The Change Pod

What have olive oil in Marc's kitchen, Hindu gods in dark corners of New Delhi, and Coca Cola bottles in Zambia in common? - They are just a few of the many powerful workarounds that we discuss in this episode. If you want to change human behaviors or even entire systems, you sometimes need to take a detour to get things moving. Instead of confronting obstacles head-on, working around them can lead to better results. To give you some ideas about your next workarounds, we will talk with Paulo Savaget who travelled around the world to study how people use workarounds to change individuals, organizations, if not entire societies. He just published his findings in the book "The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems". [music]

When we think of great change leaders we think of those with a bold vision for the future, those who are self-confident and charismatic. But transformational leaders share some similar traits with narcissistic leaders, those who act out of self-admiration, follow their grandiose thoughts and visions, but lack empathy and self-reflection. What are the effects of narcissistic leaders? Why do we see so many narcissistic leaders at the top of our organizations and in politics? How can we protect ourselves when working for a narcissist? We will talk with one of the most prominent researchers on narcissistic leadership, Michael Maccoby, about his new book "Psychoanalytic and historical perspectives on the leadership of Donal Trump" - Trump obviously has become the epitome of narcissistic leadership but Michael has a somewhat different view on Trump and narcissism, as you will see... [music]

Positive emotions, optimism, hope, happiness, and resilience - there is not exactly an abundance of these qualities in the current Covid-19 crisis.... But how can you learn feeling positive and optimistic in the current situation? How do you build resilience? How can company leaders foster the resilience of their employees to be prepared to deal with all the uncertainties and changes to come? - These are questions that are addressed by positive psychology, the study of the strength that enables us to thrive and live meaningful and fulfilling lives. We talk with Ilona Boniwell, one of the leading positive psychologists in Europe, about her current work on building strength and resilience in individuals, teams, and organizations. [music]

What do shrimps in Vietnam, prison keys in Denmark, and school schedules in Romania have in common? They give us clues to how to respond to Covid-19 and other change challenges. And they are examples of the positive deviance approach to change that is at the center of this episode. Positive deviance (PD) seeks to identify people in communities and organizations who do things differently - and more effectively. With more than 100 projects in more than 40 countries, positive deviance celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. We will talk with Lars Thuesen, one of the most experienced PD change leaders, about his work and his deeper insights into this method.