Leadership Biz Cafe With Tanveer Naseer

If there’s one certainty in leadership these days it’s that you better be comfortable leading through unending change. Key to your ability to succeed under such conditions is making sure you take care of your employees and also yourself, while also helping their organization prepare for the future. And according to my guest for this episode of the “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, John Baldoni, you have to do all of this with a firm sense of grace.John is a globally recognized executive coach, speaker, and author of 16 books that have been translated into ten languages.  He’s been recognized by Thinkers 360 and Global Gurus as one of the world’s top thought leaders on coaching. And he’s written more than 800 leadership columns for a variety of online publications including Forbes, Harvard Business Review and Inc.com.John and I have been mutual fans of each other’s work, but we’ve never had the chance to sit down and speak about leadership and the current challenges leaders face. That’s why when he released his l

There’s a lot of attention and efforts being put forth by organizations and their leaders to promote ‘greater collaboration’ in their workplaces.  This drive has lead some organizations to completely rework their office spaces in order to create “collaboration spaces” that would encourage the exchange and free-flow of ideas and thoughts.While it might be the case for some that this drive is an attempt to rationalize why leaders want more employees to return to the office, the bigger issue at play here is that mandating collaboration is not the same thing as empowering collaboration within the various teams in your organization. Indeed, what leaders should be putting greater focus on – especially as concerns continue to linger about the possibility of difficult economic times ahead – is how to engender and empower team cohesion at a time when an organization's workforce is being disrupted by both employees leaving and being laid off.That’s why in this latest edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I exp

If you were to ask a random group of leaders if they’d heard of executive presence, almost all of them would answer yes. But if you asked that same group of leaders how many could clearly describe what executive presence is, few if any would answer this question in the affirmative.But if executive presence is key to leadership development and success, why are so few of us capable of explaining it? And if we can’t explain it, how can we develop it? Those are questions I explore with my guest, Joel Garfinkle, in this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast.Joel is the author of 11 books and over 300 articles on leadership. He’s been recognized by Global Gurus as one of the Top 30 global coaching experts, and his executive coaching clients include Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Deloitte, Ritz-Carlton, Genetech, NBC, and the NBA.Joel was one of the first guests I spoke to when I started my podcast over a decade ago, which is why I’m delighted to speak with him again, this time about his latest book, “Exec

Over the past several months, I’ve noticed the rise of two troubling trends in the leadership space. While much of the focus these days is on the exponential rise and growth of AI, these other two trends will certainly play a bigger role in determining the kind of impact leaders will have on their organizations in the months and years ahead, and no doubt with it, how to address the current transformation to the way we work.I explore these two trends in this latest edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series on my podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”. I hope you’ll check it out as this is an important issue every leader needs to be mindful of if they want to be successful not just in the short-term, but over the long term as well.https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Bke4wZNsTfvCCnjVCGAL9 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the murder of George Floyd, the world seemed to rise up collectively to demand an end to racial inequality. And while many organizations openly spoke about commitments to improve racial and gender equality within their workforce, the situation hasn’t improved. In fact, in some cases, it’s actually gotten worse.So how do we move past performative efforts to genuine action to overcome persisting racial and gender inequalities in today’s workplaces? That’s a conversation I’m eager to have with my guest in this episode of Leadership Biz Cafe, Dr. Tina Opie.Tina is an Associate Professor of Management at Babson College and a well-regarded thought leader in the field of organizational behaviour. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Business Insider, O Magazine, Essence Magazine, The Boston Globe, and Harvard Business Review. In fact, Tina’s podcast episode “Lead with Authenticity” was selected as one of Harvard Business Review's Most Influential and Innovative articles from Harvard Business Review’s

Last month, I was invited to speak to a group of European leaders about leadership competency and vulnerability. As part of the discussion, I shared a story about some recent decisions returning Disney CEO Bob Iger has made and what we can learn from them in terms of how leaders should address the current economic and organizational challenges many are grappling with today.Since then, I’ve read news reports that demonstrate leaders and their organizations are continuing to face this same challenge that undoubtedly will have long-term repercussions on their organization’s ability to adapt, evolve, and grow.So for this Leadership Espresso Shot, I’d like to share this story about Disney, along with a set of powerful questions leaders need to be asking themselves to ensure their decisions and efforts are not focused on strategies for short-term gains at the expense of long-term growth and success.I hope you’ll take a few minutes to give this episode a listen as I’m sure it will challenge your assumptions and mayb

Rising employee stress levels and employee burnout are becoming a worrisome trend in today’s workplaces. And yet, despite the wellness economy being estimated to have a value of over $4 trillion, little if any traction is being made on resolving this mental and physical health crisis. Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom as my guest on this episode of Leadership Biz Cafe has a prescription that any leader and organization can apply to create a healthier, happier, and more resilient workforce.Dr, Richard Safeer is the Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Well-Being for Johns Hopkins Medicine where he leads the Healthy at Hopkins employee health and well-being strategy. He also serves on the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst Insight Council and previously served on the board of directors for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.In his book, “A Cure for the Common Company – A Well-Being Prescription for a Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient Workforce”, Richard shares a simple, but pow

