Leadership Arts Review

An end of Season 2 update.

In Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini explore why top-down governance and rule-bound management are liabilities in the modern business world, what organizational changes are needed to equip and enable everyone in organizations to be their best and to do their best, how to manage transitions safely, and what kind of leadership such transformations demand. We discuss how human-centred organizational design can engage employees, reduce attrition, and enable better outcomes more quickly and cheaply. Listen in if you want to transform your organization into a powerhouse of the modern economy where the best people want to work.

In Bittersweet, Susan Cain looks at the postive side of unpleasant emotions. We talk about how comfort with unpleasant emotions enables people and organizations to have the hard conversations. We discuss how positivity and humor can be toxic and how authenticity serves as an antidote. Listen in if you are interested in how to lead through hard times with integrity. Featuring Special Guest, Rick Andrews. Rick Andrews is a trainer, instructor, and coach living in NYC and teaching globally. He is Head Instructor at The Magnet Theater, and has been studying, performing, and teaching improvisation since 1999. Rick is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, teaching improvisation in the MFA Acting program. As an applied improvisation facilitator and trainer, Rick has worked with hundreds of organizations using improvisation techniques and exercises to help meet their needs and grow their skills. Clients have included Google, Spotify, Salesforce, J.P. Morgan, Bloomberg, NBCUniversal, PepsiCo, Ogilvy, Chief, and many more. You can reach him at his website or on LinkedIn.

In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel H. Pink presented research on effective motivation and the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Despite the runaway success of the book, corporate management has done a surprisingly poor job of  implementing these ideas.   We discuss the relationship between creativity and motivation, the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, how monetizing passion and purpose can backfire, flow, employee engagement, and how to optimize incentives for the goals that matter. We dig into why optimizing for the short term can create long-term challenges and how motivational feedback loops can mislead us. Listen in if you are interested in designing organizations and build teams that enable motivation, innovation, or creativity.

In Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It), Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic discusses why so many organizations equate leadership potential with destructive personality traits like overconfidence, narcissism, and psychopathy. He shares what qualities we should be looking for and valuing instead and suggests new systems and processes that can help organizations put the right people in charge. We discuss the relationship between narcissism and perceived competence, the difference between confidence and competence, why women leaders outperform men, and how to make sure your company hires the right people for leadership. Listen in if you are interested in hiring better leaders or how to get more women into leadership.

In Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life, Francesca Gino discusses the importance of defying the status quo for both personal life satisfaction and organizational success. We discuss risk taking, vulnerability, innovation, and creativity. Listen in if you want to embrace a little more rebellion in your work and life.

Sharon Salzberg is a prominent meditation teacher with a specialization in loving-kindness meditation. In Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, she discusses how meditation practices give us the energy and motivation to sustain the hard work of driving change. We discuss the relationship between resilience and grief, the gifts of anger, and how mindfulness creates hope and energy when things are difficult. Listen in if you yearn for a more personally sustainable way to have impact.

In Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Fiuture and Make Real Change, Stacey Abrams shares her story and the tools she has used to build a movement for change as a black woman. Special guest Christine Gautreaux brings her stories of having worked on campaigns led by Ms. Abrams to this discussion of the special challenges of leading change when you start with the deck stacked against you. Listen in if you want to increase the imapct of underrepresented populations in organizations or communities. Special Guest: Christine Gautreaux Christine Gautreaux, MSW, is dedicated to the pursuit of play, joy, art & social justice.  Christine’s superpowers include connecting people, helping folks manifest their dreams, standing up against injustice, and using art to make a difference in the world.  She currently uses Interplay to address issues of oppression and racial justice with people living with severe and persistent mental illness or homelessness, women refugees, and women who are incarcerated.  Christine believes in the power of body wisdom and somatic play to help heal trauma. She also works with professional caregivers, activists and artists to maintain balance and self-care during these intense times we find ourselves living.  Christine holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Social Work and is a professional speaker, coach & author, and entrepreneur. Christine is the co-author of Stillpoint: A Caregivers Playbook and the co-host of the Women Connected in Wisdom Podcast.    Find out more about Christine at her website:  https://www.christinegautreaux.com Join Christine at an event here:  https://www.linktr.ee/christinegautreauxmsw Join the Women Connected in Wisdom Community here:  https://www.womenconnectedinwisdom.com Listen to the Women Connected in Wisdom Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/women-connected-in-wisdom-podcast/id1556786980

In The Power of Us, Jay J. Van Bavel, PhD and Dominic J. Packer, PhD explore the subtle and not-so-subtle ways our sense of identity shapes our perception and behaviour. And they revisise the conclusions from some classic studies in psychology based on more nuanced analysis. NItya, Kate, and Alyssa discuss how to intentionally create belonging, the impact of leaders' identities on organizations, and how a sense of identity can support or interfere with organizational effectiveness.  Listen in if you're interested in creating inclusive cultures and belonging everywhere you are.

