It is rare that you find a priceless podcast on leadership that you should pay for. This is one of those you feel you should have paid for.
This podcast with General Stanley McChrystal on the Knowledge Project podcast (I highly recommend signing up for their newsletter) with Shane Parrish.
Watch Or Listen Below
Quote of the podcast:
“When I was a brand-new lieutenant, I asked my father, “How would I know if somebody that I worked for or worked for me was going to be a good commander in combat? … How would you tell in peacetime?” He says, “You won’t. You won’t know because people have capabilities or coping mechanisms that in peacetime look fine, that doesn’t play well in war.”
Then I asked him, “Okay, when you’re in combat, how do you know?” He said, “Some people keep asking for more information and what they’re trying to do is drive uncertainty to zero so that there’s really not a question on the right course of action because you know everything.” But you can’t do that. It’s not achievable. So they become hesitant.
They become tentative, and they become focused on getting more and more information to ratchet the uncertainty out of the situation and they don’t act.”
General Stanley McChrystal & Shane Parrish
Why listen to this masterclass with General Stanley McChrystal:
Commander’s intent
Threats vs. vulnerabilities framework and maths
Detecting and avoiding threats
Decision making framework
Why tiredness is making us more risk averse in 2022
How to make decision’s in moral dilemma’s
Why money and bonuses hurts the cilivan leadership and workplace (and helps in the military)
Why person and organisational values need to work together and the who they are is so important to perform
Training Matters: Military takes average talents and drive way above average results
War time decisions are big time decisions but is rarely needed in peace time (due to laws and rules)
Why history will help
Why stress management is personal but there are guides you can follow
How to develop mental toughness
How to teach self discipline
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Listen to the fixing the broken world of work podcast.
Briony and I have known each other for over a decade, I was lucky enough to know Briony in her previous career and it has been amazing to see Briony’s work helping so many people.
This was one of my favourite conversations of the last twelve months, not just for the podcast but as a conversation in general. We spoke for a long time post podcast and I predict Briony and I may have to do a few follow up’s. Watch this space.
Briony is an inspiration, from recovering from anxiety and stress to becoming a mindset coach, a meditation trainer and a breathwork facilitator.
This is one of the most personal and open conversations on the fixing the broken world of work podcast series and it was a great privilege to be able to share so much with Briony and you.
Briony takes us on a journey of:
Mental health and why it is so important to be aware of
How mental health is evolving
How your mental health can help to transform physical health
Why early morning open air swims have been so important
Therapy and therapists role in peoples lives
Why breathwork is so important
Why our bodies are driven by our breath and controlling our breath
Why Yoga is vital to so many of us
Personal development starts with you
Everyone is facing similar challenges – it’s how you find the best course of action
Why retreats are going to so popular and a necessary part of life and work
You are the expert of yourself – why starting to listen to yourself and your body is so important
Having real curiosity about what your emotions are showing you and I can’t help, but think about this through the lens of digital marketing and or anything to do with technology these days, we’re obsessed with data and we want good quality, first party data, and in which to make decisions with you have your own first party data, which is your body sensations and your thoughts.
And so if we can have a greater awareness of our emotional landscape, and what feelings are here, they’ll be showing you things. So I would say my first tip is get to know your emotions in our culture, this may not be the same for everyone, but often, particularly in the world of work, we can strip away emotions in the name of professionalism, but all this is for me is actually just rejecting a huge part of human nature.
All we allow, quote-unquote good emotions. So people are allowed to be happy, like proud of their work, joyful with each other. Maybe you can be a bit stressed, so therefore maybe a bit angry or frustrated, but that’s it, we don’t really allow space or time for other emotions.
So I would say embrace your emotional self. We all experience emotions. It’s whether you’re expressing or not you know, to say you’re not an emotional person is to say, like, you’re not a breathing person. You will have emotions. So be curious about your emotions.
