Switch ON Helena Mah

For centuries, we’ve been living in a world where the status of leaders has been significantly more important than the growth of those whom they lead. This kind of top-down, exclusive attitude has had far-reaching consequences in the world, from politics and business to our environment and even within our own homes.

Fortunately, demand is revolutionizing the qualities that effective leaders must possess — adding empathy, inclusivity, vulnerability, and even love to effective leadership approaches. Today’s top leaders are not only smart and fully adept at what they do, but they are also active participants in the growth of those whom they lead.

It was a privilege to discuss with Sonja Klopčič, an independent business consultant who specializes in leadership development for conscious organizations, innovator, and developer of AEIOU Leadership, about how leadership needs to evolve to build thinking and conscious organizations. Sonja talks about how to Switch On our inner game of leadership and clarifies what efforts we need to undertake to become better leaders - how to lead from the inside out. You are most welcome to listen to the conversation.

Do you ever feel like your urgent daily tasks are getting in the way of what's important? Or have you delayed your decision for months or years and someone else overpassed you? You should not be putting your dreams off to the side.

Regardless of how you see success, many of us spend most of our lives talking about "what if."

It's not always about knowing the exact steps you need to take, but you must be clear on where you currently are and more importantly where you want to be. And then take the appropriate action with the right mindset to get you there.

We had a powerful conversation with Katarina Primožič Ramoveš, People & Culture & Communications officer at Nil, about how to overcome the challenges with talent and new competence development.

How to strengthen the team capabilities, readiness, and better balance them with the desired impact you want to achieve?

You are most welcome to listen to the podcast and learn how.

Companies have a great role to play in tackling global challenges.

Creating a better future requires all of us to be at the table, and to understand the wider societal role we all must play to build a better working world. At the heart of that purpose lies the need to build trust in capital markets - trust as a key asset for any relationship and any transaction whether it’s for business or individuals.

Retaining trust requires all of us to go further than before, it's no longer enough to work toward the delivery of the bottom-line figure, it needs to be more than that. It needs to work and succeed in terms of non-financial dimensions to include social and environmental aspects of performance.

All of this is required because growth in the future must be sustainable. It must deliver value that benefits all stakeholders. In this context, leaders need to take a pause, step back and revaluate the point beyond mere profits – and re-think the real purpose of business.

It was amazing to have a discussion with Mojca Markizeti, Head of Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs at Iskraemeco, about How companies can become leaders in sustainable change?

You are most welcome to listen to the podcast to learn more about - How is sustainability bringing value to business and profit? How can you become a leader in this change? What is the cost if we don’t change?

It isn’t enough for leaders to define the vision of an organization. Today’s leaders need to actively participate in the effort to make their vision a reality. Organizations that are focused, resilient, responsive, adaptable, versatile, and able to sustainably innovate are successful. Taken together, these traits are known as Business Agility.

It was an honor to discuss with Alessandro Cugno Garrano, Senior Executive Partner at Gartner and the Business Agility Transformation Expert, how diversity and inclusion are fuelling business agility and driving progress. You are most welcome to listen to his insights and guidance on how we move from doing things right to a point so we can focus on the right things.

Innovation is a collaborative process by which organizations abandon old paradigms and make significant advances. Innovative ideas come from several sources, including unreasonable demands or goals, and time pressures. However, there are many blocks to innovation. An innovative idea is not helpful to an organization unless it’s tested and implemented.

The perfect solution is sometimes there, a vision, a thought, a dream, or just a wish. But it’s often far too complex for an individual to take it into reality. So, we need to move from “me” to “we”.

It was amazing to have a discussion about the importance of collaborative leadership and how it’s fueling innovation with Carlotta Dainese, Digital Strategy & Innovation Lab Director at Prysmian Group. During the conversation, Carlotta shared with us why she treats every innovation like a space mission and what we need to co consider to make it saleable and scalable. You are most welcome to listen.

Your vision and purpose need to be defined before you dive into any meaningful strategy. You need to know where the company wants to end up, and why.

Yet without the real customer-centric strategy, you will not get there. The customer is firmly in the driving seat and with it comes a required change in how you build and nurture relationships with potential and existing customers. And every time a customer achieves their purpose, the company that enabled them to do so, gets rewarded.

We were excited to discuss What to consider when building a roadmap from vision to reality? with dr. Amadea Dobovišek. Amadea is an owner and managing director of consulting company Publi Una, a 2 time Fenix award winner for the best consulting project at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, and author. During the discussion, Amadea shares what it means to truly have a customer in the center of everything that the company does and how to shape its success by serving its customers better.