Humans Leading Humans

Greg Reed, is CEO of Places for People, the UK’s largest social enterprise - managing assets of nearly £5 billion, with a national team of 11,000 and serving more than a million people. A humble empath, introvert and storyteller, his stellar career has taught him a few things. His three stories are warm, funny and thought-provoking.

Key takeaways :

• Do the right thing because it’s right. Not for the credit
• Culture starts at the top. Manifest the behaviours you want to see.
• Set the stage for other people’s success. Dare your team to dream!

Pete Markey is CMO at Boots UK, and a lovely man and very much an imaginal leader He leads the full marketing kit and caboodle: brand, marketing communications, data, loyalty and omni media planning and comms. He fully understands that his job as a leader is to unleash the potential of his colleagues. To leave a legacy. He’s a bit of a marketing star - and in his episode of Humans Leading Humans he explains how he “bottles the magic” of diverse thoughts and opinions to drive loyalty and performance.

Not surprisingly, his episode is all about communication : not about how to talk at people, or tell them what he wants them to hear, but about real communication: about listening and creating a dynamic that encourages free thought, inspired new ideas, that welcomes opinions and build on what the other person has to say.

He shares tips for how

• To silence your problem-solving “know all”
• He harnesses comedy improv to encourage creative thinking
• The CREATE Framework™ helps him focus down on the most important pillars of leadership

Simon Casson is the President of Operations EMEA for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts; a luxury chain known for world-class, award winning Customer Experience. Excellent Customer Experience starts inside; with exemplary culture supported by world class leadership. Simon’s stories are warm, personal and packed with the wisdom and experience to embed CREATE CULTURES. He shares how to give your customers and colleagues the care they expect and deserve, to keep them coming back for more.

Make and Hold Space with Kate Brindley

Kate Brindley has, in an illustrious and change-making career, led some of the UK’s most iconic Cultural venues. Imagine the scenario. Banksy calls. He says he wants to set up an exhibition in your biggest and most prestigious gallery. You can’t tell your boss or any of your politicians … and you have to trust him to do exactly what he thinks best. What would you do?

Find out what Kate did … and how her decision changed the culture of Bristol forever.

These are stories of courage, co-creation and trust. Be inspired, Be Imaginal. Be more Human.

Mark Evans is the Managing Director of Marketing and Digital at Direct Line, he’s on the board of the Marketing Society and is very much an imaginal leader. His leadership stories are as warm and wonderful as he is. A keen rugby player, he’s worked in lots of companies in lots of sectors and has learned what good leadership really means: providing clarity, energy and being grateful.

He talks about what it feels like to be the only man in the room when exclusively , and about the massive upside of diversity and inclusion on his business.

He tells a story about the power one human can have on another, and how one moment guided every career decision through his life

And tells a candid story of the uncertainty and sometimes loneliness of moving towards servant leadership in their recent roller coaster ride in the move to agile.

Laura Jordan Bambach is President and Chief Creative Officer at Grey, a force of nature, digital pioneer and long time friend. Her message is loud and clear.

Without creativity there is no movement. There is no growth. There is no success.

She shares how living with an arts community in a warehouse and how the unforgettable experience of working, living, creating collaboratively has influenced the way that she ( and I) approach business and leadership.

Her colourful stories are jam packed with examples of the unstoppable power of democratisation, collaboration, co-creation and community.

Key takeaways :

• Get comfortable with ambiguity
• Anything is possible if everyone in your team really believes it is
• Digital transformation is not about tech … it’s about mindset and behaviours
• Create opportunities for serendipity

Ellie Norman has worked in Agencies, Automotive and was until recently CMO of Formula One.She talks about the importance of knowing what colleagues are motivated by, what scares them and how marketers can harness their storytelling super power to paint a future others will bury into. She shares the story of the Formula One Streaming Service - the perils and pain of getting caught up in the heady excitement of bringing shiny products to market while letting the customer fade from view

Key Takeaways

• Read the room with your head, heart and gut
• Build an “Ecosystem of Allies” across teams and partners
• Don’t disappear down rabbit holes
• Bring people with a diversity of perspectives intodesign
• To speed things up, slow them down.

