Episodes
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In my work with my executive coaching clients, one of the most important aspects of sustainable change and getting into flow is to create daily habits that support our energy and focus. One of those habits that I encourage is daily reflection. The impact of a daily reflection exercise is to connect more deeply with ourselves and what matters.
In this podcast episode, I share two 5-minute guided coaching exercises. The first is a morning journaling exercise. It helps you create focus for yourself for a productive and energized day. It helps you focus your energy toward your purpose and aspirations. It helps you practice gratitude which has been shown to grow resilience.
The second is an evening journaling exercise. It helps you process your day so you are not bringing the stressors of the day to your home life. It helps you release challenging emotions, get new perspective, and bring a calmer and more compassionate you to the people and activities that matter at home. It also helps you practice self-compassion which has been shown to grow resilience, confidence, and connection.
My recommendation is to start with the morning practice. See if you can add it to an existing morning habit you have. Then add the evening practice.
If you decide to try this practice, I would welcome your feedback.
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Our current state of burnout is a call for us to evolve our leadership, individually and collectively. In my work with leaders and their teams, they are increasingly asking for ways to create more trust and connection so people can feel safety in navigating the challenges of disruption. The cause of burnout is lack of connection to ourselves, our individual and collective purpose, and the people we work with.
In this short podcast episode, I have created two practices for teams.
At the start is a 5-minute practice for teams to arrive and create the conditions for collective flow to happen: to bring their attention to now, to grow connection and trust, and to align on their intention for contribution toward collective goals. I recommend this as an essential practice. Many of my clients say it super-charges the quality of trust and ideas in the room.
The second practice (after a 30-second pause) is an optional 2-minute practice done just prior to aligning on next steps and concluding the meeting. It's a way to bring individual and shared attention to the learning and progress during the meeting, to drive clarity and commitment toward inspired and aligned action.
The topic of my next book is how teams can create breakthroughs in collective flow and I am looking for 15 mighty teams to be part of my Collective Flow Experiment. If your team chooses to use these practices, I would welcome your feedback on how this works for you.
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Missing episodes?
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Many teams struggle with burnout, belonging, and breakthrough innovation. Silos, matrix reporting and disconnection get in the way of results. What if we could navigate some of our most important collective challenges by accessing collective flow? I sat down with Dr. Keith Sawyer, author of Group Genius, who is a pre-eminent researcher on this topic and worked directly with the “father of flow”, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Dr. Keith Sawyer, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is one of the country’s leading scientific experts on creativity. He has published 18 books and over 100 scientific articles. His research has been featured on CNN, Fox News, TIME Magazine, NPR, and other media. A popular speaker, he lectures to corporations, associations, and universities around the world on creativity and innovation.
In this episode Keith discussed some of the most important activators of group flow based on his own experience playing in a jazz band as well as extensive study of improv actors and large teams and organizations that regularly create conditions for group flow. Some of the activators include meaningful shared goals and risks, close listening and attention, trust and connection among the members, blending of ego’s and giving up personal agendas. We discussed both the benefits and the challenges of this in leadership teams.
If this topic interests you, reach out as collective flow is the topic of my next book and I’m interested in working with leaders and teams who have high stakes challenges that need breakthrough thinking and alignment.
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)
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Dr. Andrew White works globally with leaders to understand how they can transcend the internal and external strategic challenges they face to ensure they deliver sustainable high performance. His experience comes from being a Senior Fellow in Management Practice at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford where he works with these leaders by directing the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, coaching several CEOs and their senior teams, and conducting research into leadership and transformation. is also a certified meditation teacher and has developed a toolkit of meditations tailored to the different situations leaders face.
In this episode, Andrew shared examples of leaders who are driving transformation across industries, bringing uncommon thinking. They are able to create breakthroughs because they combine a bigger purpose they care deeply about with the ability to listen deeply to different needs of stakeholders within an ecosystem. He shared insights about how all successful transformations require spaciousness and sensing into what is emerging, a clear and aligned plan, and also empathy to listen closely to the human resistance that often derails the plan. This deep caring and listening to the emotional journey of people participating in the change makes all the difference.
