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Episodes
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Brain-crush alert!
Riffing and role playing with her father on his work challenges, and the product of many mentors - Judy Wairimu has a clear list of five big things managers need to avoid:
1) Over emphasising your own goals - aim to empower others and build their trust instead
2) Have the courage to avoid protecting your own image - ask when you don't know
3) Don't turn competitors into enemies - assume positive intent and look for a 3rd dimension to a challenge
4) Include others in your introspection - bring advisors into your context to help you
5) Don't wait for permission to become a leader.
I have to admit it. I have an enormous brain-crush on Judy Wairimu.
Since Camiel Gielkens kindly introduced us, she's been and continues to be inspirational.
You can find Judy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wairimug/
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Michael Hanson's dad taught him to "just do it".
He thinks we need to start with our own purpose before helping others find theirs.
Through a distinctive and varied career so far, covering four countries and teaching, being a talent scout, political consultant and now successful entrepreneur, Michael says Humility was his best and hardest lesson.
Socrates' wisdom "I know that I know nothing" together with avoiding making assumptions about people drive him and his business.
Find Michael here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hanson-/
https://growthgenie.co/
Thursday Jan 12, 2023
Thursday Jan 12, 2023
Join me in this remarkable 1 hour special episode with Jo Owen on a wide ranging conversation covering:
The mindset of highly effective leaders: Elon Musk, ruthlessness and obsession - is it a bug or a feature?
The Hybrid work revolution - Autonomy, Accountability, Ambiguity Seeking and following inspiration
Having the 'success' conversation
Jo Owen has worked with over 100 of the best, and a couple of the worst, organisations on our planet.
He is a founder of eight NGOs which have a collective turnover of £100 million annually.
He led businesses in Japan, North America and Europe; he created a business bank; he was a partner at Accenture and is one of the founders of Teach First which is now the largest graduate recruiter in the UK.
His career highlights include:
putting the blue speckle in Daz
becoming the best nappy salesman in Birmingham
getting sued for $12 billion (when a billion was worth something)
He also worked with tribes over fifteen years across the world to discover how they survive and succeed, and what businesses can learn from them.
Jo is the only person to winner the Chartered Management Institute gold award four times for his books.
He has written twenty books on leadership and management which run to over 100 global editions.
His titles include How to Lead, Global Teams, Tribal Business School and the Mindset of Success.
His latest book is out now "Smart Leadership".
Find Jo here: https://amzn.to/3YjYafR
https://www.ilead.guru/
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I will help you to improve the performance of your new managers: https://practical-leadership.academy
Monday Jan 09, 2023
Monday Jan 09, 2023
Infobesity.
From the sausage works to Formula One, Paul Teasdale has had an international and madly varied career.
Now landing on his own delivering against his RAPID performance framework - we talk about three great topics:
Be humble, be honest, be kind - Paul's mantra.
How to ideate and generate practical ideas - Could do - no ideas are silly - Should do - what do we prioritise - Will do - the commitment to deliver and lastly
Paul's great RAPID framework for performance.
Results - what and how you want to do things
Actions - what can you do
People - understanding who you have and where their strengths lie
Insights - the decisions you can make based on the...
Data - the raw source. Ensuring you don't fall into Infobesity!
Find Paul here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljamesteasdale/
https://paulteasdale.co.uk/
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When you're ready - help your new managers lead in a hybrid environment: https://practical-leadership.academy
Monday Jan 02, 2023
Monday Jan 02, 2023
"Have you tried turning him off and on again?" What would appear in your personal operating manual?
How you want to be informed and kept up to date.
What's your hierarchy of communication?
How do you approach time?
All of these could appear in your own operating manual - the guide you create to help other people 'use' you to your best ability.
Andrew Davies shares his thinking and approach to business and leadership without drama (another line on his manual) and with clarity.
'Empowerment as leasehold not freehold' is another insight - the manager still owns the land, and all the responsibility.
Join me for a great conversation!
You can find Andrew here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andjdavies/
https://twitter.com/andjdavies
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When you're ready to help your new managers perform better, visit: https://practical-leadership.academy
Friday Dec 30, 2022
Friday Dec 30, 2022
Gerry Griffin is an author, composer, teacher, entrepreneur and now luthier (maker of guitars).
He's also a storyteller and expert in communications and strategy.
In his illustrious career he has refined his approach to the use of language and leadership and takes us through his way to use language to power your 'self-created', contextual self.
Authentic - comes from Autos Hentes - Greek "Self doing, creating"
Gerry advises
Find out where you are
What's your true context?
How best should you communicate with the people around you
You can find Gerry here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerry-griffin-4301532/
Wednesday Dec 28, 2022
Wednesday Dec 28, 2022
A 20-year ad-man, veteran of media agencies, Mark Creighton went looking for innate purpose and found adult learning and apprenticeships He was wise enough in his very first job in his first year to hire diversely.
Looking for a team member to help him build ads in the shiny new "Internets", he purposefully hired someone different to him.
Hiring badly can cause you 3x the pain of not hiring.
Hiring well will repay you 10x the effort of doing it.
