By Suzie Lewis
The podcast currently has 124 episodes available.
"AI job automation is gaining more and more ground, but emotional intelligence currently remains irreplaceable by AI."
Vladimer and I discuss insights and strategy around digital transformation, marketing and the importance of personal brand in the digital age. The digital revolution has fundamentally altered how companies operate and engage with their audiences. and our discussion sheds light on the pivotal role of digital marketing and innovation in this transformation. With a strong emphasis on personal branding and direct consumer engagement, we discuss how the power has shifted from traditional media to individuals who master social media.
We also dive deep into the importance of active learning, curiosity, and collaboration as well as analytical thinking. AI knowledge, leadership, resilience, and empathy are key factors that will drive success & keep us competitive in the digital age.
As digital transformation continues to reshape the business landscape, Vladimer offers valuable advice for individuals and companies aiming to thrive. His emphasis on personal branding, consumer engagement, and adaptability provides a clear path to success in navigating the complexities of the digital world.
The main insights you will get from this episode are :
- International experience in the tech industry mentoring companies and entrepreneurs to help them remain relevant in the digital world - power has shifted dramatically with social media from big corporations to human beings.
- Social media gives consumers a voice and a reaction for the first time in the history of marketing and communication and stops brands interrupting while open-minded entrepreneurs communicate openly with clients (e.g. Elon Musk).
- Personal branding is everything in the streaming economy and is at the heart of competitive advantage - large organisations must rise to this challenge by becoming consumer-centric, not boardroom-centric.
- In the new world order, David surpasses Goliath with speed, agility, lifelong learning, open-mindedness and open communication – the market decides what is good these days (cf. Spotify, Airbnb, etc. who solve consumers’ problems).
- Traditional, tried-and-tested (marketing) strategies no longer work; companies must build a great customer experience, reinvent themselves, be experimental/ inventive, think long-term and listen to their consumers (‘listening businesses’).
- Authenticity and openness are paramount, and content drives business. AI will lower operational costs and replace large chunks of the global workforce by 2030 - the only sustainable option in the digital age is to build a personal brand.
- Personal brands are built through storytelling, gratitude, consistency, passion, openness, curiosity, communication and transparency – they must educate consumers, become the best publishers of information, and build not sell.
- AI will generate followers/influencers and disrupt jobs – this requires organisations to undergo a huge mindset shift towards permanent reinvention and being proactive as opposed to reactive.
- WEF skills for the future include self-efficacy, working with others, analytical thinking, creative thinking, leadership, social influence, resilience, flexibility, agility, empathy and active listening.
- Great content can be created and then spread across different platforms to billions of social media users with very few resources and at no cost (iPhone, YouTube, etc.).
- We can become unicorns through blogging and gaining momentum through consistent hard work - forward-thinkers push us on and provide the right surroundings to succeed.
- AI is the bloodline of the contemporary business landscape and offers great tools, e.g. Midjourney for web design and graphic media; Mixo for building websites without coding; Descript for video generation; Grammarly for text.
- AI will automate tasks, analyse data, improve CX, reduce costs and boost productivity; businesses will increase their use of AI and signal a new era of digitalisation.
- An emotional connection to the world cannot be replaced by AI, which gives us an advantage – we must focus on patience, flexibility, attention to detail, and leadership.
- AI can improve business efficiency and will create (AI) influencers – to stay relevant, brands should showcase their authenticity and personality and use AI (hyper)personalisation to drive growth and optimise their workforce.
- To succeed we must start small, build gradually, be patient, and provide value to create content; active daily learning moves us forward as we live through the biggest culture shift of all time – there are 30+ social media channels, so choose wisely and select a few to use well!
Find out more about Vladimer and his work here :
https://www.vladimerbotsvadze.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimerbotsvadze/recent-activity/all/
https://www.instagram.com/vladimerbotsvadze/
@VladoBotsvadze (X/Twitter)
"Everybody, essentially, deep down on a personal level, wants the same thing.”
A brilliant and humbling conversation with John Marks where we delve into the power of social entrepreneurship as a transformative force that blends positive change with financial sustainability. We look at the 11 principles John has taken from his work in international conflict resolution and what it means to fully empower yourself and others and embrace adaptive leadership.
We discuss the need to decrease the defensive, reactive tendencies we have, regulate our emotions, and add intentionality in order to be more effective adaptive leaders - eventually it must come naturally. We discuss various initiatives, such as improving U.S.-Iran relations through “wrestling diplomacy,” and reflect on John’s own transition from opposition-focused activism to collaboration-centered leadership, promoting a “win-win” approach. It is important to be defined not by what you are against but what you are working for – this paradigm shift can be transformative for people as leaders and as individuals.
