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Digby Scott
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There's no one way to lead. Yet we need to find a way. Our own way. And it can be hard to get right. As we find our way to lead it can be useful to listen to how others found theirs. Each fortnight, I’ll share a rich, unhurried conversation with someone who’s leaned into and learned from the challenges of leadership, change, and life while staying true to themselves. You'll get to experience me doing what I do best: asking the surface-piercing questions to help people see what they couldn't see before. Including you. Learn more about my courses and get more resources at https://www.digbyscott.com/ And follow me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

  1. [Interview] Intergenerational Healing, Translation, and the Courage to Lead | Christian Penny

    2D AGO

    [Interview] Intergenerational Healing, Translation, and the Courage to Lead | Christian Penny

    What if the leadership model you've inherited is the very thing standing between your team and its potential? Most of us have experienced at least once what it feels like when a team is genuinely alive. When trust is in the room. When leadership moves around naturally, and people show up as their whole selves. And yet for most leaders, most of the time, the unspoken hope remains that the right person will arrive with the right answers and fix things. We race straight to task. We skip the human stuff. We declare a safe space and wonder why trust is still so hard to build, and so easy to lose. What if there's a fundamentally different way of meeting each other? One that's not just a nice idea, but a proven strategy for performance under the kind of pressure that matters most? In this conversation, Christian Penny brings a frame that has been tested across thousands of years on the marae and refined through decades of applying it in drama schools, Olympic programmes, and elite Super Rugby environments. It's a frame where presence and people come before task, not as an indulgence, but as the very investment that pays off when the pressure is on. Where leadership isn't a position but a question: what does this moment require, and who in the room can answer it? And where your distinct strengths, the things that only you bring, aren't optional extras but the contribution your team is quietly waiting for you to own. Christian Penny is one of New Zealand's most quietly radical leadership thinkers. A former Director of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, co-architect of the Ruku Ao leadership programme for senior public sector leaders, and a current adviser to the Hurricanes Super Rugby team and the Black Ferns Sevens, Christian has spent his career asking a single question across wildly different performance contexts: what really creates the conditions where people and performance can thrive? Drawing on Māori frameworks, the craft of theatre, and years at the edge of elite sport, he brings a practice that bridges indigenous wisdom and contemporary leadership with uncommon depth and warmth. In this episode, you will discover: How the myth of the hero leader persists even when we know it doesn't work, and what the marae offers as a practical, tested alternativeWhy putting people before task isn't soft leadership, it's the investment that pays off under the most intense pressureHow "go slow to go fast" transforms team performance precisely when it counts mostWhy alignment is often a fantasy, and how learning to use each other's difference is the real leadership skillHow to ask the question that changes the room: "What does this moment require, and who can lead us here?"Why trust is emergent, not declared, and what that means for how you build it deliberatelyHow knowing and naming your strengths doesn't just make you more potent, it makes life easier for everyone around youWhy courage, not confidence, is the real prerequisite for stepping up, and how that reframe changes everything Timestamps: (00:00) - The Myth of the Hero Leader (10:25) - Presence Over Task in Leadership (17:26) - The Shift from Hero to Host Leadership (23:31) - Emergent Leadership and Dynamic Teams (30:01) - Overcoming Resistance to New Leadership Models (36:37) - The Importance of Small Victories in Leadership Other references: Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama SchoolRuku Ao leadership programmeManutūkē Marae, RongowhakaataHigh Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ)The HurricanesBlack Ferns SevensDigby Scott's Superpowers exercise You can find Christian at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-penny-54016515/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    41 min
  2. [Solocast] Put Down the Mallet

    APR 27

    [Solocast] Put Down the Mallet

    You're across everything. The problems, the people, the pressure. And somehow, no matter how much you get through, there's always another thing popping up that needs your attention. Sound familiar? In this episode, Digby explores what it actually means to have a leadership identity and why most leaders are defining theirs by accident, one reactive moment at a time. Drawing on William James's observation that the ability to bring back a wandering attention is the very root of judgement and character, he makes the case that where you direct your focus is not a time management question. It's an identity question. In this episode, we cover: Why reactive leadership is like playing whack-a-mole and what it costs you over timeThe difference between solving problems and building the systems that make fewer problems inevitableHow to define a leadership identity that guides your decisions before the pressure hitsA practical exercise to help you name your purpose and start leading from itThe one question that cuts through the noise: what do you need to build so your team can thrive without you? Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    7 min
  3. [Interview] Making Work Meaningful, Letting Go of the Hero, and Legacy Now | Prina Shah

