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What do you do when you’re stuck between two conflicting options?
For most of us, these competing choices are a paradox and source of conflict. We deal with uncertainty by asserting certainty that there are two distinct options to choose between.
But what if there’s a way to embrace both?
That’s why I invited Wendy Smith – award-winning psychologist and co-author of “Both/And Thinking” – to share her insights on how to make more creative, flexible, and impactful decisions in a world of competing demands.
The most successful leaders and change agents have learned the power of navigating paradoxical tradeoffs and reframing problems to discover expansive solutions that didn’t initially seem possible.
Tune in to learn how to shift from that “either/or” mindset and embrace a “both/and” approach to tackle tough decisions, unlock new possibilities, and lead with greater impact.
YOU’LL LEARN:
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Wendy Smith is the co-author of “Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems,” an award-winning psychologist and professor at the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. She’s spent her career studying paradoxes in leadership and on a mission to help individuals and organizations turn problems into possibilities. Wendy's passion lies in helping leaders tackle the complex challenges of interpersonal dynamics, team performance, organizational change, and innovation to transform their organizations and the world.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS:
02:12 Misconception of both/and meaning
02:44 And/and vs. both/and
06:49 Balancing the roles of expert and coach
07:03 Balancing long-term innovation with immediate business needs
08:06 3-step process of dealing with dilemma
09:50 Expanding on and/and vs both/and
12:03 How to approach paradoxical choices
15:23 3 patterns of risk when you don’t shift to both/and thinking
20:15 Getting comfortable with discomfort
22:03 Embracing both/and mindset creates growth mindset
24:36 Bringing both/and thinking to your personal life
25:50 Both/and thinking at the organizational level
27:44 Integrating technical process improvement with people development
29:35 Enabling both/and thinking at the organizational level
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
Why do 70-90% of change initiatives fail?
That’s a staggering statistic.
In many cases, new leadership comes in, economic pressures rise, or the next "flavor of the month" initiative takes over.
What’s happening and what can you do to counteract this trend?
And if you are a change leader, lean practitioner, or continuous improvement coach, how do you avoid this becoming a career limiting move?
To help us answer this, I invited Michael Bungay Stanier, leadership expert and bestselling author of six books, including The Coaching Habit and How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, to share his insights on leading personal and organizational change.
Success in leading change comes not only from making structural shifts, but also from fostering curiosity and building strong human relationships.
It’s time to shift the failure rate to a success rate for your vision.
Focus your energy on amplifying your influence and getting the buy-in needed from key people to create meaningful transformation.
YOU’LL LEARN:
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Michael Bungay Stanier is at the forefront of shaping how organizations and leaders around the world succeed through focusing on curiosity and human relationships. He’s the author of six books, which between them have sold more than a million copies, and is best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of this century.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
01:04 Reasons why change initiatives fail
04:56 Two foundational challenges for leading change
07:38 The link between process improvement and integrating the people component
13:23 Two strategies to stay curious longer and create lasting impact
16:26 Tips to reverse the trend of failed change initiatives
20:20 Steps to embrace your influence and create the impact you want when leading change
22:31 Defining A and B list relationships
24:04 Improving the quality of working relationships
24:45 How to build BPR (best possible relationships) and keystone conversations to discuss how to best work together before diving into the work
26:13 Addressing challenging conversations to clarify roles and expectations upfront
29:55 One way to increase influence and build human connection for impactful conversations
31:11 Michael’s new project in launching a new podcast
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
What questions are on your mind? That’s the question I posed to you last month when I asked you to “Ask me anything!”
I received many great questions and, as promised, I’ve picked five to dive into during this episode.
Asking the right questions is a fundamental part of leading transformational change. It’s not just about finding answers—it’s about understanding why we ask our questions and how we react when others ask us.
It’s just as important to know the reasons behind why we’re asking. What’s the intention behind the question? What are we hoping to learn or uncover?
This is where true understanding happens—both for the person asking and the one being asked.
