Curious Leadership with Dominic Monkhouse – Détails, épisodes et analyse

James Kerr is a writer, coach, and consultant who specialises in leadership, culture and mindset in high-performing teams. His global bestseller, 'Legacy' has been described by The Daily Telegraph as “the modern version of Vince Lombardi’s guides to coaching”, saying that "for those searching for genuine keys to team culture, it is manna from heaven".

James has worked with Tier One Special Forces, the English Premier League, international cricket, Formula One, America’s Cup, Major League Baseball, and Olympic pathways. He has guest lectured at Westpoint Military Academy, Sandhurst and Eton College and written for the BBC, Independent, Times and Guardian. His corporate clients have included Google, Spotify, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co, Adidas, and Arc'teryx.

In this frank discussion, Dominic explores the synergy between individual leadership and collective vision, and the critical role of cultural evolution in maintaining relevance and potency. James shares how the iconic “Sweeping the Shed” mantra, revolutionised team culture at the All Blacks, and how these principles can be applied beyond the rugby field into business and everyday life.

Discover

The Role of Values in Sustainable Success: By embracing values such as humility, responsibility, and respect, the All Blacks created a foundation for long-term success, demonstrating that values-driven cultures outperform talent-driven ones.

The Power of Rituals and Symbols: The enduring significance of the Haka demonstrates how rituals and symbols can reinforce identity, unity, and purpose within a team.

Leadership Across Domains: The principles of leadership and cultural excellence are universal and can be applied across diverse fields, demonstrated by James’ work in sports, military, and business.

Neuroscience and Leadership: The interplay between neuroscience and performance underpins how understanding the brain's responses to fear and confidence can inspire leaders to strike a balance between challenges and support, fostering growth and accountability.

Book recommendations:

Viktor Frankl - Man's Search For Meaning

Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Coyle - The Culture Code

Jim Collins - Good To Great

James' book Legacy is out now.

Dominic’s book Mind Your F**king Business is out now. 

A message from Dom about some exciting changes coming to the podcast from next week.

Summary

In this conversation, Minette Norman, a seasoned leader and author, explores psychological safety, leadership myths, and managers' real impact on employee wellbeing. Minette shares her journey from technical writer to leading an enormous team of 3,500 engineers at Autodesk without learning any code. 

Minette has a genius way of simplifying the complex. She shares insight from her two books, The Boldly Inclusive Leadership and The Psychological Safety Playbook, giving you tangible how-to’s. Minette successfully navigated resistance to collaboration in her long-held position in Silicon Valley. From book recommendations to actionable insights for creating safe and productive work environments, this episode is packed with wisdom for aspiring leaders and curious minds alike.

Takeaways

• Debunking leadership myths and offering a model of vulnerability.
• Psychological safety fosters an environment where team members can openly ask questions, make mistakes, and share ideas without fear.
• Career pathway options for leaders and individual contributors.
• Building an inclusive workplace with the tipping point percentage.
• Offering the How-To guidance leaders are seeking.
• The importance of having an open mind in business.

Chapters

(00:00) Collaborating Ideas With An Open Mind With Minette Norman.

(03:08) Minette’s Journey From Technical Writer To Leader.

(04:59) Transforming Workspace Culture and Unify Teams.

(06:54) Overcoming Resistance To Collaborative Coding and Internal Competition.

(10:57) Importance of Yearly Summit In-Person Gathering.

(12:01) Adapting Meetings to Equalise Space & Include Quieter Individuals’ Insights.

(14:52) Reasons Behind The Boldly Inclusive Leader.

(17:36) Conceit of Leadership.

(21:47) Psychological Safety, Inclusion & Interpersonal Risk Taking.

(24:28) Co-Authoring Focused on How To Increase Psychological Safety.

(26:27) Asking For Other Points of View With An Open Mind.

(28:16) Learning From Mistakes.

(31:59) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Conference.

(35:17) Overcoming Affinity Bias To Embrace Diverse Groups.

(38:49) Loneliness in the Workplace.

(41:39) Quickfire Q&A with Minette Monkhouse.

(47:02) Book Recommendations.

About Minette Norman 

Minette Norman is an author, speaker, and leadership consultant who previously spent decades leading global technical teams in the software industry.

Minette has extensive experience leading internationally distributed teams and believes that when groups embrace diversity in all its forms, breakthroughs emerge, and innovation accelerates. Before starting her consultancy, her most recent position was as Vice President of Engineering Practice at Autodesk. Responsible for influencing more than 3,500 engineers around the globe, she focused on state-of-the-art engineering practices while nurturing a collaborative and inclusive culture.

​Minette is a keynote speaker on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, collaborative teams, and empathy. Named in 2017 as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by the San Francisco Business Times and as “Business Role Model of the Year” in the 2018 Women in IT/Silicon Valley Awards, Minette is a recognised leader with a unique perspective.

​Minette is the author of The Boldly Inclusive Leader and the co-author of The Psychological Safety Playbook.

