As a leader, one of the things expected of you is to be able to make that critical decision of whether to continue to pursue an initiative, or whether to cut your losses and move on to something else. While this skill is key to your ability to succeed at leadership, many leaders nonetheless struggle with making this evaluation about themselves in their current role. Of whether they should continue in their current role, or whether it’s time to pursue other opportunities that would allow them to achieve and be that leader they want to be. It’s a challenge that I explore in this latest edition of “Leadership Espresso Shot” on my leadership podcast.More specifically, I share 4 questions that any leader at any stage of their career can use to evaluate whether they’re still able to accomplish what they set out to achieve when taking on this leadership role, what’s holding them back from meeting their goals, and whether these factors are a good indication that it might be best to move on to a new role and allow someone else the chance to see if they can move things forward.Even if you’re not contemplating whether you’ve done all you can do in your current role, these four questions can still help give you some perspective on how things are going and what things you should look out for going ahead to ensure you are in fact able to be the kind of leader your employees need to succeed.So I hope you’ll check this episode out, and maybe even bookmark it for a future listen when that time inevitably comes when you’ll be look outwards from your role for new opportunities to continue to learn and grow.https://open.spotify.com/episode/4RMDeHasROQDzev6zUvbOe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we move to a hybrid work environment, the organizational culture we foster both internally and remotely becomes critical to what we’re able to achieve. So how can we ensure we’re creating an environment - both virtually and in-person - that inspires employees to share their ideas and insights on how we can improve what we collectively do? That’s what I’ll be discussing with my guests, Karin Hurt and David Dye, on this episode of my podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”.Karin and David are the CEO and President of Let’s Grow Leaders, a leadership training and consulting company. In addition, Karin hosts the popular LinkedIn show, Asking for a Friend, which I’ve actually had the pleasure to be a guest on. As for David, he’s no stranger to the podcast world as he hosts his own podcast, “Leadership Without Losing Your Soul”.On top of that, Karin and David have written two books together, including their latest “Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates”, which serves as the focus of our conversation.Over the course of this episode, Karin, David, and I discuss:What makes for a courageous culture and why it’s critical to your organization’s ability to innovate and adapt.Why it’s harder for employees to speak up about making smaller changes than promoting large scale change within the organization.What their research has shown as being the big reason why a majority of employees don’t want to share their ideas with their bosses.The ways leaders respond to their employees which actually leads them to shut down instead of bringing their best efforts to work.https://open.spotify.com/episode/2upIRzIgbrl0DhGkBBGbAYNoteworthy links:Buy Karin and David’s book “Courageous Culture” on Amazon*Learn more about Karin and David’s work - letsgrowleaders.com.*Sponsored link used to support podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the previous edition of my podcast series “Leadership Espresso Shot”, I mentioned how to better appreciate the journey towards achieving success, we must learn to value failure as that necessary teacher that helps us reach our goals. Of course, if we’re going to delve deeper into understanding failure, I thought it would be a good idea in this installment to explore what success really looks like.On the surface, we all have a general idea of what it means to succeed. And yet, if you were to google “what is success”, what you’d end up with is almost 3 billion search results. What this reveals is that while we might all have an idea of what success looks like, that idea can vary greatly from person to person, from team to team, and from one one organization to another.As such, in this edition of my “Leadership Espresso Shot” series, I share 3 questions you should ask yourself and your team to help clarify and articulate what success would look like for your team. And if you’ve attended one of my leadership keynotes or workshops, you know these kinds of questions I share are not necessarily easy to answer right away, but require some thought and reflection.So I hope you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to give this episode a listen so you can ensure the path you’re currently on will lead you to that kind of success we all aspire to attain.https://open.spotify.com/episode/1JhGo5VFfB535TWv4ksw7c Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When I started my leadership podcast almost 10 years ago, I had a very simple goal - I wanted to create a platform where I could get the chance to talk with some very smart and really cool people. That’s why the first guest I had on the “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast was Guy Kawasaki. But I have to admit all these years later, I never thought that the journey I started with this podcast would open the door for me to have a one-on-one conversation with Tom Peters. Without question, Tom is one of the world’s most pre-eminent leadership thinkers, if not also a leadership rebel in his decades-long pursuit to educate and persuade leaders everywhere that at its heart, leadership is all about people under your care and doing right by them. This is a must-listen episode if you want to better understand not only what it takes to lead right now, but in response to the inevitable changes that will completely transform the way we work going forward. And as an extra bonus, you’ll even hear Tom talk about something he hasn’t spoken of before my conversation with him for this podcast (I bet that’s piqued your curiosity!) And to give you a taste of what you’ll find in this episode, here’s some of my favourite Tom Peters gems he shared over the course of our conversation: “You don’t know more than two percent of the person you’re talking about to. And besides they are different on Tuesday than they were on Monday. And it’ll be different again on Wednesday.”