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Season 10 Episode 5

Guest: Celina Caesar-Chavannes

What’s your secret identity?

Our true selves are often buried so deeply that they’re a secret to us. It’s hard enough to lead authentically when you don’t know who you are – but how can you motivate your team if you don’t know who they really are, either?

The key is the praxis of humanization, a way of helping your coworkers bring their authentic selves to the office. Guest Celina Caesar-Chavannes discovered this truth in her own personal journey – a journey that took her to the halls of power as a member of Canada’s parliament, where societal stereotypes continued around her unabated. But her revelation on identity soon followed, with important lessons for other leaders!

Here’s what Celina and Maureen cover:

1. Why titles don’t protect us from society’s sundry “-isms”;
2. The many ways we’re conditioned to NOT be our best at work (or at home); and
3. How leaders can foster humanization, so people bring their best, unique selves to work (and you have a happier, more productive team).

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– The Power of Praise: Making People’s Performance Positive with Ben Marcovitz

– Non-Traditional Leadership for Our New Era with Nathan Eva & Nicole Ferry

– Working & Living in Joy with Pamela Larde

Season 10 Episode 5

Guests: Rob Elkington and Les Sylven

To serve and protect: servant leadership takes on a whole new meaning for a law enforcement leader. Society’s expectations for policing have changed radically – for example, up to 80% of what officers do overlaps with what social workers do! Add calls for reduced funding, labor shortages, brutality…and gone are the days of simple “cops and robbers” policing.

But the leadership and hierarchy of policing have changed very little. So can law enforcement truly rise to the challenges of both reform and crime without new styles of leadership?

Guests Rob Elkington and Les Sylven have some very surprising solutions that go far beyond the stereotypes of the hardboiled police commissioner – solutions that any leader of a high-stress workforce will find extremely useful!

Here’s what Rob, Les, and Maureen cover:

1. Why almost all law enforcement leaders have faced trauma – and how it can help them better serve their teams;
2. How soft-skills like mindfulness are just as important as hard skills like firearms training; and
3. If your mission is to serve and protect, servant leadership makes a lot more sense than old-school top-down management.

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Leading the Court: Canada’s First Female Chief Justice with Beverley McLachlin
• Staying Cool in Challenging Situations with Janet Fouts
• Informed Leadership: The Power of Trauma with Rachael Kelly

Season 10 Episode 3

Guest: Carsten Engel

There’s a big gap between resources and patient needs in the healthcare sector. That’s just one area of healthcare requiring change; without it, lives truly do hang in the balance.

Carsten Engel and the International Society for Quality in Healthcare have studied healthcare systems around the globe extensively, and they have practical solutions for patients, practitioners, and the leaders of the medical industry. He shares them with host Maureen Metcalf in this episode. And most of them can help leaders in any industry.

Here’s what Carsten and Maureen cover:

1. The quintuple aim for healthcare worldwide;
2. Why it’s critical for doctors to view (and treat) patients as partners in their health; and
3. Why healthcare may well be the most complex system humans have invented!

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– Seeking Success in Simplicity with Rini Das

– Bringing Healing Home: Healthcare Leadership with Anne Klibanski

– How HR Drives New Beginnings with Fara Palumbo, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC

Season 10 Episode 2

Guests: Martha Piper and Indira Samarasekera

“What do you expect with a woman?”

That’s the attitude our guests encountered on their leadership journeys – but, as Georgia O’Keefe said, “It takes a kind of nerve…and a lot of hard, hard work.” That nerve is exactly what Martha Piper and Indira Samarasekera developed. It served them well, with both becoming the first woman president of their respective universities.

In this episode, they share tips to help other women (and men!) develop the same combination of nerve, grit, and grace that made their time as leaders so successful.

Here’s what Indira, Martha, and Maureen cover:

1. The importance of combining both grit AND grace to be the most effective leader;
2. Why staying true to your principles provides a guiding star when decisions seem tough; and
3. Going beyond mentorship to develop sponsorship in helping career advancement.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Leading the Court: Canada’s First Female Chief Justice with Beverley McLachlin
• Women’s Leadership Journeys with Lisa DeFrank Cole & Sherylle J. Tan
• Reflections on Women in Leadership with Kim Campbell

Season 10 Episode 1

Guests: Nathan Eva & Nicole Ferry

Your leadership training may be missing the mark.

That’s because most programs develop you as an individual – but, in reality, we work with other leaders in addition to our own teams. In fact, the most effective organizations foster collective leadership. Our guests Nicole Ferry and Nathan Eva point out that the best collective leadership incorporates multiple models and views from women, other cultures, and more…because the old MBA-style leadership just isn’t cutting it in this new age.

They point us in a productive direction in this episode!

Here’s what Nathan, Nicole, and Maureen cover:

1. Why the concept of the solo, superstar, or individual leader is so outmoded;
2. How to develop collective capacity in your leadership – and stop missing out on your industry’s top talent as a result; and
3. Surprising non-traditional models of highly effective leadership, from gender-informed development to indigenous Australian culture.

Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– When Your Path Is Unclear (What Maori traditions teach us about leadership) with Donna Marie Laskin & Chellie Spiller

– Evidence-Based Best Practices for Leadership Development with Gama Perruci, Sadhana Warty Hall, & Karen Ford

– Women’s Leadership Journeys with Lisa DeFrank Cole & Sherylle Tan

Season 9 Episode 54

Guest: Christopher Washington

What will affect your leadership the most in 2024? We’ve identified seven trends you’ll have to contend with through the coming year.

