have biases thanks to our brain!

-       Seven behaviours characterise an active ally:

•      deep curiosity (about our own intersectional identity)

•      honest introspection (taking a deep dive into our biases)

•      humble acknowledgement (understanding privilege and using it to lift others)

•      empathetic engagement (confronting “termite” biases and microaggressions and their profound negative impact)

•      authentic conversations (that are deeper, open and more nuanced – this requires psychological safety)

•      vulnerable interactions (storytelling, making a difference)

•      courageous responsibilities (accepting that we have to do more)

-       Gaslighting is very widespread and can be defined as behaviour over time that belittles, discounts and/or invalidates people’s experiences. It is a strong term that requires careful use.

-       Micro-gaslighting can be a one-off but you feel it - an active ally will create a safe space to talk about such experiences.

-       The allyship comfort zone is about moving away/on from the eggshell zone; it can be likened to a muscle that must be trained/strengthened by starting small, building confidence and then expanding to learn.

-       The ‘Amplify, Boost, Connect, Defend’ approach to sponsorship (Rosalind Chow), is aimed specifically at supporting marginalised groups and aims to act as an anti-discrimination voice; we must ask questions without aggression, accusation, etc.

-       Rather than ‘fixing the minority groups’, we must fix the system. Systemic bias exists but it is created and upheld by individuals so the change must start with one person and from there it can be escalated and acted upon.

-       Leadership as the capacity of human communities to shape their future means that we must learn from our mistakes and challenge the status quo, moving from unconscious to conscious behaviour and choosing the hard path of courage over comfort.

-       Education makes the difference and is pivotal in shifting mindsets towards inclusion – it gives us the power to transform society. The world is often about perfection but we are all works in progress.

 Find out more about Poornima and her work here ;

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-poornima-luthra-she-her-b09128100/?originalSubdomain=dk

https://www.talented.dk/

Tanvi and I delve into the different conversations that can enable and enhance a deeper, more effective collaboration at all levels of the organisation. We explore the concept of “Deep collaboration” within teams and organizations, revealing how understanding the roots of conflict can reshape the emotional landscape of the workplace.

What does ‘being a team’ really mean? What creates collaboration? What does collaboration really mean? It is a very specific concept, transcending who we are as individuals, but has been dumbed down and has become a buzz word.

Collaborative burnout and overload are common in matrix structures with multiple stakeholders and realigned business models, as people struggle to collaborate without putting the work in on the courageous conversations and more human aspects to build the inter-relational piece.

We must begin by acknowledging failings and accepting that collaboration is inherently tough. Accepting our hypotheses and experimenting to see what works and starting again by asking curious questions to go deeper.

If you are committed to creating a thriving work environment, listen to discover more about embracing the intricacies of group dynamics and leveraging them for the success and health of your organization.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Collaboration is a major lever for navigating the transition from hierarchy to interdependence for leaders to create flow in both teams and organisational systems.

-       What does ‘being a team’ really mean? What creates collaboration? What does collaboration really mean? It is a very specific concept, transcending who we are as individuals, but has been dumbed down.

-       The basic prerequisite is a collaboration infrastructure comprising tools, resources and talent, alongside meaning, contribution and community - there must be a balance between what are you giving and what are you getting - and conversations.

-       The link between courageous conversations and the level of collaboration can be fast tracked using CART – clarity, accountability, resources, and trust.

-       Divergent views of individuals within a company signals a lack of clarity; a blame culture signals a lack of accountability - flatter hierarchies require more clarity of accountability.

-       Collaborative burnout and overload are common in matrix structures with multiple stakeholders and realigned business models – this requires support and shifting the ‘CART’.

-       Five main conversations:

·      Deep inspiration - a mountain with peaks of inspiration; a purpose-based conversation involving a collection of small moments of purpose that serve the larger purpose, connecting company and team purpose to close the loop.

·      Deep learning - understanding each other’s worlds across silos in this age of polymaths and renaissance individuals - AI can connect the dots across disciplines and people must do this too.

·      Deep friction - facing a waterfall and having the ability to quickly move in the right direction, navigating conflict in team.

·      Deep strategising - the quality of strategy conversations and how they are translated into practice.

·      Deep daring - looking at how we think about uncertainty, risk, resilience, failure, etc.

·      Bonus conversation: deep (self-)introspection - the intentional, non-linear journey

-       Deep constellation principle based on Boris Groysberg’s Chasing Stars, whereby successful people are supported by a network; the right constellation guides us, but we are not the star.

-       Latent tension arises from conflict and a lack of conversations; this gives rise to surface tension and deep tension from different sources of conflict, e.g. status conflict, interpersonal conflict, which require different tools for resolution.

-       Surface-level conflict is expected but can turn into deep-level friction as it becomes interwoven with emotions and identities and very deep rooted.

-       Co-regulation (from the study of human neurobiology and trauma) is very relevant for a human-centred approach in the AI age; our wiring contains muscle memory, feelings, etc. and we can recognise things in each other to de-escalate a situation and reduce the emotional charge (as opposed to co-escalation).

-       Advanced conversations are required and the ‘co-‘ concept is vital in leadership as all conversations form a tapestry, provide insight and understanding and facilitate progress – a synergistic system rather than five distinct conversations.

-       Begin by acknowledging failings and accepting that collaboration is inherently tough; draw a line in the sand and start again by asking questions and reflecting both as individuals and as a team to bring about transformation.

Find out more about Tanvi here :

https://leadersupgraded.com/deep/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvigautam/

Kate and I delve into the future world of tech, exploring trends and different technology and human enabled ways of meeting business objectives in today's world. When it comes to alignment, it is difficult to bring business, human and digital strands together, in particular in terms of big data and AI, and many organisations do not understand the strands well enough yet.

We touch on responsible tech, bigger societal issues and the need to be clear and intentional about purpose and ethics in a world that is becoming more complex by the minute as technology connects us to everything in every way ! We must invest in building trust and repairing division, interacting with people in person, hearing and listening to others. Emerging tech brings with it enormous capacity and scale, but what do we want to scale? How do leaders and organisations answer this question with purpose and optimism, to bridge the digital/human gap intelligently ?

Kate shares her research, insights and experience from her books and from working with leaders all over the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       We have an ancient fear of tech taking over our lives/humanity, but it is really a means to meet business objectives; business leaders must align their objectives with human objectives and outcomes and use the alignment to build tech around them.

-       When it comes to alignment, it is difficult to bring business, human and digital strands together, in particular in terms of big data and AI, and many organisations do not understand the strands well enough, e.g. C-suite human dynamics.

-       Many leaders do not know how to act appropriately in the face of AI – when any deployment could be out of date within months – but it is far less about tech and far more about aligning the organisation, which will outlast any tech deployment.

-       Transformation is not led by tech but by strategy based around alignment; it is about serving people well during transformation by having a strategy that begins with organisational purpose – this is a useful north star for organisations and ultimately a very human concept.

-       What we do in business is driven by what we want to accomplish and what matters; innovation is what is going to matter and shows us what we need to do to get to a future we want – experimenting with new tech is good, but it should not lead anything.

-       Tech for good and responsible tech are on the rise and have seen many different efforts, e.g. hackathons to create tools and systems to serve people, civic tech to help people; tech ethics looks at how businesses deploy tech in support of their products/services in a responsible way to avoid unintended consequences and harm to downstream communities.

-       It is vital not to abandon ethical concerns as AI is on the rise and to align business objectives with responsible action. The UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG) can be used as a roadmap for a better, brighter future and to improve life for everyone on the planet.

-       Responsible tech needs to become as important as DE&I but it is currently often just a talking point rather than an action plan, but it is at least the start of discourse. It is a challenging time for making big decisions in a changing technology landscape and we must consider the future for bankable foresights.

-       Within organisations, there must be individual personal agency, speaking truth to power with compassion, and mirroring inwards what’s being mirrored outwards - a ‘future so bright’ involves addressing the biggest challenges ahead, such as climate resilience, and adapting tech-centric projects for how we live today.

-       The biggest influence of tech on jobs and the future of work will be in relation to employee/ employer contracts and the future of jobs - career paths and the future of education – as well as the future of money and value (e.g. data ownership, new economies, basic income).

-       Strategic optimism takes an intellectually rigorous approach to building a brighter future by embracing uncomfortable truths, being positive and having a positive impact – the biggest transformative opportunity ahead is alignment with the UN’s SDGs.

-       We must invest in building trust and repairing division, interacting with people in person, hearing and listening to others (to prevent ‘the filter bubble’ effect as described by Eli Pariser) - leaders must be able to receive and accept ideas and provide psychological safety.

-       Emerging tech brings with it enormous capacity and scale, but what do we want to scale? Profound discussions are required to answer this question and the clearer organisations are about it, the more likely responsible decision-making becomes.  

Find out more about Kate and her work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateoneill/

https://www.koinsights.com/    

Marie-Hélène and I discuss the much debated topic of resilience in today's organisations, and what this means for how we lead - our teams, ourselves and our organisations. Resilience is something of a buzzword in today’s hustle culture and context is key to understanding it. We discuss the existing binary definitions of 'rubber band' resilience, and how we can shift to a more creative, deliberate and developmental form of resilience. However, this doesn't come without discipline, forethought and strategic planning.

Marie Hélène leads us through her experience and research to help us reframe the concept of resilience, moving away from thinking it’s part of who we are.

How can we develop this mental and emotional agility ? how can we prepare ourselves and other team leaders to shift their mindset from individual resilience to collective resilience and engage their teams to proactively prepare for adversity on the horizon ?

Marie Hélène shares her research, mastery and experience from working with leaders around the globe to develop realistic, effective and strategic resilience plans.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Resilience is something of a buzzword in today’s hustle culture and context is key to understanding it. A consistent definition of resilience is the ability to go through adversity, learn from it and come out even stronger.

-       It is not a personality trait and therefore we can influence and control it; if we do this, everything gets better – health, happiness, engagement, satisfaction, etc. – and it is an opportunity if presented to people in a way that makes sense.

-       The idea is to help us reframe the concept of resilience, moving away from thinking it’s part of who we are; our inaction is often due to having to tick off a ‘checklist’ - we all have to do different things at different times.

-       The quadrant of internal and external context (systems): in business, there is a lot of work on context and preparation (e.g. SWAT analysis) prior to a launch, and the same applies to building resilience – it begins the process of making changes, moving to acceptance to take advantage of where we have leverage and claiming personal agency to take action.

-       Supply and demand exercise for resilience involves making two lists - demands in life and sources of supply – to provide honest visibility on your situation: Is it aligned with your values? Does it indicate where change is possible/desirable? Does it reveal blind spots?

-       As we progress in our careers and lives, natural context becomes less supportive and eventually no amount of supply can match the level of demands – this is embodied by the glorification of hustle culture, to which teams also succumb.

-       There are two things that allow teams to be more resilient – clarity on goal and psychological safety. Our mindset must shift from individual resilience to collective resilience and team leaders must engage their teams to proactively prepare for adversity on the horizon.

-       Team resilience is only partially the responsibility of the team leader - we are all able to influence the team and therefore positively influence the resilience of the team to improve performance.

-       Team language is important too, though, to ask how we learn from (our response to) a mistake and how we grow from it. Small actions make a big difference and every little helps!

-       Despite the WHO having defined burnout so that we know where we stand, mental health is still taboo in the workplace – it is uncomfortable, and different organisations are at different places. It is important to pay attention to signs upstream – before things get too bad – and mention/share them.   

-       A resilience plan is like any other strategic plan and involves prework of ascertaining values, context and situation, and identifying strategic pillars such as overall directions to reach the goal, along with tactics/actions.

-       This can involve bringing the professional and personal together to be impactful and shifting our perspective and preconceived ideas: inspirational, tangible, visible results move people forward and allow them to evolve; we must remain curious and be open to opportunities that are realistically there to take.

Find out more about Marie-Hélène and her work here :

http://drmarie-helene.com/book/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmhpelletier/?originalSubdomain=ca

Such a fitting thought for the rich & fun discussion Amy and I had on failing intelligently and learning to thrive. Humans aren’t an exact science, and neither is failing - so how we can change the way we think, act and interact about failure - in organisations, in society and in our personal lives ?  We are all fallible human beings, with assumptions biases and emotions, so how can we reframe our mental models to harness this?

In the world of innovation, the spoken mantra is "Fail fast" (and all the variations on this theme) yet everything is geared towards not failing. Leaders still default to ‘failure is not an option’ so then how can we normalise learning from failure ? What are the dangers of failing poorly, not speaking up and what implications will this have for organisations in a future where change is the only constant?

We explore the different types of failure, how to be smarter in the way you fail, and the way you can set yourself and your organisation up to create a healthy culture of failure - essential in a fast moving world. Fearless organisations can learn from how systems fail and articulate this as a goal; using creative resilience, emotional regulation and choosing learning over knowing to strive for excellence and thriving

Amy generously shares her stories, research, insights and wisdom on this critical topic.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are : 

-       The Right Kind of Wrong looks at learning from failure, essential in a fast-moving world. Most failures are not caused by mistakes, but by the undesired results of experiments in new territory – mistakes only occur when prior knowledge exists.

-       Failures are divided into three categories:

·      Intelligent failures of the kind scientists make as a result of thoughtful forays in pursuit of a goal

·      Basic failures with a single cause, usually a mistake

·      Complex failures, which are multicausal and due to multiple unfortunate factors (a single factor would have been fine)

-       Failures are stepping stones to success and present a greater opportunity, and it is this reframing, alongside context, that are key. The reframing aspect starts with us overcoming our own confirmation biases.

-       Context comprises different dimensions, such as the degree of uncertainty and the stakes. Under duress, individuals make mistakes, but teams rectify/compensate for mistakes and therefore perform well overall.

-       Do better teams make fewer mistakes? Data shows that better teams had higher error rates but were more open to reporting them as a result of a good interpersonal climate (= psychological safety).

-       It is possible to fail fast if the context is right – working fast to fail fast is cost-efficient and a fail fast mindset is good for reasonably low stakes and high uncertainty scenarios (e.g. entrepreneurs, inventors).

-       The senior level of organisations tends to be based around fear with no context-appropriate language - leaders still default to ‘failure is not an option’ and ‘only perfection is welcome’, which ensure the absence of a speak-up culture and do not foster good performance.

-       In turbulent times, innovation is more necessary than ever, and the messaging must therefore be about striving for excellence, being ambitious, and understanding chaos.

-       Excellence in an uncertain world means recognising the default mental model of perfection; it means preventing as many basic failures as possible, mitigating complex failures and embracing intelligent failures – with pivoting as an alternative to celebrating failure.

-       Generative AI will have enormous effects on the systems in which we operate – handling this requires humility, curiosity, thoughtfulness, mindfulness, and a smart failure strategy on the right scale.

-       We need robust early warning systems for a healthy culture of learning: most complex failures come with subtle warnings, but they are often overlooked. The Toyota production system (cf. Andon cord) is designed for learning and invites input for possible mistakes at an early stage.