Minette holds degrees in Drama and French from Tufts University and studied at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.

Follow Minette Norman

Website: https://www.minettenorman.com/

LinkedIn:

What comes to mind when you think about innovation? Creating something new from nothing. But does the word innovation push people away from doing it, thinking they don’t have the skills? Our guest on the podcast thinks so, and that’s why he uses the word reinvention instead. And that, reinventing, is exactly what he did with his own career after retiring from professional rugby. Today, we hear about his fascinating journey.

This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from the author of Undisruptible, and host of The Innovation Show, Aidan McCullen. Formerly a professional rugby player, Aidan now works as an Executive Coach and Innovation Consultant.

In this episode, Aidan talked about his journey as a rugby player and how he shifted from that to a career in innovation, and became a podcast host and innovation consultant. He also explored the cultural differences between some of the teams he played with, and he dived into the Butterfly metaphor that he uses in his book Unsdisruptable to explain the life cycle and how it applies to businesses.

Make sure to download and listen to this fascinating episode day.

On today’s podcast:

• Writing Undisruptable
• The cultural difference between rugby teams
• The Butterfly metaphor
• From professional rugby to innovation
• The impact of self-talk on mental health

Follow Aidan McCullen:

LinkedIn

Book

Blog

Podcast – The Innovation Show

The Heart of Business by Hubert Joly

The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton

Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life by Bob Proctor

How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolski

The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto

Built from broken by Scott H. Hogan

How do you find enough qualified people to deliver on the revenue opportunities that your business comes across? This is a problem that might be familiar to many professional services organisations, particularly within the cloud space. Our guest this week Neil Marley, came across that challenge whilst he was working at New Signature.

Neil is the Managing Director at Qualyfi. He's also former UK MD and EMEA lead at New Signature, an IT Services Management company that grew from 8 to 300 people in the UK and twice won the prestigious Microsoft UK Partner of the Year award (2014, 2019), before being acquired by Cognizant in 2020.

We know Neil since 2017 when New Signature started coaching with us. During the course of our time working together, they grew from about ten people to 350. From a revenue perspective that’s around 48% compound annual growth rate. 

There are two things that Neil is excited about. The first is helping people build an exciting new technology career, regardless of their background or previous opportunities; the second is building long-term partnerships with growth organisations, offering services to help fuel their growth. He has now taken his experience doing that to make Qualyfi a positive force for the world.

In this episode, he shares his journey working in public cloud technologies with Microsoft, moving from working in a big organisation to a small team, and he and his small team managed to become one of the leading partners for Microsoft. He also talked about the challenges the business faced along the way, the secrets to New Signature’s success and the impact coaching had on the team dynamics.

Download and listen to learn more.

On today’s podcast:

A journey of growth in Microsoft

Leading a successful partnership with Microsoft

New Signature and Winning Microsoft UK Partner of the Year

The importance of business coaching

Qualyfi and placing new cloud tech talent

Follow Neil Marley

Qualify website

LinkedIn

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

What got you here won't get you there by Marshall Goldsmith

CEO Excellence by Scott Keller

Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

Hiring top talent –the right talent– is crucial to growing a business. Yet, so many companies get their recruitment process wrong. Clarity on what an A-Player looks like, and transparency with candidates in the process are just some of the missing elements that our guest this week noticed in many companies after falling into the world of recruitment.

This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Ross Lauder, founder and CEO at Single Focus Talent. Before becoming the talented headhunter he is today, Ross was a tech sales manager, working for big firms like Dell and Hubspot. Today, he recruits salespeople across Europe and North America.

In this episode, we wanted to learn more from him about sales, and how the role of a salesperson has changed over time. Ross also shared his approach to recruitment and how he’s helping candidates in their careers. Also, what are people thinking about returning to the office, remote and hybrid work, and what's happening in the labour market. Is the tech world awash with talented people after the big tech layoffs?

A great conversation.

Make sure to download and listen today!

On today’s podcast:

How the sales process has changed over the years

Moving from sales to recruitment

A transparent and honest approach to recruitment

What's going on in the current labour market

Remote or office? What candidates prefer

Follow Ross Lauder:

Website

Single Focus Talent podcast

Global Tech Leaders podcast

LinkedIn

Ross on YouTube

Book Recommendations:

Brain Hacks by Keith Barry

Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins

Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Building trust is at the heart of a high-performing team and a great culture. Sometimes, that trust comes from allowing vulnerability and honesty into the room and acknowledging our flaws, as well as our geniuses. Our guest this week is a huge advocate of using that vulnerability to strengthen the relationships in leadership teams.

On this week's episode of The Melting Pot, we learned from Ronan Harrington, an expert in the neuroscience of resilience. After receiving a Master in Public Policy from Balliol College, Oxford University, Ronan then became one of the youngest executives in the City of London, as Director of Futures and Strategy at RPC. At the age of 24, he authored a report on the world of 2030 and how the British Government should respond.

