Lets Talk Leadership: Recent Episodes
Des Walsh
Shan Moorthi is Director, Center for Coaching & Mentoring, at Teamcoach International. He is a Professional Trainer, Facilitator and Coach. He is Vice-President of the International Association of Coaching (IAC) and Member of the IAC Board of Governors.
Shan has been in Learning and Development for the past 20 years. He has been inspiring leaders to seek their purpose in Leading, Coaching and Mentoring others. He is the author of ‘Coaching with R.E.S.P.E.C.T’ where he shares his own Coaching journey and shares his personal insights in coaching others.
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A Taste of What We Discussed Leaders and Ethics
- People often want to sweep the issue under the carpet
- Leaders need to clarify their purpose (why are they there?) – different from vision
- Need to constantly discuss ethics, so that it’s ingrained
Leadership is at every level. First of all we need to lead ourselves and then lead others.
Emotional Intelligence
Knowing about Emotional Intelligence is not enough. We need “emotional excellence” – the heart motivation to practice emotional intelligence.
Emotional excellence is very important in this digital world. We can be as high tech as we want, but we need “high touch” and for Shan that is all about practising emotional excellence.
Drum Circle Facilitation
Trained as a Drum Circle Facilitor, Shan finds value in using it to empower groups, and related it to the Bruce Tuckman “Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing” development stages.
The digital revolution
A big opportunity. Automation helps us save time so we have more time available for conversation and interaction.
What keeps leaders awake at night
The question, “How do I continuously serve my purpose, despite all the challenges?”
More about Shan and Contact Details An Internationally Certified Trainer, Facilitator and Coach, over the past 20 years Shan has trained, facilitated and coached participants across the Asian region on various aspects of Leadership, Team Development, Emotional Excellence and Performance Coaching. His innovative, interactive and high impact approaches empower his participants to experience, reflect and act for self and organizational improvements.
Shan’s contact points: His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shan-moorthi-aa21a42/ Web site: Teamcoach International
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Let's Talk Leadership podcast show host Des Walsh in conversation with Dr Jennifer Frahm, change manager and author of the recently published Conversations of Change - A Guide to Implementing Workplace Change.
Let's Talk Leadership podcast host Des Walsh in conversation with Kris Gale, Chairman, Michael Johnson Associates (MJA), on styles of leadership, what makes effective leadership, "dealing with difficult people", and lessons from sport for business.
Lieutenant-Colonel (retd) Fred Aubin, CD, MCGI, is Founder and CEO of Strategic Red Team Consulting, and is based in Ottawa, Canada.
A 34 year command-level combat veteran of the Canadian Forces, Fred leads a consultancy team with an extensive arsenal of expertise for what he calls, “The Corporate Battlefield”. Fred has commanded everything from specialized strategic advisory teams of 20 to large multi-disciplinary task forces of 600, both at home in Canada and abroad in harm’s way. He was a highly experienced strategic planner in the Canadian Department of National Defence and has designed, managed and coordinated business plans, transformational “change management” campaigns and corporate level strategies with values in the billions of dollars.
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Click Here for More About Fred Aubin Red Teaming and How it Helps Business Fred explained that on leaving the military several years before he had seen – in comparison with what he was used to in the military – a gap in business operations, in terms of planning and especially business simulations, including such things as decision support simulation, war gaming and red teaming. Hence the focus of his consulting to business and government in the intervening years.
Red Teaming is a branch of war gaming.
There are many books on war gaming for business. See below for Fred’s specially recommended ones and other sources of information on the subject. For a one page synopsis, see this page on Fred’s website.
There are three types of war gaming, with same basic elements, different outcomes:
- Course of Action War Gaming
- Rehearsal War Gaming
- Red Team Exercise
Course of Action War Gaming A series of at least two, possibly more, sequential and comparable war games. Used in plan development stage to determine the most viable options in terms of the various factors to be considered, such as risk, execution and payoff.
Rehearsal War Gaming When the course of action has been established, when you are getting ready to act, but “haven’t thrown the switch yet”. A rehearsal process, with all the key actors, prior to the plan’s execution. To “reduce risk by turning hindsight into foresight”.
Red Team War Gaming Red team war gaming is not entry level. Where it happens it is a capstone exercise that follows course of action war gaming and rehearsal war gaming.
