Beyond AI: Wisdom at Work

In his book Nobody Is Smarter Than Everybody: Why Self-Managing Teams Make Better Decisions and Deliver Extraordinary Results, Rod Collins builds on the premise that “the digital revolution is far more than a technology revolution. It is also a sociological revolution that has generated an unprecedented capacity for mass collaboration and created new possibilities in how humans work together.” Under his leadership as the Chief Operating Executive of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program, one of the nation's largest and most successful business alliances, the company experienced its greatest five-year growth period in its 60-year history. Realizing that his title gave him no actual authority over the actions of the various member organizations, Rod developed and evolved a process to draw from their collective wisdom in ways that generated incredible performance improvements. In this episode, Rod and host Brian Gorman explore the organizational implications of the evidence that “no one is smarter than everyone.”

Rod Collins is an author, keynote speaker, and leadership coach. He is a leading expert and thought leader on the future of business transformation. Rod’s books, blogs, and speeches inspire through their use of storytelling and leading-edge ideas.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. You can email Brian ([email protected]) and learn more about his work on his website TransformingLives.Coach.

Your organization has a culture. You can be intentional about continuously shaping it or allow it to evolve and see what happens. You can also reshape it. In this episode of Qonversations, Tom Krause, Ph.D., and author of If Your Culture Could Talk, joins host Brian Gorman to delve into the hard truths about culture. They explore the cost of misalignment between what is said and the behavior of leaders as well as the five essential building blocks to make culture change efforts more effective. Spoiler alert: they are “soft skills.”  

Thomas R. Krause, Ph.D. is a world-renowned thought leader focused on decision making, leadership, and behavior in the creation of positive organizational culture. He has designed culture change interventions in the service of the prevention of catastrophic events, and fatalities, including the space shuttle Columbia disaster. Tom is the founder of Behavioral Science Technology, Inc. and Chairman of the Krause Bell Group.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. You can email Brian ([email protected]) and learn more about his work on his website TransformingLives.Coach.

Miles Everson, CEO of MBO Partners and author of Free Birds Revolution: The Future of Work and the Independent Mind of a Free Bird, and host Brian Gorman continue their conversation with a focus on the mind of a free bird. This includes an examination of the differences in the mindsets of traditional employees vs. free birds, the differences in how they spend their time on the job, and the differences in how they evaluate such things as their relationship between work and life outside of work, their sense of fulfillment, and even their sense of financial security.

Miles Everson is a proven business builder and industry leader and disrupter of the status quo. Since 2019 he has served as the Chief Executive Officer at MBO Partners, the definitive market leader in enabling the future of work and improving the well-being of professionals and businesses throughout the world. Prior to MBO Partners, Miles held several senior roles with PwC over 30 years as Global Advisory and Consulting CEO, leading the company’s Asia Pacific and Americas Advisory and Consulting businesses, eventually becoming the U.S. Advisory/Consulting Vice Chairman. Miles led the first globalization for the Advisory/Consulting practice across the PwC enterprise.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. You can email Brian ([email protected]) and learn more about his work on his website TransformingLives.Coach.

118: Free Birds Revolution – 1 of 2: Miles Everson, CEO of MBO Partners and author of Free Birds Revolution: The Future of Work and the Independent Mind of a Free Bird, doesn’t mind challenging conventional thinking. And when he does, he has the data, and the examples, to support what he is saying. In this episode of Qonversations, Miles and host Brian Gorman explore Part 1 of Miles’ book, focusing on the six forces driving a larger and larger portion of the workforce, including the best and the brightest, from “employed” to “free bird” status. Miles also discusses the ways in which businesses need to rewrite the contract between those who work for them, whether they are employees on the payroll or contractors.

Miles Everson is a proven business builder and industry leader and disrupter of the status quo. Since 2019 he has served as the Chief Executive Officer at MBO Partners, the definitive market leader in enabling the future of work and improving the well-being of professionals and businesses throughout the world. Prior to MBO Partners, Miles held several senior roles with PwC over 30 years as Global Advisory and Consulting CEO, leading the company’s Asia Pacific and Americas Advisory and Consulting businesses, eventually becoming the U.S. Advisory/Consulting Vice Chairman. Miles led the first globalization for the Advisory/Consulting practice across the PwC enterprise.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. You can email Brian ([email protected]) and learn more about his work on his website TransformingLives.Coach.

At nine pages, this may be the smallest business book you ever read. That said, it is also one worth re-reading from time to time. In changing the label from “introverts” to “quiet people,” Luke Tobin opens our eyes to the many powers that these individuals bring to the workplace, and to life more generally.

