#40 - The Magic of Curiosity, with Chris Clearfield

In this episode of Pearls On, Gloves Off, Mary O’Carroll sits down with Chris Clearfield, a true trailblazer in the world of leadership and management. As the CEO of Clearfield Group and the co-author of “Meltdown,” Chris brings a fresh take on how to lead through the chaos and complexity of today’s business landscape.

• Change Leadership, Not Management: Mary and Chris dig into why “change management” just doesn’t cut it. Chris suggests we need to shift our focus to “change leadership” - guiding people through the unknown, tackling fear head-on, building trust, and creating a space where ideas can flow freely.
• The Legal Industry’s Slow Dance with Change: The conversation takes a turn towards the legal sector’s sluggish pace when it comes to adapting to change. Mary sheds light on the crucial role of legal operations and why professionals need to step up and become strategic leaders.
• Beyond the Business Case: Chris challenges the conventional wisdom of relying solely on data to drive change. He emphasizes the importance of empathy, listening, and really engaging with people to understand their concerns and aspirations.
• A Blueprint for Change: The duo dives into Chris’s model for leading change, from recognizing the challenge to achieving and moving beyond the desired outcomes. They discuss how resistance is inevitable and why it’s smart to focus on those who are on the fence about change rather than the die-hard resistors.
• Cultivating Willingness: Mary and Chris explore the power of starting small, with willing groups, to spark change across an organization. They share inspiring stories of how small beginnings can lead to big transformations, creating a ripple effect of engagement and acceptance.

This episode is a gold mine for leaders, change-makers, and anyone looking to navigate the choppy waters of transformation with grace and impact.Connect with Us:

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If you liked this episode, we’d be grateful for your Review on Apple Podcasts!   linkedin.com Mary O'Carroll - Ironclad, Inc.  | LinkedIn Please reach out if I can be helpful at all. I love to provide (free!) advice on scaling… · Experience: Ironclad, Inc. · Location: San Francisco Bay Area · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Mary O'Carroll’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.   linkedin.com Ironclad | LinkedIn Ironclad | 26,262 followers on LinkedIn. Ironclad is the smart way to make and manage digital business contracts. Now powered by Ironclad AI. | Digitize your contracts with Ironclad, the world’s #1 Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform. Ironclad is the simple, secure way to create and collaborate on contracts, giving users an all-in-one, AI-powered experience.Every company runs on contracts, but managing these contracts slows companies down and costs them millions of dollars.   YouTube Ironclad CLM Software Ironclad is the digital contract platform loved by modern business teams.Contracts are business decisions trapped in administrative tasks. Ironclad is software that does all the administrative work better left for a computer, freeing teams -- legal, sales, procurement, finance, HR, etc -- to do substantive work and drive business strategy.We believe contracts should be business assets. Some document management vendors focus on contracts as risk assets: documents that, when poorly managed, expose companies to significant, surprising risks. While not knowing what’s in your contracts can certainly be dangerous, we prefer to focus on the valuable intelligence you can extract from them to drive… Show more   Apple Podcasts ‎Pearls On, Gloves Off - Legal Operations, Contracting, Change Management, and Career Growth on Apple Podcasts