    APR 20

    [Interview] Making Work Meaningful, Letting Go of the Hero, and Legacy Now | Prina Shah

    You've built the career. You've hit the milestones, earned the respect, ticked the boxes that once seemed so far away. And yet there's a quiet discomfort underneath it all. Something that's hard to name but hard to ignore. A sense that the achievements are real, and yet something at the heart of it is still missing. I wonder if that feeling is more common among successful leaders than any of us let on. What if the thing that's missing isn't another goal, a bigger title, or a smarter strategy, but a deeper sense of what your leadership is actually for? In this conversation, Prina Shah and I explore the idea that legacy isn't something you earn at the end of a long career and hand it over at your farewell function. It's something you can build right now, today, with this team, on this project. We also get into what it really means to manage your energy rather than just your time, and what it looks like to step back from heroic leadership and build something that genuinely doesn't depend entirely on you. Prina Shah is a coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, and the author of Make Work Meaningful: How to Create a Culture That Leaves a Legacy. She's spent years working alongside executives who have achieved extraordinary things, and she asks the question most leaders are too busy to sit with: what's missing from a heart perspective? In this conversation, we explore: How to reframe legacy as something you leave every single day, not a footnote reserved for the end of a careerWhy leaders who carry that nagging sense of something missing often haven't yet defined what will actually fulfil themHow shifting from ambition to meaning changes the quality of decisions you makeWhy managing your energy rather than your time is the more honest path to sustained performanceHow a simple "door framing" practice can keep you genuinely present across a day of back-to-back meetingsWhy becoming the indispensable go-to in your organisation might be the thing quietly holding your team backHow building a learning culture inside your team creates resilience that doesn't depend on you to sustain itWhy the question "what important things have no action steps attached to them?" might be the most useful one you haven't been asking Timestamps: (00:00) - Reframing Legacy: A Daily Consideration (05:00) - The Missing Piece: Fulfilment Beyond Achievements (12:06) - Energy Management: The Key to Effective Leadership (18:06) - Creating a Learning Culture: Empowering Teams (25:00) - Breaking the Bottleneck: Trusting Your Team (32:12) - Redefining Work: Balancing Leadership and Reflection Other references: Make Work Meaningful: How to Create a Culture That Leaves a Legacy — Prina ShahWays to Change Your Workplace Podcast — Prina Shah (host)Simon SinekSeth Godin — "work is not working""Becoming the Boss" — Linda A. Hill, Harvard Business Review (January 2007)Prina's self-coaching journal You can find Prina at: Website: https://www.prinashah.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prinashah/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    40 min
  4. [Solocast] How to Read the Room

    APR 13

    [Solocast] How to Read the Room

    Have you ever missed the moment? Something shifted in a conversation or a meeting, and by the time you noticed, you were already playing catch up. In a world that's systematically eroding our capacity for sustained attention, how do we stay genuinely tuned in when it matters most? This episode introduces a practical framework for sharpening your attention in the room. Drawing on the work of philosopher Simone Weil, who called attention the rarest form of generosity, Digby explores why treating attention as a deliberate leadership practice is one of the most powerful things you can do right now. In this episode, we cover: Why our capacity for sustained attention is under serious pressure and what that means for leadersThe four lenses of attention: personal, relational, directional, and contextualHow to read what's happening in a room and respond well when it countsPractical ways to apply each lens in your next conversation or meetingThree reflection questions to help you identify which lens you lean on and which you tend to neglect Other references Stolen Focus | Johan HariFour Lenses DownloadHow to Read the Room Blog version Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    8 min
  5. [Interview] How to Name the Hard Thing, Honesty as Craft, and Belonging | Emma Gibbens

    APR 6

    [Interview] How to Name the Hard Thing, Honesty as Craft, and Belonging | Emma Gibbens

