"Holistic transformation is not just how are you implementing a piece of software, AI is a really good opportunity for us to start to explore this"

Lindsay and I have a rich conversation diving deep into holistic transformation, the impact of AI, and how to navigate change in today’s rapidly evolving world. Organisational change management is often deployed too late, which speaks in favour of taking a holistic approach to transformation and asking from the outset: How do people change? How do they view themselves and their work?

Digital transformation is not just about implementing new software but also about how people change their thinking. AI is an excellent example. To get actual value from it, individuals need to rethink their roles and personal value. It’s about micro and macro changes happening together.

It is as ever, centred around the inner work we need to do as leaders to ensure that we are mastering what keeps us human, as well as looking at challenging the status quo constantly. AI is changing business models and the way we work, causing some organisations to dispense with this ‘inner work’ and hoping AI will do it for them. Curiosity is key! If people aren’t curious, they won’t help identify risks or roadblocks.

We talked about how important it is to show up as ourselves, even in professional settings. We also discussed gender parity and how much more we need to do. Lindsey shared her strategy for dismantling stereotypes: present all facets and encourage others to do the same. The more people meet others who don’t fit their stereotypes, the more likely they are to abandon them.

How can we create the conditions for curiosity to be present, and for leaders to learn, unlearn and relearn to enable more holistic and sustainable change ?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Change must be internal first of all, as well as holistic, and also on a micro and macro level; AI is changing business models and the way we work, causing some organisations to dispense with the ‘inner work’ and hoping AI will do it for them.

- Yet 95% of AI pilots fail because it is not a plug n play solution – even companies that are taking an informed approach to AI have individual employees seeking their own tactical solutions.

- AI means that we must all be good prompt engineers to succeed in the future, but many people underestimate the learning and effort this requires, and want to jump straight to the productive output, skipping the hard work.

- It also demands organisational and individual buy-in, understanding how it changes people’s value proposition to the organisation and that they must redefine their inputs, outputs and added value, maybe redefining their identity.

- It is crucial at the beginning of a transformation project to understand where authority sits and how decisions are made – decision-makers must lead the process – and how much curiosity there is.

- A lack of curiosity is the biggest obstacle to change, and organisations must be open to different (external) perspectives and to pivoting mid-way through the project if necessary.

- A ‘levels of agreement’ exercise with the people involved can help to determine the way forward, seeing failure as a point of learning that is painful but productive – but overidentifying with a job makes it very difficult to fail.

- Particularly in the age of AI, we should try and separate ourselves from our jobs and find a working environment that suits us, where we can present multiple facets of ourselves to address bias and be authentic to elicit a positive...

"What if the key to economic transformation lies not in bigger budgets or top-down directives, but in fostering community ownership and equitable systems?"

Alfredo and I discuss the need for more regenerative financial models and to start really working in small communities and joining together into a network of networks. Current models are very redistributive (e.g. taxing success, subsidisation for those with no access) but pre-distribution gives everyone a stake; if communities win, everyone wins and gains autonomy and agency.

We discuss the need for more diverse thinking and more equitable access to funding and business opportunities. Generating new ideas by combining what already exists and creating surplus value that can then move around is the key, but we need to do this better, faster and in collaboration. Building entrepreneur-led ecosystems requires prioritizing ownership, pre-distribution, and maintaining a human scale. It is easier to build from scratch, and this will be the challenge of transforming established institutions and organisations, but they will have to transition, whether they like it or not.

We know that innovation often stems from unconventional approaches and questioning established norms, where individuals without traditional backgrounds can bring fresh perspectives. Hitting “walls” in conventional paths can be a catalyst for divergent thinking, pushing beyond perceived limitations to realise that seemingly permanent constructs can be circumvented

Leaders need to step outside their echo chambers, we spend way too much time talking to people who look and think like us and we should be actively broadening horizons by reading, talking to people outside our immediate circle, and exploring new ideas.

