What if the most important measure of your leadership isn't what you achieve while you're in the role, but what continues after you've moved on? It's a question most senior leaders avoid because the answer is often uncomfortable. You've built the strategy, delivered the results, transformed the culture. But if you left tomorrow, how much of it would actually last?

In this special Year in Review episode, Digby reflects on five interconnected themes that emerged from a year of deep conversations with remarkable leaders, change-makers, and systems thinkers. These aren't isolated insights, they're facets of the same question: how do we create change that endures? From understanding complex systems and shifting from hero to host leadership, to embracing unhurried productivity and living with deliberate authenticity, each theme builds toward a powerful framework for leading lasting impact.

This episode is Digby's invitation to step back and see the bigger picture. Drawing on insights from over 50 conversations, personal experiences of burnout and breakthrough, and years of working with leaders across sectors, he maps a journey from crisis-driven leadership through to creating change so embedded that people don't want to go back. You'll discover:

1. How to assess where you sit on the spectrum from crisis-driven to lasting impact leadership (and why most leaders get stuck at stage two)
2. Why systems thinking is essential for addressing root causes rather than just treating symptoms, and how the dragonfly metaphor reframes our understanding of generational impact
3. How shifting from hero to host leadership transforms dependency into capability, and why your job isn't to be the answer but to create conditions where answers emerge
4. Why unhurried productivity isn't about slowing down but about creating spaciousness within the work itself, and how this becomes the foundation for everything else
5. How living deliberately means making daily choices that align with who you truly are, not who you think you should be
6. Why these five themes aren't separate ideas but interconnected pieces that, when working together, create leaders whose impact outlasts their tenure
7. How to measure leadership success differently, focusing on what continues after you're gone rather than what you achieve while you're there

Leading Lasting Impact self-assessment

Other References:

1. James McCulloch Podcast Episode
2. Dr. Richard Hodge Podcast Episode
3. Adam Cooper Podcast Episode
4. Jennifer Garvey Berger Podcast Episode
5. DK Podcast Episode
6. Kate Christiansen Podcast Episode
7. KP (Kirsten Patterson) Podcast Episode
8. Derek Sivers Podcast Episode
9. Antonia Milkop Podcast Episode
10. Simon Dowling Podcast Episode
11. Rachel Paris Podcast Episode
12. Jordan Harcourt Hughes Podcast Episode
13. Cynefin Framework
14. Leading Lasting Impact | Digby Scott
15. Unhurried Productivity Diagnostic

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction & Leading Lasting Impact

(10:25) - Systems Thinking and Complexity

(15:54) - Hero to Host Leadership

(22:39) - Unhurried Productivity

(25:53) - Authenticity & Living Deliberately

(32:28) - Leading Lasting Impact Synthesis

(41:27) - Closing

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