Second Crack — The Leadership Podcast

Leaders often ask us, “How can I motivate my team?” or “How do I enhance employee engagement?”. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer, as motivation is a highly individual and complex subject. But the challenge of motivating people is also what makes life interesting as a leader. Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all like robots, needing three pushes of a button, to be motivated? Nevertheless, t...

Embarking on a more senior executive role in your career can be very rewarding, yet it also poses several challenges. In this episode, we delve into the intricate dynamics of leadership transitions, uncovering strategies to make a profound impact in your new leadership position from the get-go . [3:10]  Understanding the nuances of your new role compared to your previous one is pivotal. Letting go...

In this episode, we share insights from a 12-month project where we involved all executives, managers and employees in shaping and implementing a new vision and strategy for growth. The project resulted in re-energizing and motivating 700 people at a large chemical manufacturing plant, fostering not only business expansion but also fortifying a sense of ownership and teamwork across the site. Key...

In this episode we keep exploring the topic of trust in leadership, today from the perspective of openness and transparency. We are joined by Adam Horne, the co-founder of OpenOrg, a company on a mission to rebuild trust by bringing transparency to the world of work. We know that being open and transparent as a leader is key to build trust. An article in Harvard Business Review reports 76% higher...

A 360 Degree Feedback may be the most powerful leadership development tool you will ever use — if you use it correctly. Feedback holds the key to successful leadership development. Despite our well-intentioned endeavours, our actions may not always align with our intentions in the eyes of others. The most successful leaders understand how they are perceived by others and adjust their actions and m...

Join our conversation with Anu Rathninde, the APAC President of Johnson Controls, and take-away an easy-to-remember guide for how to tackle complexity as a leader. Apply the steps in the “SIILA”-model and directly understand what you need to address, and create positive transformation in your organization. As a leader, you are expected to deliver predictable results and you are held accountable. I...

Tho Ha Vinh (bio below) found that one root cause for suffering is our current economic system based on competition and the fundamental contradiction of endless economic growth and the reality of a finite planet.  It is an illusion that happiness and satisfaction come from more consumption. In effect, the ever-increasing consumption is destroying the planet and thus the very foundation of our huma...

We are joined by Jim Massey , Chief Sustainability Officer at Zai Lab, and former global Vice President of ESG at AstraZeneca. Jim shares his experience as a global sustainability leader, and how he is using the Can, Care, Do model to lead transformation in the healthcare industry. Jim is also the author of the newly launched book "Trust in Action" . Listen and gain insights on how you c...

From our experience in executive coaching and leadership development we see again and again that self-awareness is absolutely mission critical for self-development and personal growth. And of course, we can ask the question: Is there a link between a leader's self-awareness and his or her leadership effectiveness? To help us answer this question, we have a great guest on the show, Dr. Nia Tho...

On the one hand, ‘every leader knows’ that it’s important to make all voices heard in an organisation, diversity and inclusion is critical. On the other hand, it’s still not uncommon to experience meetings where only a minority of participants is talking. And why is it so difficult to truly listen to opposing viewpoints? It has a lot to do with dialogue. In this episode we go deeper into the pract...

In this episode, we interview Anthony Watanabe, Chief Sustainability Officer of Indorama Ventures, a 20-billion dollar chemical company with 140 manufacturing sites worldwide and 26,000 employees. Anthony shares his experience of leading sustainable transformation at scale , and as we will see, there are both charms & challenges to the job. Key moments [05:00] How Anthony “wonderfully accident...

Leaders are expected to get results. In fact, some people will say that’s what leaders get paid for, and they are held accountable when the desired results are not achieved. But, at the same time, leaders can’t really control outcomes, especially during times that seem to become increasingly uncertain. So what can leaders do? Dr. Paul Lawrence is helping us find answers in this episode. Paul is a...

