Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future

Featured Guest: Terri O'Fallon, Ph.D. & Kim Barta MA Although our bodies stop growing, our minds continue to develop throughout adulthood. But seeing the world differently can be confusing as your old brain emerges into the new. That confusion can be doubly difficult for leaders navigating their own growth (or Vertical Development) with that of their teams. At each successive level, leaders expand their capacity – yet face new shadows: areas of confusion and challenge. By understanding those areas, you will be able to identify and move through them more quickly, bringing light and opportunity where shadows once fell. Terri O’Fallon and Kim Barta of STAGES International join Maureen to discuss different areas of confusion and, more importantly, how to recognize and overcome them…and continue growing in the process.

Featured Guest: Rachael Kelly Every business has its ups and downs. But when trauma hits, the worst thing to do is ignore it. The best: tend to your people! Rachael Kelly watched the effects of COVID quarantine rapidly cascade through the restaurant industry…including at her organization: Smokey Bones. As a restaurant chain, the quarantine hit Smokey Bones hard -- and almost instantly. That, in turn, created serious issues for servers and other restaurant staff. Rachael joins host Maureen Metcalf to reveal how they dealt with the cascading trauma…and, more importantly, how they turned it into an opportunity to improve their team environment and emerge even stronger. In fact, Smokey Bones holds multi-year certifications as a Great Place to Work.

Featured Guest: Raj Subrameyer Raj Subrameyer knows about toxic leadership first-hand: HE was a toxic leader. Fortunately, Raj learned before it was too late that the toxins affect the leaders just as much as their teams. Anxiety, depression, anger, sleeplessness, illness...they all mount up. In this episode, Raj talks about his former leadership style, and his subsequent journey to a better work life. In the process, he reveals lessons on personal branding. It's not unrelated -- the more comfortable you are with yourself, the more comfortable your team becomes in working with you.

Featured Guest: Ruchira Chaudhary Something was wrong with the company. Working for a large corporation in Singapore, Ruchira Chaudhary realized there were too many issues blocking a thriving work environment…and it all stemmed from poor leadership.  Now an international executive coach and author of Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership, Ruchira joins us to reveal how coaching is more than a nice skill for leaders – it’s the secret sauce of truly extraordinary leadership. Coaching is more important today than ever before: our turbulent times require leaders that empower, elevate and enable. They must build trust, resilience, and admit mistakes. And they must recognize that each team member requires different coaching: understanding this could actually help close the workplace gap between men and women, for example.  Ruchira points out that coaching is no longer a "nice to have'' aspect of leadership - it is absolutely essential, and you simply cannot be a good leader without being a good coach! For daily wisdom from Ruchira and our other guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovativeleadershipinsitute/ .  We’re on Mastodon, Facebook, and Twitter, too! ----------------------   Other Episodes You'll Enjoy: - Facing Uncertainty: It's VUCA with Chris Nolan - Growing Up Biden: Family Lessons on Leadership with Valerie Biden Owens - Leading in Circles: The Inevitable Circular Economy with Christoph Hinske   ---------------------   Resources:   Ruchira's book is Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership (you can buy it here) Visit Ruchira's website at RuchiraChaudhary.com See her on YouTube at https://bit.ly/Ruchira-YT      ---------------------   OUR PODCAST TEAM:   Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf Editor & Producer: Dan Mushalko Video & Graphics Editor: Devon Mushalko   Podbean Guru: Luigi Morelli     CONNECT WITH US: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Innovativeleadership YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership Twitter: @InnoLeader Mastodon: @InnoLeader LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovativeleadershipinsitute/ Website: InnovativeLeadership.com Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating!

Featured Guest: David DeRam David DeRam is a 30-year veteran of the software and start-up world.  But it wasn’t until he co-founded Greenlight Gurus that he fully realized the power of mindset training in boosting performance, morale, innovation, and outlook for every member of his team.  Giving his team every edge possible is quite literally a matter of life and death: Greenlight Gurus develops quality management software for medical device makers. David joins host Maureen Metcalf to provide insights on his unconventional approaches and implementation of mindset training. Unconventional should hardly be unexpected from a CEO who believes his core duty is to ensure every employee goes to bed Sunday night excited and eager to get to work Monday morning!

