Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones
Exponential Leadership

Exponential Leadership

Eksteen de Waal

Where business learns about people. If the business of business is people, then why are we neglecting people?

If our organisations are stronger and perform better when people are at their best, then relationships at work should be a primary focus for all organisations.

People are loyal, perform amazing feats and go the extra mile for the leader that connects with their people. Are you a boss to avoid or a leader to be followed? Learn more in this podcast about how you can make a difference, each day!

Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Seasons

Top 10 Exponential Leadership Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Exponential Leadership episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Exponential Leadership for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Exponential Leadership episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Exponential Leadership - #103: Cynthia Bryant: Discrimination, Leadership and Success
play

11/14/21 • 62 min

If a leader takes people where they want to go, does a great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be?
Bio
Cynthia Bryant has worked in federal agencies for over 20 years. She has led mediations to resolve workplace conflicts and been part of an advising body to the president on diversity and inclusion. She has served on the boards at the University of Kansas Law School, and the Seeing Eye guide dog school, which incidentally, is close to her heart as she uses a guide dog too.
Synopsis
We begin by talking about her experiences with President Jimmy Carter, before moving onto broader topics about how disability knows no race or colour or gender. She gives incredible insight into the difficulties of segregation, and the search for solutions that help people move forward. We then talk about the best qualities of a leader, how to engage with people and deal with their assumptions. We close by discussing why we need to take a moment, shut our eyes, and just listen. When we see less , we often hear more.
Reflection
Something I found interesting was her mother deliberately exposing her to a wide range of cultures growing up, causing her to see empathy as an essential quality in a leader, especially as she talked about the difficulties of segregation. I know I have cast my net quite wide over my lifetime, but don't we all sometimes miss something?
More from Cynthia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-bryant-8945b024

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

‘We all have common ground, we are all human at the very core, we all experience the same emotions, just about different things and in different ways.’
Bio
Jennifer Johnson is not only an award-winning businesswoman and lawyer, but she is the immediate past president of the Mississippi bar association. The Mississippi bar is a compulsory bar. Every lawyer in Mississippi has to pay into it, but historically not every lawyer has been represented. Jennifer has set the first steps into making an integrated future a reality. I am proud to talk to this 21st-century lawyer, advocate, award winner and awesome mother on the podcast today.
Synopsis

She starts by talking about how she was elected and the state of the bar. We talk about how some people don’t see a racial issue in that state and the idea of racism being “over”. The need to temper honesty with compassion, and the strength gained with diversity. We end by talking about the personal truths of each person, how people can end up being defined by a social category they are assigned to, and how important it is that we don’t see those so vividly, and connect with each other.
References
Books / Articles
Radical Candour
Thanks for the Feedback

Organisations
The Mississippi Bar Association
Harvard Law School
University of Southern Mississippi
Oscher Lifelong Learning Institute
ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates
The Magnolia Bar Association

People
George Floyd
Robert Gibbs
Sacha Baron-Cohen
Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen
Douglas Stone
Sheila Heen
Chris Voss

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #302 - Leadership In A Corporate Crisis - Rieneke Deelstra
play

06/08/22 • 79 min

My name's Eksteen De Waal, and today I'm talking to Rieneke Deelstra. One of the things that's always struck me about Rieneke is that she's not somebody that brags, even though she's done some amazing things in life. She's led large-scale transformations within government, she has consulted and coached leaders at the highest level in local government and in the civil service, and at the same time, part-time, she's also qualified as a clinical psychologist. She just gets on with it and gets it done, and it's such a way that everybody just feels comfortable with her. Now, most coaches probably achieve this, but Rieneke is really special in this regard. She's got a way of helping you see a different perspective without it being forced, and I think that's an amazing ability. Now can you imagine how wonderful that is in a time of crisis?

So today we talk about what leadership in a crisis means. What is the impact on top leadership, middle management, and on the employees that work with the clients or the customers?

So we start talking about what does it mean now for hybrid working? What is the scope of what we term as crisis, or in a crisis how do we get our scope as clear as possible? Then we talked about what it is to impress leaders. We then go on to talk about what working with teams means for their improvement during a time of crisis, and how do you interact with your employees in a time of crisis.

