Jennifer Takagi is an executive leadership and communication coach who works with leaders teaching them how to play well at work. As a result,they can get better performance from people they lead, increase profitability and create a purposeful workplace where people want to come and play productively.

During Jennifer’s training trips around the US for the past 30 years, she's seen a lot of frustrated people. There seemed to be some disconnect between the leaders and the people whom they were leading, and she set herself on a mission of changing that and turning cubicle cells into a playground where everyone can have fun, feel fulfilled and bring value in a playful way. 

Since Jennifer works in the same field as I do, it was great to exchange ideas and experiences, seeing that different backgrounds and focus areas can expand our perspectives. This interview will cover:

• Jennifer’s experience of a toxic environment where a leader put their fear on the students they had, and how it affected self-esteem of the others.

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Join me for free weekly calls for Genius Leaders: https://mailchi.mp/52efc81189bd/weeklygeniusleadercall

Schedule your complimentary strategy call here: https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

Useful links mentioned in the conversation:

Takagi Consulting: https://takagiconsulting.com/

"Address the Stress" book: https://www.amazon.com/Address-Stress-Relevant-Guide-Systemic/dp/1457507145

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

Brian Williamson is an incredible man whose life is so full of events and achievements that it’s hard to find a place to begin telling about him. Brian has been running companies at Board level for the last 39 years. You would imagine there would be wisdom and knowledge to challenge the best business brain, but besides it there’s something else. As a professional businessman and award-winning entrepreneur Brian is always on a learning journey, learning about himself and learning from others. His philosophy is grounded on stakeholder engagement. Making any company with which he is involved part of that stakeholder's dream.

Brian’s life as an entrepreneur has been a rollercoaster of fantastic highs and unbelievable lows. In 1996 he almost lost everything including his own house and that of his parents. He believes he is audaciously aspirational and encourages all he works with to be the same and be bold.

"There is only one destination in life and we all get there sooner than we would want. There is only one thing... the journey. Don't hang your happiness on an event that may never happen and focus on how you can enjoy that journey, every day'.

In 2016 Brian was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to entrepreneurship.

In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration by Glasgow Caledonian University.

In 2019 he was recognised as one of 30 Mavericks in Scotland by Business Insider.

• How lowering the work time affected Brian’s productivity in a good way

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Join me for free weekly calls for Genius Leaders: https://mailchi.mp/52efc81189bd/weeklygeniusleadercall

Schedule your complimentary strategy call here: https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

Emma Goldie is a fellow coach from the business accelerator program that I’m involved in called Unstoppable Entrepreneur. She is a mindset mentor who developed a unique methodology called polarity navigatio,n to overcome belief and behavioral patterns and our own limitations. She uses a powerful, systematic and specific tool, customized for leaders to navigate the balance between professional and personal lives, leaning into self-care and passion to bring about change and peace.

Emma and I have many passions in common, for instance focus on self-care and balance between you as a professional, as a leader, and as a human being. These topics became the inspiration for our conversation.

• The importance of slowing down to speed up: losing the momentum to gain one

• Why leaders are afraid to take breaks

Links to the people and resources mentioned in our conversation: 

Emma Goldie: https://www.facebook.com/emma.goldie.77

"The Five Love Languages" book: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Languages-Secret-that-Lasts/dp/080241270X

Join the free 5-day workshop of our business mentor Kelly Roach to learn the Live Launch Method: https://www.livelaunchrevolution.com?fpr=anna21 [affiliate link]"

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Join me for free weekly calls for Genius Leaders: https://mailchi.mp/52efc81189bd/weeklygeniusleadercall

Schedule your complimentary strategy call here: https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

Hedinn Sveinbjörnsson is Iceland's chief happiness officer. He runs a company called 2happiness where he is working and dedicating all his time and energy to help other people feel happiness at work, at home and in life in general. He also has a podcast Tribute2Happiness, where he talks to other people, passionate about happiness. I invited Hedinn first of all because he's a funny guy and he can bring joy to every conversation he's having. And secondly, because especially in time of pandemic it often seems like all of the joy was sucked out by a Dementor, and it’s crucial to know how to maintain good spirits and stay on top of your life despite the difficulties waiting for you around the corner.

The slogan of Hedinn’s company is “A quest for seeking happiness@work where employees matter!”, and I hope that the topics that we covered during our talk will bring a lot of inspiration to you as well as will help you to reflect on some questions about your lifestyle. 

In this interview you will hear about:

• How often leaders need support and how often they end up being alone

Links to the people and resources mentioned in our conversation: 

Happiness Lab: https://happinesslab.com/

Hedinn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedinn-h%C3%A9%C3%B0inn-sveinbj%C3%B6rnsson-mba-9724b18a/

2Happiness on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2happiness/

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Schedule your complimentary strategy call here: https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

Sofia Appelgren is the founder of Mitt Liv company, which in translation from Swedish means “my life”. Since 2008, Mitt Liv has worked on the vision of creating an inclusive society and a labor market that values ​​diversity. Today, their primary two target groups are companies and organizations that through concrete solutions want to develop their diversity and inclusion work, as well as academics with a foreign background who have difficulty finding jobs corresponding to their skills in Sweden. 

