Transformative Leadership Conversations with Winnie da Silva

What if your relationship with work is fundamentally shaping your career decisions? In this episode, I speak with Dr. Nayla Bahri, an executive coach and co-host of The Inside Job Podcast. Nayla is dedicated to helping individuals and teams build thriving relationships with work, collaborating with leaders from startups to renowned organizations like Apple, Google, and the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. With her extensive experience as a former Dean of Students at Columbia Business School, she combines research with human-centered learning to empower clients in leading with impact, resilience, and clarity. We talk about the differences in how men and women approach career pivots and the deeper insights into creating a healthy relationship with work. We explore the importance of self-awareness and the internal work necessary for effective leadership.

• Gender Dynamics in Career Pivots: Insights from Nayla's research on how men and women perceive their career transitions differently.
• Fear and Safety in the Workplace: The impact of feeling unsafe in your job and how it influences decision-making.
• Curiosity-Driven Coaching Approach: Nayla discusses the importance of engaging in both inner and outer work to achieve career satisfaction.
• Humor in Leadership: The role of lightheartedness and humor in fostering a positive work environment.
• Leadership Reflection: How personal beliefs about work affect leadership styles and the environment created for teams.

Resources:

Dr. Nayla Bahri on the web | LinkedIn I Substack (Newsletter) I Instagram I Inside Job Podcast

Winnie da Silva on the web | LinkedIn

Ever wondered how you can turn your career dreams into reality? In this episode of Transformative Leadership Conversations, host Winnie da Silva sits down with career coach Maggie Mistal to explore how aligning your work with your passions can transform your life. Maggie Mistal, a certified life purpose and career coach and author of the Amazon #1 New Release Are You Ready to Love Your Job?, shares her own transition from the corporate world to coaching and reveals her method for career fulfillment through three stages: soul search, research, and job search. With extensive experience helping individuals transition into their ideal careers, Maggie has guided thousands through inspiring retreats and individual sessions, and her expertise is sought after by top corporations and featured in major publications like The New York Times and Forbes.com.

You’ll hear them talk about:

• Career Transition Insights: Maggie discusses her journey from corporate life to coaching and the importance of aligning work with passion and purpose.
• Three Key Stages: Maggie outlines her method for career fulfillment, focusing on:
• Soul Search: Identifying personal values and passions.
• Research: Investigating career options and networking.
• Job Search: Implementing strategies to secure desired roles.
• Practical Advice: Emphasis on the importance of research and networking in career transitions.
• Real-Life Success: Maggie shares a success story of a young client who transitioned to a fulfilling career in library science.
• Dynamic Career Management: The discussion highlights how ongoing soul searching, research, and networking can continually shape and improve your career.
• Upcoming Career Retreat: Maggie announces her cruise-based career retreat in April 2025, offering intensive career coaching and unique experiences.

Maggie Mistal on the Web | LinkedIn I Instagram I Facebook

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn

Are you contemplating a career change but feeling uncertain about taking the leap? In this episode, Winnie explores the evolving nature of work and the increasing prevalence of career pivots. Sharing her own journey from social work to corporate training and consulting, she demonstrates how embracing these transitions can lead to unexpected and fulfilling opportunities. Through compelling statistics and inspiring stories of figures like Vera Wang and Benjamin Franklin, Winnie underscores that career changes are not only normal but can also be transformative. Tune in to discover how to navigate your own career evolution with confidence and curiosity.

Key Points Discussed:

•             Embracing Career Pivots: Winnie emphasizes that career pivots are a normal and valuable part of professional life, encouraging listeners to embrace them as opportunities for growth rather than obstacles.

•             Personal Career Journey: Winnie shares her own experience of shifting from a career in social work to roles in corporate training and consulting, highlighting the importance of following one’s passion and experimenting with new roles.

•             Statistics on Career Changes: The podcast presents statistics showing that the average person will hold numerous jobs and change careers several times over their lifetime, reflecting the dynamic nature of the modern work landscape.

•             Inspiring Stories: Winnie recounts the career transformations of notable figures like Vera Wang and Benjamin Franklin, illustrating how significant career changes can lead to remarkable success.

•             Advice for Career Transitions: Winnie offers practical tips for managing career pivots, including leveraging relationships, exploring new interests, experimenting with skills, and being open to change.

Resources:

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn

Can ensuring your team feels valued and supported be a tool to boost productivity? In this episode, Kim Lerner and host Winnie da Silva explore how hospitality principles, such as empathy and personalized recognition, can profoundly impact team culture and leadership effectiveness. Kim shares her unique experiences integrating these principles into her leadership approach, demonstrating how they can foster stronger team connections and drive organizational success.

