Innovating Leadership:
Co-Creating Our Future

Hosted by Maureen Metcalf

Conversations with global thought leaders on leadership, culture, and innovation—designed for executives navigating complexity and building resilient organizations.

When Your Path Is Unclear – Embodied Leadership & Way-Showing

Episode Description

Recorded at the 2018 International Leadership Conference, this conversation examines how leaders can navigate uncertainty by drawing on Māori cultural traditions. Donna Ladkin and Chellie Spiller offer “way-showing” and embodied leadership as refreshing alternatives to conventional frameworks they consider tired, especially when the path forward is unclear. Spiller, of Māori descent, grounds the discussion in wayfinding and relational wellbeing, while Ladkin brings her work on leadership ethics, together making the case that ethics are what establish the trust followers need.

Key Takeaways

Way-showing and embodied leadership are well suited to moments when the path forward is unclear.
Māori cultural wisdom offers practical applications for modern organizational challenges.
Ethics serve as critical guides for establishing trust with followers.
Embodied approaches can provide hope and amplify a leader’s impact.
Drawing on cultural traditions can refresh leadership beyond tired conventional frameworks.

Why This Episode Matters

Executives come away with a fresh, culturally grounded approach to leading through uncertainty, one that pairs embodied presence and way-showing with the ethics that build trust.

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Featuring

Donna Marie Laskin & Chellie Spiller

Episode Topics

Culture Change • Ethics & Moral Decision Making • Leadership Capability & Maturity

Podcast Air Date

January 15, 2019

Episode Duration

41min

Watch the episode

Season 5

Episode Number 1

Episode Content:

What can the Maori traditions of New Zealand teach you about leadership?

Recorded at the 2018 International Leadership Conference in West Palm Beach, this episode explores embodied leadership and way-showing. With influences from Maori culture, guests Donna Laskin and Chellie Spiller reveal way-showing and embodied leadership as ideal practices for leaders to use when navigating uncharted territory where the path forward is unclear.

Ethics help guide you as a leader, too. They’re critical to build trust and inspire followership.

Together, ethics, way-showing, and embodied leadership provide hope that you have the ability to amplify your impact. They’re a great alternative to “tired” frameworks of leadership.

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

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

Adaptive Leadership & Culture Change with Ron Heifetz
International Leadership: One Size Doesn’t Fit All with Mansour Javidan
Be Human, Lead Human with Jennifer Nash

Resources:

Our host, Maureen Metcalf, posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.

Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI. Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.

Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include:

Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski
Own the AI Revolution by Neil Sahota
Time and Chance by Kim Campbell
Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith

Other episodes you’ll enjoy

The Leadership Strength You Have (But Aren’t Using) with Christopher and Sheila Cooke
In Your Power with Dr. Sharon Melnick
Building Trust in Uncertainty: A Personal & Professional Journey with Dr. Mary Jo Burchard

Guest(s):

Donna Marie Laskin & Chellie Spiller

Guest(s) Bio:

Donna Ladkin is internationally recognized for her critical and accessible scholarship in the field of Leadership and Ethics. Informed by a thorough study of continental philosophy, Donna has re-considered many of the basic assumptions of leadership and its development as exemplified in her prize-winning book Rethinking Leadership: A New Look at Old Leadership Questions (the second edition of which was published in 2020 by Edward Elgar). Her current research interests include re-imagining leadership theorizing through the lens of Critical Race Theory, exploring how business schools might go about decolonizing their pedagogical practices, as well as studying the practices of organizations and leaders aiming to achieve ecologically sustainable ways of working.

Professor Chellie Spiller, of Ngāti Kahungunu and Pākehā lineage, is based in Auckland and is a professor at the University of Waikato Management School. Chellie has extensive corporate experience in management, tourism and marketing, holding senior executive positions in New Zealand and abroad. She brings this experience to her academic work and leadership and management training and development programmes. Chellie’s research explores wayfinding, diversity and inclusion, governance, authentic leadership, wisdom and change at work and how businesses can create relational wellbeing and wealth. Chellie is an author, keynote speaker and facilitator. She works closely with a team of experts who bring an experiential dimension to the learning environment.

Transcript