Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future

Featured Guest: George Limbert The pace of change in the world is rapidly increasing, and there’s no slowing it down. VUCA – a program developed by the U.S. military – is a way of identifying the disruptions of change…and, more importantly, of being ready for them.   We’ve talked about the theory of VUCA before (see our interview with Chris Nolan posted September 6, 2022). In this episode, George Limbert talks about VUCA and its antidotes practiced in the real world. George is the head of Red Roof Inns. The COVID pandemic presented a sudden onslaught of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity for the entire travel and hospitality industry worldwide. Yet Red Roof emerged from the pandemic with some of their best financials ever. How? George and his team were VUCA-ready. He shares his experience and business-tested VUCA antidotes in this episode so you can prepare for the uncertainties to come, too! For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on Twitter: @IL_Institute. ------------------ Host and Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf Producer and Editor: Dan Mushalko Guest: George Limbert, President of Red Roof Inns Learn more at InnovativeLeadership.com and www.RedRoof.com.

Featured Guest: Amer Kaissi A major myth in politics and business is that arrogant, over-confident people are better leaders.  But reality reveals the opposite: humility combined with ambition drives the best leadership performance – and that, in turn, improves the entire organization. Author and Trinity University professor Amer Kaissi discusses the details with host Maureen Metcalf.  His new book, Humbitious, digs deep into the reasons the humble-yet-ambitious leader delivers the best results…for everyone from front line staff to the board of directors.  This isn’t academic theory; Kaissi studied real-world leaders from Napoleon Bonaparte to New Zealand’s acclaimed Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.  While narcissists sometimes do make it to the top, they’re the exception, and their actual performance (as opposed to their PR) tends to be less than stellar. Fortune favors not simply the bold, but the humbitious! ---------------------- Other episodes you'll enjoy: - Mental Toughness: How to Embrace Stress for Greater Success - Career Sponsorship - And Being Sponsor-Ready - Informed Leadership: The Power of Trauma   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:   - Amer's new book, Humbitious, is available here . - His earlier book, Intangibles: The Unexpected Traits of High-Performing Healthcare Leaders, is here.   - And his specialty tome, Flipping Health Care through Retail Clinics and Convenient Care Models, is here. Amer's website is www.AmerKaissi.com . -----------------------   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 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovativeleadershipinsitute/ Website: InnovativeLeadership.com Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating! -----------------------   About Our Guest:   Amer Kaissi is an award-winning professor of health-care administration at Trinity University, a Top-15 program. His previous book, Intangibles: The Unexpected Traits of High-Performing Healthcare Leaders, won the 2019 American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Book of the Year Award. He is a national speaker with Huron/Studer Group and a faculty member with ACHE, the University of Colorado Denver, and Boston College. Kaissi is the director of the Executive Program at Trinity University, where he teaches courses in leadership, professional development, and public speaking. Kaissi works with MEDI—a division of Navvis—and with the Leadership Development (TLD) Group as an executive coach, and consults with hospitals and other organizations in their strategic planning efforts. Kaissi is also a certified executive and physician coach. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and their two teenagers. Learn more at www.amerkaissi.com

Featured Guest: Bob DeKoch and Phil Clampitt Only 15% of workers in the U.S. feel engaged with their jobs. That's just one job ill poor leadership spawns; bad leaders also cause turnover, absenteeism, and more. What is going wrong?  Some leaders have the right beliefs and sentiments. Others may possess the right skills. Yet world-class leaders need BOTH the right beliefs and practices to address the current employee and organizational challenges.  That ideal combination produces a leader who goes beyond servant leadership to truly caring leadership – and the results on employee engagement are profound. In their new book, Leading With Care in a Tough World:  Beyond Servant Leadership, authors Bob DeKoch and Phil Clampitt detail the transformation to caring leadership – and the reasons it’s so deeply needed by so many organizations. They share those reasons in this episode. For daily leadership musings, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter (we're @IL_Institute). -------------------- Host: Maureen Metcalf Producer: Dan Mushalko About our guests: Bob DeKoch has devoted his entire career to leadership roles, refining his own skills, and mentoring hundreds of aspiring leaders. His passion for people and for extraordinary outcomes is what drives him. Rising to senior executive roles in numerous organizations, Bob has developed and put into practice the many teachings in his books. He has over four decades of experience across major market sectors: the construction services industry and real estate development business, the pulp and paper industry, the beverage industry, and the chemical industry. He has served on boards of US organizations—for-profit and nonprofit—including a major international corporation. This diverse experience has helped him develop unique insight into inspired leadership. Bob is currently the founder of the leadership consulting firm, Limitless, whose services are described at www.lmtlss.biz. Phillip G. Clampitt (PhD, University of Kansas) is the Blair Endowed Chair of Communication at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. He was previously designated the Hendrickson Named Professor of Business. Phil has won numerous awards for his teaching and scholarship. His students started calling him “Dr. So What” because he asked, “So what?” so often, as a prod to encourage them to think about the implications of their ideas (see www.DrSoWhat.com). The Wall Street Journal and MIT Sloan Management Review highlighted his work on decision downloading, which details how companies can effectively communicate decisions to those not involved in the decision-making process. Phil has consulted on leadership, communication, and strategic planning with organizations such as Nokia, PepsiCo, The US Army War College, Schneider National, and Dental City. DeKoch and Clampitt have worked in a partnership for over thirty years. They have coauthored Transforming Leaders into Progress Makers: Leadership for the 21st Century (see www.progressmakers.net) and Embracing Uncertainty: The Essence of Leadership (see www.imetacomm.com/eu). They have a passionate interest in helping others become successful leaders. Their research, writing, and mentoring have helped thousands of people become better leaders.

