Leading Transformational Change with Tobias Sturesson

The pandemic has greatly impacted how organizations gather. Not having been able to put all the focus on a few physical gatherings or corporate retreats, organizations have hopefully had an opportunity to think through what values and behaviors are actually promoted through their stories, rituals, and processes. INSEAD's Associate Professor, Mark Mortensen, has investigated the nature of conflict in distributed collaborations and its relationship to identity, context, and communication. In this engaging and helpful episode, your host Tobias and Mark discuss the benefits and challenges of hybrid and remote work, and how this impacts psychological safety in the workplace. Mark Mortensen is the owner/principal consultant of Global Works Consulting and is an Associate Professor and the chair of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. Mark's research explores collaboration in today’s global work context, focusing on alternative structures of organizing: collaborations and teams that are global and virtual, matrixed, overlapping, and dynamically allocated. Mark is a regular contributor to management education journals such as the Harvard Business Review, MIT-Sloan Management Review, and IESE Insight. He has been featured as an expert in media outlets including the Financial Times, Economist, Boston Globe, and Globe and Mail. Duration: 58:37

Building a healthy culture and fostering ethical decision-making requires an environment in which concerns are raised and dangerous blindness is avoided. However, creating such an environment seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of leadership. Best-selling author Kim Scott has thought long and hard about how organizations can facilitate the hard conversations that need to happen in order to build trust and transparency. In this engaging and insightful episode, your host Tobias and Kim discuss "radical candor" and how practically applying it helps all members of an organization to invite and give better feedback with compassionate honesty.  Kim Scott is the author of Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-ass Culture of Inclusivity, and Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity. She is the co-founder of the companies Just Work and Radical Candor. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google. She lives with her family in Silicon Valley. Duration: 1hr 04min

We often don't know what to do with regret. Organizations often have a culture that causes its employees to be solely future-focused, not dwelling on past failures. While there is certainly a need to move forward, the danger is that past regrets become taboo; people can feel like there is something wrong with them if they have regrets. However, best-selling author Daniel Pink believes that regret can become a positive driver resulting in powerful results. In this inspiring and encouraging episode, your host Tobias and Daniel discuss different types of regret, self-compassion, and how leaders and HR and Ethics professionals can deal with regret in a productive and restorative way.   Daniel H. Pink is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, published in February. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family.   Duration: 50:53

On 24 February 2022 Putin ordered the Russian army to attack Ukraine. At the time of this episode, there are more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine that have crossed the border to another European country. Amid this pain, fear, and uncertainty people are still taking leadership.  This episode is a conversation with one of those brave leaders: Serhii Bolchuk, the co-founder of Agape Ukraine. This moving interview tells their unfinished story of pivoting from serving people in their own facilities to now desperately trying to evacuate them. And yet, Serhiy still believes there is hope.    Serhii Bolchuk and his wife, Natalia, are the founders of Agape Ukraine - an NGO focused on serving people with disabilities. In Ukraine, people with disabilities often lack any governmental support and are typically left to the care of their mothers. Without the support of physiotherapists and disability-friendly facilities, their freedom is often limited, and they find themselves isolated from society. Agape Ukraine built the state-of-the-art Agape Rehabilitation Complex that offers physiotherapy, assisted living, and developmental activities. In addition, they arrange regular retreats for children and adults.  To learn more: https://www.agapeukraine.com/en/golovna-english/

Office politics. It's a phrase to which many have some kind of gut reaction. Probably a highly negative one. Niven Postma makes the case that it's essentially impossible to avoid office politics. In every organization, there is a need to socialize and build momentum for ideas in ways that are outside of the formal process and hierarchy; it happens all the time. In this insightful episode, your host Tobias and Niven discuss aspects of office politics, how to build healthy organizational cultures, and key learnings regarding the hybrid work environment.   Niven Postma is a strategy, leadership, and culture consultant partnering with clients in diverse industries around the world to (re)ignite the discretionary energy of people and teams, build an enabling culture, and develop meaningful strategies. Niven is the author of the best-selling book, "If you don't do politics, politics will do you - A guide to navigating office politics ethically and successfully" (published in 2020). Her articles and ideas can be found in various well respected media and podcasts. Niven is a Harvard Business Review contributor and a visiting lecturer at Henley Business School.  Duration: 46:54

