Leadership 2.0: Recent Episodes
Dirk Verburg
Welcome to the 'Leadership 2.0' podcast!
I believe that leadership is very important for two reasons:
First of all, the decisions leaders take, and their capabilities to implement these decisions, are the most important differentiators between the success and failure of the organizations they work for.
Secondly, leaders make a huge difference in the well-being of the people in their organizations, and, finally, for the well-being of our society as a whole.
This podcast presents interviews with thought leaders and practitioners in the area of leadership, to inspire you to become the best leader you can be!
What my guests say about this Podcast:
'You ask very good questions'
'You really do your research'
'You go beyond the surface'
So, if you want to listen to dialogues about leadership that go beyond the surface, this podcast is probably for you!
Happy listening, and, please let me know what you think!
'Adult Innovation'
Many individuals and organizations wrestle with the question of how they can become more innovative, ... and Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg has the answers!
Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg is the author of What’s Your Problem? (Harvard Business Press, 2020), a book on how to solve the right problems. He is also the co-author (with Paddy Miller) of Innovation as Usual, a Harvard Business Review Press book on the art of driving innovation in regular organizations.
In the 34th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interviewed Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg about innovation, both at an individual, as well as on an organizational level.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- Reframing Problems
- Weaponizing Frames
- Never fall in love with your obstacles
- The importance of Bright Spots
- The Acid Test for Potential Solutions
- The Value of Different Perspectives
- Most Ideas are Bad Ideas & Do Not Celebrate Failures
- "Focus" versus "Throw Against the Wall and See What Sticks"
- How to Ensure Adoption in Corporate Environments (‘Stealthstorming’)
- The Past as the Best Predictor of the Future
► About Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg
Thomas has worked with managers in nearly all parts of the globe, including China, India, Russia, Singapore, Britain, France and his native country, Denmark. His research has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, BBC Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek and the Financial Times. His work on innovation led HR Magazine to recognize him as a “Top 20 International Thinker”.
As an executive advisor and keynote speaker, Thomas has addressed organizations such as Cisco, Microsoft, Citigroup, Time Warner, AbbVie, Caterpillar, Amgen, Prudential, Union Pacific, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, the Wall Street Journal, and the United Nations.
Thomas holds an MA in Media Science from the University of Copenhagen and an MBA from IESE Business School. Prior to his business career, Thomas served for four years as an officer with the Danish Royal Guards.
► Five nested strategies to reframe your thinking of a problem to make sure you're solving for the right things:
- Look outside the frame. What are we missing?
- Rethink the goal. Is there a better objective to pursue?
- Examine bright spots. Where is the problem not?
- Look in the mirror. What is my/our role in creating this problem?
- Take their perspective. What is their problem?
► Key actions leaders who want others to act as innovation architects should take
- Focus: Direct people to look only for ideas that matter to the business. (Focus beats freedom)
- Connect: Urge people to connect to new worlds (customers, colleagues, external experts). (Insight comes from the outside)
- Tweak: Challenge people to test, challenge, and reframe their initial ideas repeatedly. (First ideas are flawed)
- Select: Guide people to filter and select the best ideas and discard the rest. (Most ideas are bad ideas)
- Stealthstorm: Help people navigate the internal organizational politics of innovation. (Stealthstorming rules)
- Persist: Motivate everyone to continue pursuing the other five keystone behaviors. (Creativity is a choice)
► Books
► Website
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
'Eating radishes'
That is how, according to Matt Dixon, many 'doer-sellers' experience selling their services.
People do not become management consultants, executive coaches, accountants, lawyers, or engineers to sell. However, for those working in professional service firms or independently, selling is an integral part of their role.
At the same time, professional sales processes are changing. More and more professional services are sourced through RFPs, and buying committees are replacing traditional client relationships. This means that doer-sellers need to change their approach to sales in order to stay relevant.
Based on an extensive quantitative study of nearly three thousand partners across industries such as law, accounting, consulting, investment banking, executive search, and public relations, five distinct seller types within professional service industries were identified; however only one of them, the Activator, consistently drives growth.
In the 33rd episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interviewed Matt Dixon about 'The Activator Advantage - What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
00:00 Sales, Acquisition or Business Development
01:43 Why Doer-Sellers Do Not like Selling
04:28 What Inspired Matt To Write 'The Activator Advantage?'
07:24 The Five Types Of Professional 'Doer- Sellers'
20:19 The Three C’s of the Activator
28:22 Why The Purchasing Behavior Of Clients Is Changing
32:18 The Three Categories Of Stakeholders In The Buying Process
36:00 The Three Elements Of The Activator Mindset
39:24 Business Development Habits
44:19 Instilling An Activator Mindset In The Organization
50:15 Can I Learn To Like Eating Radishes?
52:38 Final Thoughts
► About Matt Dixon
Matt Dixon is one of the world’s leading experts on sales, customer service and customer experience. He is a Founding Partner of DCM Insights, The Customer Understanding Lab.
Prior to co-founding DCMi, he served as the Chief Product & Research Officer of Tethr, an AI venture in Austin, TX, that helps companies mine customer voice data for insights. And before that, he spent time as a Senior Partner and the Global Head of Sales Force Effectiveness Solutions at Korn Ferry Hay Group and as Group Leader of the sales, service and customer experience practices of CEB, now Gartner.
Matt is a sought-after speaker and advisor to corporate leadership teams around the world on topics ranging from sales effectiveness to customer service and customer experience. He also (co)authored a number of books:
- The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation
- The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty
- The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influence
- The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision
Matt is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review with more than 20 print and online articles.
Matt holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh as well as a B.A. in International Studies from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He lives in Silver Spring Maryland with his wife and four children.
Visit DCM Insights at https://www.dcminsights.com/ and visit Matt on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top or follow him on Twitter at @matthewxdixon
► Book 'The Activa
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Why do people want to become CEO in the first place?" That was one of the first questions I posed to Ty Wiggins during our interview for the Leadership 2.0 Podcast.
After all, the statistics are sobering:
- The turnover of CEOs is at an all-time high: from 9.2 years in 2018 to 7.6 years in 2022
- 50% of all CEOs reported feelings of loneliness
- The average workweek of CEOs is more than 60 hours[^1]
- Burnout is a reality for 71% of CEOs[^2]
Being a CEO comes with immense responsibility. CEOs are ultimately accountable for the company's entire trajectory, from strategic wins like M&As to major setbacks like corporate scandals. Every day, CEOs must make tough decisions on issues that can't be resolved at lower levels. More often than not, these choices are a matter of picking the 'least unattractive' option.
The CEO’s decisions have a significant influence on the lives and financial well-being of all stakeholders. This broad group includes employees, investors (e.g., pension funds), consumers, suppliers, and government bodies.
In the 32nd episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interview Ty Wiggins about his book ‘The New CEO - Lessons from CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly (Minus the Common Mistakes)’.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- The CEO and Executive Transition Practice of Russell Reynolds Associates
- The Model on which the book 'The New CEO' is based
- Why do people want to become CEOs in the first place?
- Why CEOs are never 100% ready before they start
- The big shift from Business Unit leader to CEO
- The nature of decisions CEOs need to make
- Why a typical CEO transition lasts 12-18 months
- What a Transition Plan for a CEO role looks like
- Taking over the CEO role in a 'Stealth mode'
- The right moment for new CEOs to start making big decisions
- When and how CEOs should select their teams
- How to burst the 'CEO bubble'
- Should CEOs speak up on political issues?
- Final Thoughts
► About Ty Wiggins
Ty Wiggins is the CEO & Executive Transition Advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates. He advises leading companies on leadership transitions and executive onboarding to ensure a more expedient path to effectiveness. Based in London, Ty is one of only a handful of people globally with a Ph.D. in senior leadership transitions. He harnesses his deep academic, consulting and coaching background to provide CEOs, boards, and senior leaders across industries with the advice, support, challenge and insight needed to start well and perform quickly.
Ty holds a BS in social sciences from the University of South Wales. He also holds a Master of Business Coaching, MBA, with honors, and PhD in leadership transitions from Sydney Business School at the University of Wollongong.
► Book: The new CEO
► Website Ty Wiggins (Russell Reynolds)
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
I have always been quite cynical about ESG and CSR initiatives from companies. They always struck me as 'Do as I say, not what I do'.
My favorite examples include a 'Big Oil' company preferring suppliers with a 'green' supply chain, a Financial Services companies directly contributing to the Euro crisis but giving their employees an afternoon off to paint schools in derelict areas 'to give back to society', companies that started 'recalibrating' their DEI efforts in the aftermath of the last presidential election in the US, and ESG leaders flying en masse to conferences in New York to discuss how make the world a more sustainable place.
Sander Tideman is founder of Triple Value Leadership. A former international lawyer and finance executive, he is a specialist in leadership development and organizational transformation, motivated by building the capacity to address the unprecedented social and ecological challenges of this age.
In the 31th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interview Sander about the question if and how organizations and our society should adopt ESG and CSR concepts.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- The Growth Triangle
- What would happen if companies did not consider their environmental and societal impact as 'for free'
- Greenwashing: Why should we take ESG and CSR seriously?
- The (in) capacity of Public Companies to address ESG issues
- Do we not make it too easy for companies to transfer their burden to our society?
- The Development Stages of ESG in organisations
- The link between CSR and Business Results
- Best Practice Companies
- The Adoption of CSR by B2B companies
- Resilient Companies
- What is Triple Value Leadership?
- The Regenerative Capacity of Mankind
- Integrating Triple Value Leadership in Executive Coaching
- The Current Status and Outlook of CSR
- Final Thoughts
► About Sander
Sander Tideman is a researcher, author, entrepreneur and executive coach in sustainable leadership. He works with leaders to build flourishing organizations equipped to address the unprecedented challenges of today. He has worked for and consulted with leading organizations on three continents.