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What if the most serious personal and global challenges won’t be solved with more thinking or talking? What if human beings have access to deeper forms of intelligence that we have access to only in silence? Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz are the co-authors of the book Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise. Justin Zorn has served as both a meditation teacher and a senior policymaker in the US Congress. He is a Harvard-and-Oxford trained specialist in the economics and psychology of wellbeing. Leigh Marz is a leadership and collaboration consultant with organizations including Harvard, Google, and IKEA. She has led a multi-year program teaching experimental mindsets to teams at NASA.
In this podcast we explore what we mean by silence, a form of pristine attention. Silence isn’t just the absence of noise. It’s a presence that brings us energy, clarity, and deeper connection. We explore why this is needed for us precisely as a solution to navigate disruption. In silence we have access to the knowing and deep intelligence that is already available to us, but is overshadowed by the noise of distractions, inner chatter, and disconnection. The authors invite us to remember our own experiences of silence and the clarity that came. They also share stories of individuals and teams that have used silence to find novel solutions. We also discuss practical ways to bring more silence to your work and life.
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Bob Anderson has dedicated his career to exploring the intersections between leadership and personal mastery, and between competence and consciousness. The creator and author of The Leadership Circle Profile, an integrated and innovative leadership assessment tool, Bob is a true pioneer in the field of leadership development and research. Bob is also the author of Mastering Leadership, An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results and Scaling Leadership, Building Organizational Capability and Capacity to Create Outcomes that Matter Most.
In our podcast, we discussed Bob’s deep work into the nature of reality informed by quantum physics. We discussed how we can each access the field of intelligent information that is available in the present moment to be agile to the changing and complex landscape we lead in. We are both convinced that this is the future of leadership and that we can evolve ourselves to develop our bandwidth to access new sources of insight and intuition, beyond our rational thinking mind. This podcast is a must-listen for anyone in the leadership development and learning community.
If this interests you we invite you to reach out and collaborate with us.
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Susan Cain is the author of the bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, which has been translated into 40 languages and spent seven years on the New York Times best seller list. Her record-smashing TED talk has been viewed over 40 million times. And her new book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole opened #1 on the New York Times best seller list.
In this episode we spoke about how making room to be with bittersweet emotions, individually and collectively, opens up space for compassion, connection and creativity. She shared research studies and neuroscience around how human beings are actually wired for compassion and when we turn toward our loss and longing we can learn to thrive in the midst of disruption. She invites us as leaders to make room for these tougher emotions of grief and loss in the workplace and gives us specific practices to invite the creativity that we can have access to when we pause and make space for our humanity. You can learn more about her new book, course and sign up for her newsletter here: https://susancain.net/book/bittersweet/
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Kevin Cashman is a best-selling author, global thought leader and CEO Coach, keynote speaker and pioneer of the ‘grow the whole person to grow the whole leader’ approach to transformative enterprise leadership. He is the founder of LeaderSource Ltd, and the Chief Executive Institute recognized as one of the top three enterprise leadership development programs globally. In 2006, LeaderSource was acquired by Korn Ferry, where Kevin is now Global Leader of CEO and Executive Development across 130 offices internationally that touch the lives of 100,000+ leaders monthly.
In this episode Kevin shared his personal experience of loss during the pandemic and what differentiates truly great leaders: "They have the unique ability to convert loss to learning that serves them and their ecosystem". He also shared the importance of an elevated mindset and "Being Mastery", how leaders confront challenges and bring compassion to pain and suffering, how they prepare to meet the unknown, and step up and step into purpose. "The growth of a CEO is critical to the growth of the organization...I view leadership as the force that can change everything for the better...ultimately we have to become ecosystem leaders".
His story-telling and Korn Ferry's 2-year research is sure to inspire you. Take a listen!
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Adam Symson is president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, the fourth-largest local TV broadcaster in the U.S. Prior to becoming CEO in August 2017, Adam was Scripps’ chief operating officer, overseeing the company’s broadcast TV, radio and digital media divisions.
In this episode, Adam shares the story of what it is like to lead during the pandemic as CEO and how to make decisions in ambiguity. He also shares his experience of managing multiple stakeholders (employees, shareholders, the public at large, etc.) in a turbulent time, the importance of aligning with core values, and how we must disrupt ourselves in times of disruption. He and his team undertook a multi-billion dollar acquisition in the middle of the crisis because he is focused on the long-term. His leadership advice to his children: "It's not about how you succeed. It's about how you fail. It's what you do when you inevitably get kicked in the gut...how you persevere."