“The goal during the pandemic is family and community first, productivity third. And of course, which is true of all the things we’re talking about, if that’s the way I treat you, I’m going to have more productivity coming from you than I would under any other circumstances.”“There are no tombstones with net worth on them. That is not the measure.”“Be kind. Be caring. Be patient. Be forgiving. Be positive. Be present. Walk in the other person’s shoes.”“They are a million strokes of luck along the way, and you do your best and try to be helpful.” When Tom’s assistant reached out to me saying that Tom was interested in appearing on my podcast, I couldn’t believe it. As you listen to this episode, you will no doubt clearly hear the excitement and joy I had of being able to talk about leadership with Tom. So I hope you’ll take the time to check out this episode and please do share me with me your favourite insights you learned from my conversation with Tom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During a recent conversation with a group of executives about the growing importance of empathy and leadership, a few leaders brought up the issue of addressing failure and the importance of not only “failing fast”, but making sure efforts are made to understand what can be learned from this setback. As we didn’t delve much further into this subject, it got me thinking that this would be a great topic to bring up in my Leadership Espresso Shot series.Many leaders and organizations openly speak of embracing the idea of “failing fast”, of accepting failure as part of the journey and using that understanding to help get past it and keep going.Unfortunately, as many of us know first hand, not all failures are created equal. So while some failures are easy for us to get over, others can have a palpable impact, not just in terms of our organization’s progress and momentum, but also on our emotional state.That’s why in this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I share a series of three questions that will help you learn to value failure, questions you should ask yourself not just when those moments of failure occur, but especially in those moments when things are going right.That way you’ll be adequately prepared to respond and deal with that inevitable failure we’ll all experience on that journey to achieving our goals.https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qMOwlv4glYb9bLxqjGz79 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the many years I’ve been doing this leadership podcast, one of the common themes that comes up in any given episode is the fact that leadership is not about you; it’s about the people you lead. That’s why I’m delighted to speak with my friend (and fellow Canadian) Dan Pontefract about why the most successful leaders are those who care on this episode of "Leadership Biz Cafe".Dan is the founder and CEO of The Pontefract Group, a firm that improves the state of leadership and organizational culture. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria Gustavson School of Business. Prior to this, Dan was the Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS—a Canadian telecommunications company. Dan is and the best selling author of four books, including this latest "LEAD. CARE. WIN." which is what Dan and I discuss in this episode.Over the course of our discussion, some of the topics Dan and I talk about include:Why leaders need to be relatable and how the way we view our mistakes is directly connected to it.How so many leaders are poor at managing their time and the critical activity they need to schedule in their work flow.How leaders can be more present in order to better connect with their employees.Why leaders need to make a commitment to balance if they are to both attract and retain the best talent to their teams and organization.https://open.spotify.com/episode/3b4FQb96z48dsnCzUiwTV0Noteworthy links:Buy Dan Pontefract’s book “Lead. Care. Win.” on Amazon*Learn more about Dan’s work - danpontefract.com*Sponsored link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

These days there’s a lot of discussion around what work will look like in a post-pandemic world. Most of that conversation tends to focus on whether employees will return to the office, continue to work remotely, or opt for a hybrid mix of the two. But in this latest installment of my Leadership Espresso Shot series on my leadership podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”, I make the case that what this past year has revealed is not just the necessity of flexibility in how we approach work, but the critical need to connect what we do to what matters to your employees.As I mention in this episode, I was inspired to talk about this topic after serving as the moderator for a virtual roundtable discussion with VPs and senior executives from the FinTech, multimedia, construction, and retail sectors on how they’ve navigated the past year and where their focus will be this year and beyond.Among the many things these senior leaders agreed on was that the days of everyone working in the office during regular office hours are now over and going forward they need to get comfortable leading a workforce that works both in the office and remotely. And key to that new leadership reality was being more attuned to the needs of their employees and making sure they’re truly present to help them adjust to this new reality to how their organization will operate.And so, in this 23rd edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I make the case for why purpose more than where and when employees work is what will be the critical factor to whether your organization succeeds this year and in the years to come.https://open.spotify.com/episode/54IrILT5EFTUmUbeQBSx5h Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the past few years, there’s been a growing discussion around artificial