You will hear them talk about:

• Empathy in Leadership: Understanding and addressing the emotional needs of team members to build trust and morale.
• Personalized Recognition: Tailoring recognition and appreciation to individual team members to enhance their engagement and satisfaction.
• Balancing Hospitality and Leadership: Navigating the balance between fostering a supportive environment and maintaining high performance standards.
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Practical Strategies or Tips:

• Foster Empathy: Actively listen to your team’s concerns and needs, showing genuine care and understanding to build stronger relationships.
• Personalize Recognition: Use specific, personalized gestures of appreciation to make team members feel valued and motivated.
• Manage Stress with Hospitality: Apply hospitality principles to maintain composure and support others during high-pressure situations, enhancing overall team resilience.
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Expert Insights or Upcoming Content Teasers:

• Kim Lerner’s Experiences: Kim shares her journey of integrating hospitality practices into leadership, highlighting how these approaches transformed her team dynamics and personal effectiveness.
• Future Discussions: Upcoming episodes will feature additional insights from leaders who have successfully applied hospitality principles, providing further strategies for enhancing team culture and leadership effectiveness.
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Resources:

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn

Kim Lerner on LinkedIn

Can a leadership approach grounded in hospitality transform your organization's customer interactions and internal dynamics? In this episode, David Cocchiara and host Winnie da Silva discuss how principles of hospitality—like genuine accountability and composure under pressure—can significantly enhance leadership effectiveness and customer satisfaction. They explore why these seemingly simple strategies are challenging to implement and how they can make a profound difference in fostering positive relationships and achieving business success.

Key Concepts or Tools Introduced:

• Authentic Accountability: Taking responsibility for mistakes and addressing them with honesty and promptness.
• Stress Impact on Leadership: How high-stress environments can negatively affect leadership quality and team interactions.
• Embracing Hospitality: Applying hospitality principles to leadership to create supportive and effective work environments.

Practical Strategies or Tips:

• Own Your Mistakes: Acknowledge and correct errors to maintain trust and satisfaction, as demonstrated with the "blue shirt" example.
• Maintain Composure: Learn from leaders who manage stress effectively and try to keep calm under pressure to positively influence team dynamics.
• Focus on People: Prioritize understanding and addressing the needs and motivations of team members to foster a supportive work culture.

Expert Insights or Upcoming Content Teasers:

• David Cocchiara’s Experience: Insights from David’s experiences in high-pressure environments and how he learned to maintain composure and hospitality in leadership.
• Future Episodes: Upcoming discussions with industry experts like Kim Lerner, who will offer additional perspectives on integrating hospitality into leadership practices.

Resources:

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn 

David Cocchiara on LinkedIn

When you hear the word “hospitality,” do you think of it as one of leadership tools? In this episode, Winnie da Silva explores the crucial role of hospitality in leadership. She shares personal experiences that highlight the power of hospitality and discusses how it can transform leadership practices. By drawing on examples from industry experts, she illustrates how integrating hospitality into leadership strategies can foster inclusivity and empowerment within organizations. Additionally, she emphasizes how this approach can enhance employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and overall business success, setting organizations apart in a competitive landscape.

• Hospitality as a Leadership Tool: Hospitality in leadership creates an environment where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and supported, enhancing overall business success.
• Digital Age Challenges: In today's technology-driven world, hospitality is essential to maintaining human connections, which are often lost in digital interactions.
• Five Hospitable Leadership Behaviors:

1. Create a Welcoming Environment: Foster inclusivity and respect.
2. Collaborative and Empowering: Involve and empower team members.
3. Uphold Integrity: Act with honesty and transparency.
4. Demonstrate Humility: Be open to learning and collaboration.
5. Cultivate Emotional Intelligence: Understand and navigate emotions effectively.

• Balance with Performance: Leaders must balance hospitality with the expectation of high performance, regular feedback, and accountability.
• Upcoming Expert Insights: The podcast will feature insights from industry leaders like David Cocchiara and Kim Lerner, who will discuss how adopting a hospitality-focused approach can drive business success and transform leadership practices.

Resources

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn

What impact does embracing leaderless teams have on organizational dynamics and individual leadership roles? In this episode, Mark Raheja, the founder and CEO of Plural, delves into the concept of leaderless teams and the transformative effects they can have on organizations. Winnie and Mark explore the interconnectedness of systems, people, and relationships within an organization, emphasizing the importance of curiosity, humility, and intentionality in navigating the shift towards more empowered and adaptive operating models.

• Leaderless Teams Misconception: Leaderless teams do not mean less leadership but rather more distributed leadership and ownership within a team.
• Holacracy Framework: Holacracy is a specific framework for self-management developed by Brian Robertson in 2006 or 2007, used by many self-managed organizations worldwide.
• Organization Design: Organizations need to evolve their own ways of self-organization and self-management beyond frameworks like Holacracy to truly embody their unique culture and values.
• Playbook of the Organization: Organizations already have implicit ways of working, but making these explicit and aligning them with intentions and values is crucial for effective functioning.
• Cultivating Safety: Cultivating psychological safety and inclusiveness within a team is essential for enabling participation and harnessing the full potential of team members.
• Disagreement in Teams: Disagreement is a natural part of diverse teams and should be harnessed as a source of innovation and growth rather than avoided.
• Decision-Making Clarity: Making decision ownership explicit and editable within an organization fosters clarity and empowers individuals to contribute effectively.
• Humility in Leadership: Humility is a key trait for effective leadership, acknowledging uncertainty and creating space for learning and growth within the organization.

