Wholegrain Leadership

Kai-Jürgen Lietz has written a book about storytelling called “Storytellity”. He explains the power of telling stories. Although it goes back to the stone age, you can easily apply it to modern-day (business) contexts. Kai-Jürgen and Matthias discuss different basic structures such as the “Hero’s Journey” and the “Man in the Hole”. Kai explains simple ... Read more

Matthias explains what leaders should read and listen to for insights and perspective. Contrary to popular belief, leadership is less about talking and more about listening. Matthias tells you what he reads and consumes and how you can get out of your bubble to get the crucial perspective that will make you an effective leader. ... Read more

Becoming a thought leader is essential to transitioning into senior leadership roles. It’s not enough to be an expert. You also have to be able to communicate your ideas to a broad audience. Matthias’s guest Rhea Wessel, a journalist by training, is the founder of the Institute for Thought Leadership. She explains what a thought ... Read more

How do you generate or refine a business model? In this episode, Matthias introduces the Business Model Generation canvas developed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. He describes the nine building blocks and dives into different business models: the long tail, multi-sided platforms, freemium, and open business. Finally, he explains the phases of a business ... Read more

Defining and executing strategy is one of the most important tasks of a leader. In this episode, Matthias Catón explains what strategy is, what it isn’t, and how it differs from other concepts such as operational excellence. He discusses two principles you can apply when developing your strategy: the Blue Ocean Strategy and mission-driven strategies. ... Read more

Well-being is on everybody’s mind. Who doesn’t want to be well, healthy and happy, after all? In this episode, Matthias talks to a real expert in this field, Dr. Anat Itay-Sarig. They discuss what well-being means, why it’s more than just the occasional yoga class or a latte macchiato in the morning, and why you, ... Read more

Wellbeing is on everybody’s mind. Who doesn’t want to be well, healthy and happy, after all? In this episode, I’m talking to a real expert in this field, Dr. Anat Itay-Sarig.

We discuss what well-being means, why it’s more than just the occasional yoga class or a latte macchiato in the morning, and why you as a leader should pay attention to the issue. We cover the spheres of public policy, where wellbeing has been discussed for quite some time now and is part of the official government policy of countries such as New Zealand. Still, we also talk a lot about what this means for businesses.

Finally, we connect the dots between wellbeing, which can be a fluffy concept at times, and the hard world of numbers and statistics. My guest Anat is a data scientist, after all.

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As a leader, you will have a message you want to communicate to your customers, staff, and the general public. Your message is important to you, so people should remember it. For that, it needs to be “sticky”. To persuade people, you should follow the six basic principles Matthias explains in this episode. The principles ... Read more

We negotiate things big and small constantly, often without even noticing it. Despite this, many feel uneasy when facing an important negotiation. Often, we’re also not good at it.

In this episode of the Wholegrain Leadership Podcast, I speak with Anja Henningsmeyer. She is an expert on communications and negotiation and works as a trainer and coach. She has recently published a book specifically looking at how women negotiate. Among other things, we discuss:

why negotiating is so importantif there are different negotiation styles of men and womenwhy so many people have difficulties with negotiation situationsif there are differences between cultures when it comes to negotiationthe importance of one’s reputationthe role of emotions in negotiationshow to prepare for a negotiation

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We negotiate things big and small constantly, often without even noticing it. Despite this, many feel uneasy when facing an important negotiation. Often, we’re also not good at it. In this episode of the Wholegrain Leadership Podcast, Matthias Catón speaks with Anja Henningsmeyer. She is an expert on communications and negotiation and works as a ... Read more