Leading Transformational Change with Tobias Sturesson

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guests, Michaela Ahlberg and Anna Romberg - co-authors of The Grey Zone, on this practical and insightful episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, they discuss how to promote a healthy, ethical and values-driven culture in your organization. Michaela and Anna also talk about their Responsible Leadership Program - what they were trying to accomplish, what they learned along the way, and what results they’ve seen.
Michaela Ahlberg was instrumental in developing the Ethics and Compliance functions at several large multinational companies as the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Telia Sonera, Volvo Cars, Nokia Siemens Networks and Getinge. Anna Romberg is the current Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Legal, and Compliance at Getinge. She is also co-founder of the Nordic Business Ethics Initiative. Michaela and Anna are co-authors of The Grey Zone.
Duration: 48:03

What constitutes a remarkably healthy culture and a workplace people love being a part of? What about your culture might instead make people frustrated and leave your organization? 

Two critical questions that every leader needs to ask. 

While we face an economic downturn, the job market is still competitive, especially for highly skilled talent. And we all want to be known for building great organizational cultures. 

So what can leaders do? 

Charlie and Don Sull, researchers at MIT and co-founders of Culture X, have conducted the largest systematic study of corporate culture ever, analyzing 1.4 million Glassdoor reviews from more than 500 of the largest employers in the United States. 

They found that toxic culture is the primary driver of resignations. And that even relatively healthy cultures can have toxic elements that must be addressed. They learned that culture can't be adequately measured using only quantitative measures - like employee engagement surveys. And that the most important elements of stand-out cultures are listening to employees and building psychological safety. 

On the first episode of Season 8 of the Leading Transformational Change Podcast, we bring you a conversation with Charlie Sull. 

Charlie's thought leadership has been featured in the Economist, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and more.

I hope you will find our conversation as insightful, inspiring, and thought-provoking as I did!

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Aga Bajer, on this practical and helpful episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Aga discusses culture myths, how to deal with cultural challenges as your organization grows, how to analyze the health of your culture, and why she believes fun, meaning and belonging are at the heart of a healthy culture.
Agnieszka (Aga) Bajer works with leaders and teams around the globe to help them bring their vision to life. She is the host of the CultureLab podcast and the co-author of “Building and Sustaining a Coaching Culture" - a complete guide on how to embed coaching in an organisation’s DNA.
Duration: 58:55

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Stephen Shedletzky, on this honest and empowering episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this episode, your host Tobias Sturesson discusses the topic of speak-up culture with Stephen Shedletzky who has helped numerous organizations think better about their leadership, purpose, and culture. Stephen Shedletzky worked with Simon Sinek as the Head of Training & Development, inspired by the vision to improve people's work experience worldwide. He is the author of a forthcoming book: Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up, launching in October. His personal story of overcoming a stutter gives a unique perspective on finding our voice in our organizations.

Duration: 50:25

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Dr. Margaret Heffernen, on this profound and empowering episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Margaret discusses how to reimagine the future and not fall into the trap of wilful blindness.
Dr. Margaret Heffernen is an entrepreneur, CEO, writer, and keynote speaker. The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. Her TED talks have been seen by over twelve million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. Her most recent book, Uncharted: How to map the future was published in 2020.
She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck & Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath and continues to write for the Financial Times and the Huffington Post.
Duration: 54:47

Welcome to episode 71 of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. Your usual host, Tobias Sturesson, switches into the role of guest and is interviewed by his colleague, Andreas Almlöf. They discuss organizational cultures in crisis, different types of unhealthy cultures, and how to rebuild trust within organizations going through challenging times.
Duration: 35:10

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Dr. Deb Mashek, on this timely and informative episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Deb discusses why collaboration should matter, in what cases it becomes critical, and what it takes to foster a culture of collaboration.

Dr. Deb Mashek, PhD is an experienced business advisor, professor, higher education administrator, and national nonprofit executive. Named one of the Top 35 Women in Higher Education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, she has been featured in media outlets including MIT Sloan Management Review, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Hechinger Report, Inside Higher Ed, Fortune, Reason, Business Week, University Business Insider, and The Hill. She writes regularly for Psychology Today. Her book, "Collabor(h)ate: How to build incredible collaborative relationships at work" was released at the beginning of 2023.

