Lead From the Heart

  Frances Frei (left) is a tenured professor at the Harvard Business School, and two years ago, was an extraordinary guest on this podcast when we discussed her brilliant understanding on how to build, retain and restore trust. Listeners should note that she also gave a remarkable TED Talk on trust that shouldn’t be missed. Frances returns to the podcast to discuss a wonderful new book that she & her (also brilliant) life & professional partner, Anne Morriss, have written. Unlike Meta CEO, Marc Zuckerberg, who once urged his organization to “move fast and break things,” Frei & Morriss prove to be more sensible & enlightened in asserting that a swift implementation of change needn’t be accompanied by a lot of wreckage & harm (to people especially) as Zuckerberg previously assumed. Frei and Morriss are speed freaks – meaning they think all change initiatives have a far better chance of succeeding when implemented with true urgency – but also believe the best leaders can not only handle the speed, they can do so while while making their organizations—employees, customers, & shareholders—even stronger. Their new book is cleverly called, “Move Fast And Fix Things,” and features five essential steps to implementing change that require no tradeoffs between speed & excellence: Identify the real problem holding you back Build and rebuild trust in your company Create a culture where everyone can thrive Communicate powerfully as a leader Go fast by empowering your team As many of our podcast listeners continue to seek guidance on how to make their organizations (& leaders) more caring & humane, we asked Anne and Frances to come prepared to apply their methodology to this very problem. It might be the most comprehensive guidance you’ve ever received on how to implement the “Lead From The Heart” philosophy at your workplace. Listen in to two creative thinkers who also happen to be a lot of fun to spend time with. The post Frances Frei & Anne Morriss: Leading Change Without Collateral Damage appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Our drive to create change, have impact & solve problems all comes from emotional energy. Who we become – how dynamic & powerful we are as people & leaders – depends upon our learning to work with this energy. Leaders may feel as if they don’t control this energy, that it’s just a product of the world around them & the forces bearing down on them. But that’s just not the case. A through-line of this podcast is the thesis that we humans are nowhere near the rational beings we’ve long believed we were. Science has proven that feelings & emotions hold profound sway over our choices & decisions – a truth that applies to the people we lead & manage just as much as to ourselves. Dr. Julia DiGangi is a practicing neuropsychologist & the author of “Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading With Emotional Power.”  She joins us to discuss how emotions shape our worldview & ultimately, our behavior. Positive emotions make us all feel worthy, confident, strong, significant, strong & important. Negative emotions – like anxiety, fear, worry, anger & disappointment – give us pain & make us suffer. If positive emotions enable our best performance & negative emotions undermine it, Dr. DiGangi says we must consciously reflect upon our own emotional experiences & realize they are the primary force that impacts how we affect other people. And most leaders greatly underestimate the power & influence they have by mindfully harnessing their emotional energy. One of Dr. DiGangi’s key assertions is that our leadership effectiveness is fully dependent upon our ability to use emotional energy to successfully lead ourselves – & the sad truth is most of us tend to deplete our own power by doubting our own value & worth, & by not remaining true to ourselves.  Magnetic leadership is when other people follow us because they are attracted to the power of our example. This episode is dedicated to reminding you of your great value as a person so – in your role as a leader – you can go on to remind others of theirs. The post Julia DiGangi: Harnessing Emotional Energy For Personal & Leadership Success appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

What comes to mind when you think about failure – specifically, a failure of your own? Intellectually, we may all agree that failures are great teachers, but deep down the idea of failing at anything in life tends to produce some distressing emotions & feelings. The truth is, most of us (try as we will) would just assume not ever fail. According to Harvard Business School professor, Amy Edmondson, we’ve always tended to think of failure as being the opposite of success – an erroneous belief that inherently influences many a workplace leader to avoid failing at all costs. It also influences managers to punish employee failures. In her speeches to business groups, Edmondson often asks audiences, “What percentage of the failures in your organization do you think are blameworthy? Consistently, the answer is 1-to-4 percent. Then she asks, “How many of the failures get treated as blameworthy?” The answer is consistently 70-to-90 percent. In her new book, “Right Kind Of Wrong: The Science Of Failing Well,” Edmondson posits that failure actually can work in our favor – & that workplace leaders need a reframe on all the good that can come from “failing well.” As a Ph.D. student at Harvard, Edmondson was assigned to a research project at a nearby hospital. The thesis she sought to prove was that the more cohesive, trusting and collaborative a team was, the fewer mistakes they would make when treating patients. But when she learned that the most unified teams actually made more mistakes compared to other less interdependent teams, she was initially confused, distressed – & feared she had failed. That is until she discovered that teams anchored on mutual trust simply disclosed more of their errors in order to learn from them and improve. While Edmondson at first believed her “failed” thesis was an academic embarrassment, ironically, her determination as a researcher led her to understand the importance of psychological safety (in this case, feeling safe to openly acknowledge failures) in the workplace – what’s gone on to become her life’s work. In this podcast, Amy explains how we can minimize unproductive failure while also maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She shares how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. NOTE:  This is the third time Edmondson has been a guest on this podcast and her episode, “Why Psychological Safety Breeds Exceptionally High Performing Teams” is the #1 most downloaded episode in our entire series. When COVID first hit in 2020 – and people were first deployed to their homes to work – we asked if she would do a special podcast episode dedicated to helping managers maneuver in a very stressful and ambiguous moment. Edmondson immediately agreed.  With over 110 episodes produced so far, we’ve never had a more generous and brilliant guest. The post Amy Edmondson: How To Fail Well appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

