

Meet The Leader
World Economic Forum / Linda Lacina
In these one-on-one conversations, host Linda Lacina interviews the world's top leaders, change-makers and experts on the solutions they're building to tackle the world's biggest challenges, the habits they can’t work without, and their lessons learned, all from the World Economic Forum
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 3, 2023 • 42min
More effectively manage change, fear, layoffs and more: One CEO's lessons learned
How can leaders best navigate layoffs -- and rebuild for the future? Melbourne-based software firm Culture Amp recently conducted research on this question -- and then unexpectedly faced cuts of its own. CEO Didier Elzinga shares insights from the research and his applied experience, including common myths, surprising findings, and strategies his firm used to recalibrate and reprioritize. He also shared the tough realities leaders must keep in mind during times of change as well as his thoughts on how leaders can better protect healthy cultures at any time. He also shares his lessons learned from his previous career in visual effects - and how story telling insights from those days help him manage change as a leader today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 27, 2023 • 27min
Reach your changemakers: Arctic Basecamp's Gail Whiteman and Rainn Wilson
Melting arctic ice will have knock-on effects around the globe, impacting farms, homes, livelihoods and more. But making people care about melting ice or the Arctic - things most people will never see firsthand - can be almost impossible. Unless you get creative, that is. Arctic Basecamp (a group of arctic experts and scientists), has found a range of creative ways build awareness, including: a special basecamp during Davos (where visitors can learn the latest research by day and some spend the night like polar researchers in below zero temperatures), attention-getting apps, and ice cream booths that drive home the fact our favorite foods are vulnerable to climate change. There's even a new metaverse experience developed with Accenture on Polar Tipping Points (as part of the World Economic Forum's larger Global Collaboration Village). Meet the Leader talked with founder Gail Whiteman and board member and actor Rainn Wilson about how they strategically "speak science to power," to grab the attention of changemakers from grassroots activists to heads of state. They also discuss how they target and connect with a 'moveable middle" a segment of the population open to change and willing to consider new ideas and approaches. Related article:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/10/climate-change-messaging-rainn-wilson-arctic-basecamp/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 19, 2023 • 15min
Rally others to your cause: Former trial lawyer, Baptist minister (and current United Way CEO) explains how
The first black female CEO of one of the largest privately-funded global non-profits discusses the experiences that helped her learn how to be a better advocate for others. These experiences range from a father who served in the NAACP tackling civil rights in 1960s South Carolina, to her own life journey serving as a trial lawyer, a Baptist minister and in the military during Operation Desert Storm. Angela Williams will explain what she’s learned about partnering and rallying others for a cause - and what every leader must know about engaging others and getting your point across. Related article: Great leaders ask these 4 questions: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/10/leadership-advocacy-mobilization-relies-on-understanding/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 12, 2023 • 39min
Master these skills to build fast-moving, future-ready teams: Siemens CEO Roland Busch
Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens, is at the forefront of digital transformation and sustainability. He discusses the urgent need for reskilling in a rapidly changing job market. Roland emphasizes empowering managers to make decisions closer to frontline teams to stay competitive and shares his journey of reshaping leadership through inclusivity. He draws from his physics background to simplify complex challenges and highlights Siemens' commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030. Tune in for insights on adaptive workforce strategies and the future of team dynamics!

Oct 5, 2023 • 45min
Turning points and lessons learned: Meet The Leader's top leadership moments so far
Trust time. Pick your moments. Find joy in doing. Know the future is not ordained. These are just some of the hard-won lessons learned that have guided the top minds in government, civil society, business on Meet the Leader. This 101st episode collects the program’s highlights, from Jane Goodall's run-in with a grumpy cabbie, to a moment that changed how Al Gore communicates, to a habit that Verizon’s CEO can’t work without. Dig in and take a tour though the one-of-a-kind insights, aha moments and turning points that shaped the world’s biggest changemakers. In this episode: Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute; Al Gore, Founder, Climate Reality Project; former US Vice President; Hans Vestberg, CEO, Verizon; Bas Van Abel, Founder, Fairphone; Punit Renjen, Global CEO Emeritus, Deloitte; Caroline Casey, Founder, The Valuable 500; Harmony Jade Wayner, International Arctic Research Center; Andrea Fuder, Chief Procurement Officer, Volvo Group; Yuxiang Zhou, Founder, Black Lake Technologies; John Amaechi, Founder, APS Intelligence. Related article: 5 leaders and the turning points that changed their leadership approach Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 21, 2023 • 18min
How climate philanthropy can speed solutions and progress
Helen Mountford is the president and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, a philanthropy platform that has granted more than a billion dollars to worthy projects and grantees in more than 50 countries since 2008. She’s a key partner in a World Economic Forum initiative that launched this year called GAEA - Giving to Amplify Earth Action - and she'll tell us why philanthropy can be a critical way to fund and experiment with new ideas that can be scaled further by the private sector and how it creates an ecosystem to make big change possible. About GAEA: https://initiatives.weforum.org/giving-to-amplify-earth-action/home About ClimateWorks Foundation: https://climateworks.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 12, 2023 • 19min
The surprising climate progress blindspot no team can overlook
Discover insights from a special survey on sustainability goals, including worries and blindspots. Learn about involving the General Counsel in sustainability plans. Explore how the speaker's background as a pianist influences problem solving. Find out about traits of excellence for public leaders and recommended books.

Aug 24, 2023 • 23min
How a space CEO and explorer approaches risk and navigates the unexpected
Dylan E. Taylor is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Space, a space infrastructure company and one of the firms helping with efforts to replace the aging International Space Station. He and his team are working hard to ensure there’s no ‘space station gap’, all while getting the infrastructure in place so as many people as possible could one day live and work in space. In this episode, he talks about why expanding access to space motivates him, how his own visit to space changed him, and his experience travelling to one of the deepest parts of the ocean. In this conversation, recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos, he also shares his approach to risk taking and how he prepares for big challenges - and how that strategy helps him make decisions quickly and navigate the unexpected. Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yvr4zxbt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 17, 2023 • 20min
This founder climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro after a big pivot - and learned a key lesson about patience and innovation
Trust time, make one thing better everyday and keep upgrading yourself. CEO Yuxiang Zhou shares the lessons he has learned in co-founding Black Lake Technologies and his journey to help digitise factories -- a too-often analog world where too many still depend on paper and pencil. It’s a trip through big ideas, big disappointments (including a failed startup), and the slow process of building back from the ground up. The World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer talked to Forum video producer Kateryna Gordiychuk at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in China this summer, sharing the potential he sees for manufacturing and for cloud computing to connect factories in new ways. He also shares how taking a job on a factory shop floor and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro helped him pivot and get the perspective he needed to focus on the right solutions and priorities. Episode Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/yuxiang-zhou-black-lake-technologies-startup World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers Program: https://initiatives.weforum.org/technology-pioneers/home Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 10, 2023 • 17min
How innovation can tackle the food crisis: A biotech leader explains
How can something as simple as a seed help the world begin to make progress across big challenges such as protecting water, tackling climate change and even strengthening food security and opportunity? Ponsi Trivisvavet, the CEO of seed design company Inari, shares the innovations that are helping to protect the earth while tackling stubborn problems like hunger. She also shares her leadership journey, the question she feels is key to strengthening any leader's resilience and the unique approaches to biotech innovation that help this company drive cutting-edge solutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.