The Connected Leadership Podcast

By: Evergreen Podcasts
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  • Summary

  • Speaker and author on professional relationships, Andy Lopata, explores great connections with experts and high achievers worldwide.
    Andy Lopata, H & A Lopata ltd 2020
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Career Success Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
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Episodes
  • Building Resilient Leaders for Today's Challenges with Jodie Rogers

    Building Resilient Leaders for Today's Challenges with Jodie Rogers
    Apr 28 2025
    In this episode of Connected Leadership Bytes, Andy Lopata talks to Jodie Rogers, founder of Symbia and author of The Hidden Edge. With two decades of expertise in human behaviour, Jodie shares how leaders can navigate uncertainty and build emotionally intelligent, agile teams. She emphasises the value of emotional and social intelligence, strong professional relationships and mental fitness in driving performance and resilience. “The Edge” is Symbia’s practical, low-cost program designed to help teams develop key skills like focus, prioritisation and stress management. Jodie explains how their benchmarking tool measures progress and impact across organisations like Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and L'Oréal. The episode highlights the growing importance of mental well-being and proactive development in today’s fast-changing work environment. Jodie’s insights offer leaders a practical path to foster empowerment, engagement, and adaptability in their teams while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow. Key Takeaways: 1. The Importance of Soft Skills in Leadership: What are often called "soft skills" – such as emotional intelligence, communication, and influence – are actually critical life skills necessary for effective leadership. 2. Navigating Uncertainty and Change: Jodie Rogers highlights that helping people understand how their brains respond to uncertainty can empower them to better navigate it by experimenting, exploring, and creating their own paths forward. 3. The Edge Programme’s Approach to Professional Development: The Edge programme was discussed as a comprehensive professional development initiative designed to create lasting behavioural change. It focuses on four key phases: enhancing mindsets (self-leadership), driving performance (skills application), growing influence (relationships) and expanding impact (leadership and mentorship). The programme combines diverse expert trainers and practical, interactive sessions to ensure participants can apply what they learn. 4. Wellbeing and Mental Fitness: Jodie stressed the importance of focusing not just on addressing mental ill health but also on building mental fitness—developing tools and skills when people are in a stable state so they are better equipped to handle stress and challenges later 5. Leadership Accountability and Autonomy: Both Andy and Jodie touched on the necessity for leaders to foster accountability and autonomy within their teams. To find out more about The EDGE programme, please visit https://symbiapartners.com/edge Connect with Andy Lopata Website Connect with Jodie Rogers Website LinkedIn
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    29 mins
  • Embracing AI, Hybrid Work, and Skills Development With Peter Brown

    Embracing AI, Hybrid Work, and Skills Development With Peter Brown
    Apr 21 2025
    Welcome to another exciting episode of Connected Leadership Bytes, where we are exploring the future of work, the role of leadership in navigating these changes, and how to seize future opportunities instead of fearing them. Our guest this week is PwC's Global Workforce Leader, Peter Brown. Pete leads a team of over 10,000 professionals supporting businesses with their workforce challenges. He has over 25 years of global experience advising clients around a number of workforce disciplines. He also sponsors PwC’s Global Centre for Transformative Leadership. Andy revisits his podcast episode with Peter, and they consider how the pace of change in our workplace is accelerating, shaped by phenomena such as social media and AI’s rapid evolution. Peter shares how platforms like TikTok and Gen AI amassed an unprecedented number of users within months of launching, pointing to a speedier, high-tech future. Andy also explores with Peter the impact of global macro trends like climate change and disruptive technologies as well as the importance of human capacity to adapt and learn. Pete stresses the need for urgency to deal with pressing issues such as the climate crisis. He suggests that technology is not an enemy but a powerful tool that can be harnessed for efficiency and productivity and highlights the necessity to protect people, not jobs, since the workforce must adapt and evolve as technology does. This episode provides foresight into the acceleration of existing work trends and emerging ones to anticipate in the global workplace environment. Key Takeaways: Embrace Technology but Focus on Human Skills : While AI and technology are advancing rapidly, they cannot replace innate human skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, empathy, and collaboration. Hybrid Work is Here to Stay: Organisations need to find the right balance between in-office and remote work that suits their business needs and employee preferences. Skills Development is Critical: There is a growing emphasis on reskilling and upskilling to meet the demands of an ever-changing work environment. Trust and Flexibility Drive Productivity: Instead of focusing on presenteeism or rigid schedules, leaders should prioritise results-based performance and empower employees to work in ways that suit them best. Alignment of Values Matters: Creating an environment that respects individual needs and fosters meaningful engagement is crucial for retaining talent in today's competitive market. Connect with Andy Lopata Website Connect with Peter Brown LinkedIn Twitter
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    25 mins
  • Build a Business That is Smarter Than You with Jennifer Sundberg

    Build a Business That is Smarter Than You with Jennifer Sundberg
    Apr 14 2025
    In this episode of Connected Leadership Bytes, Andy Lopata revisits his interviews with Jennifer Sundberg, Co-CEO of Board Intelligence and author of Collective Intelligence: Build a Business That's Smarter Than You. Jennifer advocates for leveraging the collective brainpower of teams rather than relying solely on superstar leaders. She sites examples from Apple and Amazon, where groundbreaking ideas like the iPhone and Amazon Prime emerged from teams, not just their iconic founders. Andy and Jennifer discuss cultures of humility, curiosity and open questioning to foster innovation. Leaders must recognise they don’t have all the answers and encourage contributions without fear of criticism. Over-reliance on top-down decision-making can slow progress and waste intellectual potential. Jennifer also explores reverse mentoring, learning from failure, and the power of asking “how” and “why” questions to drive deeper understanding. The episode underscores the importance of clear communication, shared critical thinking, and inclusivity in decision-making. Jennifer’s insights provide actionable strategies for leaders to harness collective intelligence and build smarter, more resilient businesses. Key Takeaways: 1. Collective intelligence is crucial for business success – Great businesses aren't built by superstar leaders alone but by tapping into the collective brainpower of teams. 2. Top-down leadership has downsides 3.Questioning culture is essential – Simple "how" and "why" questions can drive deeper understanding. 4. Clear communication matters – Complex information needs to be communicated clearly and concisely. 5. Focus is vital alongside openness – While encouraging new ideas, asking "Is our focus still the right focus?" periodically helps balance openness with strategic direction. 6. Even great thinking and critical analysis can fail if the organisational culture isn't ready to accept challenging ideas. A widespread appetite for questioning and critical thinking is necessary across the whole organisation. Connect with Andy Lopata Website Connect with Jennifer Sundberg LinkedIn Board Intelligence Collective Intelligence: How to build a business that’s smarter than you
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    21 mins
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