The Red Team exercise is similar to the Rehearsal war game, with the exception that ideally, the red team members are not drawn from the organization’s stakeholders. Each red team member is a subject specialist and is only given the amount of information about the organization that a normal competitor would have. Their task is to put the organization’s plan under “extreme competitive stress”.
The whole idea is you reduce risk by turning hindsight into foresight, turning individual knowledge into collective knowledge.
A Hack for Economy with Effectiveness In the conversation, Fred explains the ideal composition of the Red team in a Red Teaming exercise. He also provides an option for corporates wanting a more economical setup without prejudicing effectiveness (find this at or about 22 min 35 sec into the episode, just after the music-backed interlude).
Recommended Books Business War Games: How Large, Small, and New Companies Can Vastly Improve Their Strategies and Outmaneuver the Competition by Benjamin Gilad
Wargaming for Leaders: Strategic Decision Making from the Battlefield to the Boardroom by Mark Hermon, Kark Frost and Raymond Kurz
Another Resource Fred recommended looking for military publications, especially the Joint Operational Planning Process (“the JOPP”) by the military in various countries. I went looking online and quickly found various documents in the public domain, such as this in the US, this in Australia, and this in the UK.
More about Fred and Contact Details A firm believer in the principle that “all strategic issues are leadership issues”, Fred has been used extensively in executive leadership consultancy and strategic planning capacity building portfolios at Head of State, Ministerial, Ambassadorial, CEO and Senior Executive levels in Canada, Africa and Afghanistan. He holds a Masters in Military Technology from the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham, a Baccalaureate of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Ottawa, and is a graduate of the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College Kingston, the UK’s Joint Command and Staff College and the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.
And as I’ve learnt from a number of extended conversations, Fred is a fund of information and wisdom about leadership.
Contacting Fred If you think Fred and his team can help your company, organisation, government agency, get in touch with him, have a chat. If my experience is anything to go by, you will at least come away from a conversation with Fred knowing something new, or seeing something with a fresh perspective. Make contact with Fred through the website for Strategic Red Team Consulting at this link: http://stratredteam.com
And follow Fred on Twitter: @FM_Aubin
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From sunny California, via London and Paris, and with a formidable array of degrees ranging from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, through the Universities of Portsmouth, Sussex and Middelsex (DProf, Executive Coaching from the last-mentioned), to South Africa, Dr Sunny Stout-Rostron has a deep and wide understanding of leadership and the profession of coaching executive leaders. She is based in Cape Town and has an office in Johannesburg.
Sunny coaches at senior executive and board level, with a wide range of experience in leadership development and business strategy. With 25 years’ international experience as an executive coach, working with executive leaders and their teams, Sunny believes there’s a strong link between emotional intelligence and business results.
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Is a New Style of Leadership Needed for the Digital Age? Leaders today need adaptability:
- to understand the tech world
- to understand the cultures of difference age groups
Between Millennials and Baby Boomers, basic assumptions are completely different, requiring a different type of leadership.
On South Africa, Leadership and Coaching An experiment in democracy, “coming out of a very violent history, which had a soft landing…Mandela.”
What’s happened in the workplace is that the diversity is extraordinary. 11 official languages, 12-13 spoken.
And cultural differences.
“You have tribal culture, you have mixed race culture, you have Afrikaans culture, you have South African English culture.”
Then there is the difference between the metropolitan areas and the country areas.
Another key difference: individualistic culture (Western) and collective culture (African).
Religious tolerance: South Africa is a faith-based country and that comes into the workplace.
Very patriarchal society: gender diversity a particular challenge.
Individualism vs Team Culture In the corporate world, there is a lot of team-based work and individuals, including quite talented ones and potential leaders, can get “lost”.
In smaller, entrepreneurial companies, there is more opportunity to provide scope for individual talent.
Coaching in South Africa Mentoring is part of how things are done in the broader society, especially for males. The case still has to be made for coaching.
Sunny’s experience is that where there is no buy-in for coaching, that is where the top level is not being coached.
“It’s almost like you have to have success in order to prove it (the value of coaching), but you can’t get success if your senior leaders aren’t behind you. So it’s a bit of a Catch 22.”