It seems like every day there’s another news report of yet another company mandating employees return to their office, another report of new findings about the consequences of rising employee anxiety and burnout, and more reports warning about the ever impending arrival of another economic downturn.Against that backdrop, I had the pleasure to sit down with a few friends as a guest on their podcast, as well as conversations with various leaders and leadership experts, to talk about these various issues and what it means about the future of work.In this latest episode of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I make the case that what driving all these headlines in our news feeds is a lack of compassion in leadership, but that there’s still hope as we only need to embrace the innate behaviours we’re all hard-wired to express. Take a listen to this episode from my podcast and get inspired to bring more compassion to your leadership to help your employees and your organization at large to succeed.https://open.spotif

Navigating change is a reality every leader has to face, and yet despite this truth, 70% of change initiatives end in failure. While we might think this high failure rate reflects a technical deficiency in leaders, Erika Andersen, my guest for this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, makes the case that this reflects our innate drive for stability. And only once we adjust this mindset can we effectively lead and navigate change in our organization.Erika is the founding partner of Proteus, a coaching and consulting firm that focuses on leader readiness, and a columnist for Forbes. She’s also the author of four best-selling books, including “Leading So People Will Follow” which I spoke with Erika about in episode #12 of my podcast.In this episode, I welcome Erika back to talk about her latest book, “Change From The Inside Out - Making You, Your Team, and Your Organization Change-Capable”.Over the course of this episode, Erika and I discuss:How do we shift our mindset from seeing change as being costly

Over the past several months I’ve had some interesting conversations with leaders who attended one of my keynotes or workshops. In particular, what was noteworthy was this common thread underlining each of these conversations. Whether it was a middle-level manager or an executive from the C-suite, in each of these interactions I couldn’t help but note the sense of self-doubt these leaders expressed about their continued ability to lead.Of course, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering what we’ve all had to endure the past two years and now in the face of an ongoing tug-of-war over what the future of work will look like between employers and their employees. While change and uncertainty has been present for several years now, as it many other things, the pandemic has only served to magnify them.Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – so long as you view this sense of self-doubt about your ability to lead through the right lens. To that end, in this latest Leadership Espresso Shot I share four si

The beginning of a new year is always an exciting time because of what it represents – a chance for new beginnings, to start something new, and build on successes gained over the past year.For my podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”, it also means the start of another season of speaking with people with fascinating insights and perspectives on the challenges of leadership today.But before looking ahead to who and what I’ll be talking about in upcoming episodes of my leadership podcast, I wanted to look back at the past 12 months and share my five favourite guest moments and insights from 2022.Now this isn’t one of those Top 5 list that we usually see around this time of the year. Instead, these are moments from the many conversations I had over the course of last year that really stuck with me and I think deserve a second listen, especially in light of various on-going debates and issues around leading today's organizations.Although I’m going to leave it to you to listen to this episode to hear what these favourite

The last few weeks of the year mark a time when most leaders are busy working on getting the last of the year’s projects completed while at the same time looking at developing goals and strategies for the year to come.But this time of the year also marks an important opportunity for leaders to take stock of their leadership performance over the past 12 months. To examine and reflect on what they did well, what they need to change, and what unanswered needs will need to be addressed going forward.Of course, the caveat here is that leaders need to make the time to reflect on their past performance, as well as have a series of questions to help prompt their reflection process.That’s why for this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I want to share a year-end reflection exercise that every leader who’s interested in improving their craft should take the time to do.This reflection exercise will help you discover insights about your leadership over the past year and where you need to put your time and att

I’m delighted and excited to welcome Tom Peters back to my podcast “Leadership Biz Cafe” for a third time, which means Tom now has made the most appearances on my podcast (we had a good laugh over it during our conversation). Tom wanted to come back on my show so we could talk about what will be his last book, “Tom Peters’ Compact Guide To Excellence”*. And as one would expect, during our conversation, Tom shares so many fantastic insights and thought-provoking ideas on a wide variety of timely issues facing leaders today. Just to give you an idea, some of the topics Tom and I discuss this time around include: The on-going battle between employers and employees over hybrid work vs return to office (RTO). The power and importance of kindness in today’s organizations. Why leaders need to pay more attention to hiring. The on-going tug-of-war over short-term earnings vs sustainability and doing something worthwhile. Being able to speak with Tom for a third time is a truly a gift, one that I’m delighted I can shar

