The Remarkable Leadership Podcast

What two words can make you smarter? In this episode of Remarkable TV, I share the surprisingly simple phrase that helps leaders think more clearly, make better decisions, and avoid the trap of automatic responses. These two words invite us into curiosity, reflection, and wiser choices—and they can change the way you lead starting today. When we say "It depends," we pause long enough to consider context, challenge our biases, and explore new solutions. And when we do that consistently, we become more flexible… and smarter. If you want to navigate uncertainty with clarity and confidence, this is a simple but powerful mindset shift. My name is Kevin Eikenberry and I'm here to help you reach your goal as a leader and a human being with Remarkable TV and the Remarkable Leadership Podcast. I am also the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. We provide speaking, training, consulting, and coaching services to organizations who believe in investing in their most valuable assets – their people. Whether we are leading a training workshop, speaking to a group, facilitating a planning meeting, consulting with a leadership team, helping with team building, writing or developing products, our vision will be clear in everything we do – We want to be Your Leadership Help Button. Learn more about our offerings: ➡️ FREE NEWSLETTERs: Sign up for any of our newsletters: https://kevineikenberry.com/newsletters ➡️ LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS: Sign up for any of our online workshops to help you become a better leader: https://kevineikenberry.com/store/?product_type=Workshops ➡️ SPEAKING: Learn more about our Speaking opportunities for your next event: https://kevineikenberry.com/how-we-can-help-speaking/ Connect with Kevin Eikenberry on Social Media: https://kevineikenberry.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry https://twitter.com/KevinEikenberry https://instagram.com/kevineikenberry https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage/ About Kevin Eikenberry: Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a world expert on leadership development, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, popular blogger, husband and dad, a fan of Purdue athletics and antique tractors (especially John Deere's). About The Remarkable Leadership Podcast: The Remarkable Leadership Podcast with Kevin Eikenberry is dedicated to all things leadership. Twice a week Kevin shares his thoughts about leadership development and ideas to help you lead more confidently and make a bigger difference for those you lead. He also has weekly conversations with leadership experts discussing a wide range of topics including teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, personal and organizational development, human potential and more.

What if motivation isn't something people are born with, but something that can be influenced, shaped, and sustained? In this episode, Kevin is joined by Matt Granados to challenge common leadership myths about motivation. Matt reveals a powerful formula for creating sustainable motivation through personal connection, structured systems, and self-awareness. He explores the critical distinction between love-based and fear-based leadership, explains how three simple weekly questions can transform team engagement, and helps leaders identify individual motivation catalysts, including freedom, acknowledgment, connectivity, and support. Matt's Story: Matt Granados is a two-time #1 international bestselling author. His latest book is Motivate the Unmotivated: A Proven System for Sustainable Motivation. He is the founder and CEO of Life Pulse Inc., where he helps organizations fix people problems by solving process problems, once and for all. His Life Pulse Methodology equips leaders and teams to achieve Optimal Performance—the highest sustainable output aligned with human potential. Matt first validated this approach by transforming a Craigslist-hired crew into a $40 million sales team. Since then, companies like Google, Twitter, and the U.S. Air Force have used his system to reduce burnout, increase retention, and engineer culture https://www.lifepulseinc.com/ www.lifepulseinc.com/trlp https://www.linkedin.com/company/life-pulse-inc/ https://www.facebook.com/LifePulseInc https://www.instagram.com/lifepulseinc/ https://www.lifepulseinc.com/podcast This Episode is brought to you by... Flexible Leadership is every leader's guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos. Book Recommendations Motivate the Unmotivated: A proven system for sustainable motivation by Matt Granados ESV Church Bible (Hardcover, Black): Holy Bible, English Standard Version The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes Like this? The Leader's Role in Motivation with Susan Fowler Intrinsic Motivation with Stefan Falk Podcast Better! Sign up with Libsyn and get up to 2 months free! Use promo code: RLP Leave a Review If you liked this conversation, we'd be thrilled if you'd let others know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Here's a quick guide for posting a review. Review on Apple: https://remarkablepodcast.com/itunes Join Our Community If you want to view our live podcast episodes, hear about new releases, or chat with others who enjoy this podcast join one of our communities below. Join the Facebook Group Join the LinkedIn Group

