Leadership Biz Cafe With Tanveer Naseer

It’s hard not to feel as though there’s a growing tide of divisiveness spreading across the world, splitting people into us vs. them camps on a variety of issues. Of course, those divisive issues found in various communities and countries inevitably spill into the workplace. So how can leaders ensure they’re closing the gap between those us and them groups within their workforce?My guest for this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, Laura Kriska, not only has the answer, but she has a proven process for how leaders can succeed at creating a more diverse and inclusive organizational culture. And I even apply one of those lessons in my conversation with Laura to prove leaders can start making these efforts right now.Laura is a leading cross-cultural consultant with more than 30 years of experience working with organizations to help them bridge gaps in diverse workplaces. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies around the world helping leaders and their teams overcome us versus them gaps fostered by di

Effective communication is a critical cornerstone to succeeding at leadership. And yet, numerous studies have shown that a majority of leaders lack this necessary skill to not only empowering employees, but retaining talent necessary to drive their organization’s growth and long-term prosperity.It’s not surprising then why every month or two we see yet another example of leadership failure where a leader communicates a message that creates outrage, both within and outside their organization.That’s why I wanted to use this latest “Leadership Espresso Shot” on my podcast to provide leaders with the opportunity to consider and reflect on the power of our words, where we can either inspire employees to commit their full potential or extinguish any internal motivation they have to doing more than what’s expected of them.Specifically, I share the examples of two leaders and what you can learn from their communication success – and failure – to help you better understand the power of words and what your employees ne

One of the biggest challenges facing leaders and their organizations today is how to adapt the way they work to a growing demand for more flexible work arrangements by employees. But how do leaders make this shift from leading a team of individuals working under one roof, to working either full time or part of the time remotely? That’s the challenge I’ll be discussing with my guest, Kevin Eikenberry, in this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast.Kevin is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a leadership and learning consulting company. He is the bestselling author of “Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time” and the co-author of “From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership”.His latest book is “The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere”, which is what I invited Kevin to join me to speak about in this episode.Over the course of this episode, some of the points Kevin and I dis

Over the past several months, I’ve given a number of keynotes focusing on how leaders can drive employee performance. Given the current talent shortage impacting every industry, it’s not surprising that organizations want to learn how to best empower their employees, both from a retention perspective, but also no doubt in hopes it might also help attract the employees they need to keep things going.But while it’s natural for us to want to understand how we can encourage employees to commit their best efforts to an organization’s vision, it’s also important for leaders to apply the same kind of reflection and review on themselves. Of what you’re doing to challenge yourself to improve, as opposed to simply focusing on getting things done and attempting to get things ‘back to normal.’That’s why in this latest Leadership Espresso Shot edition on my podcast ”Leadership Biz Cafe”, I share four questions every leader should be asking themselves to ensure you are doing what’s necessary to empower your employees to no

One of the joys I get from my podcast “Leadership Biz Cafe” is that it provides me with the opportunity to speak with leadership experts and thought leaders I admire and respect. And that’s certainly the case in this very special episode of my podcast where I sit down for my first roundtable discussion with none other than Tom Peters and Jim Kouzes! Over the course of our conversation, Tom, Jim, and I discuss a number of issues that are top of mind for many leaders today, from the ongoing debate over whether to embrace hybrid work opportunities or push a Return To Work (RTO) approach, to why leading with empathy is becoming more and more critical to a leader’s ability to succeed in today’s world. What I love about this conversation with Tom and Jim is not only how illuminating the conversation was about the future of work and with it, the way leaders will be expected to lead, but it’s also a lot of fun. Jim, Tom, and I shared a lot of laughs recording this episode - both on the air and off air. To quote Tom a

In this latest edition of my “Leadership Espresso Shot” series on my leadership podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”, I wanted to share a simple, but powerful communication tool I shared as part of a leadership keynote I gave two weeks ago.Based on the feedback I got from some of the leaders in attendance for my talk, this leadership guidance I shared really left an impact, not only because of how easily it can be employed by any leader, but for how it helps to illustrate what and how leaders should be communicating to those under their care.At a time when there’s so much uncertainty and doubt, this Leadership Espresso Shot will help you discover how you can improve clarity and drive employee performance despite what’s going on around or within your organization.As I mentioned at the end of the episode, if you enjoyed this episode or if you’re enjoying my podcast, please do me a favour and rate and review my podcast to help support our show.https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uGa5pVRwqGZ4VyJcNNC7a?si=b24fc524a2cd4966

There are certain tasks a leader is expected to do well if they are to help their organization succeed, and developing strategies for how their team will achieve their goals is one of them. And yet, you can walk into any organization and find numerous well-thought out and developed strategies or initiatives that have either stalled or been tossed aside to deal with competing priorities. As my guest, Jim Huling, points out in this episode of my podcast “Leadership Biz Cafe”, the problem is not with the strategy itself, but with how leaders go about executing it.For the past 40 years, Jim has served in various corporate leadership roles, from Fortune 500 organizations to privately held companies. He was also the CEO of a company that was recognized four times for being one of the best companies to work for in the US. Jim is also the co-author of the book “The 4 Disciplines of Execution - Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals”, which has been released as a revised and updated 2nd edition.Over the course of this

