Conversations with my Future Skills: Recent Episodes
Saskia Listle
The podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present
In this episode I talk to Bernard Mohr. Bernard is President of the Co-Creating Mutual Value Collaborative, a non-profit action research organization dedicated to helping businesses prosper by creating value that builds a better world for all. He has worked with organisations and corporations all around the world and in numerous industries as a consulting social scientist, focussing on strength-based workplace innovation of professional service practices. He has also served several universities as staff, guest lecturer and dean, and has authored/co-authored seven books and numerous articles dealing with workplace innovation and the collaborative co-creation of more humane and effective organizations.
So it is with great pride and pleasure that we can now present you with an amazingly deep conversation about purpose, measurements, and the purpose of measurement. A lot of mindset shifts are addressed in this conversation, as well as philosophical excursions into linguistics, facts, values, impact and numbers. We address the question of all questions: What’s our purpose in this world, as indvidual, as organization and as systems? And we try to get deeper into how this translate into value and impact, and how - if - this can be put into numbers.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Bernard on the Purpose of Measurement.
In this episode I talk to Mark Steadman. Mark is a podcasting veteran who began his career in 2008 by editing podcasts and helping local radio stations create on-demand audio. In 2016, he founded a media hosting company that served millions of listeners across thousands of podcasts. After selling the company in 2021, he founded Origin, a consultancy helping change-makers build trust with their audiences through podcasting. So with his experience in the world of audio, we talk about the power of your voice, in a quite literal sense. Taking at it from the aspect of podcasters we see them as a means to speak up, being listened to and to democratize the media landscape. There's value to the listener in expressing yourself through your voice, which also comes from the intimacy of listening to podcasts. Mark also hosts a podcast of his own. The show is called The Helpful Podcaster and empowers seasoned, soulful entrepreneurs to create long-lasting, rewarding relationships with their listeners. So have a listen and check it out. I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Mark on Using your Voice.
In this episode I talk to Silvia Wiesner. Silvia can look back on a 17-year leadership career in Unilever. She left her role as Managing Director Belgium & Luxembourg to join Egon Zehnder where she now works with Boards and Executive Teams on human answers to complex challenges. She is a DE&I ally and sits on the Executive Committee of European Women on Boards. Additionally, she is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a start-up advisor and also - a Mum.
With so much experience all over the leadership and management place it was so enriching to talk to Silvia about leadership. We looked into how the meaning of the word changed as well as the meaning of the job. We’re jumping wholeheartedly into embracing emotional intelligence as another quality of leaders and how that supports us as leaders in the growing field of tension that we find ourselves in. We talk about the paradox of leadership - fix in the short term, build for the long term and how we need to have a team around us that supports us in this mission, not because they have to, but because they want to.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Silvia on Leadership.
In this episode I talk to Alexandra Felde. Alex knows from her own experience what it means to share spaces that do not fit your own needs and working styles, and how much we just resign ourselves to finding a solution that doesn’t 100% feel comfortable. At the same time, from her experience in the corporate world, she knows what’s out there - and just not used. So she founded a company to connect people who have the space to the people who need it - and to start a conversation about our potential to share.
And this is also what this conversation is all about. We take sharing from the transactional aspect more on a mindset level. We challenge old proprietary models and the idea of “being the best”. It was fascinating to see what we touched on when we are just looking into our ability and our openness to share.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Alex on Sharing.
In this episode I talk to Silja Tyllilä. Silja is a systemic coach, facilitator, and mindfulness teacher who focuses on optimizing performance, resilience, and regeneration for individuals and teams. Also drawing on her Finnish heritage, Silja's coaching approach acknowledges the interconnectedness of various factors that influence performance and well-being. Silja is particularly passionate about working with athletes across diverse sports as well as individuals and teams she refers to as "athletes of life" – those who aspire to excel in their chosen domains.
And because of how she combines strength and calmness for this group of people, I was very curious to talk to her about that unique combination. We talk about calm strength and play, the importance of little routines rather than aggressive short-termism and about self-efficacy. We talk about balance and we introduce a head-rate in the style of a heart rate, the ups and downs and the play of those as the definition of balance.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Silja on Strength.