He doesn't pay much attention to CVs, preferring to really listen to candidates and understand what's behind their passions.
Join me for another cracking chat!
Find Mark here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcreighton1/
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New managers, and managers of new managers - click here for help today: https://practical-leadership.academy
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
"Measure twice, cut once" said Tom Lavery's old design & tech teacher, Dr Knapp.
He's CEO over at Jiminny (Tom, not Dr. Knapp...).
Talking about first aid for new managers - we spoke about How to Simplify things.
Keeping things simple makes them go faster and be easier to test.
Tom started as a leader on the footie pitch.
Eventually building high performing sales organisations and now running his own company.
"Measure twice, cut once" stuck with him - even in the fast-paced high-growth world, there's still time to measure twice.
Find Tom here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomlavery7/
https://twitter.com/TomLavery7
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For your New Managers who need training & coaching, digital & live visit: https://practical-leadership.academy
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Becoming global CEO of a face-to-face training company on the leading edge of a global shutdown is a problem on a planetary scale.
Thankfully, Camiel Gielkens, CEO of Schouten Global, one of the world's biggest and best learning companies, already had a plan to move digital.
He was ready to reinvent. His new learning brand - Relevance - speaks to just that: how do we stay relevant?
By constant learning and reinvention.
Join me as we dig into how to combine and balance Strategy and People.
How to use Power and Influence to get things done.
When to lead and when to sit back.
I'd hire Camiel because he's possibly the best communicator I've met because he knows to focus on his Intent, not his goals.
He speaks about the need for new managers to:
- be fit - mentally and physically
- build and maintain knowledge
- develop the skills to do the job
- create change
Find Camiel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camiel-gielkens-a651a6/
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Leadership is hard. See what people have to say about my focused, practical 25 minute session group coaching here: https://practical-leadership.academy
Wednesday Dec 14, 2022
Wednesday Dec 14, 2022
Ruth would like to thank her 30-year-old self for having the courage to reboot and restart her life anew.
She's been a people person for a long time - 13 years in recruitment, leading the talent team at Shazam, Chief People Officer at the BP new energy accelerator Launchpad and now independent.
Thankfully, she explains why Pancakes and Peacocks are a thing for her.
(Round edible things - the pancakes, not the peacocks.)
New managers don't have to know everything (or anything), and her three steps to being able to communicate better are starting at the end point, consider the Situation, the Implication and the Action you want to drive.
We touch on impostors and mentors and great conversations that have changed both our lives for the better.
Ruth is a force to be reconned with.
She asks: Why don't we all accept and take that which we should be entitled to?
Find Ruth here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthpenfold
https://twitter.com/ruthpenfold
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Wednesday Dec 07, 2022
Wednesday Dec 07, 2022
The astonishing Kim Abbot shares how she learned to motivate volunteers running her first social enterprise in India aged just 21.
A mechanical engineer by training, she's spoken in front of the UN, helped build artificial hearts and done it all scared witless.
She's redefining the term Millionaire to mean someone who has helped impact the lives of a million people.
Kim's company, Vested Impact, has taken 100 million data points and is using them to bridge the gap between impact and corporate finance to solve some of the world's greatest problems.
You can find Kim here: https://www.vestedimpact.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberley-abbott-17141427
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Managing in a remote or hybrid environment is hard. Learn how to make it easier with me:
https://practical-leadership.academy
Wednesday Nov 16, 2022
Wednesday Nov 16, 2022
Leading a vital part of the UK's national infrastructure - serving over 2 million citizens - Neil Odin has climbed the Fire Service career ladder (his words...) and leads a £90M organisation with 60 fire stations and 2,000 people.
Neil has been a career firefighter for over 30 years. He has to re-certify every year, keep up with his people on the front line, and advises everyone to lead from the heart.
Who you are, comes first. If you fake it, it's you who'll suffer.
Our conversation covered managing the balance of high resilience and redundancy with tight budgets. Keeping his teams focused and morale high as they negotiate for a national firefighter pay rise (with the threat of strike action looming).
He shares how he stays close to the front lines despite, or because of his position.
A fascinating conversation with a vastly experienced leader.
Subscribe and join me today.
You can find Neil here: https://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/about/our-organisation/chief-fire-officer/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-odin-qfsm-137a936/
The book he recommended was: The Heart Aroused by David Whyte - https://amzn.to/3CuO95g
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When you're ready - upgrade your management skills with me: https://practical-leadership.academy
Sunday Nov 13, 2022
Sunday Nov 13, 2022
After an early career that included predicting oil spills and hurricanes, Dan Thompson moved onto predicting revenue forecasts. I'm not sure which one is harder...
At Kluster they crafted an intentional management culture that Dan and his team have spent a lot of time creating.
He's a theoretical physicist, CEO and co-founder of the company and walked me through his three-pillar approach to management:
Frameworks - understand your role, the company structure and the boundaries of what you can and can't do.
Process - the recurring events that help you set goals and hold people accountable - transparently.
Culture - the business of the business. How you operate as a team member.