Rebecca Rennison is a Partner at EY, one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Before that, she was the only female Managing Director at an Investment Bank in the whole of North America. Can you imagine a more male work environment? So she’s learned a thing or two about being a leader in a tough work environment. In this energising, action-packed conversation, she shares her hand guide - a wonderful simple and memorable tool to help you make a mode shift from survive to thrive.

Top tips

• Silence the imposter chimp chatter
• Be brave
• It’s OK to care
• Signpost the joy … and make sure you use on of your 24 tokens to do something that really makes you shine every day

How would you react if a member of your team phoned to say they can’t make it into work because they’ve got a hangover? Serious question. You might find Claire Fox’s answer a little unexpected.

She is an inspiration, 100% Imaginal and has had an illustrious career so far; From Sportswoman, through sports scientist, to Unilever HR,. Chief People Officer at Save the Children and COO of UNICEF.. and in the midst of that somehow found the time to be a published author.

She, like me, believes that everyone should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. In this energetic, uplifting conversation, she talks about the power of professionalism with a personal touch.

Key insights

• Formality is the enemy of trust
• Do the right thing when no one is looking - better still when everyone is looking
• Stop talking about work-life balance and focus on work-life symbiosis
• Be the leader you want your team to see and be

Sara Bennison is the Chief Product & Marketing Officer of Nationwide Building Society and is the manifestation of courageous leadership. Her stories will inspire and motivate you, and help you understand what leadership really looks like. She shares the impact that empathy, courage, vulnerable and good, honest communications has on her colleagues.

Her top tips

• Do the right thing and your career will thrive
• Good business comes from real relationships
• Words have power. DON’T make  someone else ghost write for you.
• Always make time to let your people know how you REALLY feel  .. even if its tough to be honest. Honesty is always the best policy

Be Inspired. Be Imaginal. Be more Human.

Richard Bistrong was a majorly successful VP of Sales for a global defence manufacturer for 20 years. In 2012, after smashing his targets and then some, Richard was sentenced and served fourteen-and-a-half months at a U.S federal prison camp.

His is a journey through the dark side of international sales, through bribery and corruption. It is a story of the extreme edges of bad governance - when leaders hold people to account for aggressive targets and choose not to ask the right questions. It is a story of dangerous silence and the illusion of good performance.

Sacha Romanovitch, the first female CEO of Grant Thornton, now heads up Fair4AllFinance, a non profit organisation that is building an inclusive economy.

She proved that a “profits with purpose” ethos, with diversity and inclusion at its core, builds real and measurable value across customer experience, employee engagement - and builds brands that people love. She, like me, is committed to developing a new operating system, a better normal that allows people, places, business and planet to thrive. Her three leadership stories offer pragmatic advice to leaders in any kind of organisation - whether they are leading 5 or 50,000.

Her top leadership tips :

• Control your life and protect your energy by controlling your diary
• Kill Puppies … or hand them to someone who can look after them
• Unleash common sense by asking the right questions
• Everyone has creative potential - so be playful and make them feel safe to dream
• Crowdsource wisdom to navigate even the most difficult situations - and make big savings

Rich Corbridge is the Chief Information Officer at Boots; a massive health retailer and pharmacy chain. With over 2,500 stores across six countries, 55,000 employees and revenues of £6.5Bn, it’s a pretty big deal. Rich’s job is to harness the power of technology to support business change and transformation.

He is not your traditional, stereotypical technology leader. Not at all.  His are stories of passion, of courage … of people.

He shares how a story was so powerful, it inspired him to announce a £1Million innovation programme - in front of a massive audience of leaders - without asking permission

He explains how the temptation of cool technology nearly scuppered a massive transformation programme… and how good old fashioned TLC saved the day

Mark Earls ( AKA The Herdmeister ) is a strategist, author, speaker and performer. He's done a lot of big thinking on brands, marketing and mass behaviour. When I met him he was the Global Strategy Chief at Ogilvy and Mather - and it was he who first piqued my passion for Behavioural Science. In this episode we talk a lot about a lot f thing- but mostly about the power of being the naysayer, the jester, the power of pointing at the elephant in the room even when it’s tough. Because if not you - then who?