How do you coach someone who only seems to do the bare minimum… even when you know they're capable of so much more? In this episode of Remarkable TV and The Remarkable Leadership Podcast, I share seven practical steps to help you coach, support, and clarify expectations for team members who may be meeting the minimum — but could be achieving more. You'll learn: ✔ Why expectations are almost always misunderstood ✔ How to explore their perspective before offering your perspective ✔ Why "minimum" might not mean what you think ✔ How to help people see the potential you see in them ✔ When to coach, when to support, and when to let it go If you're a leader who wants to help your people grow — especially new or frontline leaders — this episode will give you a simple framework to start the right conversations. Learn more about our From Bud to Boss leadership development resources here: https://kevineikenberry.com/budtoboss My name is Kevin Eikenberry and I'm here to help you reach your goal as a leader and a human being with Remarkable TV and the Remarkable Leadership Podcast. I am also the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. We provide speaking, training, consulting, and coaching services to organizations who believe in investing in their most valuable assets – their people. Whether we are leading a training workshop, speaking to a group, facilitating a planning meeting, consulting with a leadership team, helping with team building, writing or developing products, our vision will be clear in everything we do – We want to be Your Leadership Help Button. Learn more about our offerings: ➡️ FREE NEWSLETTERs: Sign up for any of our newsletters: https://kevineikenberry.com/newsletters ➡️ LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS: Sign up for any of our online workshops to help you become a better leader: https://kevineikenberry.com/store/?product_type=Workshops ➡️ SPEAKING: Learn more about our Speaking opportunities for your next event: https://kevineikenberry.com/how-we-can-help-speaking/ Connect with Kevin Eikenberry on Social Media: https://kevineikenberry.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry https://twitter.com/KevinEikenberry https://instagram.com/kevineikenberry https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage/ About Kevin Eikenberry: Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a world expert on leadership development, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, popular blogger, husband and dad, a fan of Purdue athletics and antique tractors (especially John Deere's). About The Remarkable Leadership Podcast: The Remarkable Leadership Podcast with Kevin Eikenberry is dedicated to all things leadership. Twice a week Kevin shares his thoughts about leadership development and ideas to help you lead more confidently and make a bigger difference for those you lead. He also has weekly conversations with leadership experts discussing a wide range of topics including teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, personal and organizational development, human potential and more.

What if the key to more effective leadership lies not in a new strategy, but in understanding your own biology? In this episode, Kevin speaks with Dr. Scott Hutcheson about an unconventional approach to leadership: biohacking. Dr. Hutcheson shares his behavioral leadership model, built around three biodynamic channels: warmth, competence, and gravitas. He identifies specific, observable behaviors within each channel that send powerful signals to teams, signals that either inspire connection and confidence or lead to disengagement. They also discuss how everyday actions like being punctual, actively listening, and managing workload effectively are more than simple good habits. These behaviors function as leadership signals that directly shape how teams perceive their leaders and, ultimately, how they perform. Scott's Story: Dr Scott Hutcheson, PhD, is the is the coauthor of Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership and his new book, Biohacking Leadership: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior to Maximize Your Impact – the first in a three-book series on the biodynamics of leadership, teams, and organizations. He is a biosocial scientist and senior lecturer at Purdue University, where he studies leadership, teamwork, and organizational performance through the biology of behavior. After a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, he turned to biohacking—using data and feedback loops to optimize health—and soon recognized that the same principles could transform leadership. With over 30 years of experience, Scott has advised the White House, Fortune 400 companies, startups, nonprofits, and communities worldwide. He has worked with more than 4,000 leaders across 147 countries. His TED Talk on the "Science of Prospection" has been viewed over 1.3 million times, and his Forbes column reaches millions of readers, ranking in the top 0.1% of contributors. This Episode is brought to you by... Flexible Leadership is every leader's guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos. Book Recommendations Biohacking Leadership: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior to Maximize Your Impact by Scott Hutcheson Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid Like this? Lessons from a Fortune Top 50 Leader with Mitch Daniels Executive Presence with Joel Garfinkle The 8 Strengths that Redefine Confidence with Lisa Sun Leave a Review If you liked this conversation, we'd be thrilled if you'd let others know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Here's a quick guide for posting a review. Review on Apple: https://remarkablepodcast.com/itunes Join Our Community If you want to view our live podcast episodes, hear about new releases, or chat with others who enjoy this podcast join one of our communities below. Join the Facebook Group Join the LinkedIn Group