Duration: 52:34

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Uri Gneezy, on this insightful episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Uri discusses his work on when and why incentives in an organization can backfire and when traditional economic theories fail to explain real human behavior.   Uri Gneezy is professor of economics and strategic management at the Rady School of Management, UC San Diego. As a researcher, Gneezy's focus is on putting behavioral economics to work in the real world, where theory can meet application. Topics include incentives-based interventions to increase good habits and decrease bad ones, Pay-What-You-Want pricing, and the detrimental effects of small and large incentives. In addition to the traditional laboratory and field studies, he is working with several firms, conducting experiments in which they are using basic findings from behavioral economics to help companies achieve their traditional goals in non-traditional ways. He is the co-author of the bestseller, The Why Axis. His forthcoming book, Mixed Signals releases on March 31 2023.  Duration: 52:51

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Frank Blake, on this exciting and motivating episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Frank discusses how incentives matter and why senior leaders need to absorb complexity and deal with values dilemmas and conflicting goals. He also explains what it means to lead from an inverted triangle and how to put concepts like servant/humble leadership into practice.

Frank Blake served as Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot from January 2007 through November 2014, and then as chairman through January 2015. Frank joined The Home Depot in 2002 as executive vice president, business development and corporate operations. Frank previously served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Prior to that, he served in a variety of executive roles at General Electric, including senior vice president, Corporate Business Development. Frank serves on numerous boards including Delta Air Lines (non-executive chairman), Macy’s, and Proctor & Gamble. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a jurisprudence degree from Columbia University School of Law.

Duration: 1:05:37

Happy New Year! Welcome to Season 7 of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. Your usual host, Tobias Sturesson, switches into the role of guest and is interviewed by his colleague, Andreas Almlöf. They discuss what stood out the most throughout the podcast episodes of 2022 and reflect on how to think about culture and values in a time of change and crisis. In addition, Tobias shares about his forthcoming book and why he decided to write it in the first place.

Duration: 36:16

In this episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast, your host Tobias Sturesson brings back a conversation with Jennifer Chatman from December 2020. In this perceptive and relevant interview with this world-renowned researcher, teacher and consultant on leveraging organizational culture, they discuss what it takes to change and leverage culture, and her research on how narcissistic leadership impacts culture.

Jennifer Chatman is the Paul J. Cortese Distinguished Professor of Management and a faculty member in the Management of Organizations (MORS) Group at Berkeley Haas. In her research, teaching, and consulting work, she focuses on how organizations can leverage culture for strategic success and how diverse teams can optimize performance.

Duration: 51:32

In this episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast, your host Tobias Sturesson brings back a conversation that many new listeners may not have heard. In this insightful interview with ethics professor and author Ann Tenbrunsel, from almost two years ago (November 2020), they discuss whether we truly are as values-driven as we think, and why we make bad decisions even when we might have good intentions.

Ann Tenbrunsel is the David E. Gallo Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on the psychology of ethical decision making and examining why we behave unethically, despite our best intentions. Ann is the author, co-author, or co-editor of six books on this topic including Blind Spots (with Max Bazerman), Behavioral Ethics: Shaping an Emerging Field (with David De Cremer), and Codes of Conduct: Behavioral Research into Business Ethics (with David Messick). Her research has been featured on NPR, Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and many other major publications.

Duration: 42:04

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Sandra J. Sucher, on this fascinating and timely episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Sandra discusses the foundation of a healthy organizational culture - trust, and how trust can be built, lost, and regained.

Sandra J. Sucher is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and an internationally recognized trust researcher. The Power of Trust: How Companies Earn It, Lose It, Regain It, is her third book. It is based on two decades of research on global companies’ best practices and in the gray areas of business—where responsibilities to investors, customers, employees, and society pull companies and their leaders in different directions. Sandra is on the Edelman Trust Institute advisory board and has collaborated with Deloitte on TrustIQ™, a proprietary tool that measures key elements of trust in major corporations and public sector organizations.

Duration: 59:52

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Maria Hemberg, on this informative and helpful episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Maria shares what it means to live one's values, how Volvo Cars think about ethics, and how they are meeting the radical shifts in the car industry.

Maria Hemberg has more than 25 years of experience from practicing business law both in private practice and as in-house counsel. Before joining Volvo Car Group in 2012, Maria served as legal counsel at AB SKF with focus on M&A and was a member of the Automotive Divisions management team. Maria is heading Group Legal & Corporate Governance, a global function providing support and services to the Volvo Car Group covering the areas legal, intellectual property, compliance & ethics, as well as corporate governance.

Duration: 42:40

Join your host Tobias Sturesson and his guest, Dan Cable, on this inspiring episode of the Leading Transformational Change podcast. In this conversation, Dan shares profound insights into how you can bring more meaning to your organization. With a focus on experimentation and purpose, Dan unpacks a remarkable example of the power of servant leadership and how redesigning your rituals can contribute to a healthier culture.

Dan Cable is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. His research and teaching focus on employee engagement, change, organisational culture, leadership mindset and the linkage between brands and employee behaviors. He is the author of Exceptional, Alive at Work, and Change to Strange. His most recent research was published in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly. This research has been featured in The Economist, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, The New York Times and Business Week. Dan's recent clients include Carlsberg, Coca Cola, Estée Lauder, EY, HSBC, IKEA, McDonalds, MS Amlin, Prudential, PwC, Rabobank, Roche, Sanofi, Siemens and Twitter.

Duration: 57:04

As we are now taking steps into a new post-pandemic normal in many parts of the world, it seems like many organizations are struggling with how to have trusting and constructive internal conversations about how and where they do their best work. As a result, internal trust in leadership seems to be shaken. An essential foundation for a healthy culture is an organization’s ability to have hard and important conversations that can move the organization forward.

Fred Dust, the author of "Making Conversation: Seven Essential Elements of Meaningful Communication", is passionate about designing creative conversations to solve big problems. In this engaging episode, your host Tobias and Fred discuss how our ability to have these types of conversations matters immensely.

Giovanni Leoni is the Global Head of Algorithmic and AI Ethics at Inter IKEA Group. In addition, he is also an Advisory Board Member for the Ethical AI Governance Group in California, U.S.A. Giovanni's vision is a future where technology will be created and used with ethics in mind.

Duration: 52:37

Many organizations struggle with a culture of silence in which critical concerns are neither welcomed nor raised, essential feedback is unshared, and vital ideas are left unsaid. But how do you measure a lack of something? How do you deal with something that isn’t there? What strategies and habits need to be implemented to deal with silence?

This final episode of Season 5 is a recording of an online live Healthy Culture Initiative event with Megan Reitz and Mary Inman. Listen in on this critical conversation between your host, Tobias, and these guests as they explore how to deal with a culture of silence.

Megan Reitz is a facilitator, teacher, speaker, executive coach, researcher, and author dedicated to exploring and finding ways to improve the way people interact with one another in the workplace. She is Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Ashridge Executive Education – part of Hult International Business School. She is ranked as one of the top 50 management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 and is on the 2021 HR Most Influential List of Thinkers by HR Magazine. Megan is the co-author of "Speak Up: Say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heard".

Mary Inman is a lawyer and partner in Constantine Cannon’s London Office. She launched the firm's international whistleblower practice and specializes in representing whistleblowers worldwide under American reward programs. Mary is a recognized expert and frequent author and speaker on areas related to the application of the American whistleblower laws internationally and the use of whistleblower laws worldwide.

Duration: 01:22:03

As we are now taking steps into a new post-pandemic normal in many parts of the world, it seems like many organizations are struggling with how to have trusting and constructive internal conversations about how and where they do their best work. As a result, internal trust in leadership seems to be shaken. An essential foundation for a healthy culture is an organization’s ability to have hard and important conversations that can move the organization forward.

Fred Dust, the author of "Making Conversation: Seven Essential Elements of Meaningful Communication", is passionate about designing creative conversations to solve big problems. In this engaging episode, your host Tobias and Fred discuss how our ability to have these types of conversations matters immensely.

Fred Dust is a former senior partner and global managing director at the international design firm IDEO. A leading voice and practitioner of human-centered design and networked innovation, he helps organizations in media, finance, retail, and health confront disruption stemming from shifts in consumer behavior, social trends, economic pressures, and new technology. Prior to IDEO, Dust trained as an architect and spent eight years working with independent artists and major art organizations. He chairs the board of Parsons School of Design and sits on the boards of the New School, NPR, and the Sundance Institute. He lives in New York City. Fred is the author of "Making Conversations: Seven Essential Elements of Meaningful Communication".

Duration - 1:01:18

We live in times in which circumstances change rapidly, decisions are rarely black and white, and it's hard to know what is right, true, and most important. With our current political climate, polarization, and media culture, there are considerable risks involved in decision-making. How do we build a healthy organizational culture with an ethical compass in turbulent times? 

