Being Human

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week is Mike Ettore, leadership coach and ex-infantry officer with the US Marines. He's the author of 'Trust-Based Leadership', where he explains how he adapted and applied military leadership concepts while serving as a business leader. After leaving the Marines, Mike has served as a top executive for the staffing company Kforce, where he rose to the position of Chief Information Officer, despite not having any formal tech training.Over his years in corporate life, Mike learned how to apply the Marines Core Values - Honour, Courage and Commitment to business.We talk:- Forgetting ammo on the battlefield- Leadership eats culture- Integrity above all else- Leader as scholar- The art of planningEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Trust-Based Leadership BookFidelis Leadership Group

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Sam Conniff Allende is back on the show. Last time Sam had just hoisted his Jolly Roger to the world in the form of his breakthrough bestseller 'Be More Pirate'. This week he's back on Being Human with his Right-Hand Pirate Alex Barker.Alex joined Sam in 2019 to turn a book of culture-busting ideas into a movement.Alex and Sam make a great double-act. Sam is the embodiment of the pirate spirit, whilst Alex is the anchor getting real change done in Navy-like corporates.We talk:- Going pirate with Mercedes vans- Finding your inner pirate - Professional rule breaking- Scaling vs impact - Salty languageEnjoy me hearties!Links:How To: Be More Pirate bookBe More Pirate website

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week is Alain Hunkins, a veteran leadership coach. He's worked with over 2,000 groups of leaders in 25 countries, and he's author of the just-published 'Cracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets to Building Leaders'.Alain was raised by a mother and grandmother who were both Holocaust survivors. Their trauma-bound personalities were his first experiences of leadership. This sowed the seed for his life-long quest to discover better ways to lead.Over years of working in men's groups, Alain learned to identify and reframe his beliefs on leadership, and, through his leadership coaching, he has learned what works for others.We talk:- Building connection- Dealing with rage- Outside-in vs inside-out development- What limits organisation growth- How parenting shapes the workplaceEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Alain's WebsiteAlain's Book

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week, Pete Walker, is a man who has travelled far physically and metaphorically. A Vietnam War veteran, he sought spiritual salvation in India before finally confronting his inner grief at an Encounter group workshop.Learning to feel and grieve deeply set Pete on a path to dealing with his Complex PTSD. He has since written several books on these themes and treated hundreds of others as a deep feeling therapist.Pete and I have walked similar paths and talk frankly about the joys and pain of deep work.We cover:- Pete's LSD trip that opened new possibilities- His path to grieving- Complex PTSD explained- Getting started with grieving- Why real men cryEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Pete Walker's BooksPete Walker's Website

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Perhaps the phrase 'A Man of Many Hats' was created for my guest this week. A Google Exec, investor, record label boss, YouTuber, I give you Kiwi-in-London Craig Fenton.Craig began life as a barrister, then switched to consulting before landing as Director of Strategy and Operations at Google in the UK.We talk: - Phone-only podcasting- Managing multiple pursuits- The evolving Google culture- Discovering music talent- The upside of Glass-holesEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Big Community RecordsCoffee, Eggs & InspirationGoogle

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/In this week's episode, I speak with therapist Theresa Sheppard Alexander, author of 'Facing The Wolf: Inside The Process of Deep Feeling Therapy'.Theresa shares her story of finding Primal Therapy in her early twenties and how she helps clients climb down ‘the staircase of feeling’ to experience their deepest pain, and ultimately, to find more joy and light in their lives.I found this one of my most challenging conversations so far on Being Human. As a veteran of Primal Therapy myself, I reveal more about my own journey than I have in any other public conversation.We talk:- The benefits of 'descending into feeling'- Getting your whole self back- The problem with cognitive therapy - Will I become just a puddle of tears?- Therapy and sexualityEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Theresa's website'Facing The Wolf' book 