Resources

Mark Raheja | LinkedIn

Winnie da Silva | LinkedIn

Powerful insights often arise when leaders question the traditional norms of leadership. In this episode, we delve into the concept of leaderless teams and explore the shift from traditional to non-traditional leadership approaches. Join host Winnie da Silva as she engages in a transformative conversation with Dr. Debra France, an expert in organizational practices and leader behaviors that foster innovation. How can leaders balance power over and power with their teams? Winnie and Debra uncover the key insights in this intriguing discussion.

• Leaderless Teams: Exploring the concept of leaderless teams and how it fits into modern leadership and understanding how to empower team members to make decisions on their own.
• Traditional Leadership: Definition and characteristics of traditional leadership in organizations.
• Non-Traditional Leadership Approaches: Discussing alternatives to traditional leadership, including leaderless teams, in today’s complex corporate environment.
• Experience and Background: Dr. Debra France's background and experience in leadership development and organizational practices and how it aided her in helping leaders.
• Innovation and Strategic Thinking: Importance of fostering innovation, strategic thinking, and exploring futures in leadership to futher the goals of teams and organizations.
• Power Over vs. Power With: Contrasting the concepts of power over management (illusion of control) and power with management (create the environment for greatness) in leadership approaches.
• Theory X and Theory Y: Understanding the motivational theories of Theory X, which includes cajoling, and Theory Y, which is more intrinsically motivated, in the workplace.
• Trust and Collaboration: Building trust and fostering collaboration in teams to enhance productivity and job satisfaction.

Resources

Dr. Debra France on LinkedIn

In this podcast episode, Winnie da Silva discusses this month’s theme of leaderless teams. She explores the evolution of leadership from ancient times to the modern era, challenging traditional notions and embracing collaborative, human-centered approaches. Winnie shares how her guests encourage leaders to empower their teams so they can take a hands-off approach. In an era of rapid growth and exponential complexity, it may be time for a significant shift in how leaders lead.

• Leadership Ownership: Leaders desire their team to have a sense of ownership and bring their best work to the company every day.
• Productivity vs. Busyness: Being busy doesn't equate to being productive, and true productivity involves quiet thinking and strategic decision-making.
• Historical Roots of Leadership: Historically, leadership involved divine authority, with leaders often seen as having special powers or godlike figures.
• Shift in Leadership Vision: The world of business is ready for a shift in the vision of leadership, moving from control to collaboration and from hero to human.
• Leading People vs. Managing People: Leadership focuses on guiding and inspiring, while management ensures efficiency and task completion.
• Followership and Power Dynamics: Concepts like followership, power over versus power under, and theories X and Y are crucial in understanding leadership dynamics.
• Hands-Off, Eyes-On Approach: A hands-off, eyes-on approach empowers teams without relinquishing control, fostering autonomy and productivity.
• Organizational Design for Scale: Exploring how to organize for scale in a complex and uncertain world without breaking is a key challenge for leaders and organizations.

Resources

Winnie da Silva | LinkedIn

Today’s episode is a special one. You’ve heard all the talk about the Immunity to Change model, and you’re about to see it in action. Returning guest, Deb Helsing, coaches another returning guest, Anthony Cheong, using the model. You'll learn how to navigate challenging conversations with senior executives, explore hidden assumptions that may be hindering your effectiveness, and gain insights on clarifying and aligning your role in leadership interactions.

• Immunity to Change Model: The Immunity to Change model is used to guide coaching sessions and explore hidden assumptions and competing commitments that may hinder personal growth and change.
• Role Clarity in Leadership: Understanding and gaining clarity on one's role in relationships, especially in leadership positions, is crucial for effective communication and interaction with others.
• Curiosity vs. Fixing: Embracing curiosity and exploring possibilities in a safe environment can lead to more effective problem-solving and decision-making, rather than feeling stressed and pressured to fix issues.
• Authenticity in Leadership: Being authentic and true to oneself while adapting and improving behaviors can lead to more genuine and productive interactions with others.
• Testing Assumptions: Testing assumptions about oneself and others in various scenarios can help uncover hidden beliefs and behaviors that may be hindering personal and professional growth.
• Safety vs. Stress: Balancing the need for safety and protection with the desire to explore new possibilities and take risks is essential for personal development and growth.
• Leadership Evolution: Reflecting on the evolving nature of leadership in a fast-paced and complex world can lead to redefining leadership roles and practices to stay ahead of challenges and uncertainties.
• Organizational Innovation: Fostering innovation within organizations through human-centered, low-hierarchy environments and strategic thinking can lead to successful adaptation to change and future challenges.

Resources

Dr. Deborah Helsing | Minds at Work website

Book: Immunity to Change

Book: An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization 

The Change Course – an asynchronous Immunity to Change course

Anthony Cheong on LinkedIn

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn