Tom on Leadership  

What's the leader's role in fostering innovation? We ask Anna Kirah (bio) of CPH Design in Copenhagen, Denmark, about her experiences, including as VP, Design Consultation at a prestigious Danish design firm, as Dean and Faculty at a design school, and as Senior Design Anthropologist for Microsoft.
Our second expert is returning guest Pamela S. Harper, President of Business Advancement Inc. and author of Preventing Strategic Gridlock.

How can we stay -- and as leaders help others stay -- Motivated and Productive? We ask the experts, including Bill Gately, Principal at The Rockland Group, Inc. and others.

Never led through a downturn before? Learn from those who have. Our seasoned experts include Bob Pene, a corporate turnaround guru whose victories include work at Kimberly-Clark and dozens of others, and Mike Barnes, whose leadership has crossed industries for some 30 years.

To discuss Teaching and Learning Leadership we're privileged to have Susan de la Vergne of (http://forenglishmajors.wordpress.com/) who is teaching in the Engineering and Technology Management department at Portland State University, and is fond of saying she’s the only member of the Engineering faculty with a bachelor’s in English. She is the author of numerous articles and a book, You CAN'T Manage Time - But You Can Manage Many Priorities. She’s a member of the National Speakers Association and an insistent advocate for the value of a liberal arts education in business leadership.

Coming to consensus in meetings may be hurting your company. Most meetings are built around an agenda focused on a series of specific items to be discussed and one or two key issues to come to consensus on. But many managers confuse consensus with alignment and commitment. In fact, pushing for consensus can unknowingly encourage people to suppress their concerns and lead to less dialogue and more compliance. We examine the critical difference between building consensus and coming to alignment. You'll take away three specific ways managers and leaders can retool their meetings to avoid the traps of consensus and create commitment instead. My guests are Josh Leibner and Gershon Mader, founders of Quantum Performance Inc. -- world renowned experts in strategic planning and authors of the new book, "The Power of Strategic Commitment: Achieving Extraordinary Results Through TOTAL Alignment and Engagement".

The only processes you cannot outsource are leadership and marketing. Guest Mitchell Goozé of the Customer Manufacturing Group, Inc. describes his vision for using the tools of Process Improvement to create a robust and powerful business system for generating loyal customers, reliably and repeatedly.

My second guest is Mark Stevens, CEO of MSCO "The Art and Science of Growing Businesses" at www.MSCO.com and www.YourMarketingSucks.com