Professor and ethics expert, Alison Taylor, is currently writing a book for Harvard Business Review Press on how companies can do the right thing in a turbulent world. In this insightful episode, your host Tobias and Alison discuss her key learnings on what it takes to lead with values in the midst of crisis and uncertainty.

Alison Taylor is the Executive Director at Ethical Systems, a collaboration between leading academics in the fields of behavioral science, systems thinking, and organizational psychology. She holds an M.A. in International Relations and Organizational Psychology with her fields of expertise being ethics, management, and social responsibility. Alison has spent the last two decades working with MNCs on issues such as culture and behaviour, ethics and compliance, human rights, and risk. She has been Managing Director at non-profit business network Business for Social Responsibility, and a Senior Managing Director at Control Risks. She teaches professional responsibility and leadership to MBA and undergraduate students at NYU Stern and offers guest lectures on matters of business, public policy, sustainability, and political science.

Duration: 58:35

A culture of speaking up and listening up does not happen by default. Leaders need to build it with intentionality and an awareness of their blindspots. Researcher and author Megan Reitz is passionate about helping people flourish in their workplaces through the way they speak with, listen to, learn from, and care for each other. In this engaging and helpful episode, your host Tobias and Megan discuss building cultures of listening, understanding positions of power and its impact, and a framework for fostering psychological safety.

Megan Reitz is a facilitator, teacher, speaker, executive coach, researcher, and author dedicated to exploring and finding ways to improve the way people interact with one another in the workplace. She is Professor of Leadership and Dialogue at Ashridge Executive Education – part of Hult International Business School. She is ranked as one of the top 50 management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 and is on the 2021 HR Most Influential List of Thinkers by HR Magazine. Megan is the co-author of "Speak Up: Say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heard".  

Duration: 50:38

Values that don’t cost us something aren’t worth anything. In the struggle between upholding the principles we say we believe in and a possible loss of prestige or financial gain, our values get tested and are often found lacking. Sweden's leading political scientist, Bo Rothstein, gave up a coveted professorship because he couldn’t teach political ethics with good conscience in a role funded by a financier who supported a cause Bo believed conflicted with the values that the role represented. In this insightful episode, your host Tobias and Bo discuss the role of trust in building strong institutions and healthy organizations.

Bo Rothstein held the August Röhss Chair in Political Science at the University of Gothenburg from December 1994 to June 2021. His long and illustrious career includes roles as visiting scholar and professor at distinguished universities including Harvard, Cornell, and Stanford. Bo is the author of "Just Institutions Matter: The Moral and Political Logic of the Universal Welfare" and "Social Traps and the Problem of Trust", both with Cambridge University Press. His latest book is "Making Sense of Corruption" (together with Aiysha Varraich) published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. 

Duration: 42:24

The pandemic has greatly impacted how organizations gather. Not having been able to put all the focus on a few physical gatherings or corporate retreats, organizations have hopefully had an opportunity to think through what values and behaviors are actually promoted through their stories, rituals, and processes. INSEAD's Associate Professor, Mark Mortensen, has investigated the nature of conflict in distributed collaborations and its relationship to identity, context, and communication. In this engaging and helpful episode, your host Tobias and Mark discuss the benefits and challenges of hybrid and remote work, and how this impacts psychological safety in the workplace.

Mark Mortensen is the owner/principal consultant of Global Works Consulting and is an Associate Professor and the chair of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. Mark's research explores collaboration in today’s global work context, focusing on alternative structures of organizing: collaborations and teams that are global and virtual, matrixed, overlapping, and dynamically allocated. Mark is a regular contributor to management education journals such as the Harvard Business Review, MIT-Sloan Management Review, and IESE Insight. He has been featured as an expert in media outlets including the Financial Times, Economist, Boston Globe, and Globe and Mail.

Duration: 58:37

Building a healthy culture and fostering ethical decision-making requires an environment in which concerns are raised and dangerous blindness is avoided. However, creating such an environment seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of leadership. Best-selling author Kim Scott has thought long and hard about how organizations can facilitate the hard conversations that need to happen in order to build trust and transparency. In this engaging and insightful episode, your host Tobias and Kim discuss "radical candor" and how practically applying it helps all members of an organization to invite and give better feedback with compassionate honesty. 

Kim Scott is the author of Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-ass Culture of Inclusivity, and Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity. She is the co-founder of the companies Just Work and Radical Candor. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google. She lives with her family in Silicon Valley.

