Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast

Special Holiday Series out now! Project You as Leader has landed on the podcast, ready for you to savour over the break. In between parties and a bit of down time, take time to yourself to explore who you might become in 2021. Why you should listen: Why it’s critical to shift from an Achiever to an Amplifier right now Two sets of critical skills to master: perspective and people skills A focus on composure for Project You

How does one go from leading kids through the bush to leading conversations about climate change at the Paris agreement? Such is the leadership journey of former Australian Ambassador to Venezuela and Colombia, Sophie Davies. I first met Sophie at Outward Bound. She flat out inspired me with her composure in handling twenty staff in remote places, driving a massive bus, and setting up a technically challenging remote basecamp. She has a compelling knack for being both humble and extremely competent. Just what you need on the world stage! Listen in to hear her leadership insights. Why you should listen: The differences between Latin American and Australian cultures How support networks are essential for overcoming the impostor syndrome What we need to do to encourage more women leaders How planning days are a lost opportunity unless we have follow up meetings We explore: Finding out people’s motivators is essential for managing differences between cultures, and humans more broadly. The worst advice is:

Promise Phelon is one of Silicon’s Valley 0.2%. She is one of only FIVE African American female entrepreneurs who have bought, grown, and sold companies for multiple millions of dollars. Now she is an investor and mentor with a great tale to tell. Why you should listen: How to choose a mentor: go for the spark of experience with a specific skill set Promise’s three part journaling practice shared by extraordinary entrepreneurs worldwide: morning pages, afternoon audio notes, and a monthly 6 hour Think Time session The top skill you need to succeed in business: building anti-fragile relationships We explore: The culture of mentorship in Silicon Valley Silicon Valley’s addiction to disruption and the opportunity this brings for ‘underdogs’ Why hustling for self awareness is just as important for hustling for skill development What’s changing in leadership: from the messiah to the pilgrimage What she learned accompanying Tony Robbins and 50 top global ‘Lions’ around the world for a year

How the first non-Japanese general manager of Konica Minolta in Australia is making waves and transforming its corporate culture for social impact. Tune in!

Kate Prior shares her secrets on how to keep a small team engaged and focused in a competitive industry.

How do you recover when your culture goes bad? CEO Peter Tsokas has been at the helm of the City of Unley since 2011. Reshaping culture has been central to his leadership agenda. In this ‘how to’ podcast, learn what to do when you need to guide a significant culture change. Why you should listen: Why it’s important to determine what kind of culture you want before running a culture survey How to look at causal factors in a culture and make systemic changes: reward and recognition schemes, communication, appraisals, delegation, silos, goal emphasis How to recruit for a balance of technical skills and values We explore: The Human Synergistics profiling instrument for culture engagement Inspiration from past leaders and books by Stephen Covey, and Patrick Lencioni The crucial role of managers in guiding culture Undulation of culture and the threat of complacency

Oh me, oh my! Still elated over the recent win of the People Stuff Book of the Year award, I share a couple of updates and insights for listeners. Read about the ABBA awards here. Get your copy of People Stuff here. Nathan Baird’s book, The Innovator’s Playbook

US Navy SEALs are known for many things: toughest of the tough, quintessential high performing teams, and relentless focus and training. In this awesome interview, we dive into what business leaders can take from the SEALs way of living and learning and apply directly to self and team leadership. If you want insider secrets of the ultimate high performance, then be sure to listen and take notes. Enjoy! Why you should listen: Why you need to learn like a warrior - it’s all about having a compelling why How to access flow state as a useful response to stressful situations, on a regular basis Five principles for creating an organisation of leaders We explore: What it’s like to operate seamlessly as a team with a ‘hive mind’ How asking questions is an important SEALs’ principle  Self mastery principles like mastering beliefs, meditation, hot/cold water therapy, fasting, and visualisation

As a leadership expert I am often asked to comment on politics and public issues. There has been plenty to say about the ongoing challenges in the US election process. In this special bonus episode, I get together with fellow leadership expert, Tim Collings of 4i Leadership to have a conversation about what we are thinking and learning about leadership by observing the election experience.  Why you should listen: We explore the contrast between clash of perspectives: short-term vs long-term, individual vs collective How the tension in USA politics is a culture war based on values and the messy journey of development Biden’s strategy of the AND: “prosperity AND purpose” We explore: What Tim and I each think Joe Biden should do when he steps into office Why Biden’s message for unity has fallen short of hitting the mark Somehow we ended up talking about ‘dominatrix’, much to Tim’s embarrassment!