So the next time someone asks you a question, take a moment to ask a follow-up question. You both might be surprised with the answer!
Now, it’s time to dive into your questions!
YOU’LL LEARN:
What additional questions are on your mind? Head over to ChainOfLearning.com/ASK and ask me your questions so we can continue to explore them in future episodes of Chain of Learning.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
0:39 How asking questions can spark a culture of continuous learning and improvement
2:04 The impact of leaders defaulting to immediately answering questions
4:28 QUESTION 1 : Moving from command and control to continuous improvement
09:06 QUESTION 2 overcoming obstacles to transformational change
16:14 QUESTION 3: How to balance short-term results with long-term goals while developing people
19:00 QUESTION 4: Insights on transitioning from a corporate leader to starting a consultancy business
30:35 QUESTION 5: How a continuous improvement team within an organization increase and demonstrate impact
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
Is your organization stuck in a constant state of crisis, where everything feels like an urgent, must-fix-now situation?
As a leader, cutting through that noise is key to prioritizing and aligning your team’s efforts to focus on what really matters.
In this episode, Isaac Mitchell, VP of Operational Excellence at Ballad Health System, shares his experience leading through Hurricane Helene and how he's fostering an organizational culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Isaac shares how his leadership journey—from engineer at Toyota to executive in healthcare—shaped his approach to real crises. He discusses how understanding purpose—his own, his team’s, and the organization’s—helps him distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s truly important.
By focusing on what matters, you can create the impact you’re striving for. To me, that’s what living with intention is—knowing your purpose and aligning your actions to make it happen.
YOU’LL LEARN:
In our conversation about intention and goals, Isaac asks about my next big goal—listen for the big reveal, never shared publicly until now! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Isaac Mitchell is an experienced strategy deployment executive and is currently a Vice President at Ballad Health and a guest lecturer at the University of Tennessee’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
3:08 Navigating crises during Hurricane Helene through community and shared purpose
9:00 True crises vs. perceived urgency
10:58 Avoid falling into the "expert trap" during crises
14:10 Respecting people’s development and using Gemba
16:19 How to use daruma dolls in goal setting
20:57 Katie’s BIG new goal reveal
22:25 Using a hanko when coaching for problem solving
30:36 Isaac’s North Star for the year and Japan Study Trip lessons
32:11 How Gemba helps leaders prioritize what's essential
36:23 Setting big goals and using them to push for growth
41:34 Value of cultural and business learning
45:54 The warp and weft metaphor for goal setting
Join the next Japan Leadership Experience program - apply now!
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
Is your organization stuck in a constant state of crisis, where everything feels like an urgent, must-fix-now situation?
As a leader, cutting through that noise is key to prioritizing and aligning your team’s efforts to focus on what really matters.
In this episode, Isaac Mitchell, VP of Operational Excellence at Ballad Health System, shares his experience leading through Hurricane Helene and how he's fostering an organizational culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Isaac shares how his leadership journey—from engineer at Toyota to executive in healthcare—shaped his approach to real crises. He discusses how understanding purpose—his own, his team’s, and the organization’s—helps him distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s truly important.
By focusing on what matters, you can create the impact you’re striving for. To me, that’s what living with intention is—knowing your purpose and aligning your actions to make it happen.
YOU’LL LEARN:
In our conversation about intention and goals, Isaac asks about my next big goal—listen for the big reveal, never shared publicly until now! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Isaac Mitchell is an experienced strategy deployment executive and is currently a Vice President at Ballad Health and a guest lecturer at the University of Tennessee’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
3:08 Navigating crises during Hurricane Helene through community and shared purpose
9:00 True crises vs. perceived urgency
10:58 Avoid falling into the "expert trap" during crises
14:10 Respecting people’s development and using Gemba
16:19 How to use daruma dolls in goal setting
20:57 Katie’s BIG new goal reveal
22:25 Using a hanko when coaching for problem solving
30:36 Isaac’s North Star for the year and Japan Study Trip lessons
32:11 How Gemba helps leaders prioritize what's essential
36:23 Setting big goals and using them to push for growth
41:34 Value of cultural and business learning
45:54 The warp and weft metaphor for goal setting
It’s Chain of Learning’s first anniversary this month! And it’s the time of year for gratitude and thanks – and for reflection.
