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What if the secret to breakthrough results isn't working harder but making better promises? Bob Dunham, founder of the Institute for Generative Leadership, reveals the power of trustworthy commitments in creating extraordinary outcomes.

Dunham challenges the mechanistic approach dominating today's workplace, where employees are treated as production units rather than humans with creative potential. "We've left out being human; everything's being mechanized," he explains. He goes on to explain that this blindness to our human capacity restricts the value that can be created, and waking up to this opens up a whole new world.

At the heart of Dunham's Generative Leadership discipline lies a powerful distinction between responsibility and accountability that transforms how we approach work. While many use these terms interchangeably, Dunham clarifies and contrasts them, leading us to reject blame and excuses, and focus instead on what can be done despite inevitable challenges.

Dunham shares how he applied these principles to turn around a Silicon Valley software engineering department that hadn't delivered products in two and a half years. The key wasn't superhuman effort, but rather creating systems that supported responsibility at all levels.

For listeners struggling with accountability issues, unmotivated teams, or untrustworthy commitments, this conversation offers practical wisdom on building cultures where people consistently deliver superior results by reconnecting our humanity with our work.

We want to thank the team that continues to support us in producing, editing and sharing our work. Jonah Smith for the heartfelt intro music you hear at the beginning of each podcast. We LOVE it. Hillary Rideout for writing descriptions, designing covers and helping us share our work on social media. Chad Penner for his superpower editing work to take our recordings from bumpy and glitchy to smooth and easy to listen to episodes for you to enjoy. From our hearts, we are so thankful for this team and the support they provide us.