Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future

Guests: Greg Moran & Christopher Washington What if your organization's biggest competitive disadvantage isn't your strategy; it's how long it takes to turn insight into action? Many leadership teams are filled with smart, experienced people, yet they still struggle to respond quickly to problems. The issue is rarely the quality of their leaders. It's the system those leaders are working withi...

Guests: Scott Dresser & Sandy Gordon, Amazon VPs As organizations race to adopt AI and automation, many leaders are asking the wrong question. The challenge isn't how to deploy better technology. It's how to build human-centered systems that allow people and technology to thrive together. In this special episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with two Amazon executives responsible for making one of t...

Guest: Mats Alvesson If your organization is full of smart people, why does it keep making bad decisions? In this thought-provoking episode, Maureen Metcalf and Christopher Washington are joined by Professor Mats Alvesson, one of the world's leading organizational scholars and author of The Stupidity Paradox. Alvesson introduces the concept of “functional stupidity”—the tendency for intelligent in...

Guests: Brian Ahearn Chief Influence Officer   Many leaders believe their job is to deliver results, not to be liked. But what if that assumption is limiting their effectiveness?   In this episode, Maureen Metcalf welcomes back Brian Ahearn to explore the leadership power of liking and reciprocity. Drawing on decades of research in influence, Brian explains why people are more willing to support l...

Guest: Holly Sullivan, Amazon VP of Worldwide Economic Development What happens when leadership decisions affect not just an organization, but entire communities? In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with Holly Sullivan, Vice President of Worldwide Economic Development at Amazon. Holly oversees initiatives that influence billions of dollars in investment, workforce development, infrastructure,...

Guests: Christopher & Sheila Cooke Today's leaders face a paradox: the problems confronting organizations are increasingly complex, yet the leadership approaches we've relied on for decades are producing diminishing returns. In this episode, Maureen Metcalf is joined by Christopher and Sheila Cooke, founders of Five Deep and pioneers in the study of human emergence, developmental leadership, a...

Guest: Howard Hochhauser, CEO, Ancestry Many organizations are rushing to embrace AI, launch new initiatives, and pursue growth. But in the process, they’re losing sight of the very things that made them successful in the first place: their mission, their customers, and their identity. In this episode, Maureen Metcalf sits down with Howard Hochhauser, CEO of Ancestry , to explore how he helped ret...

Guest: Brian Ahearn, Chief Influence Officer Most leaders assume their biggest challenge is strategy. In reality, the greater challenge is getting people to willingly move with you. In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with persuasion expert Brian Ahearn about the psychology of persuasion and why ethical influence has become one of the defining leadership capabilities of our time. Drawing on th...

Guest: James Taylor, Supercreativity author In this thought-provoking episode, we sit down with global creativity and innovation expert James Taylor to explore one of the defining leadership questions of our time: As AI automates more routine work, what becomes uniquely human — and uniquely valuable? James introduces the concept of “super creativity”: the amplification of human creativity through...

Guest: William Smoyer, MD Healthcare is approaching a breaking point: costs are rising faster than inflation, outcomes remain inconsistent, and the current model is no longer sustainable.   In this episode, Dr. William Smoyer, Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, shares a breakthrough approach called “Learn from Every Patient.” Instead of separa...

Guest: Maria Angel Ferrero, CEO, Makia Labs Most organizations are investing heavily in AI, but very few are seeing meaningful results   In this episode, Maria Angel Ferrero challenges one of the most dangerous assumptions leaders are making today: that adopting AI tools is enough to drive transformation. It isn’t.   As Maria makes clear, tools don’t change organizations; systems driven by people...

Guest: Mike Morrow-Fox, PhD   What if avoiding conflict is the very thing holding your team back?   Most leaders believe great teams minimize workplace conflict. But the reality is far more uncomfortable…and far more powerful. In this episode, returning guest Mike Morrow-Fox breaks down why one negative team member can reduce productivity by up to 40%, why “bad apple” behavior spreads faster than...

Guest: Greg Moran, CTO of Pyx Health The pace of change leaders are reacting to today is only 5% of what’s coming. In this episode, host Maureen Metcalf sits down with CTO Greg Moran to explore what accelerating technological change actually demands from leaders right now. Moving beyond abstract conversations about disruption, they dig into the practical realities facing organizations: collapsing...

