Leaders who move companies to take on more senior roles face many hurdles that can prevent their success. These transitions have high failure rates, ranging from 25-50%. Dr Ty Wiggins of Russell Reynolds specialises in assisting organisations put into place transition support mechanisms that ensure their new recruits, particularly at the C suite level, transition successfully. We discuss; Why leaders fail when transitioning to new levels of leadership, What organisations miss out on when...

In the previous episode, I spoke with Pádraig O'Tuama the renowned leader, poet, philosopher, theologian, TEX speaker and author of several books. Here I reflect on his notions of quality of conflict and dialogue, The space between intention and impact as a leader, and addressing the difficult question of, 'what is my real position here?' Effective leaders will always outperform ineffective leaders over time! Hi, I am Pod O'Sullivan. For over twenty years I have coached, mentored and...

Pádraig O'Tuama is a renowned leader, poet, philosopher, theologian, TEX speaker and author of several books. In this very warm-hearted and insightful conversation, we discuss; The space between intention and impact as a leader, Ensuring your gestures have substances, The poem, Shaking hands, which he wrote as a reflection on the event of Queen Elizabeth II and Martin McGuinness, Leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland and former IRA Commander publicly shaking hands in 2012, The nature of...

In the previous episode, I spoke with Brian Hartzer, former CEO for Westpac and subsidiaries of other international banking organizations. He shared a range of thoughts, including; What is it like to finally take the role of CEO in week 1, How does a leader scale themselves across multiple geographies and hundreds of offices, How do you communicate to 30,000+ employees? What happens when a government regulator comes knocking on the door? Preparing for a Royal Commission- how do you do...

Brian Hartzer has worked internationally with some of the most successful banks and financial institutions in the USA, UK, and Australia. In his previous role, he was CEO of Westpac bank. In this very open and transparent conversation, Brian shares, What is it like to finally take the role of CEO in week 1, How does a leader scale themselves across multiple geographies and hundreds of offices, How do you communicate to 30,000+ employees? What happens when a government regulator comes...

In the last episode Amy Admonson from Harvard and Kieran White, based in Sydney, share their ideas on a range of topics including, Psychological safety in the workplace, Structural dynamics and the importance for teams to understand native communication patterns, How to build trust, The notion of polarities, and lots more. I share my reflections here

Psychological safety has been described as the most important factor in enabling high performing teams. I am joined by Dr. Amy Edmonson from Harvard and Kieran White to discuss; What is psychological safety and why is it important, The overlaps with trust and other dimensions, How does it facilitate teaming? What is structural dynamics and how can we apply that idea to our own team,. And a whole lot more! Effective leaders will always outperform ineffective leaders over time! Hi, I am Pod...

Welcome back to season 3! And what a season we have in store. Tune in to this teaser episode to find out more. Effective leaders will always outperform ineffective leaders over time! Hi, I am Pod O'Sullivan. For over twenty years I have coached, mentored and supported corporate leaders and leadership teams all over the world to become impactful, effective and high performing. This is a podcast that taps into that experience. It is recorded for and about senior business leaders, C suite...

This is the second bonus episode - in between seasons 2 and 3 - where I am joined by colleagues from The Leadership Context, a boutique consulting firm that I co-founded with several friends and Partners. Today, Carole Field, Greg Lourey, Allan Tillack and I, have a deep dive into how we partner with leadership teams (top teams) to help them become great teams. Effective leaders will always outperform ineffective leaders over time! Hi, I am Pod O'Sullivan. For over twenty years I have...

In this reflection episode, I offer some thoughts on the conversation I had with my colleagues from The Leadership Context, a boutique consulting firm that I am co-founded with several friends and Partners. We regularly receive feedback that our programs are different. Why? Because they work! We talked about the principles of: Swimming in the context to ensure we are addressing the right areas, Aligning the program to specific parts of the organisational strategy, Getting hyper clear on...

I am joined by colleagues from The Leadership Context, a boutique consulting firm that I am co founded with several friends and Partners. Today Carole Field, Greg Lourey, Allan Tillack and I have a deep dive into the reasons why leadership development programs fail. And they do fail, on a spectacular level! We talk about the principles of Swimming in the context to ensure we are addressing the right areas, Aligning the program to specific parts of the organisational strategy, Getting hyper...

The best of Season 2! We had some marvellous guests on our show over season 2. And they shared great insights, learnings, mistakes, tactics, ideals and a whole lot more. In this episode, hear about; The importance of listening as an expatriate leader, The uniqueness that is New Zealand style of leadership, How evening reflections on the car on the way home from work, helped one CEO transform his impact in meetings, What one CEO who is renowned for her continual innovation does to bring ideas...

