Leadership NOW with Dan Pontefract
Dan Pontefract
Dan Pontefract is an award-winning author, leadership strategist, and culture change expert. Dan's podcast explores all aspects of leadership, organizational culture, purpose, and professional development.
Dan is the best-selling author of five books: WORK-LIFE BLOOM, LEAD. CARE. WIN., OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT, and FLAT ARMY. A renowned speaker, Dan has presented at four different TED events and also writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review. Dan is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business, and has garnered more than 20 industry awards over his career.
Previously, as Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS—a Canadian telecommunications company with revenues of $14 billion and 50,000 global employees—he launched the Transformation Office, the TELUS MBA, and the TELUS Leadership Philosophy, all award-winning initiatives that dramatically helped to increase the company’s employee engagement to record levels of nearly 90%. Prior to TELUS, he held senior roles at SAP, Business Objects, and BCIT. He is honoured to be on the Thinkers50 radar list.
Dan is the best-selling author of five books: WORK-LIFE BLOOM, LEAD. CARE. WIN., OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT, and FLAT ARMY. A renowned speaker, Dan has presented at four different TED events and also writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review. Dan is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business, and has garnered more than 20 industry awards over his career.
Previously, as Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS—a Canadian telecommunications company with revenues of $14 billion and 50,000 global employees—he launched the Transformation Office, the TELUS MBA, and the TELUS Leadership Philosophy, all award-winning initiatives that dramatically helped to increase the company’s employee engagement to record levels of nearly 90%. Prior to TELUS, he held senior roles at SAP, Business Objects, and BCIT. He is honoured to be on the Thinkers50 radar list.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 16, 2022 • 22min
Mondo Cozmo's New Album and His High Sense of Purpose
Mondo Cozmo is the performing name of Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Joshua Ostrander. His music boasts the bold, expansive sound of the likes of Arcade Fire, Bob Dylan, Beck, and various hip-hop artists.
But his sense of purpose might be what is most remarkable. It’s a lesson for us all.
Mondo Cozmo has just released a fantastic new third album—titled “This is for the Barbarians,” and we discuss not only the album but what drives him as a purpose-fuelled leader including social causes, relationships, and of course, love.
As Ostrander says in our conversation, “Just follow your heart and know that it’s going to lead you to the right place.”
Apr 10, 2022 • 26min
Daniel H. Pink and the Nonsense of Having "No Regrets"
“No regrets.” You’ve heard people proclaim it as a philosophy of life.
That’s nonsense, even dangerous, says Daniel H. Pink in his latest book, "The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward."
Pink sits down with the other "dp," (Dan Pontefract) and they get into a rollicking conversation on the topic of regret.
Pink discusses his research including American attitudes about regret as well as his own World Regret Survey—which has collected regrets from more than 16,000 people in 105 countries—where he identifies the four core regrets that most people have.
Pink discusses the four regrets arguing they operate as a “photographic negative” of the good life. By understanding what people regret the most, we can understand what they value the most. Tune in and learn more about regret. You can't live a life with "no regrets."
Apr 8, 2022 • 23min
Altria Vice-President of Communications Megan Witherspoon
Megan Witherspoon serves as Vice President, Communications for Altria. She leads communications and engagement strategies across multiple audiences on behalf of the Altria family of companies in this role.
In her 17 years at Altria, she has held roles across a range of functions: corporate responsibility and community relations; strategy and business development; investor relations; marketing; and, of course, as part of her current executive role, corporate communications.
Witherspoon's take on the current state of corporate culture is one to appreciate. In this conversation with Dan Pontefract, Witherspoon holds no punches with her take on culture, purpose, flexible work, and what leaders need to do differently in this day and age.
Apr 7, 2022 • 31min
McDonald's Managing Director Dan Camp
Have you ever thought was it was like to work in a single organization for 30+ years? Have you ever considered how cool it might be and what career development greatness might come of it?