Coaching Millennials Boomers, because of their own life/cultural experiences, are “beautifully place to work with Millennials”, wanting to do it their way (just as the Boomers wanted to do it their way).
Be open minded to who the people are.
- They want to be understood
- They do see things differently
- They’re very individualistic
- They have a different way of operating and being
The Recurring Question I asked Sunny the “What keeps business leaders awake at night” question I regularly ask in these conversations.
There are some great observations and advice for leaders in her response. Especially about understanding and acting upon the fact that, to deal with conflict in the workplace, leaders need to be aware of and address the problem of lack of inclusivity.
“Diversity is all about inclusivity and exclusivity.”
Contact Details You can contact Sunny via the website – http://www.ssra.biz
Or via her email – sunny@ssra.biz
Donna Karlin is a global leadership coach. She works with senior-level clients on six continents: N. America, S. America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. She is a coach and mentor to TED Fellows, a Founding Fellow at Harvard Institute of Coaching, McLean Medical School, creator of the Shadow Coaching® Methodology, an international speaker and award-winning author.
Donna wears several hats professionally, including those of Founder of the School of Shadow Coaching®, and Founder of the leadership coaching and consulting firm A Better Perspective®.
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Donna was previously a guest on Let’s Talk Leadership back in late 2015. This time around we talked about Donna’s new venture, the No Ceiling, Just Sky® Institute, launching officially at the end of this month.
I have never ceased to be amazed at the depth and range of Donna’s work and the extent of her client group. In this conversation she shared a bit about how she keeps track of it all. I’m still amazed.
The No Ceiling, Just Sky® Institute The Institute is about providing a “360° approach to human evolvement. Working with the intersection of human and organizational systems and their influencers“.
The Institute had its origins in:
- an intention made by Donna in early 2016, about learning and sharing, and
- a conversation with a friend
The Institute enables Donna to bring together under one umbrella her various resources – the School of Shadow Coaching, A Better Perspective, and her R&D team – and draw on all those resources to meet the needs of her various and disparate clients.
I asked whether, in an age when so many people in business are urged to develop expertise in one niche, someone might ask if the scope of the Institute was too broad.
The response would be that it might be too broad for someone asking, but not for Donna.
Which led to these observations as food for thought for coaches:
Are we giving clients what they need, or what they think they could get?
And maybe it’s time that more coaches… worked with their clients to co-create an intervention that was not only powerful, but was true to them.
Which. said Donna, is “what this Institute is all about“.
Observations on a hypothetical about decision-making at a senior level Too many issues are seen as “either/or”, or “this or that”, when a better approach might be “why not both?”,
Or issues are approached from a perspective of scarcity rather than abundance.
We also talked about Ideal clients and the pleasure of working with people who are eager to try things out, “dancing in realtime with potential change”.
The manifesto for the Institute, including “Dance with change”, “Embrace chaos”, and “Move”.
Marrying flexibility of decision-making and action with highly organised systems and protocols, as in – especially – the military, security services and such. Donna shared a fascinating example from her work with the military, with applicability in a broader range, beyond the military. NB for anyone interested in helping avoid leadership burnout. .
How she does it all. Yes, she has a team of people to call on, including the Strategic Red Team Consulting, of which Donna is an associate. A very flexible and adaptable team from the sound of it.
And two more quotes
We need to bring more of the curiosity kind of conversation into boardroom meetings.
I really believe there is no ceiling, just sky.
Note: there are a couple of references in the interview to Thomas Leonard (or just “Thomas”), a legendary figure in our coaching world, who died suddenly in early 2003.
Contact Details for Donna and Info about the Institute For more information about Donna and her various activities, and about the Institute, just go to her Donna Karlin website at http://donnakarlin.com. And her LinkedIn profile is at http://linkedin.com/in/donnakarlin.
Councillor Hermann Vorster represents Division 11 on the City Council of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. He also chairs the Council’s Economic Development and Major Events Committee. He also serves on the City Planning and City Infrastructure committees.
Just before Christmas 2016 Cr Vorster was the guest speaker at the end of year event hosted by the IT Forum Gold Coast. I was very impressed with his vision of the economic development potential of this local region and seized the opportunity to invite him on to the Let’s Talk Leadership show. Happily, he agreed!