A former international lawyer, senior finance executive and board member of companies and NGOs, he is the founding director at Triple Value Leadership. He is also executive director of Garrison Institute International and a Senior Faculty member of Mobius Executive Leadership in Boston and Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, in the Netherlands.
Sander started his career in 1986 by practicing law at Baker & McKenzie (Amsterdam and Taipei office). In 1989 he turned to international finance by becoming Country Director for ABN AMRO Bank in China (responsible for offices in Beijing and Shanghai), Vice President Structured Finance at ABN AMRO Bank in Amsterdam and Regional Manager Eastern Europe and Asia for Triodos Bank. As a consultant he worked on assignments for UNDP, The World Bank/IFC and the Asian Development Bank.
He co-founded and managed Spirit in Business (Massachusetts), worked for Teleos Leadership Institute (Philadelphia), co-founded and managed the Global Leaders Academy (London/Amsterdam), co-founded the Bridge Fund Europe and served as CEO of Mind & Life Europe (Switzerland). He also served on the executive board of the Netherlands Council for Sustainable Development/NCDO. The government of Bhutan asked him to co-create the first international conference on Gross National Happiness in Bhutan, which spearheaded a global movement in well-being economies.
► Book: 'Triple Value Leadership: Creating Su
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
'We live in the most Generationally Diverse Demographic' (Rebecca Robins).
Unfortunately, generational differences are often seen as a source of problems - sometimes misunderstood, and exaggerated by social media..
However, what would happen if we saw Generational Differences as Opportunities instead of Issues?
This is precisely the topic of the book 'Five Generations at Work: How We Win Together, For Good' by Rebeca Robins and Patrick Dunne.
In the 30th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interview Rebeca Robins and Patrick Dunne about 'Maximising the business opportunity of generational diversity'
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- Are generational differences real?
- Friction Points and Stereotypes
- Respect between Generations
- Turning Generational Labels into Generational Lenses
- Using Generational Lenses to gain a Competitive Advantage
- Are Family Companies ahead of Publicly Traded Companies?
- Generational Differences and Brand Relevance
- Ageism, Social Tension, and having 'an Africa Strategy'
- Do younger Generations want to Learn from older ones?
- Next Generation Boards versus Focus Groups
- Final Thoughts
► About Rebeca Robins
Rebecca Robins is a global advisor and expert in brands, leadership and cultures of excellence, also advising on inter-generational collaboration in the five generational workplace. Her work spans leading brands and organisations across the world, including: AstraZeneca, British Airways, Burberry, HUGO BOSS, LEGO, LVMH, Reuters, alongside Universities, founder and family businesses. Rebecca is the author of two industry-leading books on brands and culture, and also writes for numerous leading publications. A postgraduate of Cambridge University, Rebecca is ever at the intersection of education and industry as lecturer and programme advisor, and is a Board Trustee at The EY Foundation.
► About Patrick Dunne
Patrick Dunne is an experienced Chair with extensive experience of working with boards in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Currently Chair of board consultancy Boardelta and the charities the Royal Voluntary Service and ESSA- Education Sub Saharan Africa.
He gained this experience with Air Products and FTSE100 3i Group plc where he was Communications Director, a member of its Operating Committee and Chairman of its Operational Risk forum.
Patrick is author of the award-winning book “Boards” and co-author of "Five Generations at Work", a member of the Higgs Review and Visiting Professor at Cranfield University.
He also has extensive experience of developing social enterprises, most notably with Leap Confronting Conflict, the EY Foundation and Warwick in Africa.
Patrick was awarded an OBE in the Kings Honours list in 2023 for services to charity and philanthropy in Africa and the UK.
► 'The Book: Five Generations at Work - How We Win Together, For Good'
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Generations-Work-Together-Good/dp/139425220X
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
In many organizations Learning & Development (L&D) is seen as a 'Nice to Have'. Unfortunately, this is often reflected their (bland) L&D offerings, which, more often than not, are generic and fail to address the strategic issues organizations need to address
However, what would happen if organizations truly would treat Learning & Development as a strategic instrument?
In the 29th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interview Nick van Dam about 'The Strategic Value of Learning & Development'.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- Where Nick’s interest in Learning & Development (L&D) stems from
- How Nick put L&D on the map of McKinsey and Deloitte
- How to link L&D to business strategy
- How to determine the ROI of L&D
- If L&D efforts should be limited to Soft Skills
- A strength-based approach to L&D
- The implications of Generational Differences for L&D
- Has the role of L&D changed over the years?
- What world class L&D organizations look like
- Nick’s latest book: 'The Best Version of Me'
- Final Thoughts
► About Nick van Dam
Dr. Nick van Dam is an internationally recognized thought leader, advisor, executive coach, researcher, facilitator, and best-selling (co-) author of more than 29 books on Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and Corporate Learning & Talent Management. Dr. van Dam has over 30+ years of business experience as a former Partner, Global Chief Learning Officer, HR Executive, and Client Advisor at Siemens, Deloitte and McKinsey. As an advisor or faculty, he has served over 100 clients around the world.
He is (visiting) Professor at The University of Pennsylvania , Harvard Business School-
Corporate Learning, IE Business School, and Nyenrode Business University. Nick is
Director of the IE Business School, Center for Corporate Learning and Talent Management. He is the Director of the IE Business School, Global HR Leadership Program and Global L&D Leadership Program. He is a core faculty member of CEDEP. (INSEAD Campus, France) and a co-founder of Pathos Leadership Institute. Nick is an External Senior Advisor
and Faculty member at McKinsey & Company.
He has written numerous articles for various publications and has been quoted by Bloomberg Businessweek, The Financial Times, Fortune Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Times of India, Information Week, CLO Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.
His lifelong learning journey has included studies in economics and business economics (BEd, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), organizational sociology (MA), Universiteit van Amsterdam), psychodynamic psychology (EMC, INSEAD) and human capital development (PhD, Nyenrode Business University).
Nick has lived in the US, Spain and The Netherlands. Throughout his career, he has spent time in various countries, with significant periods in Asia, particularly in India.
Leaders around the world value his inspiring, engaging, and application-oriented
teaching/facilitation style tremendously.
► Books (selection)
Van Dam, N.H.M., et al. (April 2024) The Best Version of Me: Boosting Your Well-Being, Lulu Publishing.
Van Dam, N.H.M., Marcus, J. (2023). Handbook Organization & Management (5th edition), Noordhoff Publishers.
Brassey, J., van Dam, N.H.M., Van Witteloostuijn, A. (2022) Authentic Confidence. Vakmedianet.
Feser, C., Nielsen, N., Rennie, M., editors (2018) Leadership at Scale. HBG (Nick has co-authored 4 chapters)
Rogers, E., & van Dam, N.H.M. (2014). YOU! The Positive Force in Change: Leveraging Insightsfrom Neurosciences and Positive Psychology. Raleigh (NC): Lulu Publishing.
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Many people in the workplace wrestle with combining their ethical and spiritual convictions on the one hand, and what they feel is required of them to progress their careers or simply to stay in their roles.
For people who experience this tension and want to address it, 'Heroic Leadership - Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World' by Chris Lowney. ' will be a great read!
Chris Lowney, is a one-time Jesuit seminarian, who currently chairs the board of CommonSpirit Health, America’s largest not-for-profit healthcare system with 140 hospitals and more than 150,000 employees. Previously, he served as a Managing Director of J.P. Morgan & Co. in Tokyo, Singapore, London and New York.
In the 28th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interview Chris Lowney about Heroic Leadership. During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- What is Jesuitism?
- Chris's involvement with Jesuitism
- The four Key Values of Jesuitism: Self-Awareness, Ingenuity, Love, and Heroism
- The Jesuits and Agility
- 'Greater Love than Fear' as a Leadership Principle
- Leadership as an Activity
- The Concept of Indifference
- Self-Compassion
- Serving a Higher Purpose in Competitive Work Environments
- A Call to Action - Heroic Leadership - The Workbook
- Why Everyone is a Leader
► Resources
Chris has authored six books, including the bestselling Heroic Leadership, which has been translated into eleven languages and was named to the recommended reading list of the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. His latest work, Make Today Matter: 10 Habits for a Better Life (and World), won an Independent Press Award.
You can find more information about his books (including the workbook on Heroic Leadership that was just published) here: https://chrislowney.com/wp/books/
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Most of us are acutely aware of the gap between how our organizations aspire to operate and the everyday reality of working within them.
In 'Badly Behaved People', executive coach Zena Everett describes many highly recognizable real-world cases illustrating how this discrepancy can manifest itself—and how it can be addressed. What I especially like about this book is how Zena Everett makes complex psychological concepts accessible (without oversimplifying them) and demonstrates how they can be applied in the workplace.
In our conversation about this book, Zena and I discussed the following topics:
- Why Zena wrote Badly Behaved People
- ‘Healthy Competitive Friction’ versus ‘Mindless Harmony’
- Culture: ‘Lived experiences’ or ‘Statements behind the Reception’?
- Dealing with Childhood Experiences in Executive Coaching
- If we cannot trust our perception, what is the alternative?
- Emotional Intelligence and Anger Management
- Career Advice for Introverts
- What if your line manager has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)?
- ‘Scrappy Careers’ versus ‘Listening to our Inner Voice’
- Final Thoughts
► About Zena Everett
'Zena Everett has a global leadership coaching and speaking practice, with a reputation for evidence-based content and practical takeaways, delivered in a very entertaining way.
Originally a recruitment entrepreneur, Zena sold her business and studied an MSc in Career Management and Coaching and other post graduate qualifications in psychological coaching and leadership (MIT). She has coached on the Executive MBA Programme at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and is a member of the Associate Faculty at Henley Business School. Her focus is on replacing bad behaviour and crazy busyness with productive, thriving and profitable team relationships.
Zena believes that real success comes from flipping our focus away from ourselves, and onto the problems that we, uniquely, can solve for others. It’s not about us and our egos: it’s what we can do for others that matters'.