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been giving keynotes to a wide range of leaders in different industries. In some cases, the leaders in attendance were front-line managers, while in others, my audience consisted of senior level executives from the C-suite. But while the subject of these various keynotes was different, there was a common thread I addressed in most of them. And that was the need to rethink how they understood leadership, and with it, why they needed to have the courage to change.Granted, I think we can all appreciate that we’ve been living in a state of perpetual change, no doubt a large reason why so many organizations and their leaders are adamant about ‘getting back to work’, where they do away with any notion of a hybrid work environment that eschews the old Monday to Friday, 9-to-5 office work model.But as I point out in this latest edition in my Leadership Espresso Shot series on my podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”, if leaders are to not only help their organizations become more agile and resi

There’s two things I love about hosting my podcast, “Leadership Biz Cafe”. First, I get to fulfill my purpose of helping leaders improve their leadership and become the kind of leader their employees need to succeed. And second, I get to talk with some amazing people about how we can go about achieving this. And sometimes I’m lucky enough to get to speak to them a second time.And that’s certainly the case in this latest episode where I welcome back Stephen MR Covey to talk about his brand new book, “Trust and Inspire - How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others”, which is coming out this week. Stephen graciously sent me an advance copy of his book (as well as a signed copy of the final hardcover copy), and as I share with Stephen in this episode, this book is definitely addressing a major need for many leaders and their organizations.Over the course of our conversation (and what a fantastic one it was!), some of the ideas Stephen and I talk about include:How research has shown the command and control

In prolonged periods of uncertainty like the one we’re in right now, it’s natural that we take a more cautious approach to things. But what if that fear of the unknown also leads us to avoid failure and the powerful lessons we stand to gain that can help us achieve real success? In this latest edition in my Leadership Espresso Shot series on my podcast "Leadership Biz Cafe", I share 4 steps leaders can use to overcome their risk avoidance by transforming failure into success.As with my leadership keynotes and corporate training sessions, these 4 steps are revealed through a story I share in this episode that reveals a common approach we all take - and how that approach can actually limit our potential to not only find the best path forward, but to discovering new opportunities for growth and success.I’m not going to give away what the story is about, other than to say it’s a personal one that came to mind recently because of a personal milestone for my family. But I can tell you the lessons shared here are ve

With everything we’ve all experienced over the last two years, it can feel more challenging than ever to ask employees to stay the course and trust things will work out. So how do leaders inspire people to deliver their best despite their understandable concerns about the future? That’s what I’ll be exploring with my guest in this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, Kim Cameron.Kim is the Professor Emeritus of Management and Organizations in the Ross School of Business and Professor of Higher Education in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. For the past 20 years, he’s been researching the role virtuousness plays in improving employee performance and organizational success. His work has become so popular that he’s been recognized as one of the top ten organizational scholars in the world whose work has been most frequently downloaded on Google.He’s also the author of the book “Positively Energizing Leadership - Virtuous Actions and Relationships That Create High Performance”, which

Over the past two years, we’ve all had to learn how to get better at communicating within a virtual setting. While most of us have become comfortable using platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams in our daily work lives, a common challenge that persists is being able to connect at an emotional level through these digital channels.That’s why in this latest edition in my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I share 5 simple steps that will improve your ability to foster emotional connections in any virtual setting. You’ll also learn about one executive’s strategy he calls “Hump Day Hangouts” that can serve as a bit of inspiration for what you can do to build emotional connections with those you lead and those you serve.I hope you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to give this a listen as you’ll be surprised at how easily you can start applying these 5 steps in your workday.https://open.spotify.com/episode/2GY311eCWRVUAA58OOdFmJ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the past few years, there’s been a growing focus and demand that organizations address diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Although there’s been numerous studies that have demonstrated how a diverse workforce leads to improved financial performance, productivity, innovation, and overall growth, the numbers of visible minority groups and women in decision-making or leadership roles remains extremely low.So if there’s a clear business case to be made for increasing diversity both in the workplace and in leadership circles, why is there still so little traction to address this, especially when so many organizations are struggling to find talent to help their organization achieve their goals. That’s what I’ll be examining with my guest, Dr. Marlette Jackson, in this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast.Marlette is a researcher, educator, and cross-functional leader with over 8 years’ experience building and scaling DEI initiatives. She’s also the Global Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity and