In what might seem to be the least likely workplace imaginable to implement this, automaker BMW now has five generations of people working under one roof in their factories collaborating & contributing their unique skills and perspectives. If, by chance, you’re wondering how older workers could possibly keep up with the rigorous demands of building cars on an assembly line, you may be missing one of the most important societal trends of the moment: people today aren’t just living longer than ever, they’re remaining healthy & capable of working many years beyond the traditional retirement age of 65. For the first time in human history, eight defined generations now live together side by side, from Alphas to the Greatest Generation by way of Boomers, Gen-X, Millennials & more. And, until now, these generational labels have only served to pigeonhole people & define their presumed limitations. In his new book, “The Perennials, The Megatrends Creating A Postgenerational Society,” Wharton Business School management professor & assistant dean, Mauro Guillen, argues that the idea of a linear life of compartmentalized stages (i.e. from birth to childhood to adulthood to retirement) is no longer appropriate, & that concepts like retirement prove to do more harm than good. He’s proposing an alternative: a post-generational workforce of “perennials,” where older people are encouraged to work well into their 70s alongside their younger colleagues. Guillen rejects the idea that older people are too set in their ways to adapt, & points to evidence showing that, when given the opportunity, they can use their experience & maturity to add value to any business wise enough to hold on to them. Guiilen stresses that educational institutions should also be willing to embrace older students, since there’s a necessity for continual re-skilling to accommodate new technologies & trends. And, older people who remain in the workforce offer huge marketing opportunities for companies looking to expand their product lines in everything from cosmetics to cars. He also acknowledges that all this will require a new mindset – & enlightened leadership – in our workplaces. Younger people must be shown the upsides of accepting older people at work even while they themselves grapple with the idea of lifelong learning. Equally, older people need to accept that change, both technological & social, will be a constant in their lives. This won’t be easy, but the upside is that many more people will have the opportunity to lead lives that are personally rewarding & socially fulfilling. How can all this work? That’s the core focus of this podcast. This is also Guillen’s second time being a guest – three years ago he joined us to discuss his Wall Street Journal Bestseller, 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything. The post Mauro Guillen: Redefining Traditional Notions of Aging In Our Workplaces appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Very few people know their life’s purpose at an early age, but as a young college student, Ed Catmull started dreaming of making the world’s first computer animated movie. He went on to nurture that dream by earning a Ph.D. in Computer Science before forging a partnership with George Lucas (of Star Wars fame) that led to his founding Pixar Animation Studios with Apple founder, Steve Jobs & John Lasseter. In 1995, Pixar ultimately fulfilled Catmull’s dream by releasing “Toy Story,” & in the nearly three decades since, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, giving us such beloved films as “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “Up,” “Inside Out” – & racking up 18 Academy Awards in the process. Anyone who has seen a Pixar movie knows they all share a brilliant formula: joyous storytelling, inventive plots & characters that touch our hearts. But the essential ingredient in “Toy Story’s” success – & in the twenty-five films that followed – was the unique culture that Catmull (as CEO) & his colleagues built that uniquely nurtured the creative process & defied traditional leadership convention. In our conversation, we explore how Catmull & his team introduced psychological safety (long before it was a thing) as a means to ensuring the film directors received critical yet caring feedback on their work – & how pursuing excellence as an organizational value led to the production of so many remarkable movies – animated or otherwise. Perhaps no person on the planet than Catmull spent more years working with Steve Jobs, & this podcast also explores how Jobs greatly evolved as a leader. Before Ed Catmull retired in 2019, he was President of Disney Animation and Pixar – two of the most innovative companies on the planet. The post Ed Catmull: On Creativity, Heart, Steve Jobs And Leading Pixar appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