This is not on one person or community, but is a generational effort to influence and impact the systems we seek to transform

Alfredo generously shares his intentional design principles, experiences and personal journey to setting up the world’s first shared prosperity community corporation (SPCC) operates at the intersection of workforce, education and entrepreneurship with a focus on equity, economic transformation and rethinking leadership.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Innovation comes from the fringes: when pursuing a goal, hitting a wall makes you realise you have to find a different way to get round things – these walls serve as ‘flexion points’ rather than obstacles on the path to a breakthrough moment.

- Community-based entrepreneurship makes innovation possible with few resources, as constrained resources force commitment, agency and risk-taking -asking for help from the right people creates something organically.

- Process of identifying an issue/problem and finding the most transformative thing to move forward and grow; this is generational work, starting small and moving through systems to aspiration.

- Design principles offer constraint, and the focus should be on ownership first (for ownership democracy and shared prosperity) for everyone to have an interest – distributed ownership is required for a regenerative economy.

- Current models are very redistributive (e.g. taxing success, subsidisation for those with no access) but pre-distribution gives everyone a stake; if communities win, everyone wins and gains autonomy and agency.

- Present VC models are designed around the founder and investors as opposed to everyone involved – a ‘winner takes all’ approach; pre-distribution means nobody does anything on their own, often building on others’ work and ideas.

- Humans evolved in small groups and that’s where we work best, small groups...

“Everything we know, do, & think is already out of date because the world moves so quickly.”

Allister and I discuss what being future ready really means in today's workplace. Everything we know, do and think is already obsolete – whilst a scary concept, it is also an empowering way to look at the world and identify what we can improve, a paradigm shift from the old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke’ …

Curiosity is highlighted as one of the 3 leadership superpowers. It involves challenging and questioning the status quo, similar to a child constantly asking “why.” This can help uncover hidden assumptions and new possibilities. Leaders should create environments where employees feel safe to share ideas without fear of ridicule, as they go through the FROST ready already cycle. Scaling through small yet impactful changes to our systems and cycles to create sustainable change.

AI is discussed as a powerful tool. However, it has limitations and should be viewed as augmented intelligence rather than a replacement for human skills. It is important to stay focused on higher-level value-adding processes and uniquely human abilities such as critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence. By developing these skills, individuals can remain indispensable in the workforce.

Allister shares his stories, models and experience of working in and accompanying organisations and leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Everything we know, do and think is already obsolete – whilst a scary concept, it is also an empowering way to look at the world and identify what we can improve, a paradigm shift from the old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke’ …

- A Future-Ready Mindset builds on the growth mindset but adds ‘the fuel for your future’ – a heartfelt reason to do what you do in the service of others with a commitment and energy to bring about change.

- Focusing on the downstream consequences of our work helps to reframe our personal mission - our job enables the company to grow but we also use the company as a vehicle for our own skills.

- The FROST – Follow, React, Open, Surprise, Tell – growth model helps us change the way we think about ourselves and our mission; for companies to adopt this mindset at scale means embedding this new vocabulary.

- The Open phase sees curiosity as a superpower – CEOs are often scared of employees having ideas, but all ideas are improved by exposing them to other people. And AI cannot do curiosity!

- Like children who constantly ask why in order to feel safe and make sense of the world, we too must have the courage to question and challenge the status quo with a change already in mind.

- Having ideas to address the ‘why’ is the next superpower, moving from knowing to learning, asking questions of ourselves before asking others, and sharing our own ideas.

- The Tell phase is about using the brilliance of other people, designing the session to encourage the sharing of unfinished ideas and foster a culture of appreciating others’ input whilst being transformative in the process.

- The ReadyAlready cycle can be used to identify where to deploy AI - pattern recognition at scale makes it brilliant but not without limitations; it is augmented intelligence alongside our value-adding superpowers.