► Resources
Email Zena Everett: zena@zenaeverett.com
Book 'Badly Behaved People': https://www.zenaeverett.com/badly-behaved-people/
Other books by Zena Everett: https://www.zenaeverett.com/books/
Website Zeba Everett: https://www.zenaeverett.com/
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Even though, for years, we have had a vast array of change management theories and methodologies at our disposal (Kotter, Lewin, Kubler-Ross, Bridges, ADKAR, etc.), it still proves to be very hard for us as leaders and consultants to implement real, sustainable change (transformation). Most change projects fail (70% according to McKinsey), or end with a superficial victory declaration, after which the organization often falls back to 'the way we DID things here'.
'Why is that?' That very question drove Daniël Wolfs, experienced change consultant and co-founder of The Change Studio, to write his thought-provoking book De Veranderfilosoof (The Change Philosopher) on how we can approach transformation in a deeper, more human, and more sustainable way.'
In our conversation about this book, we discussed the following topics:
- The Why of this book
- Fake News’ in Organizations
- ‘Storytelling’ versus ‘Storyselling’
- Preventing entropy in change processes
- The ‘Shifting Baseline’ Syndrome
- The Soul of Organizations
- The Plessner Paradox: Individual identities in collective change processes
- Focusing on the change instead of the outcome
- Why Daniel is fascinated by change
- Final thoughts
► About Daniël Wolfs
Daniël Wolfs is co-founder and co-owner of The Change Studio, where he works with clients and colleagues on modern approaches to organizational change and leadership. The guiding principles: Lead. Inspire. Create.
He is the author of the book 'De Veranderfilosoof '- op zoek naar de kern van verandering ('The Change Philosopher - Searching for the core of change'), in which he explores both the visible and invisible dynamics of organizational change.
Drawing on philosophy, systems thinking, and real-world cases, he challenges conventional change management with fresh perspectives and provocative questions.
Daniël has spent his career helping leaders and organizations navigate complex transformations—by making change tangible in the day-to-day, and by creating space for the kind of conversations that actually move people.
Whether guiding leadership teams, designing change journeys, or deconstructing old patterns, his work is rooted in connection, reflection, and practical momentum.
Through writing, speaking, and advising, he continues to explore how we can make change not just possible—but meaningful.
PS: 'Publisher beware': the book has just been published in Dutch, so please contact the author in case your are interested to publish a translation (email below)!
► Resources
Email Daniël Wolfs: daniel@thechangestudio.nl
The Book
The Change Studio
Podcast episode Murray Stein
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Most organizations use complex tools and processes, and are often supported by external consultants to analyze and (re) shape their culture. When I heard Manuela Staub on a seminar describing the pragmatic, inclusive, and effective way the leadership team at Zurich Airport approached their culture change program (in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic!), I immediately knew I wanted to interview her for my Leadership 2.0 podcast...
In our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
00:00 About Zurich Airport
02:13 The Why of the culture change
06:50 The COACH values
08:39 Identifying the cultural values
10:08 Why no external consultants were used
11:41 Implementing the new values
17:21 Embedding the new values in HR processes
19:39 An example of the impact of these values
22:00 Are cultural values industry specific
► About Manuela Staub
Manuela Staub joined Flughafen Zürich AG as Head of Corporate Communications in 2020. In June 1st, 2022, she became a member of the management board and Head of the People & Communications. In this role she is responsible for People & Culture, Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, and Visitor Services & Events.
Manuela studied Communications Management (University of Lugano) and Strategic HR Management (University of Skt. Gallen). Prior to joining Zurich Airport, she worked in a number of different roles in Swisscom. Additionally, she is the co-founder of 'the Boardroom', an organization aiming to bridge the gender gap in the boardroom.
► Resources
Purpose and strategy Zurich Airport https://www.flughafen-zuerich.ch/en/company/flughafen-zuerich/about-us/strategy
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
In this episode I interview Deborah Perry Piscione about her latest book: ‘Employment Is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work’, which she wrote together with Josh Drean.
The central theme of this book is that traditional employment models are becoming outdated due to the evolving needs and expectations of the modern workforce, facilitated by disruptive technologies.
This will lead to the end of the traditional employment model, as well as the traditional form as companies, as we know them today.
In our conversation, Deborah and I touched on the following topics:
- What is the new workforce, what do they want, and why?
- The importance of Blockchain for the future of work
- Companies that are early movers in this space
- The Gig Economy: Utopia or Dystopia
- How individuals should prepare themselves for the future of work
- Implications for our education system
- How should established companies prepare themselves
- The role HR should play in this transition
- The role for national governments
- The popularity of the book
- Final Thoughts
► About Deborah Perry Piscione
As a serial entrepreneur, Deborah (co) founded five companies, including the Work3 Institute, an advisory firm that helps enterprises evolve into an AI, web3 + work3 future of business, and where she is serving as CEO. Deborah Is also a thought leader in innovation, AI + web3, advisor, New York Times bestselling author, LinkedIn author, serial entrepreneur, and global keynote speaker.
Earlier books (co) authored by Deborah Perry Piscione are 'Secrets of Silicon Valley: What Everyone Else Can Learn From the Innovation Capital of the World', 'The Risk Factor: Why Every Organization Needs Big Bets, Bold Characters, and the Occasional Spectacular Failure ', and
'The People Equation: Why Innovation Is People, Not Products'
She also developed Improvisational Innovation™, a bottom-up methodology that engages all the talents of the entire organization, helps the organization shift to a growth mode, and addresses the question on how to identify, source, data-mine and execute upon new ideas from any employee.
► Resources
- Employment is Dead https://www.amazon.com/Employment-Dea...
- Work3 Institute https://work3.me/
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Ralph Schonenbach is a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of global experience, as well as an author. His work centers around developing and nurturing relationships. In this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast we talk about his latest start-up, Meerkat.ai, as well as about his book 'Relationships matter'.
In this conversation, we touch on the following topics:
- Why relationships matter
- Why his latest start-up is called 'Meerkats.ai'
- The value Meerkats.ai delivers for clients
- Example of a use case
- The businessmodel of Meerkats.ai
- Data Privacy
- Getting to know Meerkats.ai – Participate in the pilot (pilot@meerkats.ai)
- Why his book 'Relationships matter' starts with "self-management"
- Why the book is not restricted to professional relationships
- Are (all) professional relationships transactional
- Re) building relationship when you need them
- The unique value face-to-face relationships and communities can offer the business world that digital relationships and communities cannot
- What Ralph means with 'digital etiquette.'
- Final thoughts
► About Ralph Schonenbach
Ralph Schonenbach started his career in Andersen Business Consulting, and moved on to Ernst & Young and later CGI. Subsequently, he co-founded the Trestle Group Consulting and Foundation. In 2016 he co-founded Envoy, in 2019 Aidentified, and in 2024 Meerkats.ai. He also found the time to write, and in 2025 published 'Relationships Matter: From Self-Discovery to an Enriched Life'.
► Resources
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Ralph's book: Relationships matter
-
Register here to participate in the pilot: pilot@trymeerkat.ai
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Ralph Schonenbach on LinkedIn
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
The image of the banking industry has been severely tarnished by the financial crisis (2007-2008), which led to increasing regulatory and compliance demands. At the same time, the industry is experiencing emerging competition from FinTechs, evolving business models, and disruptive technologies. In light of these challenges, I recently spoke with Ralph Hamers, to explore his views on what effective leadership in the banking sector entails.
In our conversation, we touched on the following topics:
1 Why Ralph decided to join the banking industry
2 When and why did innovation become an important theme for him?
3 How 'traditional' banks should deal with Fintech companies
4 The culture change required in traditional banks
5 Addressing the image of the banking industry
6 The impact of technological developments on compliance costs
7 How to create successful top teams in the banking world
8 How to develop and foster a collective ethical mindset
9 Final thoughts
► About Ralph Hamers
Ralph Hamers advises both established and emerging players in the finance and digital industries. As former CEO of ING and UBS, he successfully led these global banks through significant transformations.
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
‘We want to help candidates to move from jobs they like, to jobs they love’ - Victor Akwunwa.
The commoditization of human capital in recruitment processes leads to unsatisfactory outcomes for the companies and the candidates concerned. For companies, recruitment has become a volume game where KPI’s have replaced quality. For candidates because the unique value they can bring to organizations is not acknowledged in traditional recruitment processes.
I recently had a conversation with Victor Akwunwa, the Chief Sales Officer of Found, a Swiss start-up company that wants to disrupt this traditional approach. During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- What is Found
- Why recruitment is ready for disruption
- The operating model of Found
- The Technology Found uses
- Identifying the culture of the client
- The target markets of Found
- The long-term goals of Found
- The (dis)advantages of being a Swiss Based Start-Up
- Giving up a blossoming corporate career to join a start-up
► About Found;
Found is a Swiss start-up that aims to change how hiring works. In their own words:
‘The hiring process can be bleak. Job boards prioritise volume over accuracy, leading to talent being overlooked amid overwhelming numbers of applications. Meanwhile, traditional recruiters cling to outdated practices, relying on subjective judgment, and charging exorbitant fees.
We believe it's time for change. We're dismantling outdated recruitment models using the power of data and technology. Our approach uses fast, data-driven AI matching and has employers pitch to talent, instead of talent having to apply.
The result? A revolution in recruitment with companies finding the perfect talent, and talent finding their perfect job.'
Website Found
► About Victor Akwunwa
Victor Akwunwa obtained a Master of Science Degree (with honors) at the Tilburg University in the Netherlands. In 2015 he joined the Adecco Group, a global staffing company, where he quickly rose through the ranks through a variety of sales, and other customer-facing roles. In 2023 he joined the start-up Found as Head of Sales, and subsequently was promoted to Chief Sales Officer (CSO).