What makes for a happy life? A good life? In 1938, Harvard University researchers launched what’s now become the longest in-depth longitudinal study of human life ever done. The Harvard Study of Adult Development has followed the lives of two generations of individuals, from the same families, for nearly 85 years.  And the conclusion from all these decades of inquiry is that human thriving, & even longevity, are predicated on having meaningful connection with others. In other words, the stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying & flourishing lives. Dr. Robert Waldinger is the fourth director in the history of the Harvard Study, & he’s recently co-written the global bestseller, The Good Life: Lessons From The World’s Longest Scientific Study Of Happiness. His TED Talk about the Harvard Study, “What Makes a Good Life,” has been viewed 42 million times & is one of the ten most-watched TED talks ever. Dr. Robert Waldinger is also a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School & is a practicing psychiatrist & psychoanalyst. He is a Zen master (Roshi) and teaches meditation all around the world…. While we’re all conditioned to believe that money buys happiness – & that a focus on material needs leads to the good life – Waldinger’s work proves that relationships in all forms: friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members et al, is what truly characterizes a joyful & healthier life. Inherently, this also means that having fewer friends & daily human interactions is directly harmful to well-being. In fact, the US Centers For Disease Control has found that having fewer social relationships (characterized by social isolation & loneliness) is associated with a 29% greater risk of heart disease & a 32% increased risk of stroke. In an era where studies show most people today have only three-to-five close friends – & are often working alone, away from other people – a deprivation of steady connection may actually be harming us. In our conversation with Dr. Waldinger, we explore ways of maximizing the benefits we gain from the brief interactions we have with other people most days (what he calls, “social fitness”). And he weighs in on remote working in one of the most provocative ways you’ve ever heard. In truth, real human connection only occurs in our hearts (not in our brains), so this is a particularly important topic & guest for the “Lead From The Heart” podcast – not to mention its listeners. The post Dr. Robert Waldinger: How To Have A Happy And Fulfilling Life appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

Seemingly overnight, the COVID pandemic caused a massive societal transformation — a structural change in how and where people work and live. And while we may be hearing that CEOs is general still have dreams of having all of their employees back in the office five days a week as they once did, the truth is that nothing is going back to normal. Perhaps because it’s long been uncertain as to whether or not remote working would endure, organizations have yet to fully embrace the new reality and adapt their leadership practices accordingly. In other words, they’ve yet to master managing people who work in the office some days and in the office on others. And, in many cases, they’ve failed to give employees clear direction on expectations. By all important measures – engagement, well-being and employee retention – the evidence is clear that most people today are poorly managed. Employee engagement has fallen to a seven-year low, just 20% of workers feel strongly connected to their organization’s culture – and turnover (at least in the US) has set records for two consecutive years. To punctuate all of this, Microsoft’s Chief Human Resource Officer, Kathleen Hogan wrote an article titled, “We Are Experiencing A Global Human Energy Crisis.” Her assertion was that workers everywhere have become highly dispirited by traditional leadership practices and that companies are suffering for it as a result. In fortuitous timing, Gallup has been ahead of the curve in identifying all the pivots organizations need to make at this important inflection point, and we’ve invited Jim Harter – Gallup’s long-time Chief Scientist and founder of the firm’s longstanding engagement and well-being studies – to be our first three-time guest. Along with Gallup Chairman, Jim Clifton, Harter has just written “Culture Shock: An Unstoppable Force Has Changed How We Work And Live. Gallup’s Solution To The Biggest Issue Of Our Time,” a book that will be published in late May. How do we solve society’s energy crisis? How to companies re-engage their people and ensure they feel a greater connection to its mission and people? How can managers ensure their employees with hybrid working schedules remain highly productive?  These are just some of the important leadership questions we discuss in this invaluable episode. The post Jim Harter: Gallup’s Guidance On Leading In The Post-Pandemic Workplace appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