We look at the challenges of collaborative problem-solving at different scales, the consistent principles of mediation, and the importance of active listening and mediation in leadership and other insights to improve business culture.
John generously shares insights and stories from his wealth of knowledge and wisdom from working with international actors and conflicts across the globe. If you are passionate about creating positive change in the world but unsure how to balance your ideals with financial sustainability listen here to the rest of this episode which unpacks the rich insights from his transformative book, “From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship.”
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- Vision is to create a more peaceful world and deal with conflict peacefully; applied visionaries use the ideas of mediation to resolve problems and set up processes to deal with problems.
- Social entrepreneurship is a means to try and make the world a better place for someone with the skills to launch an initiative and make it happen, beyond themselves, without financial gain as the primary goal.
- Having purpose can find resources for and with us, e.g. the SFCG mantra is to understand differences and act on commonalities, i.e. find ways for people to agree, starting with what is possible, and building trust during the process to resolve the conflict.
- An inclusive approach is based on everyone essentially wanting the same thing and commonalities can be used to bring people together, e.g. sport – building teams, both sides being ready and willing.
- Example of ‘wrestling diplomacy’ [when the US wrestling team visited Iran] gained press coverage and provided leverage for further signalling at a political level – different motivations for different parties but all benefited.
- It is important to be defined not by what you are against but what you are working for – this paradigm shift can be transformative for people as leaders and as individuals.
- ‘Yesable propositions’ offer win-wins that make you more attractive to others; it doesn’t mean getting everything you want, rather the maximum you can get, and the same for the other side.
- Essential mediation skills are paired with the skills to put together the process, and generally require two different people with two different skillsets; difference should be used as a positive lever.
- The goal is collaborative problem-solving across all manner of boundaries - the more people are involved in a conflict, the harder it is to resolve, and it is tricky to achieve the scale of reaching multitudes of people.
- Soap operas for social change aim to represent the diversity of society; they are based on common ground and as such can change attitudes through repetition, familiarity and relatability.
- Napoleon’s ‘on s’engage et puis on voit’ approach involves trusting the process and letting things unfold – many of the best ideas come from what has already happened: adaptive management is a good approach for social entrepreneurs.
- 80% of work is about showing up, and operational work is important for leaders to keep them grounded. Persistence is required to deeply engage in a project; capitalise on people’s energy; gain credibility; and scale a trust base.
- Often easier to implement in social enterprise than in business (profit is not the ultimate end) – conflict resolution in business is implicit rather than explicit, e.g. the ‘track 2 process’ charts the unofficial, parallel things that go on.
- Patience is required for long-term projects; also helpful is the aikido strategy of not reacting adversarially, but rather diverting the opponent’s energy for the benefit of both parties.
- We need to decrease the defensive, reactive tendencies we have, regulate our emotions, and add intentionality in order to be more effective adaptive leaders - eventually it must come naturally.
- ‘Yesable propositions’ must understand the audience, accept them for what they are and work with them to try to find a workaround; when you can’t change the situation that exists, acceptance is the only option (cf. Zen).
- Most transformative accomplishment is to prove what is possible: start something, engage with it, stay with the vision, and do something that makes your heart sing.
Find out more about John and his work here :
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-marks-36a3569/
"Its the story not the tech that is the bridge between whether an idea gets funded and gets to market ."
A fun conversation with Susan about the power of stories for the human brain. We delve into the eclectic journey that she travelled to link storytelling and innovation. The human need for connection is ever present, particularly in a digitally connected world. Human connection is about having empathy and understanding others’ situations – essential for innovation & effective collaboration, which requires behaviour change.
The role of stories in creating followers and convincing people is as old as time, and people don’t change much; the prophets moved the word around the world, making them the greatest viral marketers of all time. There is so much power in stories, especially the ones we tell ourselves, which are instrumental in helping or hindering both innovation and collaboration..
We discuss all this and lots more as Susan shares her insights, stories and experiences from working with people & leaders all around the globe .
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- The common trait for innovation is an insatiable curiosity – innovators are constantly asking questions, talking and telling stories with a desire to tell other people.
- The human need for connection is about having empathy and understanding others’ situations – essential for innovation, which requires behaviour change.
- The advent of the Internet made it clear that the story was the bridge between new tech/ideas and how to get people to change their behaviour around interacting with the technologies.
- A ‘tech translator’ needs to use plain language to tell a relatable story that matters to the readers, and CIOs need to take the same approach; they must become storytellers themselves to get the funding/recognition they deserve.
- The role of stories in creating followers and convincing people is as old as time, and people don’t change much; the prophets moved the word around the world, making them the greatest viral marketers of all time.