Thank you for listening and for being part of this Chain of Learning that we are growing together.
To mark this podcast milestone, I want to practice what I talk about on nearly every episode – reflection – as I believe it IS the foundation of learning and impact.
In this episode, I share my reflections from the Chain of Learning’s first year and walk you through the process I use and teach for reflection – so you can apply this same reflection process to whatever you are working on, both professionally and personally.
Whether you’re leading teams, fostering innovation, or driving continuous improvement – or simply looking to take the next step forward in your life – purposeful reflection is the foundation for your ultimate success.
YOU’LL LEARN:
I invite you to embed reflection into your practice — not just as a one-time exercise but as a regular habit – that guides you toward excellence.
Thanks for the opportunity to grow and strengthen our Chain of Learning together. Here’s to the journey of growth and another year of reflections ahead!
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
2:37 The meaning of the Japanese word Hansei
4:11 The 5 steps to applying Hansei and using the (SAPD) cycle
5:28 Reflection Process 1: immediate self reflection after an event, even if you’re short on time
6:27 Reflection Process 2: reflect with others or in a group setting to get feedback and share ideas
8:05 Reflection Process 3: reflect over time by looking back
9:38 Backstory of how the Chain of Learning podcast started
12:37 Process launching the podcast and the challenges and lessons learned
18:53 Personal growth and what I have learned over time since starting the podcast
31:47 Questions to ask yourself to add reflection in your daily, monthly and yearly process
31:35 Share your process for reflection on LinkedIn or via email
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
Has your organization been making progress on its continuous improvement journey, only to find things starting to stall?
Is your team hesitant to share ideas, or are your lean or process improvement initiatives viewed mainly as cost-cutting measures rather than a comprehensive strategy for long-term success?
Perhaps you've been focusing on just one side of the path of excellence—improvement processes and tools—while overlooking a critical component: respect for people.
In this episode, Stephanie Bursek, Director of Human Resources at TrippNT, shares how her company's made a leap forward in their lean transformation by leading with the heart to focus on people and joy.
By going beyond process improvement tools to deeply focusing on people first, Stephanie and her executive team have fostered greater collaboration, trust, and growth, resulting in a thriving, engaged workplace with more problem-solving and innovation.
Tune in to learn how embedding respect for people into your organization’s foundation can drive sustainable cultural transformation and elevate both business results and employee engagement.
YOU’LL LEARN:
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Stephanie is a seasoned Human Resources executive with a passion for how to create a thriving organizational culture. As the Director for Human Resources at TrippNT, a family-owned manufacturing company based in the U.S., she's focused on building a unique organizational culture by uniting the pillars of continuous improvement and respect for people.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS:
04:35 Stephanie’s realization of the missing element in her organization
08:10 The importance of a people-first approach to achieve results & improvements
12:11 The impact of the Collaborative Model for increasing productivity
14:15 The benefits of a psychologically safe environment that fosters respect & leads to better business results
19:03 The provocative quote from “Tree Ring Management” that always get jaw drops
20:27 How the leadership team at TrippNT models behavior that creates an engaging environment
24:10 Examples of a people-entered environment created through humility & resilience
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
What hot topics and burning questions are on your mind?
Asking better questions is one of the core subjects I talk about on the podcast – and in my work, and I want to hear from you!
“Ask me anything” is going to be the focus of the last Chain of Learning episode for 2024. So go ahead and send me your questions through the month of November: ChainOfLearning.com/ASK
What challenges are you facing in your leadership journey as you strive to make a greater impact?
Are you looking to secure buy-in from your team or upper management? Perhaps you’re aiming to break the “telling” habit and foster a more collaborative environment?
Or maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed and need strategies to transition from a doer to a change Katalyst™?
