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 Dive...
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 economi...
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 Depo...
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 Managemen...
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 Universit...
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 h...
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 ser...
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 Scho...
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 Con...
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...
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 Con...
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 comp...
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 framewor...
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. I...
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 ...
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...
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 episod...
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 ...
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,...
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, e...
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 o...
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 hu...
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 pr...
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 s...
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. Kevi...
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 a...
"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 l...