My guest this week, Chip Conley, is an extraordinary human. He was Founder and CEO of the highly successful boutique hotel company Joi de Vivre (now owned by Hyatt.) It took a near death experience to made him stand back, look at his life and sell the company.

Then a smart young fellah called Brian, founder of a teeny, weeny startup called AirBnB, hired Chip as his strategic Lead and Mentor. Together, they grew AirBnB to be the most valuable hospitality company in the world.

This is a story of three chapters :

• The transformational power of authenticity
• A powerful collision between high tech and high-touch wisdom and the all-too-often untapped potential of diversity of age, thought and experience
• The incalculable potency of connected communities

Forget B2B or B2C. We are ALL in the H2H business. Chip’s warm wisdom can help us all be better leaders. My favourite takeaway : “Emotions are contagious, The higher up you are the more contagious they are.”

The guest in this episode is the wonderfully authentic, modest, imaginal Paul Greatrix, Registrar ( AKA COO) of Nottingham University; one of the UKs’ biggest universities with over 8,000 staff, 35,000 students and £750million turnover.. so no small outfit. His responsibility is to CREATE operating models and cultural frameworks where everyone at all levels are in learning mode.

Leaders in all organisations are finally realising life long learning is no longer a nice to have. Continuous learning and improvement is crucial in this time of continuous and accelerating change

So there’s a lot be learned from academia - with its particularly complicated mix of challenges, tensions and the very different needs of stakeholder groups- professional services, academics, researchers - and, of course, students : An ever changing, increasingly hard to please customer based with constant turnover.

How does Paul

• minimise negative disruption and maximise creative opportunities ?
• Bust through bureaucracy, committee culture and assumed constraints ?
• Create environments where everyone is incentivised and feels safe to explore, play and create?

His answers are refreshingly honest :

• A bit of guerrilla warfare ( don’t worry no-one gets hurt
• A lot of bribery ( don’t worry it’s only pizza)
• Broad and liberal boundaries
• Sharing learnings way beyond the the walls of his own organisation

.. and a bucket load of humour. Because Humour is Human!

Be Inspired. Be Imaginal. Be more Human.

My guest his week, Dan Ariely needs no introduction. But just in case, he is one of the worlds most influential psychologists. His work - and he - have inspired and continue to feed my passion, mission, vision and work. In this gloves-off conversation, he explains how leaders build work cultures that kill motivation -dead. He explains what to do, and what not to do, to unleash productivity, efficiency, and innovation. Here’s just a few of his top tips:

• You get what you measure, so be sure to measure the right things
• You CANNOT ignore the way people feel. Feeling empowered = success
• Bureaucracy and rigid processes stifle excellence and innovation
• Promoting diverse players to senior positions is not enough. The most successful companies nurture environments where diverse hires FEEL absolutely equal to the colleagues.
• Architect cultures where people feel safe to share and discuss opinions

Basically, If you want to get the best from your most important asset, people, you have to CREATE culture. There are no quick fixes.

Emily Chang is the CEO China at McCann WorldGroup and an absolute inspiration. Before McCann, she has worked with all sorts of massive brands across the US and ASIA Pacific - including the enviable, and no doubt sometimes challenging, role of introducing the apple brand to Asia.

It’s easy to assume that different leadership styles are needed in the seeming very different cultures in other regions. She says this is absolutely not true. We are all human and as such there are far more commonalities than differences.  In this motivational conversation she shares her top tips for getting the best from teams. Where ever you are. My top takeaways:

• Be an influencer not a boss
• Be real. Be unconventional. Don’t feel you have to wear the uniform
• Hire people for who they are and celebrate their uniqueness
• Create experiences and intentional space for side by side relationships
• Hold hands with your peers and have fun with your teams
• Bring your life to work to accelerate the faith curve
• People are most productive and loyal when they’re encouraged to be playful.