    What if the friction in your team isn't a strategy problem? What if it isn't a structure problem either? What if it's a conversation you've been avoiding, a truth no one has been willing to name, or simply the widening gap between what gets said in the meeting room and what gets said in the corridor afterwards? Most leaders invest enormous energy into policy, process, and planning, trusting that the culture will follow. But culture isn't built in documents. It's built in the thousands of conversations happening, or not happening, every single day. Emma Gibbens is a strategic communications expert, author of Anatomy of Conversation, and someone who has spent her career helping leaders and organisations have the honest, courageous conversations that actually shift things. With a background in international political campaigning across multiple countries and cultures, Emma brings a rare combination of directness and warmth. She understands, from the inside, how conversations can build bridges or quietly erode them and she's passionate about what becomes possible when we stop avoiding what most needs to be said. In this episode, you'll explore: How conversations function as the invisible infrastructure of culture, shaping what's possible long before strategy is ever implementedWhy the cost of silence can be just as damaging as the cost of brutal honesty, and what leaders consistently underestimate about bothHow to distinguish constructive honesty from brutal honesty, and why the difference lives in intention rather than contentWhy creating a deliberate, structured container for difficult conversations is far more effective than letting them seep into gossip and corridor chatterHow awareness of power dynamics transforms the conversations you lead, and what stepping out of the content and into the role of host actually looks likeWhy knowing what you want, and preparing your energy, matters as much as anything you say in a difficult conversationHow fitting in and belonging are not the same thing, and what it takes to build cultures where people bring their full selves References: Brené Brown: Belonging vs Fitting InAdam Grant: The "Mount Stupid" ModelMurmurations (Starlings)Georgia Murch EpisodeOscar Trimboli EpisodeAnatomy of a Conversation | Emma GibbensWhite Paper | Emma Gibbens Timestamps: (00:00) - Conversations as Cultural Infrastructure (21:24) - Conversations as Core Business Process (28:45) - Creating a Feedback-Rich Culture (29:59) - The Role of Conversation Containers (32:10) - Power Dynamics in Conversations (40:11) - Resolving Friction Through Conversation You can find Emma at: Website: www.emmagibbens.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-gibbens/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    54 min
  6. [Solocast] Being a Student of Humanity

    MAR 30

    [Solocast] Being a Student of Humanity

    How many leadership books have you read this year? Now here's the harder question: how many hours have you spent genuinely studying the people you lead? For most leaders, there's a significant gap between those two answers. And that gap, more than almost anything else, explains leadership failure. The best leaders don't just consume content about leadership. They become students of humanity, curious, patient, and unrelenting in their effort to understand what makes people tick. In this episode, you'll discover why reading the room matters more than reading the latest leadership title, how Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson's work on psychological safety points back to how well leaders understand fear in human beings, and why calibrating yourself is every bit as important as reading others. You'll walk away with: Why the gap between leadership learning and people-studying is costing you and your teamThe two directions of study that every effective leader needs to develop: outward and inwardWhat Peter Drucker's landmark Harvard Business Review essay "Managing Oneself" tells us about the rigour of self-knowledgeA surfing metaphor that reframes what it means to lead with fluency rather than forceFour practical ideas you can start using today to become a more astute student of the people around youThe distinction between caring about your people and actually studying them Whether you're leading a large organisation or a small team, this episode is an invitation to treat the people around you as your greatest source of learning. Because you can't read the room if you don't know how you distort it. Check out my services and offerings at https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter at https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    8 min
  7. [Interview] Rethinking Value, The Courage to Be Unfinished, and Human First Leadership | Rita Cincotta

    MAR 23

    [Interview] Rethinking Value, The Courage to Be Unfinished, and Human First Leadership | Rita Cincotta

