Curious Leadership with Dominic Monkhouse

Think your organisation is too small to outsource processes? Think again, says CEO and founder of Smartsourcing, Mike Selfe. If you feel like your team’s time could be better spent elsewhere then don’t miss Mike explaining how Smartsourcing supports small businesses. Founded in 2015, Smartsourcing, a purpose led, business process outsourcing (BPO) organisation based out of Cebu, Philippines, has been growing 100% year on year, with 350 staff now on their books. In this insightful episode, Mike discusses how they handle the challenge that significant growth brings, how they tackle recruitment challenges, and what it takes and what it looks like to be awarded Great Place to Work certification.Finally, he reveals how Smartsourcing has managed business continuity following a natural disaster - just 24 hours after Cebu was devastated by the Typhoon Odette, MIke and a skeleton team were back ‘at work’ the next day.  So, if you’re looking for a way to maximise your team’s productivity and efficiency, listen today to find out more about how business process outsourcing (BPO) could help your small businesses. On today’s podcast:Changing lives for good through BPOHandling the recruitment challengeWeathering the stormThe importance of business continuityNo business is too small to outsource Links:LinkedIn – Mike SelfeWebsite – smartsourcing.coCharity - Habitat for Humanity

If you’re in the legal, accounting or professional services sector and you’re looking to harness the intelligence and creativity of your partners and employees through performance management, don’t miss Ray D’Cruz, CEO of Performance Leader, a consulting and software for professional services firms, on The Melting Pot. In this episode, Ray shares why firms should consider moving away from the annual performance review for partners and employees, to a more 360 review, incorporating client feedback and behavioural and project based feedback.He discusses why prioritising leadership is vital in remote or hybrid organisations, why purpose is more important than ever before, and how nudge tools can benefit everyone. So, if you’re wondering how to leverage performance and feedback software in your professional services firm, download and listen today.On today’s podcast:The problem with a traditional performance review The benefit of continual performance managementUsing nudge tech for hybrid working The growing interest in purposeLinks:Pre-order book -  Ray D’cruz - The Partner Remuneration HandbookPerformance Leaders podcastTwitter – @PerformanceLDRLinkedIn – Ray D'CruzWebsite – Performance Leader

Do your employees love your business? asks James L Heskett, UPS Foundation Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School and author of Win from Within. Because if your employees don’t love your company, your customers won’t love it either. In Win from Within, James argues about the importance of building organisational culture for competitive advantage. Having spent 30 years on this journey, his latest book is about busting myths and shattering beliefs around what it takes to build an organisation's culture. Why is your company culture so important? Because, argues James, if you need to attract customers, then you need to have great employees. And to attract great employees, you need to have a great environment that encourages them to come join you and to stay the course. In fact, the most amazingly successful businesses, says James, are those who have at their heart the trifecta of employee engagement, customer engagement, and sales, growth and profit levels for the investor. Does yours? To find out more, download and listen to this episode today. On today’s podcast:The obsession with cultureWin from WithinThe four steps to hire great employeesIt doesn’t take long to change cultureThe problem with the hybrid work modelLinks:Article - Does Remote Work Mix with Organisational Culture?Book - Win from Within: Build Organisational Culture for Competitive AdvantageWebsite – James L. Heskett 

If you’ve found that the way your organisation does things isn’t working for you any more, rather than flogging a dead horse, why not try a new way of thinking?In this episode of The Melting Pot, Roger L Martin, author, advisor, speaker, and one of the world’s top business thinkers, shares how he turned Canadian Tennis around, as well how he took the Rotman School of Management and transformed it into Canada’s #1 business school, on a limited budget. Now when company leaders come to him for help, his response is to first break the spell of their current way of thinking. But how can you transform your way of thinking? Download and listen to this insightful episode to find out more. On today’s podcast:Business writing in the academic worldElevating the Canadian Tennis FederationA New Way to ThinkWhy strategy and execution are the same thingWhy he doesn’t believe in OKRs Links:Book: A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management EffectivenessTwitter: @RogerLMartinLinkedIn: Roger L MartinWebsite: Roger Martin

Having travelled to every country in the world, Scott Keller, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York Times best selling author of Beyond performance 2.0 and CEO Excellence, was looking for a new challenge. And he found it during lockdown. Along with his fellow authors, he sought to uncover what makes the best CEOs of this century the best. They combined extensive quantitative analysis with in-depth interviews with today’s top CEOs to understand what sets exceptional leaders apart.And they found the best CEOs have to master six core things to become great. Because, and Scott uses the analogy of Ashton Eaton, the greatest decathlete of all time here - no decathlete is the best 100 metre runner in the world or the best Javelin thrower, they have to not suck at anything, while being amazing at everything.In this episode of The Melting Pot, Scott shares the methodology they used to narrow down their list of CEOs from 7,800 to the 67 they interviewed, before discussing the six things they found were the core of every great CEO. On today’s podcast:Why we need to own our goalsHow hard it is being CEOGreat CEOs have humilityThe decathlete analogyThe six core elements of the CEO roleThe link between mindset and CEO excellenceLinks:Book - CEO ExcellenceTwitter – @Linked_nameLinkedIn – Scott KellerWebsite – McKinsey & Company