Luke, author of The Power of Quiet People (In a World That Favours Loudness), focuses on seven such powers. In this episode of Qonversations, Luke and host Brian Gorman (both of whom identify as quiet people themselves) explore those powers from both the perspective of the quiet person and that of the person who tends to be louder. In doing so, they share some of their own stories as they examine ways in which quiet people contribute to better outcomes when invited to do so. (15 minutes)

Luke Tobin is a dynamic entrepreneur and accomplished business leader with a proven track record of success across multiple industries. As a 3x exited founder, Luke has demonstrated his ability to build and scale businesses effectively. Currently, Luke is the driving force behind Tobin Capital, a venture capital firm reshaping the old VC model with a fresh, innovative approach to investing. . Luke Tobin’s entrepreneurial journey is marked by his strategic vision, international growth, and consistent delivery of exceptional business results. You can learn more about Luke on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/luketobin/) and on his websites: www.luketobin.com  and www.tobincapital.co.uk  The Power of Quiet People is available at no cost here.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. You can email Brian ([email protected]) and learn more about his work on his website TransformingLives.Coach.

Sometimes, we can be our own best teachers. We’ve all had leaders we trust, and those we don’t. If we’re lucky, we’ve had leaders we would follow anywhere, and those we would avoid at all costs the next time around. We’ve all had leaders that nurture us and do everything possible to help us grow and succeed, and leaders who want to ensure their own place on the organization chart by holding us down. Reflecting on our leadership experiences and comparing it to our own leadership approach can be enlightening and help us grow into the leader we want to be.

In his book Don’t Just Have the Soup, Alan Heymann provides 52 analogies “for leadership, coaching, and life.” The analogies touch on everyday experiences such as being brought soup instead of salad at a restaurant, elevator rides, road trips, and even the everything you can eat buffet. As they explore several of Alan’s analogies, he and host Brian Gorman give us something else to reflect on…how these experiences we have every day that can serve as analogies to guide and inform how we lead.

Alan Heymann is a speaker, facilitator, Georgetown faculty member, “introvert whisperer,” and recovering journalist and lawyer. You can find Alan on LinkedIn, as well as his own website: peacefuldirection.com.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. You can email Brian ([email protected]) and learn more about his work on his website TransformingLives.Coach.

The prevailing organizational design model remains the top-down org chart. While some have made adjustments (removing layers, adding “matrixed” relationships), It continues to remain an industrial-age approach to structuring and leading organizations. In today’s episode, Jeffrey Beeson, author of Network Leadership, brings a refreshingly new approach to organizational design and leadership. He and host Brian Gorman explore networked organizations and networked leadership. Drawing on network science, Beeson introduces a few of the underlying principals of the networks we all live and function in every day, and how those apply to organizational life. (30 minutes)

Jeffrey Beeson is a pioneer of Network Leadership - an approach to leadership that relies on the power of connections. He is convinced that groundbreaking innovation can only come from the power of networks. The founder of Ensemble Enabler, he and his team enable companies to leverage the strengths of their employees and gradually transition themselves into network organizations.

([email protected])

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. TransformingLives.Coach [email protected]

Morag Barrett (SkyeTeam.com) joins host Brian Gorman to explore the importance of establishing person-to-person relationships across the workplace. Morag shares the results of years of research globally, including “the four yesses.” “Can I count on you?” “Can I depend on you?” “Do I care about you?” and “Do I trust you?” Reflect on someone you have worked with that you would answer yes to each of those four questions. How would you describe that person? What can you learn from that reflection? We can all strengthen our relationships at work. This podcast will help give you the tools to do so.

Morag Barrett is an executive coach and leadership expert who helps leaders achieve outstanding results through the power of their professional relationships. At last count Morag and her company SkyeTeam have supported the development of more than 10,000 leaders from 20 countries and on 6 continents. She’s the award-winning author of three books: Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships; The Future-Proof Workplace; and her latest book You, Me, We: Why we all need a friend at work (and how to show up as one!). You can take SkyTeam’s Ally Assessment here.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. TransformingLives.Coach [email protected] (28 minutes)

Retired Navy SEAL Commander, corporate CEO, and author Marty Strong returns to discuss his recently published book, Be Different: How Navy Seals and Entrepreneurs Bend, Break, or Ignore the Rules to Get Results! Marty and host Brian Gorman explore what it means to be different and why it is so important in today’s turbulent and ever-changing world.

Marty Strong is a combat veteran of the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams and holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and a graduate degree in Management. He is also a graduate of Villanova University’s Master Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma program. Aside from his CEO duties, Marty enjoys providing virtual mentoring and coaching services for executives and speaking professionally about crisis leadership, strategic vision, and creativity.

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. TransformingLives.Coach [email protected]

Despite continuing calls to “return to work,” there is growing evidence that the relationship of people to their work, the nature of that work, and the workplace itself are continuing to change. Guest Serena Diamond and host Brian Gorman bring their decades of experience in organizational change management and leadership to the fore as they look at the impact that these shifting forces are having on what is required to successfully lead change today.

Serena Diamond is the founder of Diamond Solutions Group, LLC. Diamond Solutions Group provides support to leaders as they move their organizations through change. Services include project and program management, facilitation, training, and change management. [email protected]

Brian Gorman is a speaker, author, podcast host, and founder and lead coach at TransformingLives.Coach. He identifies as a maverick coach, guiding those who are forging the way as leaders in the 21st century. [email protected]