…and most importantly there should not be a chasm between who you are as a leader and who you are as a human.

Amy C Edmondson is an engineer, a researcher, teacher, bestselling writer, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, - and a key inspiration for my work.

After an enviable start to her career, working with one of the 20th Century’s most original thinkers, Buckminster Fuller, Amy has dedicated her career to exploring how to create work environments where humans thrive, so business and society can thrive.

In this wonderfully warm conversation, she shares crucial truths we all need to hear : The Illusion of excellence in enterprises is dangerous. Every company is a system. , a system littered with risks and opportunities for improvement. Your team should be seen and heard loud and clear. Those opportunities will only surface if you ask the right questions, make sure people feel safe to answer truthfully and really listen to the answers. Even though it may not feel good.

Truth sayers should be the heroes of the piece, not the villains. As humans are hard wired to NOT speak out, you need to engineer clever ways to make sure they do…

… and last, but absolutely not least, everyone at every level should develop key leadership skills : Humility, empathy and curiosity.

Gary Coombe is the CEO of Gillette, P&G, a wonderfully warm human and an absolute inspiration. He has learned a lot, and made mistakes, in his 35 years with P&G. Lots of leaders pay lip service to the fact that people are their most important asset. Gary is committed to living it. His insights are important to all leaders at all levels everywhere - whether leading a team of 3 or 500.

1/ Diversity and Inclusion is not a nice to have, it’s a business imperative. The strongest teams, winning teams, are diverse teams. Fact! Top tips:

• Insist recruiters offer a full range of diverse candidates. Don’t put up with anything less.
• Set up reverse mentoring schemes to empathise with unusual suspects at all levels
• Promote diverse talent to the most senior positions and you will unleash the full enthusiasm of diverse talent across your organisation

2/ Use the two way door principle to decision making to empower leaders at all levels to learn by doing

3/ Wellbeing is a weapon we can win with. We should be at least as concerned with looking after our people as we are with maintaining machinery. Do not encourage your teams to work hard and lose sleep at the expense of their health. Don’t just talk about it. Live it. Make it ok for people to relax and recharge… they’ll be more productive and less likely to leave.

And most importantly - business success and human centred culture are inexorably linked.

This weeks guest is Kim Polman, Co-Founder and Chair of Reboot the Future. She inspired Katz to build the Imaginal Leadership story into the core of the bible according to beep. In this thought provoking conversation, Kim presents her version of the Golden Rule. You know the one.. you learned it at school: “Treat others as you would wish to be treated.”

She explains why this one simple, powerful statement has been pivotal to philosophies and religions throughout history - and why it is a priceless principle for business. She asks us to imagine a world of work where every leader in every department, at every level, runs every action, every decision, through the lens of that one simple rule…. and tells the story of a UK business whose leaders operate according to it. With an annual growth of 22% every year over 14 years, the impact is clear.

Ask yourself this question : Are you leading the way you would like to be led?

Roxann Linton is the CEO at FHC, one of the biggest credit unions in Jamaica. Since taking the helm, she’s turned the company around from a financial deficit of 300 million Jamaican Dollars to a surplus of $273.44 million - by creating a work culture where humans thrive. Find out how she created her very own leadership elixir and why her colleagues called her the Chief Encouragement Officer.

Key takeaways:

• Develop a leadership vision and stick with it - even when the going gets tough
• Connect with your people at the heart and you will change their mindset
• Don’t just SAY values, build frameworks that help people LIVE them
• Dwell in the possibilities
• Create the conditions where you would thrive
• Empowered cultures drive exponential growth #fact

Rory Sutherland is Vice Chairman, and heads up the Behavioural Science Practice, at Ogilvy UK. In this weeks episode he shares stories about the power of #autonomy

In his three brilliant CREATE stories you will find out why we:

• should spend more time understanding the problem before designing the solution
• are more likely to do nothing than the sensible, innovative or imaginative thing
• Had better get clever about what we measure
• should scrap the senseless “9 to 5”