LinkedIn Profile Victor Akwunwa
► Important keywords and concepts in this conversation:
Community-based hiring - Operating model - Driving value for talent - Matching accuracy - Talent Talent Segments - Start-up - Swiss start-up - Neuroscience - Overcommodization recruitment - Acceptance rate Neural networks - Building versus operating the machine - IFL -Culture Venture capital
► Blogposts about Recruitment by Dirk Verburg:
⇨ The Corporate Recruitment process is ready for disruption
⇨ Corporate Recruiters should stop spraying & praying
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
There are some companies I deeply admire, and On, the Swiss sports and apparel brand is definitely one of them! Not only do they make amazing products and have an extremely powerful brand, they also have a unique company culture.
For this reason, I was thrilled to sit down with Alessandra del Pino, Head of Engagement & Talent Growth at On, to discuss the company culture of On, or, as Alessandra describes it, their 'secret sauce'.
During our conversation, we covered the following topics:
- Alessandra's role at On
- The mission and values ('spirits') of On
- How the mission and values are kept alive
- How the impact of the mission and values is measured
- An example of a mission - value driven decision in On
- Embedding the culture - Recruitment
- Embedding the culture - Performance Management
- Embedding the culture - Talent Management
- The expectations of People Leaders in On
About On
‘On was born in the Swiss Alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running by empowering all to run on clouds. Since its market launch in 2010, On delivers industry-disrupting innovation in premium footwear, apparel, and accessories for high-performance running, outdoor,
training, all-day activities and tennis. On is present in more than 60 countries globally and is believed to be one of the fastest-growing scaled athletic sports companies in the world’. The company employs more than 2.300 staff and generated net sales of CHF 1,792.1 in 2023 (source Annual report)
About Alessandra del Pino
Alessandra del Pino is Head of Engagement & Talent Growth at On. After studying Sociology in Venezuela, she started a journey in HR which would take her across the globe, working for completely different companies in different industries. Alessandra started her career in 2011 working for Groupon in Spain, before moving to Burger King. In 2015 she moved to Canada to for Restaurant Brands International, a company she also worked for both in Canada, as well as Switzerland. In 2019 she joined On, first as a Talent Business Partner, and later as Head of Engagement & Talent Growth.
Alessandra likes running (not surprising!), Spanish wines (same), good food, and traveling.
Important keywords and concepts in the conversation
Values as spirits - Spirit award - Rituals to express the company culture - Trust and Collaboration as key values - Wall-less office - No reception - Well being - Dealing with low performers - Team members instead of Staff or Employees
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
‘Everyone who wins nowadays is challenging the Shareholder Value Maximization doctrine’
This is just one of the powerful and thought-provoking statements Professor Michael Pirson (Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business) made when I interviewed him about 'Humanistic Management'.
In the last decades, the shortcomings of the neo-liberal economic order in our society have become clearer than ever (e.g. the credit crunch, climate change, and wars). An increasing number of people want to move away from a system that commoditizes human beings, and the natural environment in which they live. They seek, amongst others, dignity, a sense of purpose, and attention to well-being, instead of material prosperity only.
Humanistic Management is a relatively young academic movement that seeks to create a more balanced relationship between those things that can be exchanged on markets and those that are not but make life worthwhile.
Michael Pirson is an active member of this movement, and in this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I discuss with him
1️⃣ What Humanistic Management is
2️⃣ How Michael discovered Humanistic Management
3️⃣ What we as mankind can learn from the Covid 19 Pandemic
4️⃣ Measuring Wealth versus Wellbeing
5️⃣ Will Shareholder Value (Economistic Management) not always prevail?
6️⃣ Is Humanistic Management 'industry agnostic'?
7️⃣ Resources on Humanistic Management
8️⃣ Final Thoughts
About Michael Pirson
Michael Pirson, Ph.D., is the chair of the Leading People and Organizations Area within the Gabelli School of Business. He is the James A. F. Stoner Endowed Chair in Global Sustainability and is a full professor with a focus on global sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Michael is a research associate at Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program (HFP). He co-founded the Humanistic Management Network and is founder and president of the International Humanistic Management Association. He is the editor in chief of the Humanistic Management Journal.
Additionally he is a full member of the Club of Rome, leads the Humanistic Management working group at the UNPRME, and advises a number of social enterprises. He has won numerous awards for his work including from the Academy of Management and the Association of Jesuit Universities.
Website
https://www.humanetwork.org/
Publications
https://www.fordham.edu/gabelli-school-of-business/faculty/full-time-faculty/michael-pirson/
Other resources
https://www.youtube.com/user/HumanisticManagementhttps://www.youtube.com/@UCLQhzwfw3QgAtLv_h5P9N3Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEGqEeiA5c0
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
'A transformational read that every leader of today needs'. These were the words Head Judge, Jacq Burns used when she announced that 'Leader As Healer', written by Nicholas Janni was selected as the overall winner for the 2023 Business Book Awards.
The book argues that, given the current challenges our society faces, we need a new leadership model. Our current leadership model is one where we see great leaders as warriors 'on the battlefield of relentless competition', who drive action, pursue instrumental goals (shareholder value), and maintain transactional relationships. Instead, Nicholas Janni pleads for leaders who are empathetic, intuitive, present, and skilled in mindfulness, deep listening, and who can inspire colleagues to engage and collaborate.
In this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I discuss with Nicholas
1️⃣ What does 'The Leader as Healer' mean?
2️⃣ What is the positive difference leaders as healers can make?
3️⃣ Why did 'The Leader as Healer' become business book of the year 2023?
4️⃣ Why our society and many organizations are 'broken'
5️⃣ Why leaders as healers occasionally need to use a scalpel
6️⃣ Why emotions are important and need to be taken seriously
7️⃣ How can leaders become healers?
8️⃣ Practical exercises for leaders
9️⃣ Final thoughts
About Nicholas Janni
Nicholas Janni has devoted his life to the study of human potential. Over the last 20 years he has gained an international reputation for his transformational coaching and leadership development seminars. He works with organisations, NGO’s and senior leaders worldwide and currently teaches at the IMD Business School in Switzerland and the University of Oxford Said Business School. He bridges the worlds of creative, personal, spiritual and professional development in a uniquely powerful, relevant and accessible way.
IIn his first career he was a theatre director. He taught acting at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and directed his own theatre company. He has spent over 30 years researching the theory and the practice of ‘the zone’ of peak performance in art, life and work, and has studied and practiced multiple mind/body disciplines. He trained intensively for five years with Thomas Hubl, studying how to work with personal, intergenerational and collective trauma, and has led ongoing groups in the US, UK and Israel.
Matrix Development
In January 2023 he launched a new platform, and became co-founder and Programme Director of MATRIX DEVELOPMENT http://www.thematrixdevelopment.com
Website
https://www.nicholasjanni.com/
Book
https://www.nicholasjanni.com/book-leader-as-healer/
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
Twenty years ago, in 2004, Shell was hit by the reserves scandal. In the midst of this crisis, the board asked Jeroen van der Veer to become CEO and navigate the company out of this crisis.
Recently Jeroen wrote a book titled 'Van A naar B - Lessen in leiderschap' ('From A to B - Lessons in Leadership'), in which he reflects on these, and other experiences during his long career (which also included for instance being the chairman of the supervisory board of ING during the financial crisis).
In this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I discuss with Jeroen
1️⃣ How his leadership style evolved in the 40 + years of his career in Shell
2️⃣ Which authors in the area of management and leadership inspired him
3️⃣ Why the board asked him to become CEO to navigate Shell out of this crisis.
4️⃣ How he personally experienced his appointment
5️⃣ How he established his plan to move Shell out of this crisis
6️⃣ His top team in Shell during his five years as CEO
7️⃣ Decision he regrets
8️⃣ The three leadership lessons in his book 'From A to B - Lessons in Leadership'
9️⃣ The different world graduates face nowadays
🔟 Final thoughts
About Jeroen van der Veer
Jeroen studied mechanical engineering and economics. He worked for Shell from 1971 to 2009, the last 5 years as CEO. He also took on a number of supervisory board positions, e.g. in ING, Unilever, Boskalis, Equinor, Philips and the Dutch Central Bank. Other key and high-profile activities included Chairmanships for the World Economic Forum and Co-chair with Madeleine Albright for the new NATO Strategic Concept.
Jeroen's boek 'Van A naar B': Lessen in Leiderschap
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
With the publication of his bestseller 'HR Champions' in 1997, Dave Ulrich signaled the potential for HR functions to develop themselves from administrative functions into mission-critical ones for the business (my words—not Dave's!).
Dave Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value.
During our conversation, Dave and I discussed the following topics:
0️⃣1️⃣ Dave's drive to write 'Human Resource Champions'
0️⃣2️⃣ The consequences of the lack of self-confidence exhibited by many HR organizations
0️⃣3️⃣ 'HR is not your friend'. Really?
0️⃣4️⃣ If the current data-centricity in HR functions does not lead to the detriment of intuition and human judgment
0️⃣5️⃣ What the HR agenda should look like in 2024
0️⃣6️⃣ Where the ultimate accountability and responsibility for staff in organizations rest
About Dave Ulrich
Dave Ulrich published over 200 articles and book chapters and over 30 books. He edited Human Resource Management1990-1999, served on editorial board of 4 other journals and on the Board of Directors for Herman Miller (16 years), has spoken to large audiences in 90 countries; performed workshops for over half of the Fortune 200; coached successful business leaders, and is a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academy of Human Resources.
He is known for continually learning, turning complex ideas into simple solutions, and creating real value to those he works with as he defines human capability as the next agenda for people and organization. He posts weekly and comments daily on LinkedIn.
Organization - With co-authors, he has influenced thinking about modern
organizations (Reinventing the Organization) by empirically showing how organization delivers 4 times business results over talent (Victory Through Organization), defined organizations as bundles of capabilities (Organization Capability) and worked to delineate capabilities of talent management (Why of Work; Talent Accelerator), culture change (GE Workout), learning (Learning Organization Capability), and collaboration (Boundaryless Organization).