In this episode I talk to Sam Curtis. Sam is a practical, results-based and down-to-earth life coach. Having done this work for a decade now and combined with her passion for learning, Sam is skilled in many modalities of coaching and meditation. This provides the perfect foundation for supporting others in their personal growth.
And talking about a meditative state: Talking about rest was what made this conversation so refreshing. I learned that there are seven types of rest who all allow us to fill up our batteries. We went into where rest - or better said the lack thereof - manifests in our bodies and that we cannot think it away. We try to break out of our avoidance scheme and face the feelings and we try to establish some self-love and self-work. I came out of this episode full of new ideas and definitely more rested than I went into.
In this episode I talk to Nirish Shakya. He is a Design Thinking Consultant, Educator and Coach. He is helping organisations to create impactful customer experiences by empowering teams to put their customers first, collaborate creatively without the fear of judgement and innovate faster. Nirish has taught Design Thinking and Innovation at General Assembly, Berghs School of Communication, and within several government bodies, corporations and startups. Nirish is also the founder and host of Design Feeling, a podcast and community platform for design thinkers and innovators who want to increase their self-awareness, creative confidence and meaning.
Which makes him the perfect partner to talk about self awareness on an individual and an organizational level! We get into how we can turn human centeredness from a tickbox excercise into a surprise aha-moment and how we can start acknowledging differences in needs and values. We define the big A’s - Awareness, Acknowledgement, Action, Assessment and Agency. And hopefully, with this conversation, we can start the bigger discussion on how to balance exploration and exploitation of our skill sets and needs.
In this episode I talk to Adrian Ashton. Adrian recently self-published a book about imposter syndrome, after he realised that everything most people think they know about it is actually wrong based on various published research. In his wider ongoing work, Adrian holds international reputations for his training and work with enterprises, charities universites and policy developers of all types. And, by the way, he is also the only freelance consultant in the world to have annually published an impact report on his own business for nearly 20 years.
And with that experience in his pocket, we confidently go into a deep discussion about the imposter phenomenon. What is it, how does it manifest, how can we work with it. what is influenced by it and what does it influence? It was a great conversation about all the underlying things that we should talk about nevertheless, but only seem to be doing when we talk about imposter syndrom.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Adrian on Imposters.
- Saskia Listle
- Lily Higgins
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Lily Higgins. Lily is a learning experience designer, facilitator, and expert in applied play. She’s the founder of The Intervention Bureau, an LXD consultancy that designs immersive learning experiences for organisations in flux. She also loves to partner with #futureofwork thought-leaders to help them create and facilitate their own signature learning experiences. Play is always at the center of her approach to designing transformational spaces; the not-so-secret ingredient that makes her gatherings uniquely vibrant and impactful.
And this is also what this conversation is about. We play around with all the flavours of play. We explore the universal human need for play and the benefits of play in learning. We also look into what happens if we do not choose play in our everyday lives.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Lily on Play.
Resources and References* Liberating Structures * Lego Serious Play
Contact Lily* Follow Lily on LinkedIn * Follow Lily on Instagram * Follow The Intervention Bureau on Instagram * Website
- Alex Kahl
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Alex Kahl. Alex Kahl is a polymath by nature. ADHD, Introversion and a place somewhere on the Asperger Spectrum come into play when he builds his several jobs over the years that he reimagines every 18 to 24 months. Some examples of that being Web Marketer, Content Creator, Social Media Strategist, Neuroproductivity Coach and Montessori Teacher for Adults.
In this conversation we drive all over the track. Yes, car metaphors also made their way into this episode, but mostly we talk about different skills and experiences and how we fuel our own serendipity machines with curiosity. We talk about the value of learning, the dopamine rush when we touch on new things and how we can use that value as freelancers. But we also talk about goal keeping and knowing when to stop.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Alex on being a Generalist.
Resources and References* Building dependent systems * Robert Basic
Contact Alex* Alex’s LinkedIn * Alex’s Website * Write Alex an email
- Kaumudi Goda
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Kaumudi Goda. KG is the Founder of The Human Conversation and is appointed as an Advisor for Human Capital and Sustainability in Business SIGs at the Indian School of Business. As a people and culture strategist, DEI consultant, executive coach, and lawyer, KG has helped transform organisations through serving as a non-executive director and C-Suite advisor.