Discover the five key leadership elements - Purpose, Process, People, Presence, and Peace with Amy Jen Su. Unleash your potential, define your purpose, and navigate personal and professional growth. Explore the challenges CEOs face as companies scale and the importance of evolving leadership styles. Embrace self-awareness, compassion, and continuous learning for personal development and decision-making.

To stay ahead of the curve, organisations need to innovate. But how do you structure innovation if you run a large corporation? Where do you put the money? Who’s in charge? How do you get sales to not be a blocker? These are the questions (among many) answered by Jim A Euchner in this week’s episode of The Melting Pot. Jim is an expert in how to innovate inside large corporations having been Vice President of Global Innovation at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, where he led the development of new businesses and helped launch five businesses on three continents.So if you’re wondering how your organisation can adopt a Lean Startup approach to innovation, don’t miss this hugely insightful episode with Jim. On today’s podcast:Overcoming resistance to innovationHow Goodyear innovatesThe need for multiple routes to marketTwo critical things people fail to doThe benefits of incubationLinks:Book - Lean Startup In Large Organisations: Overcoming Resistance To InnovationTwitter – @jaeuchnerLinkedIn – James EuchnerWebsite – Lean Startup in Organizations

If you’re thinking of selling your business, or you’re wanting to create value to make your business more attractive to potential acquirers, then don’t miss Robert Belgrave, CEO EMEA for Pax8 and co-founder of Ecologi, on this week’s The Melting Pot. Having founded Wirehive in 2012, with a vision to create the sort of business they themselves wanted to be a part of, Wirehive was subsequently acquired by Pax8 in 2021. So how can you replicate their success and set up your business for a future sale? To make it attractive to potential buyers? In this latest episode, Rob shares how they set Wirehive up to be acquired - the specific decisions they made to enable success, how they chose who they wanted to acquire them, how they triggered the process without a formal advisor to help them, and what (if anything) he might have done differently. If this all sounds like something you’re going through or are about to go through, download and listen today. On today’s podcast:Tackling the climate crisis with EcologiBuilding a business to sellSelling without a brokerChoosing a buyerThe hiring challengeLinks:Twitter – @RobertBelgraveLinkedIn – Robert BelgraveWebsite – https://ecologi.com, Pax8 UK

Are you worried your business hasn’t hit the big time yet? Don’t be, says Morris Miller, former managing director at Rackspace, now the managing partner of Tectonic Ventures. Most of the businesses he’s involved in have become overnight successes, only after being in business for 10 years. Morris is also the CEO of Xenex Disinfection Services, a business he was drawn to because the original founders were mission driven to not just change lives, but save thousands of lives by stopping the spread of pathogens within healthcare facilities. How? Because Xenex makes UV germ-zapping robots that are 22X better at destroying  superbugs  than the standard hospital cleaning routine of cleaning, mopping, and bleaching alone. So, if you’re concerned that your business isn’t a success yet, don’t miss Morris share the two pillars that contribute to overnight success: listening to customers and the talent density you amass.On today’s podcast:Germ-zapping robots - LightStrike 6Xenon vs manual housekeepingMission driven businesses10 years to become an overnight successHiring the right peopleLinks:Twitter – @Linked_nameLinkedIn – Morris MillerWebsite – Xenex Disinfection Services

How can you maximise sales growth while minimising the workload and stress on both you and your executive teams? This is what Aaron Ross, dad of 10 kids, co-author of From Impossible To Inevitable and author of Predictable Revenue, is currently advising revenue executives about. In this latest episode of The Melting Pot, Aaron shares what’s changed in the world of work since he wrote Predictable Revenue back in 2011. Because the world has moved on a lot since then - what implications are there now for both sales and executives as a result of the pandemic? If you’re finding that your outbound sales are broadening out, and you’re wondering how to create predictable, scalable revenue, then don’t miss the world's foremost expert on outbound sales development chat about what works for him. Because juggling 10 kids, being on numerous SaaS boards and being an author is a serious skill to master. On today’s podcast:Predictable Revenue & From Impossible to InevitableWhy sales need specialist rolesThe increase in outbound noiseRebalancing the workplacePost-pandemic sales recruitmentThe importance of self-careLinks:Book - From Impossible to InevitableTwitter – @motoceoLinkedIn – Aaron RossWebsite – Predictable Revenue