Changing Conversations

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.

Gail Gallie is the co-founder and creative leader of Project Everyone. Project Everyone is the organisation behind the campaign launch of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Previously, Gail has run marketing and advertising practices, but she is now focusing on how to drive solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. In this episode, we have invited Gail Gallie to talk about the conversations that led up to the big success that is the Global Goals and how it changed global conversations.

The key topics covered in this episode are:

• The conversations that led up to the creation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• The power of conversations, trusting your instinct, keeping it low-fi and listening
• How visuals can help fuel a conversation
• The importance of making things granular
• How we can engage everyone in changing global conversations
• How to enable a global ecosystem of changemakers

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

Julie Diamond is the founder of Diamond Leadership. She works as an executive coach and international leadership consultant, and she authored the book: “Power - A User’s Guide”. Her focus is on creating transformational learning and leadership solutions across sectors. In this episode, we talk with Julie Diamond about the power of power in conversations and how each of us can become better power users.

Key topics covered in this episode are:

• Understanding the difference between social and personal power
• Advice on how to be more inclusive as a person with high social power
• Speaking up as a person with low social power
• Addressing power when it comes to difficult conversations, for example conversations in a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space

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