- Having a personal sense of direction is very important - repeating the ReadyAlready cycle will unlock something new every time and lead to either big or small improvements, but without...

"Whatever we have achieved as a species has nothing to do with one person alone."

Why start a leadership book with a mammoth hunt?

Nicolas and I delve into the human dimension of leadership and what it brings to society.

Human behaviour is the most unmeasured risk in strategy implementation. To avoid pitfalls, be aware of evolutionary biases such as the false positive decision-making bias. Companies build echo chambers, where people raise a view that is not the same as their boss’s, and then avoid talking about it.

A crucial point: humans achieve greatness through collaboration. A lone human has little chance against a mammoth. Hunting one requires strategy, the right people, and a shared purpose. This highlights a fundamental truth: our collective efforts drive success.

Organisations should acknowledge the inherent tension between individualistic needs, collaboration, and competition among employees, fostering a culture where personal and company goals align.

Nicolas shares his insights, experience and stories of working and researching the human dimensions of leadership and what it means for today's workplace.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- The human dimension of leadership and what it brings to society is key – a failure to understand ourselves and the people we lead is a big problem that is borne out by history (as far back as the time of the mammoth).

- Collaboration and strategy were needed to hunt the mammoth (cf. the big machine in modern times); nowadays we have lots of smaller, interconnected mammoths but we still need to know how to lead a herd of mammoths.

- To progress in an organisation requires sharing our learning and leading a team towards a goal: leaders need people with the right expertise and people they trust – very similar to a mammoth hunt.

- The human ego is problematic when it comes to achieving a common goal, with the apparent paradox between working for oneself and being wired for collaboration, i.e. the individual vs the collective.

- Leaders in the transactional corporate world must learn to be humble, lead by example, be purpose-driven and role model a positive culture – they need their team more than their team needs them.

- Leadership, followship and hierarchy counteract the vulnerability, slowness and weakness of the individual; leadership was originally task-related, with different leaders for different tasks, teaching how to lead and how to follow.

- Today, one person becomes CEO without the relevant skills/knowledge for all the different tasks and must therefore understand when to lead and when to follow, going against the grain of what it means to be a ‘strong leader’.

- The ‘mammoth’ approach to leadership involves four levels of team performance - fight or flight, competitive, creative and flow – along with a leadership/ followship framework and a dynamic stability framework.

- These are old ideas to avoid pitfalls, e.g. if you don’t evolve, you die as an individual and die out as a species – the same is true for companies, yet human behaviour remains the most unmeasured risk in business strategy.

- Diversification is very risky – if the main aim is to survive and be sustainable, it is vital not to lose sight of the core business; what you do today is most important, otherwise there is no tomorrow.

- We must understand that as humans we have evolutionary biases (false positive decision-making bias, confirmation bias, anchoring bias), are risk averse...

"Transformation isn’t about control, its about letting go… teams that breathe together thrive together"

Anthony and I explore the power of stillness and breathing into the present moment.

The constant pressure to keep going and keep busy means we never find (the time to find) calm and we ignore the innate wisdom in our body. Bringing inner work to the outside world means being enough and understanding this.

How can cultivating inner calm help us to navigate uncertainty and ground ourselves and our teams in purpose, presence and ultimately allow us all to perform to the best of our abilities ?

How can we recognise the frame we live in and consciously build emotional resilience for the greater good in our teams, our organisations and our lives ?

Leadership is about becoming aware of our inherent value and the impact we have, fostering a culture of care and connection through practices like conscious breathing.

Anthony shares his richinsights from his personal journey and from accompanying leaders all over the globe on their journeys to transformation and serenity.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Raising consciousness means appreciating how much power we have as human beings; being small is often easier but means we don’t understand the bigger frame of life.

- Breathing is the very first thing we do naturally, yet conscious breathwork is difficult - the significance of breath becomes ‘normal’ but there is so much to it physiologically, metaphysically and spiritually.