intelligence (A.I.) and the potential risks that come with it. Just reading comments from Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and other high profile technology leaders about the potential dangers of AI would certainly seem to be reason to give pause on the continued development of this new technology. And yet, early developments in this realm would seem to demonstrate some genuine game-changers that can actually improve both the way we work and live our lives. So given both the public unease and the positive gains from these early advancements, how should leaders be viewing this technological field and what might its impact be on the way they lead? That’s part of the focus of my conversation with A.I. expert Neil Sahota in this episode of my podcast "Leadership Biz Cafe". Neil serves as the United Nations Artificial Intelligence subject matter expert. He's an IBM Master Inventor, and the Chief Innovation Officer at the Irvine School of Law at the University of California. Neil is also the author of the book “Own The AI Revolution, Unlock Your Artificial Intelligence Strategy To Disrupt Your Competition”. Although a big sci-fi fan, I’m not too familiar with A.I., so I really appreciated this conversation with Neil over which we touched on the following topics: What’s behind our ambivalence and fear about A.I. and the role it might play in our workplaces and society at large.How do you program computers to learn so we can ensure we’re getting the outcomes we need, as opposed to some of the high-profile PR disasters we’ve seen with some A.I. initiatives.How A.I. can disrupt the way we work for the better and how can leaders prepare for this transformation.The early steps leaders can take to bring A.I. into their workplace to benefit both their employees and their organization. Whether A.I. is on your radar or not, what we learned in 2020 is that disruption is going to come whether you’re ready for it or not. And after talking with Neil, it’s become clear that A.I. will indeed be that next big wave of disruption that will soon hit your organization’s shores. Noteworthy links: Buy Neil’s book “Own The A.I. Revolution” on AmazonLearn more about Neil’s work in the A.I. field - neilsahota.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The success in any change initiative is tied to how well employees are able to learn and adapt. But how can leaders encourage a learning mindset out of these pursuits? In this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I share three simple measures leaders can employ to promote a continuous learning mindset within their workforce.As I mentioned in this episode of my leadership podcast, the idea behind this episode was inspired by conversations I had with attendees after some of the virtual leadership keynotes I’ve given over the past few months to audiences across Europe and North America. Although these leaders had managed to help their employees adapt and pivot to various external challenges of the past 12 months, the concern was how to not only sustain this agile mindset, but build on their hard-won successes.In one of my talks I do share insights on how leaders can promote a continuous learning environment in their organization. And so, I wanted to explore one of the ideas I share in this keynote, specifically 3 simple measures any leader can take that will help to encourage a continuous learning mindset within their team and organization.As a reminder, these Leadership Espresso Shot episodes are designed to be these short, ‘bite-sized’ episodes which offer an insightful dose of leadership insight or inspiration to improve the way you lead.We’re now heading into our third year of producing these episodes and it’s been gratifying to see how in the last two years, some of these episodes not only end up making it into the top most listened episodes of my podcast in 2019 and 2020, but how it’s also been a favourite for many people who’ve attended some of my leadership keynotes over the past 12 months.So I hope you’ll check this out and as I point out at the end of the episode, if you’d like to contact me about speaking about this topic, fill out the contact form on my website and let’s talk.https://open.spotify.com/episode/72yyR8AILBcCmRKpFqqpb4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s no question that our mindset plays a critical role in how we relate to our world and those around us. But how can leaders make sure their mindset is helps bring out the best in others and not impede organizational growth and success? That’s the topic I’ll be exploring with my guest, Dr. Ryan Gottfredson, in this episode of the “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast.Ryan is a mental success coach, leadership development consultant and researcher. Ryan is also a leadership professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton. He’s also the author of “Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership”*.Over the course of this episode, Ryan and I cover a number of areas around mindset and leadership, including:How a simple shift in our mindset can lead to positive, tangible change.The four specific mindsets you need to develop to improve your ability to lead and succeed.How leaders can develop and strengthen a growth mindset that’s so critical to fostering innovation and agility.What causes some leaders to inadvertently develop a closed mindset and what they can do to become more open-minded in the way they lead.Now if you enjoyed this or any other episode of my leadership podcast, I’d appreciate it if you could rate and review it on your favourite platform to listen to podcasts. And if you’d like to share this or other episodes of my podcast with your colleagues or employees, just share a link to our podcast page where they can listen to episodes, find links to subscribe to our show on some of the top podcast platforms, as well as show notes like this one for past episodes.https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lEF5M86IvW5EwJLypVjm6Noteworthy links:Buy Ryan’s book “Success Mindsets” on Amazon*.Take Ryan’s personal mindset assessment here.*Affiliate link that’s used to support this podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.