Duration: 1hr 04min

We often don't know what to do with regret. Organizations often have a culture that causes its employees to be solely future-focused, not dwelling on past failures. While there is certainly a need to move forward, the danger is that past regrets become taboo; people can feel like there is something wrong with them if they have regrets. However, best-selling author Daniel Pink believes that regret can become a positive driver resulting in powerful results. In this inspiring and encouraging episode, your host Tobias and Daniel discuss different types of regret, self-compassion, and how leaders and HR and Ethics professionals can deal with regret in a productive and restorative way.  

Daniel H. Pink is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, published in February. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family.  

Duration: 50:53

On 24 February 2022 Putin ordered the Russian army to attack Ukraine. At the time of this episode, there are more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine that have crossed the border to another European country. Amid this pain, fear, and uncertainty people are still taking leadership. 

This episode is a conversation with one of those brave leaders: Serhii Bolchuk, the co-founder of Agape Ukraine. This moving interview tells their unfinished story of pivoting from serving people in their own facilities to now desperately trying to evacuate them. And yet, Serhiy still believes there is hope.   

Serhii Bolchuk and his wife, Natalia, are the founders of Agape Ukraine - an NGO focused on serving people with disabilities. In Ukraine, people with disabilities often lack any governmental support and are typically left to the care of their mothers. Without the support of physiotherapists and disability-friendly facilities, their freedom is often limited, and they find themselves isolated from society. Agape Ukraine built the state-of-the-art Agape Rehabilitation Complex that offers physiotherapy, assisted living, and developmental activities. In addition, they arrange regular retreats for children and adults. 

To learn more: https://www.agapeukraine.com/en/golovna-english/

Office politics. It's a phrase to which many have some kind of gut reaction. Probably a highly negative one. Niven Postma makes the case that it's essentially impossible to avoid office politics. In every organization, there is a need to socialize and build momentum for ideas in ways that are outside of the formal process and hierarchy; it happens all the time. In this insightful episode, your host Tobias and Niven discuss aspects of office politics, how to build healthy organizational cultures, and key learnings regarding the hybrid work environment.  

Niven Postma is a strategy, leadership, and culture consultant partnering with clients in diverse industries around the world to (re)ignite the discretionary energy of people and teams, build an enabling culture, and develop meaningful strategies. Niven is the author of the best-selling book, "If you don't do politics, politics will do you - A guide to navigating office politics ethically and successfully" (published in 2020). Her articles and ideas can be found in various well respected media and podcasts. Niven is a Harvard Business Review contributor and a visiting lecturer at Henley Business School. 

Duration: 46:54

Welcome to a new season of the Leading Transformational Change podcast! 

A healthy culture is a culture in which ethics and values are central to the decision-making process. 

While laws and regulations can offer us some guidance, Dr. Susan Liautaud makes the case that the ethics edge - the areas in which we can’t rely on rules but need our ethical compass and clear guiding principles - is growing. In this fascinating and helpful episode, your host, Tobias, and Susan discuss culture, ethics, decision-making, technology, and leadership.  

Dr. Susan Liautaud is Founder and Managing Director of Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited, an ethics advisory firm supporting global organisations and leaders in business, government, and the non-profit sector. She is also founder of The Ethics Incubator, a non-profit platform for broadening debate about ethics issues. She teaches at Stanford University; is Vice Chair of the Court of Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); Chair of the LSE’s ethics policy committee and its Remuneration committee; and is an Advisory Board Member of LSE’s Marshall Institute. Susan currently serves on several non-profit boards and is the author of The Power of Ethics. 

Duration: 55:20

As season four of the Leading Transformational Change podcast draws to a close, your host, Tobias Sturesson, takes this opportunity to encourage you and your organization to continue pursuing a healthy culture. Together, we can make organizations that live their purpose, succeed in their mission, and have a positive impact on all stakeholders, the norm and not the exception. Wishing you a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous 2022. Duration: 08:40

What makes people prejudiced and what makes them fight in conflicts? While the "Us vs Them" mentality is a common organizational culture challenge experienced by HR professionals and leaders, there is in-depth research that reveals something more pervasive that needs greater attention: collective narcissism. Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, a distinguished professor who heads up PrejudiceLab, defines this as “a belief that the exaggerated greatness of one’s group is not sufficiently recognized by others”, which leads to resentment, hindering respectful and productive conversations between groups. In this fascinating episode, Agnieszka explains how collective narcissism fuels the conflict we see in the world today - even within our own organizations.

Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala is a Reader at Goldsmiths, Univeristy of London and a Professor at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Poznan, Poland. She has contributed to several diverse research areas, including psychological predictors of political conservatism, the role of motivated cognition in intergroup conflict, social identity, narcissism and collective narcissisms. The breadth of her work is not only seen in scientific contributions, but also in her engagement to use psychological science to address social problems such as social inequalities and prejudice. She is a recipient of several prestigious scholarships including Fulbright Scholarship and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Scholarship. Agnieszka frequently works as an independent expert evaluating proposals submitted to Research Executive Agency (REA) at the European Commission.

Duration: 30:53

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) concluded in mid-November. It can be difficult to discern between quantifiable achievements and empty promises. Parul Sharma, a distinguished human rights lawyer, contends that many companies spend more resources on communication around their sustainability initiatives than on the initiatives themselves. In this comprehensive and informative episode, Parul discusses what we can learn from COP26, the interconnectedness of issues such as human rights, climate justice, and corruption, and how to avoid greenwashing.

Parul Sharma has many years of experience in the areas of sustainability, human rights, and anti-corruption in high-risk markets. Parul is the President of Amnesty Sweden, and the CEO of The Academy for Human Rights in Business. She has been the Vice President of Global Responsibility at Stora Enso, the Head of CSR Compliance at a leading law firm, the Chair of the Swedish Government’s Agenda 2030 delegation, and the executive director of Greenpeace Sweden. The author of three books on Agenda 30, Parul is one of the most influential sustainability experts in Sweden, and is regularly interviewed by media and news channels.

Duration: 57:58

Instead of dealing with real organizational and cultural issues, leaders can often engage the organization in exercises around values that are at best meaningless or at worst lead to distrust and disillusion. A leading voice behind this criticism in Sweden is Professor Mats Alvesson, known for coining the term "functional stupidity". In this confronting and thought-provoking episode, Mats discusses how we can avoid functional stupidity and what it really takes to operate according to a set of principles we don't want to compromise.  

Mats Alvesson is a management professor at Lund University, Sweden. He is interested in critical theory, qualitative research, and organizational studies. He has published numerous books, including The Stupidity Paradox (Profile, with A. Spicer), Managerial Lives (Cambridge University Press, with S. Sveningsson), Reflexive Leadership (Sage, with M. Blom & S. Sveningsson), and The Triumph of Emptiness (Oxford University Press). Mats' latest book, Return to Meaning (Oxford Univeristy Press, with Y. Gabriel & R. Paulsen) argues that we are currently witnessing not merely a decline in the quality of social science research, but the proliferation of meaningless research, of no value to society, and modest value to its authors - apart from securing employment and promotion.

In this exciting and insightful episode, Tonia Ries, responsible for the Edelman Trust Barometer and the leader of the firm's global knowledge agenda, discusses the importance and role of trust within an organization, what it means to be trustworthy, and how to build trust with stakeholders. Indeed, it's not just enough to be seen as competent; we also need to be seen as ethical.

Tonia Ries is Executive Director of Intellectual Property for the Edelman Trust Institute, Edelman’s center for the study of trust and a learning laboratory for trust building between companies, institutions, brands and people. Her role includes stewardship of the Edelman Trust Barometer, the largest global survey and foremost authority on trust in institutions and brands. Now in its 21st year, the Trust Barometer surveys more than 34,000 people in 28 countries. Its cross-cultural insights are widely cited in media outlets such as The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Fortune, Forbes and others. With more than 30 years of experience in marketing, research, strategy and media, Tonia regularly speaks at industry events and has been quoted on the business impact of media transformation by news outlets such as The New York Times and NPR.

Duration: 50:47

In this engaging and eye-opening episode, Kevin Oakes, the CEO and co-founder of i4cp (the leading authority on next practices in human capital), and the author of the recently published book, Culture Renovation™, unpacks the strategies and actions that i4cp, through extensive research, has learned are key to successfully renovating culture.

As CEO and co-founder of i4cp, Kevin Oakes provides strategic direction and vision, and is responsible for the overall operations of the organization. Kevin is a frequent author and international keynote speaker on next practices in human capital and works with business and HR executives on people practices that drive high performance. Kevin is the author of Culture Renovation™, which was published in January 2021. The book acts as a blueprint for senior leaders to positively change organizational culture and details 18 action steps that companies such as Microsoft, 3M and T-Mobile have followed to successfully renovate their cultures. 

