Podcast series explores their emotional journey as they led their organisations through change
A new podcast series by Andrew White, a Senior Fellow in Management Practice at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, explores the emotional journey global leaders went through as they led their organisations through change.
During the series, Andrew and co-host Adam Canwell of EY, spoke to five business leaders who were involved in the recent ‘Transformation Leadership’ survey, conducted by EY and Saïd Business School.
Reflecting on the five-part series, Andrew said:
‘This mini-series has given deep insights into what it means to be a 21st-century leader who delivers transformation. It’s about making a call when the status quo is no longer working, creating a social movement of change, bringing ideas from a diverse group of people to make decisions, and seeing what is coming next to create opportunities - before it becomes a crisis. In different ways, these leaders are all showing what it means to lead into the future with humility, honesty and strong focus on performance.’
The Transformational Leadership survey produced several key indicators of what makes a business transformation successful, notably finding that transformations which put humans at the centre are 2.6 times more likely to succeed.
Here are five insightful quotes to take away from the series:
- '1950s leadership doesn’t work anymore' - Allison Rossiter, the Managing Director of Roche Diagnostics in Australia
In the first guest episode, Andrew and Adam spoke to Allison Rossiter from Roche Diagnostics. Allision stated that what she calls a ‘1950s leadership style’ of ‘do what I say’ no longer works. Instead, she stressed the importance of promoting inclusivity and the process of finding the right decision together as a team.
- 'I wish I’d been braver at the start' - Rob Thomas, Chief Operating Officer of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team
In the second guest episode, Mercedes’ Rob Thomas explained how he led the transformation of the Mercedes team at a critical point in the company’s history. He talked frankly about what worked, and what he would do differently.
- 'Success involves seeing what’s coming and being there first.' - Geoff Skingsley, the Chairman of L’Oréal UK and Ireland
As chairman of a company at the forefront of transformation, Geoff Skingsley explained how L’Oréal was able to transform into a digitally ready and digital-first organisation. In this process, Geoff talked of how the company embraced disruption, seeing a clear choice: ‘Either we take part in the disruption or we ourselves will be disrupted.’
- ‘We'll find solutions together.’ - Christiane Wijsen, Head of Corporate Strategy and Consulting at Boehringer Ingelheim
During the penultimate episode, Christiane Wijsen from Boehringer Ingelheim, touched on the importance of emotional intelligence and creating a safe environment where people can speak up and talk about their concerns throughout the transformation period. As a frequent sailor, Christiane even likened the transformation experience to being out in uncertain waters…
- ‘Don’t underestimate as leaders the distance you might have from the day-to-day experience of some of your employees.’ – Gaude Paez, Head of Global Corporate Affairs at Riot Games
In the last episode, Gaude Paez talks openly about the cultural transformations Riot Games undertook to shift the disruptive communication behaviours that had emerged over the years following a 2018 class-action lawsuit in the US and the impact of a global pandemic. She helped to reshape the company’s culture by co-constructing a social movement within the organisation.
The next series of Andrew’s podcast Leadership2050 will return in the Autumn. You can listen to past episodes here.