MagnoliaTree: Inspiring Brave Leaders

Augustine Pasin and Qi Zhang talk about eastern philosophy and leadership. Qi is a leadership coach and culture change expert. During this episode, you will learn about the iChing wisdom and how to apply it in the leadership field.

With the occasion of IWD, our Host - Augustin Pasin - invites Sabine Gromer, Elke Pichler, and Daliana Ilies to talk about the revolutionary women of the 20th century that achieved an enormous deal for women's rights and, of course, how we came to celebrate International Women's Day.

Elke currently runs the Leadership Academy initiative. Augustine and Elke are co-workers and friends at MagnoliaTree. Together, they explore the theory of adaptive and apply it to the case study of Gandalf from Lord of The Rings.

Reflecting on previous podcast episodes, Sabine Gromer and Augustine Pasin discuss their key takeaways of the past year. To cite one: The journey of developing an advanced leadership style or model is very personal; By revising your individual strengths and weaknesses and refining what you're good at, everyone can develop their very own leadership capabilities.

But what does it really mean to be a good leader? Earnings per share cannot be the benchmark for good quality c-suite leadership. Building Trust and treating people with dignity is now getting more relevant than ever. 

Elke Pichler is a consultant, trainer, and coach. She is the founder of Impactory - the largest Austrian donation platform and YTILI Fellow 2021/22. Elke studied real estate management, business administration, and business psychology, is a trained personality trainer and systemic coach. In these roles, she accompanies various organizations, lectures at universities, and mentors students and founders. Appreciation, curiosity, and openness are her guiding principles. 

Dr. Donna Hicks is an Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She facilitated dialogues in numerous unofficial diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Colombia, Cuba, Libya, and Syria. 

Hicks was a consultant to the BBC in Northern Ireland, where she co-facilitated a television series, Facing the Truth, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She has taught courses in conflict resolution at Harvard, Clark, and Columbia Universities and conducts training seminars in the US and abroad on dignity leadership training and the role dignity plays in resolving conflict. She consults with corporations, schools, churches, and non-governmental organizations. 

Her book, Dignity: It’s Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, was published by Yale University Press in 2011. Her second book, Leading with Dignity: How to Create a Culture That Brings Out the Best in People, was published by Yale University Press in August 2018.

Paul Pasin was the COO of Radio Flyer, a family-owned children’s ride-on toy company based out of Chicago. After retiring a few years ago, he took on an executive position at the Archdiocese of Chicago, helping to guide their catholic school system during the pandemic. He is passionate about value-driven leadership and inspiring ethical practices in the workplace. He is also my father. 

During this episode, Paul and I discuss his transition into a leadership position at a young age and how he developed his skills to transform a failing company. We also discuss off-shoots of this topic, including inspiring ethical practices in the workplace, distilling value from tradition, and how to set goals in one’s life based on your purpose.

Sridhar Komandur, known as KK to his friends and colleagues, is an ICF-certified PCC Level Coach. He has been coaching Executives across the globe for more than 30 years and enjoys helping people realize their true potential. KK served in multiple roles of progressive leadership with SC Johnson (SCJ) and was a key executive on the International Markets Executive Committee with sales of $ 6 billion. He has lived and worked in 3 Continents: Asia (India & China), Europe, and the US. He has a deep and diversified General Management, Sales, and Marketing global leadership background. His career encompasses global management across the US, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Middle East for the world’s top MNC’s in the FMCG industry.

During this episode, Augustine and KK discuss the importance of reflexivity, coaching, and self-development as empowerment and the NECESSITY of morality and purpose when building a company. Towards the end, KK explores his experience in Western and Asian firms and draws similarities and differences between the two leadership cultures. This is a definite must listen if you’re interested in international leadership and cultural differences in leadership styles.

Colleen Lyons is a leadership coach with a Ph.D. in value-driven leadership and received bioethics training at medical school. She also went through seminary school. Colleen is interested in the study of personal leadership models and how to build psychological safety in trust. Professionally, she has worked in fortune 500s, as an ethics officer at the VA in Seattle and most recently was a senior ethics advisor at Boeing.

Colleen has had a front-row seat of company culture gone horribly wrong, and wonderfully right.

In this interview, Colleen and Augustine Pasin discuss the importance of restructuring goals around one’s purpose, what it means to pursue purpose, what the acronym VUCA means, and how to build one’s personal leadership model (among many other things).

This episode is a look into company culture and how to make changes not only in your workplace but in your own life as well.

Zeynep Holmes is currently a secondary school teacher in the UK, but prior to that she was an investment banker for over 20 years. She spent her last 10 years in a senior leadership position at a multinational institution. But soon afterwards she came to realize her true calling was influencing a rising generation of change agents as a teacher. 

Augustine and Zeynep discuss the transition from leadership to teaching, the interrelationship between those two disciplines, and the differences. They also analyze the importance of critical reasoning, conflict management, the importance of genuineness as they pertain to leadership.

This episode provides insight in how to apply leadership concepts in non-traditional leadership roles – as well as how to be a mentor and the importance of mentors at large.