-       Fearless organisations learn from how systems fail and articulate this as a goal encompassing continuous improvement for excellence; the requisite structures for individual learning; emotional regulation; and choosing learning over knowing.

-       We must talk about and learn from disappointments and missteps at work, as well as make it safe to do so – the playing field for failure is not a level one in terms of diversity.

-       Creative resilience is about failing well - nurturing capacity for resilience through better self-talk, e.g. disappointing as opposed to catastrophic, being open about failure and helping others embrace it.

-       Leaders use intelligent failure to build a healthy culture by being willing to own (up to) their own failures and act as role models – by going back to basics as a fallible human being.

Find out more about Amy here :

https://amycedmondson.com/

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451 

Tom and I discuss the human guided digital Customer journey and how this is evolving as technology evolves. Customers have endless choices when it comes to digital CX today: chatbots, knowledge bases, data bases, google searches etc and as technology moves on so quickly, we are left with this ever growing challenge of constantly bridging Digital and Human in a hybrid world.

What different milestones need to be put in place to bridge the gap between digital and human ? Where do organisations need to pivot and rethink the way they craft their customer journeys ?

Both upskilling in terms of strategy as well as the operational implications of a digital CX depend on the business model and the existing customer journey – people must be engaged at the design level so as to intentionally drive a conversation and overcome the silo mentality.

Tom shares his experience, vision and insights with us from working with business across the globe on their CX digital strategies.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Successful organisations must constantly integrate the physical and digital aspects of their business, e.g. by building instruments for customer journeys that were hitherto non-existent, such as combining a website with a physical store and expert guidance in human form.

-       The post-pandemic hybrid model comprises one team in two parts by bringing virtual and physical together - a digital CX must find ways to fill the gap left by digital, i.e. the human input. Leaders must realise that despite leaning into digital, people also want to speak to a human who can offer help/advice when it comes to decisions/complexities.

-       Frustration comes from not being able to speak to a human (in CX, for instance) and have in-the-moment human guidance; optimized workflows enable an initial digital footprint to be followed by human experts to improve conversion rates.

-       There are emotions attached to decisions, and human connection, even on video, deescalates a stressful process - technology can help us recognise points at which we should blend the channels.

-       The gap between digital and human is often filled with fear, and leaders should seek to focus on the human aspects for customer service roles, i.e. the ability to both deliver empathy and problem-solve - customers are taken down an efficient digital path that improves outcomes through human hand-holding.

-       There are three different approaches: DIY, do it for you, and do it with you - the latter bridges the gap, is scalable, improves loyalty/business and adds value; emerging technology will allow companies to dynamically create space for individualisation and personalisation.

-       Generative AI will be disruptive to jobs but help access lower-hanging fruit; it will bring the agent much further forward in the CX journey and facilitate a human-guided digital CX, ultimately enabling humans to do higher-value jobs.

-       The fear around AI comes from the perceived possibility of it running amok - it is vital therefore that it is kept in check and used only when and where appropriate in order to help shift between modalities and elevate the conversation.

-       Both upskilling in terms of strategy as well as the operational implications of a digital CX depend on the business model and the existing customer journey – people must be engaged at the design level so as to drive a conversation and overcome the silo mentality.

-       Cloud natives and tools use best-of-breed to give rise to a new journey; businesses won’t replace legacy systems but rather extend them to create an orchestration layer to bring different elements to life.

-       The human role in transformation is to reduce the level of friction and help customers through the CX journey by showing, helping and guiding each other – the key is to identify where a human can help customers the most, maximise investment in human capital and open up new opportunities.

Find out more about Tom and his work here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thosmartin/

https://www.glance.cx/

A great conversation with Garik about AI strategy and what it means for businesses - how they can leverage AI for business outcomes and the value it can bring to people in the business. We delve into myths on what it can and cannot do, and how leaders can think about what AI means for them and their organisations.

AI is based on explicit language to build up intelligence but is only as good as the data it is given; it acts like a type of mirror, giving impressions and reflections of the data fed into it. As with anything new, people fear the cutting edge but there will be lots of new opportunities and jobs in an AI world, and stepping over fear and doing it anyway is the path to creativity.

Leaders should talk to people throughout the organisation to canvas opinion and start with ‘non-exotic’ use of AI to simply improve the lives of employees. A culture of adoption for AI can be scaled by channelling or eliminating fear to enhance the human mind because we must be at our best/most creative to deal with AI technology.

Garik shares his insights, thought leadership and experience on the subject of AI and the human dimension of technology.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       ‘Programming is teaching the dumbest thing in the world how to be smart’ (Gabe Newell). AI is based on explicit language to build up intelligence but is only as good as the data it is given; it acts like a type of mirror, giving impressions and reflections of the data fed into it.

-       Data is the starting point, but AI strategies involve scientific, engineering, regulatory, and business breakthroughs / cycles - democratising intelligence offers massive opportunities for entrepreneurs to take advantage of technology.

-       Well-built systems with added AI will offer huge increases in productivity and there is a trend towards mass personalisation/customisation – lots of new tools are being rolled out with seismic effect.

-       At present, AI is like a newly qualified, well-educated, hard-working personal assistant; a brainstorming partner and creative asset that only works with very clear inputs and outputs and does not fare well with lack of context.

-       The better questions we ask, the better answers we will get, and great expertise is required to ask great questions – it is not about indiscriminate learning.

-       Humans should move from fear to curiosity about AI in a business setting and relinquish control in certain areas – this requires intention and discipline about what we input.

-       Open source is very cheap as a means to test the best output - there is an understandable fear of sharing information, but the open AI API does not use your data as training data; it does not record data and can be viewed more as an AI playground for personal use.

-       Practical AI is embedded in business by building a culture of adoption, generating excitement and creating a story – not to replace humans but to enhance them. Custom instructions and internal databases can be created to meet company-specific requirements – they can be tested first and then used without requiring human input.

-       Up-/side-skilling in terms of an adoption culture must be on a case-by-case basis – it is difficult to add AI to blue collar work (cf. Moravec’s paradox). And reality is infinitely complex and therefore the human brain takes shortcuts - abstract thoughts only work in a vacuum, not in the real world.

-       A culture of adoption for AI can be scaled by channelling or eliminating fear to enhance the human mind because we must be at our best/most creative to deal with AI technology - this also compares to other types of transformation that require leading by example, explaining the vision and rewarding progress.

-       The culture of AI can be scaled by people understanding the environment or what’s not being said and using their life experience to articulate using their voice and eyes. Engage people by recruiting champions who want to step up; introduce AI as a ‘research project’; facilitate empowered, decentralised decision-making.

-       People fear the cutting edge but there will be lots of new opportunities and jobs in an AI world, and stepping over fear and doing it anyway is the path to creativity. Leaders should talk to people throughout the organisation to canvas opinion and start with ‘non-exotic’ use of AI to simply improve the lives of workers.

Find out more about Garik and his work here :

https://gariktate.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/garik-tate/?originalSubdomain=ph

https://www.valhalla.team/

A fun conversation with Jim and David about how to create and lead healthy ecosystems .

What does this mean ? How do you create a system where people and business can flourish ? How can we make sure that we retain our competitive advantage, or should it be collaborative advantage ?

Healthy ecosystems must combine strategy and leadership in an emergent approach to prioritise and maximise resources in order to flourish – we can only solve critical issues in the world and make progress by collaborating.

Is collaborative advantage a better lever for what keeps systems healthy and competitive in today's world and how do we navigate this landscape in terms of strategy and leadership ? We discuss how the measurement of value could be seen through a different lens and what it takes for companies to develop interdependent leadership to allow for a more fluid model of business operations and partner relationships where people and business can flourish.

Jim and David generously share their insights, research and experience on this critical topic for businesses and leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Healthy ecosystems must combine strategy and leadership in an ‘anti-business school approach’ to prioritise and maximise resources in order to flourish – we can only solve critical issues in the world and make progress by collaborating.

-       To create and lead a strategy for sound ecosystems requires a mindset shift from competitive advantage to collaborative advantage – we must find the right partners who contribute in the right way so that we can create something sustainable together.

-       We must think more expansively - organisations must recognise that we are better off if we interact; we have to ask questions and talk to people if we are to be viable, resilient and sustainable.

-       Reimagining the entire value chain means asking: what does success look like for everybody? What does everyone contribute? How is it managed and led? Interdependence is major: not a hub-and-spoke model but concentric circles with a shift to interdependent leadership.

-       TVG (total value generated) asks who the key stakeholders are and how they define value, and measures experience and output objectively; it is about relationships and the value they generate; it identifies ecosystem partners and focuses on their health.

-       Research reveals three crucial factors for successful relationships: reciprocity (best interests at heart on both sides), trust (built slowly over time), and frequency (how often do we interact and is it often enough) - we must change the narrative to measure critical factors for the system as a whole.

-       Flourishing is about holistic human wellbeing (physical, mental, social, spiritual, etc.) and is influenced globally by organisational strategy and public health, which should consider all dimensions to create inclusive systems for healthy ecosystems.

-       Competitive advantage in a healthy ecosystem is measured by looking at every player in the value chain with a unique value proposition that is enhanced by the other players, e.g. sustainability, triple bottom line, both profitable and prosperous.

-       Continued viability: involves the competitive intensity of the local supply chain and the collaborative intensity of capacity; depends on healthy collaborators (in the supply chain); and builds a collaborative infrastructure that leads to increased stability and cost efficiency.

-       In the ‘viability to survivability framework’, collaboration is key to providing different revenue sources and strong relationships as opportunities for growth and innovation – there must be sufficient net resources in the bucket to cover the next outflow.

-       Stability means having adequate dedicated resources; resilience means having multiple ways to achieve inflow/outflow, an expansive business model and flexibility in relationships to bring in the human systems across ecosystems.

-       Scaling relationship maturity means intentionally creating interdependent skillsets; conducting a gradual process to transform relationships by spanning boundaries and leading across them; building respect and trust, creating commonality, disrupting and transforming.

-       Jim and David’s article - Leading Towards A Healthy Ecosystem – looks at how strategies must be implementable and people must be ready; a winning leadership strategy must foster a conscious collaborative culture to guide people through the change process.

-       Know where you’re starting from, what you’re trying to do and what the change will require of people; look for pockets within the organisation that are advanced/behind as it is not a homogeneous process; have small focus groups for diagnostics and enquiry; and bring creativity on the fringe into the core.

Link to article in DLQ : https://developingleadersquarterly.com/leading-towards-a-healthy-ecosystem/

Find out more about Jim and David here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-ritchie-dunham-32837/

Institute for Strategic Clarity https://isclarity.org/, The Human Flourishing Program https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/ and https://centerforworkhealth.sph.harvard.edu/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinwoodiedavid/?originalSubdomain=es

Barcelona Business School https://www.eada.edu/en/faculty-and-research/departments/strategy-leadership-and-people/david-dinwoodie,

Centre for Creative Leadership https://www.ccl.org/cco.org

Rick and I have a fun conversation that takes us through English castles, into manufacturing and lean methodologies and circling back through our inner game as leaders in a Business as UnUsual world.

What do we need to navigate this complex world and motivate our people ? What tools and approaches work for you as a leader ? how do you ensure that you remain an agent of change in creating your future ?

Rick shares his insight and experience as well as the main concepts in his new book on leadership, culture and business in the post COVID world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       UnUsual is to be understood as the ‘new normal’ post-pandemic and stems from the author’s belief that everyone has the potential to be an architect of change, a catalyst in an ever-changing world.

-       Eclectic leadership blends various theories, styles and approaches with multiple perspectives from different industries; eclectic leaders are not bound by one model and can adapt to different strategies, demonstrate flexibility, and leverage the strengths of different types of leadership by choosing the most effective tool from a large toolbox.

-       The book uses a castle as a metaphor as it is a structure that everyone can imagine, but differently. The British take of ‘an Englishman’s home is his castle’ stands for home, safety, refuge, strong foundations, nobility, worthiness, honour, respect, legacy, community and impact.

-       The book talks about 8 structures within the castle: the stronghold/inner keep, which has 4 towers that support each other: the tower of purpose (values, legacy, life goals, north star); the tower of life force (how you manage your HERBS – health, energy, rest, balance and stress); the tower of mind (how you show up, habits, behaviours, kaizen); and the tower of self (self-confidence, self-efficacy, self-worth, self-motivation).

-       The dungeon of the castle represents coaching, which often inflicts pain to bring about growth and is about stretching and going beyond our comfort zone, being on the rack – and this requires trust.

-       The bailey is expandable and consists of 3 buildings: the great hall (community, culture, leadership); the stables (looking forward, searching for satisfaction, transforming); and the treasury (finances, income, net worth).

-       The inner keep formula is ‘the know and the go’. The know relates to self-confidence (knowing and trusting in yourself), self-efficacy (believing in your own ability to succeed) and self-worth (believing you are worthy of success and bring value to the world). The go relates to self-motivation, as motivation is the reason humans do things.

-       Kaizen in the tower of the mind is about lifelong learning and a growth mindset. Nothing is perfect so we must embrace never-ending improvement of ourselves and all we do - be curious, ask why and reflect to reconsider, thereby embracing an infinite mindset.

-       Life is about thinking well, feeling well and doing well. Life force is not in endless supply, and it requires a holistic approach to keep the different elements in balance to prevent stress. A good place to start is with tower of life force to find habits to strengthen and improve it.

-       The notion of pivoting in uncertain times requires ‘alternative’ VUCA leadership: overcoming volatility by inspiring Vision; overcoming uncertainty by creating Understanding; overcoming complexity by driving Clarity; and overcoming ambiguity by using Agility. Using different, positive words gives cause to pause and think and provides a good framework for leaders.

-       We are not just participants in the world, but architects shaping its course – we must embrace and define change and transformation starts with you.

Find out more about Rick and his work here : www.rickyvanovich.com

Fun conversation with Adam exploring the challenges and opportunities of scaling digital and scaling transformation in different industries. We delve into the legacy systems, the people legacy systems and the power of creating the model that works for you.

How can we anticipate corporate antibodies to innovation and change ? How can we use the disruptive people already in the organisation with a huge appetite for change and a thorough understanding of the existing system ? What levers do we have and how can we use what digital enables more intentionally ? Innovation can bring people together and overcome fierce tribal rivalries in silos, and digital technology can provide powerful solutions to real problems and minimise disruption through its creative use.

Adam shares his insights and experience from working in technology and transformation in organisations of different sizes across Europe and the US.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       AI scale-up to transform the rail industry using next-generation digital technologies to retrofit the rail ecosystem and solve difficult technical and change management problems (e.g. maintenance, operation, dealing with failure).

-       As a global necessity, the legacy rail network system and legacy people systems must be reinvented by getting close to the people on the ground (e.g. the engineer responsible for track maintenance) in order to get close to the transformational opportunities.

