Zenger Folkman Leadership Podcast

Given the pressing need for highly effective leaders in today’s recovering economy, organizations are wise to seek the most direct way to develop strong leaders. During this podcast, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman will discuss their research which proves that having strengths is what differentiates great leaders from their less effective counterparts. They’ll also offer proof that great leaders can indeed be developed and that using a strengths-based development process is the fastest way to move from “good” to “great.” Join Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman to discover:Why focusing on strengths is far more effective than a preoccupation with fixing weaknesses, which is promoted in most traditional development programs. How building strengths greatly differs from correcting weaknesses. A unique process for developing strengths.

Given the pressing need for highly effective leaders in today’s recovering economy, organizations are wise to seek the most direct way to develop strong leaders. During this podcast, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman will discuss their research which proves that having strengths is what differentiates great leaders from their less effective counterparts. They’ll also offer proof that great leaders can indeed be developed and that using a strengths-based development process is the fastest way to move from “good” to “great.” Join Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman to discover: Why focusing on strengths is far more effective than a preoccupation with fixing weaknesses, which is promoted in most traditional development programs. How building strengths greatly differs from correcting weaknesses. A unique process for developing strengths.

David Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Fishbowl, joins Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman in this edition of the Zenger Folkman podcast series to discuss a variety of topics, including the characteristics of great leaders, the types of leadership that are important during different phases of a company, working with the millennial generation, identifying high-potentials, and how to truly be in the people business. Fishbowl offers asset-tracking software for large enterprises and provides the #1 requested manufacturing and warehouse management solutions for QuickBooks. Fishbowl has had extraordinary growth and has achieved numerous awards under David’s leadership, including positions on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies and the Deloitte Fast 500 lists. David served as an executive with Covey Leadership and worked closely with its management team and Stephen R. Covey. David authored the book The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results. An industry thought-leader, David has written numerous articles about character-based leadership. Download the eBook for "Lessons and Advice from a Serial Entrepreneur"

David Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Fishbowl, joins Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman in this edition of the Zenger Folkman podcast series to discuss a variety of topics, including the characteristics of great leaders, the types of leadership that are important during different phases of a company, working with the millennial generation, identifying high-potentials, and how to truly be in the people business. Fishbowl offers asset-tracking software for large enterprises and provides the #1 requested manufacturing and warehouse management solutions for QuickBooks. Fishbowl has had extraordinary growth and has achieved numerous awards under David’s leadership, including positions on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies and the Deloitte Fast 500 lists. David served as an executive with Covey Leadership and worked closely with its management team and Stephen R. Covey. David authored the book The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results. An industry thought-leader, David has written numerous articles about character-based leadership. Download the eBook for "Lessons and Advice from a Serial Entrepreneur"

Is your organization effective at identifying capable leaders early in their careers? You probably know them—those young, highly professional individuals who wield influence and make important contributions to the organization. These individuals meet the criteria of true leaders, but are they receiving any kind of formal leadership development? The dearth of leadership continues as more and more baby boomers retire and organizations are feeling their loss. What is the solution? Please join Dr. Jack Zenger as he explores this common issue and identifies vital solutions that you can begin implementing now! He'll share: Research that supports the importance of early development How to identify potential groups Competencies to pay attention to How to create a culture that values development Positive results and outcomes Download the handout for "Accelerating Leadership Development"

Is your organization effective at identifying capable leaders early in their careers? You probably know them—those young, highly professional individuals who wield influence and make important contributions to the organization. These individuals meet the criteria of true leaders, but are they receiving any kind of formal leadership development? The dearth of leadership continues as more and more baby boomers retire and organizations are feeling their loss. What is the solution? Please join Dr. Jack Zenger as he explores this common issue and identifies vital solutions that you can begin implementing now! He'll share: Research that supports the importance of early development How to identify potential groups Competencies to pay attention to How to create a culture that values development Positive results and outcomes Download the handout for "Accelerating Leadership Development"

John Wheatley, Division Scientist at the 3M company, joins Dr. Jack Zenger in this edition of the Zenger Folkman podcast series to discuss how 3M fosters collaboration and innovation across the entire company. John’s responsibilities include new product development, intellectual property, and strategic planning. 3M’s highly collaborative approach to innovation connects a number of diverse technologies, skillsets, and businesses to build new product platforms. John was recently recognized as one of the few individuals in the history of 3M to reach 100 U.S. patents. Download the ebook for "Building a Culture of Collaboration and Innovation."