This time we are saying goodbye to the individualistic approach to problem solving. We are to making the case for ethics, consistency and commitment as the driver for effective collaboration. We are hoping to contribute to the creation of a space where people don’t focus on their discomfort so they can actually do their best work.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Kaumudi on Psychological Safety.
Contact Kaumudi* Kaumudi’s LinkedIn * The Human Conversation
- Ara Sam
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Ara Sam. She is currently guiding transformation processes as the Senior Assistant Vice President for Transformation in the Insurance industry and has reengineered processes and created end to end platforms that are fast, simple and easy to use! In the span of 18 yrs, she has ventured into a lot of different fields and roles – media advertising, product management, brand management and now transformation. Taking on new roles and mustering up the courage to dive in and make a difference in unknown territories & continuous learning is what keeps her going!
Which is why she is the perfect partner to talk about Uncertainty! In this episode we discuss strategies for leading business transformation in these unstable times. We talk about why it is important to have an open mindset, clear communication patterns and how to distinguish between when to put energy on transformation and when to focus on your core operations. Also, we redefine the straight lines of a roadmap into suggestions and buckets of innovation and hindsight.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Ara on Uncertainty.
Resources and References* Building better Product Roadmaps | Janna Bastow (Mind the Product)
Contact Ara* Ara’s LinkedIn * Ara’s Instagram
- Ann Welch
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Ann Welch. Ann is a talented and versatile educator who enjoys working with learners of all ages to develop vital skills for realizing their dreams and achieving success in life. Throughout her extensive career in education, Ann has guided learners in developing and cultivating self-motivation, growth mindsets, and a better understanding of who they are as learners.
This episode is all about growth mindset. Not in a hustle way, though, but with a good portion of self-awareness and self-reflection. We’re talking about growth as an ongoing process and about goal setting. We get to talk about ChatGPT in a teaching environment and the future of educating. And she even gets to change my view on smart goals!
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Ann on Growth.
Resources and References* A.J. Giuliani on ChatGPT
Contact Ann* Ann’s LinkedIn * Ann’s Website * Ann’s Instagram * Write Ann an email
- Nancy Tobler
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Nancy Tobler. Nancy started working in HR in 2010. Ever since the people business has captured her when working in different industries, such as Advertising, PR, Digital, and Design. Her mission is to turn growing into an interactive and fun activity with the help of a little bit of agile mindset and a mindful heart.
In our conversation we suggest that every HR manager should maybe consider seeing themselves like a UX designer. We discuss how to take a more active role as an HR person as it becomes increasingly important to actively engage with the people you are responsible for. We touch on the mindset of “Us vs Them” as in “employers vs employees” and we end up in reshaping that to a psychological safe working partnership.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Nancy on People Experience.
Resources and References
- Project Aristotle
Contact Nancy
- Nancy’s LinkedIn
- Tracy Sharp
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Tracy Sharp. Tracy is a former Design Director with over 15 years of product development experience. Now as an accredited coach she has founded SharpMinds, with the aim to support and empower women in Design and Engineering. She is also the host of the Design thinking Podcast “ A Beginners Guide 2 Design Thinking”
Together we use design thinking methods to imagine out perfect inclusive space. We discuss how to improve innovation and level the playing field in businesses by putting egos aside and creating a culture of openness and dialogue. We go into the need for diverse teams along the lessons Tracy learned as a woman in engineering leadership and what actions we can take to empower and support those around us.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Tracy on Inclusive Spaces.
Resources and References
- Lucy Patterson from Flourish Unlimited
- Simon Sinek
Contact Tracy
- SharpMinds
- A Beginners Guide to Design Thinking: A-Z
- Tracy’s LinkedIn
- Charles-Louis de Maere
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Charles-Louis de Maere. Through Exploration Labs, he works with individuals, organisations in order to make sense around the work we are doing together. He facilitates workshops and learning experiences that focus on high participation, on learning by doing and validating that the newly learned concepts are integrated. Bringing people together is something that lives on through this workshops and training.
In this conversation we compose our very own “Facilitator’s moonlight sonata”! We analyze the tones and different tempos of facilitation, we ask which instrument we are missing and we keep ourselves accountable as the conductors, so that in the end we facilitate the play between the moon and the moonlight for the magic to come out!
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Charles-Louis on Facilitation.