Featured Guest: Rebecca Ryan All of us took history classes, but who’s taken future classes? Studying the future is a discipline that stretches back decades. Strategic foresight is the established and proven process of looking at future probabilities, yet many business and NPO leaders either don’t know about it, or don’t understand it.  It’s used by Fortune 200 companies, the U.S. military, the World Bank, and others.  As futurist Rebecca Ryan explains to host Maureen Metcalf, strategic foresight helps those organizations decrease risk and maximize opportunity.  That, in turn, provides them with a competitive advantage. So much so that Disney requires learning it before candidates can enter the C-Suite.  Listen to this episode – and get a glimpse of your future!   For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on Twitter:  @IL_Institute .

Featured Guest: Chris Nolan One look at the headlines on any given day makes it clear: the world is UNclear. How can an organization navigate through the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity to survive – much less succeed? By understanding VUCA, a concept developed by the Pentagon in 1987 to give our military an edge in chaos. Filmmaker Chris Nolan joins Maureen Metcalf to share how this military technique directly applies to businesses and non-profits – information drawn from his new documentary and book: It’s VUCA!  For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on Twitter: @IL_Institute.

Featured Guest: Gregory Milano A leader’s lust for short-term profit often means pulling tomorrow’s results into today’s reports. Those intentions may be well-meaning, intending to please shareholders and the board. But they can result in bankrupting the future. After all, if you’re crediting next quarter’s returns into this quarter, how will you make next quarter look as appealing? It’s unsustainable. In his new book, Curing Corporate Short-Termism, Gregory Milano guides senior managers who want to encourage more investment in the future of their companies. Many corporate practices are counterproductive, creating stiff headwinds for managers trying to grow their business. The solution: a culture of ownership. When you see yourself as the owner of the company, your decisions change; the long-term becomes more important. Gregory discusses the dangers of short-termism and the tools to overcome it with host Maureen Metcalf – and how these principles produce long-term value that benefits not just the organization's shareholders, but all of its many stakeholders…including society at large. Other episodes you'll enjoy: Do No Harm: Ethics for Leaders with Terri O’Fallon Facing Uncertainty: It’s VUCA with Christopher Nolan Expecting the Unexpected: VUCA in Action at Red Roof with George Limbert For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovativeleadershipinsitute/ . We're on Mastodon, Facebook, and Twitter, too!   ----------------------   RESOURCES:   Learn more about Greg's company at fortuna-advisors.com . You can purchase his book, Curing Corporate Short-Termism at https://amzn.to/3WRIQpj . Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can follow her there at https://www.linkedin.com/in/maureenmetcalf/ . She’s also written several award-winning books on leadership development. Your can peruse and purchase them here: https://amzn.to/3C4eSX0 . -----------------------   OUR PODCAST TEAM:   Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf Editor & Producer: Dan Mushalko Video & Graphics Editor: Devon Mushalko Podbean Guru: Luigi Morelli CONNECT WITH US: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Innovativeleadership YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership Twitter: @IL_Institute Mastodon: @InnoLeader LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovativeleadershipinsitute/ Website: InnovativeLeadership.com Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating!  

Featured Guest: Ben Marcovitz Most often, when employees are labeled as underperforming, leaders write them off. When such an employee inevitably leaves (or is forced out), you’re potentially giving your competition top talent…because with the right approach, those employees can become motivated high-performers. Ben Marcovitz, CEO of the Rise Institute, believes expecting radical growth from struggling staff should be the norm. It’s far less costly than staff churn and training, and can reveal untapped potential. From the classroom to the corporation, Ben has seen this work consistently in practice. He shares the details with host Maureen Metcalf. Join us, and radically grow your in-house pool of talent!   For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on Twitter:  @IL_Institute .

Featured Guest: Jonathan Reitz Communication is key to effective leadership.  You may have the best vision in the history of humankind – but if you can’t communicate it to others, you’ll never come close to achieving your goals. Good leaders know this; that’s why Googling leadership communication skills results in literally billions of results! Sorting through those hits could take a lifetime. Fortunately, Jonathan Reitz has spent his life in professional communications, and he’s distilled it down to the four most essential communication skills every good leader needs. They’re not what you’d expect. Jonathan joins host Maureen Metcalf in this episode to share those four skills. He’s ready to communicate them to you now!