Talking Leaders

Mike Catalonello brands himself as a double-digit growth expert, a bold claim, but one fully backed up by an impressive track record in boosting business performance. Key to his approach is talent management and in this extract from my recent conversation with him, we explore his people-oriented approach to talent. 18 mins 50 secs Want to chat about podcasting? Get in touch paul.gisby@talkingleaders.com https://www.talkingleaders.com  

In the second part of “Why do experts struggle to tell stories?”, we look at different ways to help trigger an expert’s story memory, including getting them all worked up. Plus how emotion is what makes stories so powerful. 13 mins 17 secs  https://medium.com/@cscalfani/why-experts-make-bad-teachers-ccaed2df029b https://www.talkingleaders.com  

We have interviewed many experts. Most of them excellent. They know their stuff and what they want to pass on to others. But, frequently when we ask them to illustrate a point with a story they struggle to come up with a concrete real example. Why is this? In this two-part episode, we explore possible explanations and ways that we use to get around it. 14mins 36 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

Ever had that piece of work that you just can't get started on? You keep putting it off, and putting it off, knowing that you need to get down to it, but your brain is just stalled on this one. Well, we definitely have had that problem. But the good news is there are ways to overcome these hurdles, whether it's employing a new "toy" or changing your location it can be done, and we're happy to share what's worked for us. And by the way, if you are ever in Kennett Square PA, we highly recommend Philter for great coffee https://philtercoffee.com/ 12 mins 09 secs. https://www.talkingleaders.com  

Not long after Lynne Ashcroft-Griffiths set up AG Communications, she and her team realized that if they were to help their clients make their leadership communications really fly, they needed to offer more than just the creation of great content and upgrading leaders’ communication skills. They needed to help leaders in all aspects of their leadership development; because the most effective leadership communications are delivered by people who are all-round strong leaders. Nine years on, AG Comms has established a reputation across a diverse spread of business sectors for being a partner of choice to help individuals and organizations with their leadership and communications journeys. In this episode of Talking Leaders, I spoke with Lynne and two members of her team, Katie Humes and Hugh Stuart-Buttle to find out more about the range of expertise AG Comms offer, such as Business Psychology, Creative Media Production, HR Business partnering, Organisational Culture management and Change management to mention

It doesn’t necessarily follow that someone who evidently has the skills and the aptitude to lead is always going to be keen to take up the challenge. Joanne Lamb is a voiceover artist, owner of Childvoices.com, and reluctant leader. In this episode of Talking Leaders Jo shares some of her leadership experiences and achievements, and we discuss why the idea of being a leader does not sit easily with her. 24 mins 23 secs More info:  http://joannelamb.co.uk/ http://www.childvoices.com/ https://www.talkingleaders.com  

 The contribution that body language makes to communication is well known, but did you know that how you look has a significant influence on how you sound. In this extract from my conversation with Laura Sicola, author of “Speaking to Influence: Mastering your Leadership Voice,” we look at the third “V”, visual. It’s all about PEGS: Posture, Eyes, Gestures, Smile. 10 mins 4 secs. For more information: http://vocalimpactproductions.com/ https://www.talkingleaders.com      

In Speaking to Influence, Laura Sicola defines three key elements of developing a strong leadership voice: Verbal (what you say), Vocal (how you say it) and Visual (how you look). In the third extract of my conversation with Laura, we take a look at Vocal, including avoiding ‘vocal fry’, the dreaded “up-speak” and why watching and listening to recordings of yourself is so important. 21 mins 51 secs For more info http://vocalimpactproductions.com/ https://www.talkingleaders.com  

In Speaking to Influence, Laura Sicola defines three key elements of developing a strong leadership voice: Verbal (what you say), Vocal (how you say it) and Visual (how you look). In the second extract of my conversation with Laura, we take a look at Verbal, including the power of stories and how not to get lost in the weeds (which you’ll hear me admit to being guilty of. But if you'll let me explain and put things in their right context... zzzzz) 12 mins 24 secs For more info: http://vocalimpactproductions.com/ https://www.talkingleaders.com  