Resources and References
- Liberating Structures
- The Thiagi group
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- Wiio’s Law of Communication
- Yoshi Oida – “The Invisible Actor”
- Talk by Ornela Vasiliuskaitè at the KanDDDinsky conference
- Francis Laleman on education as oppression
Contact Charles-Louis
- Charles-Louis’s LinkedIn
- Conny Marx
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Conny Marx. Conny is a serial entrepreneur and managing director of Marx Innovations who has experienced the stress and challenges of being a startup founder. Through her own startup journey, she has founded The Healthy Startup and made it her mission to change that and bring more attention to mental health and empower founders on their journey to build healthy and sustainably successful businesses.
In this conversation we are talking about the importance of self-care and connecting with oneself to know what is best for them, rather than blindly following the hustle and grind mentality of the startup world. We try to open the door for conversations around mental health in the founder and entrepreneur space, that is in the start-up scene and the accompanying startup institutions.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Conny on Mental Health.
Resources and References
- Les vertus de l’échec
- How to be a Founder
Contact Conny
- Conny’s LinkedIn
- Conny’s Instagram
- Ceri Newton-Sargunar
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Ceri Newton-Sargunar. Ceri is an Agile Behavioural Coach, an ex-teacher and a neuroscientist-in-training; her continuing mission is to make evidence-based research accessible and useful to agile professionals. Ceri’s favourite pastimes include creating lightbulb moments, turning assumptions on their heads, and reading literally everything in front of her (because ADHD). Ceri’s passions are tea, agility and also brains (but in a good way).
Together we dream up our perfect Agile Wonderland. We talk about the frame in the framework of Agile Methods, we analyse what scrum ceremonies are actually there for and we explore the overall idea of agility. If you get overwhelmed just by hearing the word “change”, this episode might actually be like a nice cup of tea to your ears.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Ceri on agility.
Resources and References
- This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened
Contact Ceri
- Ceri’s LinkedIn
- Ceri’s Twitter
- Ceri’s Instagram
- Matthew Bellringer
- Saskia Listle
Welcome to another conversation with my future skills, the podcast where I talk with interesting people about what skills we have and what skills we need to have to be present in the future.
In this episode I talk to Matthew Bellringer. They are an innovation consultant, neurodiversity advocate and social entrepreneur. They work with individuals and organisations to cultivate, develop and support the exceptional abilities that unconventional people offer. They have a background in technology, psychology and social innovation, and use all of those influences and more to help people establish new ideas, approaches and practices.
In this conversation we go on a meta level and take skills apart. We go into the definitions, teaching and adaption of our skills, the use cases and the cycles of everything that we touch with our skills. We also pick up many subjects again that I already had conversations with other people about.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Matthew on Skills.
Resources and References
- Dave Snowsden and the Cynefin Framework
- Dr. Helen Taylor – Complementary Cognition
Contact Matthew
- Matthew’s LinkedIn
In this episode I talk to Tzufit Herling. Tzufit is a community consultant with over a decade of experience in the field, in working with organizations, entrepreneurs, and businesses. She is the creator and owner of Connecteur, where she provides consultation for community development, and delivers lectures and workshops in the field. Tzufit is also the co-founder of MENAco, a professional network for women entrepreneurs in the hi-tech field from the Middle East and North Africa.In this episode we talk about communities as the chance to be meaningful to others. We get into the formation of a community culture and the resources it takes to create a place to express your identity. We touch on open souce company communities and how building a community is like building a musical harmony.I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Tzufit on Community
In this episode I talk to Laura Hoffman. She is a Chicago based Jazz pianist and has played in trios, quintets, and Big Bands for many years. She also played on cruise ships creating her own show. She currently teaches a lot of private students and has a publishing company for Piano Lesson Sheet Music.
In this episode - which turned out to be a very excellent lesson on storytelling - we talk about the essence of Jazz, which turns out to be very much identical to the essence of collaboration. We talk about the preparation it needs to show up well equipped and to be flexible. At the same time we discuss listening as an art form and the key factor to collaborating. And we round off the conversation by adding individuality to the special sauce.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Laura on Collaboration.
In this episode I talk to Michael Gates. Michael is an associate Fellow at the Saïd Business School at Oxford. He is an internationally recognised teacher and writer on cross-cultural management. He is also the owner of his own consulting company CrossCulture where he is researching and spreading word on the intercultural and interpersonal aspects of communication, negotiation, leadership, and teams.