- How did they succeed in selling an idea that wasn’t visible to our human minds, and persuading us to continue sharing their stories long after their death?
1. They relied on a shared history and looked for common ground (orthodoxy vs. progressivism); evidenced by similar calendars/rituals across religions.
2. Their basis was in core values; behaviour change requires new, worthwhile values to replace old ones that are no longer sufficient.
3. Their message was memorable; an innovative message requires momentum for other people to adopt it - stories create both memory and momentum.
4. They got other people to tell it; identify early adopters who will absorb the message and amplify it, pre-programming others to share it.
5. The made good use of language; rallying cries ground people to the mission of change.
- There will always be doubt, even among early adopters, and impactful communication varies among national cultures – we must be clear about the cultural values in the tribe we are currently in.
- Empathy mapping asks what matters to the listener: What does my listener need to hear to say yes? What is the pain of saying yes? How do I tell a story that mitigates risk? What is the gain for my listener? [think, feel, do, say]
- Corporate athletes must become amazing listeners before they can become good storytellers by asking their teams for the context before the content; practicing telling the story; and adapting it to other cultures.
- According to McKinsey, storytelling is one of the top 40 skillsets every executive must have in order to be able to explain and ask for money - pitching is now part of the innovator’s job description as a result of the startup culture.
- Intrapreneurship programs are aimed at avoiding messy M&As and scientists must become intrapreneurs who budget for the breakthrough.
- Communication science is not valued enough; many technologies are generated by the spoken word, as opposed to the written word, and it is a good thing to create shortcuts and make life easier, but without losing authenticity.
- The bigger quest is to ensure that no innovation is lost due to not having a story to help the listener understand it better or because their value was not understood - changemakers need help and tools to tell their story.
- Behaviour change also involves understanding how stories can bring about huge change (e.g. at the ballot box), but it starts with the story we tell ourselves, which is often the hardest one to stomach.
- Communities in a digital world should approach behavioural change/innovation with empathetic listening and appreciative enquiry: What is working now? Where is the good? This is the starting point.
- Shared history is often painful, but there is strength in that - we connect over trauma rather than triumph, and building communities is a way to innovate (even though it can feel unfamiliar).
- The story of innovation is that developments are now faster and more intuitive; the lean methodology and short innovation sprints make us more supple and flexible and able to look at the learnings from failure.
- Can we listen even more to our past, present and future, and to those around us? Stories are 22 times more memorable than facts: What do I want people to remember? What do I need them to do? What emotion do they need to feel to take action? What do I need them to say and do?
Find out more about Susan and her work here :
https://innovationstorytellers.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanjlindner/
"At the heart of it is finding and speaking with your own voice..."
Nausheen shares her journey from corporate to public speaking coach, and highlights the interplay between confidence and fear, advocating for positive self-talk and learning from failure, illustrated by her personal story and experiences. Finding and speaking with your own true voice is very unusual - particularly in women – and many people are self-silencing or silenced by others. Helping them involves addressing mindset, message, and delivery (in that order).
We delve into the importance of effective communication tools and different approaches, and the importance of finding one’s voice, establishing a personal brand, active listening, overcoming self-doubt, and intentional message sharing to attract audiences and achieve success. It is never too early to start telling your story – being more public and vocal is a good way to build a business, build your confidence and attract people. Breaking away from the conventional path can be a transformative experience – not always easy, but it grants a great sense of autonomy by creating a new identity, building creative resilience and showing ourselves and others that reinvention is possible.
Nausheen generously shares her stories, experience and insights from working with senior leaders across the globe.
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- A varied career path and eclectic entrepreneurial adventure led to the realisation that anyone should be able to give their best performance in front of a camera; coaching executives is very fulfilling and aligns with her own passions.
- Finding and speaking with your own true voice is very unusual - particularly in women – and many people are self-silencing or silenced by others. Helping them involves addressing mindset, message, and delivery (in that order).
- It is possible to fake confidence but not advisable, as the performative aspect allows the projection of confidence without feeling it; in the absence of confidence, we must create a virtuous cycle by proving to ourselves we can do it.
- This requires the right tools and debriefing after speaking commitments to learn lessons for the future and filter knowledge of the subject into understandable messages that will be remembered, not minimising good content with poor delivery.
- The approach depends on the individual: introverts who are shy, hate the spotlight, and perform sub optimally require lots of mindset work; confident, ambitious people who develop very specific patterns of speaking and presenting and perform sub optimally require lots of work on message and delivery.
- Fear and confidence can coexist, but fear must not get in the way of performance - we take action to overcome the fear: people feel scared, do the scary thing and this action creates the virtuous cycle to feed the next scary thing.