Leadership - With colleagues, he has also articulated the basics of effective leadership (Leadership Code and Results Based Leadership), connected leadership with customers (Leadership Brand), shown how leadership delivers market value (Why the Bottom Line Isn’t), shapes investor expectations with an ability to measure leadership (Leadership
Capital Index), and synthesized ways to ensure that leadership aspirations turn into actions (Leadership Sustainability).
Human Resources - He and his colleagues have shaped the HR profession and he has been called the “father of modern HR” and “HR thought leader of the decade” by focusing on HR outcomes, governance, competencies, and practices (HR Champions; HR Value Added; HR Transformation; HR Competencies; HR Outside In). He spearheaded a “gift” book on the future of HR (The Rise of HR) distributed to over 1,500,000 HR professionals), in which 70 thought leaders freely shared their insights.
He posts articles (over 200) and newsletter on Linkedin weekly.
Resources
- RBL Group
- Weekly newsletter LinkedIn
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
'I defy anybody to be energized by most appraisal systems I have seen in my career' - Sally Bibb
Most HR professionals and line managers (present company included!) are used to focusing on the 'development areas' of their staff. The idea is to take the areas of strength for granted and to actively work on their weaknesses (the word we so desperately try to avoid).
The question is, however, how effective this is, and which business opportunities we miss, by not building on the strength of our staff.
In order to find out what Strength Management is, and how we can implement it, I interviewed Sally Bibb, a thought leader in this area, for my Leadership 2.0 podcast.
During our conversation, Sally and I discussed the following topics:
0️⃣1️⃣ What Strength Management actually is
0️⃣2️⃣ How Sally became interested in the topic
0️⃣3️⃣ Is Strength Management incompatible with a Growth Mindset?
0️⃣4️⃣ Why most HR professionals remain focused on Development Areas
0️⃣5️⃣ Implementing Strength Management in HR Processes
0️⃣6️⃣ How can appraisals be improved?
0️⃣7️⃣ Is strength management a generational phenomenon?
0️⃣8️⃣ Will AI support Strength Management?
0️⃣9️⃣ Issues Sally is asked to address by her clients
1️⃣0️⃣ Final thoughts on strength management
Sally Bibb is a partner at PA Consulting, leader and author in the field of strengths-based approaches to people and organisations.
She started her career working for BT International and then moved into an international role at The Economist Group before founding the strengths consultancy Engaging Minds in 2012. In 2021, she joined PA Consulting as a partner to advance her vision of bringing strengths to many more employers worldwide.
In this role, she leads strengths-based organizational change work in Europe, the USA, and Asia, and has built a track record of achieving transformational results for a number of high-profile clients in both the private, as well as in the public sector.
Sally has an MSc in organizational change from the University of Surrey and has (co-)authored eight books. A full list can be found in the resource section!
She is a fellow of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) and a member of the steering committee of The Daedalus Trust, a charity founded by Lord David Owen to promote research into hubris syndrome in business.
Resources:
- Website Sally Bibb: https://sallybibb.com/
- Books by Sally Bibb:
The Right Thing: An Everyday Guide to Ethics in Business
Generation Y for Rookies
A Question of Trust: The Crucial Nature of Trust in Business, Work & Life – and How to Build It (with Jeremy Kourdi)
The Stone Age Company: Why Companies Fail
Management f-Laws: How Organization really work (with Russell Ackoff and Herbert Addison)
Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development: A Practical Guide to Transforming Talent Management Strategy for Business Results
The Strengths Book: Discover How to Be Fulfilled in Your Work and in Life
The Strengths Workbook: An Eight-Week Programme to Discover Your Strengths and What Makes You Thrive
(https://sallybibb.com/my-books/)
Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!
The statistics are sobering, not only do 49% of external executive hires end in failure within 18 months, but internal moves prove to be challenging as well. For instance, 40% of internal job moves involving high potentials also end in failure. Besides the fact that these failures often have a traumatic impact for the individuals involved, the costs for the organizations are huge. Not only in terms of imago and hiring costs but, more importantly, in terms of opportunity costs.
To find out why leadership transitions prove to be so hard, and what companies and individuals can do about it, I interviewed Michael Watkins for my Leadership 2.0 podcast.
Michael D Watkins is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change. He is a globally recognized leadership transitions expert and author of several best-selling books, including ‘The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter’. Additionally, he is co-founder of Genesis Advisors, a company whose mission it is to accelerate leaders to to reach their full potential, energise teams to achieve peak performance, and transform organizations to outperform the competition
During our conversation, Michael and I discussed the following topics:
0️⃣1️⃣ Where Michael’s interest in (leadership) transitions stems from
0️⃣2️⃣ The importance of accelerating leadership transitions (ROI)
0️⃣3️⃣ Why many companies do not pay enough attention to leadership transitions
0️⃣4️⃣ Why do internal moves so often fail
0️⃣5️⃣ Homework for leaders who are about to make an internal move
0️⃣6️⃣ Why companies (too) often hire external talent
0️⃣7️⃣ Homework for leaders contemplating to make an external move
0️⃣8️⃣ External hires asked to drive change - but not to upset the system
0️⃣9️⃣ How can companies protect their investments in leadership transitions?
1️⃣0️⃣ Why did Michael founded Genesis Advisers and what does it do?
Resources:
- Books by Michael Watkins: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michael-Watkins/author/B001JS6RV8?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
- Michael Watkins - IMD: https://www.imd.org/faculty/professors/michael-watkins/
- Genesis Advisors: https://www.genesisadvisers.com/
‘We live in a world of organizations - and we do not understand them’
This is one of the statements Henry Mintzberg, one of the leading thinkers in the field of Management, made when I interviewed him for my Leadership 2.0 Podcast about his latest book ‘ Understanding Organizations…Finally'.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
- The importance for organizations to get their structure ‘right’
- How Henry’s thinking about organizations has evolved in the last 40 years, and what some of the changes and updates he made in this book as a result
- Henry’s statement that ‘Every (organization) form contains the seeds of its own destruction.’
- ‘Emergent structures’ as an alternative to large scale organization restructuring initiatives
- The fit between the personality of a leader and the structure of the organization
- The link between the structures of Apple and Tesla, and the personalities of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. What, if anything, could ‘established’ organizations learn from this?
- The complimentary role of conflict and culture in organizations
- The relationship between structure and culture in organizations
- Where the gap between the formulators and implementers of corporate strategies stems from, and how this can be closed
- The interest in structuring organizations in the academic and the business world
About Henry Mintzberg
Henry Mintzberg is the Cleghorn professor of management studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University in Montreal. He was visiting professor at INSEAD, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the London Business School. He has been engaged as a consultant to a number of organizations, and was president of the Strategic Management Society from 1988 to 1991.
He is the author of 21 books, including ‘The Nature of Managerial Work’, ‘Managers not MBAs’, ‘Simply Managing’, ‘Rebalancing Society, Managing the Myths of Health Care’, and ‘Understanding Organizations...Finally!’ (2023). He also wrote 184 articles, numerous commentaries and produced videos.
He publishes a regular TWOG (TWeet 2 blOG), on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Finally Henry co-founded, and remains active, in the International Masters Program for Managers and the International Masters for Health Leadership, as well as the venture CoachingOurselves.com.
Resources:
Website Henry Mintzberg: https://mintzberg.org/
Twitter Account Henry Mintzberg: @mintzberg141
International Masters Program for Managers: impm.org
International Masters for Health Leadership: mcgill.ca/imhl
In this episode, I am interviewing Professor Eugene Sadler-Smith of the Surrey Business School about the role of intuition in decision-making processes.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
1 What intuition is and what it is not
2 The two types of intuition
3 Adopting an Ambidextrous Mindset
4 How to take important decisions in business
5 Carl Jung and Intution
6 Why the intuitive mind is a slow learner
7 Values and ethics in decision-making processes
8 Final Thoughts - AI and intuition
Eugene Sadler Smith is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Surrey Business School. His research interests include hubris (in leadership, business, and politics) and intuition (in decision-making and creativity).
He published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and his research has featured on BBC Radio 4, BBC Local Radio, Sky TV, The Insight Channel, The Times, The Guardian, and others.
Eugene worked on research and executive education projects with, amongst others, Tesco, Mind Gym, ICSA, CIPD, Met Police, Surrey Police, Welsh Government, Forbes, Home Office and the Scottish Government.
He has written a number of books: Learning and Development for Managers (Blackwell, 2006); Inside Intuition (Routledge, 2008); The Intuitive Mind (John Wiley and Sons, 2010, translated into Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian); Hubristic Leadership (with a Foreword by Lord David Owen, SAGE, 2018); Human Resource Development: From Theory into Practice (SAGE, 2022), and ‘Intuition in Business’ (Oxford University Press in 2023).
In the next coming months two new books by his hand will be published ‘The Hubris Hazard, and how to avoid it’ (Routledge), and ‘Trust your gut: Go with your intuition and make better choices’ (Pearson Academic).
The E-Mail address of Eugene Sadler-Smith is: e.sadler-smith@surrey.ac.uk
His website dedicated to the topic of Hubris is: www.thehubrishub.com
Scenario thinking enables organizations to establish possible visions of the future in the form of scenarios. This enables decision-makers to think through the different ways in which the environment of their institutions could evolve in the future, based on different sets of assumptions.
One of the companies that is best known for its scenario-thinking activity is Shell. For decades, Shell’s scenarios have supported the decision-making of Shell leaders, academics, governments, and businesses.
Jeremy Bentham led this activity in Shell between 2006 and his retirement in 2022 as Shell Scenarios & strategy Leader and VP Global Business Environment.
In this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I am interviewing Jeremy Bentham about scenario thinking and leadership.
