Archives

Season 10 Episode 13

Guest: Brian Richardson, Founder/CEO of Richardson Consulting Group

How talented is your team?

Without a skills-based system, you may never know…and never tap into the full potential your organization has. But companies that look at skills know who has the talent to best get the job done – and who can develop and grow to obtain those skills.

That’s the message guest Brian Richardson, the founder and CEO of RSG, brings to host Maureen Metcalf in this episode. He shares tips and cases of businesses that uncovered the game-changing potential of aligning skills with company goals.

Here’s what Brian and Maureen cover:

1. The concept of internal talent mobility;
2. How skills-based systems maximize employee potential; and
3. Ways to leverage AI for personalized work experiences, helping staff unlock new levels of engagement and job satisfaction.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• To Err Is to Innovate with Beryl Tomay
• Leading with an Eye on AI with Neil Sahota
• The Rise of Humanness (The Role of People in an AI World) with Chris Nolan & Michael Schindler

Season 10 Episode 12

Guest: Dr. Tanvi Gautam, Senior Faculty at Singapore Management University

How do you lead: with your head or heart? Left-brain or right? For the best leaders, the answer is “All of the above.”

From the art of conversation to discovering (and sharing) your organization’s story, guest Dr. Tanvi Gautam talks with host Maureen Metcalf about her head-and-heart-based approach to leadership development – and why adding creative “right brain” thinking to business’ usual analytical “left brain” logic leads to better teams.

Here’s what Tanvi and Maureen cover:

1. The five conversations teams need to have;
2. Why your business’ survival depends on the concept of future-fluidity; and
3. How your story, and your organization’s, gives you and your team purpose.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Using Storytelling to Elevate Leadership with Chris Nolan
• You’re an Executive, But Are You a Leader? with Sonya Shelton
• Be Human, Lead Human with Jennifer Nash

Guest: Dr. Reza Soltanzadeh, CEO and Co-Founder, Borealis Foods

Season 10 Episode 11

Solving a major crisis sometimes requires reframing it. For Reza Soltanzadeh, working with Doctors Without Borders exposed him to global hunger—but he saw one solution by reframing the problem as global malnutrition.

That set him on a path of high innovation, resulting in a ramen noodle that can, quite literally, nourish the world.

Reza shares how his company, Borealis Foods, has learned to innovate so supremely well.

Here’s what Reza and host Maureen Metcalf cover:

1. Why the American manufacturing process is ideally suited to supplying products that answer global humanitarian needs;
2. The elements of Borealis’ company culture that make high innovation possible; and
3. The innovative strategies for creating affordable products that meet your customers’ needs.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Opportunity in Uncertainty with Dr. Ciela Hartanov
• Building Trust in Uncertainty with Dr. Mary Jo Burchard
• Lessons Learned from Dunkin’ Donuts with Robert Rosenberg

Season 10 Episode 10

Guest: Brian Ahearn, Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE

Employee engagement at work continues to nosedive. So how can you motivate your team?

Show them you care! That’s just one tool in the influence toolkit guest Brian Ahearn shares with Maureen Metcalf in this episode. Influencing people is a critical art in motivating people to engage in their work—and forge success for your entire team. It’s not about manipulation; that’s for poor leaders. It’s about very transparent persuasion. The theory is simple; the difficulty of putting it into practice is up to you!

Here’s what Brian and Maureen cover:

1. The difference between persuasion and pre-suasion;
2. Why keeping your focus on ethical influence is so important; and
3. The three elements of ethical influencing.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– The Power of Praise: Making People’s Performance Positive with Ben Marcovitz

– Ignite Your Leadership Game with Dre Baldwin

– The Human Energy Crisis at Work with Joshua Freedman

Guest: Helle Bank Jorgensen, CEO of Competent Boards

Season 10 Episode 9

Does your board of directors have the slightest clue what to do with AI?

As AI creeps into your organization, your board has a fiduciary duty to determine its parameters in the workplace AND in the boardroom…such as figuring out how much information is relevant, and whether it’s trustworthy, misinformation, or just way more than you need. There are ethical considerations, too.

Fortunately, guest Helle Bank Jorgensen has tips to help. She’s the founder and CEO of Competent Boards, and routinely helps boardrooms improve.

Here’s what Helle and Maureen cover:

1. Why it’s critical for AI to earn your trust as a leader;
2. The very real financial dangers of acting on misinformation instead of objective (and trust-worthy) facts; and
3. The equally real opportunities that await you beyond those risks!

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Stewarding the Future of the Planet: Views from the Boardroom with Helle Bank Jorgensen
• JEDI SPACE Principles for CEOs and Board Chairs with Valrie Grant & Christopher Washington
• Curing Corporate Short-Termism with Gregory Milano

Guest: Tom Krouse, CEO at Donatos Pizza

Season 10 Episode 8

Lots of leaders claim their products are made with love. Donatos Pizza means it: they practice Agape Capitalism.

