I met Annie McKee, one of the world’s top advisors on leadership, at a conference in Dubai last year. I was excited to meet her because her work as the founder of the Teleos Leadership Institute focuses on creating large-scale change  in organizations to evolve and do more great work.

Annie is the co-author of several groundbreaking leadership books: Primal Leadership, Resonant Leadership and Becoming a Resonant Leader.

Annie has been dubbed the “High Priestess of Executive Coaching” by Business Week. With a title like that, you may picture her dressed in flowing white robes and carrying a sacrificial dagger. But the truth is—her approach to finding meaning (at work and in life) is incredibly down-to-earth.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• How all people wake up with intentions to do good work, and how to rekindle their spark when they get knocked off balance
• 3 magic words that could revolutionize every conversation you have at work
• Tools for defining a “noble purpose” to drive you forward in your personal and professional life (believe it or not, this may include tarot cards!)
• How playfulness, taking a walk, and the “perceived weird index” can get you from good to great work

Listen to my interview with Annie McKee

NB-Although Annie’s voice comes through nicely in this interview, I sound a bit like I’m standing in a wind tunnel. Sorry about that.

Be real.

Be whole.

Be innovative.

That’s the essence of Total Leadership, and Stew Friedman is the man behind it and the best-selling book of the same title. He’s been at the forefront of evolution of leadership thinking (and being) for more than twenty year as senior faculty at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. And he’s honed his thoughts on leadership by spending time as the Director of Ford’s Leadership Develop Centre.

In our conversation we chat about:

• The “Jerry Maguire” moment in his own career, when leadership become critical
• The importance of managing the boundaries
• Why deciding who matters is one of the secrets to “being whole”

You can learn more about Stew and his work at www.TotalLeadership.org.

Listen to my interview with Stewart Friedman

I’ve spent a number of years in the “OD” space – thinking about organizational development, how companies change and evolve, what it takes to engage and inspire people who work in those organizations.

And I reckon I know a fair bit. That is, until I talk to someone like Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge. I was lucky enough to meet her through a colleague who told me in no uncertain terms, this is a woman who is deeply wise and deeply compassionate about people and organizations and change. Mee-Yan is the founder of Quality and Equality and has worked with more than 300 different types of clients from her base in the UK. She has written numerous OD articles and is the UK lead for the NTL Institute, the pre-eminent force for training and developing folks to know about OD.

We talk about:

• the key moment when she stopped tolerating Good Work – and how she changed things around
• why self-work is the foundation for the impact you have in the world
• how to raise your eyes to see where you might have impact in the world
• the six steps to achieve a deep sense of self

You can learn more about Mee-Yan and her company Quality and Equality here.

Listen to my interview with Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge

Professor Isaac Getz is the professor of Idea, Initiative and Innovation Management at the ESCP Europe Business School and author of a new book that gets right to the very heart of what it takes to do Great Work in an organization: Freedom Inc.

It’s a terrific book and follows on nicely from the previous interview with Bob Cialdini. The book tells the stories of organizations that are approaching work by thinking about how to work differently and succeeding because of this approach. The subtitle says it all: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to High Productivity, Profits and Growth. Isaac incorporates his own background of innovation but looks at a bigger picture of how work is evolving, and that’s what we talk about in this interview. We discuss:

• How the style of “liberating leaders” is the starting point for any Freedom Inc.
• The importance of people feeling intrinsically equal – and what that actually means
• The impact of a lessening of control from the top – and the impact that has on agility and ability to serve your customers

You can learn more about Professor Isaac Getz and his book at freedomincbook.com.

Listen to my interview with Professor Getz

Dave Ulrich is a titan in the world of HR, a champion for HR to get out of the ‘comp and bens’ ghetto to have a strategic impact. I first met him when we were both speaking at a conference in India. A big crowd, all ready to be lectured for the day by Dave. And the session was electric. Dave found the perfect balance between sharing wisdom, being provocative and being playful with the group. He is a prolific writer, with articles and books on many aspects of HR and leadership, his most recent book is The Leadership Code: Five Rules to Lead By. Dave is a partner and co-founder of The RBL Group and is also a professor of business at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Dave and his wife Wendy have written a lovely piece in Do More Great Work.

In this interview we discuss:

• the art of finding simplicity in complexity – and how that fits with system thinking
• the value of staying in a place of ambiguity rather than rushing to decisions
• the link between energy and engagement
• and why, at the end of the day, you shouldn’t take things too seriously

You can find Dave at on his website.

Listen to my interview with Dave Ulrich.