An end of Season 2 update from Kate Arms.

In Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini explore why top-down governance and rule-bound management are liabilities in the modern business world, what organizational changes are needed to equip and enable everyone in organizations to be their best and to do their best, how to manage transitions safely, and what kind of leadership such transformations demand.

Kate Arms leads Alyssa Dickman and Nitya Shekar in a discussion of Humanocracy. We talk about how organizational structures and cultures hold great people back and what leaders need to do to change that.

We discuss how human-centred organizational design can engage employees, reduce attrition, and enable better outcomes more quickly and cheaply.

Listen in if you want to transform your organization into a powerhouse of the modern economy where the best people want to work.

Rick Andrews, Corporate Trainer and Improvisation Teacher, joins us for a discussion of Susan Cain's latest book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. We look at how people and organizations are enriched and empowered by embracing grief, sorrow, and longing.

In Bittersweet, Susan Cain looks at the positive side of unpleasant emotions.

We talk about how comfort with unpleasant emotions enables people and organizations to have the hard conversations, how positivity and humor can be toxic, and how authenticity serves as an antidote.

Listen in if you are interested in how to lead through hard times with integrity.

Featuring Special Guest, Rick Andrews!

Rick Andrews is a trainer, instructor, and coach living in NYC and teaching globally. He is Head Instructor at The Magnet Theater and has been studying, performing, and teaching improvisation since 1999. Rick is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, teaching improvisation in the MFA Acting program.

As an applied improvisation facilitator and trainer, Rick has worked with hundreds of organizations using improvisation techniques and exercises to help meet their needs and grow their skills. Clients have included Google, Spotify, Salesforce, J.P. Morgan, Bloomberg, NBCUniversal, PepsiCo, Ogilvy, Chief, and many more.

You can learn more about him at his website or his LinkedIn.

In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel H. Pink presents research on effective motivation and the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Despite the runaway success of the book, corporate management has done a surprisingly poor job of implementing these ideas. 

Alyssa Dickman leads a discussion of Drive with Nitya Shekar and Kate Arms. We talk about how people are motivated and the ways organizational structures can inhibit or support motivation.

We discuss the relationship between creativity and motivation, the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, how monetizing passion and purpose can backfire, flow, employee engagement, and how to optimize incentives for the goals that matter. We dig into why optimizing for the short term can create long-term challenges and how motivational feedback loops can mislead us.

Listen in if you are interested in designing organizations and building teams that enable motivation, innovation, and creativity.

In Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It), Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic discusses why so many organizations equate leadership potential with destructive personality traits like overconfidence, narcissism, and psychopathy. He shares what qualities we should be looking for and valuing instead and suggests new systems and processes that can help organizations put the right people in charge.

Kate Arms leads a discussion of Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It) by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic with Alyssa Dickman and Nitya Shekar. We talk about why it is so easy for incompetent men to become leaders and why it is so hard for competent men and women to advance.

We discuss the relationship between narcissism and perceived competence, the difference between confidence and competence, why women leaders outperform men, and how to make sure your company hires the right people for leadership.

Listen in if you are interested in hiring better leaders or how to get more women into leadership.

In Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life, Francesca Gino discusses the importance of defying the status quo for both personal life satisfaction and organizational success.

Nitya Shekar, Kate Arms, and Alyssa Dickman discuss Rebel Talent and the importance of innovation for organizations and the power of defying the status quo to create personal fulfillment.

We discuss risk taking, vulnerability, innovation, and creativity.

Listen in if you want to embrace a little more rebellion in your work and life.

Sharon Salzberg is a prominent meditation teacher with a specialization in loving-kindness meditation. In Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, she discusses how meditation practices give us the energy and motivation to sustain the hard work of driving change.

Alyssa Dickman leads a discussion with Kate Arms and Nitya Shekar. We talk about the connection between personal development work and leadership impact.

We discuss the relationship between resilience and grief, the gifts of anger, and how mindfulness creates hope and energy when things are difficult.

Listen in if you yearn for a more personally sustainable way to have impact.

In Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change, Stacey Abrams shares her story and the tools she has used to build a movement for change as a black woman.

Kate Arms and Christine Gautreaux lead a discussion about having influence when you start with a disadvantage.

Special guest Christine Gautreaux brings her stories of having worked on campaigns led by Ms. Abrams to this discussion of the special challenges of leading change when you start with the deck stacked against you.

Listen in if you want to increase the impact of underrepresented populations in organizations or communities.

About Special Guest Christine Gautreaux
Christine Gautreaux, MSW, is dedicated to the pursuit of play, joy, art & social justice. Christine’s superpowers include connecting people, helping folks manifest their dreams, standing up against injustice, and using art to make a difference in the world. She currently uses Interplay to address issues of oppression and racial justice with people living with severe and persistent mental illness or homelessness, women who are refugees, and women who are incarcerated. Christine believes in the power of body wisdom and somatic play to help heal trauma. She also works with professional caregivers, activists, and artists to maintain balance and self-care during these intense times we find ourselves living in. Christine holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Social Work and is a professional speaker, coach, author, and entrepreneur. She is the co-author of Stillpoint: A Caregivers Playbook and the co-host of the Women Connected in Wisdom Podcast.   

Find out more about Christine at her website:  https://www.christinegautreaux.com

Join Christine at an event here:  https://www.linktr.ee/christinegautreauxmsw

Join the Women Connected in Wisdom Community here:  https://www.womenconnectedinwisdom.com

Listen to the Women Connected in Wisdom Podcast here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/women-connected-in-wisdom-podcast/id1556786980

Nitya Shekar leads a discussion of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony by Jay J. Van Bavel, PhD and Dominic J. Packer, PhD. How can leaders harness identity to increase effectiveness?

In The Power of Us, Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer explore the subtle and not-so-subtle ways our sense of identity shapes our perception and behaviour. And they revise the conclusions from some classic studies in psychology based on more nuanced analysis.

NItya, Kate Arms, and Alyssa Dickman discuss how to intentionally create belonging, the impact of leaders' identities on organizations, and how a sense of identity can support or interfere with organizational effectiveness. 

Listen in if you're interested in creating inclusive cultures and belonging everywhere you are.

In Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader's Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You, Anne Morriss and Frances X. Frei discuss not only how to have leadership impact when you are in the room, but also how to keep having impact in your absence.

Alyssa Dickman leads a discussion with Kate Arms and Nitya Shekar about the trust triangle, supporting inclusion as a leader, and strategic collaboration with outside organizations -- with a special look at what love looks like at work.

Listen in if you are committed to leading others in ways that free them from dependence on you.