Do you want to be more productive—at work and at home? In this episode of Remarkable TV, I share the first and most important step to improving your productivity. It's simple, powerful, and often overlooked: deciding what to say no to. We talk about: ✔ Why your to-do list will never be empty ✔ The difference between priority and "priorities" ✔ How clarity creates focus ✔ Why self-confidence matters when saying no ✔ How saying no to the good lets you say yes to the great If you're overwhelmed, stretched too thin, or simply want to get better at choosing the work that matters most — this episode will help. 🔗 Want more practical tools? Explore our curated learning resources designed to help you and your team be more productive: 👉 KevinEikenberry.com/curated My name is Kevin Eikenberry and I'm here to help you reach your goal as a leader and a human being with Remarkable TV and the Remarkable Leadership Podcast. I am also the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. We provide speaking, training, consulting, and coaching services to organizations who believe in investing in their most valuable assets – their people. Whether we are leading a training workshop, speaking to a group, facilitating a planning meeting, consulting with a leadership team, helping with team building, writing or developing products, our vision will be clear in everything we do – We want to be Your Leadership Help Button. Learn more about our offerings: ➡️ FREE NEWSLETTERs: Sign up for any of our newsletters: https://kevineikenberry.com/newsletters ➡️ LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS: Sign up for any of our online workshops to help you become a better leader: https://kevineikenberry.com/store/?product_type=Workshops ➡️ SPEAKING: Learn more about our Speaking opportunities for your next event: https://kevineikenberry.com/how-we-can-help-speaking/ Connect with Kevin Eikenberry on Social Media: https://kevineikenberry.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry https://twitter.com/KevinEikenberry https://instagram.com/kevineikenberry https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage/ About Kevin Eikenberry: Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a world expert on leadership development, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, popular blogger, husband and dad, a fan of Purdue athletics and antique tractors (especially John Deere's). About The Remarkable Leadership Podcast: The Remarkable Leadership Podcast with Kevin Eikenberry is dedicated to all things leadership. Twice a week Kevin shares his thoughts about leadership development and ideas to help you lead more confidently and make a bigger difference for those you lead. He also has weekly conversations with leadership experts discussing a wide range of topics including teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, personal and organizational development, human potential and more.

What does it take to build a team that consistently performs at a high level? In this episode, Kevin sits down with Dr. Vanessa Druskat to explore what emotionally intelligent teams look like and how leaders can foster them. Vanessa introduces the concept of "team emotional intelligence" and explains why team culture, not just individual skills or personalities, is often the key differentiator between average and high-performing teams. She shares her practical three-part model, based on nine team norms, that top teams use to create environments of trust, psychological safety, and accountability. Vanessa also discusses why emotionally intelligent teams are fundamentally about how people interact, not just how they feel. She reveals what leaders should do in the first meeting of a new team to set the tone for long-term performance, and why nonverbal behaviors and small habits matter more than you think. Listen For 00:00 Introduction to emotional intelligence and teams 00:29 Welcome and how to join future live sessions 01:02 How to connect with the community 01:25 About the book Flexible Leadership 02:11 Introducing guest Vanessa Druskat 03:09 Vanessa's early experiences with teams 04:09 Workplace realities that shaped her research 05:08 Growing up across cultures and learning to adapt 06:17 Discovering team cultures in organizations 07:20 What sets high performing teams apart 08:07 Exploring the model of team emotional intelligence 09:11 Understanding local team culture 10:04 The role leaders play in shaping micro culture 11:05 How teams can build their own culture 11:56 Why belonging and social needs matter 12:18 Teams as emotional systems 13:14 How emotions influence interactions 14:08 Creating cultures where disagreement is productive 15:17 The three clusters of team emotional intelligence 16:02 Helping individuals succeed 17:13 How great teams interact and improve 18:02 Reaching outside the team for ideas and resources 18:10 Where leaders should start with new teams 19:05 Setting norms intentionally 20:07 Why posted norms fail 21:00 Ownership and mutual understanding 21:21 Ensuring everyone has a voice 22:12 Assessing current norms 23:22 Impact of unintentional nonverbal signals 24:54 How small behaviors change team dynamics 