Meeting Strategist - Conversations on Leadership & Communication

“The purpose of an organization isn’t to make leaders feel good about themselves and make their subordinates feel like ‘gee, I’ve got a really nice leader, I like that person’. The purpose of an organization is to get something done.” Ron Ashkenas is a seasoned executive coach and boardroom advisor and the author or co-author of more than 100 articles and five books, including the ‘Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook’.

You might have already listened to episode 20 in which Ron and I discuss the six practices that define great leaders and the challenges they are facing in today’s virtual and fast-moving environment.

In this bonus episode, we discuss his recent HBR article ‘Executive Coaches, Your Job is to Deliver Business Results’ and how it clashes with conventional wisdom in coaching. In his article, Ron suggests turning the traditional coaching approach on its head: "Instead of focusing first on behaviors and hoping that they lead to results, start by trying to achieve some specific results, and see what behaviors are needed to get them."

Although interesting for anyone in a leadership or management position, this conversation is more geared towards coaches and HR professionals. Feel free to forward this episode to anyone in your organization who might be interested. Visit the show notes for more information: http://www.meetingstrategist.org/ron-ashkenas To read Ron's HBR article, go to https://hbr.org/2020/08/executive-coaches-your-job-is-to-deliver-business-results

This episode provides essential listening guidance and tools for leaders and lovers - or anyone who regularly finds himself in emotionally charged situations.

Dan Oblinger is a hostage negotiator, author of ‘Life or Death Listening’, a keynote speaker on leadership, listening and negotiations and a father of five adopted children.

In this extra-long episode, Dan breaks down how leaders, parents and lovers can harness the power of emotions to build trust and transform their relationships. We also discuss Dan’s first encounter with a jumper, how to rewire your listening brain and why leaders should ask more scary questions.

For more information and links related to this episode, please go to the full show notes at www.meetingstrategist.org/dan-oblinger

Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps:

• 6:54 – Why power and authority won’t get you anywhere in hostage negotiations
• 18:56 – How to listen to 3-year-olds: the power of personal connection
• 28:21 – Creating a collaborative corporate culture
• 37:50 – How Dan is able to shift the focus to other people in high-stakes situations
• 50:47 – Prefacing and other ways to ask better questions
• 1:10:12 – How to negotiate with someone if you don’t even get past the reception desk

About this podcast

Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more constructive.

Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

Michael Bungay Stanier and I joined forces today to discuss the Corona-crisis and how it affects the world of work and leadership.

Michael is the author of the best-selling coaching and leadership book ‘The Coaching Habit’, which teaches leaders how to empower their colleagues to do their best work.

But is there even a place for this kind of leadership in these unprecedented times of crisis? As some organizations are fighting for survival, it might feel tempting to cancel all non-essential communications, switch to crisis management and forget about being coach-like.

Good idea? Probably not. But how do you have coaching conversations when you are not in the same room and are not running into each other in the hallway? How can we leverage online tools? Does it require a different coaching approach?

This is a short impromptu podcast conversation to provide guidance in these crazy times. In April, we will record a longer episode to dive deep into Michael’s new book ‘The Advice Trap’.

To learn more about Michael’s work, check out the links in the show notes: http://www.meetingstrategist.org/michael-bungay-stanier

My current series on power in meetings cannot be complete without this episode from Season 1. If you sell daily or occasionally and you want to feel more powerful, this is a must listen.

Will Marshall is a self-employed management consultant and an executive and sales trainer at the International Institute for Humanization. In our conversation, he shares many anecdotes from his long career as a B2B sales rep and manager at corporations including Xerox.

Along the way, Will provides tips and strategies to ask better questions, gather valuable information about prospects from receptionists and use and interpret power in meetings. We also spent a lot of time talking about the mindset sales people need to deal with rejection, sell with confidence and walk away from multi-million-pound deals.

Here are some of the episode’s highlights with timestamps:

• 4:25 – Authorizers and influencers: using decision making units (DMUs) to determine where the power lies in organizations
• 18:33 – How to stay calm while dealing with dominant hostile personalities
• 33:30 –Why negotiators need to get into the other person’s head
• 44:29 – Always look for the positive: Del Boy, the salesman with natural ability
• 53:48 – The power I used when I convinced Will to join the podcast
• 1:02:00 – What external consultants should do when a client keeps hijacking project meetings

For more detailed information about this episode and relevant links to people and resources, visit the show notes on www.meetingstrategist.org/will-marshall

About this podcast

Welcome to Meeting Strategist. On this podcast, Marcel van de Hoef interviews professionals and thinkers from the worlds of investment, business and arts about their approach to business conversations. You'll hear inspiring stories about impactful meetings, while also learning about the strategies, tactics and mindsets these guests rely on to make meetings more productive and meaningful.

Marcel is an Amsterdam-based communication advisor and trainer and the curator of the Meeting Strategist blog. His mission is to help senior professionals think more strategically about meetings, ask better questions, improve their listening skills and have more meaningful conversations in business and life. Learn more and stay up to date at meetingstrategist.org

Welkom bij deze speciale aflevering over European Mental Health Week (13-19 mei 2024). In een klein kwartier vertelt Marlies Zegelaar over haar mentale worstelingen en hoe die haar hebben gevormd tot de persoon die ze nu is.

Na een loopbaan in onder andere de communicatiesector werkt Marlies sinds enkele jaren met veel plezier als taaldocent op het mbo. Door haar verhaal te delen, wil Marlies bijdragen aan de normalisering en de-stigmatisering van mentale kwetsbaarheden. Ook hoopt zij, en ik met haar, dat we anderen kunnen inspireren om hierover met elkaar in gesprek te gaan.

Note to English speaking listeners: From now on, I will occasionally publish episodes in my mother tongue, Dutch. Today's conversation is a collaboration with my wife Marlies Zegelaar to raise awareness for European Mental Health Week (May 13-19, 2024). If you don’t speak Dutch and you find this topic interesting, please get in touch with me via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcelvandehoef/) or email at [email protected].