BONUS EXTRAS: Find out why Unilever created "Dress Down Friday" and potato farmers soak their potatoes before they sell ‘em

Bracken Darrell is the President and CEO of Logitech. Since Bracken took the helm, Logitech’s revenue has more than doubled to $5.25 Billion. He has proved that being an authentic, 100% human imaginal leader drives real and measurable business success. Here’s some key takeaways:

• FEEL and act like you own the company you work for
• Find good mentors (AKA friends) and allow them to find you
• Seek advice from people with totally difference experiences and perspectives
• Get your hands dirty with design and care about the small stuff
• Be prepared to fire yourself if that’s the right thing to do
• Stand up for what you know to be true
• Challenge racist, sexist, classist behaviours
• Use your privilege and power to drive positive change .. if you don’t, who will?

Debbie Vavangas is the Global Lead of IBM Garage - the unit that is transforming the way work gets done inside IBM and with its clients. IBM employees hundreds of thousands of people Debbie is what she calls an “accidental lifer." Key takeaways :

Keep learning

Be the mistress of your own destiny. Make every step meaningful

Don’t do what you’re told, do what’s smart

Be brutally honest about what you’re good at, what you’re motivated by. Stick to your strengths even when people push you to be someone else

Be real, you’ll get real back

Create work environments where everyone can be wonderful weirdos

Be bold. Dream big. Sometimes throw caution to the wind and follow your gut. That way lies transformational magic.

Martin Wezowski, is Chief Futures Officer at SAP, one of the biggest companies in the world. In this high energy interview, he explains that he learned about the core tenets of real leadership from his teenage punk band.  He talks about how he embeds real and continuous innovation and growth by

• Leading from the future. Selling a clear vision, clear, common purpose that everyone in your team can feel and see
• Giving your people permission to be change makers and engineering relationships
• Empowering people to be playful,, curious and unreasonable to push against the status quo

Leanne Lynch is Director Of Technology and Cyber Defence at Heathrow and 100% Imaginal Leader. After working for telecoms, internet, manufacturing, FMCG she joined Heathrow. 9 months later she was asked to head up, not the one department she signed up for, but all four technology departments.

This is the first time in this series that my guest Leanne, and I teared up. Her stories will resonate with every leader who fell victim to the unexpected and unwelcome explosion that was COVID. This courageous, caring woman tells three authentic stories about how she creates environments where people blossom and shine. She explains the need to continue to care and take ownership especially when the chips are down and the pressure is on.

Sir John Timpson has proved that CREATE Leadership absolutely works.  Timpson is the UK’s biggest retail service provider with 5,600 colleagues, 2,000 stores and 119 "Snappy Snaps" franchises across the UK . It turns over £330 Million every year.

How did he get there ?

At a time when less and less people were having shoes repaired, he bought back the network of retail outlets and set about proving that “just because it’s normal doesn’t make it right.”

Realising that people who deal with customers know what customers need better than any lofty leader,  he scrapped Head Office and banned managers from telling colleagues what to do. Then started actively recruiting prisoners. What could possibly go wrong.

His stories are an inspiration. Sir John has proved that a leaders only job is to CREATE culture where humans thrive, that agile is something companies everywhere can do and that doing good is good business.

He is most definitely an imaginal leader.

Julie Doleman is the Managing Director of Global Expansion at Experian - and an unstoppable force of nature. She moved from California to the UK a decade ago and has set up new business units all over the world. She understands how different cultures work, and has learned how to get the best from people in those diverse cultures. Her three CREATE stories defy conventional wisdom. She talks about the power of work environments in which people feel safe to be 100% themselves, how being 100% authentic builds trust and how stepping outside ones comfort zone is the only way to grew as a human and a leader.

Barak Berkowitz is the real deal. He has played a formative part in the evolution of Silicon Valley’s technology ecosystem ; ; 9 years at Apple, through Logitech, as CEO of Six Apart and heading up Operations and Strategy at MIT Media Lab. He’s been CEO to multiple startups and advises CEOs across the world. In his illustrious career, he has proved repeatedly that if you create an environment in which people thrive, you get better results.