Dan Camp has. Since 1988, Dan has worked at McDonald's in a number of roles including his latest, managing director of McDonald's for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
In this engaging and full-of-career-goodness discussion between Dan Pontefract and Dan Camp, learn about Camp's time at Hamburger University, how he got his start, and what he's learned from a leadership perspective working across multiple different roles in multiple different cities across one of the world's most iconic brands, McDonald's.
Mar 23, 2022 • 25min
Royal Mail Letter Carrier Phil Goddard
Have you ever considered changing careers altogether? Have you ever thought about making a 180-degree workplace turn? Have you ever shifted from being a longstanding sales account executive in telecom to becoming a Royal Mail Letter Carrier in England?
Phil Goddard has. Phil Goddard did. Phil Goddard now is.
Cambridge, UK-based Phil Goddard is one of those rare examples in life. He stared down a role he was unhappy with and decided to shift his thinking.
Check out this enlightening discussion between Dan Pontefract and Phil Goddard as the latter discusses his 25+ year career in telecom and why he shifted to becoming a Royal Mail letter carrier, sharing what he has learned along the way.
Mar 22, 2022 • 29min
Well-being Psychologist Lee Chambers and the State of our Organizations
Lee Chambers is an award-winning British psychologist, coach and entrepreneur. Featured widely across the media, from the Telegraph to Vogue and the Guardian, and trusted by companies such as Indeed, Reebok, TalkTalk and Oppo Mobile, Lee is the founder of Essentialise, a wellbeing and coaching company, with the ambition of positively impacting the health and happiness of 1 million individuals.
Lee and Dan discuss the current state of organizations, talent, the generations, and what work will look like in a post-pandemic world.
Mar 12, 2022 • 32min
The Issues of Leadership with Dr. Maja Korica
Dr. Maja Korica is Associate Professor of Management and Organisation at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Her research focuses on understanding complex and rarely seen organizational settings, particularly at the top of organizational hierarchies, and where public interest is involved. Maja is also on the Thinkers50 radar.
She specializes in corporate governance, accountability and responsibility, as well as executive management and leadership in practice.
Maja and Dan sit down to discuss issues centred on the definition of leadership, workaholism, hustle, ROWE, celebrity entrepreneurs, and a wide range of other management topics.
It's jammed packed with insights, truth bombs, and tips for change.
Mar 11, 2022 • 39min
Management Thinker Extraordinaire Henry Mintzberg
Henry Mintzberg is a writer and educator, mostly about managing originations, developing managers, and rebalancing societies but he is also an outdoorsman and collector of beaver sculptures.
He has authored 20 books, including Managers not MBAs, Simply Managing, and Rebalancing Society.
He has been elected to the Order of Canada and l’Ordre national du Quebec as well as to the Royal Society of Canada and has received twenty-one honorary degrees from universities around the world. He’s also a Hall of Fame member on the Thinkers50.
Henry sits down with Dan Pontefract to discuss an array of topics including Russia, Putin, Ukraine, Shareholder Primacy, communityship, the Business Roundtable, and measurement. The insights are overflowing.
Mar 8, 2022 • 38min
Mastering Community with Christine Porath
Christine Porath is a tenured professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She’s the author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace and her latest, Mastering Community: The Surprising Ways Coming Together Moves Us from Surviving to Thriving.
In this episode, Christine discusses "Mastering Community" and shares some insights of her research including stories about Marriott, Ubuntu, Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics, and more.
If you want to learn about the importance of care, culture, and self-awareness when it comes to communities, check out our conversation.
Feb 17, 2022 • 28min
Redesigning Work with Lynda Gratton
Professor Lynda Gratton is a global thought-leader on the future of work. Based on thirty years of research into the technological, demographic, cultural and societal trends that are shaping work, and building on what we learnt through our experiences of the global pandemic, Lynda joins Dan Pontefract to discuss her new book, "Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organization and Make Hybrid Work for Everyone."
In this episode, Lynda discusses her four-step process for hybrid work which includes:
Understand the challenges your business is facing
Reimagine creative, new approaches and processes
Model and Test these within your organization
Act and Create based on contemporary, data-led feedback