Over the course of delivering numerous leadership keynotes and workshops this past year, it’s been interesting to see what themes leaders are looking for answers or guidance on. On a personal note, it’s also been gratifying to return once again to delivering these sessions in person and not just virtually.After all, there’s nothing more rewarding than being in a room full of leaders and watching as those light bulbs go off as they now realize what they need to do differently to address a current issue or problem.One of the common issues I’ve been asked to speak on is how to both re-engage employees and re-ignite team camaraderie after two long years of working apart. In one of the keynotes I gave in person back in March, I shared a personal story that illustrated what leaders need to do to inspire their employees to bring their very best to work every day.Seeing the enthusiastic reactions of the leaders in attendance as I shared this story – not to mention hearing from many of them afterwards about how much t

There’s no question we’re living through a period of unprecedented change and uncertainty. But is this period of uncertainty something to dread, or does it present an opportunity to transform the way we lead to achieve enduring growth and success? My guest for this episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”, Faisal Hoque, certainly sees the latter as being true and he presents a compelling case for why the rest of us should, too.Faisal Hoque is an accomplished entrepreneur, author, thought leader, and advisor to management teams and boards with more than 25 years of cross-industry success. He has successfully founded numerous companies, his latest being SHADOKA and NextChapter, where they focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes.Faisal has worked with many private sector giants including GE, MasterCard, American Express, PepsiCo, IBM, Home Depot, Gartner, JP Morgan Chase, and others. His work has appeared in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Business Insider and Huffington Post among othe

With the arrival of Fall, it’s only natural that leaders are shifting their focus towards what needs to be done to complete those goals they set out for their team at the start of the year.But this time of year also presents an important opportunity for leaders to energize – or in some cases re-energize – collaboration within their team, as well as help reinforce a sense of belonging and camaraderie that will help keep employees motivated as well as invested in sticking around.As such, in this latest edition in my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I share three easy steps that any leader – regardless your position or what industry you operate in – can employ to energize collaboration to achieve a successful outcome in your year-long goals.As I point out in this episode, this topic for this episode of my podcast was inspired by some of the parallels I’m seeing in conversations I’ve had with leaders about the upcoming leadership keynotes or workshops I’m scheduled to give for their organization. So I imagine thi

No matter which industry your organization operates it, there’s a pretty high chance that you’re grappling with how to motivate and engage your employees in the daily work they do. This challenge has manifested itself in various ways – from the Great Resignation to more recently the notion of quiet quitting.Regardless of what we choose to call it, the underlying problem is the same – people don’t feel a strong connection to the work they do, and consequently are not as invested as leaders want them to be.But research done before the pandemic has revealed what’s needed – people need to do purpose-led work if they are to genuinely care about the vision or long-term goals of the organization. Invariably, this leads to the question of how can leaders create purpose-led work for all their employees? Well, my guest for this episode of my podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe” has the answer and it all comes down to the conversations you’re having with your employees.Steve Curtin is an expert on customer service management

Without question, being an effective listener is definitely a critical skill for leaders to demonstrate, especially as workplaces continue to become more demographically diverse. And yet, even the best leaders can fail to truly listen and understand what their employees really need from them, especially during times of uncertainty about the future.It's one of the reasons why in so many of my leadership keynotes and workshops I touch on what leaders need to do to become better listeners. And it was following one of those leadership keynotes that I was asked by one of the leaders in attendance about one of my failures as a leader and what I learned from it going forward.The story I shared was so well received and appreciated by the leaders in attendance that I want to share it in this edition of my Leadership Espresso Short series because I think it really helps to show that even when we have the best intentions, we can fail to show up and really hear what those we lead are trying to tell us.So I hope you’ll ch

If there’s one thing leaders everywhere want to avoid it’s conflict in the workplace. Not only is workplace conflict counterproductive and stressful, but it makes everyone feel uncomfortable. But what if the problem is not with conflict itself, but with how we mismanage conflict? That’s the perspective of conflict expert Marlene Chism, my guest for this episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”.Marlene is an expert on identifying and stopping workplace drama, and she’s worked with leaders to help them build drama-free workplace cultures that drive growth and long term success. Marlene also happens to be one of the very first guests I had on my podcast over 10 years ago when we talked about her book “Stop Workplace Drama”. This time, I’ve invited Marlene back on my podcast to talk to me about her latest book “From Conflict to Courage: How To Stop Avoiding and Start Leading”*.Over the course of this episode, Marlene and I discuss:What we get wrong about conflict that makes leaders mismanage these situationsThe three dis

Numerous studies done over the past decade have demonstrated that those who succeed at leadership have not only developed strong technical abilities, but they’ve worked on building their emotional competencies as well.In this latest instalment of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I share two simple, but powerful steps based on neuroscience and other studies that will help you to build your emotional competencies so you can better understand what your employees need and what would motivate them to deliver their very best.If you haven’t listened to one of these yet, my Leadership Espresso Shots are short, but powerful episodes of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast that provide you with insights to improve the way you lead.And with the world of work in a state of flux right now, this edition offers some practical insights to help you better connect, understand, and lead those under your care as the workplace and the expectations of employees and employers continue to evolve.https://open.spotify.com/episode/4z15M