25:53 Example of a team transformation 27:31 Importance of nonverbal cues and inclusion 28:07 Reaching outside the team and avoiding blinders 30:10 Leading in hybrid and remote environments 31:05 Belonging and psychological distance 32:03 Increasing intentional connection 32:50 Using check ins to strengthen relationships 34:04 Applying this in one-on-one conversations 34:27 What Vanessa does for fun 35:33 What Vanessa is reading 37:43 Where to find Vanessa and her resources 38:54 Closing challenge: What action will you take 40:05 Wrap up and invitation to subscribe Vanessa's Story: Dr. Vanessa Druskat is the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest. She is an award-winning researcher and leading expert on team leadership, advising leaders in some of the world's top organizations. Her three decades of field research examining team cultures that inspire high-performing collaboration produced the Team Emotional Intelligence (Team EI) model. She and her colleagues have used the model globally to teach leaders how to build higher-performing teams. Vanessa is passionate about convincing leaders that under the right conditions, people are wired for collaborative teamwork. So, stop trying to fix people and start building emotionally intelligent team cultures that inspire teamwork. Also, an award-winning teacher, she serves on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire's Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. This Episode is brought to you by... Flexible Leadership is every leader's guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos. Book Recommendations The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest by Vanessa Urch Druskat Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems by Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis Like this? Understanding Collaboration with Carlos Valdes-Dapena Building Incredible Collaborative Relationships with Dr. Deb Mashek Podcast Better! Sign up with Libsyn and get up to 2 months free! Use promo code: RLP Leave a Review If you liked this conversation, we'd be thrilled if you'd let others know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Here's a quick guide for posting a review. Review on Apple: https://remarkablepodcast.com/itunes Join Our Community If you want to view our live podcast episodes, hear about new releases, or chat with others who enjoy this podcast join one of our communities below. Join the Facebook Group Join the LinkedIn Group

1-on-1 meetings are one of the most powerful tools leaders have—yet many leaders struggle to make them consistent, productive, or mutually valuable. In this episode, I'm sharing three practical steps to help you create better, more effective 1-on-1s with your team members. You'll learn: • Why having a consistent rhythm matters more than you think • How to transform your 1-on-1s from reporting sessions into working meetings • Why letting your team member go first changes the quality of the conversation • The key mindset shift that makes these meetings valuable for both people Whether you're a new leader or someone looking to tighten up your leadership habits, these three steps will help make your 1-on-1 meetings more meaningful, more productive, and more enjoyable. Learn more about our programs for new leaders (Bud to Boss): https://kevineikenberry.com/budtoboss My name is Kevin Eikenberry and I'm here to help you reach your goal as a leader and a human being with Remarkable TV and the Remarkable Leadership Podcast. I am also the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. We provide speaking, training, consulting, and coaching services to organizations who believe in investing in their most valuable assets – their people. Whether we are leading a training workshop, speaking to a group, facilitating a planning meeting, consulting with a leadership team, helping with team building, writing or developing products, our vision will be clear in everything we do – We want to be Your Leadership Help Button. Learn more about our offerings: ➡️ FREE NEWSLETTERs: Sign up for any of our newsletters: https://kevineikenberry.com/newsletters ➡️ LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS: Sign up for any of our online workshops to help you become a better leader: https://kevineikenberry.com/store/?product_type=Workshops ➡️ SPEAKING: Learn more about our Speaking opportunities for your next event: https://kevineikenberry.com/how-we-can-help-speaking/ Connect with Kevin Eikenberry on Social Media: https://kevineikenberry.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry https://twitter.com/KevinEikenberry https://instagram.com/kevineikenberry https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage/ About Kevin Eikenberry: Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a world expert on leadership development, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, popular blogger, husband and dad, a fan of Purdue athletics and antique tractors (especially John Deere's). About The Remarkable Leadership Podcast: The Remarkable Leadership Podcast with Kevin Eikenberry is dedicated to all things leadership. Twice a week Kevin shares his thoughts about leadership development and ideas to help you lead more confidently and make a bigger difference for those you lead. He also has weekly conversations with leadership experts discussing a wide range of topics including teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, personal and organizational development, human potential and more.