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Paddy Hull is the VP of Future of Work at Unilever. In this role, he is responsible for bringing Unilever’s social commitments on the Future of Work to life, to help people stay fit for work – now and in the future. He is leading a program to deliver on three commitments, equipping people for the future of work, pioneering new flexible employment options, and partnering with others to create jobs and skills for young people outside of Unilever.
In Part 2 of our conversation, we discussed how Unilever is thinking about bringing flexibility, purpose and sustainability to the career experiences of employees. As work becomes disrupted with the advent of artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies, the work humans will do is rapidly changing. This can create a lot of fear and anxiety. The antidote to this anxiety is to help people become future-fit through thinking incorporating their purpose, strengths and interests in their career planning. Paddy explains how Unilever leaders facilitate this transition for employees and how it's time for different and more flexible employment options that fit employees' needs. You're sure to leave this conversation inspired to bring this thinking to your workplace.
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Paddy Hull is the VP of Future of Work at Unilever. In this role, he is responsible for bringing Unilever’s social commitments on the Future of Work to life, to help people stay fit for work – now and in the future. This involves delivering on three commitments: equipping Unilever people for the future of work, pioneering new flexible employment options, and partnering with others to create jobs and skills for young people outside of Unilever. He has identified his purpose as "To bring the essence of Pollyanna into the room". He sees this as bringing joy, creativity and innovation into everything he does.
In this episode (Part 1 of a two-part series) we spoke about Unilever's commitment to enabling over 60,000 associates to discover their own purpose and bring it to work. We spoke about the impact this has had on the workforce and how it fits in with Unilever's leadership values and purpose to make sustainable living commonplace.
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Carol Campbell is Managing Director – Consumer Insight for Delta Air Lines, responsible for guiding and shaping long-term strategies to deliver world-class experiences for Delta’s customers. Under Carol’s leadership, the Consumer Insight team plays a critical role in helping Delta to understand what’s most important to customers in the present and anticipate expectations in the future. Carol joined Delta in 2018 after 22-years with the Walt Disney Company.
In this episode, Carol gave us a front-row seat view to how Delta Airlines managed the often competing needs of stakeholders (shareholders, customers, employees, communities) during the pandemic. Led by their purpose and core values, Delta leadership navigated tough decisions and doubled down on a culture of humility, deep listening to stakeholders and focus on restoring trust in travel. It's an inspiring and instructive story about how to manage the needs of our own stakeholders during rapidly shifting times of disruption.
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Kevin John Delaney is a voracious reader, night owl, musician, husband, father of three and lives by the words of Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” He is the Vice President of Learning and Development at LinkedIn and the author of A Life Worth Living – Finding Your Purpose and Daring to Live the Life You’ve Imagined. In 2008, Kevin suffered a series of health issues that left him in a coma, very close to dying. He received an organ transplant that saved his life and left him determined to live a life of purpose.
In this episode we discussed the power of being open to the many purposes in our daily lives. We don't have to wait for a bolt of insight to discover our true purpose in life. When we find ways to be useful to others which also bring us meaning, it is good for our own well-being as well as our impact in our workplace and community. This is also especially useful in times of disruption.
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Joe Whittinghill is the Corp Vice President of Talent, Learning, and Insights for Microsoft. Joe leads a team responsible for activating culture and learning, building world-class leaders, and enabling the workforce of the future for Microsoft. Joe has expertise in strategy, organization development, learning, executive development, the neuroscience of leadership, and culture activation.
In this episode, Joe shares the story of Microsoft's business and culture transformation, partnering with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. He shares how growth mindset has been a proven driver of Microsoft's transformation. The underpinnings of the business and culture transformation is personal transformation and a new set of leadership principles. Here are Microsoft's three principles: leaders create clarity, leaders generate energy, leaders deliver (multi-stakeholder) success. These principles are driven by proven neuroscience of human performance. Take a listen into our conversation about the three simple leadership practices under each of these principles. Finally, we also spoke about Joe's aspiration for us as a leadership tribe, what we would have learned by 2030.
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Sarah Devereaux has spent the last 14 years in the Learning and Leadership Development space at Google. Some of her more recent roles included: Head of Executive Development Programs, Head of Strategic Initiatives for The Google School for Leaders, and Global Lead of the g2g (Googlers-to-Googlers) program. She has a keen interest in the future of work and leadership and a passion for learning and helping individuals and organizations to realize their full potential.
