Changing Conversations

In this episode, hosts Katrina and Stig are joined by Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper. The episode explores how leaders are never not in conversation and Mads’ perspective on how he engages in those hundreds of touchpoints each day.

In conversation, Mads lives by three principles that we can takeaway from the conversation:

• Leave people with more energy
• Be present
• Strive for balance.

For references, links, and other episodes, visit the podcast homepage here.

How do you find comfort in the discomfort of uncertainty?

In this episode we are joined by Susan David, PHD, and will bring her research and perspective to life on this topic.

Susan David (link: https://www.susandavid.com/) is a renowned psychologist and the author of the best-selling book "Emotional Agility". (link: https://www.susandavid.com/book/) Susan is a co-founder of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, and a frequent contributor to publications like the Harvard Business Review. Her groundbreaking work focuses on the role of emotions in psychological resilience, leadership, and personal growth.

As business leaders, most of us operate and lead in complex and uncertain environments – and emotional agility has an important role to play in how to find comfort in the discomfort of uncertainty.

In this conversation, we discuss:

· What it means to be emotionally agile

· How emotions are data points in leading transformation

· How you can authentically be in your emotions without oversharing

We’d love to keep the conversation alive.
Reach out to Katrina and Stig to challenge us, ask a question, recommend a future guest and give us feedback.

Michele Zanini is the co-founder of the management lab and the co-author of the book “Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them”. Michele helps organisations become more resilient, creative and engaging places to work by inventing new management practices. We have invited Michele to talk about how we can unleash people’s potential by introducing a more humanocratic organisational model.
The key topics covered in this episode are:

• How organisations can reach their full potential by introducing the right organisational model
• How conversations in post-bureaucratic companies are far more lateral than they are vertical
• How to transfer knowledge and problem-solving expertise in a very organic way
• How to create cross-pollination of expertise within an organisation
• The importance of opening up the conversation and giving people the tools to have interesting and productive conversations with each other.

For references, links and other episodes, visit the podcast homepage here.

Wendy Smith is a professor of management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, co-founder of the Women’s Leadership Initiative and author of the book Both/And Thinking. She is an advocate for bold leadership, and much of her work focuses on helping leaders and teams navigate paradoxes. We have invited Wendy Smith to talk about how we can get better at embracing paradoxes and go from either/or to both/and thinking.
The key topics covered in this episode are:

• How we can embrace and invite tensions into the organisation
• How paradox invites us to honour different points of view
• How we can capitalise on friction
• The importance of being transparent and vulnerable as a leader
• Inviting ourselves to think about a different possibility space
• How we can change questions from either/or to both/and

For references, links, and other episodes, visit the podcast homepage here.

Sheila Heen is the founder of Triad Consulting Group, a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and Co-Author of “Thanks for the Feedback” and “Difficult Conversations”. She is consulting with companies ranging from Pixar, Hugo Boss to the NBA around difficult conversations, negotiation and sound decision-making. We have invited Sheila Heen to talk about the conversations around feedback and specifically how we can each be better feedback receivers.

The key topics covered in this episode are:

• How do we move away from being dismissive in the way we receive feedback to genuinely being grateful and appreciating the feedback
• Feedback as a learning and leadership skill
• The three types of triggered feedback reactions: Truth triggers, relationship triggers and identity triggers
• Asking for the feedback you want
• Enabling feedback in your organisation

For references, links, and other episodes, visit the podcast homepage here.