The end of the year is always an excellent opportunity to slow down, reflect, and set the course for the New Year. Reflection helps us get clarity and new insights. Often, that's all we need to take the right actions. But, reflection is also important to bring into awareness what's good already — something that often gets lost in our hectic daily lives. So, why don't you set aside s...

With Acting — Driving Change , we explore the fifth category* of the Inner Development Goals (IDG). Traditional leadership frameworks may include elements such as results-orientation, setting SMART goals, delegation, or follow-up when it comes to acting.  Surprisingly, the IDG  focus is on four entirely different skills and qualities that form the foundation of driving change: 1) COURAGE (4:03 min...

We talk about COLLABORATING the 4th category of the Inner Development Goals (IDG) . In previous episodes we have covered Being , Thinking and Relating . According to a study by Howspace, 76% of employees say they really enjoy collaborating, but 2/3 also say the way their company collaborates needs to change, but don’t believe it will change. There's clearly room to nurture better collaboratio...

How can leaders can create more impact through listening? We interview Raquel Ark , founder of Listening Alchemy and host of the Listening Superpower Podcast . 7:40: Recent statistics show that a key skill that’s needed for leaders is listening . However, listening is normally nothing we learn in school. Research shows that there is a lot of power in listening. Listening is a prestige power It&apo...

In our series on the Inner Development Goals (IDG), we have already covered Being and Thinking . Today, we discuss the third IDG category: RELATING Many leaders are focused on action to get results. The importance of relationships is often underestimated, as we discussed in  Relationships at Work . Sometimes leaders intentionally want to keep a “professional distance” thinking it helps them to “st...

Cognitive Skills are common elements in any leadership model, and most leaders excel at these qualities. However, traditional leadership models may emphasise aspects such as analytical thinking, rational decision-making, or logic. Of course, such skills are still critical today. However, leaders need to expand their cognitive skill set according to the context we are operating in nowadays. The wor...

Last time, we explored The Inner Development Goals — THE Leadership Model for the Future .  Now, we take a deeper dive into the  first category of this Framework:  " Being — Relationship to Self " Traditional leadership models tend to focus a  on the actions ("doing") a leader has to take to be successful. However,  the underlying "being" sets the stage for what actio...

There are already hundreds of leadership models. And most companies have well-established competency frameworks for leadership. So why should we care about another model? In this episode, we explore The Inner Development Goals (IDG) model and why we think IDG is a powerful tool for leadership development and organisational transformation. WHAT'S IDG? IDG was created in 2021 by three Swedish o...

Today,  leadership takes place in a challenging context, e.g., increasing complexity increasing speed of change information overload Thus, decision-making processes become more difficult. Leaders are at risk of either delaying decisions (gathering more information) or over-simplifying and rushing to decisions. In an increasingly complex world, single leaders or  small groups of leaders can’t have...

Trust-based relationships at work are the foundation for healthy performance. We are social beings. However, what is often described as social or psychological is actually biological. Relationships are an essential aspect of evolution: living in groups has been critical for our survival as a species. We developed capabilities to quickly judge if we can trust others, largely without conscious aware...

The speed of transformation in your organisation depends on how fast you can involve and gain ownership from all employees. And this depends on how fast you are prepared to ‘let go’ of control.  We discuss a case where we used a world-class tool called Howspace to engage employees in a large company and the implications for leaders. [01:20] Changes/trends that set the condition for successful tran...

Your success as a leader depends not only on the quality of your work. Whether you want to get a promotion or influence stakeholders to support your next big investment project, you need to make sure that you and your work are perceived in the desired way. Success is a function of performance and perception. Managing perception does not mean you need to put on a show or try to be someone else. On...

Feedback is vital for growth. Leaders need to understand how others perceive them to create the desired impacts. Leaders need to give feedback effectively to help their teams grow. Leaders who do not provide feedback deny others the opportunity to improve. However, giving feedback effectively can be challenging.  Explore here with Gerrit Pelzer and Martin Aldergard how to master the Art of Giving...