He has a clear way to build and importantly maintain culture and has adopted a "How to work with Dan" guide for his reports.
Subscribe and join me to listen and learn from Dan as he explores why culture matters and how to build a good one!
Find Dan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-thompson-kluster/
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When you are ready to upgrade your management skills:
https://practical-leadership.academy
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
Martin has vast experience in getting things done with technology teams.
In this conversation he shares what he has learned from his background at Klarna and H&M and more.
We talk about the steps to structuring a productive, remote team Daily stand-ups; great communication; measuring the unsaid team sentiment and how to balance remote work for people's different environments and stages of life. (Think balancing your laptop on the end of your bed vs. a home office overlooking your own lake...).
"Just because tech *can* do something, doesn't mean it should" combines with his learning point of being clear on what outcomes you want rather than focusing on the functionality you'd like.
Find Martin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-ganeteg-5969842/
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Get First aid for new managers here:
https://practical-leadership.academy
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Rachel Kay is the Chief Learning Officer for Babington. With 25 years of leadership experience ranging from Greek holiday destinations to high-tech aerospace, school boards and the British Computer Society, she has some strong ideas on how you should go about hiring people better than you - without shame.
Building a highly motivated team is a process:
Starting with a clear vision of what you want and who you need, through recruitment to pulling the team together to perform.
Find Rachel here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-kay-a92a3714/
https://babington.co.uk/
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Being a new manager is hard. See what people are saying about my 25-minute coaching sessions here::
https://practical-leadership.academy
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Catalina has strong ideas about people.
After a career building and running global HR teams in some of the biggest and now fastest growing companies on the planet, she knows what she's talking about: "You know you've made it as a leader when you want to be interested, not interesting" she says.
Manage output, not activity. Ask a prospective boss for references.
She thinks that teaching people to listen - really listen - then coach from that understanding is the key to management success.
She's a recruiter and a salesperson at heart - and that's a big part of what makes her such a good people manager.
Find Catalina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schveninger/
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Management is hard. Let's make it easier together.
See what people are saying about my new manager coaching here:
https://practical-leadership.academy
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Technologist to banker to founder, crypto trader to venture studio MD, Osmin Callis has managed to chart a course through her career to walk the red thread of technology that has interested her from an early age.
She's thankful that she did the hard work when it mattered when she was younger person and talks about how important it is to build trust before you do anything else.
Her approach to selecting people to manage others is refreshing - it's not always the "best" in role that's going to do well in the management hot seat.
She thinks we should look for empathy, approaches to accountability and an ability to get the best out of people. It's an underrated skill set she says.
Join me for another fascinating conversation!
You can find Osmin here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmincallis/
https://twitter.com/CallisOsmin
https://www.blockventures.studio/
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When you're ready - upgrade your management skills at:
https://practical-leadership.academy
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
"Management" says Doug Brown, "is the most rewarding thing I have ever done professionally."
In his academic life as a molecular biologist, he was the smartest person in the room.
Moving organisations, he discovered that he needed to adapt and to surround himself with the smartest people in the room instead.
Doug Brown shares the ingredients to his management cake, the icing and the cherry on top:
Consistency, Empowerment, Development. Self care. Self recognition.
He suggests that when the going gets sticky, embrace that feeling.
Take on the uncomfortable jobs because there is no better way to learn.
You can find Doug here:
https://www.immunology.org/about-us/our-people/our-team
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-brown-679aa044/
https://twitter.com/dougbrown_1
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Learn the important things as a New Manager with me here : https://practical-leadership.academy
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
When will we next meet on this topic, and what will you have done by then?
The great question that Varun advises new managers to live by.
Tracking milestones not activity.
He also talks about his start-up experience - as a journey of learning. Learning to separate his job from his career was also key. Join me for a great conversation!
You can find Varun here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vsarin83/
His book recommendation was: The Next Billion Users by Payal Arora https://amzn.to/3CalH9O
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When you're ready to improve your management: https://practical-leadership.academy
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Kick the puppy and give it a cheese sandwich. (25:00)
Mehdi and I bonded over our love of food & travel - you need to skip to 05:50 to get into the actual management stuff!I can only apologise for this episode's cocktail mixture of metaphors and ideas. We developed the Drumstick analogy, the now-famous Tounsi method, and talked about the joy of Norwegian hot dogs. Mehdi shared the best casual restaurant in Dubai.
He shared how by asking simply "how is it *really* going?" you get beyond the very British "fine..." as a response and can truly understand where someone is.
Mehdi learned a lot from a disastrous few years in the US, where he and his family hadn't expected the culture and environment to be as different as they experienced it to be.
We talk about potentially being too persuasive. Does the leader's passion run the risk of overriding someone's common sense, and ask can nice be dangerous?
Pre-mortems appear at 26:00 and Mehdi doesn't seem to have to dig too deep to uncover his French cultural disagreement with the British lack of assertiveness.
Ultimately - he says that curiosity is stronger than fear.
This was a conversation for the ages - we both hope you enjoy it.
You can find Medhi here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehditounsi/
-------------When you're ready, upgrade your management skills here:https://practical-leadership.academy