-       Innovation can bring people together and overcome fierce tribal rivalries in silos - digital technology can provide powerful solutions to real problems and minimise disruption through its creative use.

-       There is often excitement around creative spaces as they are free of accountability and allow free thinking – good solutions create a good culture, but different organisations need different approaches.

-       Transformation requires a team effort in which structures are less rigid, the right mentality is cultivated, and small matters are overcome (e.g. rivalries) in the face of the bigger picture through optimism, accountability and team building.

-       It is important to attract and retain talent and the personal agency and accountability of a small company offers a different working environment as a mission-driven, transformational organisation – personal joy and fulfilment sustains people.

-       KONUS labs are a disruptive, innovation structure that ‘positively contaminate’ but need to be integrated in the company; however rejoining the ‘mother ship’ is often messy and involves the antibodies of two different cultures.

-       Experiments alienate the larger organisation and the innovation team cannot scale the impact of what they do – ‘valley of death’ problem, leading to hostility to the work; transformation and performance must be simultaneous.

-       Digital upskilling for hard skills means learning from the best in order to have an impact on the world and building to scale from the outset - upskilling means fusing different ways of working.

-       Soft skills require more upskilling in the digital era given that the way we work is so different and demands collaboration, agility, learning, unlearning and relearning together with an understanding of the business and the processes (ultimately bringing about culture change).

-       A ‘first time right’ philosophy is often pursued in safety-critical industries but risk and failure are required to produce high-quality products, as is creative resilience.

-       The rail industry of the future requires:

·      a vast ecosystem of data collection technologies to fully outfit the infrastructure for plug-in and data upload to the cloud (stage 1 = innovation, fun technology)

·      a different approach, e.g. predictive failure rather than failure repair, to organising, maintaining, planning and operating a huge network; data will facilitate (global) optimisation (stage 2 = difficult to build technologies that can be scaled before they are fully understood)

·      a solution to the mobility/sustainability challenge - the technology exists and the people must follow suit (stage 3 = painful integration, so it is imperative to get stage 2 right!)

Find out more here :

www.konux.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/konux/

Tim and I explore the nature of change, the link with innovation and the effect of COVID on the workplace. We particularly explore the people side of change and delve into what happens when we look at the re-humanisation of the workplace. What skills are needed ? What place will technology have ? and how will we constantly adjust to continuous change.

Ai brings its own disruption to change management and the speed of change, at 3 different levels of disruption: to jobs, organisations, and industry.

Change success is accessible with and through people, and the future of change management will see more emphasis on the human side of change (most important asset) and intentionally integrating change management and an understanding of the human dimension of change into the strategy and culture of an organisation.

Tim shares his research, insights and experience from working with change and innovation for several decades.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       The post-COVID era is about the people side of change, with an infusion of humanity into organisations and a re-recognition of the value of each person: the human side is the biggest identified gap between successful and unsuccessful change projects.

-       The aftermath of COVID is impacting organisations, where change is happening, bringing new capabilities, new expectations and new skillsets, which have to be incorporated.

-       According to statistician George E P Box, ‘all models are wrong, but some are useful’ - change management models are continually evolving based on research and there must be curiosity about what moving parts fit together.

-       Leadership is about creating the conditions for change to succeed on both the release level and the initiative level: ADKAR describes the technical side and change management looks at the people side in the pursuit of sustainable change.

-       The future of change management will see more emphasis on the human side of change (most important asset) and integrating change management into the strategy and culture of an organisation.

-       Prosci’s ‘we over me’ is a mindset shift and impact value to manage the human reaction to change - learning is change and change is learning, an extension of the growth mindset, creating learning paths and orientating towards skills/capabilities beyond job descriptions.   

-       Crisis can be the catalyst but not the reason for sustained change - regression occurs as a natural human tendency and there must be true intention to keep innovations in place.

-       Intentionality is required from the top otherwise implementation becomes problematic in practice as sponsors are going through change themselves; a symbiotic relationship is required:

 Sponsor

Have : Influence, authority, resources, long-term view

Don’t have : Time, pulse of people (operational eyes and ears), expertise re human systems

Catalyst

Have : Focus on people, expertise and experience in human systems, tools/methodologies for people

Don’t have : Resources, authority, organisational influence

-       Business as usual and innovation are two (operating) systems involving the same individuals helping an organisation be what they want to be; they should be in alignment with each other to converge with a shared (future) purpose. 

-       The future brings three relationships: between AI and change; AI and change management; and AI and practitioner; and three layers of disruption: to jobs, organisations, and industry.

-       Prosci has an AI tiger team to capitalise on the advantages (better starting points, quicker sense making, bigger sample sizes); generative AI provides ‘moments that matter’ which can be incorporated into work.

-       The re-humanisation of the workplace means that soft skills like collaboration and conversation become more crucial - change is hard and continuous but change success is accessible with and through people.

-       Imperative to start by asking: Why? Why now? What if we don’t? Why this instead of that? in order to create that first spark for people to learn a new skill, embrace a new mindset, or engage in a new technology.

Find out more about Tim and his work here :

www.prosci.com – webinars, tutorials, blogs,

Prosci YouTube channel: @ProsciChangeManagement

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcreasey/

Sponsor / catalyst symbiotic 2x2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8j9nGv-UAg

Role of Sponsor: https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/primary-sponsors-role-and-importance  

Future of Work: New capabilities, new expectations, new conditions:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/organizational-landscape-future-workplaces-conditions-tim-creasey/  

• Aligning change management to pace and cadence of ADKAR:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tUp6kM-ug
• AI, change, and change management: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/point-view-ai-change-management-tim-creasey/
• Plain language question approach to change management:https://www.prosci.com/blog/using-plain-language-questions-to-enable-more-effective-change  

How does this dictate the way we talk to ourselves ? What else determines how we show up ? How can we regain confidence in who we are and who we were meant to be ?

Clarissa walks us through her regime for self esteem and how we can manage our habits and mental models to transform the way we feel about ourselves. Is what we think real ? How do we step away from our thoughts and reframe them differently ?

Self-esteem doesn’t discriminate; it is everything you are, everything you think and every relationship you have (including with yourself) and must be worked on continuously. Clarissa's book offers an action plan and tells stories to encourage readers to look in the mirror for a life-changing experience and be their own best advocate.

How can we build a model of sustainable change ? How can we use the 4 pillars of self esteem to constantly re-iterate on what we have learnt ? How can we set ourselves up for success in the future ?

Clarissa shares her stories, insights and approach for building a 'self esteem' muscle for our own good and for the greater good.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Self-esteem doesn’t discriminate; it is everything you are, everything you think and every relationship you have (including with yourself) and must be worked on continuously.

-       Personal development is about having the tools in the shed to use when you need them – when the storm strikes, it does not uproot your tree even though you may lose a branch.

-       Self-help (not shelf-help!) is big business because there is a huge need (to feel seen, heard, valued and worthy).

-       The regime is one for action: to get on right path for your life and be the best version of yourself, maybe by taking the HIGH (honesty, integrity, gratitude and honour) road.

-       The book offers an action plan and tells stories to encourage readers to look in the mirror for a life-changing experience and be their own best advocate.

-       It espouses the power of affirmations: being responsible for creating our own purpose, vision mission and goals; for presenting well; for showing up; for acknowledging and improving our imperfections; for working to overcome our fears.

-       Helping people move from ‘encowerment’ to empowerment, to move on, face everything and rise – having a regime keeps you moving forward.

-       4 pillars of self-esteem: look good (outside), feel good (inside – diet exercise, nutrition), be good (relationships, leadership, finances), greater good (volunteering, community).

-       Need 5 new gratitude items every day to drive motivation and inspiration.

-       Recommended actions:

·      catch the negative self-talk

·      drive out the daily demons

·      support and reparent yourself

·      go through the pain

-       You are lucky to be you so love yourself!

Find out more about Clarissa and her work here :

https://www.clarissaburt.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarissaburt/

Frederic and I delve into the world of organisational design and behavioural economics, looking at what type of structures and relationships we need to build more agile, more interconnected and more effective organisations.

Organisational fairness requires voice and choice and we look at how this human need for fairness plays out in more fluid organisational structures. How can we use behavioural economics to help organisations become flatter in structure and understand why & when people cooperate; how they react to fairness & unfairness ? How leaders build trust and how they can incentivise their people in a different structure ?

We also explore the different leadership skills in conjunction with inter-relational fairness and the dynamics of hierarchy: ‘hierarchy-less’ does not exist, but it is more about decision-making structures, procedures, incentives and mindset.

Frederic shares his experience, research, insights and his upcoming programme for executives on building more agile, flexible and interconnected organisations.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Using behavioural economics to help organisations become flatter and understand why/when people cooperate; how they react to fairness/unfairness; how they can build trust/trustworthiness; and how they can incentivise their people.

-       The human dimension of digital transformation is not an exact science but feeds into the need for connection - executive education must be about navigating this complex landscape.

-       Executives need to know how to avoid biases and fallacies; understand team dynamics and unfair treatment in the workplace; be aware of quiet quitting and how to create more purpose, trust and the right culture.

-       Flat, Fluid and Flexible looks at inter-relational fairness and the dynamics of hierarchy: ‘hierarchy-less’ does not exist, but it is more about decision-making structures, procedures, incentives and mindset.

-       Dominant hierarchy (boss/subordinates with varying degrees of coercion) is out of place nowadays (e.g. in family life and politics) – we now want participation and democracy; flatness is about non-domination and rendering organisations leaderful not leaderless.

-       Leaders are roles, not people, that are sometimes needed and sometimes not - a mutual, voluntary and temporary authority, giving rise to shared and emergent leadership.

-       Holacracy requires buying into the system of rules wholesale, which in turn requires structure in the system - leaders must understand this structure.

-       Nature offers many examples of how structures adapt to evolve – organisations must dispel the myth that hierarchy is needed for progress and the management of complex procedures.

-       In nature, evolution is leaderless and a collective endeavour; removing a rigid dominance hierarchy permits variation and consent of the masses, which in turn gives rise to the spirit of emergent leadership (e.g. the queen bee in a colony).

-       A good example is the Pando clonal (i.e. self-similar) tree colony – the largest living organism on Earth – which shares roots and is polycentric in structure: highly durable, scalable, cooperative, adaptable and evolutionarily successful.

-       Trust plays a major role in the power dynamics of a flat hierarchy: game theory and the possession of information vs. the ideal of a free society of equals - the moral hazard component increases if there is greater temptation to betray.

-       Flat organisations have less staff turnover and therefore better relationships between colleagues, also thanks to the absence of promotion tournament structures that artificially create rivalry.

-       Skills needed to build flat hierarchies: critical systems thinking; sense-making; awareness of the system and its components; generating motivation for shared purpose (team of peers); upskilling everyone to be allrounders.

-       Employee development is a strength – democratising (access to) skills pays dividends in the form of a highly competent workforce.

-       Leadership skills (conflict management, communication and facilitation) must go hand-in-hand with skills particular to the environment and the sector.

-       Organisational fairness requires voice and choice - liberty is not bestowed from above but is a bottom-up process.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredericgschneider/

Website: https://fredericgschneider.com/

Chris and I delve into the power of purpose and being part of something bigger than us, starting with Stephen Hawkins quote that figures on the Very Big Things website. We discuss what drives motivation and the secret sauce to successful innovation and scaling operations in today's competitive digital environment.

We look at how can we find and retain talent in such competitive markets, how can we create a team that works and how we can successfully scale both operations and impact.

How can we make sure that people don't lose sight of their north star and that we are positively impacting society ?

Chris shares his stories, insights and experience of founding and scaling Very Big Things and working with diverse leaders around the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Technical innovation and excellence company whose name serves as both inspiration and motivation (from Stephen Hawkins: “We are very very small, but we are profoundly capable of very big things”).

-       There is no limit to growing despite being small and it is a choice to have a profound impact or not, regardless of the size of the company; they have lofty ambitions to be the best at what they do.

-       A VC background elucidates that execution strategies are often the roadblock as building good teams that work well together takes too long (from an investment viewpoint) - Very Big Things provides the tech and fills a gap in the agency market.

-       The aim is to help people bring their vision to life quickly, collaboratively and integratively; the company communicates its purpose to prospective clients/hires to show that product-led transformation and growth is tangible.

-       When scaling, it is important to maintain both a consistent cycle of checking in (re. direction and realignment/recentring), as well as a balance between focus on the mission and the need for profitability.

-       The human experience is very important when building and elevating digital brands; clients are drawn organically to Very Big Things because they want to be special and stand out – the retention of people and clients ultimately saves money and builds deeper relationships.

-       Social impact is important: quality work leads to positive word of mouth and a narrow focus leads to a happy team, happy clients and exceptional work - the route to success must provide value and connect with the human being, offering direct short-term impact as well as large-term gain.

-       The impact of generative AI on the tech world lies in the true power of APIs, beyond chat prompts, whereby internal tech systems talk with the AI instead of employees - having a custom system boosts efficiency drastically.

-       Challenges associated with AI: teams must know how AI will affect them and what the company strategy is so as to remove (largely unfounded) panic. AI is good for inspiration but less good for branding so should be used selectively for certain functions only (e.g. HR).

-       Impact of AI on the talent market: companies will be able to do more with their existing team (by removing the tasks no one wants to do) rather than having to hire new people - a 20% efficiency gain means 20% less cost for clients.

-       Burnout can be due not to work, but to a lack of control and a lack of focus [Chris recommends focussing on no more than 3 big things at once] - if people see impact, they are happy, and it moves companies forward.  

-       Top tips for success: regular time off for self-connection to increase productivity and clarity; listen to people without talking and respond to what they’re saying; do not procrastinate or have regrets – this will not move dreams, hopes and ambitions forward.

Find out more about Chris here : www.verybigthings.com

Instagram: @verybigthings

A great discussion with Hortense, summed up in this quote from Oscar Wilde. Hortense walks us through the journey of alignment and what connecting with your true self can bring to your leadership. Who are you as a leader ? Are you aligned ? How do you manage failure ? 

We discuss not only the gifts of alignment, such as failure and intuition, but also the typical symptoms of misalignment and how to navigate this complex inner journey. The power of alignment in our individual selves and the power of collective alignment must be nurtured to navigate uncertainty, with leadership coming from the inside out - this ‘alignment of alignments’ then cascades down to show direction and give clear messages.

Hortense shares her insight, personal stories, experience and thought leadership on connecting with our true selves and the power of alignment for leadership from working with leaders all over the globe. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       A good analogy for the feeling of alignment comes from show jumping – the feeling just before the jump, free to fly, not asking questions, having certainty in the moment; the opposite is misalignment - overreacting, blaming others and being aggressive.

-       We tend to ‘normalise’ negative feelings rather than understand the symptoms of misalignment – we must be aware and careful of how we feel, and ultimately be the same person wherever we are and whatever we do.

-       Wearing different hats at different times only ever represents part of our person, which is not authentic to ourselves or others; we likewise cannot separate ourselves from what happens to us and we should not have to hide from anything.