Christopher Washington (Provost & EVP of Franklin University) interviews ILI’s CEO, Maureen Metcalf, to get the details on all seven. Knowing them will help your organization navigate the destabilizing effects of those trends…and take advantage of the opportunities they create.

Here’s what Christopher and Maureen cover:

1. Why knowing these trends is takes the fear out of uncertainty – and anchors your organization with better risk management;
2. How you must operate while straddling both the old world and the new: with one foot in old-school issues like war and geopolitics, and one foot in new-school issues like unbridled AI; and
3. Through it all, why self-care and lifelong learning are the keys to staying on top of your game no matter how uncertain the future seems.

Here are the interviews Maureen referenced in this episode:

• Over the Weather: Leadership at the Weather Channel with Sheri Bachstein
• Nurturing Peace from the Ashes of Violence with Hyppolite Ntigurirwa & Mike Hardy
• Power, Charisma, Hormones: Science Studies Leadership with John Antonakis

Season 9 Episode 53

Guest: Sheri Bachstein

Can your business weather the storm? We mean that quite literally!

There’s not a business on the planet that isn’t impacted by weather at some level. Leaders must prepare their organizations for what’s to come. It’s not just obvious climate change decisions, like making sure you don’t build that new factory in a hurricane hotspot. It’s little things, too, like a grocer stocking extra ice cream when weather keeps people indoors and craving comfort food (even in the middle of winter!).

Guest Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company (parent of The Weather Channel), reveals the data and insights behind the forecasts that can boost – or bust – your bottom line. Along the way, she share lessons from her own unexpected leadership journey.

Here’s what Sheri and Maureen cover:

1. How today’s rich weather data can boost your business’ survivability…and profitability;
2. Why climate change has made crafting a weather plan as part of your business plan an absolute must; and
3. Realizing that your leadership journey will never be a straight line (and how to maximize the benefits of those inevitable zigs and zags).

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Women’s Leadership Journeys with Lisa DeFrank Cole & Sherylle Tan
• To Err Is to Innovate with Beryl Tomay
• When Your Path Is Unclear with Donna Marie Laskin & Chellie Spiller

Season 9 Episode 52

Guest: The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin

Making decisions can be the toughest part of a leader’s job. Judges up the ante; their decisions can literally mean the difference between life or death.

Beverley McLachlin was the Chief Justice of Canada’s Supreme Court. In this episode, she reflects on her leadership journey — from a farm in rural Alberta to the top court in the land. That journey has powerful perspectives on the decision-making process for leaders of all stripes: from law-firm partners to CEOs.

It’s inspiring, too! Beverley overcame deeply entrenched sexism and other barriers, but forged on with a clear vision.

Here’s what the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin and Maureen cover:

1. The many ways the legal profession offers lessons for leaders of every stripe;
2. The qualities and skills judges must hone to make effective, balanced decisions — skills that will help your decision-making, too; and
3. Why it’s so important to get your decisions right — but be willing to change them as new evidence comes in.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Leading with Character: A Real-Life Red Roof Report with George Limbert
• Women’s Leadership Journeys with Lisa DeFrank Cole & Sherylle Tan
• Reflections on Women in Leadership with Kim Campbell

Season 9 Episode 51

Guest: Beryl Tomay

One of the biggest keys to success is failure.

It seems counterintuitive, but the reality is we ALL make mistakes. Highly successful leaders embrace stumbles and fumbles, and learn from them.

As Beryl Tomay points out, that’s especially true at Amazon. Their innovation culture is so highly effective because Amazon learns from each step, good or bad, and builds from it. Indeed, some of Amazon’s most successful products wouldn’t have seen the light of day if not for what was learned from products that didn’t make the cut!

Beryl started as an intern and rose through the ranks to be Amazon’s Vice President of Last Mile Delivery and Technology. Here’s what she and Maureen cover in this episode:

1. The tools in Amazon’s innovation culture that breed success – including mentors, resiliency, and perpetual learning;

2. The drive to (and importance of) planting seeds for the future; and

3. How a love for Radiohead facilitated Beryl’s career path that led to Amazon!

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– Delivering the Future: Amazon’s Innovation Culture with David Carbon, John Love, Dr. Vin Gupta, & Tye Brady

– Mastering Skills that Empower Innovation with Jeff DeGraff

– Humans in the Loop: AI’s New Business Models with Suchi Srinivasan

Season 9 Episode 50

Guest: Suchi Srinivasan

AI is disruptive. It’s already disrupting society, and is disrupting business faster than the internet did. It’ll disrupt you, too. But is that bad…or good?

The answer is up to you. Guest Suchi Srinivasan of Boston Consulting Group shares her comprehensive view of the effects of AI on business now – and in the near future. The bottom line? Artificial intelligence is a tool like any other: embrace it and adopt it wisely, and it can be a significant boon to your operations and for your staff. And it has the potential to finally solve food insecurity and other global issues that have plagued humanity for centuries.

Here’s what Suchi and Maureen cover:

1. The new business models – and ethical dilemmas – AI brings to your decision-making;
2. The role of technology in boosting your balance sheet…and in solving hunger and other global issues; and
3. The persistent gender imbalance in the tech workforce, and what women can do to overcome it.

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

• Leading with an Eye on AI with Neil Sahota
• The Rise of Humanness (The Role of People in an AI World) with Chis Nolan & Michael Schindler
• Unleashing the Power of Human-AI Collaboration with Neil Sahota