- The first breath of life is the only time we haven’t been hurt and we are filled with wonder and curiosity; the last breath of life is about letting go of everything, and we can be curious about that surrender.

- We only ever pay attention when we lose our breath, but emotional resilience and intelligence are about being able to take a breath when we don’t want to - we lose our choices and processing power when we don’t breathe properly.

- We tend to suppress trauma and panic and resort to fight, flight or freeze, which are not thinking processes; we can practise different types of breath for different states, e.g. anxiety, anger, etc., to have them at our disposal when necessary.

- The fourth choice after fight, flight or freeze is breathe: we lose our breath due to abuse or trauma but it lives on in our body. We can create space by breathing and (re)connecting with our inner child to find boundlessness and freedom.

- The BRIDGE technique is a way of saving the inner child without returning to the trauma, i.e. to repair our own wounds and become the agent of our own healing:

B = Breathe, R = Recognise, I = Investigate, D = Dialogue, G = Gather, E = Exercise.

- All learning, including the somatic, is operationalised through discipline and consistency to leave the familiar and move forward - transformation isn’t about control, it’s about surrendering and being the architect of your own soul.

- The moment we remove the masks we wear and become present is tender, private and individual; we need our will to breathe in and surrender to breathe out, and whilst we do it all the time, we live in a world where wilfulness prevails.

- Being embedded in corporate life comes at enormous personal cost (burnout is increasing, immunity is decreasing), which leads to a lack of resilience; we associate surrender with weakness and only surrender as a very last resort.

- The constant pressure to keep going means we never find (the time to find) calm and we...

"Code doesn't transform organisations : people do ..."

What truly drives innovation in the fast-paced world of technology? Is it solely the code, the algorithms, and the software?

Michel and I discuss this and more and the answer is a resounding no. It’s people.

We discuss how leaders can navigate the complexities of the tech world by prioritizing, understanding and nurturing the human element, as well as leading with context and clarity. Leaders must take advantage of the foresight and learning that comes from huge market shifts, and iterate on their blueprint for transformation.

What constitutes the new playbook for tech leadership? What’s shifting? Why is this shift necessary? We discuss the need for a new type of leadership, balancing technical expertise with cultural ambassadorship, inspiring teams with a clear vision and fostering open communication. Constantly reinventing connection and communication as the world evolves in more complex and numerous ecosystems is a call to simplify the human element intentionally. Transparent communication is vital to maintaining trust.

As humans, we need to intentionally guide AI as it develops. While AI excels at aggregating and correlating data, one can question its current ability to anticipate the unknown. AI agents may become self-learning, but they may still lack the human capacity to correlate unforeseen needs and read the deeper invisible relational and emotional energies.

Michel generously shares his experience and insights from his career in Silicon Valley and from working with start ups and leaders in the tech world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Cultivate Context: Engage engineering teams early with comprehensive information to avoid misalignment and foster collaborative problem-solving. 💡
• Embrace Multifactorial Leadership: Balance technical expertise with cultural ambassadorship, inspiring teams with a clear vision and fostering open communication.
• Reimagine Connectivity: Design innovative ways to reconnect distributed teams, promoting alignment and consensus through regular gatherings and transparent communication.
• Balance Chaos and Structure: Maintain a “startup kitchen” dynamic within large organizations to encourage fluidity, agility, and rapid adaptation to change.
• Prioritize Strategic Frameworks: Develop long-term strategic frameworks, encourage calculated risk-taking, and foster a culture of continuous reinvention to anticipate and navigate disruptions.

• Beyond the Code: Unveiling the Human Factor in Technology Leadership Innovations - https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Code-Technology-Leadership-Innovation/dp/B0F6LVCXHQ
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellanglois/
• Website - https://michellanglois.us/

"Personal agency is key, even within big systems. Ground yourself in self-assurance. and intentionally use your voice."

Have you ever wondered what it takes to truly understand and drive transformation within your organization? Rethinking leadership itself. Prioritizing coherence, clarity, impact, and purpose can unlock potential you never knew existed.

