The Leadership Enigma

Blaire Palmer is a global educator, keynote speaker, former journalist and producer at the BBC and now the author of multiple books including 'Punks in Suits'This episode explores our ability to fake it as opposed to bringing our true authentic self to the workplace through fear or lack of self confidence. Is our youthful rebel or inner punk an asset that we cease to rely on in order to comply? Blaire discovered coaching early on in her professional career as she became disillusioned with  journalism. She decided to help leaders myth bust and stop operating on old Victorian values whereby we view work and the people at work as part of a machine to deliver a mere product or service. The role of a leader is not to simply get people to do what you want them to do! Many of the challenges in the system come from Gen X based on the values and experiences they had growing up in the 70's and 80's. Now is the time to stop and reflect to consider the inefficiencies in the system in trying to create the best environment for humans to thrive. Blaire describes the concept of 'Punks in Suits' as capturing the spirit and irreverence of our youth when we questioned everything, embraced our individuality and authentically explored what was possible. The collective wisdom of what makes a good leader requires an element of 'faking it' in all of us. Blaire is keen to explore how leaders feel on their last day when they hand their laptop in and come face to face with who they could have been and the legacy they could have left having navigated and survived over three decades of corporate life. Blair's advice to any leader within the Gen X demographic is to consider your willingness and ability to trust others on a daily basis combined with an acceptance to be wrong or at least not right on everything! "Listen so hard so that you might change your mind.Blaire also suggests we change the focus on autonomy (the role of self)  to citizenship (the power of we and taking responsibility for your part in the world)www.thatpeoplething.comPunks in Suits in available from AmazonWatch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon Lancaster is one of the world's top speechwriters. He first became a speechwriter in the late 1990s working for Tony Blair’s Cabinet. He has since written speeches for the CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the world including Unilever, HSBC and InterContinental Hotels Group. A leader's ability to communicate is critical to success and first impressions last! Simon's journey started as a musician with a dream of becoming a songwriter yet by the age of 24 he became a Minister's Private Secretary. Not bad he tells me for a kid that grew up on a council estate with his single mum.  Simon was paired up with Alan Johnson MP who became an important mentor in his life as Alan went on to become Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007. Simon listened to Alan deliver multiple iconic speeches over the years mixing his personal story with the national story during the Thatcher years.  Simon explains that a good speechwriter has to find what's inside someone's soul. Most great speeches must not simply contain a list of your attributes and achievements as the audience is not that interested. Simon remembers advice from Peggy Noonan (speechwriter to Ronald Reagan) who said "reading is collecting wisdom and writing is spending it."Simon has a passion for helping the younger generation learn this skills and shares his advice of 'be proud to be yourself and be proud to show yourself to the world.'  Simon's 3 Top Tips for any leader include:1. The audience is more important than the speaker. It's not what you want to say but what the audience want to hear. 2. Emotions are more powerful than logic, this is based on biological fact. 3. Less is more www.bespokespeeches.comHe is the author of 'Connect' a book that helps a general audience that wants to be better at connecting and communicating with people. Available on Amazon. Simon would love to write a speech for Oprah, so if you are listening...........!Watch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louis Gump is a digital veteran. He was at the heart of the digital revolution in 2001 as part of the team at The Weather Channel and then moved to helping CNN develop their first ever mobile app based approach to expanding their audience across the world. Louis is now also the author of 'The Inside Innovator' which is an Amazon Bestseller. I ask Louis