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week is Lisa Gill, host of the ground-breaking podcast Leaderphormosis. She’s also co-author of the just-released 'Moose Heads on the Table: Stories About Self-Managing Organisations from Sweden'.Lisa has helped businesses across Europe to let go of their boss culture. Her approach, along with fellow liberator Karin Tenelius, is to focus on creating different forms of dialogues between employees within companies, as opposed to looking at complicated the structures and processes.We talk:- The benefits of moving to boss-free cultures- How to make decisions without managers- How to sustain self-management or Agile transformations- How going autonomous is no easy ride- The meaning of bringing our whole selves to workEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Moose Heads On The Table - The BookTuff Leadership TrainingLeadermorphosis

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My return guest this week, Alex Goldfayn, is back with a new book '5-Minute Selling', which is already an Amazon bestseller.Now, I hate sales. I've always hated sales and yet it's an absolutely critical skill in my business life. In fact, it's crucial even if you're not a proper salesperson, but someone who needs to be able to influence and persuade others.What I love about Alex his approach is that it's the antithesis of 'oily' or 'pushy'. At its core, sales is about connecting with people and asking them if you can help.With that as the ethos, we talk:- The mindset to have you make that call- Why we hate sales and how to learn to love it- The Minimal Viable Proactive Sales Habit (MVPSH) ;)- Why the phone is so important- Why system trumps individual actionsEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:5-Minute SellingAlex's Website

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This week's guest, John Hagel, is a 40-year veteran of Silicon Valley. John co-founded the Center for the Edge in 2007. The Center has brought insights that have helped me to understand the megatrends in the economy throughout my career. He was the first to identify the growing 'topple rate', i.e. how when large companies gain leading market positions; they are then losing them at an increasing rate.I’m delighted that I'm getting to share his takes on the current state of capitalism in this episode.We talk:- The Big Shift- The importance of passion- The problem with the Learning Organisation- Creation Spaces- Management consultants - problem or solution?Enjoy!Links:John's websiteThe Power of Pull

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/From his cabin on an island off the coast of Sweden, Henrik Kniberg, author of the viral 'Spotify Culture' video, joins me in this week's episode to share what he learned as a top Agile Coach at Spotify.Henrik is a creative powerhouse with prodigious talent as a musician, coach, author and developer. He brings these skills together to transform the organisations with which he works.In this episode, we talk:- Teams 'self-aligning' for scale- Patient leadership- Why we draw- Achieving Agile Rhythm- Dealing with technical debt  Enjoy! Links:Spotify Culture Video Agile Product Ownership in a NutshellFriendly Guide to Climate ChangeBooks by Henrik

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This episode's guest, Rich Sheridan, was a VP in a successful software firm in Michigan when he brought his daughter to work. She was impressed. She figured her Dad must have been very important, as for anything to get done, he had to give his say so. He was "The Answer Man". And yet for Rich, this was a devastating moment. He was a hero in a hero culture. The only way to scale Hero Organisations is to scale the hero, which would mean longer hours for Rich and less time with his daughters.This moment set Rich on a path to ultimately build Menlo Innovations, a firm built on a foundation of joy.In this episode, we talk:- how to kill meetings permanently- the power of pairing- managing the system not the people- equipping people to say no to curveballs- how to make more babies!Enjoy!Links:Joy, IncThe Chief Joy OfficerMenlo Innovations

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Nicknamed "The Gentle Giant from Denmark" from his time resolving conflicts in a troubled part of Asia, my guest this week, Lars Kure Juul, is a gifted facilitator. With his book 'Organizational Happiness', Lars is on a mission to improve our experience of working life - and especially how to sell happiness to your CFO.In this episode, we talk:- compassion- strengths-based leadership walking away- unlocking potential- why transformation doesn't workEnjoy!Links:Motivational Landscape siteFree strengths test

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Late last year, my guest this week, Mark Creighton, CEO of Avado, listened to a proposal from his CTO to bring the Agile practices into his management team. Although a bit sceptical, Mark accepted the challenge.They shifted from a 90-minute weekly management team meeting to a daily stand-up, plus an end-of-week retrospective.This tweak to their practices had a significant impact on Mark's leadership style. It was also instrumental in their successful navigation of the COVID crisis.In this episode, we talk:- Agile for Management- Leading with vulnerability- Saving 50% of planned redundancies- What the COVID recovery should really meanEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks: Avado's webiste