-       Alignment is a process: the gift of failure provides an opportunity to learn from taking risks to adapt and innovate, and to evolve without being afraid – a good showjumper suffers 100 falls first and it is the same for leadership.

-       We must reframe things positively: our brains are wired to see negativity, but we need positive energy to refuel and focus on what we can change, saving our energy for impactful actions to realign with positivity.

-       Self-limiting beliefs must likewise be reframed: mind traps are a mental obstacle between you and who you want to be. Are you the main protagonist of your movie? Is it your voice? We must give ourselves permission to face the truth, change our mindset and listen to our intuition.

-       ‘The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant’ (Einstein) -education nowadays is disproportionately about rationality but we need both: we must stop and free/empty our minds from other noise/voices, be present and feel emotions. 

-       Communication through stories and metaphors taps into the unconscious mind, helps us find answers and understand a picture, invites interest and is a light-hearted and amusing escape from the rational mind.

-       David Hawkins’ Power vs. Force ranks emotions based on the impact they have on our life – power does not need force: one has heart and one doesn’t, which produces different results. This can also be applied to trust and communication in leadership (forcing something makes it happen but without harmony).

-       Both the power of alignment in our individual selves and the power of collective alignment must be nurtured to navigate uncertainty, with leadership coming from the inside out - this ‘alignment of alignments’ then cascades down to show direction and give clear messages.

-       With our world in transition, we are mid-ocean, and everyone must feel included on the ship: the captain need not give orders, just steer the course, give everyone a voice, listen more and talk less.

-       Alignment is a gift that must be protected in choppy waters: this means having a daily rendezvous with yourself to clarify your purpose and exercise the muscle by reflecting - no blame, just alignment discipline.

-       Remember to be yourself – everyone else is already taken! (Oscar Wilde)

Mandar and I have a brilliant conversation where he shares his life philosophy, and his learnings from using breathwork and peace to approach violence differently. Almost a decade ago, Mandar was part of the Shell gamechanger innovation incubator programme and realized that many leaders did not understand that innovation is not just a technical process . Indeed you may need domain knowledge but in addition, innovators also need to develop their mental and social skills to successfully bring their idea to the marketplace. Mere structures, processes, scrum boards and budgets are all necessary but not sufficient to really change the way people think, act and interact. 

People emotionally armour themselves and wear masks, but violence and trauma exist everywhere, and we can never know what people are going through; leaders must invest their time in this and in their people;

Mandar shares his vision, experience, stories and his insights from his programme 'Be the change' to highlight how simply some of these techniques can be adopted, yet how powerful they are also in changing conversations and actions across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Innovation is not just about technology, it also has social, psychological and emotional elements – new ideas are often rejected because the person with influence doesn’t like the person suggesting it, rather than not liking the idea itself.

-       Large companies see the impact of social and environmental degradation on their people and are spurred on to expand innovation/tech programmes to address the interface between society and business, encompassing social and philanthropic innovation.

-       Innovation culture requires a huge ecosystem to bring an idea to the marketplace – everyone can innovate and should feel empowered to bring ideas to the company, regardless of their role (= breaking down silos).

-       This requires personal empowerment and encouraging people in all aspects to create a social impact innovation incubator – if they bring their passions to work, these can be leveraged more broadly to create new value, thereby releasing untapped potential and power.

-       A key moment of truth for large companies is to find a business case for CSR (e.g. what is the significance of sustainable development goals for the business model?) and a financial return to tally with metrics.

-       Vision of Cities for Peace: when we are in the grip of negative emotion, the inability to cope with it gives rise to violence - towards ourselves and others – and leads to anxiety and depression; peace is our very nature, but we must manage things that take us away from it.

-       Most violence is ‘curable’ if it is treated as a public health issue, and we should provide access to mental wellness solutions as early as possible in education systems, as having this knowledge is where peace begins.

-       Ideas are imperfect but we need to allow space for imperfection - leaders must not wait for people to ask for time off but offer/anticipate a wellness ‘time out’ to give people a taste of inner wellbeing/peace.

-       People emotionally armour themselves and wear masks, but violence and trauma exist everywhere, and we can never know what people are going through; leaders must invest their time in this and in their people.

-       They must role model natural ways of wellbeing, show vulnerability and invite people to manage their own wellness, or integrate wellness as part of a learning programme on innovation and leadership training.

-       Safety is huge in the corporate world - if physical aspects demand such attention, why not also mental aspects? The cost of mental illness is likewise huge and warrants investment; the loss of inner wellness manifests also in problems with relationships, yet we must thrive for people around us to thrive.

-       Legacy is an important personal journey and has a social footprint, which may be small but is unique. To be effective, we must be grounded in our own culture and values and create memorable experiences for others - a personal touch distinguishes average leaders from great leaders.

-       Being present is so important for observing change over time, and the part of us that is not changing is observing change – the unchanging aspect of our own existence is our inherent consciousness/presence/energy/witness, and we must nurture it, creating self-awareness.

-       It is important for leaders to be present; to become compassionate; to take quiet time for recalibration; to take an intentional approach; and to be open and intuitive - meditation and consciousness allow more effective healing and create more prosperity, as peace and prosperity go hand in hand.

A brilliant conversation with Jayshree about the importance of science and the role of business in bringing science to a more diverse population. We discuss how to bring more diversity to STEM, and continue to build more powerful communities for innovation and solving world problems more effectively. We dive in and out of the contents of her two books in the Heart of Science series to look at the different contexts and realities of the state of science and STEM.

Science and the art of storytelling are intertwined – solving critical problems requires meaningful engagement, critical thinking, empathetic listening, collaborative and effective communication and diversity of thought. If we were to mix science and storytelling more intentionally it would attract a more diverse population.

STEM subjects focus on certainty and a quest for answers and seek to analyse, while humanities focus on dealing with uncertainty and a focus on questions, and can help us synthesise. We must navigate with clarity, inclusivity, action and responsibility and have a plan: sustainable innovation calls on us to change our models of leadership and business and consider the legacy perspective, invoking more collaboration, trust and alignment.

Jayshree shares her experience, thought leadership and vision both from her career in science and business, and her continuing advocacy for diversity in STEM.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       For someone with an interest in research, experimentation, and human impact, as well as a passion for the context of science, 3M provides the requisite ingredients of a culture of empowerment, an emphasis on collaboration and the context of improving lives.

-       Science is invisible, underappreciated, and taken for granted - people don’t realise the impact it has on their lives; a positive perception of science is required to avoid a negative impact on society.

-       Social science research is also necessary to understand people and shape an advocacy strategy for science, i.e. communication with a relatable context (in the form of storytelling).

-       Science and the art of storytelling are intertwined – solving critical problems requires meaningful engagement, critical thinking, empathetic listening, collaborative and effective communication and diversity of thought. 

-       There has been little progress in terms of diversity in STEM and it is time to reengineer the notions around engineering to prevent the negative consequences if we fail to attract more girls to science.

-       ‘STEAM’ (shattering stereotypes, telling the whole-sum story of science, exposure and environment, allies and advocates, metrics and measures) cleaning will hopefully help girls see themselves as scientists.

-       STEM is only possible thanks to Sponsors, Teachers, Enthusiasts and Mentors and diverse VOICES - Volunteering, Organising, Inspiring, Championing, Engaging - intentionally amplify ideas and take the initiative.

-       3M runs initiatives to promote diversity in STEM by encouraging education through programmes and funding, creating equity in communities and economic equity for underrepresented individuals.

-       SHTEM is the integration of humanity in STEM: humanity focuses on uncertainty and the drive for questions whereas STEM focuses on certainty and the quest for answers; COVID was a prime example of science communication (for the public).

-       Skilled tradespeople make the world go round, these trades are based on STEM and a shortage of skilled workers will affect the whole world - the public must be educated, inspired and understand how society can be changed.

-       Helpful information can be found in Jayshree’s books, The Heart of Science: Engineering Footprints, Fingerprints and Imprints, which offers points to ponder, and The Heart of Science: Engineering Fine Print, which examines feelings, identities, needs and emotions (FINE) to understand how humans can manage change and take meaningful action.

-       We must all work individually alongside organisations to change the culture by jettisoning implicit biases; delving into our identities; and being aware of entrenched beliefs to create more honesty, authenticity, diversity, equity and transparency.

-       More inclusive workspaces make economic, moral and ethical sense and diversity warrants equity - creating a more diverse, robust workforce entails challenging existing constructs, dismantling archetypes and shattering stereotypes.

-       Leaders must ‘lead from their rung of the ladder’, be aware of their own privilege and break SILOS (social circles and spheres, informal and formal connections, local community and culture, opportunity creation and context, societal constructs and classifications).

-       CAPE (of Good Hope for the future): commit to sustainable development goals with a long-term perspective, advocate for science with a societal perspective, promote representation with a global perspective, and empower innovation with an inclusive perspective.

-       We must navigate with clarity, inclusivity, action and responsibility and have a plan: sustainable innovation calls on us to change our models of leadership and business and consider the legacy perspective, invoking more collaboration, trust and alignment.

-       LAPS – leadership and legacy in organisations, allyship and advocacy across the value chain, partnership and primacy with the public, stewardship and diplomacy with the ecosystem.

-       Sustainability is a team sport and ties in with purpose; innovation is a lifesaver for business, inspiration is the lifeblood of innovation and purpose is the lifeline for inspiration.

Find out more about Jayshree's work here :

LinkedIn: Jayshree Seth (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayshree-seth-6287b45/)

Books available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Science-Engineering-Footprints-Fingerprints-ebook/dp/B08QNJ461T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OL798CQUO7YF&keywords=jayshree+seth&qid=1683558917&sprefix=jayshree+seth%2Caps%2C71&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Science-Engineering-Fine-Print-ebook/dp/B09TTC2PGG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3OL798CQUO7YF&keywords=jayshree+seth&qid=1683558998&sprefix=jayshree+seth%2Caps%2C71&sr=8-2

Jon and I discuss everything from history in high school to hacker communities. We discuss the shift of perspective you can get from going to check your assumptions of what skills are and how they are done. We also discuss the future of developer skills, and how building powerful communities to ensure impact can help. A 'democratisation' of access to developer skills and intentionally developing the system for them to be successful through education, awareness, communities and learning contents is key to growing these communities of transformational learning and skills development.

Jon shares his own story of how he came to be involved in Major League Hacking and his mission to empower hackers, create a different and more visible system to access developer skills and build a sustainable business to serve this community.

Main insights you will get from this episode are :

-       The role of developer evangelist has changed: it used to be an educational role to help developers via student workshops, conference talks, blogs, videos, etc. but it has evolved/ matured and become more structured.

-       There are more expectations associated with it (e.g. to justify the existence of the role within an organisation), and it is more specialised (e.g. content creation, Developer Relations/ Marketing), but evangelising is still a core responsibility and the most important on a daily basis.

-       There is no need for a tech background to become a developer - MLH programs exist to teach code/real-world skills to everyone, regardless of experience and involve lots of peer support and mentorship in a product-agnostic field; eclectic skill sets and profiles are valued.

-       MLH uses qualitative and quantitative elements to measure success in their fast-moving, community-based environment: How many people do we serve in a year? Do people get value from what we do? It is a holistic idea of success to build a financially sustainable but mission-oriented business.

-       Rather than a specific methodology, organised chaos rules! There is no prescriptive approach to how things are done, e.g. creating design processes, writing code - everyone can be successful on their own terms.

-       Self-organised teams working across ecosystems make communities powerful. The most successful communities form longer-lasting relationships and can give rise to larger communities; or communities come together to work together.

-       Developer evangelists must be invested in the success of other people and help them achieve their goals – community leaders are enablers for their peers (e.g. servant leaders) and can change people’s lives.

-       2030 vision for the industry is to connect people more effectively with career opportunities; change the recruitment/hiring mindset by giving students a way to showcase their skills and differentiate themselves, demonstrate what they are excited about.

-       Companies on the bleeding edge think radically differently about talent and give people the time, space and absence of risk to experiment (e.g. hackathons); companies must look in different places for new hires, invest in the next generation and be future-focused in their thinking.

-       Computer science education is overly reliant on individual work and does not reflect the often abstract and open-ended collaborative work that prevails in the industry - tech and software are a means to an end and can have incredible impact and reach with relatively little effort.

-       An ideal environment for learning provides a transformational experience; is dysfunctional; is anti-best practices; forces creativity; builds strong bonds; and unlocks potential with very few resources, and without structure or guidance.

-       A good starting point is to engage with existing communities, either in-person or online; go outside your comfort zone and take the first step, people will be excited and supportive.

Jenny and I discuss the leadership paradigms of today's world, and the untapped leadership potential held in underrepresented leaders in today's systems. How can we unleash this potential ? How can we bring more diverse voices to the decision making tables to shift stereotypes and increase innovation ?

There is no step-by-step model for leadership - we must embrace messiness, care about it and understand it. Context is key, and contextual agility is a skill that underrepresented leaders have honed more intentionally. How can we constantly leverage all the resources we have when pitching project ideas, and building workplace culture ? How can we lead from our zone of untapped capacity ?

Owning our own power and building a model where we can bring different perspectives to the table - a model of care and collaboration, which will not be easy as it is counter to current metrics and reward systems, is key for unlocking potential.

Jenny shares her story, experience and insights from her own career, and from working with leaders around the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       ‘Workplace systems are powerful, but I am not powerless’ - not doing anything means that the status quo persists, but doing something means having agency, even on a micro scale; multiple collective small moments create macro shifts.

-       Systemic memories (biases) inhibit change and DE&I language can be exclusive – Jenny’s book is at the intersection of leadership and DE&I, i.e. leadership from a marginalised perspective.

-       We all have multiple identities, e.g. race, heritage, gender, parent, etc. giving us unique experiences; we need spaces that give us the opportunity to think about our unique perspective on and approach to an issue or a problem.

-       ‘Misleadership’ is embedded in many designs and cultures, e.g. looking up to leaders who exhibit no leadership, and the label of ‘leadership’ is often attached to positional authority – this does not mean that the people are leaders; leaders need not be at the top of an organisation.

-       Diverse recruitment is difficult as the system of people being expected to ‘fit in’ rather than belong is so ingrained; we need malleable organisations that can shift with the people - the current definition of talent rules out swathes of talent because they don’t ‘match’ the criteria.

-       There is no step-by-step model for leadership - we must embrace messiness, care about it and understand it; we must build comfort into a model of care and collaboration, which will not be easy as it is counter to metrics and outcomes.

-       Context is instrumental to outcomes and is impactful - contextual agility provides a good framework for leadership, e.g. being aware of ourselves and our power in any collaboration, aware of our growth, understand the system at play and connecting this to past and future decisions.

-       Agility very often brings physical movement to mind - athletes train the body and mind hard, putting in a lot of work behind the scenes in preparation for when the moment comes.

-       We must be present, listen to feedback from others and have the full context to make decisions – ‘tap-in’ questions help us to pause and step back and invite us to be as aware as possible of our own intersections to create conditions for dialogue to happen.

