Lead From the Heart

Now Is The Time To Make Employees As Important As Shareholders: For decades, businesses have deferred to the interests of shareholders above and beyond the interests of all other stakeholders – most especially employees. And according to London Business School finance professor, Alex Edmans, shareholders have long been conditioned to believe that the value any company produces is a fixed pie – and so the only way for them to retain the largest slice of the pie is to ensure the size of the pie all other stakeholders get remains small.  This mindset has meant that shareholders have seen every dollar spent on workers as dollars taken away from them. But in his new, inspiring & wonderfully researched book, “Grow The Pie, How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose And Profit,” Alex introduces a far more enlightened & innovative mindset – the idea that the size of company pies are not fixed after all.  “And when all members of an organization work together, bound by a common purpose and focused on the long term, they actually create shared value in a way that enlarges the slices of everyone – shareholders, workers, customers, suppliers, the environment, communities and taxpayers.” It’s by no means surprising that Alex is the one to be introducing a new leadership paradigm, nor that it’s this timely. The COVID-19 crisis has quickly revealed cracks in the business models of many companies. And with all of us having time to reflect on the current effectiveness of workplace leadership, the idea that employees & other stakeholders are a drag on shareholder returns has surely proved indefensible. As you’ll discover as you listen, Alex is an extraordinary thinker.  A graduate of Oxford University & a Fulbright Scholar while earning PhD in Finance from MIT’s Sloan school, he became one of the youngest professors to ever earn tenure at the Wharton Business School. He’s spoken at Davos and on the TED stage. In an extraordinarily energetic conversation (thanks to Alex),  Edmans introduces the most current thinking on the future of workplace leadership –  a vision that emphasizes the idea that when employees fare well, shareholders do even better than before. Prepare to be wowed, informed & amazed!  And that’s no overstatement! We’re also extremely grateful that Alex is launching his new book with us. The post Alex Edmans: The Choice Between People & Profits Is A False Dichotomy appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

A Special Podcast! In the new era of remote working – forced upon at least a third of the world’s working population in just the past few weeks – all of our lives have been disrupted. The Coronavirus pandemic has us indefinitely confined to our homes, working away from our colleagues and offices – and attempting to home-school our children – all at the same time. Most of our routines have been upended making grief, fear and anxiety the dominant emotions of the day. And for a lot of us, we’re needing to navigate through all of this while at the same time managing and leading a team of people. Because of all of the sudden and significant disruption to our “business as usual” work lives, a lot of us are wondering how to best maneuver.  Specifically, we’re asking ourselves: What are the most meaningful things we can do right now that will not only ensure our most important work gets done, but that we also sufficiently support the overall well-being of our people at the same time? Just a few days ago, Mark went on Twitter and asked his 137,000 connections there if it would be helpful to have a special podcast episode specifically devoted to dealing with the myriad stresses we’re all facing. The overwhelming response, was “yes.” Our special guest for this episode is Harvard Business School professor, Amy Edmondson – one of the world’s experts on psychological and emotional safety – and who, for the first time in her own career, is teaching undergraduate, MBA and Ph.D. business students remotely. Like many universities, Harvard announced that students will not return to campus this semester – quite a loss for those completing their education this year and graduating. Even formal graduation ceremonies won’t be held this year. In the especially compelling conversation, Amy speaks candidly about how her students are feeling and responding to all the disruption. And much of the conversation is devoted to addressing the biggest challenges workplace managers – all remote workers, really — can most effectively respond to them. Towards the end of the conversation, Amy acknowledges a truth many of us would prefer to not consider: “We don’t really know what will happen next.” But having someone with Amy Edmonson’s wisdom in intellect to guide us on how to adapt to whatever comes our way next couldn’t come at a better time.  This is also Amy’s second appearance on the podcast. Her first episode is one of the most downloaded of the nearly 50 Lead From The Heart podcasts produced so far. The post Amy Edmondson: How To Lead & Succeed When The Future Is Uncertain appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Deborah Gruenfeld, a leadership professor at Stanford and author, dives into the dynamics of power in human interactions. She shares how using power to uplift others leads to better outcomes, contrasting it with self-serving behaviors. Their chat also touches on navigating imposter syndrome, maintaining authenticity, and ethical leadership practices. Gruenfeld emphasizes the transformative potential of self-acceptance and the importance of trust in teams, advocating for a communal approach to leadership.