about the current issue of 'fake news' and the polarisation of society. He considers this to be one of the most important issues facing us today. He says that 'reliable and professionally produced news that is fact based is critical to our society.'Intrapreneurship is described by Louis as 'creating value through innovation and growth through a larger organisation.' He explains that it remains the close cousin of the entrepreneur.Some organisations fear that great intrapreneurs will want to become entrepreneurs and exit the business to start their own ventures. Those who embrace their intrapreneurs find that the benefits outweigh the perceived risks. Why would you want to encourage intrapreneurs? One primary reason is that they drive a large proportion of the future value of companies and it helps train the next generation of leaders within.   Another critical aspect of intrapreneurship is the acceptance of a degree of risk and failure and self understanding that the success will come from failure. Failure to keep reinventing can lead to examples such as Kodak and Blockbuster. Many CEO's fear their organisations becoming irrelevant in an era of constant change. Disruption comes as a function of being a steward of a companies brand. Leaders listening to this episode need to:  1. Create a budget for intrapreneurship2. Ensure the budget goes to the right people and ideas3. Consider what evaluation criteria you need to put in place that match the task. The key message is identify your most promising talent and give them assignments to innovate. It delivers results for the business and trains the leaders of tomorrow.  The key traits in identifying the right talent include: 1. Curiosity2. Action oriented3. Ability to build bridges 4. Risk tolerance 5. Grounded optimismwww.louisgump.comWatch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Margot Faraci is a leader, author, writer and podcaster. She happened to be working in the UK from Australia so we asked her to come into the studio....which she did. Margot is a former lawyer and banker who at the age of 14 reflected that her style, in her own words, of 'mean girl' was not appropriate as it was based on deep insecurity. Margot was a blend of her parents and her first job as a leader was to truly know herself.  Margot also knew that she was a natural leader and it was worth trying to harness the right skills and capabilities by letting go of what was safe and what was known. As we get older and wiser we also travel through different phases of our own development and at age 40 Margot realised that she was burnt out so she took some time out and then entered a period of irrelevancy which is a leaders biggest fear.It was at this reflection point that Margot realised that there was a balance between fear and love and if she was to return to the corporate world she needed to do it on her own terms with a focus on love not fear. Things happen in life so all of us have to find the lesson and the gift in any situation, so Margot decided to start researching these issues within organisations and discovered that the UK alone was losing £2bn a year in productivity as a result of over a third of leaders leading from unconscious fear. Besides the numbers it also meant that teams and individuals were burnt out and avoidance was used by many to simply play safe. Courageous leaders however were hard on the problem and soft on the person. Margot uses me as an example in the studio to demonstrate how a leader might deal with a toxic star performer through the lens of Love not Fear and leading a conversation with curiosity whilst being Brave, Clear & Fair.  As humans we are judging machines, which historically keeps us safe, however we miss the power of curiosity to provide us with more objective facts to find the win win solution. https://www.margotfaraci.com/https://www.margotfaraci.com/loveleadershipsurveyWatch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Advising on international expansion, Allyson Stewart-Allen highlights the importance of understanding cultural differences and building a brand for success. Nestle's marketing strategy of creating culturally appropriate KitKat bars in different countries is discussed, along with the success of unique flavors and packaging in Japan. The significance of understanding different cultures, listening, and leveraging local knowledge is emphasized for global leadership. Balancing internal and external perspectives and the importance of customer service are also explored.

Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the author of 10 books and over 150 scientific papers. He is the Chief Innovation Officer for Manpower Group and and international authority in people analysts, talent management, leadership development and the Human AI Interface. This is the first episode of the New Year and we tackle questions such as 'Why are so many incompetent men made leaders?' and 'Why we should be more sexist!' as Tomas is a data driven feminist. However, the primary focus of this episode is based on Tomas' latest book 'I-Human' and the need for us all to dial up our human centred leadership capabilities. Tomas was born and brought up in Buenos Aires and became fascinated in leadership from an early age after seeing and experiencing years of national leadership crises. His Phd allowed him to specialise in investigating the data behind numerous people analytic assumptions and biases. Tomas quickly began to uncover the realities of how important EQ was compared to IQ and how many misconceptions have hindered how we identify talent. From an evolutionary perspective humans have always over focused on confidence than competence on the basis that if we BS ourselves it is much easier to BS other people! Leaders must be self aware enough to balance their self confidence with the realities of their capabilities. Confidence and drive remain critically important but with moderation applied to also avoid pathological insecurity. Tomas has recently focused on the role and impact of AI on the talent market. AI get a lot of criticism for augmenting biases but AI has the capability to unlearn faster than humans and make organisations more data driven in their people operations. In an age when so much ion our thinking and creativity could be outsourced to machines, leaders must be alive to the necessity to humanise their organisations and the work that they do in the world. AI will continue to upgrade and evolve but will we? Tomas' research indicates that AI is increasing and developing some of our worst traits such as bias and narcissism. Many of us blame AI for simply uncovering the bias that we have created and embedded into the various systems that we operate with. Algorithms used in AI often track and solidify our focus on what we already like, believe or subscribe to, which in turn may be the basis for such a polarised world. Digital narcissism is the norm and at the heart of many becoming global influencers, however the same behaviour repeated in the office would probably involve HR! We are thinking less, optimising and outsourcing more and becoming less and less patient with having to wait even a few seconds for what we want. In this environment we have to double down on curiosity, empathy and our human centred 'power' skills. Historically we promoted people for their technical skills and with AI these have been become disrupted and out of date. The Human Being is now the most powerful asset we have in a Digital world. Leaders with strong human centred skills will rise and AI has commoditised, crowd sourced and synthesised our access to vast amounts of information that it is akin to a Microwave Meal in that it is not very nutritional, healthy or nourishing but it's easy, fast, lazy and even free option that gives us the quick fix. Our ability to 'slow cook' ideas with real wisdom and experience and unleash our deep curiosity regardless of our status, experience level or age. www.drtomas.comWatch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Errol Gardner is the Global Vice Chair (Consulting) for Ernst & Young. He is a member of the Executive Team and leads the consulting practice  globally of over 125,000 people.  EY has over 400,000 employees in 154 countries and in 2022 they received over 2 million job applications. Errol's job incudes defining the strategy for consulting and making sure they are clear on their market proposition for clients and ensuring his people are thriving. I ask Errol about the responsibility of being part of a broader global executive team leading over 400,000 as a leader of leaders and how he tries to cascade the human centred approach through all levels of the organisation. Errol's role requires him to travel for 60% of the year as he meets people within the organisation who help him sense-check and sense-make  what unites them and what is important at the local level. Errol understands that as he travels around the various EY global offices, he is a role model to many people that he does not personally know, however his leadership shadow is cast far and wide.  Errol recounts the George Floyd incident during the pandemic and the ripple impact it had on people who became much more vocal within their own organisations as regards injustice and for Errol it became a catalyst to become a voice for those who needed advocacy and so the Global Social Equity Task Force was born. EY has a fundamental role within many global businesses (financial integrity) but also sees itself as a Force for Good in the world's challenge areas such as sustainability, equity and social justice which Errol explains is brought to life though the very purpose of the business. 'EY Ripples' is just one example of such an internal initiative. Errol was born and bred in Leeds attending the local comprehensive and knew immediately the difficulties of being a black child in a predominantly white area, which in turn provided him the resilience and mechanisms to thrive. He started his professional career in 1990 leaving University to work in audit. He quickly took the opportunity to go to Jamaica (his parents are Jamaican, his father was on board one of the original Windrush ships) and after 5-6 months he was luckily offered a consultancy role and never looked back, this was in Errol's words his 'sliding door moment.'  