- Confident people talk to themselves and impact their future action positively by taking accountability for doing well (sense of control); insecure people blame themselves and do not let wins positively affect their confidence (removes agency).
- Scary things are the worthwhile things; we must reframe what fear brings in a creative way and do away with negative self-talk, recognising that failure is part of progress.
- Building a practice to reframe failure means learning from experience and taking action to prevent failure, e.g. recognising red flags in behaviour and being a better listener to receive information with judgement.
- It is never too early to start telling your story – being more public and vocal is a good way to build a business and attract people.
- Breaking away from the conventional path is a transformative experience – very difficult, but it grants a great sense of autonomy by creating a new identity, proving resilience and showing that reinvention is possible.
- Know what you stand for and intentionally look for opportunities to broadcast your message: do new things to find your voice and spread a worthwhile message impactfully – a conviction of success will see doors opening through which you can then walk.
Find out more about Nausheen and her work here :
https://www.speaking.coach/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nausheenichen/?locale=fr_FR
"I really value peer learning, thats where it all happens.. that's how culture spreads in your organisation"
A fun and insightful conversation with Michelle about the future of learning and the importance of creating impactful and interactive learning experiences.
Lifelong learning is essential in today's complex world and we need to understand what this means for us as leaders, and how we can equip organisations to create a sustainable learning culture. We delve into the dynamic shift towards digital and social learning environments in the workplace, and what that means for the concept of power and for practitioning - for the way we think, act and interact on a daily basis.
The challenge for leaders trying to pioneer a culture of learning is the ability to be vulnerable and demonstrate their own learning. Learning is currently not a KPI so is not ‘popular’ as such - in fact, it is one of the first budgets to be cut when organisations need to tighten their belt, yet it is part of what will maintain competitive advantage.. We need to understand how to embrace the new learning paradigm, tools and approaches and how to create the conditions for a culture of learning to become the norm. Only then can we expect innovation, business results and well being to happen at scale..
Michelle generously shares her stories, experience and research from working with academics and leaders around the globe.
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- A strategic practitioner and leader who values peer learning and is satisfying demand for how to do learning differently and apply it practically.
- Learning has evolved hugely, not least digitally thanks to Covid - digital learning has moved from e-learning to a much more interactive form to demonstrate that it works, and we can do things differently and better.
- The communication tool of Zoom became a learning tool as it transcended geographical boundaries, and we all had to immerse ourselves in a new environment - Covid provided a skills uplift / new skillset.
- Digital body language is important to read a room online - this is difficult for face-to-face practitioners, such as teachers, but has revolutionised coaching, for example.
- Teachers need training (‘lift and shift’, e.g. with generative AI) and the current exam system does not teach for future skills – the education system needs to look at the future of work.
- There is resistance to genAI as people worry about their jobs but its accessibility can be amplified by digital - face-to-face plus closed captions, personalisation, additional support and linguistic tools all make learning more inclusive.
- The challenge for leaders trying to pioneer a culture of learning is the ability to be vulnerable and demonstrate their own learning; learning is currently not a KPI so is not ‘popular’.
- Reverse mentoring, whereby a less experienced person mentors a more experienced person in any given setting, is useful as a means to show vulnerability and demonstrate how productive it can be.
- Openly talking about learning as a two-way process involving self-awareness and humility should be the norm, and everyone should have a learning KPI, e.g. 10% - this learning can also be from mistakes that are then spoken about.
- Good leaders are humble, curious and require both people skills and technical skills – flatter structures promote not only technical brilliance, but also take into account the softer people skills.
- Those on the edges are always looking for new ways of doing things, questioning and sense-making but transferring old-school thinking into a flat organisation does not work as personal agency and collective objectives are less clear.
- Schools are teaching skills for flat organisations, i.e. discernment, critical thinking, an understanding of cause and effect, but hierarchical organisations do not need them and young people are being ‘squashed’ by the system.
- Thanks to digital, younger people think more in systems terms, which is very useful for DE&I, for example - people must understand that they are both the problem and the solution.
- Making things personal helps them understand how they are relevant, where they are in the system and where their organisation sits in the bigger system/ society/ world.
- The triple bottom line with a people first approach eases friction and profit follows as culture, learning and organisations don’t exist without people - like sustainability, learning needs to be a buzzword to enable people to transform.
- The focus must be on people and making life real, unlike traditional management theory, which separates personal and work life, leading to a huge impact on mental health, the planet, etc.
- Digital does not equal environmentally friendly – we must question everything, change our habits and have the discipline to think and act differently, both individually and collectively, to change the system one habit at a time.
- Transformation and the opportunity to create new habits needs the permission, environment, culture, space and ultimately leadership to do so [cf. Learning Habits by Sarah Nicholl; Designing Accessible Learning Content by Susi Miller; Nancy Kline’s ‘thinking environment’].