Guests: Jim Grote, founder of Donato’s Pizza, & Tom Grote, Chief Catalyst, Edge Innovation Hub What if the future of capitalism depends on something most business leaders rarely talk about, and even disdain: love? In this episode, Jim and Tom Grote, leaders behind Donatos Pizza and the Grote Company, share their decades-long experiment in Agape Capitalism, a business model grounded in the prin...

Guest: Julia Hartz, EventBrite Co-Founder & former CEO In a matter of days, Eventbrite went from growth to crisis, processing more refunds than revenue as live events canceled worldwide   In this episode, Julia Hartz shares what it really takes to lead when the business you built suddenly stops working.   Drawing on a 20-year journey spanning startup, hypergrowth, IPO, global expansion, and ev...

Guest: Dr. Marcia Reynolds Why do difficult conversations so often go wrong, even when you prepare for them?   In this episode, host Maureen Metcalf sits down with Dr. Marcia Reynolds to explore how leaders can turn resistance into meaningful results. While most approaches focus on what to say, Marcia reveals that real change happens when leaders shift mindsets, starting with their own.   Together...

Guest: Lord John Alderdice, House of Lords & Peace Negotiator What if conflict isn’t driven by rational self-interest, but by something far more human? In this episode, Lord John Alderdice—psychiatrist, political leader, and key architect of the Good Friday Agreement which brought peace to Northern Ireland—shares a radically different lens on conflict. Drawing from decades of peace negotiation...

Guest: Carla Morelli, Scale and M&A Exec What really happens when organizations try to grow? In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with Carla Morelli about why many organizations struggle to scale, even when strategy and market opportunity are strong. They explore how growth exposes weaknesses in leadership, decision architecture, and culture, and why scaling successfully requires more than...

Guest: Gary Weber, PhD Your conscious mind may not be in control. That’s becoming clear to neuroscientists, and it explains why smart, experienced leaders miss obvious issues and disruptions so often. In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with neuroscience researcher Gary Weber about what modern brain science reveals about decision-making, confirmation bias, and strategic blind spots. Research s...

Guest: Christopher Washington, Provost Emeritus The real challenge for leaders facing disruption isn’t technical. It’s psychological. In this episode, Christopher Washington joins host Maureen Metcalf to explore why transformation efforts fail, even when strategy, data, and logic are sound. Christopher argues that the missing lever in most change efforts is narrative. Strategy tells people what to...

Guest: Otto Scharmer In times of disruption, new strategies are not enough. According to Otto Scharmer, what determines the success of an intervention is the leader's interior condition.   In this episode, Maureen Metcalf sits down with Otto Scharmer, Senior Lecturer at MIT and co-founder of the Presencing Institute, to explore the principles behind Theory U and why traditional change management t...

Guest: Helle Bank Jørgensen, Global Managing Director of Board Intelligence What happens when global leaders gather at Davos amid rising geopolitical tension, collapsing trust, and compounding global risk? In this episode, host Maureen Metcalf is joined by Helle Bank Jørgensen, a global pioneer in board effectiveness and a leading voice on governance, risk, and sustainability. Fresh from the World...

Guest: Brian Ferguson, CEO, Arena Labs Burnout is a real and growing issue in the workplace.   The healthcare industry provides a perfect example. It demands life-and-death decisions under relentless pressure…yet doctors, nurses, and frontline teams are rarely equipped the way elite performers are in sports and the military.   In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with Brian Ferguson, founder of...

Guest: Robert Bush, Jr., CEO, Mutombo Coffee Volatility is no longer cyclical. It’s structural.   That’s one takeaway from Davos. In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with global strategist,  board advisor, and CEO Bob Bush Jr. about what leadership looks like when stability is no longer a realistic planning assumption. Drawing on insights from Davos, global operating models, and lived experien...

Guest: Brian Ferguson, CEO & Founder of Arena Labs Technology is accelerating faster than most leaders can adapt. But speed isn’t the real challenge. In this episode, Brian Ferguson joins host Maureen Metcalf to explore why human performance matters more, not less, in an era of exponential change. Drawing on examples from high-stakes environments such as medicine and defense, their conversatio...