Leadership Letters – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode, we are reflecting on our conversation with author of Revolting Women: Why Midlife Women Are Walking Out And What to Do About It, Dr Lucy Ryan. You can learn more about Lucy here and find her on LinkedIn.

Inspired by Lucy's work, we offer you some questions to prompt your thinking as a leader about the extent to which you, and your organisation, are aware of, and meeting, the needs of individuals in your organisation in midlife. 

The role of love in leadership also features, as well as resources for reflecting on and considering what people might be experiencing in midlife, as well as what you might have underestimated about them!

Lastly, in light of the extraordinary piece of history that Lucy shared, we wrap up the season by thinking about the act of writing letters, why they matter in leadership, and why you might like to write your own Leadership Letter.

REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATION LINKS:

• Reflections on Connections
• A blog post about Assumptions
• My Leadership Letter - Lizzie Bentley Bowers' Leadership Letter, Season 1
• Revolting Women: Why Midlife Women are Walking Out and What To Do About It by Dr Lucy Ryan
• Lunchtime Learning For Leaders by Dr Lucy Ryan
• Leading from Love newsletter and podcast by Helena Clayton
• Never, ever give up TED Talk by Diana Nyad 
• Nyad and The Other Shore: The Diana Nyad Story on Netflix
• The Mid Point with Gabby Logan podcast

See you next time for more ideas, inspiration, tools and resources to support and challenge you to go towards all that leadership asks of you. We'll be hearing from guests again in the autumn, and will share some additional episodes with some extra food for leadership thought in the meantime so keep your ears peeled for those.

If there's anything else you heard and would like to know more about, please add a comment below or get in touch. 

And while you're here, we would love to know what topics and guests you would like to hear on this podcast, so please do send your suggestions! 

Leadership Letters, and Towards Leadership, are produced by Anything But Footy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest in this episode, Dr Lucy Ryan holds a PhD in Organisational Behaviour and an MSc in Positive Psychology. Her most recent book ‘Revolting Women: why midlife women are walking out and what to do about it’ is an important and highly engaging call to action to pay more attention to multi generational workforces and in particular the challenges and biases faced by women in Mid Life. She is the author of two other books, including one recommended previously on this podcast, ‘Lunchtime Learning for leaders’ and she has worked with leaders from a range of organisations including the BBC, Siemens and UNICEF. Lucy shares an extraordinary letter written by her grandfather to his brother during World War II.

During our conversation, we talked about:

• Compassion and strength
• Autonomy
• Working for entrepreneurs
• Managing with strengths in mind
• Multi-generational organisations and leadership.
• Taking it seriously without taking ourselves too seriously
• Defining, and redefining, ‘hard work’
• Gender equality
• Sabbaticals
• Midlife check ins
• Love in leadership
• Loneliness in leadership
• The power of pause
• The impact of a letter
• ‘Revolting Women: why midlife women are walking out and what to do about it’ by Dr Lucy Ryan
• Working Identity by Herminia Ibarra
• Diary of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett
• Operation Judgement: The Battle Of Taranto

LUCY’S LETTER + QUOTES

We’re honoured that Lucy shared a letter written by her Grandfather, Captain Denis Boyd, to his brother in the aftermath of one of the most extraordinary events of World War II, the Battle of Taranto. It was deeply moving to hear the words of a leader from so long ago, navigating such dire circumstances. We went on to talk about love in leadership, the power of pause, and the act of writing a letter.

“I wonder how many leaders today would write with such emotion”

+

“Leadership as this combination of passion and strength”

+

“So often they need a temporary pause..they don’t want to leave.’”

+

“I think a lot of organisations are not serious about long lasting change.”

+

“Leadership is in a really interesting period of transition.”

On our sister podcast, Towards Leadership, we will look in more detail at tools, reflections and practical application of the ideas, insights and inspiration we get from our guests on Leadership Letters. An episode focused on Lucy’s insights will be coming soon. If you are already subscribed to Leadership Letters, look out for it in your podcast feed.

GET IN TOUCH

If there’s anything else you heard and would like to know more about, please get in touch.

And while you’re here, we would love to know what topics and guests you would like to hear on this podcast, so please do send your suggestions!

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Welcome to Towards Leadership from Leadership Letters.

In this episode we take more of a dive into some thoughts and ideas arising from talking to Performance Director of Boccia UK, Greg Baker, in our most recent episode of Leadership Letters.

Hover over the pause button during this episode - we have a lot of reflective questions for you in this episode! Our starting point is the question Greg talks about always asking himself as a leader: Am I doing the best job for the individual in front of me? We begin by offering you questions to support your reflection on how well you know the individuals around you so that you are both up to date with, and know how to accommodate, their needs, how to support them and how to challenge them in the most useful ways.