Breathwork Teaser
Show Notes & Links
Podcast: Aubrey Marcus – not about world of work but psychology, spirituality, human potential + behaviour
Book: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
Newsletter: Brain pickings AKA The Marginalian has a free Sunday digest of the week’s most mind-broadening and heart-lifting reflections spanning art, science, poetry, philosophy, and other tendrils of our search for truth, beauty, meaning, and creative vitality.
Something Briony and I didn’t get to discuss was psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, if you are looking for someone to explore this fascinating area with definitely speak to Briony.
Based in Manchester, UK, Briony works with businesses and private clients all across the world. Running courses, workshops and training to support wellbeing and mental health, she is passionate about exploring human potential using holistic modalities of the mind and body.
Colin and I were introduced by the previous guest Sharon Aneja, Colin is on a mission similar to my own, his mission is to de-crap-ify work. Yes, simple but effective, to it make it less crap.
Why Listen: Colin is on a mission to decrapify work, Colin has had a great career and has set out to improve work by breaking down the general issues of the work day and workforce and helping individuals by ensuring they put themselves first and understand if they do not proactively try and make the change, you can’t expect others to know how bad a time you are having.
What Colin and I discuss:
Decrapyifying work
The top tips to decrapify work
How leadership is about leading
Why we should be more pirate
Should we rethink the whole work week, should we even have a commute?
Policing from managers
Why politics and proximity still dictate success
And how to rethink and realign our people, heart first leadership
Peter and I connected on Linkedin and was fascinated by what Peter was doing and how he was helping leaders from around the world improve their communications and step up their leadership style.
Welcome to the podcast series fixing the broken world of work, it has been a mission of Focus to deliver the best content to business leaders and managers so they can make their workplaces better and help to develop their teams and departments.
Season 1 is action-packed with brilliant stories, tips and actionable advice.
Each Fixing The Broken World Of Work Podcast is broken down below with why listen and the important topics we discussed, this should help you decide which podcast to start with.
Listen to the podcasts below and don’t forget to follow on your podcast app of choice:
Why Listen: Briony talks about her incredible transition from Marketer to facilitator and coach. Briony tells her very personal story and journey, from her own struggles with mental health to helping so many with breathwork, meditation and the future of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
Briony and I discuss:
Mental health and why it is so important to be aware of
How mental health is evolving How your mental health can help to transform physical health
Why early morning open-air swims have been so important to Briony and her journey
Why Therapy and therapists role in peoples lives are so important, hint it’s more than the therapy sessions
Why breathwork is so important to tackling anxiety and stresses
Why our bodies are driven by our breath and controlling our breath
Why Personal development starts with you
Everyone is facing similar challenges – it’s how you find the best course of action
Why retreats are going to be so popular and a necessary part of life and work
Sharon Aneja – Founder @ Humanity Works Consultancy
Why Listen: Sharon takes us on her incredible journey and why being a Positive Psychology coach is so important to her and for any workforce. Sharon shares a couple of brilliant frameworks and practices to improve any business.
What Sharon and I discuss:
The importance of mental health and wellbeing
Why psychological flexibility is so important
Why command and control management fails their people and their business
Why businesses and managers wait for people to get stressed and burnt out rather than proactively addressing such important topics
The awakening businesses require
Why gamification can be negative
the opportunity to be able to partner with organizations who are courageous enough to want to get to the heart of issues
How a routine operation changed Sharon’s life completely
Why Listen: Jo has over twenty years in helping to transform businesses and business leaders. Listen to hear how to help shape organisations and make businesses more successful.
What Jo and I discuss:
Why a client that actually want to do change better are the best clients
Why coaching and mentoring is invaluable
Why the next phase of return to the office is so important to set company culture
What leaders need to remember – leveraging other people’s skills when they are better at things than they are
Why Listen: Having helped some of the biggest names in business Andy will help you understand that business is about people and why workshops are so powerful for businesses that want to succeed.