Featured Guest: Roxanne Brown and Edward Cook  85% of employees worldwide are not engaged in their workplaces. That takes an obvious toll on morale…and productivity. What can you do? Roxanne Brown and Edward Cook have some compelling answers. They cofounded The Change Decision, a change and culture consultancy focused on growing Joy at Work. Their mission sounds simple, but after decades of disengagement, there is both art and science in boosting your staff. They’ll explore insightful change leadership tips, including strategies for managing ongoing changes; what to do when facing change resistance; how to inspire teams and managers; and navigating deeply personal, complex feelings that come with being a change leader.

Featured Guest: Paul Smith Paul discusses the power of stories for leaders. He shares his insights about what works, why it works, and how you will be more effective as a leader if you master the use of stories. Paul recounts a compelling story told by Bob McDonald, CEO of Proctor and Gamble, and connects it to a primary leadership and parenting lesson for him. Paul illustrates: 1. What a great leadership story is. 2. The primary elements of a story. 3. Why you should use stories to lead and sell. 4. The most common mistakes when using storytelling. You will walk away with a foundation for using story in your role as a leader. Learn more about using story in leadership by reading Paul's book Lead with Story.

Featured Guest: Erica Dhawan In a world of work-from-home and so much of our personal interaction being digital, we need to understand what we are conveying by digital body language. Today, Erica Dhawan joins the show to share findings from her newest book – Digital Body Language – which decodes the new signals and cues of effective collaboration and teamwork in a digital-first human workplace. Listeners will learn to investigate and improve their own digital body language so that they can support a silo-breaking, trust-filled environment at their places of work. Listeners will understand that the language and punctuation we use across all mediums requires that we be careful, conscious and considerate, and always mindful of how our recipients might respond.

Featured Guest: Brian Ferguson The greatest story of the 21st century is not technology, but how technology will be used as a tool for deepening the levels of human potential. Brian talks about his work leveraging the most proven performers, time-honored principles and cutting-edge technology to develop unique performance solutions for a wide range of “arenas” – from medicine to agriculture. He will discuss the following questions? 1. Why has "innovation" become such a buzzword in recent years? 2. What trends are you focusing on and how do they impact organizations and leaders? 3. What is the archetype of a leader who is effective in a world of dramatic change and dynamism? 4. Why is "human potential" such a powerful concept in today's global environment? 5. What challenges do all modern leaders face? 6. What is the most important trait of today's leaders? 7. What are "The First Principles of High Performance" 8. How does technology serve leaders and make for more high performing teams? What is singularity?

Featured Guest: Jean Brittain Leslie Organizations and the people working in them find themselves in environments that are increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). Under these conditions, tensions that are ongoing, and seemingly overwhelming can be difficult to understand, much less easy to address. These tensions show up in all facets of organizational life including leadership (control vs. empowerment), teamwork (task vs. relationships), strategy (competition vs. collaboration), structure (centralize vs. decentralize), and in the individual (work vs. home). These conflicting demands, when pursued jointly, are often referred to as paradoxes. Reframing these tensions beyond either/or problems in need of a single solution enables us to produce an outcome that is superior to tackling one demand at a time. Jean explains how to work with paradox and apply these tools to improving virtual team success. She draws on the rich research she conducted to provide solutions.

Featured Guest: Jesse W. Newton We are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, yet have not realized the significant productivity gains that previous revolutions delivered. Author and Global Management Consultant Jesse Newton believes this to be in part because of the debilitating complexity that organizations have created over their existence. He’s spent years specializing in unburdening organizations from paralyzing complexity. Growing complexity has traditionally been met with added structures, processes, committees and systems. As a result, organizations often become a complicated mess, clouding strategic focus, slowing innovation and breeding complacency. In his new book, Simplify Work: Crushing Complexity to Liberate Innovation, Productivity, and Engagement, Newton delivers a newfound clarity on the case for simplification and the steps organizations and individuals need to take to unleash their potential.

Featured Guest: David White As an IT Leader and someone who works in technology, David talks about why the soft side of what we do is a significant contributor to success. As technology leaders, we need a diverse set of skills including a heavy dose of soft skills to be a highly successful business leaders beyond our technical skills. These skills range from awareness and management or our mood, an ability to be present and focused and skills in establishing and managing a positive culture where a broad range of perspectives can be explored and synthesized. This is a new type of management and requires new skills. Battelle is working to ensure their culture and their leaders are prepared with the soft skills and culture to thrive and maintain agility as they lead in integrating new technology into companies and the US government. David also shares his perspective on his career path and the importance of seeking mentoring and being a mentor.