Afleveringen
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Recently I had the opportunity to connect with Ann Betz, a neuroscience and leadership expert. I met Ann a number of years ago while going through my executive coaching program. Not only was she a great coaching facilitator in the program, but I was most fascinated by her research and graduate studies around integrating neuroscience into the practice of leadership. Today she is considered one of the top neuroscience and coaching experts in the field which is why I wanted to talk with her about this topic.
In addition to her consulting work, she is the lead author of the book: Integration, the Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life, and has published numerous articles on the subject of neuroscience and coaching. Ann speaks internationally on neuroscience, leadership and, and she excels at making the complexities of the brain come to life with depth, humor and simplicity.
During our discussion, we spent some time focusing on how we can better work with stress, tension, and uncertainty that challenge our work environments daily. From our conversation, I noted several interventions (or neuroscience âhacksâ as she calls them) that we can use for ourselves and with others.
1) Donât suppress your emotions. You canât just bury your emotions because they will show up in other ways that may not be helpful. One suggestion is to reach out to others and voice, put words to your emotions. Our neurological system will settle down simply by sharing whatâs going on emotionally with someone else. Hack #1: Reach out to others (or to your inner circle) and express whatâs going on internally, and donât just stuff them and hope they go away.
2) Look for ways to âcontrolâ your environment by changing things up. If youâre feeling stressed when you get to work or even when you get home, you may want to change your commute route â make it more interesting. If youâve been working long hours in your office, change up your external environment by visiting a new coffee shop, a new bookstore cafĂ©, whatever. Our brains crave certainty, stability and control. We donât have a lot of control over certain things, but what we do have control over is our immediate external environment. Hack #2: Change up your environment or your routine.
3) Ask more questions of others. This leadership practice helps you and others calm down. When asking questions, you activate the thinking area of the brain (vs. the emotional area). By virtue of asking more questions leaders can calm others down and get them to manage their own emotions more effectively. Hack #3: Ask more thoughtful questions.
4) Shift your perspective. Challenge yourself and others to see situations, circumstances, problems through a different lens. We can shift our own perspective by asking ourselves, âHow can I look at this differently? What is the big picture here?â Also, we can ask questions to others to challenge them to see things differently. For example, âHow might the customer see this situation? Whatâs another way to approach this problem?â Hack #4: Challenge yourself and others to look at things differently.
5) Practice mindfulness. It has been proven that those who have a mindfulness practice are better able to anchor into the present moment and calm their systems down â and it doesnât have to be a close your eyes mindfulness practice. It could be just sitting still, walking outside, breathing in and then breathing out more slowly. Hack #5: Breathe in and then take a deep, slow breath out.
If youâre curious about learning more about the intersection of neuroscience and leadership, check out Annâs consulting website and/or grab her book.
References:
Website: https://www.beaboveleadership.com/
Annâs book: Integration: The Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life
Annâs book on ICF Competencies
Amanda Blake's book is Your Body is Your Brain
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For this episode, I had the opportunity to connect with Mara Swan who is currently an Operating Partner with Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm that invests in companies around the world.
During our conversation, I asked Mara what she thought were the most important leadership capabilities needed to be effective in todayâs world. She quickly responded with leaning into change and driving performance. And so, that was our launch pad for our discussion on change and performance.
A bit about Mara Swan. She is currently an Operating Partner with Stonepeak, and her strategic role is to focus on talent. Prior to Stonepeak, she was an executive with ManpowerGroup, a $20B global workforce solutions company with over 30,000 employees across 80 countries. During her time at Manpower, she was responsible for Strategy, HR, Marketing, PR & Communications, ESG, Thought Leadership, Risk Management, and the Right Management brand.
Prior to ManpowerGroup, Mara was Senior Vice President of Global HR at MolsonCoors Brewing Company.
Today, in addition to Stonepeak Mara is on several private and public boards and provides guidance on HR strategy, talent and leadership.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Jon is President and General Manager of Epiroc USA, a global company that serves the
mining, construction, and infrastructure industries. During this episode, Jon shares how he
and his leadership team led their organization through a transformational culture change
that has resulted in becoming one of the top performing companies within the Epiroc
organization as well as being recognized by USA Today as one of the best places to work in
America.
Some of what youâll learn is how Jon and his team embraced a new strategic vision and
mission, and then invited the entire organization to be active participants in shaping their
journey forward. In this interview, Jon shares how they communicated the vision, what
organizational changes were made, how they had to change their approach around people
leadership. Whatâs amazing about this journey is how their organization persevered and
continued to make tough choices despite the challenges and difficulties surrounding the
changes.
Jon will remind all of us that it does matter how we show up as leaders, and that we need to
continually upgrade our leadership playbook because what worked before may no longer
be relevant today.
Starquestgroup.com
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Feeling tired, emotionally exhausted, and frustrated with not being able to move things
forward? If you can relate, youâre not alone. During this episode, John and Tom discuss how
we all can create a more fulfilling and healthy life, while also becoming a more effective
leader, partner, parent and human being!
A brief introduction to Johnâs story. In 1987, John was a curious nine-year-old boy. Playing
with fire and gasoline, John created a massive explosion in his home and was burned on
100% of his body. He was given less than a 1% chance to live. John's epic story of survival
has never felt more relevant than today given all the challenges we face.
Today, John is the author of the #1 National Bestselling books ON FIRE and IN AWE. John is
also the host of the top-rated Live Inspired Podcast and speaks all over the world.
Consistently described as âthe best speaker weâve ever had,â Johnâs emotional story-
telling, unexpected humor and authenticity make each presentation unforgettable.
Starquestgroup.com
Originally Published on November 8, 2024
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In this episode, Sam and Tom discuss how leadership is changing and what leaders need to
know to navigate the uncertainties of our future reality. As CEO of Vistage, Sam leads the
worldâs largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization for small and midsize
businesses, with more than 45,000 members in 30+ countries. He has a global view and
perspective on whatâs changing in the business environment, and what the best leaders
are doing differently to be successful.
In addition to hearing about what trends heâs seeing within their CEO network, Sam will
share his leadership successes and failures, and what he considers to be the most
significant differences between good leaders and great leaders.
Starquestgroup.com
Originally Published on September 10, 2024
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In this episode, Jason and Tom explore how Jason was given the opportunity back in April of
2019 to lead a team or squadron of 80 people into a combat situation in the Middle East.
The original assignment was to take over the squadron and be ready for deployment. The
timeframe to prepare was about 12 months; however, conditions changed rather quickly
after taking command of the squadron and their timeline to get prepared for deployment
changed from 12 months to six weeks. The squadron did deploy successfully but the team
development work over that six week period wasnât without its challenges, mistakes and
emotional tension.
If youâre interested in learning how Jason and his team pulled together their squadron to be
combat ready under extreme time constraints, then you do not want to miss this episode.
Starquestgroup.com
Originally Published on August 15, 2024
