#201 Adrian Saville - Leadership, Diversity, Innovation

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.

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#108 Pursey Heugens - Identity, Entrepreneurs & Craft Work

Bio
Pursey Heugens is a professor of organisation theory, development, and change at the Department of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). His research interests include comparative corporate governance, business ethics, and bureaucracy, institutional, and demographic theories of organisation. He has won numerous awards and his specialties include: research methods, issues management, beer breweries, genetically modified food industry.
Summary
The key word for our discussion is identity. We begin by talking about how people use disposable income in the third world. We move on to conspicuous consumption and how people use craft beer as a statement. One thing we spend a long time discussing is the relationship between brand and consumer, is it a reciprocal relationship? We close by talking about Dolly Parton and country music, and how songs like Coat of Many Colours show the importance of identity.
Reflection
What’s the line between a product for your identity and a product for necessity? I feel no connection to where I fill up my car and I’m not going to pay for artisan craft petrol, but I do choose my ornaments extremely carefully. Perhaps it comes down to how many people see me, and my connection is to those people around me. Although even if it’s just myself sometimes, I hardly want to drink a wine made by somebody I greatly dislike. I remember reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo, where she says you should hold something you own and ask “does this spark joy” as to whether or not to keep it. Maybe I’ll try a variation on that. Does this say something about me? I wonder what I’d end up being attracted towards.

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#202 | Love, Family Business, Africa | Beatrice Lukose

Today my guest is the queen of love and the queen of the african mindset, Dr Beatrice Lukose. She started out at the slopes of Mount Kenya, and has now travelled to Europe to be a speaker, diplomat, and mother. She’s the author of three books about healthy marriage, which are all well received. She’s also the European Coordinator of Women in Business Network, helping provide women in business access to European market opportunities. To list everything she does to help people will take the entire podcast.
We begin by just trying to figure out what love is, and she speaks about the four pillars of love. She has a lot to say about how to manage being married business partners. We talk about the difference in connectedness between Europe and Africa, and how she felt in Europe the first time. I speak about somebody I know who used hostage negotiation techniques with his teenage kids, which leads us onto cognitive empathy and family relationships. We end by talking about the importance of random acts of kindness, and how much it can improve somebody’s day.
Does the phrase “leadership is a relationship” hold the same for all cultures? I’ve approached this thesis for the podcast somewhat as a human universal. However, speaking to Beatrice showed me the culture differences between Africa and Europe in terms of relationships.
It sounds like it’s a much lesser jump to have such a dynamic in the workplace in Africa, and more complex in Europe. The motivations and incentives are different, socially, so the end result of that kind of approach is going to change. Perhaps in Europe it’s more novel, something to set the company apart and motivate people. I wonder what the response would be in the more socially minded Africa.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/dr-beatrice-lukose-mba-dba-52b68b46
https://www.facebook.com/public/B%C3%A9atrice-Lukose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcSkCWvMb3k
https://imotivat.com/ https://mindflixmedia.com/