I recently listened to an online update given by a pharmaceutical company reporting on the progress of the development of its new drug. Afterwards, there was much discussion on the investor bulletin boards. One comment (here paraphrased) captured much of the sentiment of those who had listened – “…the data do look strong, but that guy (the CEO) really does not inspire me with confidence. Makes you think there’s something we’re not being told.” Many agreed. To some extent haven’t we all been there? We think what we have to say is strong, but it doesn’t seem to be landing with people the way we’d like. Laura Sicola of Vocal Impact Productions has helped many leaders deal with just this disconnect. In part 1 of my conversation with Laura, we look at the overall approach she uses to help people master their leadership voice, and why good enough is not good enough. For more info: http://vocalimpactproductions.com/ https://www.talkingleaders.com      

In the third and final extract from our interview with Richard Ingram, we look at leading experts. This can be particularly challenging if you are a senior leader in a complex, technical sector. How do you ensure that you can have meaningful conversations with and win the respect of experts? How important is it to do this as a leader? 9 mins 48 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

In the second extract from our interview with @Richard Ingram we discuss the importance of transparency. As a leader you need to be sure that the picture presented to you is true and not a slick façade hiding problems. 7 mins 19 secs. https://www.talkingleaders.com  

Richard Ingram started out as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, moving on through a career in aerospace, defence, and security to the position of CEO with a number of companies. In this first extract from his interview with Talking Leaders, Richard tells some great stories (listen out for the one about the “convenient loop of failure”) that illustrate subjects such as: The Importance of people development Changing business culture Being seen to act on your own message 13 mins 14 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

Do you work hard? When you do work hard, how does it feel? Tough, difficult? Paul explains his dislike of the phrase ‘hard work’ and describes how the concept of ‘Flow’ helped him with the idea that it’s ok to want work to be fun most of the time. And how he used the idea of Flow to make a major career decision. 21 mins 12 secs. For more on Flow go here Follow Talking Leaders here https://www.talkingleaders.com    

In a further extract from our conversation with Scott Eblin, leadership coach and author of "The Next Level", we asked for Scott's thoughts on how leaders really learn and how they can best use books like "The Next Level" in their development. 5 mins 00 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

Ever heard of the Peter Principle? Basically, it's the idea that people are promoted to their own level of incompetence. It’s a real thing and happens when someone fails to rise to the challenges that their new position demands. Scott Eblin is a leadership coach who understands this situation well. As a new edition of his book The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success hits the shelves, we spoke with Scott about helping people with the rise up the leadership ladder and his views on leadership development. 17mins 17 secs For more information:  https://thenextlevel.info/ https://www.talkingleaders.com  

How do you really learn? A nice bit of feedback reminds Paul and Kurt that applying newfound knowledge in meeting a real need is one of the best ways to consolidate learning.  6 mins 55 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

Developing yourself as a leader, like improving in almost any skill, is an ongoing, iterative process. Kurt talks about a particular book, The Leadership Pipeline, that he found helpful. He also shares the fact that even though the book provided many ideas useful to his development, it wasn’t a case of once learned never forgotten. Each situation where leadership is needed is different in its own way. Consequently, leadership development is often a case of needing to re-learn and re-apply old lessons. 4 mins 53 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

You are in the middle of working on something for a tight deadline, and one of your direct reports pops in with a question. How tempted are you to put them off? Or maybe quickly problem solve and send them on their way? Understandable reactions, but it can be too easy to prioritize day-to-day leadership. Paul and Kurt share their experience of dealing with this kind of challenge. 4 mins 55 secs https://www.talkingleaders.com  

There has never been more material available on the topic of leadership development. In particular, there is now a lot of advice on leadership hacks. Spoiler alert - we don't believe that there are shortcuts to significantly boosting your leadership skills. Kurt shares his realisation about what it takes to grow as a leader and how that affected his career choice. And Paul shares an example of how improvements in the specifics of managing a poor performer, helped in his long-term development. 16 mins 35 secs. https://www.talkingleaders.com