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
1 What scenario thinking is and what is it not
2 Why organizations should invest in scenario thinking
3 The development of scenario thinking in the past decades
4 The reason for Shell to start sharing (parts of) its scenarios with external stakeholders
5 The importance of engagement
6 Why and how scenario thinking could lead to wiser decisions
7 Strategic character
8 The possible role of scenario thinking in addressing crises our society faces
9 The Dodo club (recently established by Jeremy)
10 Final thoughts on the topic of scenario thinking
About Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham has a Degree in Physics from the University of Oxford and a Master's Degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
From 1980 - 2022 he worked for Shell in various roles and functions, including as Chief Executive for Shell Hydrogen, and later as Shell Scenarios & strategy Leader and VP Global Business Environment, in charge of developing forward-looking scenarios to support strategic thinking and direction-setting.
Currently, Jeremy is Co-Chair (scenarios) & Senior Advisor for the World Energy Council, as well as being involved in several other organizations in the climate and sustainable development space, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Illuminem, Pathfinder International, and the Mission Possible Partnership.
Additionally, he is a Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
His interests include theater production, cinema, and art history.
The Dodo Club
Recently, Jeremy started a regular newsletter and vehicle for discussion and community building called 'the Dodo club. The purpose of this club is to help people and organizations make wiser decisions in the face of the radical uncertainties they are facing, including when grappling with issues of decarbonisation and energy transitions.
You can find this club, and sign up for the Newsletter at [https://thedodoclub.beehiiv.com/]
The E-Mail address of Jeremy Bentham is: jbentham@live.com
Additional resources:
Jeremy Bentham: Decarbonisation Scenarios (youtube.com)
Jeremy Bentham: The energy transition (post Illuminem)
40 Years of Shell Scenarios
Scenarios: An explorers guide
In this episode, I am interviewing Vlad Gheorghiu about mental health in the workplace, a highly relevant topic.
Why?
The World Health Organization estimates that 12 billion working days are lost every year due to depression and anxiety. This costs $1 trillion in lost productivity.
McKinsey research showed that ‘60 % of employees have experienced at least one mental-health challenge at some point in their lives’. According to the same study ‘Failing to address the effects of mental health and well-being challenges is a missed opportunity for employers’.
Employees dealing with mental health issues are 4x more likely to say they intend to leave, 3x more likely to report low job satisfaction, 3x more likely to experience toxic workplace behavior, and 2x more likely to report low engagement.
At the same time, classic Employee Assistance Programs do not seem to work…
Vlad Gheorghiu experienced mental health issues firsthand, whilst working for McKinsey.
This experience inspired him to design solutions. First for McKinsey, and later by co-finding a start-up company called Kyan Health.
In our conversation, we covered the following topics
- Vlad's background
- Vlad's engagement with mental health
- The gap in the workplace between the mental health support employees need and receive
- The concept of Kyan Health
- Measuring impact
- Creating a start-up company: Three Dos
- Creating a start-up company: Three Dont's
- Vlad's role models as an entrepreneur
Finally, we also talk about his personal experiences as an entrepreneur and co-founder of a start-up.
Vlad’s email address is: vlad@kyanhealth.com
Website KyanHealth: www.kyanhealth.com
Links to relevant (McKinsey) reports:
https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/present-company-included-prioritizing-mental-health-and-well-being-for-all
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/people%20and%20organizational%20performance/our%20insights/the%20state%20of%20organizations%202023/the-state-of-organizations-2023.pdf
In this episode, I am interviewing Eugene Sadler-Smith about hubristic leadership. A highly relevant topic in the light of the corporate scandals we faced in the last two decades, as well as the current geo-political tensions we are seeing around us.
None of these would have happened without hubristic leaders.
During our conversation, Eugene and I discussed the following topics:
03:00 The meaning of hubris
05:05 Examples of hubristic leaders in politics and business
11:00 The origins of hubris: nature and/or nurture?
14:57 Do we co-create hubristic leaders?
20:26 Recognizing hubristic leaders by the language they use
27.57 How can teams become hubristic
33:06 Eugene's new book: 'The Hubris Hazard'
38:08 The role of HR and Leadership Development professionals
40:03 Does hubris also have a bright side?
Eugene Sadler Smith is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Surrey Business School. His research interests include hubris (in leadership, business, and politics) and intuition (in decision-making and creativity).
He published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and his research has featured on BBC Radio 4, BBC Local Radio, Sky TV, The Insight Channel, The Times, The Guardian, and others.
Eugene worked on research and executive education projects with, amongst others, Tesco, Mind Gym, ICSA, CIPD, Met Police, Surrey Police, Welsh Government, Forbes, Home Office and the Scottish Government.
He has written a number of books: Learning and Development for Managers (Blackwell, 2006); Inside Intuition (Routledge, 2008); The Intuitive Mind (John Wiley and Sons, 2010, translated into Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian); Hubristic Leadership (with a Foreword by Lord David Owen, SAGE, 2018); Human Resource Development: From Theory into Practice (SAGE, 2022), and ‘Intuition in Business’ (Oxford University Press in 2023).
In the next coming months two new books by his hand will be published ‘The Hubris Hazard, and how to avoid it’ (Routledge), and ‘Trust your gut: Go with your intuition and make better choices’ (Pearson Academic).
The E-Mail address of Eugene Sadler-Smith is: e.sadler-smith@surrey.ac.uk
His website dedicated to the topic of Hubris is: www.thehubrishub.com
Everyone is an expert in leadership development, or at least has an option about it!
For this reason, I decided to interview Professor Ayse Yemiscigil.
Ayse Yemiscigil, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and a Research Affiliate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University.
In February 2023, she, Dana Born, and Horace Ling, published an article for HBR.org of the Harvard Business Review titled: 'What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed?'
In their article, they argue that global organizations spend, on an annual basis, more than $60 billion on leadership development programs, but that it is hard to establish the ROI of these programs.
During my conversation with Ayse we discussed the following topics:
1 Why most investments in Leadership Development programs fail
2 The format of Leadership Development programs
3 The content of Leadership Development programs
4 The ‘whole person’ approach
5 Whether knowledge building on business topics should be included in Leadership Development programs
6 The long-term impact (or not) of Leadership Development Programs
7 How to measure the impact of Leadership Development programs
8 Stimulating the self-reflection of (potential) leaders
About Ayse Yemiscigil:
Ayse Yemiscigil, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and a Research Affiliate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. She received her Ph.D. from Warwick Business School and has been a postdoctoral research fellow at The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.
Professor Yemiscigil’s research brings a humanistic lens to leadership development and management. Using an interdisciplinary approach, she studies how leaders cultivate humanistic ideals such as flourishing and well-being, meaning, purpose, and authenticity in themselves, organizations, and the broader society.
Drawing from her interdisciplinary background in behavioral science, economics, and management, Professor Yemiscigil’s research focuses specifically on the social-economic barriers and support factors that are contextual and modifiable which may impact the humanistic development of leaders and organizational communities. She applies advanced quantitative methods to large-scale, longitudinal data and conducts natural field experiments in multi-country settings and organizations.
Her research has been published in leading academic journals, including Psychological Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Harvard Business Review, and featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal among other media outlets.
Professor Yemiscigil teaches humanistic management and leadership development and has been recognized for distinguished teaching performance by the Harvard Division of Continuing Education. She is a research consultant to multiple organizations including the Core Leadership Institute and Heart Mind Design.
She holds a master’s degree in behavioral and economic sciences from Warwick University, UK, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from Koc University, Turkey.
The E-Mail address of Professor Yemiscigil is : ayemiscigil@fordham.edu
The article ‘What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed?’
by Ayse Yemiscigil, Dana Born, and Horace Ling’ can be found here: https://hbr.org/2023/02/what-makes-leadership-development-programs-succeed
Current thinking in Psychology is that there are five dimensions we can use to describe the most important personality dimensions. Dr. Ralph Piedmont discovered the 6th one: 'the Numinous'.
The five-factor model of personality (FFM) is a set of five broad trait dimensions or domains, often referred to as the “Big Five”: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism (sometimes named by its polar opposite, Emotional Stability), and Openness to Experience (sometimes named Intellect).
The Big Five/FFM was developed to represent as much of the variability in individuals’ personalities as possible, using only a small set of trait dimensions.
Many personality psychologists agree that its five domains capture the most important, basic individual differences in personality traits and that many alternative trait models can be conceptualized in terms of the Big Five/FFM structure (www.oxfordbibliographies.com).
Dr. Ralph Piedmont discovered the 6th factor: the Numinous. According to Ralph Piedmont 'the numinous deals with our ultimate existential engagements with life. The Numinous has three central concerns: issues about mortality; meaning in life, and personal worthiness.'
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364950266_An_Introduction_to_the_Numinous_1_An_Introduction_to_the_Sixth_Major_Dimension_of_Personality_The_Numinous)
During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:
(1) 01:58 - The origins of the Five-Factor personality model
(2) 08:08 - The Five-Factor personality model versus adopting a growth mindset
(3) 15: 26 - Dark Triads
(4) 17:12 - What is the Numinous?
(5) 25:00 - The relevance of the Numinous for agnostics and atheists
(6) 26:19 - Practical implications of the Numinous
(7) 33:00 - Applications of the Numinous in the world of business
(8) 41:37 - Leadership development and the Numinous
(9) 50:50 - Dysfunctional leadership behavior and the Numinous
(10) 57:50 From the "Big 5" to the "Big 6"? The future of the Numinous
Dr. Piedmont received his Ph.D. in Personality Psychology from Boston University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Aging, where he was trained in taxonomic models of personality and their relevance for understanding mental and physical outcomes.
Dr. Piedmont was a full professor in the Department of Pastoral Counseling at Loyola University Maryland and is now the Managing Director of the Center for Professional Studies.