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Click Here for More About Cr Vorster City of the Gold Coast With 38 kilometers of white, sandy beaches, ancient rainforest and hinterland, the city has great lifestyle appeal and on that basis has had extraordinary growth in a relatively short period: it’s now Australia’s 6th largest city and in area the second largest local government area in Australia.
Surfers at Snapper Rocks Historically the economy has depended on construction and tourism, both subject – positively and negatively – to fluctuations in the economy.
The Council’s aim is to position the city to embrace the digital economy, in a way that adds value.
Download the Council’s Economic Development Strategy at this link.
We’re a city that has that entrepreneurial, “have a go” spirit.
Having gained experience in “the crucible of family business”, Cr Vorster became involved in public policy and the media.
Like a lot of people, I got a little bit frustrated with the decisions that were being made around me and decided – foolheartedly, I think – to enter public life.
Gold Coast view by night Leadership and Balancing Interests We talked about the Council’s decision to make a major investment in telecommunications infrastructure – historically in Australia the preserve of the Federal Government (with some partial involvement at times by State governments). So this was being done in the clear knowledge that there was an element of political risk involved.
Cr Vorster commented that when investment decisions are made for specific economic development projects, some may not see the benefit for them and may feel left out. It’s essential to communicate openly with them and, for instance, point to spillover benefits for other areas of the community.
Bringing the Community with You To bring the community with you on big decisions, it’s necessary to:
- speak to people in their own language
- research what their priorities are
- respond to what that tells you
He gave the example of a street with schoolteacher residents but no broadband. People understand when the need to remedy that is explained in terms of enabling those teachers to prepare better to teach the community’s children.
Commonwealth Games 2018 The upcoming Commonwealth Games, to be held on the Gold Coast, is a major event, which, like an Olympic Games, is over in a short period of time. What people want is a legacy, so there are key decisions about how to achieve that.
Innovation Hub There have been global success stories for businesses built on the Gold Coast.
Important to get those who have success to stick around and thus encourage others.
The Council’s role is to do what it can at a public policy level to create a supportive environment for that.
People do not like change and there is a challenge in how to talk to people about change.
More about Cr Vorster and Contact Details A former Bond University Vice-Chancellor’s Scholar, he has degree qualifications in accounting, corporate strategy and business information systems.
Elected in 2016, Councillor Vorster became the City of Gold Coast’s youngest ever Councillor at age 30. He has had a number of leadership roles in community groups including Gold Coast District Neighbourhood Watch Incorporated and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland (CCIQ) Regional Policy Board.
Contact Details Email: division11@goldcoast.qld.gov.au
Phone (mobile/cell): In Australia – 0405 414 931 From outside Australia – 61 405414931
Image credits * Surfers at Snapper Rocks – Des Walsh * Gold Coast view by night – Yupeng Wu via Flickr – CC BY-SA 2.0
Dr Larry Cornett is a business advisor and career consultant and Founder of Brilliant Forge. He helps people redefine their career, regain their freedom, and reclaim their life.
Prior to founding Brilliant Forge, Larry was a product and design executive with over 18 years of experience designing, defining, and building consumer products at a number of technology and internet companies in Silicon Valley; including Apple Computer, Yahoo, eBay, and IBM. Most recently, he was the Vice President of Consumer Products for Yahoo! Search, leading a team of product managers, designers, and developers who were focused on creating world-class Search experiences to compete with Google and Bing.
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Click Here for -> More About Larry Different styles of leadership needed for different contexts
The style of leadership you need to use varies with the type of people that you’re managing.
Also with a global team there are different cultural considerations, with varying expectations about leadership and differences in the practice of leadership. And with different levels of seniority there are different issues to consider.
Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence In 1993, some of the change we are looking at now was deemed “just around the corner”.
Now, with processing power and the miniaturization of components we have reached a point where what was dreamed of can now become a reality.
I think we’re right on the edge of a big transformation. It’s got some really good points, I think. There’s a lot of concern as well.
On the theme of concerns about impact, Larry mentioned the acquisition this year by Uber of the company Otto with its autonomous (“self-driving”) trucks.
So the fear is – I don’t know how long it’s going to take – that’s going to put over two and a half million people out of work. That’s kind of the flipside of the promise. Every time you do this – you automate something – somebody loses a job.
We Also Discussed Education – we need to educate children to teach themselves: learn how to learn.