As CEO Tom Krouse explains in this episode, Agape Capitalism puts a love of humanity at the center of their company processes and revenue generation. Its origins are rooted in founder Jim Grote’s observations as a teen working in a pizzeria with two owners: one a frugal bean counter, the other a passionate people-person. Sales soared higher the nights the people-person was in charge!

Tom talks about that, his own leadership style, and the parallels between playing music in a band and great leadership.

Here’s what Tom and Maureen cover:

1. How innovation has always been one of the major keys to Donatos’ profitability and success;
2. Why the core tenets of Agape Capitalism complement corporate goals so effectively; and
3. The positive effects the COVID pandemic had on the restaurant industry…and, most critically, on its leadership.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– Applying Innovative Leadership Concepts with Tom Grote & Christoph Hinske

– ITP: Building the Resilience Every Leader Needs with Christina Grote & Pam Kramer

– Informed Leadership: The Power of Trauma with Rachael Kelly

Season 10 Episode 7

Guest: John Driscoll, President of U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance

What’s the surest way people will follow you into battle? Show you care — about them and their families.

That’s a major lesson John Driscoll learned in the Army…and it’s served him well in the private sector, including his current role at Walgreens, where he’s focused on improving service to patients in the healthcare industry. John shares his leadership insights, and the need to focus on healthcare leadership, in this episode.

Here’s what John and Maureen cover:

1. Why genuinely caring for your team is a top leadership priority — especially in high-stress situations;
2. How American healthcare is one of, if not THE, most inconvenient services in the country; and
3. John’s proven techniques for moving your team through traumatic experiences.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Delivering the Future: Amazon’s Innovation Culture with Dr. Vin Gupta & John Love of Amazon Pharmacy (2^nd segment of the show, starting at about 16:30 in)
• Bringing Healing Home: Healthcare Leadership with Anne Klibanski
• High-Performance Medicine: Healthcare & Innovation with Brian Ferguson
• Innovative Leadership for the Healthcare Industry with Neil Grunberg
• Curing Complexity in Healthcare with Carsten Engel

Season 10 Episode 6

Guest: The Right Honourable Kim Campbell

Climate change is already hitting businesses’ bottom lines – and those business costs are only beginning. As guest Kim Campbell – the former Prime Minister of Canada – points out, we hit this tipping point through poor corporate leadership in the past. The question now is: what can today’s leaders do about it?

Kim has some stats, and a lot of ideas!

Here’s what Kim and Maureen cover:

1. Why insurance companies may be the drivers of corporate climate change initiatives;
2. The pivotal role of corporations in driving positive outcomes in combating global warming; and
3. What individual leaders can do for their organizations, their communities, and the planet.

Produced in conjunction with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Listen to our complete collection of interviews with Kim Campbell:

• Reflections on Women in Leadership with Kim Campbell
• Hot Topics: A Prime Minister’s Perspective with Kim Campbell

Season 10 Episode 5

Guest: Celina Caesar-Chavannes

What’s your secret identity?

Our true selves are often buried so deeply that they’re a secret to us. It’s hard enough to lead authentically when you don’t know who you are – but how can you motivate your team if you don’t know who they really are, either?

The key is the praxis of humanization, a way of helping your coworkers bring their authentic selves to the office. Guest Celina Caesar-Chavannes discovered this truth in her own personal journey – a journey that took her to the halls of power as a member of Canada’s parliament, where societal stereotypes continued around her unabated. But her revelation on identity soon followed, with important lessons for other leaders!

Here’s what Celina and Maureen cover:

1. Why titles don’t protect us from society’s sundry “-isms”;
2. The many ways we’re conditioned to NOT be our best at work (or at home); and
3. How leaders can foster humanization, so people bring their best, unique selves to work (and you have a happier, more productive team).

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– The Power of Praise: Making People’s Performance Positive with Ben Marcovitz

– Non-Traditional Leadership for Our New Era with Nathan Eva & Nicole Ferry

– Working & Living in Joy with Pamela Larde

Season 10 Episode 5

Guests: Rob Elkington and Les Sylven

To serve and protect: servant leadership takes on a whole new meaning for a law enforcement leader. Society’s expectations for policing have changed radically – for example, up to 80% of what officers do overlaps with what social workers do! Add calls for reduced funding, labor shortages, brutality…and gone are the days of simple “cops and robbers” policing.

But the leadership and hierarchy of policing have changed very little. So can law enforcement truly rise to the challenges of both reform and crime without new styles of leadership?

Guests Rob Elkington and Les Sylven have some very surprising solutions that go far beyond the stereotypes of the hardboiled police commissioner – solutions that any leader of a high-stress workforce will find extremely useful!

Here’s what Rob, Les, and Maureen cover:

1. Why almost all law enforcement leaders have faced trauma – and how it can help them better serve their teams;
2. How soft-skills like mindfulness are just as important as hard skills like firearms training; and
3. If your mission is to serve and protect, servant leadership makes a lot more sense than old-school top-down management.

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Leading the Court: Canada’s First Female Chief Justice with Beverley McLachlin
• Staying Cool in Challenging Situations with Janet Fouts
• Informed Leadership: The Power of Trauma with Rachael Kelly