-       Leadership is about finding a balance between thought and action: building change takes time and leaders don’t have time - we expect leaders to solve everything, but we ourselves need more runway to learn, grow and experience.

-       The original research into imposter syndrome was based on high-performing women who questioned their ability despite accolades; the focus is still on individual deficit, but it can also be collective, i.e. a systemic deficit.

The ‘zone of untapped capacity’ is an extension of the idea of the zone of genius – working in the flow state and thriving; leveraging our own power and privilege to bring in marginalised perspectives to create leadership that shifts culture and systems.

Find out more about Jenny here : www.untappedleaders.com

Ferose and I discuss learning in the digital age, what it means for humans and for technology, and for this evolving partnership of digital and human.

To remain relevant in today’s world, we must be lifelong learners. Every learner should question everything, and not simply accept what we are told and what we have heard previously. The search for truth leads to growth and deepened understanding of what we don't know. In a complex world, this is key to growing new relationships, creating new systems and evolving with new technology. 

We also discuss the advent of ChatGPT and what it may mean for education and learning, and how we can partner with this technology moving forward. What if AI is one day sentient and can empathise ? Technologists understand what is behind the tools with vast intellectual and financial resources being invested to make everything possible, but the biggest challenge remains ethics around AI and keeping pace with AI development.

Ferose shares his insights, research and pulls on his different, interconnected experiences to give us an holistic view on this vast question of learning in the digital age. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       The human ability to build tools is transformational and means we can ‘move’ fast; whilst tools make us lazy (e.g. map reading being replaced by GPS), they do not make us less capable (e.g. digital cameras not rendering photographers redundant).

-       ChatGPT demonstrates the impact of the disruptive effect of AI, i.e. very powerful with unknown unintended consequences (e.g. the corruption of social media’s pure intentions potentially threatening democracy).

-       Humans cannot understand how deeply interconnected the world is, and we don’t know what the secondary/tertiary effects of this are.

-       In terms of the future of work, insights from testing show that it is not creative pursuits that will be disrupted last (e.g. writing) as expected, but mechanical tasks (e.g. plumbing) and eye-contact jobs (involving human connection).

-       If AI is one day sentient and can empathise, this is the final frontier: technologists understand what is behind the tools with vast intellectual and financial resources being invested to make everything possible, but the biggest challenge is ethics around AI keeping pace with AI development.

-       The characteristics of a good engineer remain the same, however, namely curiosity, humility and practice. Most engineers are taught hard skills (e.g. coding) but soft skills (e.g. empathy, compassion, radical candour) are just as important and can also be taught.

-       Likewise good leadership relies on timeless principles such as storytelling; understanding the context of the world we live in; making connections between seemingly disconnected things; taking a holistic approach; remaining at the intersection of science and humanity; and making sound decisions.

-       What should be taught: curiosity (how to ask difficult/interesting questions); first-principle thinking (to get to the root cause of the problem); thinking in systems (multi-link solutions with global effects); the ability to build a complex architecture in one page.

-       Inclusion is a mindset of being respectful and open. Tech and tools advance literacy, meaning that everyone can learn, but the rate of change is problematic as people are left behind (e.g. the elderly, or marginalised communities with no access to tech) and miss out on progress.

-       The hidden potential links inclusion and learning and requires us to take a step back to see where the gaps are, e.g. an explicit 50/50 gender mix across the board implemented in a thoughtful manner; making disability mainstream (as 15% of the global population); understanding and then executing to add value for the collective.

-       Learning must be shared, whereby there is no reduction on the part of the giver. If they are not shared, learnings are useless. We must use social media to promote ideas, not ourselves - this is meaningless to others, whereas sharing knowledge is powerful.

-       To remain relevant in today’s world, we must be lifelong learners. Every learner should be a seeker of truth, question everything, and not simply accept what we are told.

The purpose of learning is always the search for truth, which leads to growth. We must always ask the hard questions - for true seekers, the possibilities are infinite.

Find out more about Ferose here : https://ferosevr.com

A fun conversation with John about the power of lived experiences, sharing stories and understanding different perspectives around the Human side of business and indeed of life.

How can we make life better for our customers ? how can we create more human centred practices in organisations ? how can we use the experience of everyone to better the Human experience ?

We delve into the myths and realities of the Human experience and discuss the enablers and behaviours. Organisations nowadays are full of humans who aren’t allowed to act in a human way because there are too many barriers; Repressing natural human behaviour removes freedom and results in a lack of common sense; a lack of humanity; and a waste of time (and potentially money) – we should look at the human experience from the customer angle given that what’s good for customers is good for business.

John shares his insight, stories, thoughts and inspiration from working with businesses large and small.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-       ‘You are everyone you’ve ever met’: we learn from the people we meet and the situations we’re in - this builds resilience, grounds us to reality and gives us an understanding of others’ lived experiences.

-       There are 5 enablers and 7 behaviours for being ‘human’; storytelling plays a big role, as does listening, and seeing things from different perspectives - the emotional experience is far more important than the functional one.

-       Organisations nowadays are full of humans who aren’t allowed to act in a human way because there are too many barriers; companies should unwind restrictive policies and procedures to allow human behaviour.

-       Repressing natural human behaviour removes freedom and results in a lack of common sense; a lack of humanity; and a waste of time (and potentially money) – we should look at the human experience from the customer angle given that what’s good for customers is good for business.

-       Staff must be empowered to act instinctively to help, for example - this requires a healthy culture in which senior managers allow people to do the right thing for the customer, which can then be discussed and used as a learning.

-       Customer experience is an ‘outside-in’ process: human bias means that we see the world from the inside out - from our own perspective - and organisations are no different; they are closer to their own business than their customers.

-       We must see business as the planet exerting a strong pull that needs to be resisted in order to remain close to customers - decision-makers cannot really know what customers want and it is a continuous process of finding broader perspectives and connecting with customers.

-       Intentional curiosity makes for competitive advantage, and leaders must face uncomfortable truths, both in the form of data, but even more hard-hitting, hearing them first hand.

-       Common myths in terms of the customer experience are:

·      Feedback – countless surveys produce huge amounts of data that convince senior leaders they are close to what matters, giving a false sense of security – it’s about genuine understanding.

·      Loyalty – does not exist, it is more a matter of usefulness; if senior leaders believe customers are loyal, they stop trying

·      ROI – must prove how it adds revenue; a bad customer experience is very expensive to provide and causes customers to leave; it is the cost of inaction.

-       Data gives comfort and certainty and allows management around figures - pioneers are needed to make fundamental changes and see the customer experience in a more human-centred way, e.g. trying to overcome the inequality that wealth and confidence buy a good experience.

-       ‘In a crisis, service matters’: companies should aim to give good service to everyone, to save people time and stress so that they can enjoy life as much as possible.

-       We must work on our own ‘inside-out’ process and give ourselves time to be – organise our thoughts, make a commitment to something that could be a starting point for so much. Just try! If in doubt, be human and learn from mistakes.

A great conversation with Brant about dealing with uncertainty and how to make your organisation disruption proof. We discuss how organisations can be more Resilient, Aware and Dynamic to deal with the uncertainty of today's world. Today market risk is higher and more volatile - can we attract customers’ attention? Can we provide value? Can we retain customers?

We face ‘unknown unknowns’ yet businesses are traditionally wired for ‘knowing, so how do we adapt our leadership to be more 'disruptive' and give permission for experimentation on a larger scale ? How can companies scale the behavioural and cultural change needed to create this adaptability and become RAD organisations ?

Brant shares his experience, insights and research from working with organisations big and small across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Global disruption is evident in regular events that ripple across lives and the economy - war, the big quit, the pandemic, failed banks – and we must own it and adapt how we operate to recognize ongoing volatility.

-       In the past, e.g. mid-industrial age, market risk was lower and technology risk was higher - today market risk is higher: can we attract customers’ attention? Can we provide value? Can we retain customers?

-       We face ‘unknown unknowns’ yet businesses are traditionally wired for ‘knowing’ – but the boss doesn’t know either these days! Empathy and insight must come from the ground up.

-       The new innovation theatre is digital transformation. Innovation means different things to different people, so it must be defined, along with the desired outcomes.

-       We must incorporate the human element, however: what is the impact, the value, the market? Designing for the human and the user experience can still create impactful and powerful things.

-       An innovation mindset does not equal a project. A project represents ‘hard change’, and organisations must be RAD to succeed:

·      Resilient = have a core competence from the outset that provides strength to the organisation; be strong but flexible; be comfortable with uncertainty

·      Aware = cultivate an ‘outside-in view’ – look to the economy to be aware of changes and customer whims; empower people at the edge of the business to share information inside

·      Dynamic = build processes that allow change based on new information

-       The five elements of a disruptive mindset are: empathy (inside and outside the company), exploration (of assumptions), equilibrium (balance execution with exploration), evidence (data and insights to inform decisions) and ethics (in the digital age, the safety of customers).

-       Leaders must demonstrate these 5 e’s; make observations from watching; define values that are serious for the organisation and therefore everyone in it; democratise; have impact on companies and society.

-       Disruptive leadership means leaders practicing such skills themselves; being willing to admit failure; developing empathy for employees; being more transparent, open and vulnerable; empowering teams to achieve desired outcomes; ensuring accountability for teams; and providing training in the requisite behaviour.

-       The biggest challenge for companies is defining the model for a way of working and teaching empowered behaviour – encouraging team members to report out; owning the path to desired outcomes; building a mentality that allows people to tell the boss what’s happening.

-       It is difficult to scale adaptive change to bring business results and there is no single answer – it depends on the culture, the leaders and the starting point. With C-suite support, it can start with the core business.

-       Generating near-term impact can be a tipping point for driving change - new business emerges from the old business, whereby ‘good bits’ spread to different parts of an organisation.

-       To make a company disruption-proof, leaders must create a community for buy-in (particularly in large organisations), form an agile team, give themselves a mandate to try, push boundaries and ultimately do things differently.

A great conversation with Fernanda about how to set female founders up for success and create a system that works for them too. We discuss the challenges women founders face and how to create a system that is designed for them as opposed to them having to ‘fit into the male-designed programme’ to be successful. 

How can we create a pipeline of well-built female companies ? How can we provide a systemic lens through which to educate women about their options, build strong foundations, attract investment, offer guidance and open doors where necessary ? 

We particularly discuss how to look at the architecture of the problem rather than trying to reinvent the wheel and perpetuate inequities and inefficiencies in the ecosystem. The virtual environment is positive for women in this respect and offers a window to fix the problems of the past and embrace the (entrepreneurial) revolution – the younger female generation of digital natives thinks differently.

Fernanda shares her quest and what she has already built at We Global studios to offer female founders a clear path for success, the right mindset, the right partners and the right support.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-       Set up in response to inequities and inefficiencies in the startup ecosystem – there is lots of help for finance but none to build a business (beyond short-term incubator or accelerator programmes), and it is difficult for women to access this help.

-       Wanted to provide something for women other than having to ‘fit into the male-designed programme’ to be successful – to offer them a clear path for success, understand how IP is created and look at the architecture of the problem rather than reinventing the wheel.

-       The aim is to create a pipeline of well-built female companies and to focus on revenue generation in order for women to be able to exit with wealth to pay back to society.

-       Five pillars: building founder DNA; business strategy and legal; product (or service) development; sales and marketing; operations and scaling. These pillars include many subcategories and social impact is also a priority.

-       The company provides a systemic lens through which to educate women about their options, build strong foundations, attract investment, and offer guidance.  

-       It also sets great store by lessons learned in life and how experiences inform what we do - working horizontally gives kernels of knowledge from completely separate industries that all share the same principles.

-       The company’s tactical and dedicated advisers are the ‘stars’ and make the company unique – to be effective, WE Global requires a large number of ‘friends’ (such as brand ambassadors and volunteers) and a big network to increase accountability and success.

-       Alongside the community of advisers, WE Global offers domain experts, a technology council, a marketing council, one-to-one relationships with advisers as well as opportunities for one-to-many relationships.

-       Particular challenges for female founders are a mindset issue: they are too nice, need more permission and lack entitlement compared to their male counterparts - women must be assertive and speak the language of business – accounting – given that investors invest purely in a financial instrument, not in a particular company, product or service.

-       The WE Global annual ‘rev up’ summit aims to help on the revenue front by imparting the right language to demonstrate insider or outsider positioning – success requires being an insider and understanding the levers that open up further doors.

-       The virtual environment is positive for women and offers a window to fix the problems of the past and embrace the (entrepreneurial) revolution – the younger female generation of digital natives thinks differently.

-       We must create systems that tell women, ‘you can do that’ – ones that women can simply step into without wasting time and money; WE Global will make introductions to take founders through the various stages and partners with universities as a bridge with private sector.

-       Founders need enterprise partners and people to open doors and offer access – they are the stars of tomorrow. Female founders should be gracing the covers of magazines showcasing women doing incredible things for the planet with self-worth based on what you are doing to change the world.

-       CTA for female founders: assess what exactly you are creating, identify a clear focus, eradicate all negative thinking, truly believe your past is your past and has no bearing on your future - believe in your vision.

Karolin, Minette and I delve into the world of being more human at work.

We discuss how leaders can create these conditions in their work environment, as part of the normal ways of working. Where does safety show up and how can they enhance it through their understanding of more human centred management practices ? There is safety within collaboration; it takes time to develop and grows over time yet is simple to practice, in both virtual and face to face environments. Leaders must equip themselves with a deep enough understanding how to make their environment safe so that people can let go, experiment and share their ideas fully.

Psychological safety brings hope and a new leadership paradigm to building more innovative and inclusive workplaces. It is easy to forget we are human beings in a transactional environment, and intentional psychological safety provides the foundation for us to be explicitly inclusive - this needs to become a muscle we exercise as leaders everyday.

Karolin and Minette share their experiences, stories, insight and research from working with leaders all over the globe and how they crafted the toolkit that is in their newly published book : The psychological safety playbook.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       The authors came across each other online, have never met in real life – a perfect example of a psychological safe space! – and bring together science (doctorate in genetics) and business (Silicon Valley corporate experience).

-       There is safety within collaboration; it takes time to develop and grows over time yet is simple.

-       The workplace needs to be safer and more human, and the book offers a simple and light-hearted approach to this complex problem.

-       It was a ’playful’ start to creating a useful book, which sets out five important topics to increase psychological safety.

-       The book consists of five plays and five moves that are all standalone and self-contained – a modular approach with anecdotes as explanations.

-       The plays scale empathy to enable leaders to connect with the people they work with, one interaction, conversation and reaction at a time.

-       It is designed to fill the gap of ‘how’ to create psychological safety (for leaders) in a short, concise form that focuses on only the essential.

-       It draws on the authors’ everyday experiences with clients and is a developmental practice, granting permission to experiment.

-       Scientists know experiments don’t always work out, but they provide valuable information and data points to learn from failure.