His current research interests focus on the measurement of Spiritual Transcendence, a construct that represents a broad, nondenominational, motivational measure of spirituality. He has demonstrated the predictive value of this construct in both normal and clinical contexts, using both American and cross-cultural samples.
Dr. Piedmont is extensively published in the scientific literature and is on the editorial boards for Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, Assessment, and Journal of Personality Assessment.
He was the founding editor of the new APA journal, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA). He is also very much involved in Division 36, the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality for the APA and ACA’s Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling.
E-mail dr. Ralph Piedmont: info@thecfps.com
Website: https://centerforprofessionalstudies.com/
Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bJTbCUIAAAAJ&hl=en
'The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology'.
With this quote from Edward O. Wilson, Matt Nixon answered my question if our requirements about leadership have changed in the last decades.
Matt Nixon has more than 30 years of experience as a management consultant and HR executive, working with CEOs and senior leaders around the world. An Oxford classics graduate, he was a partner in Towers Perrin in Chicago and London, and subsequently held the positions of Global Head of Organization Effectiveness for Royal Dutch Shell, and Managing Director, Group Head of Talent for Barclays, before returning to the consulting industry.
Nowadays Matt works as a partner in a specialized consulting boutique where he coaches and advises CEOs and other senior leaders during career transitions and other periods of change and transition.
Matt has written and taught extensively on hubris in executives.
During our conversation, Matt and I discussed the following topics:
- Have the demands on senior leaders changed in the past couple of decades?
- How can senior leaders stay relevant and deal with the changing nature of their roles?
- What makes a successful executive an effective supervisory board member?
- The reputational life-cycle Matt describes in his book 'Pariahs – Hubris, Reputation and Organizational Crises'
- How top leaders could prevent their organization from landing in the Hubris state
- Should leaders who find themselves in the middle of a corporate scandal stay or go?
- Should companies take a stand on political issues (e.g. Human rights, Immigration, Ukraine)
- Should coaches proactively force issues on their senior clients?
In this episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I am interviewing Arend Ardon about how leaders can create deep, and sustainable behavioral change in their organizations.
Arend Ardon (1967) is a management consultant and co-founder and co-owner of the Change Studio, a consultancy firm specializing in change management.
He is a leading thinker in this area and has published dozens of articles and books.
During our conversation, I asked Arend questions about the following topics:
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Why Arend decided to become a management consultant
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To what he contributes his success in implementing changes in large organizations, despite never having worked as a leader in such an environment
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His fascination for change and change management
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Why we, in the context of change, need to adapt a different paradigm than thinking in terms of initiating leaders on the one hand, and reactive and dependent employees on the other.
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Why leaders and experts should reflect on their own role in change processes
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Why and how leaders should release control if they want to make things happen
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‘Creating a sense of belonging’ versus 'Burning platforms' to drive change management
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What the undertow in organizations is, and why leaders should pay attention to this
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Why Arend decided to pursue a PhD study
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Arend's drive for writing
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Why Arend decided to establish his own consulting firm (The Change Studio)
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The type of clients that are attracted by the Change Studio
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The profile of the consultants that work for the change studio
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Why Arend Still makes the time available to lecture at universities
Information about Arend's work:
Arends' book Doorbreek de cirkel! has meanwhile sold more than 30,000 copies and was recently also published in English (Break the Cycle!). Other books include Ontketen vernieuwing! (which translates as ‘Unleash innovation’) and, more recently, with Cynthia van der Zwan, ‘Wat speelt hier? Laat de onderstroom spreken (which translates as: ‘What is going on here? Listen to the undertow’). All books have become best-sellers in the Netherlands.
In partnership with GoodHabitz, Arend developed the online Change & Innovation course, especially for use on smartphones and tablets. The course offers lots of video content, interactive tests, and a vast library of further reading (http://bit.ly/2qLlDr0).
Relevant contact details and links:
Arend can be reached at: arend@thechangestudio.nl
The website of the Change Studio: https://www.thechangestudio.nl/?lang=en
Arend's PhD Thesis "Moving moments" can be downloaded here: https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/42174484/complete+dissertation.pdf
In this episode, I am interviewing Saskia Schepers about unleashing the power of neurodiversity in the workplace.
Saskia Schepers studied organizational science and works as a creative brain, consultant, project manager, speaker, trainer, and coach.
She recently wrote a book titled ‘Als alle breinen werken - Waarom ruimte voor neurodiversiteit op het werk goed is voor idereen'. In English: ‘If all brains are switched on - Why space for neurodiversity in the workplace benefits everyone’.
The book almost immediately reached the number 1 position in the Dutch bestseller list of management books, was quickly sold out, and is now in its third printed edition.
An English translation is in the making and will be published in 2024.
During our interview, we discussed, amongst others, the following topics:
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What neurodiversity is
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Why neurodiversity is a leadership issue
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Why leaders find it hard to deal with neurodiversity
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Recommendations for leaders struggling with neurodiverse people in their teams
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How to start a conversation about neurodiversity as a leader
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Accepting Neurodiversity versus adopting a ‘growth mindset’
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Why working in teams can pose challenges for neurodiverse people and how leaders can accommodate this
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To stimulate innovation, more and more businesses start to ‘encourage’ staff to return to the office. Is this necessary, and which special challenges does this pose for neurodiverse people
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The special challenges working in an agile manner can pose for neurodiverse people
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The application of ‘strength-based management’ beyond neurodiversity in organizations
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The role Saskia's neurodiverse profile played in the way she wrote this book ('The creative process')
Link tot the website of Saskia Schepers: https://saskiaschepers.com/
Link to the book of Saskia Schepers: https://www.atlascontact.nl/boek/als-alle-breinen-werken/
John Hollwitz is a University Professor of psychology and rhetoric. Before coming to Fordham, he was the A.F. Jacobson Professor of Communications at Creighton University and dean of arts and sciences at Loyola College in Maryland. He also has been the vice president of academic affairs at Fordham.
Professor Hollwitz's teaching interests include management; experimental/quasi-experimental design; statistics; item response theory; structural equation modeling; team-building, especially in high-pressure teams; life-span career development; religion, and work. His avocations include martial arts, especially classical Tai Chi sword; jazz and blues music.
He is currently working on a book about blues music, and we also discussed this at the end of this interview.
Our interview was focused on the why and how of corporate ethics.
During this interview, we discussed the following topics:
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John's research into structured ethical integrity interview techniques
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The relationship between ethics and capitalism
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Engraining ethics in the mindset of business leaders
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The relationship between ethics and a sense of purpose
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The consequences of a lack of purpose for organizations and their employees
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How organizations can create a sense of purpose for their employees
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John's love for blues music, and a book he is preparing about this topic
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The soul of organizations
John can be reached on hollwitz@fordham.edu
Sophia Town, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Gabelli School of Business. As a qualitative researcher, Dr. Town explores how leaders can cultivate both knowledge and wisdom in service of individual, organizational, and societal flourishing.
During our conversation, we discussed, amongst others, the following topics :
- Our changing expectations from leaders
- Leadership versus Management
- The blurring boundaries between our working lives and our private lives
- Managing paradoxes
- Value alignment between organizations and employees
- Knowledge versus Wisdom
- Mindfulness
- Time and decision making
- Stories we tell ourselves
- The power of questions and self-reflection
- Preparing students for leadership positions
- Emotional intelligence
- Profit as a ‘happy coincidence’ (CSR)
- The importance of curiosity in the context of motivation
More about Sophia Town:
Dr. Town’s research program reflects three primary streams of research: (1) wisdom-based leadership, (2) systemic change for human flourishing, and (3) transformative business pedagogy.
In the classroom, Professor Town’s curriculum is guided by the question: “How can we develop compassionate leaders in service of a flourishing world?” Professor Town has designed and taught a number of reflective and experiential courses for the undergraduate, MBA, and Executive MBA levels covering topics such as leadership development, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, conflict management, and negotiation. Each course aims to humanize business education by fostering the ‘knowing,’ ‘doing,’ and ‘being’ of wisdom in the workplace.
Regarding transformative pedagogy, Dr. Town leads Fordham’s Human Flourishing Project (FHFP), a mixed-methods, interdisciplinary research lab that explores behavioral, psychological, communicative, and spiritual development in business education. Related to this project, Dr. Town serves as a Research Affiliate and Advisory Board Member for the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. She currently oversees Fordham’s collaborative participation in a multi-year, grant-funded research study with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University to study the role of ‘Love’ in business education.
In addition to her professorial role, Dr. Town is a Fellow for the Center for Humanistic Management at Fordham University and a Research Consultant for the Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience at Arizona State University. In 2018, Dr. Town was named the Jeanne Lind Herberger Fellow for transformative research on work and life. She has received several teaching awards, including the 2018 Teaching Excellence Award (ASU) and the 2021 Dean’s Award for Teaching Innovation (Fordham University). In 2023, Dr. Town won the Dean’s Award for Faculty Service (Fordham University). Dr. Town’s work has been supported by grants from the John Templeton Foundation, the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, and the International Association of Jesuit Universities.
To connect with Dr. Town or her work, you can find her on LinkedIn and Google Scholar.
A full list of her publications can be found here: https://www.fordham.edu/gabelli-school-of-business/faculty/full-time-faculty/sophia-town/
I am a big proponent of the work of Carl Jung and the business world could benefit from his insights. Therefore, I was pleased to have the opportunity to talk to Murray Stein about applying Jungian Analytical Psychology in the workplace.
Interestingly enough we met on labor day, something Jung would call undoubtedly label as synchronicity!
Murray Stein is a graduate of Yale University (B.A. and M.Div.), the University of Chicago (Ph.D.), and the C.G. Jung Institut-Zurich (Diploma). He is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts and of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts. He has been the president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (2001-4), and the President of The International School of Analytical Psychology-Zurich (2008-2012).