In Unleashed, Anne Morriss and Frances X. Frei discuss not only how to have leadership impact when you are in the room, but also how to keep having impact in your absense. Alyssa, Kate, and Nitya talk about the trust triangle, supporting inclusion as a leader, and strategic collaboration with outside organizations, with a special look at what loves look like at work. Listen in if you are committed to leading others in ways that free them from dependence on you.

Michael Bungay Stanier shares how to empower others through good questions in The Coaching Habit and how to get better results through giving less advice in The Advice Trap. Kate, Alyssa, and Nitya discuss the differences and overlaps between the two books and why they make a powerful pair. We talk about questions that aren't questions, the discomfort of silence, and why giving advice is so tempting. Listen in if you want to get better results by doing less as a leader. 

Join us as we take a look back at the first season of the Leadership Arts Review podcast and ahead to Season 2. Hear us discuss themes that crossed the season, which books we loved most, and which ones we use ourselves. We talk about what we've learned and what we are changing. And just a little about the books we have lined up for the next few epsiodes.

Season 1 finale! Season 2 coming soon! Jesse Itzler invited a Navy SEAL to live with him for a month and put him through extreme fitness training. Living with a SEAL is that story. Special Guest, Carmen Ekdahl, coach to police officers and other first responders, joins Alyssa and Nitya for a discussion about leadership in the context of daily threats, the power of extreme training to push even the toughest folks past their comfort zones, and how everyone can benefit from being a little or a lot less risk averse.  Listen in if you are interested in how far beyond your comfort zones you might be able to go. For more information about Carmen and Cop Coach visit https://www.cop-coach.com/ or follow her on Instagram at @cop_coach.

Susan David shares why emotional agility is a crucial leadership skill and teaches a four-part process for working with emotions to extract the wisdom they bring us without overwhelming us.  Alyssa, Kate, and Nitya talk about the power of getting to know our emotions and learning how to relate to them without being directed by them. We share some personal stories and some patterns we have seen in our work developing leaders. Listen in if you have ever wondered how to be more relaxed at work or help your employees and direct reports be more engaged and creative.

Jerry Colonna believes that better humans make better leaders. In Reboot, he shares what that means and how we can all become better humans and better leaders. Kate, Nitya, and Alyssa talk about the power of radical self-inquiry, becoming fierce with reality, and facing the crucible moments that transform good leaders into great ones. This conversation gets more personal than usual as we discuss Jerry Colonna's coaching questions and the personal challenges they inspire us to embrace.  Listen in if you have ever wondered how to achieve success and feel good about who you are in the process.

What would change if you celebrated learning you were wrong about something in service of being right?  Alyssa, Kate, and Nitya talk about why leaders need to be comfortable changing their minds for the right reasons, how to cultivate a scientist mindset, and why rethinking your positions is valuable even when you don't change your mind. Listen in if you have ever wondered how you can change your mind without looking weak or foolish.

If you only remembered 10 things about leadership, what should they be?\r\n\r\nAlyssa, Kate, and Nitya talk about the fundamental truths about leadership that do not change over time. We discuss the three elements that create the conditions for trust, the relationship between values and employee engagement, and what love has to do with leadership.\r\n\r\nListen in if you have ever wondered what stays constant as leadership fads and trends change.

What do you need to do in the first few months in a new leadership role to set yourself up for success? Kate, Nitya, and Alyssa talk about the process Michael D. Watkins recommends for navigating the first three months on a job without falling into any of the common traps and pitfalls. We discuss his suggested techniques and some of the real world challenges that make them hard to do. And we share some personal stories of both success and struggle in starting new jobs on a strong footing. Listen in if you have ever wondered how to move into a leadership role in a new organization confidently and without arrogance.

What does it mean to take the idea that words matter seriously? Nitya, Kate, and special guest Margaret Leahy talk about the four ways Don Miguel Ruiz says we should honor the power of our words. We discuss how these four agreements serve as guideposts for leaders to speak with integrity and pay attention to their impact. Listen in if you have ever wondered how to become more trustworthy or be confident that you are speaking with integrity.

Would you like to have more influence in your organization or in the world? Alyssa, Nitya, and Kate talk about how an outward mindset enables individuals, teams, and organizations to be more effective. The discussion includes a description of the outward mindset and how to cultivate it, stories of outward mindsets in action, and a few words about why it can initially be hard to make the shift from an inward mindset. Includes tips on "managing up" effectively. Listen in if you have ever wondered how to have more influence. Find additional resources about The Outward Mindset includinging a Study Guide and printable versions of the diagrams at: https://arbingerinstitute.com/Landing/TheOutwardMindset.html.