Lead the Future - Leadership Accountability with Dr. Vince Molinaro

In this insightful podcast, Vince Molinaro engages with Michelle Sangster, CHRO of Eclipse Automation, to explore her three-year transformative journey. The conversation highlights Michelle’s strategic acumen in leading change and driving transformation. It delves into the challenges she faced in doubling the company’s size swiftly, shifting focus from technical expertise to prioritizing people and infrastructure. This pivotal shift paved the way for Eclipse Automation’s acquisition by Accenture, marking a significant evolution in scale and organizational dynamics. The podcast sheds light on the changing landscape of HR leadership, illustrating its critical role in driving business success and organizational transformation. Vince and Michelle’s dialogue is a testament to the resilience and adaptability required for effective HR leadership, emphasizing its impact on fostering a culture of accountability, purpose, and community within the corporate world. 

Key leadership insights to listen for

• “People support what they help create.”
• The role of a leadership contract in facilitating the consolidation and strategic alignment of leadership teams throughout a merger and acquisition (M&A) process. 
• How Michelle redefines HR leadership 
• Human Capital as Infrastructure 
• The Strategic Ecosystem 

On this episode of the Lead the Future Podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro is joined by Frank Stramaglia, General Manager of Astellas Pharma Canada. At the time of this conversation, Astellas is in the middle of a culture transformation. Frank explains how multiple, significant changes in the industry are requiring his organization to operate, deliver, and approach things in totally different ways. 

Frank reflects on the past couple years, in which the organization needed to downsize a few times, and on how they are now needing to pivot and scale up as they prepare to launch multiple products in the near future. Both scenarios have presented different, but equally important challenges. 

Vince and Frank discuss the importance of investing the time to get everyone on board in projects of such high impact and different strategies for doing so.

“I think getting people to get out of their comfort zone is the biggest learning when you’re going through a period like this, we always default back to what I did before, and my experiences, and you have to remind people that while those things can help you, it’s also very important to recognize that the environment we’re in is a unique environment. 

It’s one that none of us have dealt with before. And therefore, we’ve got to really be thinking differently about how we approach business challenges.” 

– Frank Stramaglia

New Gold Canada, Inc.’s Head of HR, Sharon Giraudel joins Dr. Vince Molinaro as a guest on the Lead the Future Podcast to discuss the importance of investing in developing a leadership contract and the vital role Human Resources plays in implementing the strategies, training, and resources for success. 

Leadership Development expert, James Prior, joins Dr. Vince Molinaro as a guest on the Lead the Future Podcast to dive deep into the pitfalls and traps many organizations fall into when addressing leadership development and advice for leaders looking to weave a culture of growth, connectedness, and accountability. 

Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist of Salesforce and Wall Street Best Selling Author, Tiffani Bova, joins Dr. Vince Molinaro as a guest on the Lead the Future Podcast to dive deep into how the employee experience drives growth and innovation in business and common areas of tension between C-suite executives and employees.

In Episode 21 of the Lead the Future™ podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro welcomes Andrew Pateman, VP of People, Culture, and Performance at Canadian Blood Services to discuss leadership accountability, rebuilding workplace culture in a post-pandemic environment, and supporting and identifying emerging leaders within his organization.

Andrew defines how Canadian Blood Services has codified leadership principles into the values of the organization. Andrew instills a “leading with head and heart” value system approach, allowing team members to lead with empathy while at the same time maintaining commitment to ambitious goals.

Key leadership insights to listen for

• How Canada Blood Services navigates the post-pandemic workplace, balancing flexibility, encouraging collaborative workspaces, and diversity, equity, and inclusion at work.
• Andrew’s “head and heart” leadership style, encouraging empathy and commitment to ambitious goals.
• The reinforcement at Canadian Blood Services of a sense of community within its leaders, making sure to have each other’s back, manifesting a culture of mutual accountability.
• Andrew’s views on leadership as a practice, something you keep learning and adjusting. With so many trends and literature, it’s important to learn from those with experience.

In Episode 20 of the Lead the Future™ podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro welcomes Ron Harper, President/CEO of JFE Shoji Power Canada (formerly Cogent Power Incorporated) to discuss leadership accountability and the role it has played in driving success during challenging times. Their conversation dives into the challenges JFE Shoji Power Canada faced (recession, pandemic, change in ownership, etc.) and emphasizes his experience with our leadership training the importance of leadership accountability starting first and foremost with yourself. Ron also goes on to share many more leadership insights from his 25 years at JFE Shoji Power Canada, as well as how he used new Japanese ownership to create a culture shift within the organization to a “one company” mindset.  

In Episode 19 of the Lead the Future™ podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro welcomes Barbara Bahry, VP of Organizational Development with Odlum Brown to discuss leadership accountability and the role it has played in the transformation of culture at Odlum Brown and throughout Barbara’s career experiences. Their conversation dives into the key differentiators that set a company up for success, especially during critical turning points in business. Barbara highlights the results Odlum Brown has experienced over the past 8 years since committing to a culture of leadership accountability and shares her best advice for HR leaders tackling similar challenges. 

While enabling the creation of communities is at the core of her passions and growing tech business, Gina Bianchini, Founder & CEO of Mighty Networks, is also a firm believer in practicing mindfulness to drive focus and purpose in life. Her Purpose30 exercise is designed to help leaders dig into 6 questions that can help frame directives and get to the heart of one's purpose in life. 

This episode of the Lead the Future Podcast with Dr. Vince Molinaro explores this and more with guest Gina Bianchini. Tune in! 

In this episode of the Lead the Future Podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro speaks with Rita McGrath, one of the world’s most prominent and influential thinkers on business strategy. Their conversation takes a deeper look into how to identify and navigate strategic inflection points in business and the importance of having great leadership accountability in place to execute strategy.

“I think organizational growth almost always requires personal growth. And that requires reflection, and it requires practice, and it requires the ability to be uncomfortable, and to see what the next thing is.” – Rita McGrath

Dr. Vince Molinaro is a leadership advisor, speaker, researcher and NY Times bestselling author. His organization Leadership Contract, Inc has helped organizations around the world build the strong leadership cultures they need to lead the future.