Jamaica provided Errol the unique opportunity to grow his confidence working within a predominantly black environment and understand the dynamics of prejudice, inclusivity and the power of diversity of thought. He returned to the UK knowing that there were no excuses for him other than to show up and make a difference. Today Errol reflects on his incredible career and feels an obligation to help others to achieve their dreams. He loves working in a people business and providing opportunities for others to learn and thrive. Leading a global business requires a constant awareness of trends and critical geo political issues in an ever changing world and having a presence in 154 countries means that EY can remain a force for positive change. Errol is a human centred leader of leaders who uses his experiences and interactions as a constant reminder that people are at the heart of all success. All leaders create a lived experience for those around them, let 2024 be the year for creating the conditions for all to thrive and succeed. Enjoy this wonderful episode. Watch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

L Vaughan Spencer is a leadership and motivational guru with a unique mantra of 'Don't be Needy, Be Succeedy." L-Vo to his friends has the unenviable background of having attended the University of the Isle of White studying table tennis with intermediate French. He is wise, vocal and motivates people by shouting at them! We was delighted to help me understand that I am not a failure.......just a non achiever. The Sunday Time describes L-Vo as Borat meets The Office. What could possibly go wrong with this episode. Merry Xmas everyone! https://succeedy.com/https://neilmullarkey.com/Watch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Creswick is the CEO of Vorboss. After his studio episode on The Leadership Enigma Podcast, he decided to invite me to his 'Better Connection' event held at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool Street, London. In front of a live audience Tim became the interviewer as we chatted about the podcast, the learning and insight from almost 180 episodes and also about the origins of the show born from the pandemic lockdown. This episode also provides some powerful insights from Tim as to what is takes to be a human centred leader day in and day out. Watch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenifer Rosenberg OBE has enjoyed a life of incredible opportunity and hard fought success. She was the founder of the UK's largest privately owned clothing manufacturer after a career at Marks & Spencer during the roaring 60's. She voted Veuve Clicquot Woman of the Year and today is the Chair of the Board of The Heart Cells Foundation. This episode focuses on three key stages of Jenifer's life. By her own admission she was never an academic but excited to leave school and seek opportunity within the creative field. Marks & Spencer offered her a job in the post room which whilst not very exciting, it provided Jenifer the chance to prove herself even at the tender age of 16. Jenifer found the simple administrative task of collecting senior leader signatures on cheques as a way to increase her personal brand within the organisation. Once Jenifer found herself a role within the buying department of M&S when the swinging 60's started to take shape with the likes of The Beatles, Twiggy, Mary Quant and Vidal Sassoon as London proved to be the epicentre of it all.  Jenifer, when moved to the skirts department, she suggested the trial of the mini skirt and before she knew it her career exploded as the mini skirt became synonymous with the era. Jenifer always appreciated the interaction, communication and humility of the M&S senior leaders combined with their ability to embrace risk and opportunity.  Jenifer left M&S in 1973 following a series of personal life decisions which led to her start J & J in Newcastle when Ted Heath was Prime Minister and the three day week was imposed during to the strikes. J & J was to become the UK's largest privately owned women's clothing manufacturer . During Christmas 1975, Jenifer lost her second husband having already lost her father. This had a huge impact on Jenifer who was now responsible for the leadership and growth of J & J.  Jenifer met her third husband who ended up merging with J & J which in turn led to a business with 3,000 people and 12 factories across the UK. That business was sold in 1992. Jenifer was on the receiving end of many accolades and offers of appointments at this point and she realised that life was for living as opposed to sitting back on past successes. Today, Jenifer is passionate about the Heart Cells Foundation founded in 2004 with her third husband (Ian) who later died from heart failure, however his life had been extended for three years after stem cell therapy treatment originally located out of Germany. Heart failure is currently the number 1 killer in the UK and one person dies every three minutes.  The charity focuses on the ability to use a person’s own Stem Cells to repair their heart and it is revolutionising the practice of medicine. Their goal is to make this treatment readily available to everyone. Jenifer is responsible for raising millions of pounds for the Foundation and her passion for helping others is insatiable. www.heartcellsfoundation.comWatch & Subscribe: 👀 https://www.youtube.com/@theleadersenigma/videosListen & Subscribe: 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/5NSnRyHzPmyY5OWhGzKU5Pwww.leadersenigma.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.