It’s been said that “sight is a faculty, but seeing is an art,” and New York University social psychology professor, Emily Balcetis, fully concurs. In her new book, “Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World” she says highly successful people tend to view the world differently – and the good news is that the “art” they apply to visual perception can be taught & learned. When it comes to setting and meeting goals, for example, we may see (quite literally) our plans, progress and potential in the wrong ways. We may inadvertently perceive ourselves as being closer or further from the end depending on our frame of reference. Or we may unwittingly handicap ourselves by focusing too much on the big picture or, at other times, the granular details. Tapping into rigorous research and cutting-edge discoveries in vision science, Balcetis shares four powerful yet largely untapped visual tactics that successful people masterfully use to set and meet their ambitions – and explains how to use them to your full advantage depending upon the situations you’re in. Balcetis’s work has special application to leadership and management because it calls out the moments where narrowing one’s focus can provide critical perspective – not to mention those times where widening that view will help us identify needed course corrections. The key is knowing where to direct our attention in any given moment – because that knowledge can help us see the possibilities in life that we might otherwise completely miss. Emily earned her Ph.D from Cornell University and has lectured at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. Her TEDx New York talk has been viewed 3.8 million times. Her book was just published as an Amazon “#1 New Release.”  It was also chosen as one of the “20 Books All Leaders Should Read In 2020″ by Wharton Professor, Adam Grant and the World Economic Forum. The post Emily Balcetis: How Successful People See the World appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

At 32 years old, Doug Conant was fired from his job as Marketing Director for Parker Brothers Toy and Game Company – and he never saw it coming. Stunned, hurt, indignant, angry and humiliated, Conant nevertheless wasted no time working on a rebound. On the same day he was let go, he met with an outplacement counselor whose profound influence changed his life. Neil McKenna taught Conant to look forward, not back – and gave him assignments of self-discovery that helped Conant transcend his job loss and go on to have a truly remarkable career.  Over the following decades, he would become CEO of the Campbell Soup Company, President of Nabisco and Chairman of Avon Products. In one of the most compelling and inspiring discussions in this podcast’s history, Conant not only explains the process by which he readied himself for his next senior leadership role, but also the highly uncommon approaches he took to restoring employee engagement and driving great performance in all of the organizations he led. His cornerstone philosophy is that employees will never care about a manager’s agenda if they don’t believe their manager cares about them. So, his uncommon approach to CEO leadership was to “care about his people and only hire managers who cared about their people.” Rather uniquely, Conant has long been a highly committed student of workplace leadership, and his collected wisdom is evident in everything he shares in the podcast. He might also be the greatest representative of the “Lead From The Heart” ideal ever to be a featured guest. It’s highly recommended that you have a notepad near you as you listen in. Doug also discusses his new book, “The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps To Lift Your Leadership To New Heights,” being published in March. The post Doug Conant: A Top CEO’s Blueprint For Leadership Success appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Can you recall the last time you tried to talk to someone about a personal, political or work issue and quickly discovered their view of the situation was entirely different than yours? How’d that work out for you? If words like “strained,” “painful,” “awful” or “never again,” come to mind – you have company. Acknowledging that we’re living in a highly polarized world these days – many of us have simply come to decide that engaging in any kind of disagreement is no longer worth it. Consequently, we go out of our way to avoid conversations with people when we anticipate it could lead to conflict, raised voices or even ruined relationships. The problem with these pain avoidance tactics, however, is that we actually need disagreements in order to keep our relationships with others healthy. Famous marriage researcher, Dr. John Gottmann says any relationship without a conflict is a relationship without communication. And any relationship without good communication is destined to fail. Science even finds that people are happier – and groups are higher functioning – when the flow of necessary disagreements is open and they have a chance to be heard. So how then can we make our disputes and wrangling with other people more successful?  How can we maneuver through an argument with our partner, challenge the performance of an employee, or generally disagree with anyone in our life more productively? Former Amazon, Twitter, & Slack executive Buster Benson has just written an especially clever, highly accessible and wonderfully practical guide that teaches the very skills we all need. And he joins us on this podcast to discuss that new best-seller, “Why Are We Yelling? The Art Of Productive Disagreement. While there’s no question some conflicts in life can be ugly, knowing how to diffuse an emotional charge – and to turn disagreements into productive interactions – is a profound leadership power & skill to possess.  Listen in to begin your essential and incredibly timely education! The post Buster Benson: Mastering The Art Of Productive Disagreement appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

If you’ve ever felt unseen, under-estimated or unfairly passed over in your career,  this podcast provides all the remedies you’ll need to ensure you never feel that way again! While we’d all like to believe our career growth will always be the result of a reliable meritocracy, the truth is our success at work is rarely just about the quality of our ideas, credentials, skills, or effort. According to preeminent Harvard Business School professor, Laura Huang, how well we progress in our careers really hinges on how effective we are in shaping other people’s perceptions – of our strengths and of our flaws. “It’s about creating our own edge by confronting the factors that seem like shortcomings & turning them into assets that make others take notice.” In this highly energetic & deeply informative conversation, we discuss Laura’s new book “Edge: Turning Adversity Into Advantage,” & dive into four powerful ways her extensive research proves we can & should create our own unique & powerful edge. The underlying (and hard) truth of Laura’s message is that none of us can afford to wait for other people to make fair decisions on our behalf. So, creating a compelling edge for ourselves is a proactively positive & wise way to succeed in an imperfect system. Success is about knowing who you are, and using that knowledge unapologetically and strategically. Laura’s book – & our discussion of it – will teach you how to find your unique edge & keep it sharp. We’re honored that Laura joins us just as her book is being published – this is her first podcast to launch the work! The post Laura Huang: Four Powerful Ways To Create A Winning EDGE appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