Welcome to a new season of the Leading Transformational Change podcast!  A healthy culture is a culture in which ethics and values are central to the decision-making process.  While laws and regulations can offer us some guidance, Dr. Susan Liautaud makes the case that the ethics edge - the areas in which we can’t rely on rules but need our ethical compass and clear guiding principles - is growing. In this fascinating and helpful episode, your host, Tobias, and Susan discuss culture, ethics, decision-making, technology, and leadership.   Dr. Susan Liautaud is Founder and Managing Director of Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited, an ethics advisory firm supporting global organisations and leaders in business, government, and the non-profit sector. She is also founder of The Ethics Incubator, a non-profit platform for broadening debate about ethics issues. She teaches at Stanford University; is Vice Chair of the Court of Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); Chair of the LSE’s ethics policy committee and its Remuneration committee; and is an Advisory Board Member of LSE’s Marshall Institute. Susan currently serves on several non-profit boards and is the author of The Power of Ethics.  Duration: 55:20

As season four of the Leading Transformational Change podcast draws to a close, your host, Tobias Sturesson, takes this opportunity to encourage you and your organization to continue pursuing a healthy culture. Together, we can make organizations that live their purpose, succeed in their mission, and have a positive impact on all stakeholders, the norm and not the exception. Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous 2022. Duration: 08:40

What makes people prejudiced and what makes them fight in conflicts? While the "Us vs Them" mentality is a common organizational culture challenge experienced by HR professionals and leaders, there is in-depth research that reveals something more pervasive that needs greater attention: collective narcissism. Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, a distinguished professor who heads up PrejudiceLab, defines this as “a belief that the exaggerated greatness of one’s group is not sufficiently recognized by others”, which leads to resentment, hindering respectful and productive conversations between groups. In this fascinating episode, Agnieszka explains how collective narcissism fuels the conflict we see in the world today - even within our own organizations. Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala is a Reader at Goldsmiths, Univeristy of London and a Professor at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Poznan, Poland. She has contributed to several diverse research areas, including psychological predictors of political conservatism, the role of motivated cognition in intergroup conflict, social identity, narcissism and collective narcissisms. The breadth of her work is not only seen in scientific contributions, but also in her engagement to use psychological science to address social problems such as social inequalities and prejudice. She is a recipient of several prestigious scholarships including Fulbright Scholarship and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Scholarship. Agnieszka frequently works as an independent expert evaluating proposals submitted to Research Executive Agency (REA) at the European Commission. Duration: 30:53

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) concluded in mid-November. It can be difficult to discern between quantifiable achievements and empty promises. Parul Sharma, a distinguished human rights lawyer, contends that many companies spend more resources on communication around their sustainability initiatives than on the initiatives themselves. In this comprehensive and informative episode, Parul discusses what we can learn from COP26, the interconnectedness of issues such as human rights, climate justice, and corruption, and how to avoid greenwashing. Parul Sharma has many years of experience in the areas of sustainability, human rights, and anti-corruption in high-risk markets. Parul is the President of Amnesty Sweden, and the CEO of The Academy for Human Rights in Business. She has been the Vice President of Global Responsibility at Stora Enso, the Head of CSR Compliance at a leading law firm, the Chair of the Swedish Government’s Agenda 2030 delegation, and the executive director of Greenpeace Sweden. The author of three books on Agenda 30, Parul is one of the most influential sustainability experts in Sweden, and is regularly interviewed by media and news channels. Duration: 57:58

Professor Mats Alvesson discusses the concept of 'functional stupidity' in organizations, highlighting the dangers of mindlessly following values. He delves into the impact on decision-making, organizational culture, and the discrepancy between stated values and actual practices. Alvesson advocates for critical thinking, independent analysis, and qualitative approaches to address complex issues within organizations.