In this episode, Sarah shared lessons learned from creating the g2g program with over 11,000 people across the globe (about 10% of the workforce of 100.000+ at Google) teaching and learning from each other. If you want to create a peer teaching and learning network, listen to Sarah share both the benefits of and their failures along the way. We also spoke about how Google develops change-ready leaders. The executive leadership program helps leaders to upgrade their operating system (for humans this is our consciousness) to understand their own mindsets and grow in-the-moment self and situational awareness. Hint: this isn't the kind of program you're likely doing so take a listen. You're sure to leave energized by Sarah's passion for growing people and their happiness in the workplace.
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Simon Brown is Chief Learning Officer for Novartis, a leading global medicine company based in Switzerland focused on reimagining medicine. He is also author of the Amazon-bestselling book ‘The Curious Advantage’. He is leading the strategy for Novartis to ‘Go Big on Learning’ in support of the company-wide culture transformation to become ‘Curious, Inspired and Unbossed’.
In this episode we spoke about Simon's new book and the steps each one of us can take to become more curious and learning agile. Simon shared the importance of learning in the future of work where most skills will be obsolete in 10 years (many in as few as three years). We also spoke about how we can create cultures of safety in teams for a world that is more disrupted and unpredictable, so people bring their naturally curious selves to their workplace.
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Dr. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist and Co-Founder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. He is also the author of 17 books including his most recent Leading with Character: 10 Minutes a Day to a Brilliant Legacy. In this book he examines the relationship between character and leadership and the timely importance of writing and living your own personal credo. From his more than 30 years of experience and applied research, Dr. Loehr believes the single most important factor in successful achievement, personal fulfilment and life satisfaction is the strength of one’s character. Dr. Loehr has worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and law enforcement.
In this episode, we explored how discovering our leadership character through personal reflection is a key anchor for us particularly in times of disruption. His research from the J&J Human Performance Institute shows that character is the #1 driver of sustained success and fulfillment in life. Take a listen to understand how to develop your own personal credo.
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Atul Khosla is the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Talent, Learning & Organization Effectiveness at Mondelēz International. Atul's international HR experience, spanning more than 25 years and three continents, has been primarily focused on driving large scale transformation, strategic Organizational Development and Talent Management initiatives. Atul’s passion is to bring back humanity in leadership.
In this episode, Atul shares his personal story of evolution to becoming a more human-centered leader. He also shares how he and his team are evolving how potential and performance are measured and rewarded for the 70,000 leaders at his company, to shape a human-centered culture.
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Kurt Harrison is a Partner for Russell Reynolds and Co-Head of the Global Sustainability Practice. In this role, Kurt specializes in executive assessment and succession planning advice for clients. Russell Reynolds is a global leadership advisory and search firm with 46 offices in 26 countries. This perspective from their website inspired me: “Sustainability has emerged as the defining issue of our time. There is now an urgent need for a new type of business leader—one who can deliver financial success while also making the long-term sustainability and resilience of our world a top priority. We call these people sustainable leaders.”
In our podcast interview, we talked about what sets these sustainable leaders apart: multi-level systems (ecoystem) thinking, inclusion mindset, ambition & ability to drive change, and long-term view. We also spoke about the gap between our need for these leaders and the current availability of sustainable leaders, how to embed sustainable leadership in the organizational culture and HR practices and the specific action steps we need to take. Take a listen if you want to be part of the movement to change the way the world is led!
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Noam has served as CEO of Waze since March 2009, building the company to become one of the world's most talked-about startups through its acquisition by Google. Noam continues to lead the global Waze team within Google to help users around the world enjoy faster, safer drives. He also led the launch of Waze Carpool - the company’s carpooling initiative aimed at taking cars off the road to dramatically reduce traffic - which, in 2019 alone, reduced CO2 emissions equivalent to planting 420,000 trees. Waze fosters a community of over 140 million monthly active users and 500,000 volunteer map editors who work to improve the Waze experience and deliver the mission.
In this episode we spoke about how organizations partner with their stakeholders to create impact in their ecosystem. Hint: it's about partnership and finding common goals. It's also about how we understand and care for the needs of our ecosystem partners. Noam is a great story-teller, listen to the Waze story.
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