- Vision for the future of learning: * eco-learning and working; * learning that embraces sustainability and openness; * collaboration with high-quality conversations and different models for leadership learning.
- Context is everything and must be understood, and you must also be fluent in the language of your business - dig for evidence, answer questions and find the model that works.
Find out more about Michelle and her work here :
https://www.kairosmodernlearning.co.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleparryslater/
" life is about taking risks, I don't think you get incredible rewards without incredible risks..... the best things in life are often risky"
A brilliant conversation with Vera Quinn about how to successfully navigate business challenges and opportunities. Vera puts the focus on people and what we can learn from each other if we are open to embracing this. we live in a world where life and systems in general are set up to reward people who are ‘right’ – a leader's goal should be to have smart people and give them a voice for the right answer to come through dialogue/brainstorming.
We discuss the power of people in a digital world and how this can translate into business growth. We delve into valuing collaboration, diverse perspectives, learning from failures, risk management and understanding cultural differences as a way of finding strategies to manage the different pressures in the workplace. Vera also addresses managing CEO pressures, focusing on impactful work, self-improvement, and aligning actions with goals. We also explore true success through peace and contentment, the transformative impact of therapy, and the importance of taking action to overcome challenges and pursue personal growth and positive influence.
If you’ve ever wondered how to navigate the complex landscape of business growth while staying true to your roots, listen to the full episode where Vers generously shares her experience, wisdom and inspiration.
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- People can be whatever, whoever and however they want, from both a potential and self-worth perspective - transient states do not define us.
- Seeing life through an immigrant lens was very influential personally and professionally to strive for a better life; a formative experience in a sales job talking to people on the doorstep was an opportunity to learn about values.
- Big moves and changes or once-in-a-lifetime experiences can be very rewarding but require risk and risk-taking is integral to entrepreneurship.
- Life and systems in general are set up to reward people who are ‘right’ – the goal of a leader should be to have smart people and give them a voice for the right answer to come through dialogue/brainstorming.
- Leaders can reward speaking up, collaborating and pushing back to encourage risk-taking, and can role model the behaviour of only having the right answer 10% of the time (and reward the process instead).
- Tolerating risk reframes failure, and failure is what happens when we give up: risk is a part of life and failure is a learning, with role models coming in all shapes and sizes – both younger and older.
- Bias training looks at everyone’s unique set of experiences and lens on the world: we need to stop and understand others’ lenses and appreciate that different cultures are real by valuing feedback from other perspectives.
- It will take time to have more women in leadership, but women must organise, support, teach, and advocate for each other – the system will not keep women out as 50% of talent is women and businesses need good talent.
- Employers must understand why there are fewer women in the pipeline for digital and tech – how can we fix the process, make the roles attractive to women? Barriers take time to break down and there is residue bias in older generations.
- The pressure of being a successful CEO is created by the stories we tell ourselves. A commitment to provide an opportunity for employees to create a better life for themselves means focusing on what is important.
- A person’s legacy is forgotten after two generations so it is far better to make the here and now count. In developed countries, we have a responsibility to be the best version of ourselves as we can, having won the birth lottery.
- Delivering on commitments for the long term means eliminating, automating and delegating for productivity and involves a constant cycle to find the highest and best use of your time.
- Definition of success: to feel peace (nothing to do with business) and understand what peace means - peace is about acceptance, not trying to change, being present in the moment and being ok with it.
- Transformative personal experiences from which we change and learn allow us to influence the most people and this flows out into professional life - leadership is an inside job that can influence the culture at work.
- Life is short so we must take the step and not shy away from challenge and regardless of the outcome, we will be better for it - everyone has power in their circle of influence.
- People are always willing to help but we need to ask for it – we are not alone if we don’t want to be; we can change our state immediately by moving in a different direction.
"Tough on results tender on people is really the ultimate yin yan of humble leadership"
A great conversation with Urs as we delve into the realms of humble leadership and how we can consciously create this practice. We take a dive into the transformative potential of radical humility in leadership and how it can revolutionise the way you lead and connect with your team.
Urs's experiences as a peace-keeper gave him a unique perspective on leadership, which he generously shares with us. In environments where lives are at stake, the ability to build trust and foster relationships is paramount. Effective leadership is not just about making decisions but about understanding and connecting with people on a deeper level. This requires a balance of humility and confidence—a delicate dance that can lead to remarkable outcomes as you master the process intentionally.
As diverse teams become more frequent, understanding and bridging generational gaps can lead to a more harmonious and productive work environment. This also requires leaders to be humble, adaptable and open-minded, willing to learn from the unique perspectives each generation brings to the table.