-       The ‘red threads’ of curiosity, openness and empathy are also the authors’ shared core values, which provide the underlying human connection.

-       The authors practiced what they preach in the book, learned and ‘played’ themselves and experimented in order for the book to have great human impact.

-       Psychological safety brings hope and a new leadership paradigm to inclusion. It is easy to forget we are human beings in a transactional environment and psychological safety provides the foundation for an inclusive environment.

-       Anyone working with a team must contribute to creating a safe environment where people can disagree and be different but feel able to speak up.  

-       The stronger the human connections, the easier the uncomfortable conversations become.

-       One way to measure psychological safety is a ‘fearless organisation scan’ to provide data prior to action, but the most important thing is to act based on the data - in science, it starts to get interesting after the measuring stage.

-       The playbook can and should be used in a book club, for example, to spread the word, build a movement, and share the work widely as it can be transformational.   

-       A second book is in the pipeline - a ‘simmering pot’ of feedback, reactions, research and data to offer information about toxic/unsafe environments. All input gratefully received!

Lomit and I discuss how AI, the future of work and growth, and how to scale this growth and the necessary people strategy effectively. The challenge for growing startups is how to get more done with less. Lean is about being resourceful and engaging, retaining and monetizing customers; AI is about automating processes and turning data into actionable insights.

The use of data and AI is transforming the workplace, and the future of skills and work. Leaders have to understand data, data driven decision making and have technical acumen to inform good AI. Companies are always under pressure to grow, and a product must unify rather than divide – consensus is required to focus on how to make or save money (growth v. efficiency).

How do we continue to proactively manage the co-dependancy of Humans and technology ? How do we get more done with less ? and how do we scale the up-skilling necessary for tomorrow's workforce ?

Lomit shares his experience and insights from his work with start ups and organisations and from working on growth platforms across the world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       The challenge for growing startups is how to get more done with less. Lean is about being resourceful and engaging, retaining and monetizing customers; AI is about automating processes and turning data into actionable insights.  

-       To leverage AI, we must train machines to think and act like humans, personalize the experience of a product to attract new customers and have an ideal user journey to enhance the product value.

-       Manual personalisation is difficult, but built-in AI can integrate data into one place and populate different platforms to create an asynchronous journey for all customers - a much more efficient way of acquiring customers thanks to real-time data-driven decisions.

-       Increasing the lifetime value of customers creates a virtuous cycle to grow business and control growth. An AI-based engine for growth can leverage marketing platforms instead of hiring more people. A great product still needs a great growth marketing engine.

-       An aggressive growth curve starts with people (as in any transformation) - building internal alliances; creating a cloud-based customer data platform with cross-company buy-in; over-communicating; sharing best practices; defining the resources you have and need.

-       Culture must be nimble and buy/bring in different technologies to support transformation; companies must aim for at-scale onboarding for customers from all over the world that require different approaches.

-       Goals must be defined at the outset; successes and/or failures shared transparently; use cases utilised to bring immediate value to the business; marketing budget spent as efficiently as possible; ROI increased as quickly as possible (using AI – aka machine learning).

-       Leaders have to understand data and have technical acumen to inform good AI. Companies are always under pressure to grow, and a product must unify rather than divide – consensus is required to focus on how to make or save money (growth v. efficiency).

-       Risk audit assessment, scenario planning, controllable levers (e.g. data collection and optimum retention/access), input and technology are required to achieve the desired outcome. All the different layers of a company must be involved and heard.  

-       We must demystify AI for a co-dependent relationship between AI and humans. A ‘winning together’ mindset addresses the elephant in the room and offers an opportunity to uplevel and upskill, e.g. make menial tasks more efficient.

-       The starting point must be that AI is built by human intelligence - we define and control how we leverage it to make jobs better and easier. Ideas are often stifled due to lack of resources and AI facilitates experimentation. A growth mindset – test, learn and iterate – helps.

-       The future is all about automation and coding, so these should be taught as early as possible, at school: ‘gamifying’ the experience makes it relatable. Modular teaching of (block) coding gives an understanding of simple algorithms.     

-       Learning a second language broadens our perspective and coding is another language. It teaches logical, computational and critical thinking, offering lifelong skills, e.g. for future leaders, to understand how technology works.

-       Children love to consume technology but also to make and create it too as it builds confidence. Group project-based work brings different children together, builds (creative) resilience and teaches communication, teamwork and problem-solving.     

-       Top tips for adults to get started are to read around a subject first, ask other people about their experiences, teach yourself and give it a go to become a lifelong learner driven by curiosity.

Find out more about Tynker here : www.tynker.com

Find out more about Lomit Patel here : www.lomitpatel.com

A great and fun conversation with Stephen about inclusion and accountability. How we can make it a natural part of the system : both in operations, decision making, leadership and culture ?

How can senior leaders create the conditions for inclusive decision making to be the norm ?

It all starts on the inside. Leaders must do their own inner work first to create psychological safety in their immediate bubbles, and there is patchy progress towards a more collective model but old habits die hard: we can grasp logical, intellectual, rational and commercial aspects but inclusion encompasses more emotional, unspoken aspects.

Stephen shares his experience, research and insights on building sustainable inclusive workplaces from working with leaders and organisations across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Diversity is a reality (no two people are the same), whereas inclusion is a choice (to include diversity) and therefore not always comfortable - homophily is our natural tendency, but it doesn’t help us solve problems or tackle challenges.

-       Inclusion is measured based on strategy, data, governance, leadership and systems against an accompanying maturity scale of diversity 1.0 (compliance), diversity 2.0 (looks good), inclusion 3.0 (embedding) and inclusion 4.0 (changing the system to be more inclusive).

-       Being truly inclusive – i.e. inclusion 4.0 – means feeling it in the culture of the organisation, witnessing it in behaviours, and having a low incidence of cognitive dissonance, e.g. by being employee-centric, offering choice, recalibrating systems and algorithms.

-       Inclusion is the verb to diversity’s noun and is often difficult to enact in a hierarchy as there is less diversity towards the top - senior sponsorship must ensure checks and balances and transparency to make it tangible.

-       Diversity is not an HR subject, but a strategic topic, and decision-making processes must be more inclusive.

-       Leaders must start with themselves to prevent a credibility gap, create psychological safety, and motivate the team (intrinsically – e.g. self-worth, and extrinsically – e.g. remuneration).

-       Being vulnerable is a necessity and not as risky as it might appear but the system holds us back on this front: data inflow exceeds our cognitive capacity and so we must seek help from others.

-       There is patchy progress towards a more collective model but old habits die hard: we can grasp logical, intellectual, rational and commercial aspects but inclusion encompasses more emotional, unspoken aspects.

-       A ‘speak up’ culture rewards questions and productive dissent and co-opting it enables evolution – often not intentionally but in response to a crisis - but ideally it should be intentional so as to integrate empathy, etc. into the education system as life skills.

-       Inclusion has a central role to play when it comes to competitive advantage and why should it not? The exclusion of cognitive diversity and personality types represents a deficit model as opposed to the value-added model of inclusion.

-       Maslow’s hierarchy of needs confirms that inclusion matters, and major disruption or crises (e.g. COVID) make us more open to accepting this and having a more balanced life.

-       We need to democratise access to support, reduce the cost of learning and invest across the board to demystify inclusion.

-       Senior leaders with power and budget must consider inclusion within the wider strategy, embed it on a daily basis, and benchmark against a maturity framework.

-       The golden rule used to be ‘treat others as you wish to be treated’, but this is no longer enough, and the platinum rule now is ‘treat others as they wish to be treated’.

-       If we expect others to adapt to us, we will never include but if we adapt to them, we automatically include and learn and grow as a result.

-       All this is difficult to do 24/7 but we must make a start in order to shift the needle and demonstrate change to garner reciprocity, which in turn produces a virtuous circle.

Jardena and I delve into the world of transformational leadership. What is transformational leadership, why do we need it and how can we constantly hold the balance between the soulful and the practical ?

We look at the 3 different lenses of me, we and the system and get curious about soulful organisations. How can we intentionally connect these 3 levels and stay connected to our ecosystems at an emotional level as well as at an operational level ? What does the dance between the different levels of the system look like, and how can we think about 'soulful processes' ?

We need to stop vying for scarcity and build developmental practice to intentionally cultivate, nurture and grow an environment of emotional literacy and purpose.

Jardena shares her insights and experience from working with global businesses and leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Technology can’t solve all our problems; humans must manage it properly, communicate properly and organise themselves better.

-       We all have an impact on our world (whether we like it or not) and we have personal agency over what that impact will be.

-       Three different lenses/ecosystems produce the butterfly effect: me = know thyself, seek out our blind spots; we = acknowledge, sit in and heal pain; the system = incremental change, the ‘adjacent possible’ to give a different perspective (for the future).

-       How do we connect the three, and connect people? Through empathy, rapport, healing pain and creating a cohesive unit - the third lens requires consideration of the previous two.

-       Transformational leadership starts with better meetings, improved organisational design, and new and better ways of working introduced into embedded systems.

-       It is underpinned by creating organisations for people and society/community; seeing employees as both the raw materials and the audience; and understanding that our behaviour at work is our behaviour in life (= soulful + practical).

-       It holds tensions in the system in terms of the mechanics (process) and their impact on people’s wellbeing. We tend to think only in terms of money, but there is no reason why it cannot also be soulful.

-       A soulful approach understands that the purpose of the process should be to thrive, but it is often soul-crushing. We must understand why and reimagine it, as soul-crushing will prevent transformation – we must sit squarely in the pain to heal it.

-       Top executives often (unintentionally) cut themselves off from the organisation and we must guard against the ‘permafrost layer’ – buffering is not helpful, and neither is ‘don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions’.

-       Transformational leaders must be curious and ask (disruptive) questions diplomatically outside the normal institutional framework.

-       Cultivating transformation requires compassion, nurturing, adaptability, pruning and watering – we are looking after living systems, not building machines; it can be messy, but we must let it be messy because it doesn’t have be orderly to be effective.

-       Scaling/operationalising soulful transformation requires deeply curious, emotionally literate and soulful organisations that have a collective identity; we must apply things we apply to ourselves at an organisational level and put structures and processes in place for it to work.

-       A soulful organisation provides operational support for values such as emotional literacy, e.g. check-ins. Action becomes embedded and transcends individual leaders.

-       There is problematic use of the word ‘failure’ – it should be ‘learning’; we should celebrate learning rather than failing, see everything as an experiment and use metrics to prove a hypothesis rather than measure ‘success’.

-       Language is key for transformation, and DE&I work must precede transformation; conscious inclusion must be a strategic objective, one of the table stakes.

click below to find out more about Jardena's work :

JardenaLondon.com

CultivatingTransformations.com

RosettaAgile.com

Susan and I explore women navigating leadership in a world that is still designed for men, and how we can intentionally nudge the system and create more inclusive leadership and decision making practices for sustainable change.  How can we change the conversation on 'fixing the women' to 'fixing the system' ?

What we think and feel drives what we say and do and we need to tap into this a lot more than we do today as leaders. The universal question is how can we use this to lead from our best self ? How can we develop this to use our talents and energy and be in service of others to serve a more collective vision ? 

Inclusive leadership however is not just about women and we need to use our joint talents to level the playing field. 

How can we create systemic change in the system and step out of the exclusive groups often created in organisations ? 

How can we create organisational culture change and empower people through learning, equity and inclusivity ? 

Susan shares her years of research, insights and experience from working with leaders and organisations around the world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Many senior women lack support once they ‘arrive’ and do not thrive, which is not an attractive model for effective leadership: they must lead with their best self, bring unique value and foster equal respect for greater innovation, creativity and psychological safety.

-       We must be and return to our best self (in times of adversity), which requires deliberately developmental practices from various fields such as sociology, anthropology and psychology,

-       We must slow down and notice our thoughts and feelings; take time to respond, in order to prevent negative reaction or harm to self or others; heed our second consciousness; go from moment to moment and get to know ourselves at our best.

-       Enablers/blockers to our best selves are important for efficacy and a precondition for thriving. We must ‘Velcro-in’ and develop an allergy to disempowerment - there are no rewards for putting yourself last.

-       Being competently courageous means ensuring the right conditions for action by establishing a strong internal reputation based on values and managing our messaging and emotions.

-       Relationships are a constant cycle of harmony, disharmony and repair, and courage needs quick and honourable reparation. Being appreciative is FREE and creates an organisation in which people feel valued.

-       Courageous curiosity is a move away from defensive reaction - curiosity is the fuel that drives the car that is your best self. If leaders are transparent about their learning journey, we can all learn together.

-       Women in the corporate world must purposefully and intentionally foster muscle, fortitude and agility to thrive whilst remaining resilient (positive deviance). Women make connections more naturally and build meaningful human relationships.

-       The notion of connection is at the forefront post-pandemic: leadership is a social and human relationship and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating connection in a team.

-       COVID forced us to confront our co-workers - with vulnerability, humanity, inclusion, uniqueness and belonging – and be intentionally inclusive. Indeed the three most important qualities of authenticity are honesty, openness, and confidence (owning imperfections).

-       Tools for fostering resilience include reflective sense-making and capitalising on learning - we must continuously rediscover aspects of our own value, jettisoning that which no longer serves us and ascertaining what is missing.

-       There is systemic bias particularly for women in leadership: leaders must start with themselves (‘changing me changes we’), demonstrate appreciative upstanding and create a collective environment.

-       Organisational change to advance women must be leader-led and create a culture in which women can thrive and are empowered through learning, equity and inclusivity - formal sponsorship should be used to leverage potential to bring about change.

-       Leaders must be change agents - not alone, but with a trusted circle inside and outside of work; they must make points respectfully for micro behaviour changes and do their best for others to follow suit. 

-       Inclusion is not even on the table if disrespect still exists in a gender equity context. Love must replace fear: fear-based behaviour is deficient and founded on scarcity, whereas abundance and appreciation are love-based.

You can find out more about Susan Mackenty Brady here : www.inclusiveleadership.com

A rich and insightful conversation with Dean around his vision of a Market organisation : the design and engineering of an ecosystem in which we can all work and thrive. Dean walks us through the idea of a hierarchy that houses a network of entrepreneurs, using the science and engineering principles of organisational design, as well as the golden rules of empowerment to build high performance.

How can we go about conceiving of this vision as well as the mechanics of implementing this vision successfully ?

How can we help and support leaders to think more holistically - to design an organisational ecosystem in which everyone can prosper, even when they are no longer there ?

Dean shares his research, insights and experience, as well as his definition of Organisational design as a science. Together we journey through the different structures within the system as well as his wider vision for high performing organisations, where leaders set time aside to work both 'in' and 'on' the system.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Organisational design is the ecosystem in which we work and interact and there are five organisational systems: three major ones (structure, resource governance, culture) and two minor ones (best practices, metrics and consequences).

-       Mechanics/engineering and collaboration within the ecosystem are both human systems and a leader must have a system design in which everyone can prosper.