A great conversation with Erin Herman on rethinking leadership itself. Prioritizing coherence, clarity, impact, and purpose can unlock potential you never knew existed.

Only 14 - 16% of leaders can articulate their 'why' : is this your biggest leadership challenge ?

One of the ways of addressing this is to ground ourselves in self assurance. Self assurance provides a source of stability that confidence, reliant on external validation, cannot match.

This is particularly important for women leaders, who are still working in and often constrained by a system that was not made for or by them.

It’s about putting purpose over presence, owning your presence and recognizing that your voice needs to be heard, regardless of whether the system readily welcomes it. This will in turn create different relational patterns and dynamics in your teams and ecosystems.

By prioritising presence and purpose, fostering self-assurance, and celebrating both successes and failures, you can unlock the potential within your team and transform your workplace.

How do you cultivate self-assurance in your leadership?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Prioritize purpose over presence to build self-assurance. Focusing on the “why” behind your actions makes your presence more genuine and impactful.
• Self-assurance, unlike confidence, is internally driven and resilient. It empowers leaders, especially women, to navigate uncertainty and advocate for equity.
• Organizations should foster “positive failure cultures” to remove the shame associated with mistakes, encourage risk-taking, and enhance team communication.
• Cultivate coherence by aligning personal values with organizational values, actions, and outcomes, which enhances personal value systems and team dynamics.
• Shift from control to curiosity to nurture potential. Leaders should ask more questions, actively listen, and build intentional relationships within their teams.
• Embrace mistakes and reject perfectionism to foster momentum and growth. Recognize that striving for perfection can hinder progress and innovation.

Find out more about Erin and her work here :

website : https://www.theerinherman.com/

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-herman-97832217/

"In order to transform successfully, you need to take an intentional and deliberate approach above ground with the things you can see as well as below ground with the things you can't see to drive transformation"

Matt and I delve into the world of digital transformation, and how to design an operating model that allows adaptability, impact and sustainable transformation. Digital transformation is often misunderstood. It’s best defined as working in new ways with new technology. Technology has rapidly advanced, but organisations need to focus now more than ever on aligning people and processes to leverage these technologies effectively.

We also discuss the importance of aligning people and processes with technology, and explore the concept of scaling effectively through Centres of Excellence (COEs). The shift from project to product to experience ownership is key to driving better customer and employee outcomes. This shift forces organizations to take customer experience design out of a niche marketing function and integrate it throughout the entire organization.

However, to do this there is a big cultural and leadership shift that needs to happen, and this needs an intentional and deliberate approach to both visible and implicit (cultural) aspects of transformation. This involves not only implementing new strategies, processes, and systems but also addressing behavioural failure modes, leadership styles and fostering new cultural characteristics.

Matt generously shares his insights and experience from working with leaders all over the globe in scaling digital transformation successfully.

What’s your biggest challenge in aligning people, process, and technology to effectively scale growth & digital transformation in your workplace ?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Digital transformation hinges on bringing people and processes up to speed with technological advancements. Simplify the concept to working in new ways with new tech.
• Centers of Excellence (COEs) should be value-generating teams focused on specific areas: build, guide, share, or create. Avoid trying to be all things at once.
• Successful COE implementation starts with identifying the internal customer and their needs, then crafting a value proposition centered on them.
• Shift from project to product ownership by focusing on the experience; appoint experience owners who manage the customer and employee experience.
• Bridge the strategy-execution gap by establishing an operating committee that translates strategy into tactics, with experience owners playing a role.
• Successful transformations address both visible elements (strategy, systems) and less tangible human aspects like culture, values, and behaviours.

Find out more about Matt and his work here :

Website: www.treelinetransformation.com

COE Online Course: https://treeline-transformation.mykajabi.com/COE-course

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdevans/

Email: matt@treelinetransformation.com