Urs shares his insights, stories and experience to date from all angles : his peace-keeping missions, his experience as an ultra athlete, as a father and from working with leaders all over the globe.
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- An important part of leading with radical humility is to ask bigger and more difficult questions and not judging when dealing with different value systems, for example.
- Non-humble leaders need to be shown what teams can achieve by a humble leader in a top-down control culture looking down, controlling their own team and demonstrating their ability.
- Leaders can be humble and confident, humble and decisive, or humble and ambitious; fundamental self-confidence is required to humbly invite feedback; and being ambitious is about asking hard questions.
- Leaders should show vulnerability and role model humility: demonstrating appropriate vulnerability is one of the quickest ways to build trust as people admire perfection but can’t relate to it.
- Shifting from ‘then’ leadership (top-down command control in the industrial age) to ‘now’ leadership (with humility) by developing deep self-awareness; training the feedback muscle; and realising the value of focus and the importance of failing successfully.
- The most important factor in teams are relationships, so treat others as you would like to be treated and lead like a compass – the true test of leadership is how things function in the absence of the leader.
- Lead with a shared purpose and with full transparency – share your imperfections, your decision-making and your thought processes, engaging in the ‘thinking person’s sport’.
- Focus should be on organisational leadership as opposed to individual leadership excellence – create a fearless culture, take responsibility for how your team members interact, provide psychological safety, and be direct.
- Leaders must ask for help and acknowledge and show gratitude for feedback: there is great value in learning together experientially – in different situations, teams have to rely on each other, regardless of rank.
- The network age is the fog of war with generational and technological changes, and the ‘fog of work’ presents us with a very complex environment: like the immune system, a team gets stronger when it is tested.
- A multi-generational workforce brings with it opportunities and challenges: to equip the next generation to be radically humble requires teaching a growth mindset, self-mastery and empathy.
- A growth mindset means that we must overcome our own assumptions, become less judgemental and understand others’ views - we are all works in progress and must do the hard work of honing both intentional practices and a laser focus.
- Assuming too much trust is a mistake but start small by revealing something a bit more personal and seeing what comes back, i.e. initiating the vulnerability loop.
Find our more about Urs and his work here :
https://www.urskoenig.com/
https://www.instagram.com/koenigurs
https://www.linkedin.com/in/urs-koenig-ab3828/
"it is about enabling a bigger version of ourself...People are only in their head, not in their heart and solar plexus."
Katja and I delve into the world of purpose, spirituality and business, looking at demystifying the subject and exploring how we can connect more effectively to our inner wisdom.
We explore the concept of “universal intelligence” and the importance of personal beliefs, connecting with unseen energies, and uncovering internal strengths. Katya shares her journey from the corporate world to spiritual work, stressing the significance of challenging assumptions and being open-minded.
In an age where the rush of everyday life often drowns out our inner voices, we discuss the positive impact of spirituality in corporate environments by fostering sensitivity, awareness, and intuition, while also encouraging individuals to explore their spiritual capacities and seek guidance for personal development. Letting go and letting things unfold creates a conducive environment, which is necessary both professionally and personally, but even the education system frames emotions and sensibilities as weaknesses.
katja shares her personal story and insights from her journey from the corporate world to spiritual work, and how important it is in today's busy and interconnected world to really connect to something bigger than us.
The main insights you will get from this episode are :
- Spiritual is defined variously as believing in a greater power to connect to if we choose or believing in the existence of something beyond the physical and material world; it is not linked to religious or esoteric beliefs.
- This ‘power’ will not harm us, but help us by adding to our thoughts, emotions and sensitivity; helping us to develop our sixth sense; giving us access to the invisible; and teaching us as we become part of our ‘spirit team’, which is not static, but changes over time.
- It makes us aware of our unused capabilities and our own immense potential and enables us to exchange with our physical dimension (e.g. in the form of plants, animals) but also with another dimension, as it all revolves around energy, which is everywhere and can change everything.
- The spiritual world depends on personal parameters but is commonly known as ‘God force’, the ‘divine’, or ‘universal intelligence/consciousness’ - the key to accessing it to remain open, flexible and tolerant in the absence of scientific proof (today).
- Connecting to something bigger is a hot topic at the moment in terms of having purpose – it keeps us humble and makes us realise that we don’t know everything. We must listen to what is said/not said and tune into the different energies around us.
- The corporate and spiritual worlds are compatible, e.g. in terms of leading with purpose, sensitivity and empathy, as healing and mediumship help us improve on all levels, understand ourselves better, and realise how big we are (many environments, e.g. corporate, make/keep us small).