I’ve loved every one of the Humans Leading Humans interviews but this is, in some ways, my favourite. His stories, of how he has driven success and growth, offer pragmatic, actionable tools and knowhow to help us be more successful leaderdsl. Find out why he was delighted when a new recruit mistook him for the janitor, why trusting people to do the right thing is the right thing to do, and how listening to employees at all levels, and co-creation solutions, is common sense.

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John Hagel has grown and sold start ups in Silicon Valley, spent years as a senior exec in Atari, 16 years as a Partner in McKinsey and Co and most recently set up and led Deloitte Centre for the Edge. An deep thinker and best selling author, he  talks about how listening to your gut and confronting fear is the only way to achieve success. And that long term trust beats short term wins every time

Be Inspired. Be Imaginal. Be more Human

Harley K Dubois, one of Burning Man’s founders. was responsible for designing the infrastructure that makes the week-long immersive experience possible. After 10 years of running Black Rock City, and now as Chief Culture Officer for Burning Man Project, she has learned that robust frameworks that foster psychological safety are absolutely crucial to unleash the full potential of people.  Her authentic, provocative stories cover how she’s forged trust and lost it, what she’s learned from leading the 13,000 strong team of volunteers that make the event possible. She challenges the traditional concept of leadership.

Vint is one of the "Fathers of the Internet" (No, dear People, Tim Berners Lee did not build the Internet) Vint, as Programme Manager at DARPA, then Stanford, then UCLA  was tasked to find the smartest people possible and give them the task of make the vision of an Internet into a reality. Then, when the Internet was switched on and working, guess what? … he started on an Internet for the Solar System of course. And succeeded.

Some stories aren’t meant to be short. Some stories are sagas. The history of the Internet is a saga. These are stories that will resonate with every one of you: CEOs, CIOs, CMOs. Stories of focus, frameworks, freedom, co-creation, collaboration and openness.

Be inspired. Be Imaginal. Be more Human.

This weeks guest Isabel Naidoo is an imaginal inspiration. She heads up Inclusion & Talent at FIS Global : a company with 70,000 global employees.

A woman on a mission, she explains how she found the courage to overcome naysayers and persuade Accenture to launch its CSR programme - and the impact of purpose and giving. If you suffer from imposter syndrome, her advice will help, and if you’re struggling with figuring out how to shift your culture, her tale of empowerment and co-creation will give you the know how you need to succeed.

Be inspired. Be imaginal, Be more Human

Katz explains how changing the visualise the dynamics inside your company will accelerate your journey along the road to successful transformation. Her guest this week is Steven Roberts who is the Head of Culture and Chief Scientific Advisor of Barclays Bank. He shares stories of how he succeeded in driving transformation inside Barclays, a 330 year old behemoth of a company.  He will take you on an emergent, organic journey of trial, error, tears and unexpected partnerships. He’ll explain how a bank somehow became the largest retail distributor of wifi in Europe and much, much more

Be inspired. Be imaginal, Be more Human

Carole Layzell, Senior, Director of Customer Transformation at Salesforce, shares three inspiring stories of how she’s empowered teams to win in 30 years of leading in the Financial Sector. She has proved the power of “treating everyone the way you want to be treated.”  of  “impressing down;” empowering teams, building trust,  rewarding and recognising even the smallest wins.

She shares how she’s used technology and data to transform a struggling team into the top performing team in the UK - by being vulnerable,  authentic and open to honest feedback to power her own continuous improvement.

Lord Jim Knight, former MP and ex CEDO of TES shares warts-and-all stories from a colourful, change-making career: from salesman, through politician to business leader.  He has sold to roofers from the top of ladders, convinced a Catholic Cardinal on the merits of Sexual Relationship Education and delivered the first ever crowd-sourced speech in the House of Lords.

He shares how his experience has showed that success comes from starting where people are. and from involving customers at all stages of development. He talks about the power of feeling empowered and explains what to do - and what not to do - to build strong communities for success.