In this informative and helpful episode, Guido Palazzo, a business ethics professor with a passion for examining and understanding unethical decision making, provides profound observations about the current state of society, and how to embrace uncertainty, fear, and irrationality with a sense of hope. 

In addition, he shares ways that leaders and HR professionals can create an organizational culture that mitigates ethical tunnel vision.  

Guido Palazzo is Professor of Business Ethics at HEC Lausanne, University of Lausanne. In his research, he is passionate about the dark side of the force and examines unethical decision making from various angles. He is mainly known for his studies in globalization, in particular on human rights violations in global value chains, but he also studies the reasons for unethical behavior in organization and the impact of organized crime on business and society. Currently, he is examining the illegal toxic waste business of the Italian Mafia. He studied business administration and has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Marburg in Germany. 

"Think about how you can incorporate the things we do in our daily lives that we enjoy into your training programs - that is how you appeal to my emotional side and then you're more likely to get a change in behavior." Join your host, Tobias Sturesson, and his guest, Kelly Richmond Pope, for this episode on The Leading Transformational Change podcast.

In this candid and insightful conversation, Kelly Richmond Pope, a recognized expert in Forensic Accounting and the filmmaker who documented the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history, shares about why people often overlook "red flags" for too long, and how implicit trust in a leader might make us disregard the need for control and accountability systems. In addition, she explains why a compliance mentality doesn’t create an emotional connection to the values of an organization and why we need to tell stories that speak to people’s hearts.

Kelly Richmond Pope is an Associate Professor in the School of Accountancy and MIS at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. She received her doctorate in accounting from Virginia Tech and worked in the forensic practice at KPMG. Kelly is a recognized expert in the forensic accounting field and has conducted forensic accounting seminars around the world for universities, corporations and governmental entities. In addition to her academic career, Kelly is a published author and the documentary filmmaker of All the Queens Horses, which chronicles the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history.

Duration: 47:04

"We need to invite in the critics. We need to open our doors. We need to listen to them." Join your host, Tobias Sturesson, and his guest, Bob Langert, for this episode on The Leading Transformational Change podcast.

In this fascinating and helpful conversation, you will learn how Bob Langert, former VP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at McDonald's, shifted from fighting the company's critics to a posture of listening and even collaborating with organizations like Greenpeace and the Environmental Defense Fund to bring change to the company and to the food industry at large.

A practice that could be vital to building a culture of trust, purpose and integrity, but that Bob believes is seldom utilized.

Bob Langert led McDonald's Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability efforts for more than twenty-five years before retiring in 2015. Currently, he is a columnist and editor-at-large for the GreenBiz Group and Senior Sustainability Advisor for The Context Network, the premier global and agribusiness consulting firm in advancing agriculture. He has been engaged in social responsibility issues at a global level since the late 1980s, leading environmental affairs, animal welfare, and Ronald McDonald Children's Charities' grants. He was appointed McDonald's first vice president to lead sustainability in 2006. In 2007, Langert was named as one of the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics by Ethisphere. His first book, The Battle To Do Good: Inside McDonald's Sustainability Journey, was published in January 2019.

Duration: 50:02

“The best organizations encourage people to work together in teams and groups of people, promoting benefits that can be conferred on other parties – where the benefits are of considerable significance – to not just the customers and those organizations, but society and the natural world at large.

That is what we need to be seeking from the organizations that we are creating, throughout the economies and nation-states in which we're operating, to help us address the problems that we're facing.”

What does it take for an organization to deliver its purpose? How can we move from nice-sounding statements to putting our purpose into practice? In this fascinating conversation with Professor Colin Mayer, we explore what the best organizations are doing. We also discuss the role of trust and relationships in business, lessons from the financial crisis, how we can communicate trust – and Colin’s definitions of ‘Sin-integrity’ vs. ‘Saint-tegrity’.

Colin Peter Mayer is a Professor of Management Studies at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, and is the author of ‘Prosperity’ and ‘Putting Purpose Into Practice’. He is also a Professorial Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College and St Anne's College, Oxford. In 2017, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to business education and the administration of justice in the economic sphere.

Duration: 55:13

Our host Tobias Sturesson greets us with some exciting updates on Season 4, launching August 19. We have a number of wonderful, insightful, inspiring, and challenging conversations lined up. Don't miss it!