In this episode we talk about the layers and classifications of culture. How it forms and influences us, what makes up our culture, how many cultures we have and what has the power to change cultures.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Michael on Culture.
In this episode I talk to Janet Alexandersson. Janet is a former human rights lawyer turned International contracts lawyer and negotiation strategist. She is the co-founder of a program for lawyers that are looking for alternative paths to pursue their legal career. She is on a mission to creating trustworthy business relationships through negotiations and legal boundaries.
In this fast-paced conversation we talk about boundaries as a teaching as well as a learning opportunity and as an expression of your own power. We turn around boundaries as a chance to get to know yourself better and also as a chance to explore your curiosity.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Janet on Boundaries.
In this episode I talk to Richard Williams. Richard is an Applied Compassion and Mindfulness Coach. He is a scholar-practitioner of education and compassion, and a scholar-student-practitioner of yoga, mindfulness, altruism, and meditation. He is the author and editor of several publications dealing with the subject of identity and emotions in education.
In this episode we talk about Curiosity as the ability to get out of your own head and experience the world how others experience it. We get into the art, the science and the practices of teaching and we talk about understanding what is happening around us not by the numbers, but by the feeling of the experience. Also, there are a lot of rabbit holes on the way that we have a peak into.
I hope you enjoy the conversation just as much as I did. Here’s Richard on Curiosity.
In this episode I talk to Sharon Leigh. Sharon is a Neuro-divergent Behavioral Scientist, Yes-and Expert, Instructional Designer, Experimental-Learning Coach, Emergent Core-Story Facilitator and Startup Core-Culture Coach. Sharon has been living in Europe for almost 26 years, as an artist, consultant and Leadership Coach. She dedicates herself to helping leaders, entrepreneurs, creatives and other Neuro-Divergent humans tap into their full-core potential. Her Why? Well, she has two: a professional one - Helping others create a life and business they don't need a vacation from - and a personal one: Provoking Kitty’s curiosity so that Kitty gives a shit.
In this episode we talk about the ingredients of the secret sauce to scaling and the closest thing to a magic pill that you will encounter. We talk about experimenting and asking the right questions, about emotional intelligence and staying dissatisfied.
In this episode I talk to Antonia Lomer. She likes to put herself in new and uncomfortable situations. She studied Chemistry at University because she really wanted to play with chemicals in a lab and was very curious how food was made and what we were actually eating. Today she is enabling Innovation in a fun and impactful way and making the innovation process as easy as riding a bike. Curiosity, empathy and perseverance guide her on that path towards Innovation, Problem Solving and building new solutions for old problems.
We take definitions apart, inspect them very carefully and detailled and sometimes we put them back together. We take the Buzzword out of innovation, look at all the small steps on the way and and put ourselves in the center of the process.
In this episode I talk to Luci Englert McKean. Luci says that she has been described as "a strong cup of coffee": she wants to help you wake up, think more clearly, and face the world with wide-open eyes. Committed to lifelong learning, recently she's focusing on co-creating spaces to support belonging for more of us, not just those who already feel comfortable. She's deeply introspective, striving to do better, and she'll openly admit when she's wrong and apologize when needed. She is a group facilitator, educator, writer, TEDxBloomington curator (emeritus), TEDx speaker and speaker coach.
This was an intense ride through a lot of the layers of power, belonging, respect and vulnerability. Talking about all these parts of trust and going deep into what it means to trust, belong and respect has been a really insightful and brain tickling discussion.
In this episode I talk to Sophie Lechner. She is the founder of The Global Growth Experience. Over the last 15 years she has built a large global network on LinkedIn that has led to speaking engagements in the US and abroad, podcast invitations and an interview in Forbes. She has created the LinkedIn MAGNET Method to help entrepreneurs, coaches and authors to grow their business by building meaningful relationships while staying aligned with their values and their personality.
So as you can maybe guess, we talk about LinkedIn a bit, but most importantly, we talk about connection and relationships and how the online world has opened up our world. We go into creating, establishing and managing spaces off- and online and we go into the awareness of bubbles, the comfort of a setting a relationship takes place in and its boundaries and guidelines.