In the last episode I spoke with Peter Webb. I reflect on that conversation and offer some suggestions on how to implement some of his ideas. Peter Webb is an organisational psychologist who has a passion for all things related to wisdom and decision making. In our conversation he shared; His early experience at age 14 crossing a bridge that was about to collapse over a torrid river in Papua New Guinea and what this taught him, What is wisdom and how is it cultivated, What is System 3...

Peter Webb Effective leaders will always outperform ineffective leaders over time! Hi, I am Pod O'Sullivan. For over twenty years I have coached, mentored and supported corporate leaders and leadership teams all over the world to become impactful, effective and high performing. This is a podcast that taps into that experience. It is recorded for and about senior business leaders, C suite leaders, Founders and CEO's. I interview leaders and experts about ways to optimise leadership. What...

I have just spoken with Craig Le Masters, former CEO of Assurant insurance in USA, current CEO of GXG, and author of Unstuck talks about; I reflect on his ideas about; The role of senior leaders in actively looking around the corner, when times are great, to help create the next market or opportunities. He suggests about 50% of a CEO's time should be in that space, How humility can be fostered and why, The importance of grit, How a learning eco system can amplify a leader's impact. Some...

Craig Le Masters, former CEO of Assurant insurance in USA, current CEO of GXG and author of Unstuck talks about; The moment he woke up to see on the TV news a headline that suggested that the industry he was in was about to go into free fall, The soul searching and deep conversations that followed, Humility based experimentation, What are learning ecosystems, He talks about wisdom is the intersection between knowledge and experiences. And, finally, we talk about how COVID and how it is...

In the previous episode, I had a great conversation with Michael Ilczynski. Michael is the CEO of Red Bubble, a global leading marketplace for artists and art lovers alike. In this short episode, I reflect on his key messages and suggest some reflection questions. Some of our conversation included his sharing on; The mistakes he made as he progressed into CEO level leadership roles How a background in strategy taught him to make decisions but also to (unwittingly) block out other people's...

Michael Ilczynski is the CEO of Red Bubble, a global leading marketplace for artists and art lovers. In this refreshingly open conversation Michael shares; The mistakes he made as he progressed into CEO level leadership roles How a background in strategy taught him to make decisions but also to (unwittingly) block out other people's opinions, When he started noticing his leadership shadow across the organisation, How he learned to use language that enabled other people to understand when he...

In the previous episode, I spoke with Stuart Elmslie, CEO of Open University Australia on education, market places, servant leadership, being agile as opposed to just doing agile and a whole lot more! I share five reflections on this conversation and suggested some questions to ponder. Stuart shared; Stuart Elmslie is the CEO of one of the most successful market placed tertiary level education organisations in the world. Based in Melbourne, they have supported over 450,000 students...

Stuart Elmslie is the CEO of one of the most successful market placed tertiary level education organisations in the world. Based in Melbourne, they have supported over 450,000 students successfully enrol and attend undergraduate and postgraduate university programs. In this conversation he shares; His own move from investment banking to education, How he and his leadership team have turned around a loss-making organisation, How they turned around employee engagement by over 50 NPI...

Warwick Fairfax, from the famous media conglomerate Fairfax family who, in his mid-twenties, took over the leadership of the publicly traded organisation and privatised it, back into family control. Unfortunately, the 1987 global crash soon followed, and three years later the organisation almost collapsed. In this refreshingly open conversation Warwick shares, What it was like to grow up in such a famous family and the comparisons between the Royal family and the Fairfax family, How his...

Warwick Fairfax, from the famous media conglomerate Fairfax family who, in his mid-twenties, took over the leadership of the publicly traded organisation and privatised it, back into family control. Unfortunately, the 1987 global crash soon followed, and three years later the organisation almost collapsed. In this refreshingly open conversation Warwick shares, What it was like to grow up in such a famous family and the comparisons between the Royal family and the Fairfax family, How his...

The previous episode was a great conversation with Rachel Frizberg from Roche. She shared some amazing insights and useful learnings. My reflections on the conversation include some potentially useful questions. Rachel Frizberg leads the Asia Pacific region for Roche Pharmaceuticals, one of the largest and most successful healthcare organisations, globally. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss; The role of healthcare during a pandemic Leading from afar during shutdowns across many...

Leading at scale! Rachel Frizberg leads the Asia Pacific region for Roche Pharmaceuticals, one of the largest and most successful healthcare organisations, globally. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss; The role of healthcare during a pandemic Leading from afar during shutdowns across many countries How she has adapted her leadership style as her roles changes Implementing an agile approach to leadership How her 'peer pods' keep her honest Different archetypes of leadership and how...

Michael Spayd is an expert in all things agile and the co-author of Agile Transformation. In this short episode, I reflect on my conversation with Michael and pose some questions, thoughts, and ideas. In our conversation, posted in the previous episode, he shares; The differences between doing, being, and leading agile How the integral framework influences his work Leading self-directed teams- is that an oxymoron? The benefits for leaders by embracing agile mindsets Effective leaders will...