How does confidence feature into this and how can reflection with others and bouncing ideas off of others help you? We also talk about how lonely it is at the top, and about the importance of cognitive empathy, and then looking at triggers and previous traumas and how that feeds into a crisis. We then do a quick stop where we talk about coaching versus psychiatry or psychology. And we talk about the attitudes towards. But also attitudes towards security, peace of mind, vulnerability and even mental health in leaders.

I wonder if Rieneke knows how blessed people are to work with her. And I'm not just gushing. Iit's always a genuine pleasure to talk to her and I find her insights very valuable. I think talking about middle-management and the impact of loneliness in senior management has yet again shone light for me on that we tend to forget that leaders are just people.

When we lead organizations, we also need our support. We also need those people that fight for us. They'll tell us we're doing an okay job, as long as they’re not yes-sayers and they’re people that can understand the vulnerabilities, but at the same time, also be honest and straight up with us. I think those kinds of people need to be cultivated, especially ones with high cognitive empathy that can show you things that you may not be able to see.

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #301 Gangsta Politics - Welcome Witbooi
play

05/25/22 • 101 min

So what if you worked for an organization that has been 200 years in the making, adheres to no rules of society, abides by no laws, and rules with an iron fist? And that is the numbers gang in South Africa, it rules most of the prisons. And specifically, in this case, I'm talking to Welcome Witbooi, and he led 2,700 people out of the 7,000 inmates at Pollsmoor prison, one of the maximum security prisons in the world, and one of the top 10 most dangerous prisons. So is there leadership in crisis more than a gang leader in a prison? Where you’re constantly under surveillance, constantly being judged and have to perform or your life is at stake.

Well today I’m talking to Welcome Wibooi about that. And we talk about how he got into gangs and what that meant. And then we move on to the hierarchy where we talk about how does the structure of such a gang or such an organization work because it's been around for a while. So, how does it police? How does it govern? How does it operate? What are the operational parameters? What are the sales parameters? What does your supply chain look like? How do you manage all of that? And then how do you discipline? How do you make choices that you know, could cost someone their life? Not just that. How far do you think that through?

We talk about loyalty. We talk about trust and distrust. And who do you trust, but also talk about what can we learn from that and do a comparison between that and modern day corporates? Well, I hope you enjoy this session today because I really enjoy talking to welcome. And he is an interesting character, in that he's reformed and runs his own charity, and at the same time he’s doing his MBA. What a turnaround and what insights. Enjoy this with me.

You know, what I'm taking from the conversation with Welcome today is that he actually thought more about the consequences of applying penalties. Yes. In his case, it would mean someone's life very often. But how often in corporate business do we not make that consideration, not think of the impact, not only on the person, but their coworkers, everybody that they work with, the performance impact on the organization as a whole, or in that department, what mitigating factors we need to put into place.

And it's not just about their skill or their ability, but how could it impact the people around them? Do we think about the emotional impact, the relational impact and the wider impact on that person's family and their friends and associates. He thought about those elements before he made his final decision.

I'm just wondering if we can learn from that in our modern day, corporates. Be a little bit more conscious of what our teams and our organizations really need and be decisive, but considerate.

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #210 The Core is Connection - Dorine Velhuyzen
play

05/04/22 • 98 min

In today's podcast, I'm talking to Dorine Velhuyzen, who’s had a very interesting career. She started off by travelling around the world and discovering some communities in Africa, specifically that needed help. She created foundations and charities over the years to help those people in need.
And today she's leading the charge for babies and expectant mothers in the Netherlands in healthcare. I think during this some interesting insights around leading. And in this podcast, we first start off with a journey around the world and then looking at what she's doing today and how the connections that she's formed have helped her in leading and leading for definite and lasting change.
I think what I found most interesting in this conversation with Dorine is that there's always a sense of connection. There's always a sense of connectedness, no matter where she is in the world is looking for those connections that will bring together a network or create a new network that supports not only people locally in a community but attaches them to an international community. I also think those connections, those abilities of hers to ask the right questions. I mean, she's challenged me quite a few times, by asking me some amazing questions, I learn from it all the time. And I think that is one of the things that. I've learned here in the Netherlands and to me, is that they're the epitome of” ask the right question”. Keep on asking the questions till you get the answers that you need to find the best solutions. Don’t just take for granted what people give you as information, always dig a little bit deeper, always find out is that the real reason behind things?
And I think as leaders, that's really important thing to learn for ourselves is that people will sometimes give us the answers they think we want, or even the answers they think we need. But very often we don't get the answers that help us make better decisions. So let's ask a few more, what, and a few more hard questions thrown in a few more open-ended ones at people at sea. If we cannot find out what is both the content we're missing and maybe the emotional turmoil that goes beyond that.
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/dorineveldhuyzen/nl
https://www.linkedin.com/company/babyconnect/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorineveldhuyzen/
https://www.facebook.com/dorine.veldhuyzen.1 https://twitter.com/TALMOR_Dorine
www.babyconnect.org
www.carecodex.org