What if understanding group dynamics is the secret to building high-performing teams? In this episode, Kevin speaks with Dr. Colin Fisher about what makes successful teams work. They debunk the myth of the lone genius and explore why collaboration, not individual brilliance, drives real innovation. Dr. Fisher explains when team synergy happens and why so many teams underperform without realizing it. He also shares practical insights on optimal meeting sizes, how remote and hybrid work affects collaboration, and how to harness healthy competition without damaging team performance. Listen For 00:00 Introduction 02:04 Guest introduction – Dr. Colin Fisher 03:23 Colin's background and journey 06:14 The big idea of The Collective Edge 07:05 Groups vs. teams 09:27 Polarization and why it matters 10:17 The myth of the lone genius 13:19 The science of synergy 16:32 When synergy happens 19:30 What people get wrong about teams 23:24 How to launch effective teams 25:59 Healthy competition in teams 31:10 Leading remote and hybrid teams 37:29 Colin's life outside of work 38:52 What Colin is reading 40:02 How to connect with Colin 40:28 Kevin's closing thoughts and call to action Colin's Story: Since his days as a professional jazz trumpet player, Dr. Colin M. Fisher, author of The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups, has been fascinated by group dynamics. As Associate Professor of Organizations and Innovation at University College London's School of Management, Colin's research has uncovered the hidden processes of helping groups and teams in situations requiring creativity, improvisation, and complex decision-making. He has written about group dynamics for both popular science and management audiences, and his work has been profiled in prominent media outlets such as BBC, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, NPR, and The Times. Originally from Redmond, Washington, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and now lives in North London with his wife and two children. This Episode is brought to you by... Flexible Leadership is every leader's guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos. Book Recommendations The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups by Colin M. Fisher Beloved by Toni Morrison Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli Like this? Creating Dream Teams with Mike Zani Nurturing a Team That Flourishes with Dan Pontefract Harnessing the Power of Group Intelligence with Siobhan McHale Leave a Review If you liked this conversation, we'd be thrilled if you'd let others know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Here's a quick guide for posting a review. Review on Apple: https://remarkablepodcast.com/itunes Join Our Community If you want to view our live podcast episodes, hear about new releases, or chat with others who enjoy this podcast join one of our communities below. Join the Facebook Group Join the LinkedIn Group

How can you become more influential—in just five minutes? In this episode, Kevin Eikenberry shares five simple actions that can strengthen your influence as a leader, teammate, or friend. These are small, intentional steps that take only minutes but can create lasting impact. Leadership isn't about control—it's about connection. Influence grows when we focus on others first, and Kevin walks through how to do exactly that. In this episode, you'll learn: Why asking good questions is more powerful than giving good answers How small investments in relationships lead to greater trust The role perspective plays in genuine influence How to cast a vision that others want to be part of The importance of connecting your goals to theirs Learn more about our curated learning packages: https://kevineikenberry.com/curated My name is Kevin Eikenberry and I'm here to help you reach your goal as a leader and a human being with Remarkable TV and the Remarkable Leadership Podcast. I am also the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. We provide speaking, training, consulting, and coaching services to organizations who believe in investing in their most valuable assets – their people. Whether we are leading a training workshop, speaking to a group, facilitating a planning meeting, consulting with a leadership team, helping with team building, writing or developing products, our vision will be clear in everything we do – We want to be Your Leadership Help Button. Learn more about our offerings: ➡️ FREE NEWSLETTERs: Sign up for any of our newsletters: https://kevineikenberry.com/newsletters ➡️ BOOK: Check out my latest book, The Long-Distance Teammate: https://longdistanceteammate.com/ ➡️ LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS: Sign up for any of our online workshops to help you become a better leader: https://kevineikenberry.com/store/?product_type=Workshops ➡️ SPEAKING: Learn more about our Speaking opportunities for your next event: https://kevineikenberry.com/how-we-can-help-speaking/ Connect with Kevin Eikenberry on Social Media: https://kevineikenberry.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry https://twitter.com/KevinEikenberry https://instagram.com/kevineikenberry https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage/ About Kevin Eikenberry: Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a world expert on leadership development, best-selling author, sought-after speaker, popular blogger, husband and dad, a fan of Purdue athletics and antique tractors (especially John Deere's). About The Remarkable Leadership Podcast: The Remarkable Leadership Podcast with Kevin Eikenberry is dedicated to all things leadership. Twice a week Kevin shares his thoughts about leadership development and ideas to help you lead more confidently and make a bigger difference for those you lead. He also has weekly conversations with leadership experts discussing a wide range of topics including teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, personal and organizational development, human potential and more.