Leadership for global teams – a different style of leadership; requires practice; a whole new style people are going to have to learn.
Transaction-thinking vs Relationship-building and the lifetime value of a customer (LVC).
The increasing necessity for business leaders to become active on social media and deal with the challenge of committing the necessary time (some practical advice here).
What keeps startup founders awake at night? The velocity required for execution and growth.
Hungry competitors – other startups.
Giant companies with deep pockets – uneven contest.
Larry’s Software Project VoiceKick is a micropodcasting app for IOS. Their Pearl app combines voice with photos you have on your phone and allows you to make a 60 sec video with narration. Search for these on the App Store using VoiceKick for the search term.
More about Larry and Contact Details As well as being part of those larger corporations, Larry has founded his own small businesses and tech startups.
He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Rice University with an emphasis on Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction.
On Twitter, he is @cornett
On his Brilliant Forge website there is Contact page.
Annalie Killian’s passion is combining humans and machines in ways that maximise creativity and grow performance and engagement.
She is currently curating a “cloud of human creativity” for sparks & honey, a cultural insights and innovation agency in New York, experimenting with exponential organizational design and reciprocal networks.
Sheila Scarborough is a speaker and trainer specializing in tourism, travel, and social media. She’s written for many blogs and print publications and is also a certified Navy Master Training Specialist, with years of experience as an instructor. Along with Leslie McLellan, she’s part of the Tourism Currents team, offering an online course and in-person … Social Media for Tourism Leadership: Sheila Scarborough Read More »
In this podcast episode I talk about how Business leaders need to be able to fit expectations and demands about social media into a strategic framework that is a good fit with their overall business strategy and I share a link to my Social Media Strategy Checklist. Or you can subscribe via Stitcher Radio or … Social Media Strategy Checklist for Leaders Read More »
Becky McCray is a small town business owner; she and her husband Joe own a retail liquor store and a cattle ranch in the United States. She shares insights from this real-world experience at her highly-ranked website, Small Biz Survival, and in her award-winning book, Small Town Rules. As always when Becky and I have … New Community Leadership for Small Towns: Becky McCray Read More »
Non Profit – the Economic Dimension According to a World Bank report, if the global nonprofit sector were a country, it would have the sixteenth largest economy in the world. In 2012 alone, the nonprofit sector contributed $878 billion to the US economy, about 5.4 percent of the nation’s GDP. With stakes that high, we … LTL Ep 32: The Art of Leading Non Profit Organizations Read More »
Krishna Kumar is a pioneer in the field of Leadership & Executive Coaching in Asia. A Master Coach and Trainer, he has coached Executives, Entrepreneurs and CEOs and works closely with some of the most renowned organisations in India and abroad. In a career spanning 30 years, Krishna Kumar has donned several hats as a … LTL Ep31 Leadership and Awareness: Krishna Kumar Read More »
Sharon Hunneybell is the Community Manager for Opmantek, a leading provider of Open Source Network Management and IT Audit software, and has been an active contributor to the Gold Coast startup community for several years. She has a passion for technology, innovation and collaboration and a keen interest in promoting and increasing youth participation in … LTL Ep30 Collaborative Leadership – Sharon Hunneybell: Podcast Read More »
Dr Steve Barlow is a change fitness and change readiness specialist, trainer and change management consultant and has a fascinating career history. Steve began his career as a teacher of French and English and later ran a high school English department and managed the senior grades. He has managed charter boats on Sydney Harbour, which … Change Fitness and Change Readiness: Dr Steve Barlow Read More »
In this episode: Announcement of Microsoft Acquisition of LinkedIn How to Have a LinkedIn Profile that Works for You LinkedIn to be Acquired by Microsoft The big news of the week for this Let’s Talk Leadership (for the Digital Age) podcast show has been the announcement that the pre-eminent online professional network LinkedIn is to … How to Do a Better LinkedIn Profile Read More »
Padraig O’Sullivan is Managing Partner of OSullivanField, a leadership advisory firm that “specialises in accelerating leaders to be effective in their roles and sometimes even brilliant”. Padraig is a thought leader, leading international business consulting coach and University educator, with over fifteen years’ leadership and coaching experience encompassing Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. … Leadership in an Age of Complexity: Padraig O’Sullivan Read More »