John Wheatley, Division Scientist at the 3M company, joins Dr. Jack Zenger in this edition of the Zenger Folkman podcast series to discuss how 3M fosters collaboration and innovation across the entire company. John’s responsibilities include new product development, intellectual property, and strategic planning. 3M’s highly collaborative approach to innovation connects a number of diverse technologies, skillsets, and businesses to build new product platforms. John was recently recognized as one of the few individuals in the history of 3M to reach 100 U.S. patents. Download the ebook for "Building a Culture of Collaboration and Innovation."

Most approaches to leadership ignore the fact that leadership development is virtually working against the way our brain works. They seem to ask people to step into an area of uncertainty, vulnerability and an area where the leader’s brain feels extreme discomfort. The result? Participants tend to opt out of the new development process and stick to the patterns which have made them successful up to this point. Since we are all wired to be social, we all fear rejection by the social group we belong to. During a session of The Extraordinary Leader™, we examined subjects with biometric devices as they worked on their personal development plans. Interestingly, we witnessed a high level of emotional activity. The fear of being rejected by their social group was undoubtedly present, resulting in the impulse to fix a so-called weakness. This session illustrates how providing leaders with an approach focused on building strengths helps participants overcome their resistance to change. The study shows how helping participants set-up their leadership development journey as a series of tests, rather than asking them to create artificial goals, increases the likelihood of igniting positive change.  This occurs while decreasing the likelihood that their prior thought processes will take over and hold them in older established patterns.  Dr. Tobias Kiefer is Global Learning Leader Advisory at EY, Munich. He is founder and owner of the leadership incubator Q595 and founding partner of theGROWTHfactory. He trains, coaches, and mentors executives and emerging leaders around the world to become more effective in their roles. He currently heads several initiatives where he and his Partners inject neuroscience and neurofeedback into leadership, sales, and PresEntertainment® programs to measure character traits, empathy, and the impact of stress. He postulates a strongly evidence based approach to leadership and can demonstrate (live!), how highly effective leaders can make a difference for others and their organizations. Dr. Kiefer practices and teaches “Agile Leadership”, a concept derived out his studies in neuroscience, the needs he observes in a highly volatile business environment, and his long-standing experience as leader, executive coach and trainer. Dr. Kiefer has always been at the forefront of building something new – be it in industry and consulting where he created the blueprint for the eBusiness Strategy at a leading German Bank, implementing ePayment solutions, crafting eTicketing solutions and creating new ways of P2P Learning in a global setting. His academic paper “Learning Lasting for AGES” was awarded as the “Neuroleadership Paper of the Year” and is one of the most commonly used concepts for modern learning design. An entrepreneur, speaker, coach & trainer with over 15 years of experience leading successful change processes in the professional services industry and driving large-scale strategic projects. He has worked in various cultures and geographies, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and North America. As former athlete, outdoor sports enthusiast, and father of two, he offers a good balance of being edgy and realistic. His teams and clients appreciate his agile leadership style and focus on breaking with unproductive & unhealthy habits. His underlying theme: Get people to challenge the status quo and empower them to give 100% – for better business and better personal results.

Most approaches to leadership ignore the fact that leadership development is virtually working against the way our brain works. They seem to ask people to step into an area of uncertainty, vulnerability and an area where the leader’s brain feels extreme discomfort. The result? Participants tend to opt out of the new development process and stick to the patterns which have made them successful up to this point. Since we are all wired to be social, we all fear rejection by the social group we belong to. During a session of The Extraordinary Leader™, we examined subjects with biometric devices as they worked on their personal development plans. Interestingly, we witnessed a high level of emotional activity. The fear of being rejected by their social group was undoubtedly present, resulting in the impulse to fix a so-called weakness. This session illustrates how providing leaders with an approach focused on building strengths helps participants overcome their resistance to change. The study shows how helping participants set-up their leadership development journey as a series of tests, rather than asking them to create artificial goals, increases the likelihood of igniting positive change.  This occurs while decreasing the likelihood that their prior thought processes will take over and hold them in older established patterns.  Dr. Tobias Kiefer is Global Learning Leader Advisory at EY, Munich. He is founder and owner of the leadership incubator Q595 and founding partner of theGROWTHfactory. He trains, coaches, and mentors executives and emerging leaders around the world to become more effective in their roles. He currently heads several initiatives where he and his Partners inject neuroscience and neurofeedback into leadership, sales, and PresEntertainment® programs to measure character traits, empathy, and the impact of stress. He postulates a strongly evidence based approach to leadership and can demonstrate (live!), how highly effective leaders can make a difference for others and their organizations. Dr. Kiefer practices and teaches “Agile Leadership”, a concept derived out his studies in neuroscience, the needs he observes in a highly volatile business environment, and his long-standing experience as leader, executive coach and trainer. Dr. Kiefer has always been at the forefront of building something new – be it in industry and consulting where he created the blueprint for the eBusiness Strategy at a leading German Bank, implementing ePayment solutions, crafting eTicketing solutions and creating new ways of P2P Learning in a global setting. His academic paper “Learning Lasting for AGES” was awarded as the “Neuroleadership Paper of the Year” and is one of the most commonly used concepts for modern learning design. An entrepreneur, speaker, coach & trainer with over 15 years of experience leading successful change processes in the professional services industry and driving large-scale strategic projects. He has worked in various cultures and geographies, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and North America. As former athlete, outdoor sports enthusiast, and father of two, he offers a good balance of being edgy and realistic. His teams and clients appreciate his agile leadership style and focus on breaking with unproductive & unhealthy habits. His underlying theme: Get people to challenge the status quo and empower them to give 100% – for better business and better personal results.