One of the through lines of this podcast is the idea that the COVID pandemic profoundly and permanently changed how people think about work – not to mention the value exchange we now expect from it. Consequently, in a post-pandemic world, our common and traditional ways of motivating human performance in our workplaces instantly lost any remaining viability, and now must be replaced with practices that inherently demonstrate to workers that they are valued, appreciated and respected in the most meaningful ways. What’s long been missing in leadership is heart – and if the nearly 100 million American workers who quit their jobs during the past two year-long “Great Resignation” have a message to send, it’s that they’ll no longer accept job offers where they don’t have a manager who cares about them, advocates for them, develops them and honors who they are as a person. One theme we haven’t spent enough time discussing is empathy, more specifically the managerial ability to better understand the lives, motivations and needs of the employees we lead before being able to give them the personalized support they’re seeking. Authors Heather E. McGowan and Chris Shipley have just published “The Empathy Advantage: Leading the Empowered Workforce,” a book that speaks to this directly – and this podcast with Heather is focused on exploring some of the less obvious ways managers can powerfully demonstrate empathy to their people. In his book, “The Future Normal,” our most recent podcast guest, Rohit Bhargava noted that both sexual identity and gender were emerging as a new form of diversity in workplaces. And Heather’s book more directly asserts these “have become the most rapidly transforming demographic in the workforce today.” So, in our discussion, we address this sensitive issue with Heather providing some rather humane and insightful guidance to managers on how to effectively maneuver as this change takes hold. With another through line of this podcast being that we all must learn to effectively navigate our new uncertain and non-linear world, Heather brings an optimistic view to virtually every topic we discuss.  A long-time listener and promoter of this podcast, my conversation with her replicates one you’d have with a long-time friend.  And it’s truly informative. The post Heather McGowan: How To Empower & Inspire Human Potential appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

As life today seems to be becoming more complex & unpredictable by the minute, it sure would be nice if we had a crystal ball to see into the future. And, while seeing into the future with any degree of certainty is, of course, a fantasy, there are trends occurring in the world that some informed observers can determine with reasonable certainty are poised to impact our future lives. And this episode’s guest is one of the best at spotting those things – & the title of his new bestseller, “The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work & Thrive In The Next Decade” pretty much sums up the theme of today’s episode. Rohit Bhargava is the founder of the Non-Obvious Company & is widely considered one of the most original thinkers on marketing disruption & innovation in the world. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books and teaches marketing and storytelling at Georgetown University. Rohit was also a recent speaker at the “South By Southwest” conference in Austin, Texas. Having a view into the future is always valuable, of course, but there are a few specific reasons why I wanted Rohit to join us. First, he doesn’t see technology as something to be feared or resisted, but rather as being a tool for creating a better world for all of us. He optimistically acknowledges that there will be challenges along the way, but believes that with the right mindset & approach, we can navigate those challenges & emerge stronger & more connected than ever before. And speaking of connection, Rohit recognizes that technology has the power to bring us together in new & exciting ways, but also knows it can be isolating & alienating if not used properly. In our discussion, he shares his best strategies for staying connected with our loved ones, & for building meaningful relationships, at a time when we’re now spending record amounts of time on our devices. So, what’s life going to be like in the months & near years ahead. Please listen in to my discussion with Rohit to find out! The post Rohit Bhargava: The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work & Thrive In The Next Decade appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.

The post-pandemic world we’re all living in sure seems to be more volatile, more toxic, more stressful and more subject to radical change due automation, downsizing, and globalization than ever. And that just means it’s become much harder for any of us human beings to truly flourish in our lives. As if the past three years of COVID related challenges didn’t already make us feel weary! Martin Seligman is a University of Pennsylvania professor & the former president of the American Psychological Association. It was Seligman who first argued that psychological research would far better serve society if it focused more on discovering ways to enable human thriving than it does on treating people who already have psychological illness. And with that impetus, he launched the “positive psychology” movement. Recently, Seligman partnered with Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman in writing the new bestseller, “Tomorrowmind: Thriving At Work With Resilience, Creativity & Connection – Now And In An Uncertain Future.” Trained in psychology herself – & having earned a medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Harvard University – she is the chief product and chief innovation officer at human transformation company BetterUp. Much of Dr. Kellerman’s her work has resulted in identifying five psychological powers she and Martin Seligman believe have become essential to personal well-being & success in the future workplace: (“Resilience & Cognitive Ability,” “Meaning & Mattering,” “Connection & Rapid Rapport Building,” “Prospection” – the forward looking ability to emotionally and logistically prepare for change before it arrives – and, “Creativity & Innovation”). No one can deny that how we worked ten years ago, how we work today, and how we’ll work just five years from now are all likely to be profoundly different. The entire focus of this conversation with Dr. Kellerman, then, is to help you not just survive in the emerging and new work environment, but to bloom in it.  And it starts by fleshing out these five psychological powers in order that you can master them. It’s insight we all need assuming life’s about to become more demanding & challenging than it already is today. The post Gabriella Rosen Kellerman: How To Future-Proof The Uncertain World Of Work appeared first on Mark C. Crowley.