-       Structure cannot follow strategy as strategy is no longer stable in a fast-moving world –organisations must be more dynamic in design and take a systems approach.

-       Hierarchy must be used to provide the requisite competencies when they are needed, and the required performance management and coordination so as to leave nothing to chance.

-       A different organisational paradigm looks at the engineering science of the ecosystem and change management:

·      Vision: a job as a business within a business, job holder is empowered and accountable, teamwork ripples across the organisation and fosters collaboration not competition.

·      Decision-making: consensus and the golden rule of empowerment apply - authorities and accountabilities match to prevent either an unconstrained tyrant or a helpless victim.

·      Consensus: should only/aways be used when a decision impacts multiple stakeholders across an organisation – this requires clarity from a well-designed ecosystem.

-       The approach seems to work regardless of industry although consensus is difficult in large organisations (1000+). It is universal given the human and interaction aspects.

-       System mechanics and organisational design are a combination of art and science: applied science of engineering comprising firm constructs plus aesthetics.

-       Organisations exist to allow specialisation and the group performs better than the individual because individuals have to be generalists and do not perform as well as specialists.

-       The human mind has finite brain cycles, bandwidth and throughput, whereas the world has unthinkable variety: a T-shaped team therefore gives an organisation breadth and depth.

-       Common truth, collective wisdom and implementation form the power of participation for success and are essential both for transformation and for capturing hearts and minds. [LLS1] 

-       Three possible scenarios for creating a radically different organisational model:

·      low tolerance for change = cautious evolution (low risk/low reward; a series of small linear changes to form a consistent end state; direction is required);

·      choose either structure, resource governance or culture = restructuring and rainbow analysis (colour coding the orgchart to avoid conflict of interest and visualise substructures);

·      comprehensive transformation covering all five systems = climate for change and ‘clean sheet’ restructuring (tweaks will not suffice and too many tweaks are painful).  

-       Truly transformational leadership encompasses all five systems and covers:

·      Vision (clear description of end state five years from now), consensus (understanding of subject and willingness/ability to teach and support);

·      Gaps against the vision/in the created future (diagnose root cause, sequence root causes into transformation roadmap);

·      Plan/root cause analysis (open communication to build trust and patience as well as a solid foundation).

-       For total transformation, leaders must set time aside to work both in and on the system: leadership is working in the system, management is working on the system: a great leader focuses on the end game and leaves a legacy of an organisation that performs brilliantly long after they have moved on.

You can find out more about Dean Meyer and his work here : www.ndma.com

A fun conversation with Matt about what happiness actually is, what it means for employee engagement and how we can intentionally leverage our own sense of happiness.

Emotions are generally not spoken about in the workplace but wearing social masks and inhibiting emotions prevents flow and thus performance, and we sophisticatedly disguise/block our emotions using an emotional deflector field.

How can business leaders use data/data science to shift organisational culture? How can technology enable a more human centred approach in organisations ?  

The Happiness Index platform looks at the entire EX and allows the company to listen to the employees; it provides an unfiltered view for larger companies to visualise culture and interrogate data.

What could this insight leverage for both employees, leaders and businesses if it was intentionally followed and used for understanding the flow of motivation, performance and well being?

Matt shares his experience, stories and research from working with over a 100 countries and thousands of leaders across the globe.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-       Happiness consists of joy (fluctuating feeling) and eudaimonia (underlying feeling of how happy you are, spirit) and unlocks the freedom to be human and take opportunities, which is one of the top four drivers for happiness at work.

-       Data backs up the neuroscience of happiness: happiness is what the heart needs and engagement is what the brain needs – when employee engagement and happiness are aligned, they achieve the right balance, e.g. happy at home/in life = happy at work.

-       The analogy of a car is useful to illustrate the difference between engagement and happiness: engagement is the sat nav (direction, clarity, purpose of journey), and happiness depends on who is in the car with you (relationships).

-       There are cultural differences in terms of the happiness index data, e.g. engagement is more westernised, whereas happiness is more global – a human emotion we all experience – and there are different interpretations of it and comfort levels in terms of talking about it.

-       In both Canada and the US, the first driver of employee engagement is positive relationships, but the second driver differs: in the US it is clarity (engagement metric), and in Canada it is feelings of acknowledgement.

-       In the US, a business case is required to discuss the happiness index, but this is not the case in Denmark, where there is a concept known as arbejdsglæde meaning ‘work happiness’ - in some cultures, the scientific question of ’what makes you happy?’ is perceived as too personal and a reluctance to have conversations can be a huge barrier.  

-       There are three sources of happiness: flow, meanings and pleasure, all preceded by emotions, e.g. the difference between feeling anger and lashing out - we cannot ignore the emotion and positive relationships require sharing both positive and negative emotions.

-       Emotions are generally not spoken about in the workplace but wearing social masks and inhibiting emotions prevents flow and thus performance - we sophisticatedly disguise/block our emotions using an emotional deflector field.

-       Purpose and psychological safety feature in the top eight drivers of happiness but number one is positive relationships – this is more difficult remotely, but not impossible - after all, where there’s a will there’s a way, and companies must adapt, unlearn and be creative.

-       Companies should have a test-and-learn culture, experiment with a variety of ‘ingredients’ and assemble them to produce the right dish for bespoke tastes; CEOs must have a vision for the dish - how it will look, taste and be experienced – and care about it.

-       Most leaders were successful pre-pandemic and have their own bias when it comes to thinking about the future of work, but their personal data is outdated and they must step back, ask the right questions and let things emerge in hybrid environments.

-       How can business leaders use data/data science to shift organisational culture? The HI platform looks at the entire EX and allows the company to listen to the employees; it provides an unfiltered view for larger companies to visualise culture and interrogate data.

-       ‘Thriving’ often means competitive in reality – when engagement is high and happiness is low there is competitiveness; when happiness is high and engagement is low there is a lack of focus, so both are needed for a thriving environment.

-       Brands need to be transparent about their culture and tech platforms provide objective data to drive culture change; companies cannot afford to miss out on employees who might leave and do their own thing instead of bringing innovation in house.

-       Retaining happy/engaged staff affects the bottom line, reduces recruitment costs and lowers attrition rates - asking ‘what makes us happy?’ is an important question that can be used as a basis for planning a business.

Everett and I delve into the leadership of global business and societal issues and the need to constantly navigate uncertainty, and solve complex problems creatively. This starts with leading from within first and foremost.

How do we navigate when we don't know the answer ?

How do we do 'sense making' in order to create the conditions for systems to thrive ?

How do we create the system and emotional infrastructure to scale the new practices or products we want to adopt ? We often fail to solve complex problems because we have forgotten the human aspect...and not knowing what to say or do is an innately human reaction to uncertainty and it's sometimes hard.

We need to master both interior and exterior practices to sustain and lead complex systems

Everett shares his experience, personal stories and research from both building his own businesses and supporting businesses all over the globe to shift their mindset and move to their edge for more inclusive and sustainable businesses.

The main insights you will get from this episode are :

-       ‘Moving to the edge’ means navigating when not knowing the answer, an uncomfortable place to be but leaders should always do something, even if it’s saying ‘I don’t know’ - others are relieved to see leaders as human.

-       ‘Declaring it center’ means understanding how to create a system to scale the new practice you want. Creating a transition giving rise to new skills and processes to prevent innovations dying on the vine due to a lack of infrastructure - we must create systems to scale, share and sustain them.

-       Critical systems thinking is required for complex issues, but there is a difference between complex and complicated problems: complex problems involve unknown or unpredictable interactions; complicated problems involve well-known interactions.

-       Interior and exterior practices are necessary to deal with complex problems: exterior practices involve different ways of dealing with problems, e.g. premortems; interior practices require internal alignment to apply frameworks correctly.

-       We often fail to solve complex problems because we have forgotten the human aspect – we all have blind spots and the opinions of those closest to the problem must be factored into the decision-making process.

-       When it comes to evolution in technology, we must take care not to code bias into AI and machines - with deep democracy, innovation is at the edges and those voices must be heard at meetings that are inclusive.

-       There must be constant iteration to get better: as a pioneer of remote working, all-hands meetings at Truss are not in one room so it is important to have quick feedback loops - it is easy just not to get started, but the goal is to keep going.

-       Originally from the agile world but applicable to many scenarios, regular retrospectives are a useful tool for learning - what went well? what didn’t go well? Both must be discussed in a blameless environment in order to learn.

-       We should take a more systemic approach to problem-solving by starting with information gathering rather than an answer or a plan: optimization based on hypothesis enables rapid adaptation through curiosity and compassion instead of planning and linear thinking.

-       Having experience of sport brings to leadership an understanding of losing, taking responsibility, having to carry on regardless, dealing with embarrassment/shame or a disappointed/demotivated teammate.

-       Similarly, it is important to understand purpose – if we know why we are doing something, we won’t quit, we will relax and enjoy it, thereby improving our performance and resulting in success: the goal is to align with the purpose to produce results.

-       Practicing at the edge and training hard to be able to make decisions at the edge means we can then move forward where others can’t by intentionally exercising the ‘edge’ muscle – we must transition from the mastery of craft to the mastery of self.

-       Our imaginal selves pass through dark places along the way - it is easy to just keep going without rest, but recovery is essential to high performance. This can be a lonely place filled with existential questions, scary yet exciting.

-       We must seek support for doubts and ask for help and guidance earlier and more often; we should all take a few minutes to ponder on something we don’t know the answer to and see what feelings come up.

-       Being self-aware and taking a counterfactual approach – ‘trying on’ decisions as a powerful tool to learn from an imagined future and mitigate in the present in order to cultivate strong decision-making.

Why do we so often fail to lead and sustain transformational change ? All transformation is change, but not all change is transformational. Ian and I discuss the power of us : 200 voices in under 200 pages - how does this contribute to getting the right recipe for sustainable and transformational change ? There is wisdom in the collective, which allows leaders to scale change together with others who share the same purpose and passion. 

There is no need to necessarily change everything, as some leaders try to do, but it is about anticipating where possible and building ‘as you go’. The secret sauce is simple in ingredients and complex to implement because it is about constantly navigating human and business polarities and complexity. This is the capacity of a system to shape its future and nudge both people and processes towards a more innovative and agile culture.

Ian shares his experience, thoughts and research from the Consortium For Change on working with leaders and businesses across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Ingredients of the secret sauce:

o  spirit of abundance: learn from and share with other people to create a wealth of information for the collective benefit with a huge spill over effect for leading transformational change – this is fundamental for success.

o  from what to what: learn from life and experience (e.g. trauma, bereavement, life-changing events); it is the most important question to ask when driving large-scale change – what is the start and end point?

o  the beauty of ‘and’: master paradoxes and reconcile polarities - facts and feelings, data and humans, speed and rhythm (of change), listen to what is and isn’t being said.

-       There is wisdom in the collective, which allows leaders to scale change together with others who share the same purpose and passion. There is no need to necessarily change everything, as some leaders try to do, it is about anticipating where possible and building ‘as you go’.

-       Leaders should demonstrate love and respect for those who influence and those who resist and not marginalise or ignore people. Covid shows that plans can be sent off course and we need the capacity to figure it out on the fly as part of managing uncertainty.

-       The evolution of the workforce and the workplace sees future work as work without jobs - bite-sized, ‘nugget-ised’, not salaried, AI, robotics – and a smorgasbord for leaders to both select from and compile. Disruption brings new opportunities and up-/re-/new skilling should not have a negative connotation.

-       Personal definition of transformational change is deriving a benefit from many different perspectives - completely rethinking the what, why, who, how, when and where. There should be a dramatic yet sustainable improvement in or the survival of something or something (at whatever level, i.e. personal, individual, company, societal).

-       ‘Pizzanalogy’: a huge global industry from humble ancient beginnings with a multitude of shapes, sizes, toppings, crusts, cheeses, preparation styles, outlets, sauces - entails constant repositioning and reimagining to be relevant, despite being traditional. In a company setting, it prompts the question: what long-standing practices might be jeopardising the ability to see the need to rethink something?

-       Do’s and don’ts for leaders

o  don’t make people feel stupid or disloyal if they resist or ask questions; healthy scepticism is good.

o  don’t ignore data that doesn’t reinforce views – start with the truth and reality.

o  do address if it’s true that people hate change: they hate failure more so couch the context of change in ‘winning’ to persuade them of the value of change and help make it happen.

o  do seek to navigate uncertainty and manage polarities.

o  do understand the importance of surrounding yourself with other people that are closer to the problem or circumstance that calls for change – you can’t know everything all the time.

A fun conversation with @JeremyWilliams around the bridge between technology and human, as we explore the blockchain landscape. We journey through use cases and understanding of how blockchain will change business and the way humans do business in the future. 

The fact that blockchain is immutable brings with it in-built trust, accountability and a lever for more transparent governance and decision making. We explore the idea of blockchain as a lever for culture change, and the potential positive impact on human systems. Leaders must educate themselves, understand the basics of blockchain and look to leverage the technology in their organisation. 

How do companies, particularly hyper growth companies, decide what to focus on ?

How can this technology help to create a more equitable and regenerative model for organisations and indeed society as a whole ?

Jeremy shares his insights and experience from his own career and from supporting clients across the globe in bringing together blockchain technology and emotional intelligence. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Blockchain can disrupt the globalised world by decentralising governance and changing structures at both country and company level, moving into a world for the many governed by the many, not the few. 

-       Bitcoin (stemming from a white paper in 2008), a cryptocurrency, is the first successful use case of blockchain technology, which has 3 core elements: it is decentralised, transparent and immutable.

-       There is no lack of trust as data and transaction records are permanent. Other blockchain use cases are for supply chain and financial purposes (e.g. to replace the SWIFT global banking system and send value across the world with no loss of currency). 

-       Blockchain furthermore offers security (hacks are only of centralised exchanges, not the blockchains themselves), advanced cryptography (allows the third party to be removed from a transaction), and accountability.

-       Third parties such as banks must decide where they add value, given that users own the private keys to bitcoin wallets, and are now starting to offer storage for such private keys using advanced technology, thus pivoting their business model.

-       For organisations, this private key technology means a private, efficient and secure blockchain to which users (stakeholders, suppliers, etc.) are invited, fostering trust in the ecosystem.

-       Thus blockchain is a lever for culture change and has a positive impact on human systems as a relationship between the people and the technology - technology will be very different in years to come but not so people.

-       Tech-savvy millennials are moving into positions of power, bringing with them a shift in mindset; some companies focus on emotional intelligence and human aspects, others – hypergrowth companies – on technology, and this is a difficult balance to strike.

-       The complexity of systems is difficult to manage. For example, the metaverse – a great use case for blockchain technology - is yet to be defined but essentially merges the virtual gaming world with reality; we have ‘game-ified’ blockchain technology.

-       Luxury brands are active in this space, creating virtual shops for their clients to experience personal shopping; training/onboarding in the metaverse too will be short, dynamic, engaging and interactive in the form of videos, microlearning, etc.