We go on to discuss and offer further reflective questions around:

• Headspace and time to think: “Thinking is the work.”
• Your priorities
• The extent to which your calendar reflects your priorities and your need for Headspace - and how to make sure it does.
• Culture and environment
• Preparing for challenges and pressures
• Embedding your strengths in order to leverage them. 

RECOMMENDATION LINKS:

• The Book The Strengths Stacker Journal by Lizzie Bentley Bowers
• The Video Why Culture Matters  by Owen Eastwood
• The Podcast Better Under Pressure with Sara Milne Rowe
• The Blog Posts - Getting To Know You and Not Right Now

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Our guest in this episode is Greg Baker.

Greg was instrumental in the success of British Para Table Tennis achieving multiple medals at the London 2012 Paralympic games, and securing record breaking results in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, helping Great Britain secure 2nd place in the overall medals table.

As an ex-England International table tennis athlete, former National Coach, Head Coach and current Performance Director at Boccia UK, he has successfully competed and worked in elite sport performance leadership and management positions for over 20 years. As a certified executive coach working in all sectors, he believes in leadership responsibility at all levels within an organisation and brings his values of trust, respect, honesty and togetherness.

During our conversation, we talked about:

• Seeing wellbeing as a performance advantage
• When not to change the plan
• The responsibility of the leaders to create the environment for others to be at their best
• Knowing the individuals in your team and adapting to their needs
• Essential headspace
• Comfort zones and consciously moving out of them in order to understand ourselves under pressure 
• Doing vs being
• The importance of asking yourself what you are avoiding
• Constantly tweaking
• Jacinda Ardern, Ernest Shackleton and Winston Churchill
• Endurance by Alfred Lansing
• Belonging by Owen Eastwood
• Turn The Ship Around by David Marquet

Do join us on our sister podcast, Towards Leadership, where we look in more detail at tools, reflections and practical application of the ideas, insights and inspiration we get from our guests on Leadership Letters. An episode focused on Greg’s insights will be coming soon. If you are already subscribed to Leadership Letters, look out for it in your podcast feed.

The Leadership Letters Podcast is produced by Anything But Footy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Towards Leadership from Leadership Letters. 

In this edition, we take more of a dive into some thoughts and ideas arising from talking to theatre director Sean Turner in our most recent episode of Leadership Letters.

Sean talked about the importance of casting – which for you might be the interview so we start there, with a look at the leaders’s role as the audience in an interview. 

We go on to look at:

• Being a receptive and supportive audience
• Inclusive interviewing
• Forced fun, awkwardness and connection
• Why connection matters
• Ways to increase connection
• Psychological Safety
• Trust
• Collaboration

RECOMMENDATION LINKS:

• The Book The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson
• The Talk How Do We Heal Medicine by Atul Gawande
• The Podcast Sideways with Matthew Syed
• The Article How To Build Real Relationships at Work by Gorick Ng

And if you know of anyone who might benefit from the work we’re doing, please do check out our new Towards Leadership website, and invite them to follow Leadership Letters or Towards Leadership on Instagram or LinkedIn.

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Our guest in this episode is Sean Turner.

Sean is Associate Director on the West End and UK Touring productions of the hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, and has directed numerous productions of the show across the

globe. He has recently completed a tenure as Artistic Director of Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells and he trained at the National Theatre as well as in Devising with Complicite. 

On top of directing shows at venues like the Bush Theatre, Soho Theatre and Trafalgar Studios, Sean was responsible for unearthing the script of Arthur Miller’s first play, No Villain, he then directed the World Premiere at the Old Red Lion and later transferred the production to the West End. Last year Sean’s first foray into film work won an NME Award (Best Music Video, 2022) when he co-directed the video for ‘Wake Me Up’ by the band ‘Foals’. 

During our conversation, we talked about:

• Connecting and bonding a team both at speed and authentically
• Transient teams
• Navigating artistic differences
• Managing feelings
• Kindness and treating people well
• The importance of casting 
• Trust
• Letting people fail
• Being present
• Having to deliver disappointing news
• National Service: Diary of a Decade at The National Theatre by Richard Eyre

Do join our sister podcast, Towards Leadership, where we look in more detail at tools, reflections and practical application of the ideas, insights and inspiration we get from our guests on Leadership Letters. An episode focused on Sean’s insights will be coming soon. If you are already subscribed to Leadership Letters, look out for it in your podcast feed.

The Leadership Letters Podcast is produced by Anything But Footy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Towards Leadership from Leadership Letters. This episode builds on some of what we heard from Karen Eber, taking more of a dive into storytelling for leaders, and some ways to reflect on and become more confident in your use of stories as a leader.

We begin with a look at how we tell our stories, and thinking about and connecting with our audience. 

“If the facts are the engine of the story, what matters to you and your audience is the fuel.”