What Andy and I discuss:
Leadership and the challenges of leadership
The lack of joy in work and bringing it back
The science of how the mind works
The power of storytelling
The art of running brilliant workshops for executives
Facilitating the right environment for the best ideas to flourish
Why Listen: As a multi-time business builder, Matt provides unique insights into how his leadership in the software space can help to improve conversations and goal setting not just through software but a combination between software and people.
What Matt and I discuss:
The power of the conversation
Importance of communications and priorities
Setting people up to have the right conversation with the right frameworks
Structured conversations having better organisation outcomes
Building software to empower teams to have the most important conversations and the resistance when software tells you what you should prioritize
Workplace safety “where people feel in a safe place to say what needs to be said to share their ideas, to disagree, to, problem solve, to innovate, to share ideas”
Why Listen: Luke has helped to transform his agency Reddico company culture from struggling to hire to becoming one of the best places to work in the UK and why company culture and self-management is so important.
What Luke and I discuss:
How company culture should be shaped
Why self management system can and does improve agencies and businesses
What it took to get to a world class 96 NPS score
Empowering individual’s to do a really amazing job is a key factor to success
Why circles (like SWARM’s) helps to get the best work done
Company culture is the marketing tool, not a PR tool
Why Listen? Peter is helping shape leaders and TEDX coaches to improve their leadership and delivery on essential messaging. If you are a leader of a startup to a large business this is a podcast for you.
What Peter and I discuss:
How to step up as a leader
Why leadership is often the smaller unspoken steps we take, such as mental nods, gestures and the tone we use when speaking
Why storytelling is more than a buzzword and will take leaders up many steps
Bias – how we can overcome bias in our teams minds
How to rebuild trust when may have lost trust from your team
How to tackle remote and hybrid work leadership differently
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Matt is the CEO of Zokri, a software that is helping to shape goal setting and improve managers. Matt and I have known each other for over a decade and our careers have overlapped on a number of projects.
When Matt and I recently caught up and discussed goals and OKR’s and the power of conversations I knew he was a must listen for the Fixing the broken world of work podcast series.
Matt and I dive into the importance of setting the right goals, why management teams aren’t always set up to succeed and why your business and career can be improved by the right feedback and the right software.
Andy Reid is one of those people you work with once and you collaborate again and again.
Andy’s style is one of a kind, he and his team help to facilitate change within businesses from global household brands to brands that are looking to innovate or change the direction of their company. Andy and I dive into a number of brilliant topics, including why leadership is more than just being the person at the front barking orders, why storytelling works and why we have to bring joy back when fixing the broken world of work.
Andy drops some brilliantly nostalgic references so get ready to laugh, nod along and take numerous notes to help improve your workplace.
Sharon Aneja – The Founder @ Humanity Works Consultancy
Sharon Aneja and I were introduced back in 2020 and I was lucky enough to have a number of conversations with Sharon about her journey and why she is fixing the broken world of work.
Sharon’s journey is a must listen and I highly recommend listening all the way through to hear her story, how Sharon and her firm’s work to improve the workplace, why positive psychology is so important and why we recommend every leader goes for therapy.
I was introduced to Jo through a work project earlier this year and Jo and I hit it off instantly.
The work Jo has rolled out over the last two decades really stood out. Not only does Jo help businesses to improve company culture, but she also coaches leadership teams and helps to collaborate when businesses are merging and being acquired some of the most challenging and difficult times for businesses to communicate and connect their teams.
Jo shares some of her learnings from her career and helping leaders to actually lead and many of these tips will help you in your role and develop your own business.
Luke and I have been connected since 2020 and the work he and Reddico are doing to place culture and performance at the heart of everything their agency does really has enabled them to become one of the best places to work in the UK and win company culture awards.
Luke has helped to move Reddico to a self-management model and they have made it work which is a huge feat. This is a must-listen if you are looking to transform your business, help to improve your company culture and think more clearly around how performance and company culture works together.