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #107: John Molidor - Communication, neuroscience, and labels
play

12/12/21 • 88 min

Do you think, like Rasmus Hougaard, that to lead other people effectively, we need to avoid “mental rigidness”?
Bio
Today we have our first professor on the podcast, John B Molidor. He's President of Michigan State University Flint Area Medical Education. He focuses on helping people understand how their brain, communication and interviewing can work together.
Synopsis
We begin at the very beginning, by talking about how babies connect with people. This leads us to discuss facial expressions and the limits of video calling. We speak a lot about how brains are wired, and what we can do to change that later in life. He tells us about how labels can affect us and how we can avoid them. One of the parts of neuroscience I found really fascinating was talking about the connection between the body and the brain. We finish by talking about intentionality, and how important deliberate actions can be to us.

Reflection
I think what I found interesting about this discussion with John was that cut off around about 25 years of age. I finally came out when I was 26, I think it's because I realized at that time that who I was was not going to change. I was just wondering how much are we actually influencing people around us that they have to carry that with them the rest of their lives. I mean, when we're going into work in our early twenties, how much of that relationship burden we get saddled with are we going to be stranded with when we're over the age of 27, and how are we gonna deal with it now with a pandemic being rampant and we're not really getting that personal interaction. Are we gonna be restructuring brains forever? And could we use neuroplasticity, even if we have to push it to the limits, to reconnect as people?

Well, I know from personal experience that after my PTSD in the military it took me a while to get back, to connect with people. And I now know that it's possible, but it takes a lot of work. So, can we all commit to helping people under the age of 25 to find relationships that are worthwhile, authentic, and helps them to understand the connection between humans and how that is really, really important to be able to do our work properly? Well, I'm there, and I will, and I hope you are too.
More from John
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-b-molidor-ph-d-2916218
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OWRBLI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #201 Adrian Saville - Leadership, Diversity, Innovation
play

02/09/22 • 94 min

Today I’m speaking to Investor and academic Professor Adrian Saville. He’s from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and in the past 15 years, has been given the school’s Excellence in Teaching Award thirteen times. He likes to give his students “impossible questions” and make sure they find an answer.
We start by talking about the investment club he started in 1994, which formed the basis for his whole career. We then ask what pushes against progress, and what role for-profit organisations have to make good, purposeful change. A topic we talk about in depth is inclusivity, and exactly how much a boardroom can have at any one time. We end by talking about coaching and the importance of belonging. Without any further discussion, let’s hear from Adrian.
Adrian talked about economics should start with defining wellbeing. I wonder whether or not that works in practice the same way it does in the classroom. Who gets to define my wellbeing, and do they have my individual interests at heart? How often can a nation state get to work with specifics, rather than broad generalisations considering the vast differences across demographics? How aligned are they with mine, considering the goals of running a country, that being prosperity in order to pay for things, can play against what helps me stay happy day-to-day. He also said that very obvious problems make obvious market gaps for benevolent businesses. Comedian Henning Wehn said that charity is a failure of government’s responsibilities. But maybe there are some charities and benevolent companies that are just forced into existence based around this very dilemma. Perhaps the two will just always have to work together.

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Today I am talking to Mark McLaughlin. Mark's a neurosurgeon, and at the same time, also a youth wrestling coach. Can imagine that? How do you explain what you do to the youth? And at the same time, inspire them to be their best selves, Give them self-confidence. And how do you learn from that again? And bring that back into a neuro-psychological surgical team in hospital, we've got to lead brain surgery in essence. I mean, we'll even use that as reference, “It's not as bad as brain surgery”. Now, Mark does that on a daily basis. So what can we learn from mark? And from the way that he leads and the way that he coaches and the way that he talks to west point about what leadership is.