Anything is on the table. So go ahead and ask me anything!
Submit your questions by November 30th here: ChainOfLearning.com/ASK and I’ll be selecting a few of YOUR questions to feature and respond to for the last episode of the year.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
RELATED PODCAST EPISODES:
Do you ever feel like you're stuck between chaos and bureaucracy, unable to break free from the status quo?
You are probably facing a common challenge that other leaders and change practitioners experience: how to navigate uncertainty while trying to drive innovation and agility in your organization.
In this episode, Atif Rafiq, seasoned C-suite executive and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of “Decision Sprint” shares what he’s learned about leading through ambiguity to drive digital and cultural transformations at global companies like Amazon, McDonald’s, and MGM Resorts.
Atif breaks down the Decision Sprint framework to help you bring clarity into the unknown by moving problem-solving upstream, enabling you and your teams to make faster, smarter decisions that drive meaningful change and innovation.
Uncertainty IS what most organizations are facing today. Relying on outdated leadership models and approaches to problem-solving keeps you trapped facing the same issues year after year without real progress.
Tune into this episode and gain insights how you can break free from this cycle and embrace new approaches to navigate ambiguity and empower you to innovate and lead by making decisions faster, smarter, and better.
YOU’LL LEARN:
Enter for chance to win a signed copy of "Decision Sprint". Register by November 8th: ChainOfLearning.com/29 or https://kbjanderson.com/giveaways/decision-sprint/
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Atif Rafiq has reshaped industries and generated billions in revenue for some of the world's leading companies including McDonald’s, Volvo, MGM Resorts, Amazon, Yahoo!, and AOL. He's the CEO of Ritual and the Wall Street bestselling author of "Decision Sprint: The new way to Innovate into the Unknown and move from Strategy into Action."
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
[2:24] Atif’s massive career shift and the challenge of changing the culture of a large established organization
[5:51] The risk of staying in a safe zone rather than navigating through ambiguity
[7:52] Boring problems versus creative problems and an example of the importance of taking interest in a “boring” problem
[14:14] The Decision Sprint Model and how it helps move thinking and problem solving upstream
[16:21] The role of experimentation in problem solving and the benefits of collaboration to gain insights
[20:10] Concept of alignment and how it connects exploration and decision making
[25:57] Difference between bureaucracy and chaos
[29:11] Upstream and downstream work and creating different systems for managing both
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
Do you ever feel stuck as a leader? It may seem like no matter how many problems you solve or tools you implement, you're still not seeing progress toward a sustainable organizational culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Maybe you have been leading change the wrong way.
In this episode, Cindy Hinds shares what she’s learned from 25 years of experience about how to lead organizational change the right way. She highlights what she has learned from her journey from being a technical expert to becoming a transformational change leader within a global organization who is equipping leaders at all levels to solve problems and innovating to drive business performance.
Transformational leadership isn’t about knowing all the answers. Connect with your purpose, step away from being the "doer," and empower others so that you – and they – can see better results.
YOU’LL LEARN:
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Cindy Hinds is the Global Director of Enterprise Excellence at A.O. Smith, manufacturing company with sites based across North America, Asia and Europe, where she is responsible for architecting A.O. Smith’s journey to create a culture of highly engaged people who are aligned in solving problems and innovating to continuously improve.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
[5:13] Leading the right way and asking questions for a continuous improvement culture
[8:12] Finding gaps through Gemba to transform your approach as a leader
[11:18] Franklin Covey’s Speed of Trust Curriculum to connect behaviors to business outcomes
[15:06] Using “Nemawashi” to prepare for future actions or business decisions
[18:30] Focusing on a people-centric culture to avoid conflicting values
[21:16] Real-life examples of implementing sustainable practices for continuous improvement
[24:31] The maturity model to understand your current condition and ideal state
Enter for your chance to win a copy of "Thoughtload" by Liane Davey: http://chainoflearning.com/85
Giveaway ends October 9th at 11:45pm Pacific Time.
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