- Orientation and guidance are helpful in both private and professional lives, giving us increased sensitivity and awareness, raising our consciousness of our own value, helping us validate ourselves, granting us inner freedom and wellbeing to overcome challenges and leave our comfort zones.
- Talking about spirituality openly brought more positive reactions than expected. The law of attraction means that people who want or need it will come, and a grounded vision of mediumship and healing helps blend the spiritual life with ‘normal’ life.
- Own experience of the spiritual world guided Katja to the truth, reduced her resistance to negative feelings and left her intrigued but not afraid - this curiosity in turn led to learning, (re)training, taking a calculated risk and ultimately being far more fulfilled.
- Her business is made operational by: * intuitive coaching; * spiritual healing for emotional and physical issues (but always in support of and never instead of conventional medicine); * evidential consultations (communication with loved ones in the spiritual world); * personal development tools (intuitive reading, mind-to-mind/soul-to-soul connection for personal challenges/issues); * spiritual guidance (mediumistic connection); * spirit-inspired auragraphs based on spirit art; * conferences/workshops to teach mediumship (as everyone has the innate capacity).
- Working with/exchanging energy means it can be done anywhere in the world (via screen) as there are no geographical boundaries; open questions work better as there are no ‘answers’ or predictions for the future.
- It is a powerful and transformative process that enables belief in oneself, overcoming fears, and silencing the inner critic to reveal our true self and true capabilities in all our imperfections.
- Letting go and letting things unfold creates a conducive environment, which is necessary both professionally and personally, but even the education system frames emotions and sensibilities as weaknesses.
- Empathy is not valued in society, and is mostly displaced by logic and reason, yet personal development is required both to be a good medium and a good manager! People are only in their head, not in their heart and solar plexus.
- The more we can bring about this shift in both organisations and society, the more we can build bridges between the two worlds to take people further in life - being a leader is also about the way you lead your life and the inner work you do.
- The best way to find that deeper connection is to seek a professional spiritual guide who understands the ethics of the mechanisms of mediumship - fostering a trusting relationship with the guide will open the door and send out signals for the spiritual world to work with you.
Find out more about Katja and her work here :
https://kemhealing.fr/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katja-rehse
"Tech is no longer niche, but fundamental to life in Industry 4.0..."
A great conversation with Anne-Marie Imafidon about the importance of women’s involvement in technology as well as the importance of breaking stereotypes and having diverse voices around the table for inclusive product development. Tech is no longer niche, but fundamental to life in Industry 4.0 and it is dangerous to have a small number and limited range of people making tech decisions that are also social, moral, political and ethical decisions.
Anne Marie and I discuss tech fluency, democratising tech access and how to foster these diverse voices, distributing power differently and understanding that technology allows us to have a multiplicity of experiences. Diverse voices lead to more inclusive product development, which is crucial for the success of any tech venture in today’s world. A call to action for us all to get curious, get involved and take control. Through her multiple tech ventures, authorship of the insightful book “She’s in Ctrl,” and tireless efforts in systemic change focusing on Science, tech, engineering, Arts and maths, we discuss how to make shaping a more inclusive future a reality from an individual, collective and societal perspective.
Anne-Marie shares her thoughts, insights, stories, humour and incredible vision for recognising women’s historical contributions and addressing male-dominated industry challenges whilst advocating for a lens of continuous learning amid the 4th industrial revolution to ensure more inclusive technology moving forward.
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- Passionate about future-looking tech ventures; breaking stereotypes around access to tech for women; engaging with tech and other people to improve society; and looking to effect systemic change.
- We are making progress in terms of talking about women in tech but currently they are not high-profile and the ‘herstory’ is hidden, which is both frustrating and perilous.
- Tech is no longer niche, but fundamental to life in Industry 4.0 - it is dangerous to have a small number and limited range of people making tech decisions that are also social, moral, political and ethical decisions.
- All decisions about tech carry risks, can be wrong or even harmful on both an individual and wider level; the biggest mitigation lever is to have as many different perspectives as possible.
- If multiple elements are missing from the tech, it becomes harmful when deployed - we must see the value in everyone; overlooking huge tranches of society can have serious consequences.
- We must value the impact of tech as opposed to simply its prowess, understand that it enables a multiplicity of experiences to be reflected and this is a serious responsibility; our default is to think that tech is neutral, but it isn’t.
- Divergent thinking is absent in our (convergent) education system and in organisations: no company is an island, e.g. what they do affects the supply chain, customers, and ultimately society at large.
- The exponential speed of tech alongside the glacial speed of societal change means that technological advancement will create more problems than it solves.
- Education must transform for learning to take precedence over knowledge – we need the right structures and support for teachers to stay in post and a culture of learning at all ages and not just in formal spaces.