In this fascinating episode, Ronan shared his views on what it takes to develop a great business culture, how allowing vulnerability can help build trust in teams, and how power can impact cultural change in an organisation. He also talked about his experience working with Extinction Rebellion and how ethical power plays work in politics and business.

Download and listen to learn more.

On today’s podcast:

Developing a conscious culture

How competing commitments affect culture

Building trust through vulnerability

Working for Extinction Rebellion

Defining resilience and dealing with burnout

Follow Ronan:

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter

YouTube

15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman

Fortitude by Bruce Daisley

Smalls things like these by Claire Keegan

Foster by Claire Keegan

The definition of value creation is giving something valuable to receive something else that’s more valuable to you. In today’s fast-paced economy, every business owner should strive to make his company as valuable as he can, and optimize wherever possible to provide value.

Isn't it all about profit? It may be true for large company stockholders, but it is less true for small business owners. A major corporation's stockholder may be exclusively concerned with earnings. It's part of their investment portfolio, and its sole purpose is to increase their wealth. However, a small company would be more interested in communicating a mission and vision that attracts the world, creating a product or service that adds value to both customers and shareholders, and creating value through optimizing processes and finance. Some investors have advanced to impact investing because they seek more than just profits from their investments. As a result, B-corporations are becoming increasingly common. Impact investment and B-corporations seek to maximize financial returns while also providing a public benefit and creating long-term value.

Today, on the Melting Pot, we are joined by Patrick E. Donohue, an expert in valuation, business angel, and financial advisor for entrepreneurs. He started his adventure at a very young age when he showed interest in stock shares and making money at only 10 years old. His passion lies in helping small businesses grow in a way that generates value and has a lasting impact on the community. He firmly believes that business owners shape the world by providing solutions to the complexities of human life.

In his book “Breakout Valuation”, he breaks down complex financial concepts and shares them in plain easy English. His aim is for every leader to be able to understand financial intelligence and apply it in actionable plans to drive sustainable growth.

In today’s episode:

Business Valuation For Beginners

How to Define a Sustainable Level of Growth

Insights from “Breakout Valuation”

Business Design That Drives Value

Every Business Has A Special Talent That Makes It More Investable

What Patrick E. Donohue WishesHe’d KnownEarlier

Links:

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter

Book

Book Recommendations:

Aiden McCullen - Undisruptable

Mike Michalowicz -Profit First

Greg Crabtree – Simple Numbers 2.0

Patrick E. Donohue – Breakout Valuation

Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman – The Dialy Stoic

Anthony De Mello – Awareness

James Nestor - Breath

Having travelled to every country in the world, Scott Keller, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York Times best selling author of Beyond performance 2.0 and CEO Excellence, was looking for a new challenge. And he found it during lockdown. 

Along with his fellow authors, he sought to uncover what makes the best CEOs of this century the best. They combined extensive quantitative analysis with in-depth interviews with today’s top CEOs to understand what sets exceptional leaders apart.

And they found the best CEOs have to master six core things to become great. Because, and Scott uses the analogy of Ashton Eaton, the greatest decathlete of all time here - no decathlete is the best 100 metre runner in the world or the best Javelin thrower, they have to not suck at anything, while being amazing at everything.

In this episode of The Melting Pot, Scott shares the methodology they used to narrow down their list of CEOs from 7,800 to the 67 they interviewed, before discussing the six things they found were the core of every great CEO. 

On today’s podcast:

• Why we need to own our goals
• How hard it is being CEO
• Great CEOs have humility
• The decathlete analogy
• The six core elements of the CEO role
• The link between mindset and CEO excellence

Links:

• Book - CEO Excellence
• Twitter – @Linked_name
• LinkedIn – Scott Keller
• Website – McKinsey & Company

If your business is struggling to innovate, or is in fact resisting innovation all together, then don’t miss Anthony Rose, founder and CEO of SeedLegals on this week’s episode of The Melting Pot. 

Who better to learn from about how to incorporate, raise funds and grow your business, than the founder of the startup that one in six of all early-stage startups in the UK are using in their funding rounds. 

Widely known as “The man behind BBC iPlayer”, Anthony ran the iPlayer and other BBC services from 2007 to 2010, taking the iPlayer from pre-launch to a major success story. 

In this episode, Anthony talks about the jobs that only the CEO should do, including the CEO’s role in innovation, building company culture, getting to product market fit, and why, when you’ve got product market fit, the most important job of a CEO is to then manage culture. 

This is a truly insightful episode and a must listen for all leaders of startups looking to grow and build their companies. 

Book recommendations:

The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick

History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell

On today’s podcast:

• Making lawyers redundant
• The CEO’s role in innovation
• How to innovate
• Why CEOs are responsible for culture

Links:

• Twitter – @anthonyrose
• LinkedIn – Anthony Rose
• Website – SeedLegals