We share prompts and reminders about:

• How we can transfer the storytelling we do socially to the stories we tell at work
• Connecting with the audience, whether it’s 1 or 1000 people
• Using feedback 
• Recording yourself
• Busting the myth that you are either a naturally good storyteller or you’re not. 
• The importance of recognising the impact our visibility as leaders has on energy.

“There is no doubt that being constantly visible and knowing that your words have impact, uses up resource.”

RECOMMENDATION LINKS:

• The Book How To own the Room by Viv Groskop
• The Talk Everyday Leadership by Drew Dudley
• The Podcast The Moth

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Our guest in this episode is a global leadership consultant and keynote speaker, Karen Eber, who’s talk on TED.com: How your brain responds to stories – and why they’re crucial for leaders has almost 2 million views and is one I have shared hundreds of times, including through this podcast. 

As the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Eber Leadership Group, she helps companies reimagine and evolve how they build leaders and teams, transform culture and tell stories - and excitingly is publishing The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire with HarperCollins in 2023.

She and I share a passion for the power of stories, and for equipping people to tell them so I was delighted to have the opportunity to listen and learn alongside all of you as we talked all things leadership, and listened to the Leadership Letter that Karen wrote to her niece and nephew.

• Karen is publishing The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire with HarperCollins in 2023 and you can find and connect with her at https://www.kareneber.com and on LinkedIn.

During our conversation, we talked about:

• Storytelling 
• The importance of establishing a reflection habit early in your career
• Questions as the most powerful tool of leadership
• How you land on others, versus how you think you are landing
• Who you are ok disappointing
• Amplifying other voices
• Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and the Source of Happiness by Paul J Zak

Do join our sister podcast, Towards Leadership, where look in more detail at tools, reflections and practical application of the ideas, insights and inspiration we get from our guests on Leadership Letters. An episode focused on storytelling and on Karen’s insights will be coming soon. If you are already follow Leadership Letters, look out for it in your podcast feed.

The Leadership Letters Podcast is produced by Anything But Footy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Towards Leadership from Leadership Letters

I thought I would start 2023 by delving into past blogs and Leadership Letters archives for some of the conversations, resources and writing we have shared, and maybe even add in a few new ones for good measure!

I’ve gathered them together under the theme - the C's of Kind Leadership.

RECOMMENDATION LINKS:

Rising Strong by Brené Brown 

“Why Compassion Matters”

Brené Brown again! Blog post

Dr Bill George,

Here’s a reminder of how we can all become better listeners.

The Authority Gap

Tanya Marwaha on the Leadership Letters podcast 

Rebel Ideas

This blog post highlights the work of Jane Dutton

Here’s a resource on humour

Simon Sinek to a question about building connection quickly

Amy Edmundson's TED talk

Self care

A Leadership Letter 

Matt Gavin’s breakdown of what constitutes courageous leadership.

Re-Imagining Failure.

& Brené Brown’s Dare To Lead podcast 

or check out Kind Leadership - the full blog

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Welcome to Towards Leadership from Leadership Letters

For me, an effective, curious, compassionate, decisive, resilient and successful leader is able to serve the needs of their organisation, their community, themselves and indeed the wider world in a way that is about thriving and about sustainability in both the individual energy sense, and a global sense. It is leaders that are equipped to go towards anything and everything their world of work presents to them with that will contribute to better, happier, sustainable and empowered workplaces and it’s our mission to help you do that.

We promised you more on ADHD at the end of last month. In our most recent Leadership Letter, Katie Friedman wrote to the leader she was before she was aware of her ADHD, and the leader she is now post diagnosis. It’s a letter that offers layers and layers of experience, insight and food for thought for all of us listening. In this episode of Towards Leadership I reflect on my own experiences of preparing for Katie’s episode in which I catch myself being less inclusive than I would hope to be, share some of my own experiences of ADHD and offer an exercise I, and clients, have found useful time and again as a way of reflecting on conversations, and noticing what we could be doing differently when it comes to meeting needs, including our own.

“I had been a leader who unconsciously saw need as negative because I didn't understand my own.”

I also share some of my own recent lived experience of ADHD as an insight for leaders around the moment when someone discloses something about themselves, and share an exercise that is useful for reflecting on any aspect of conversation, including our levels of inclusiveness. You can find the corresponding blog post here.  

In our resources section I reflect on the distinction between ‘the truth’ and ‘a truth’ when talking about ADHD and share a great TED talk offering insight and questions reflection on the intersection of ADHD with other characteristics. 

RECOMMENDATION LINKS:

• The Talk Yes, Black women have ADHD too and need your attention! by Abigail Agyei
• The Post Kelly Morris’ response post on LinkedIn (Make sure you’re signed in to your LinkedIn account to view this post.)

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