Teaming With Ideas Carlos Valdes-Dapena

Darryl Stickel has studied the data, and concluded that trust is created in the one who trusts, not in someone else's trustworthiness. Learn how to build trust in your team by beginning with yourself.

The World Health Organization, ISO, even the UN agree: psychological safety begins with you, not your manager. Learn how to self actualize your own psychological safety and how self-compassion, mindfulness and acceptance of what you can and can't control are the tools to achieve it.

Quincy Troupe learned early on that staying curious and trusting others will bring their best to work resolves conflicts and contrasting political agendas resiliently. Listen or read his interview here.

Andrew Fox has a lot to say about his style of leadership, having courage at work to lead and collaborate, and how to deal with jerks - both as teammates and bosses.

Mutuality with Gary Clarke
With over 30 years of business experience Gary is an authentic value driven business leader with global and domestic CPG experience. He was fortunate enough to build a 20-year career with MARS right through from entry sales level to General management. He is well known for his ability to coach mentor and lead teams that deliver sustainable long-term outcomes. With this experience and passion, Gary has now founded 360Resolve a company that is driven by the belief that business and leaders have a huge role to play as we look to build more sustainable businesses through better human social and environmental practices.
Gary, did you get a degree in business at some point?
No, I actually didn’t; that’s what makes it quite unique. I left school at fifteen and started a trade. So I joined the FMCG industry at the age of thirty. So I’ve done a lot of different things before actually joining Mars, which makes it quite unique.
What trade were you trained in?
I climbed power poles, electrical poles. And I started about the age of fifteen. 
That’s dangerous stuff, that’s risky!
It can be, yes, and that’s why I decided that I’d be better off selling things rather than climbing power poles. 
From climbing poles to leading teamsOne of the things that’s interesting about you and your bio is that you chose to go from being a productive member of society to being a consultant. I’m just curious to know - how did you land on that?
It goes back just a little bit. In the last role that I had at Mars, I was fortunate enough to join an executive education program at Oxford called the Economics of Mutuality, and it explores the idea of businesses’ role in society and environmental practice and how you can build sustainable businesses moving forward. And that fascinated me and really hooked me in. I spent a lot of time working with the team, I went through the program, I went back as a guest presenter, and I’ve continued to stay in touch with them. At the end of my time at Mars, I was sort of - as we all do - wondering what I was going to do with my time, and I’m quite altruistic so I wanted to give back. I felt that I could play a role in helping business leaders prepare for the future, because I think the future is a lot different than the past that I grew up in.
My business has three areas. It’s a coaching business, it does some business consulting, but it also does thought leadership, and the thought leadership area is where I bring the Economics of Mutuality program forward through a partnership with them and other business units. It’s sort of uncharted waters. We’re all looking at the condition of the planet and we’re looking at how things are operating; we know we need to change, and I think business can play a significant role in that, so I’m here to help.
If  you Google Economics of Mutuality you’ll find a compelling area of social science and economics that was pioneered by our former employer, Mars Inc.
Early Teams leadership lessonsYou’ve been a member of teams from your days climbing power poles, right on through your years with Mars. When did you lead your first team?
I’ve always led teams. I was lucky to be good enough at sport to be the captain, if you like. I always had a really strong appreciation for the value of players on a field, and I think when you’re young you don’t really understand the concept of teamwork other than to lead by example - what I was always taught. If you did your best, you would hope that everybody else would follow along. That concept was probably my first ever go at line management when I got into leading

Following his passion led Mark to become an extremely successful manager of people, even though he no longer works in photography or music (though he did just release a CD of his guitar!)
Mark cites being humble by being truthful when you don't know the answer, for example, as his first lesson in building trust with both his employer, and his employees.
When the world changed with the creation of the internet, he had stumbled into being a leader by having been unintentionally the most successful salesperson at the stock photography company where he worked.
He went on to move from NYC to Seattle and work for Getty, who acquired a lot of companies and found himself managing people with far more expertise in the business than he.
Aligning his team on the business' strategy seemed like a mandate, until he found other fellow managers whose people didn't know what the strategy was. This taught him how to have the difficult conversation with a colleague about their improvement opportunities.
Mark goes on to relay stories about horrible team building events, and one remarkably successful team-building event. The difference? vulnerability. Then, learn and know your strengths and weaknesses, and your team members' strengths and weaknesses. We all have both. But how do we foster psychological safety in a team environment to allow discussions about particularly our weaknesses? Mark's answer; be a model of genuine vulnerability and humility.
As humans we have the emotional intelligence that artificial intelligence does not. Let's use this to our advantage.