Have you ever felt like you're constantly putting out fires at work instead of making progress? Kevin welcomes Don Kieffer and Nelson Repenning to discuss why so many workplace processes feel frustrating and ineffective, and what leaders can do about it. Drawing on decades of experience in operations and organizational design, Don and Nelson reveal why quick-fix workarounds backfire, how firefighting becomes the default mode of operation, and the hidden costs of constantly reacting instead of leading. They introduce the concept of dynamic work design and explain why breaking down silos isn't just nice to have, it's essential. Along the way, they share practical tools leaders can use to move from chaos to sustainable success. Listen For 00:00 Introduction and the problem with roadblocks at work 03:33 How they met and started collaborating 06:07 The Harley-Davidson connection 08:32 The big idea behind the book 09:41 Why organizations assume the world is predictable 11:03 What dynamic work design means 12:21 The hidden cost of firefighting and workarounds 13:01 The firefighting trap explained 15:33 How firefighting becomes self-reinforcing 17:36 Why the dynamic appears in every organization 19:12 Leadership behaviors that unintentionally worsen it 21:12 Moving beyond blame to system thinking 21:56 The problem with silos in organizations 23:43 How work actually flows across silos 25:12 Visualizing knowledge work to expose inefficiency 26:04 Silos and identity in organizations 27:22 Why we must focus on system productivity 28:36 The matrix problem in modern organizations 29:12 Five elements of dynamic work design 29:48 Problem formation as an underrated leadership skill 30:24 Why framing the problem matters 31:23 Using conscious thinking to solve the right problems 32:36 Asking "what problem are we trying to solve" 33:20 What leaders can learn from this habit 33:48 Don and Nelson's hobbies outside of work 34:38 What they are reading now 35:35 Where to find their book and connect 37:19 Wrap up and invitation to subscribe Their Story: Nelson P. Repenning and Donald C. Kieffer are the authors of There's Got to Be a Better Way: How to Deliver Results and Get Rid of the Stuff That Gets in the Way of Real Work. Nelson is the School of Management Distinguished Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is currently the director of MIT's Leadership Center and was recently recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the world's top executive MBA instructors. His scholarly work has appeared in Management Science, Organization Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, the Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, and Research in Organizational Behavior. Donald C. Kieffer is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management at MIT Sloan. He is a career operations executive and co-creator of Dynamic Work Design. Kieffer started running equipment in factories at age 17. He was VP of operational excellence at Harley-Davidson, where he worked for 15 years. Since 2007, he has been advising leaders in a variety of industries around the globe. His guidance was instrumental in transforming both the production and technical development areas of the Broad Institute, a Cambridge-based genomic sequencing organization, now an industry leader. He is the founder of ShiftGear Work Design, LLC, and teaches Operations Management at AVT in Copenhagen. This Episode is brought to you by... Flexible Leadership is every leader's guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos. Book Recommendations There's Got to Be a Better Way: How to Deliver Results and Get Rid of the Stuff That Gets in the Way of Real Work by Nelson P. Repenning and Donald C. Kieffer The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health by Ellen J. Langer Murder Mysteries by Lousie Penny Like this? Competing in the New World of Work with Keith Ferrazzi How to Achieve Breakthrough Execution and Accelerate Growth with Patrick Thean Leave a Review If you liked this conversation, we'd be thrilled if you'd let others know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Here's a quick guide for posting a review. Review on Apple: https://remarkablepodcast.com/itunes Join Our Community If you want to view our live podcast episodes, hear about new releases, or chat with others who enjoy this podcast join one of our communities below. Join the Facebook Group Join the LinkedIn Group Podcast Better! Sign up with Libsyn and get up to 2 months free! Use promo code: RLP