How do we develop perspective and vision? How do we develop the skills and abilities to lead organisations with thousands of employees? What is the most important thing in leadership? Experienced Director and farmer Georgie Somerset shares her well-earned wisdom in this awesome interview. Why you should listen: Vision is about being able to make connections between disparate parts Getting away and ensuring thinking time allows vision and insight CEO as change agent, culture holder and people builder We explore: The movement of kindness and Kirstin Ferguson’s Women Kind How to deal with difficult people: focus on how to bring out their best Be sure to work with the people who do show up

Have you ever been driven by ambition? The desire for status and accolades can be a strong motivator. CEO Matt Linnegar learned early that this is a limited path. He shifted focus: he went from ‘what role do I want?’ To ‘what impact can I contribute to?’ The change of ambition from self to contribution has been central in his career choices. In this interview, we look at other leadership traps and how to avoid them.

Ever read a book that changed how you see the world? This book did that for me. Now I understand compulsive tidying, and why some people match their clothes peg colours when they do laundry (and why I want to do that too now!) 4 environments that you can use to engineer your evolution 10 principles of joyful environments Why plants are the secret to joy

What happens when you reach the lofty heights of CEO success? Do you rest on your laurels and get complacent? Or do you double down and burnout? Both are big risks for leaders. There is a third option: move from Achiever to Amplifier. How complacency kills courage and creativity Why we head towards burnout Three things we need to change if we are going to have more impact without burnout

I first met Jason when I was working at Outward Bound and Jason was training as a massage therapist. His practice as a therapist, healer, and advisor evolved over the years. He helped me through my cancer treatment, through a difficult career transition, and over the last couple of years has been instrumental in helping me stay grounded and energised as my business exploded in growth. In this interview, we dive straight into his techniques as a practitioner, and use me as guinea pig. I share a personal challenge and we flesh out how to process it, come to terms with it, and transform it for a growth opportunity.

Laura Marshall is a school teacher and endurance athlete. She is competing in the Enduroman Arch to Arc, a mega triathlon where she will run from London to Dover, swim the English Channel, and then ride to Paris. We discuss WHY would anyone do such a physical feat, what it takes in terms of training, how to endure the monotony, and what she discovered. This is the story of a regular person deciding to challenge herself and finding there are boundless opportunities to grow and see what is possible.

We’ve gone from work-life balance to work-life blending. What happens when that blending turns to work-life bleeding? Have we blurred the lines so much that we never get a break? Can we really live the dream of working in holiday locations? My insights on how to best run work-life experiments, and the incredible value of Deep Play. The big realisation when it comes to work-life experiments: it’s not a holiday. And what to do about that. What’s at the intersections of deep work, deep rest, and deep play that we can apply to all aspects of our life and work. My specific routines to manage transitions between work-life segments.

There is so much friction in organisations that gets in the way of us being more productive. Life would be simpler if we could just get on with our work! Yet working in teams is the way we can get more done. In his new book, Smart Teams, Dermot Crowley unpacks what we need to do to reduce friction and get in to flow when we work together. He shares some additional insights on the podcast interview. Four key qualities for a productive culture: purposeful, mindful, reliable, punctual. Four things that create super-productive culture: it’s a leadership issue, all staff need productivity training, agreements on how we are going to work together, and leaders need to model the desired behaviour. Don’t do meeting planning backwards! Start with context - the why and purpose of the meeting. Then the what, the content. Finally the co-ordination piece - who needs to be there, where, and when.

Energy is key to everything in leadership! When you are worn out, sick, or otherwise flat-lined, you are no good to anyone, and everything is a lot harder. There is more to energy management than just diet and exercise. In this episode I share the 12 simple strategies to create boundless energy. The three main strategies for energy boosting: give, receive, enhance. The four pillars of energy to hone: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. How to use your journal to celebrate.

To go viral is to excite the imagination and spread a message. Beyond silly memes, how do we engage the hearts and minds of the people we lead and the people we serve? There are critical skills and daily habits to make sure we are reaching as many people as we can, in the best way possible. We explore the strategies with Richard Nongard, author of Viral Leadership: Seize the Power of Now to Create Lasting Transformation in Business. Intention vs goal-setting: the subtle difference that creates real results. Four ways of gaining buy-in from every stakeholder. The habits that commit leadership to the subconscious mind.

More than 50% of executives fail within their first 18 months of their new role. After 10 years plus of research, Ron Carucci, HBR and Forbes contributor and global leadership consultant, reveals what are the skills you need to avoid these failures. A riveting interview where we look at critical aspects of leadership to ensure success long-term at the highest levels of leadership. A must listen for all new, and established, executives. Forfeiting power, not abusing it, is one of the biggest downfalls of executives Know what kind of decision-maker you are and declare the decision-making process ahead of any meeting How to recover from a major career disaster