He wrote a book about cognitive dominance. That sounds really dominating, or as he calls it almost like Darth Vader, but in this case, it is about how we act in a crisis. I think no more relevant than it is today. So I hope just like me, you look forward to this talk today with Mark McLaughlin.

When I reflect on what I just talked to mark about, one of the things that he said in one of his talks that actually came to mind. Casual and casualty. If we treat leadership casually, we don't use this as a learning process to become a little bit better every single day, then our people are the casualties and in a world dominated by violence at the moment and by war, why should we still accept leadership that causes casualties. Can we take ownership duty? Take that little bit of care with people's lives to make sure that we can actually make a difference, make it better and leave no casualties behind. Let's all not treat our people casually, our leadership casually and let's learn, grow and become the best leaders.

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #205 Reality of Leadership | Patrick Flood
play

03/30/22 • 73 min

Today we’re in Ireland to speak to Professor Patrick Flood of Dublin University. He’s been publishing work since 1989. He specialises in working out how CEOs and Human Resources affect organisations. Cumulatively, his research work has attracted €2m in research grant support.
We talk all about remote working, and how it’s going to affect us in the future. We start with noting that there’s actually been an increase in workplace performance since it was introduced. One of the problems he brings up is trust, and how we can bond as teams in the virtual world. We try and work out how to solve problems in fairness and networking. A dilemma we really try and tackle is fun in the workplace vs vulnerability of leaders. We end by discussing the effects of bad management and how to deal with stress in the team.
You’d be amazed how much quality collective thought can be captured using two simple tools: a voice connection and a shared screen.” ― Jason Fried.
00:00 Introduction
14:12 Working Together
24:55 Fairness
35:51 Networking
43:02 Fun
49:00 Networking
54:26 Team Stress
1:11:38 Conclusion

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Exponential Leadership - #106: Hannes Leroy - Curiosity, challenges and authenticity
play

12/05/21 • 36 min

Tom Peters said that Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. What do you think?
Bio
Hannes Leroy is Associate Professor at Erasmus University and Distinguished Research Professor at Exeter Business School. As Academic Director of the Erasmus Center of Leadership, Hannes helps to oversee the quality of leadership development at different levels in Erasmus University (undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, and executive education). Furthermore, as steward of the League of Leadership initiative he helps to oversee an international consortium of top business schools across the world with the mission of collectively enhancing quality standards of leadership development. Aligned with these efforts, Hannes has published numerous studies on leadership and its development in top journals, has taught a wide variety of leadership classes and is principal coordinator of various leadership development curricula.
Summary
We start by talking about how you need to be curious about people in order to motivate them. This leads us on to talking to your boss, and the importance of each party being able to admit mistakes. Next, we discuss being challenged as a leader, and what challenges leaders are facing. We close by asking if alignment is the ultimate form of authenticity.
Reflection
Hannes said that your non-verbal signals have to correspond to what you’re saying. I wonder how much people can trust somebody if their main point of contact is emails and the occasional zoom call. How many non-verbal signals can somebody’s brain pick up on, if they’re not around the person enough? That’s something I didn’t really think about in office working, the greater chance of creating that relationship just with your small day-to-day actions. I remember Cynthia Bryant talking about the importance of closing your eyes and trying to figure out what you can tell beyond that. Maybe I should now do the opposite, keep my eyes open but try not to listen, putting my fingers in my ears or something. How much information can I impart just beyond the words I’m saying?
More about Hannes
https://www.ted.com/talks/hannes_leroy_i_was_never_trained_for_this
https://www.rsm.nl/people/hannes-leroy/
www.rsm.nl/leadership/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-1036-1

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Show more best episodes

Toggle view more icon

FAQ

How many episodes does Exponential Leadership have?

Exponential Leadership currently has 23 episodes available.

What topics does Exponential Leadership cover?

The podcast is about Team, Performance, Stress, Hope, Podcasts, Relationships, Management, Business, Relationship and Leadership.

What is the most popular episode on Exponential Leadership?

The episode title '#302 - Leadership In A Corporate Crisis - Rieneke Deelstra' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Exponential Leadership?

The average episode length on Exponential Leadership is 71 minutes.

How often are episodes of Exponential Leadership released?

Episodes of Exponential Leadership are typically released every 7 days, 23 hours.

When was the first episode of Exponential Leadership?

The first episode of Exponential Leadership was released on Oct 7, 2021.

Show more FAQ

Toggle view more icon

Comments