He published tens of books about Carl Jung and analytical psychology, including for instance ‘Jung’s Treatment of Christianity’ and ‘Jung’s Map of the Soul’. The focus of our conversation was a book he edited with John Hollwitz called ‘The Psyche at work - Workplace Applications of Jungian Analytical Psychology’.
We discussed a number of topics, including
- The essence of true leadership
- The identity of organizations
- Business ethics
- The need for embracing the shadow to prevent shadow possession and corporate scandals
- The leadership style of different American presidents
- The relation between the need for self-reflection by leaders, executive coaching, and psychoanalysis
- The validity of MBTI
- The importance of having a personal North star
Almost any sizeable company nowadays has a code of ethics. The main catalyst for this were the corporate scandals in the early 2000s (Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and others), and in the last couple of years having a sense of purpose has become pretty much en vogue.
As a result, every year millions of employees now dutifully complete e-learning modules and sign declarations (‘To the best of my knowledge…’).
The difficulty is that corporate codes of ethics are ‘duty-centered ethics’. Duty-centered ethics are ethics people need to formally adhere to, given their role or position in society.
The real test for the way ethics are adhered to in organizations is therefore not the formal compliance with the code of ethics (for instance proving all employees completed their mandatory e-learning), but what happens in the daily reality of business life.
In this podcast, I talk about how organizations can achieve this.
I hope you like this podcast. Let me know!
I always felt sorry for the many famous artists in the Renaissance, who needed to compromise the quality of their work and their artistic integrity, in order to make sure their art suited the requirements of their patrons.
This challenge is not uncommon to the one management consultants and other professionals in business face. How can we translate professional integrity into commercial reality?
For a variety of reasons, a number of line managers frequently want to do the work of their direct reports. However tempting this might be, doing the work of your team is rarely a good idea, neither for you as a line manager, nor for your team.
In the world of professional soccer, you are either a coach, coaching your team from the side, or you are a player in the field. As a soccer coach, you cannot occasionally enter the field during a match, start playing with your team, leave the field again, and, a little later, reenter the field to play again.
And for good reasons...
The book 'An Ugly Truth - Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination’ by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, describes the different scandals Facebook has been involved in in the past couple of years.
The value of this book, compared to other recently published books about Facebook, is that it provides readers with a unique perspective on the impact the motivation and (lack of) ethics of the key decision-makers have on their decision-making.
At the same time, reading this book can teach us a lot about the importance of ethics in business.
When Steve Jobs launched Apple's 'Think different' campaign in 1997, he positioned this by saying: ‘This is a very noisy world, so we have to be very clear what we want them to know about us’.
Since then our world has become only noisier. Therefore we need to do three things if we want to make sure our audience understands what we want them to do.
In this podcast, I review why self-managing teams are an illusion, both in a theoretical, as well as in an empirical sense.
Links to various sources I am referring to can be found in an article I wrote about this topic which ca be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ybvnwvds
I hope you enjoy this Podcast. Let me know!
For many (senior) people their day in the office resembles drinking from a fire hose.
Not only do they need to attend a large number of meetings (often back to back), they are also hit with a continuous stream of ad-hoc questions from their staff, peers, customers, and line managers, which require their attention and action.
Technical tools like time management training and productivity tools do not address the issue. What is required is a radical new way to set your priorities in the workplace.
If you read social media postings, business magazines, and reports from consulting firms, it is easy to get the impression that one of the biggest problems organizations are wrestling with is, is incorporating millennials into the workplace.
In this episode, we will see, on the basis of studies by academics and some of the best-known companies in the world, that there is no need for companies to treat Millennials and 'non-Millennials' any different.
During COVID-19 the demand for leadership development does not seem to have decreased; if anything, the demand seems to have increased. That is remarkable. During the financial crisis in 2007-2008 for instance, most companies almost immediately reduced their out-of-pocket costs associated with these activities.
The fact that companies do not seem to save on developing their leaders is a good thing. First of all because the quality of leadership has a tangible and measurable impact on business results. Secondly because there is evidence that leadership roles have become more demanding in the last couple of decade, especially for first, and second-level leaders in organizations.
Therefore business leaders should not leave the development of their leaders to chance, but take a pro-active stance.
leaderhip #leadershipdevelopement #vucaleadership #covid19 #humanity #purpose #virtualworking #coaching #leadershipstyle #diversityandinclusion
2021 promises to be a very interesting year! If all prognoses are correct, sometime in the next six months we should have developed a grip on COVID19. Here is my (strictly personal and highly selective) take on the workplace in 2021. Three trends and three implications for you. I wish you a happy and prosperous 2021!
Why do smart people make wrong decisions in the world of business? Listen to this Podcast about a book that was published on this topic by Wim van Hennekeler.
Staying current in business is important. Unfortunately, reading management books is often not efficient because publishers and authors have an interest to ‘pump up’ the volume. This podcast describes a T-shape strategy to 'stay current'.
Most articles suggest people need a (partial) make-over to fit their (aspired) work environment.
If that does not feel natural, they are told to ‘Fake it until you make it’.
This is not sustainable - starting with ‘why’ is a much better idea.
Nowadays it is fashionable to bash annual staff performance reviews.
Many companies abandon them to demonstrate how progressive they are.
This often results in a less transparent process, potentially negatively impacting the development of employees.
One of my core beliefs as a management consultant is that the root cause of why change projects fail is the lack of a clear and convincing business case. In my experience, the vast majority of people are willing to change (even if this change has negative implications for them), as long as they understand the rationale behind the change and have the means (resources) to change.
However, I also have come across a number of people who did not want to change, even when there was a clear need to do so, and they had all the required capabilities and resources at their disposal.
Examples include:
- A CEO who did not want to embark on a savings program, despite the fact that her company was on the brink of bankruptcy
- A leader of a national operating company of a global corporation, refusing to implement global policies and processes (aimed at harmonizing and streamline decision making) in the subsidiary she led
- A struggling department head who was told by the executive board to get a grip on his portfolio, but, despite the help of an executive coach, continued to be unable to produce a list of his top-10 priorities
All these examples have three things in common: a clear case for change, a clear course of action, and the availability of the necessary resources (support from senior leaders and/or the possibility to use external consultants and coaches).
Enter FreudI never understood why, given their intelligence and the consequences associated with their lack of action, the people in the examples mentioned above were not able to change their behaviors... until I came across Freud’s concept of ‘epinosic gain’.
coaching #freud #changemanagement #resistance #secundarygain #epinosticgain #conversation #resistance #blockers #change #unconscious
In the past decade, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become more and more popular, not in the least because it makes sense from a commercial perspective. Already in 2009, a study by McKinsey showed that two-thirds of CFOs and three-quarters of investment professionals agreed that CSR activities created value for shareholders in normal economic times.
According to a recent article by the same consulting firm, this is true in the current COVID-19 crisis as well: ‘The way organizations deal with their customers, their employees and the broader community in a crisis is likely to leave lasting memories in customers’ minds.’
Despite the positive impact CSR can have on our society, there are at least three reasons why it is often seen as a marketing ploy:
- No common definition and robust standards
- Inconsistent business practices (Walking the talk)
- The way companies treat their own employees
In our society organizations are free to choose to which extent they want to invest in CSR. There are several examples of well-known companies that do not (significantly) invest in CSR, without a noticeable effect on their business results.
However, once a company decides to publicly choose the moral high ground, it needs to be willing to also invest in this... starting with the way it treats its employees...
CorporateSocialResponsibility #ethics #newnormal #employeengagement #businessprinciples #futureofwork #COVID-19 #futureofwork #reskilling #megatrends #upskilling #newnormal #disruption #worldofwork #futureworkforce #renewableworkforce #employability
The Negative Feedback Paradox
I never liked receiving negative feedback, and have spent the largest part of my professional life ignoring it.
It was not until I hit a serious roadblock in my career, that I started to see the fact that systematically ignoring feedback was not necessarily a great idea.
Since that time, I moved on from rejecting feedback to grumpily accepting it, and lately to even being grateful for it. Grateful, because the business world is a complex place, and negative feedback can be a very useful pointer.
#negativefeedback #feedback #coaching #personaldevelopment #organizationaldevelopment #coaching #coach #motivation #mindset #leadership #feedbackparadox
Mindf*ck: Politics, Psychology and Social MediaIn 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal shocked the world. It became clear that Cambridge Analytica had used data from tens of million Facebook users, to influence the elections in the US, and the Brexit referendum.
Christopher Wylie, the ‘creative genius’ behind Cambridge Analytica, later became the most important whistleblower. Late 2019, he published a fascinating book about his activities for Cambridge Analytica with the brash title ‘Mindf*ck’.
The book is a fascinating mix of an autobiography, a description of the scandal, a thriller and a portrait of our current society. The most valuable and interesting part of the book consist of Christopher Wylie’s observations about the interlinkages between psychology, sociology, politics, and social media.
As human beings we like to explain developments in our lives by simple stories, with a beginning, a middle part, and an end, populated with heroes and villains. Based on the outcome of our stories in the past, we decide how our stories in the future will play out.
This is very dangerous because the reality is often much more complex than our simple stories suggest. Therefore, we should be careful with believing in our own simple stories. To quote an interviewee in ‘Immunity to change’ by Kegan & Lahey: ‘If you oversimplify in the face of complexity, you do enormous damage. You bring a sledgehammer to bear in circumstances where what’s needed is a scalpel or whatever’. Additionally, as Reeves et al argue in ‘Taming complexity’, complexity is not necessarily bad and can have a number of advantages for organizations. It even has the potential to prevent corporate scandals...
COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on our society and the economy. This impact will be felt long after this pandemic has passed: there are at least five trends that will distinguish the ‘new normal’ from the ‘old normal’. In order to survive, businesses need to address three questions, the most important being what the world of their customers will look like post COVID-19. At the same time employees need to ask three questions to review if they are ready for a post Covid-19 world.