In some of my leadership keynotes and workshops, I point out how one way to foster a sense of cohesion and community among your employees is to make time to celebrate milestones. What’s important here is not to just have a party where people can feel a sense of completion, but that we also use this moment to highlight the journey we’ve been on and what we’ve accomplished on this journey.It’s in that spirit that I wanted to do something special to celebrate the release of the 100th episode of my podcast “Leadership Biz Cafe”. And in keeping with what I share with leaders on how to best utilize the attainment of key milestones, I wanted to use this episode as an opportunity to look back at the past 99 episodes and first select my 10 favourite guests I’ve spoken with (to date).And then the trickier part - picking one key insight that’s not only worth a second listen, but which is both powerful and timely for helping leaders address the challenges they face today.Now I have to be honest that I had to omit two gue

As a leader, you’re responsible for accomplishing many tasks, most critical among them is setting and articulating the strategic goals of your team and organization. Of course, creating goals is not the same thing as achieving them. And most of us have certainly set out goals for ourselves and our employees which we failed to accomplish.As such, in this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series from my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, I share 3 strategies that leaders can employ to ensure their employees succeed at achieving the strategic goals assigned to them. Whether you’re in the process of setting these goals or whether you’re deep in the process of reaching those goals, the three strategies I share in this episode will ensure you not only have a strong start setting out to reach these goals, but that you and your employees succeed at attaining them.This is 13 minutes that I promise will be time well spent in terms of helping you achieve your goals for the year.https://open.spotify.com/episode/0L0oWRoP

As I mentioned in some of my episodes for my podcast “Leadership Biz Cafe”, 2021 marks the 10th year that I’ve been hosting this podcast. Although this is without question a major milestone to reach for any podcast, I never got around to making plans to celebrate this achievement on my podcast.Thankfully, as luck would have it, I had a number of very special guests who joined me on my show this year who helped to create an impromptu celebration of this major milestone.So both in keeping with a tradition I started last year, but also to show my appreciation for these fantastic guests, for my last episode of 2021, I wanted to look back at my favourite conversations from 2021 that are worth a second listen. To be clear, this isn’t a Top 10 list, but a year-end retrospective where I share my favourite guest moments from five past episodes of 2021.So who were these guests and what were their timeless and timely insights that I’m sure leaders everywhere will benefit from as they plan for 2022? Well, to learn that y

Over the course of the pandemic, we’ve all had to get used to dealing with significant changes to the way we work and live. But that doesn’t mean we’ve necessarily become more comfortable with change. So is there some way that leaders can promote change which is both impactful and not as difficult a burden for their employees? According to change expert and guest for this episode of my podcast “Leadership Biz Cafe”, Jake Jacobs, there is and it’s one that any leader in any industry can apply right now.For the past 35 years, Jake has worked in 61 different industries, from high tech to manufacturing, helping organizations and their teams deal with all kinds of change, from culture change to strategy implementation. He’s also written several books on the subject, including his latest “Leverage Change - 8 Ways To Achieve Faster, Easier, Better Results”*, which is what Jake and I talk about in this episode.In this episode, some of the areas Jake and I cover include:What is “leverage change” and how it differs fro

There’s an annual tradition that plays out this time of the year for most leaders where they split their focus between making sure they close out whatever goals or plans they had for the last quarter, and looking ahead to the next year and what need to be the new priorities going forward. Thanks to the pandemic, though, there’s been a number of other issues which have understandably drawn a lot of the attention and focus of today’s leaders - from the adverse impacts of on-going supply chain issues to the unrelenting demands for greater control over when and where employees get their work done.But there’s another equally important factor leaders need to be mindful of, something that I explore in detail in this latest edition in my Leadership Espresso Shot series. And that is understanding how we go about fostering relationships and leading people in this digital age.So as you work on winding down your team and organization’s efforts for this year, and mapping out the key areas of focus for your leadership next

Even before the global pandemic struck, many organizations and their leaders were limiting themselves to a short-term view at the expense of achieving any of their long-term goals. So how do leaders move past the current and persistent short-termism that’s often driven by a fear-based mindset, and instead embrace a more long-term, hopeful view for what the future might bring? That’s focus of my conversation with renowned business strategist John Hagel.Over the past 40 years that John has worked in Silicon Valley, John has been a successful entrepreneur, a senior executive at Atari, the founder and leader of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, not to mention also being the co-chair of the Global Future Council on the Future of Platforms and Systems at the World Economic Forum.John’s writings have been published in many respected publications, including The Economist, Fortune, Forbes, The New York Times, and the Harvard Business Review to name but a few. He’s also the author of eight books, including his latest “

If there’s one consistent thread in the debate over remote work, it’s how leaders who want their employees to return to the office argue that collaboration can’t occur unless people are working in the same space. But in each of these cases, there’s a glaring oversight on the part of these leaders. Namely, what are these leaders committing to doing or creating in order to facilitate a collaborative work environment?In this latest Leadership Espresso Shot, I make the case that leaders can’t just assume that because their employees are working in person that they are working collaboratively. Indeed, most of us are familiar with the problems of organizational silos, which is often driven by ‘office politics’, not to mention internal competition for limited resources or the attention of those in decision-making roles.To that end, I share 3 simple, but critical steps every leader should implement to ensure that their leadership inspires collaboration, and not conflict, within their organization. From the on-going p