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/In this episode, we talk with Garland Vance, author of 'Gettin' (un)Busy' on:- The secret to purpose, productivity and peace- Elon Musk: examplar of un-busyness?- Transitions and batching- Taking a sabbath - Wisdom in businessEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Garland's website

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week, Csaba Toth arrived in the UK from Hungary in 2004 with enough money for a couple of nights in a hostel.After a stint in hospitality, Csaba co-created a highly successful table-booking start-up. But despite his academic training in personality differences, he was unable to resolve his issues the CEO, which ultimately led to him leaving the business.This spurred him to create Global DISC, a powerful assessment tool endorsed by John Mattone, coach to the late Steve Jobs.In this episode, we talk:- The difference between inclusion and diversity - Why gender, age and ethnic diversity won’t necessarily drive company performance- The Global DISC approach and how it differs from other personality tests - What we mean by cognitive diversity and why it matters- Why achieving inclusion can take intensive self-work and team developmentEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Global DISC

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/This episode's guest is Nick Bloom, a fellow Brit and professor in economics at Stanford. He's been an avid researcher in remote working since 2014. Pre-COVID likely only 8% of employees worked from home. Nick expects this to be 40% in the aftermath of the pandemic, an extraordinary transformation of economic life.In this episode, we talk:- What Nick learned studying working from home at 'China's Expedia' Ctrip- The optimum set-up for home working- The shape and drivers of inequality in today's society- How lockdowns may be driving inequality- The future for capitalismEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Nick's research

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/On 14 January 2018, as he attempted to board a flight to London, my guest this week, Marek Zmyslowski, felt a hand on his shoulder from the Polish customs agents. His business partner in Nigeria had bribed the local police to get him placed on Interpol's Most Wanted List.This is just one of many extraordinary incidents during his adventures in building start-ups in Poland and Africa, including co-founding 'The Amazon of Africa' Jumia.We talk:- Defending accusations of being a 'white saviour'- His fight with the Nigerian justice system- His lessons building software teams- How to stay resilient- How we must reform capitalismEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:Chasing Black Unicorns - The Book

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/A conversation with Wharton scholar Robert Meyer on his book 'The Ostrich Paradox'.In this episode, we talk:- Why we fail to learn from past disasters- The biases that stop us making investments for the long term- How we can use herding and other biases in our favour- How we must change our approach to managing risk- The truth about ostrichesEnjoy!To your humanity,RichardLinks:The Ostrich ParadoxRobert's profile at Wharton

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/My guest this week on Being Human is Tanmoy Goswami, who holds that rare distinction of being the world's only 'Sanity Correspondent' for, well, The Correspondent.He is a passionate advocate for us talking more openly about mental health.He first got on my radar with his article "From the myth of meritocracy to the rise of bullshit jobs – it's time we admit work doesn't make us happy" in which he lays out how our workplaces can not only make us unhappy but send us to an early grave.Yes, things must change.We talk:- Moving away from the language of war in business- Living with depression and anxiety- What we really mean by recovery- What we must change about our workplaces- The dark side of mainstreaming the mental health conversationEnjoy!To our humanity,Richard Links:Tanmoy's profile on The CorrespondentTanmoy's Twitter

> Sign Up For Our Newsletter: http://www.firsthuman.com/being-human-newsletter/Author and speaker Daniela Sieff is a former student of evolution under Richard Dawkins. She has turned her attention to trauma and its impacts. She brilliantly articulates the way adverse events and conditions shape our lives and how we can emerge from a Trauma World.In this highly personal conversation, we cover:- The definition of trauma- Daniela's own turning point in her facing her past - Healing versus curing trauma- How society ignores the magnitude of child abuse, neglect and its effects- How we can heal and why therapy worksEnjoy!To our humanity,RichardLinks:Daniela's websiteDaniela's mailing list