Transformational Leadership with Henna Inam

Times of disruption can create fear, anxiety, and stress. This leads to dysfunctional leadership behaviors. We have to intentionally shift our mindsets and biology to be collaborative, connected, curious, and creative. As I write about in my book Wired for Disruption, our neuro-emotional agility is at the core of leadership required in times of disruption. This requires us to practice compassion for ourselves and others to develop new neural networks in our brain.

This short mindful coaching exercise will help you rewire your brain for greater empathy and compassion. It does this by activating the empathic neural networks in the brain so we can feel more connected to others and be more agile to change. Research shows that micro-moments of connection with others improve our immune system functioning and our impact.

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Vernice Jones is a Director and faculty for adult development at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. She is an Associate at Cultivating Leadership, a global, deliberately developmental, complexity-based organization. She is a master certified coach and a close friend. In this episode, we tackle a courageous conversation about racism in America.

As Vernice shares upfront, this episode is about the experience of one person. It's also about a collective experience of trauma and what it takes to heal it. We discuss what it's like to be the mother of two African American boys, fearing for their lives. We discuss the role of leaders in times of crisis: to know that they are not seeing the full picture, to reach out to listen, to be curious about the experience of others, to dig deep for what matters, to engage in and be moved by pivotal conversations so new solutions can emerge.

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Did you know that being connected to purpose can actually help us and our teams to be agile? It’s also good for our well-being as we feel more connected, curious, and collaborative with others. Each of us can find ways to be purposeful in times of disruption. Do you know what yours is?

In this short audio coaching exercise, you will discover how to connect your strengths, your energizers, and stakeholder needs to enable your best contribution during times of disruption. Any time you find yourself stuck or struggling, come back to this exercise, and you will learn something new.

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A thought leader of the Conscious Capitalism movement, Raj Sisodia is the FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business at Babson College. He is also Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc. Raj is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Conscious Capitalism and co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody Matters (2015). Raj has published 11 books and is on the Board of Directors at The Container Store.

In this episode, Raj talks about his own personal healing journey, and the importance of each leader healing personal trauma so they know how to balance power with love and caring for all their stakeholders. One of my favorite quotes from our podcast: "We are here to take care of each other on this planet and business is a way to do that at scale. if I start a company with the right set of values and then a sense of purpose, then it can literally be an instrument of caring for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people."

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Jimmy is the Director of Organizational Development at The Home Depot. He loves helping leaders get better what they do and has created Home Depot’s executive development programs for all VPs and SVPs. He has over 20 years of experience using innovative techniques to develop leaders, teams, and organizations faster and better than conventional approaches will allow. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, has a master’s degree in organizational development, and is pursuing a PhD in adult development with an emphasis on creating advanced leadership cultures.

In this episode we talked about the importance of leaders creating both challenge and support for their people to help them grow. Jimmy also shared how the leadership programs he creates have a Do-Discuss-Document cycle. Leaders grow by doing something challenging, discussing it with their colleagues to get others’ perspectives, and documenting their learning.

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For the past two decades, Charlene Li has been helping people see the future. She’s the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller Open Leadership and the co-author of the critically-acclaimed book Groundswell. Her latest book is the bestseller The Disruption Mindset. She founded Altimeter Group, an analyst firm that was acquired in 2015 by Prophet. Named by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business, Charlene is an expert on digital transformation.

In this episode we talked about three mindset shifts leaders in organizations need to make to lead effectively in disruptions: openness, agency and bias for action. We spoke about what leadership is. It’s not about hierarchy. Leadership is simply a relationship between people who aspire to lead and create change and people who are inspired to follow them. Here is one of my favorite quotes from her latest book. You can get a free copy here.

“There will be times when the way forward will be illuminated by what feels like a penlight in the dark night. There will be times when you will doubt the course you have chosen. And there will be times when the entire world seems aligned against you. Use these setbacks as opportunities to learn. Your vision of the future will provide you with the solace, inspiration, and strength to continue. Never cease believing that what you are doing is worth the pain and confusion that is the natural course of disruption.”

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Harry Kraemer is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Baxter International, a multi-billion-dollar global healthcare company. He is a professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is also an executive partner with Madison Dearborn Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in the United States where he consults with portfolio CEOs. His third book is “Your 168: Finding Purpose and Satisfaction in a Values-based Life.”

In this podcast Harry shared some war stories of tough decisions he had to make as a CEO. He shared his 40-year long practice of self-reflection and questions he asks himself every day. We also spoke about the importance of values in helping align stakeholders when tough decisions need to be made.

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Bill Joiner is a senior leadership and organization development consultant, and an executive coach, with several decades of experience in the field. He earned his doctorate in this field at Harvard University. He is the lead author of Leadership Agility and is considered a global thought-leader on this topic. Learn more about his work on his website.

In this episode, we talked about how leaders can discover their growth edge, grow themselves, and create the conditions for others to grow. We talked about how times of ambiguity and disruption require a different level of development of leaders and how reflective action can help us develop.

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Ravin Jesuthasan is an author, futurist and managing director at Willis Towers Watson. Ravin has collaborated extensively with the World Economic Forum and is a regular presenter at its annual meeting in Davos. Ravin was named to the Thinkers 50 Radar Class of 2020. He has also been recognized as one of the top 25 most influential consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine, one of the top 8 future of work influencers by Tech News and one of the top 100 HR influencers by HR Executive. Connect with him here.

In this episode, we spoke about how the future of work will be shaped by organizations needing to be agile in business models, work being done by fluid teams coming together to solve problems rather than rigid organization structures, and leaders learning to motivate through clarity of purpose rather than hierarchical power. We also spoke about the importance of upskilling ourselves to continuously learn, unlearn, and relearn.

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Amanda Blake has devoted her life to the spread of one simple message: when you learn how to access the intelligence hidden in sensation, you open the door to more meaning, greater courage, deeper connection, and more powerful leadership than you ever thought possible. Download the free Stress to Serenity Guide and open that door for yourself.

In this podcast episode, we talked about the power of our embodied presence — how our nervous system and physiology impacts our habitual leadership behaviors. She gives us specific tools we can use in times of stress to intentionally shift our physiology and move purposefully toward our most inspired selves.

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