-       NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will ‘token-ise’ training for the purposes of engagement and loyalty. This is world-changing technology, the next layer of the internet, and a company’s competitive advantage will be how they develop their talent.

-       If we outsource mundane tasks to technology, we can invest time in human tasks, such as meeting people or designing products, add value and remain relevant. AI avatars of ourselves in sync with our real personality and skills will work in the metaverse and earn tokens for us to spend in the real world.

-       In terms of super AI, the question must always be: is the decision to be made good for humanity? We must ensure that the technology benefits the users. It is very powerful technology but subject to politics, which will determine whether it succeeds or not.

-       Leaders must educate themselves, understand the basics of blockchain and look to leverage the technology in their organisation; clients will ask about it and leaders must be able to engage. Sandbox learning for blockchain technology means starting with small changes and looking at the pros and cons of use cases in particular environments.

Great conversation with Donna as we explore the concept of dignity and how to put it into words and actions. Donna underlines the power of giving a label to profoundly emotional human reactions that are impossible to articulate in difficult/conflict situations. Using the right language legitimises suffering, opens doors for understanding and starts discussions.

Leaders must understand that Dignity is our highest common denominator. We need to acknowledge that we are worthy no matter what, and we that need the emotional infrastructure to ensure that we can survive negative experiences, atone for mistakes and recover from violation and violating others' dignity. 

Humanity/dignity is a level playing field yet sadly shame and fear form the basis of much organisational culture, and there is not necessarily a place for emotions, vulnerability or compassion. Here dignity skills are required for building a safe environment and leaders need to understand how this can help to create a more inclusive workplace, and create a whole new paradigm of empowerment. 

Donna shares her insights, research and experience from working with Dignity and the dignity model with leaders across the globe. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

•  This approach is applicable to and resonates in all arenas; dignity is the highest common denominator of humans, who all want to be treated as something of value - indeed, the ‘D’ in DE&I could just as well stand for dignity as we should all treat each other with dignity.
• Dignity, and the assaulting thereof, gives a label to profoundly emotional human reactions that are impossible to articulate in difficult/conflict situations - using the right language legitimises suffering, opens doors and starts discussions.
• Mandela consciousness – nobody can be stripped of their dignity, we are the guardians of our own dignity and it unifies us. The biggest dignity violators are those who have been violated the most.
• We must understand that we are worthy no matter what; we need the emotional infrastructure to ensure that we survive negative experiences, atone for mistakes and recover from violation and violating others.
• There is a fundamental difference between dignity and respect: we cannot ‘demand’ respect (it should be earned), but we can ‘demand’ to be treated as a human being (we can learn it).
• As dignity-conscious people, we require the 3 c’s: connection to our own dignity, connection to others’ dignity, connection to something greater than ourselves that gives life meaning.
• Leaders must frame these connections for employees for an organisation to have dignity too, but there is often a disconnect between these three connections in organisations - everyone should be able to connect regardless of their position in the organisation.
• There are ten elements of dignity: accepting identity, fairness, independence, recognition, acknowledgement, understanding, safety, accountability, inclusion, benefit of the doubt.
• -       80% of people said safety was the most violated element in the workplace – they don’t speak up when something bad happens, they ‘suck up’ dignity violations and can’t be their authentic selves.
• There are dignity skills required for a safe environment: being able to speak up and give / receive feedback skilfully – humans have a biological aversion to feedback and we must take the shame out of it by using disarming language and practicing delivery.
• We all have blind spots and feedback is a learning opportunity that should be seen as positive, not negative, to help leaders in a workplace move from self-reflection to self-correction.
• Humanity/dignity is a level playing field yet sadly shame and fear form the basis of much organisational culture – problems often stem from bad policy, therefore the executive leadership team must be on board for the dignity conversation.   
• Leadership starts on the inside to be able to help others – leaders must have the courage, strength and vulnerability to ask for and receive feedback to get to the truth.
• Dignity wounds are felt and experienced by the brain in the same way as physical injuries yet are often implicitly allowed – this is a very powerful message and a very persuasive argument.
• Both systemic and interpersonal acknowledgement is vital - organisations have an emotional infrastructure too and reconciliation requires the acknowledgement of suffering, even by a party other than the perpetrator; intervention can also help.
• The latest cutting-edge research is looking at how to (objectively) measure progress in and the presence of dignity in the workplace, as quantification of such metrics is still required.

Steve and I delve into his model of different depths of practice and the idea of unfoldment to learn to navigate complexity more effectively. Taking a more holistic and integrated ecology of coaching practice to open up channels of wisdom and looking at the different ways human beings have learnt to grow, individually and collectively. 

As we move into a more connected and digital world we see ourselves as humans in "technological terms", to be ‘upgraded’ or ‘fixed’ through self improvement. This however is often at the cost of our humanity. How can we shift from this to a different and more human centred paradigm. What if we didn't need to be 'fixed' but rather to 'let go' and let ourselves 'unfold' ?

Improvement is often driven by assessment, evoking resistance and anxiety, and triggering emotions and defences as we are asked to fit in rather than belong; self-unfoldment helps us navigate complexity.

Steve shares his experience, methodology and insights from working with clients and organisations across the globe. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• A holistic coaching method to face unprecedented challenges, particularly post-Covid – an integrated ecology of coaching practice, next-generation coaching, and a variety of methodologies and philosophies to make it more accessible.
• Powerful coaching is like a great work of art - it reveals the profound wonder of being human, very important in a digital world – the Aletheia method is based on unfoldment and a curiosity to learn more.
• Attunement - of which there are two types, technical and poetic - is the key to shifting between self-improvement and self-unfoldment. Self-improvement prevails in our global culture: we want to feel competent but often start from a feeling of deficiency. Self-unfoldment is based on the premise that nothing is missing, we just need to find it.
• The philosopher Martin Heidegger saw how the view of technology was overtaking the view of being human - we see ourselves as humans in technological terms, to be ‘upgraded’ or ‘fixed’, but at the cost of our humanity.
• He suggested attuning to the world more poetically: what do we feel, in our body, in our life? This allows deeper self-discovery but is a huge shift, particularly in organisations as everything is based on performance.
• Improvement is often driven by assessment, evoking resistance and anxiety, and triggering emotions and defences as we are asked to fit in rather than belong; self-unfoldment helps us navigate complexity.
• We all operate at different depths. If we can find a way of moving fluidly between different depths, we can change the conversation and see powerful results. There are four depths:

1. Depth of parts: everything is seen as separate, outwardly and inwardly; a partial view. The Aletheia method is about parts work: make the parts feel seen and understood, loved and valued as they are. This naturally leads to the next level of ….

2. Depth of process: experiencing the fluid flow of felt experience; a more embodied depth; feeling relatedness. Relational intelligence is necessary for high performing leaders to be present with people (a felt sense of what’s happening between people).

3. Depth of presence: a sense of wholeness; I am equal to what is happening in life; I can meet this moment as it is; I can navigate through it; I have the human virtues required, e.g. love, perseverance, compassion, inner strength, humility, patience.

4. Depth of non-duality: non-separation; a sense of shared humanity in a spiritually profound way; if we relax our defences, we land more in relationship with each other - we often live on the surface of life.

• How does depth change inclusion? Group unfoldment is intricately linked to group leadership – we must create the conditions to allow natural unfoldment. We don’t always need to go deep as the surface can provide helpful insights.
• The poetry of humanness in terms of D&I is understanding differences, prejudices, triggers, and powerful conversations to have impactful results. Inclusion is about where we are the same and where we are different, all based on compassion.
• Psychological safety is essential; it is too easy for people to feel misunderstood and not valued for who they are. This reflects the relationship most of us have with ourselves, always under pressure to be a better version of who we are.
• All parts have a positive intention: we must try and understand how we try to help, protect ourselves/the organisation but behaviour often doesn’t fulfil or even sabotages the intention- we must acknowledge the good intention.
• We try to do everything but must let go - micro-practices move the momentum in a different direction, away from overwhelm. We must look at how we occupy the present moment(s) throughout the day, to which we can always return.
• Things we seek, e.g. more fulfilling relationships, relaxation, are available to us right now if we can look to poetic attunement.
• We should aim for self-acceptance - ironically the most powerful way to transform ourselves – as a first step towards self-compassion.

Find out more about Steve's work here : https://integralunfoldment.com/

We now live in a complex world and we’ve got to be able to operate in a different way to stay competitive, and every context is different but everyone is facing similar challenges. 

Natal and I delve into Agile HR and how it is evolving in the more hybrid workplace. Agility is inextricably linked to digital and transformation strategy and we need to modernise and enrich the employee experience, add value, demonstrate impact, and take a multiskilled approach to solving complex problems. 

Organisations need to unpick legacy (IT and human legacy) and build a more agile mindset and ways of working to be more constructively disruptive. Agile doesn’t need to be called “agile” but it does need to be anchored in understanding of the overall business purpose and create the environment and leadership for the system and the culture to adapt accordingly. 

Natal shares her insights and experience from working with businesses big and small across the globe on defining the best approach to stay competitive and constantly meet customer’s evolving needs. 

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Agile HR for the 21st century must ensure that a company is great place to work and enable business agility through people practices – understanding where business is at and dealing with complexity and constant change.

-       Agility is inextricably linked to strategy in terms of transformation and digitisation and HR must lead by example – modernise and enrich the employee experience, add value, demonstrate impact, and take a multiskilled approach to solving complex problems.

-       The Agile manifesto cites people before process – HR must follow best practice, transpose talent frameworks and understand the context: examples can be borrowed but each company must have its own system/approach that can adapt and evolve.

-       Agile tools don’t work without an agile mindset/culture (cf. Simon Powers’ 3 beliefs: complexity, people, proactive) but this can be a chicken-or-egg scenario, e.g. if a company’s purpose requires agility with regard to reskilling the workforce or changing the supply chain.

-       Everyone faces the same problems, such as disrupted markets and a drive towards business agility, but agility must be individualised: change management, project management and consulting (one size fits all, top-down) must be replaced by continuous evolution.

-       Disruption is the reality, but measurement is still necessary although targets will change and may be wrong. Agile HR should use a tracking/understanding dashboard and data-driven decisions to see both the bigger picture and the crossover between HR and other functions.

-       Job descriptions no longer define one particular skillset or role, and agile organisational design must bring people together in a multiskilled way to solve problems as they arise by scaling up and down within the network, understanding different capabilities and gaps.

-       A T-shaped approach provides the general capability to navigate different business scenarios with specialisms where required; T-shaped teams can undertake multiple projects with a combined collection of specialised skills to provide more stability.

-       Company-wide, there must be a good understanding of how to use skills, offer holistic career development and improve the employee experience. There should be no proprietary rights to team members; people should be helped to find their place in the new ecosystem.

-       Recruitment should be based on both a T shape and what is good for the organisation as a whole, but not at the cost of belonging to a specific team served by its manager. Many scenarios require a collaborative team approach; the disconnects under the surface must be discussed and resolved with a strong vision.

-       Post-pandemic, there are tensions between the hybrid approach favoured by workers and leaders wanting in-person working - this is the true future of work and agile working requires careful selection of tools, open communication, and trust from leaders.

-       The digitisation of work is profound and we must adapt. It has empowered people to say what they feel about the system, which changes the identity of leaders, who are called upon to inspire in a complex environment; we must all hold ourselves to account and HR can ensure that the company purpose is intact and honoured.

-       Not all hybrid models suit everyone, and companies must take an agile approach to developing their own model by engaging people in the solution. Agile is a disciplined way of working and the discipline of the agile cycle builds adaptability and drives purpose.

-       Companies can’t afford to miss the market opportunity: values must be authentic, lived and linked to the purpose of the business, and strategy must reflect the purpose and link back to delivery – this holistic view is essential.  

Sam and I delve into the world of dynamic work and the different strategies available to organisations to create an equitable, inclusive and adaptable work policy as we come out of the pandemic and into a different world of work. What models do we nee d? How do we cater for everyone ?

Dynamic work strategies must be anchored in trust and used to further empower employees and leaders to make the best decisions and create new rituals for optimised performance. Listening to and acting upon employee feedback is key, as the workplace, organisational culture and digital technology evolve.

Sam shares her thoughts and experience from pioneering this topic both in OKTA and across other global businesses.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

-       Dynamic work is a broad remit seeking to maintain choice and flexibility for employees while maximising opportunities for engagement. Hybrid/remote working offers a big opportunity for companies to consider what goes into building a workforce.

-       It encompasses the full spectrum of the employee lifecycle and journey and focuses also on community, equity, benefits, engagement, D&I, and belonging. The culture must foster a holistic environment where ‘place’ is purposeful and intentional in a post-pandemic world.

-       Employees have reacted well thus far to the opportunity to better manage their work-life balance; the framework for this is anchored in trust – for employees to get work done and the company to provide extra support when necessary.

-       Companies need to track premises utilisation and on-site presence: people may choose to come together in an office or meet locally where there is no office. This new ecosystem also brings a competitive advantage over companies who enforce on-site work.

-       Adaptive culture is enabled by forward-leaning digital technology, e.g. an employee app to give cross-team visibility, a variety of zoom products, digital whiteboards, cloud-based on-demand printing, space sensors for (re)design purposes, virtual neighbourhoods, etc.

-       Personal choice sees leaders offering transparency around their own decisions to go into the office or not; Okta have a new L&D unit to address leading differently for distributed teams looking at inclusion when working remotely, and new/more resources for managers.

-       People are empowered by a dynamic work environment that still offers career development opportunities, and feel engaged and incentivised whether they are working remotely or on-site, for very different personal reasons.

-       A belonging strategy is important with distributed teams and relies mostly on technical operations, such as home working/3rd party environment mirroring the office environment with the same equipment and amenities.

-       Change management tools: individual meetings with executives and direct reports to discuss the tactics of dynamic work, discussions with HR, individual roadshows at business unit level, management being open to questions, a social intranet platform for dynamic work.

-       To drive the philosophy and practices of dynamic working requires a targeted push-and-pull approach: employee engagement survey data reveals where the gaps are, and management must interact constantly with employees to obtain their feedback.

-       Leaders must also constantly listen and pay attention to what is happening externally for employees and understand that new hires need/want different things and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

-       Companies are constantly changing their dynamic working environments due to push back from employees, so it is a moving baseline for many, but people-centric aspects will become more prevalent in functions/metrics/data.

-       The future workplace will be based around experience and experience centres; melding internal teams with prospects and clients to achieve a strategic advantage; individual and different working styles will evolve as to how, where and when work gets done.

-       Talent is tight, there is global economic pressure and evolving technology. The aim is to achieve what is best from a business perspective and attract and retain top talent by providing positive lifecycle and professional journeys within an organisation.

-       Any hybrid model must match the company’s requirements based on employee feedback; culture and focus; maturity standpoint; client needs; streamlined technology stock; building the right services and programmes; a roadmap; and a high level of buy in.