Lead the People #162: Authenticity as a Leadership Operating System (feat. Cristina Amigoni and Alex Cullimore)
Cristina Amigoni is a leadership, culture, and team transformation expert, author of The Authenticity Upgrade: Rebooting Leadership for Real Humans, and co-founder of Siamo, a human-centric leadership and culture consultancy. Her work focuses on helping leaders and teams communicate more effectively, navigate change with less friction, and build cultures grounded in trust, clarity, and connection.
Cristina brings together emotional intelligence, deep listening, and real-world organizational experience to help leaders understand how human behavior shapes performance. She is the creator of the LAVA communication framework (Listening, Acknowledging, Validating, Asking Open-Ended Questions) and integrates tools like Working Genius to strengthen team cohesion and collaboration.
She is also the co-host of the podcast Uncover the Human, where she explores authenticity, leadership, and what it takes to build workplaces that work for real humans.
Alex Cullimore is the co-founder of Siamo and co-host of the podcast "Uncover the Human," both of which explore how to work with human nature rather than against it. Through a winding career path through writing, consulting, coaching, coding, and even comedy, Alex has focused on finding the truth and humor in life to help everyone live a little better.
When he is not coaching, consulting, or writing, Alex enjoys learning new languages, traveling, painting, creating acronyms, and caring for his six cats.
Key Takeaways:
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Slowing down creates space for reflection and intentional action.
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Psychological safety is key to authentic contribution and trust.
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Leaders grow by staying present instead of fixing everything.
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Coaching helps align values with behavior.
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People perform better when they feel heard and trusted.
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Additional Resources:
Follow Cristina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-amigoni/
Follow Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcullimore/
Visit their website: https://www.wearesiamo.com
Listen to their podcast: https://www.wearesiamo.com/our-podcast
Check out their book: https://a.co/d/6ECOZys
Follow Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpoepsel/
Subscribe to The Predictive Index on YouTube! https://youtube.com/@thepredictiveindex?si=zyj8aS18Z_1HMrVp
Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peopleforward-network/posts/?feedView=all
Learn more about PeopleForward Network: http://www.peopleforwardnetwork.com/