"The secret to great EQ is you is follow the platinum rule, not the golden rule."

A fun conversation with Faris about leadership, life and sustainable impact. What is the magic formula to success and does it look the same for everyone ?

Whilst EQ may be where all attention lies, FQ can be just as important and impactful. To achieve success, balance a strong strategy (IQ) with emotional intelligence (EQ) for team buy-in, and focused prioritization (FQ) to avoid spreading resources too thin.

To be successful, it’s critical to have a balance of three components: a great strategy (IQ), emotional intelligence to bring others along (EQ), and focus through prioritization (FQ). Many companies only have one or two of these in harmony. A good strategy involves having a well-thought-out plan. Emotional intelligence is needed to excite others about the idea. Focus is about prioritizing and removing barriers to success.

We also look at what AI brings to this formula - it is most helpful in IQ by coming up with hundreds of ideas; for FQ it can help categorise competing priorities; it is less helpful in EQ as empathetic communication and human connection are still key to creating meaningful relationships, and ideas still have to be sold to other human beings.

Listen as Faris sparkles his gold dust into our ears and eyes from working with leaders and organisations around the globe on this formula for success.

The main insights you'll get from this epsiode are :

- Experience of teaching children around the world helps in a business context to solve problems through people – it brings emotional intelligence to decision-making, which in turn makes delivering a strategy more likely.

- Shiageto means to sharpen a tool but is applied to human beings in this context: we can always be sharper, and the same techniques can be used as to teach, such as making things entertaining, simple, etc.

- Three components are required for success: a) IQ, a great idea/strategy/plan, b) EQ, to take everyone with you on the journey, and c) FQ, to focus, prioritise and remove anticipated barriers; of these, FQ is often the missing piece.

- Deployment as a consultant is often more for EQ than FQ, but the three are interlinked. Cultural differences across the IQ/EQ/FQ formula sit within EQ and questions must be asked to understand/overcome them.

- Teaching IQ across the globe requires adapting delivery of the content to take account of culture by using different tools and approaches – time must be invested in meeting every individual at multinational board meetings, for instance, in order to create a more level playing field.

- Small businesses looking to have more impact must define what this means for them. Consider maximum impact by asking, for example: What is a 15% better idea? What would my nemesis do? How will I measure it? What are my assumptions?

- Advice that is applicable to all organisations is to team up and get to know each other by creating random meet-ups, lunch/job swaps – this opens up conversations and increases success by creating connections.

- The effect of (gen)AI on the formula: it is most helpful in IQ by coming up with hundreds of ideas; for FQ it can help categorise competing priorities; it is less helpful in EQ as ideas still have to be sold to other human beings.

- The disadvantage is the weakening of the EQ muscle, e.g. young people are often reticent to speak on the phone - asynchronous is easy but synchronous requires real EQ; having both difficult and casual conversations is good for collaboration, but a tool (AI) is...

"In Digital transformation the disconnect that exists across teams, frameworks and deliverables is always very clear."

Michael and I discuss this trio and what it means for successful transformation. Digital transformation initiatives often suffer from disconnects across teams, frameworks, and deliverables, and many organisations face complexities arising from disparate people, technologies, and data that have evolved without a unified plan. This confusion inhibits effective collaboration and knowledge sharing among teams, with employees often lacking a comprehensive understanding of the broader organisational landscape.

We discuss Michael’s Process Inventory Framework which ensures that even seemingly non-core processes are accounted for, as they can significantly impact how the organisation operates. By building a complete inventory of processes and validating it across all levels of the organisation, businesses can create a common language and understanding that promotes alignment and drives effective transformation. We discuss measuring the success of digital transformation initiatives as well as managing data driven decision making and the need for accountability & empowerment.

Digital transformation is not just about tech, it is about value and creating value differently. The integration of AI will bring with it other opportunities to integrate processes and data and to create value differently also.