I found out about Mitt Liv through a common friend, and I've been following their work for almost eight years, and I saw all the journey that this company had to go through, how they grew and what they continue doing, and that’s why I was very thrilled about having this interview. 

• Sofia’s story about why she founded Mitt Liv, what they're doing and what they have achieved

mittliv.com

Alena Ipanova, Global Leadership Consultant: https://synergizer.se/

ICQ Global, Cognitive diversity: https://icq.global/

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Connect with Sofia via email. You can find her contact information on Mitt Liv’s website: https://mittliv.com/en/about/our-team

Schedule your complimentary strategy call here: https://annaliebel.as.me/strategycall

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

Gunnar Risting is the engagement manager at the IT consultancy in Sweden, called Netlight. I learned about him through a blog post that he has written called “26% of the company shall not do a 100% of the equality work”. And in that article, he is talking about their initiative called “Purple Pill” - men-only events about gender equality. 

Netlight is an IT-consulting firm, which pays attention to talented people who, in cooperation, create valuable results for their clients. Their goal is to deliver independent solutions and tangible results based on their clients’ conditions and business objectives. 

In this episode, you will hear about:

• How to work on general equality, and why the Purple Pill initiative includes men only

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Connect with Gunnar on LinkedIn.

If you want to have invites to the coming Livenars, let me know here. 

Resources mentioned in the interview:

Google's Project Aristotle

#guytalk initiative

Tech Eq initiative

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

Sesselia Birgisdottir is the director of innovation and marketing of Hagar, which is the leading retail company in Iceland within food specialty and fuel markets. Sesselia has started at Hagar very recently, taking on the role of executive director for service and marketing at Icelandic Post prior. Before that, she's been the director of digital media and marketing at an IT consultancy. In all these roles, she has been leading digital transformation projects. Sesselia puts much effort into the people affected by and driving the transformations, thus I invited her to talk about the human challenges of digital transformations. 

Hagar is a leading retailer in the Icelandic market whose core activities are in the grocery and fuel sector. Hagar's companies are all operated as individual businesses and therefore have diverse operating models and cultures. I was excited to discuss the transformational journeys Sesselia has been leading in the diverse industries, to see what are the common denominators for success of such endeavors. 

In this episode, you will hear about:

• The importance of accepting the change for the success of any digital transformation

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Connect with Sesselia on LinkedIn.

If you want to have invites to the coming Livenars, let me know here. 

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

Joachim Samuelsson is the CEO of Сrunchfish, a Sweden-based tech company with patent-pending solutions for a digital cash that can be integrated with both the payment rail and in mobile wallets. The solutions are globally scalable and make digital payments more robust as the risks of disruptions and downtime are eliminated. Crunchfish are also playing around with many use cases for their technology to address the challenges we as a society meet these days, like eliminating food waste. 

To me, Crunchfish sounds like a playground for tech-interested people who are willing to contribute to solutions for our communities. I’ve met Joachim on LinkedIn and got intrigued by his approach towards running the company and building and sustaining a playful culture. And this interview just confirmed my guesses - his approach is unapologetic and bold, yet playful and supportive.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• Highs and lows, strategic topics, and practical tips for building the culture that you want in your company. 

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Anna

Connect with Joachim on LinkedIn.

If you want to have invites to the coming Livenars, let me know here. 

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

In this episode, you will hear about:

- How does the best feedback look like - in its positive or constructive form?

- When is feedback appropriate?

- What are the responsibilities of the person providing feedback, and what lies on the receiving side?

- How often should a leader include feedback in the conversations? 

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Connect with Alena on LinkedIn or via email [email protected]

If you want to have invites to the coming Livenars, let me know here. 

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA

I've met Jonas Friberg at one of the webinars where I was a panelist and he moderated the conversation. We clicked instantly due to our passion for leadership and questions about what makes it or breaks it when it comes to leading others.

Jonas has a history as a leader in different organizations from public to private companies, to NGOs. He has been responsible for groups, business units, companies with up to 3000 employees and a turnover of 5 billion SEK. Jonas is also a facilitator for network groups and has facilitated more than 500 network meetings where he had the opportunity to meet more than 1500 leaders in Sweden.

In 2020, Jonas picked 25 leaders that inspired him most and dove deep into what made them so special. The conversations he had with those leaders as research for his book is the foundation for our discussion in this interview.

In this episode, you will hear about:

- Is there a specific set of traits that define who will succeed in leading others?

- What's more important: focus on daily operations or visionary communication; awareness of own strengths or weaknesses; curiosity or clarity?

- What can help you as a Leader get people on board and together work towards the company vision?

- Practical tips from us and the Livenar participants on how to actually walk the talk on a daily basis - to be present and to know what your people think, do, and want.

Enjoy and stay Genius,

Connect with Jonas on LinkedIn. If you want to pre-order his book (in Swedish), drop him a message on LinkedIn.

If you want to have invites to the coming Livenars, let me know here. 

Soundtrack copyright:

«Там, куди я йду» (Tam, kudy ya ydu)

Artist: Гурт [О] (Gurt [O])

Music by: Olexander Kasprov, Olga Lytvynenko

Lyrics by: Olga Lytvynenko

(С)&(P) 2020 MASTERSKAYA