    Have you ever stopped to consider that the image you project as a capable, in-control leader might actually be the very thing keeping your people from truly connecting with you? There's a particular kind of isolation that comes with always having it together. And if you're honest with yourself, I wonder how much energy it costs you to maintain that facade and what it might be costing the people around you too. What if the shift that changes everything in your leadership isn't about acquiring more knowledge or developing another competency, but about letting go of the performance? This episode is an exploration of what becomes possible when leaders trade the polished, textbook version of themselves for something more real. We dig into the relationship between authenticity and energy, vulnerability and performance, and why learning together with your team might be the most underrated leadership practice available to you right now. What's possible here when you stop trying to be the one with all the answers? Rita Cincotta is a leadership expert, coach, and consultant with 25 years of experience supporting leaders across Australia. She's the founder of The Deliberate Leader, author of two books on leadership, and is currently pursuing a PhD to rigorously test whether deliberate leadership is genuinely distinct from other leadership approaches. Rita brings rare intellectual depth and disarming human warmth to this conversation and she models everything she talks about, right from the first moment. In this episode, you'll explore: How the image of having it all together can quietly push your people further awayWhy reconnecting with your purpose as a leader is the source of the energy your team needs from youHow a single piece of feedback, being called a "textbook reader" and became a turning point in how Rita ledWhy psychological safety isn't just a culture initiative, but a daily practice that starts with youHow leading with an L plate changes the dynamic between you and your team in profound waysWhy balancing empathy with performance becomes easier, not harder, when you lead human firstHow vulnerability at a senior level creates a ripple effect that lifts the energy of an entire teamWhy contributing to the learning of others not having the answers is where lasting leadership impact lives Timestamps: (00:00) - The Burden of Perception (10:10) - The Shift to Authenticity (20:47) - Embracing Vulnerability in Leadership (26:47) - Human First: Balancing Performance and Empathy (30:06) - The Messiness of Life and Leadership (36:39) - Learning Together: The Power of Contribution Other References You are how you lead | Rita CincottaSwinburne University of TechnologyManaaki Tāngata | Victim Support NZHome and Away TV ShowMike House Podcast EpisodeJames McCulloch Podcast EpisodeDeal In Energy Blog Upgrade your Identity BlogForget Time Management, Master These Disciplines Instead BlogLeading Lasting Impact You can find Rita at: Website: https://thedeliberateleader.com.au/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rita-cincotta-80a1263/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    41 min
  8. [Solocast] The Human Stuff: Attention, Connection, and What It Means to Make People Feel Seen

    MAR 16

    [Solocast] The Human Stuff: Attention, Connection, and What It Means to Make People Feel Seen

    Have you ever left an interaction at work feeling genuinely seen? And when did you last create that feeling for someone else? Most leaders focus on strategy, capability, and performance. But the ones who build real loyalty, the ones whose people genuinely want to show up for, tend to share something far simpler: they pay attention to the human stuff. The greeting. The name. That moment of genuine connection in an otherwise ordinary day. This episode starts with a story from an ordinary morning in a coffee shop that stopped me in my tracks. It's a story about two places, two very different choices, and what it reveals about the kind of leader you're choosing to be every single day. You'll discover why attention, not talent or strategy, is the real currency of trust, how the smallest interactions shape loyalty more than most leaders realise, and why making people feel seen doesn't require anything extraordinary. It just requires intention. I'll walk you through: Why the difference between a leader people want to follow and one they don't often has nothing to do with skill or resourcesHow a headmaster in a school of 900 kids used one simple practice to shape the people around himThe distinction between doing excellent work and giving people your attention — and why both matterTwo honest questions to sit with about how seen you make your people feelWhy this doesn't need to be big stuff — it just needs to be human stuff Whether you're leading a large organisation or a small team, this episode is a gentle reminder that the most impactful thing you can do today might take less than thirty seconds. Check out my services and offerings at https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter at https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

    4 min
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About

There's no one way to lead. Yet we need to find a way. Our own way. And it can be hard to get right. As we find our way to lead it can be useful to listen to how others found theirs. Each fortnight, I’ll share a rich, unhurried conversation with someone who’s leaned into and learned from the challenges of leadership, change, and life while staying true to themselves. You'll get to experience me doing what I do best: asking the surface-piercing questions to help people see what they couldn't see before. Including you. Learn more about my courses and get more resources at https://www.digbyscott.com/ And follow me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/

Information

  • Creator
    Digby Scott
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    68
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Digby Scott
  • Show Website
    Dig Deeper

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