- The Institute for the Future of Work looks at upskilling, the new knowledge that is being created, and promoting wellbeing at work through the deployment of tech - an agile learning loop that requires an agile mindset.
- Tech fluency is about digital literacy and fluency, understanding ‘the basics’ that are applied in different scenarios, but today’s basics may no longer be relevant in five years’ time.
- Government policy is the biggest lever for democratising access to tech and digital, e.g. civically inspired policy, long-term investment in and funding for national infrastructure.
- The next 10 years should see formative, positive STEM/STEAM experiences; career permeability into and out of the tech sector; and a more robust policy ecosystem with improved technical literacy.
- CTA: read Better Allies, Everyday action to create inclusive, engaging workplaces by Karen Catlin; pursue social justice projects such as yesstem’s Equity Compass; engage young people; make high-quality mistakes.
Find out more about Anne-Marie & her work here :
https://aimafidon.com/
https://www.instagram.com/notyouraverageami/
https://stemettes.org/
https://www.ifow.org/
"Don't be fooled by shiny technology... have a look at your business pain points and what problems you need to solve first"
Matt and I delve into the world of driving sustainable digital transformation with all its pitfalls and iterative loops. We unwrap the journey of digital transformation in organisations - which is inevitably fraught with challenges - from enacting organisational change to managing career risks and adapting to the rapid evolution of emerging technologies. Organisational stamina is however one of the biggest challenges we face - not giving up at the first success or failure, but organisations are like people – always looking for a quick fix.
We delve into how taking a systems thinking lens can be transformative, especially coupled with the revolutionary potential of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in industries like construction, which have historically been skeptical of technological advancements due to past disappointments. Generative AI and LLMs, despite the challenges exemplified by Google’s struggles with bias, are lauded for their capacity to revolutionise data management and processing. They promise a future where complex data is not just managed but harnessed to drive decisions, optimize processes, and ultimately, catalyze growth. - leaving time for the more complex human elements to be top of mind. For technology implementation to be successful, it must be rooted in continuous progress, systemic analysis, and the dismantling of operational silos through collaboration and empathy.
Matt shares his insights from his career to date, and the model he developed of how to successfully implement digital transformation - work done right !
The main insights you'll get from this episode are :
- Work Done Right is a collection of lessons learned from various industries with common themes of how best to achieve or not to achieve digital transformation.
- Society needs infrastructure but is not good at providing it on time and on budget; we must improve processes using technology to help project leaders get it right first time.
- The Work Done Right methodology is about process, culture and systems thinking – we must view projects holistically as interconnected wholes rather than in silos.
- Within the system, we must define the quality we want and the systems we need to achieve it but work quality requires a speak up culture, akin to speaking up about health and safety for the greater good.
- Human error can cause problems but there are rarely systems in place for errors to happen, i.e. people do not speak up about quality/process failures - tech and engineering are very knowledgeable but fail to take account of human factors that are part of the processes/system.
- Translatability of ways of working from one industry to another is very beneficial, e.g. energy companies approaching other industries that have a good track record for safety of operations in hazardous environments, e.g. aviation.
- Systems engineering and systems thinking can be used to ‘engineer out’ value risk. Any large organisation naturally builds up silos over time due to specialisation and bureaucracy but derisking is important as doing things differently entails risk.
- There are competing elements of culture and technology at play in the explore-exploit scenario - change is often initiated for the sake of it without recognising the good reasons why systems are put in place.
- ‘Splashy technology syndrome’ describes situations in which people desire digital transformation but are distracted by the current tech hype cycle, e.g. crypto, IoT, AI, etc. – FOMO takes over in the rush to use new tech, but any disappointment in the result reinforces the conservative bias.
- GenAI can be transformational but should not be used for long-term business decisions. There is a widespread data problem in that most data is not used, but LLMs can make sense of messy data, and using 60% of data instead of 10% equates to a huge competitive advantage.
- Long-term, there will always a place for humans - human decision-making and experience are irreplaceable, but success will depend on using gen AI and LLMs to improve our decision-making.
- The OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop designed by the military can be applied to any competitive endeavour, can be incentivised and is iterative (build, measure, learn) - it aligns incentives with successful implementation and offers organisations the opportunity to develop a learning mindset through repetition.
- Organisational stamina is the biggest challenge we face - not giving up at the first success or failure, but organisations are like people – looking for a quick fix.
- Organisations must determine failure points and rectify them there and then before progressing, with no blame game and no catastrophising - identify why a business objective is not being reached and deploy the OODA loop repeatedly to move forward.
Find out more about Matt and his work here :
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kleimanmatthew/
https://cumulusds.com/
The podcast currently has 124 episodes available.
241 Listeners