Michael shares his insights and experience from creating and implementing his framework and from working with leaders across the globe.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Most organisations have a clear disconnect across teams, frameworks and deliverables and the same patterns: complexity, evolving situations, unforeseen/unplanned outcomes, and a high degree of confusion.

- Teams working in silos have little understanding of what other teams do, inhibiting collaboration and knowledge – there is no unifying thread, which is essential for successful transformation.

- The book focuses on this unifying thread by seeking to establish what the business does and codify it (at both strategic and detail level) in one framework for common understanding and vertical/horizontal alignment purposes.

- The process inventory framework covers every single core and non-core process, starting at the top and working down through the organisational hierarchy to the process level (also increasingly with the help of AI to integrate operational data).

- Employees formally attest to the inventory, working upwards from the bottom of the hierarchy, to create an accurate basis and semantic structure for planning transformations and driving programmes.

- The requisite clarity comes from an exhaustive list of processes, followed by a digital initiative – transformation entails profound change and digital integrates new technologies to fuel efficiency.

- A clear roadmap with an environment analysis (external – trade, economic, competition; and internal – strengths and weaknesses) optimises the change budget and permits precision to flow down through the rest of the programme.

- Data-driven ways of working come with enormous volumes of data and the challenge of data lineage with a lack of traceability and documentation - data must always be in a proper business context.

- Operational leaders can use data analytics to empower people and create workflows, cascading goals down to individual processes from the overriding strategic imperative and providing clear accountability.

- Operational...

"Great leadership is about extracting the potential from others"

A brilliant dive into playfuness and leadership and how they can together help us to grow scalable and impactful businesses. Tracy and I have fun exploring how leaders can unlock untapped potential within themselves and their teams. A general lack of understanding of the impact leadership has influences performance - multipliers in the ecosystem and (accidental) diminishers in the ‘egosystem’, with huge blind spots. After all, leadership is about leading yourself first.

Discovering the power of playfulness, self-awareness, and challenging limiting beliefs to drive growth can create a multiplier effect in leadership. Tracy and I go through actionable insights for founders and leaders seeking to transform their approach and scale their businesses effectively.

Tracy shares her experience, insights and stories from working with founders and leaders across the world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- After successfully scaling an international business – involving enormous highs and lows and major challenges – the realisation that insufficient attention had been paid to the people was a pivotal moment.

- Subsequent ‘treasure hunt’ in the world of coaching was based on asking: what helps people move to the next level and unlock latent potential? Settled on the field of leadership after reading about Liz Wiseman’s multipliers and diminishers.

- General lack of understanding of the impact leadership has - multipliers in the ecosystem and (accidental) diminishers in the ‘egosystem’, with huge blind spots. After all, leadership is about leading yourself first.

- Leadership of self is crucial, and at different levels, e.g. self-awareness of what we do and think. Like a tree: the trunk is the strategy and actions; the invisible roots are the mindset and thinking, giving rise to the concept you hold of yourself (that influences your actions).

- The multiplier mindset is about extracting, expanding and leaning into possibility. Tracy has distilled six indicators of success:

· deep-rooted clarity

· conviction as the rocket fuel for challenges

· commitment to deepen resourcefulness

· trust as the invisible ingredient for belonging, productivity and momentum

· courage to look inwards

· playfulness (intense curiosity, radical open-mindedness, proactive experimentation) to dissolve fear and amplify the multiplier mindset.

- While developing the leadership scorecard, it was vital to intuitively include playfulness and get others to lean into it; to foster courage to overcome negative stories and a fear of failure; to look for alignment with vision and values (i.e. authenticity).

- The scorecard process is a continuum as opposed to a journey and the model works at different levels, starting with looking in the leadership mirror and understanding the feedback, also from others.

- Leaders must take ownership of the type of leader they want to be (as opposed to the vision) and also seek to bring out the best in others, often by staying quiet, asking questions and listening to the answers.

- Effective leaders give people space to reveal their (hidden) treasures and create psychological safety to permit playfulness. The ‘zone of genius’ is not static