In today’s special bonus episode, we will present Dr. Todd Zenger’s address, “The Challenge of Strategic Leadership,” recorded live from our 2016 Extraordinary Leadership Summit held in July. Todd Zenger is the newly appointed N. Eldon Tanner Chair in Strategy and Strategic Leadership and Presidential Professor at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. From 1990-2014, he served on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis’s Olin Business School, where he served as chair of the strategy group and academic director of the executive MBA program.  Professor Zenger completed his undergraduate degree in economics at Stanford University and his PhD in strategy and organization at UCLA.Professor Zenger is a global expert on topics of corporate strategy, strategic leadership, and organization design. He has lectured widely on these topics to academic audiences at most of the world’s leading business schools, and has published extensively in most of the leading academic journals in management and strategy. Professor Zenger is also active in consulting and executive teaching around the topics of strategy and strategic leadership. He writes and blogs for the Harvard Business Review on topics of strategy and has a forthcoming book with Harvard Business Review Press entitled, Beyond Competitive Advantage: How to Solve the Puzzle of Sustaining Growth While Creating Value (June 2016). Download the handout for "The Challenge of Strategic Leadership"

In today’s special bonus episode, we will present Dr. Todd Zenger’s address, “The Challenge of Strategic Leadership,” recorded live from our 2016 Extraordinary Leadership Summit held in July. Todd Zenger is the newly appointed N. Eldon Tanner Chair in Strategy and Strategic Leadership and Presidential Professor at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. From 1990-2014, he served on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis’s Olin Business School, where he served as chair of the strategy group and academic director of the executive MBA program.  Professor Zenger completed his undergraduate degree in economics at Stanford University and his PhD in strategy and organization at UCLA.Professor Zenger is a global expert on topics of corporate strategy, strategic leadership, and organization design. He has lectured widely on these topics to academic audiences at most of the world’s leading business schools, and has published extensively in most of the leading academic journals in management and strategy. Professor Zenger is also active in consulting and executive teaching around the topics of strategy and strategic leadership. He writes and blogs for the Harvard Business Review on topics of strategy and has a forthcoming book with Harvard Business Review Press entitled, Beyond Competitive Advantage: How to Solve the Puzzle of Sustaining Growth While Creating Value (June 2016). Download the handout for "The Challenge of Strategic Leadership"

Over the last few years a new competency has emerged. When we looked at the highest performing leaders, we discovered that a critical element of their effectiveness was their ability to execute with speed. During this webinar, we will present Dr. Joe Folkman's keynote address from our 2016 Leadership Summit where he discussed: Our data that shows that leaders who execute faster are significantly better leaders with more engaged employees and substantially higher productivity. Ways organizations can become more agile when the leaders in the organization move too slow. What it takes to help leaders improve their speed without becoming frantic. Download the handout for "The Key to Organizational Agility—Leadership Speed"

Over the last few years a new competency has emerged. When we looked at the highest performing leaders, we discovered that a critical element of their effectiveness was their ability to execute with speed. During this webinar, we will present Dr. Joe Folkman's keynote address from our 2016 Leadership Summit where he discussed: Our data that shows that leaders who execute faster are significantly better leaders with more engaged employees and substantially higher productivity. Ways organizations can become more agile when the leaders in the organization move too slow. What it takes to help leaders improve their speed without becoming frantic. Download the handout for "The Key to Organizational Agility—Leadership Speed"

Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joseph Folkman recently conducted a podcast with Josh Bersin, founder and Principal at Bersin by Deloitte, one of the leading research organizations on the subject of talent management. We had a great response from people who downloaded that podcast, so we are continuing that conversation on the subject of bold leadership. Download the eBook for this Episode.