In an economy marked by downsizing, offshoring and an accelerated deployment of robots and automation technology, fears around the future of our work and careers abound. But according to New Yorker Magazine writer and co-founder of NPR’s Planet Money podcast, Adam Davidson, we needn’t be so gloomy. Tied to extensive research that went into the writing of his new book, “The Passion Economy: The New Rules For Thriving In The Twenty-First Century,” Davidson says the emerging economy offers new ways of making money, fresh paths toward professional fulfillment and unprecedented opportunities for curious, ambitious individuals to combine the things they love with their careers. The key is we must have the courage and commitment to pivot away from jobs and businesses we know will soon be automated – or out-competed by low-cost Asian firms – and apply our own unique skills, talents and interests to work that cannot be commoditized. “For most of the 20th Century, the safest, most lucrative strategy was to be much like others as possible,” says Davidson. “In the 21st Century, the best strategy is to be fully yourself and to highlight your differences to everyone else.  That’s where the money is.” As we discuss with Adan in this podcast, his book is filled with stories of people whose successful reinvention provides the rest of us with the transformative hope that we can actually thrive as we never have before. As you’ll hear, there are new ground rules for success in business. Once you know what these are, you’ll have a roadmap for excelling in the world in a way that won’t just earn you a good living, it will also make your heart sing. Whether you have an ear for understanding how to personally thrive in the new economy – or for successfully leading your team or organization to continued success – Davidson provides highly inspiring and informative tales of people who’ve already mastered the “Passion Economy.” The post Adam Davidson: The New Rules for Thriving In The Twenty-First Century appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Some of the greatest business innovations of our time were first proposed by other companies, but summarily rejected: *** Polaroid (now gone) invented the digital camera – and then ditched it in the belief it couldn’t make money. *** Engineers at cell-phone maker, Nokia, proposed a device that had all the functionality of the I-Phone – three years before Apple made it one of the most successful products in history. *** Blockbuster Video once sat atop the video rental business and had thousands of stores and millions of customers. But its unwillingness to alter its business model allowed Netflix to disrupt the industry and send Blockbuster into bankruptcy. In the real world of business, new ideas get dismissed all the time by leaders who instinctively judge them to be “crazy,” “too costly” or out of line with conventional wisdom. Nevertheless, other companies find ways to nurture, protect and patiently develop new ideas until they become competitive advantages – even breakthrough & disruptive innovations. In his new Wall Street Journal bestseller, “Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries,” podcast guest Safi Bahcall brilliantly (not hyperbole) explains what behaviors differentiate organizations that repeatedly birth new ideas – ones that often change the world or at least ensure their business endures – from the ones that unwittingly resist any change to the status quo.  At a time when just about every business is ripe for some kind of disruption, Bahcall’s insights represent rather timely and essential leadership knowhow. Microsoft founder, Bill Gates picked “Loonshots” one of his must reads for 2019.  Authors Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, Adam Grant and Susan Cain named it one of the “two most groundbreaking non-fiction reads of the season.” Bloomberg Magazine says Loonshots was the “most recommended book of the year by CEOs + entrepreneurs!” A “loonshot” is a widely dismissed idea whose champions are often seen as crazy. And using examples from past loonshots (like radar, the internet, Pixar movies et al), Bahcall joins us on this podcast to explain the unique mindset & key behaviors of people & teams who ensured they all became real. A massively informative conversation! The post Safi Bahcall: How To Nurture Crazy Ideas Into Breakthrough Innovations appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

For decades, the commonly accepted purpose of a corporation (or any company for that matter) has been to ensure the interests of shareholders always came first. But today, we’ve finally reached a point where most leaders realize that a “profits over people” philosophy has proven to be an entirely unsustainable way to run a business. Amongst its many great harms, it’s produced record low employee engagement across the globe, massive wealth inequality, increasing numbers of people living paycheck-to-paycheck – and a stunning spike in depression, anxiety & other stress related health problems. In light of these dire trends, the Business Roundtable, an association of 181 of America’s top CEOs, recently committed to more fairly supporting the needs of all their other stakeholders – their customers, employees and communities. But because their pledge is light on details, timelines and accountability – the urgency to make a truly meaningful and timely pivot remains in question. In their new book, “The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business To Help Save The World,” Conscious Capitalism pioneers, Raj Sidsodia & Michael Gelb assert that no more time can be wasted. We’ve not only reached an inflection point where bold leadership action must be taken, they’re convinced our companies must be reinvented and remade into “healing forces.” “In Search Of Excellence” author, Tom Peters passionately recommended Raj and Michael’s work – and Michael joins us on the podcast to share stories of well-known companies like Shake Shack, Hyatt Hotels and Kind Bars who’ve already earned profound loyalty and profits by operating in ways that inherently “heal” their employees, customers and communities. Each of these businesses embody what’s become the new formula for organizational success. In a world that urgently needs healing on many levels, a movement to reinvent capitalism so it serves the needs of all constituencies already has great momentum. Listen in to hear what motivated so many top CEOs to create healing organizations – and how individual managers like you can play a meaningful role in making it happen in yours. The post Michael Gelb: The Emerging New Formula For Organizational Success appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.