Business
Happy 50th Episode! I sometimes do not believe that it has been a 2 year journey of ’Stories of Success’ and we arrived at episode 50. I have enjoyed the journey so far, and how my podcast has changed from interviewing ’successful adtech leaders’ to ‘leaders in personal development’. As my life is pivoting, so is the podcast, and maybe you see a refresh of positioning in 2020. The book I wrote on the back of the podcast has become a best seller and sold close to 10,000 copies by now. I am delighted to be able to bring you the tools and stories of leaders in order to make you a better person, and help you in your self improvement journey, learning about leadership and personal development. It helps me with my consulting and coaching clients, and it is a lot of fun too. Thanks for your ongoing support and loyalty. This anniversary episode is with Manley Hopkinson who has a number of strings to his bow; as an internationally acclaimed and admired inspirational speaker, as a mentor, coach and catalyst for personal, team & organisational transformation, as an accomplished author and as an Executive Board member. His strength lies in creating and developing the transformational leadership behaviours needed for people, organisations and sporting teams to perform at a high level, consistently. Aligning leaders, executive teams and the wider community to the strategic intent enables true delegation, leveraged effort, effective decision making and high performance at all levels. Rather than forcing “compliance”, the focus is on gaining “commitment” by raising levels of self and team awareness, then aligning personal and organisational values & purpose leading to more effective business and personal relationships. It’s a very holistic approach that needs to be taken, which then also leads to more success for companies, e.g. a win/win for the world and the business. He mentions John Adair’s model of leadership too, which I recommend finding out more about. I am delighted to welcome him on my podcast where he tells his story of compassionate leadership, and we discuss not only what success means but also what leadership means, and how we can be better leaders. For him it is about conscious leadership, where leaders get a commitment to follow, and it goes in line with Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Awareness comes first, then taking positive actions. Success for him is about being truly content with oneself; it is about being happy on the inside. The values he lives by are ‘deep sense of what he believes’, ‘courage to be yourself’, ‘confidence to believe in yourself’, ‘joy in the moment’, and ‘compassion’. This contentment leads to him or anyone being a better person, partner and human being. As an Inspirational Speaker Manley understands the impact of stories; tapping into that power of story and metaphor to accelerate reflection, discovery and revelation, creates moments of deep understanding, breaking down barriers and leading to lasting transformational behavioural change. He speaks about his experience as a skipper in the 2000 BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race, leading a team of volunteers, including novices, for 9 months in a 32,000 mile journey, the “wrong way”! Manley continued his adventures as part of the 3-man team that won the inaugural race to the Magnetic North Pole. The team faced polar bear attacks, and sub-zero temperatures, learning huge lessons about both surviving and competing in very difficult circumstances. I read his book which he published in 2014, “Compassionate Leadership: How to Create and Maintain Engaged, Committed and High-Performing Teams” , and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The brand-new online Compassionate Leadership Academy (CLA) is a continuation of all Manley’s work that will transform the way people access leadership development and further spread the impact of compassionate leadership worldwide. A podcast you don’t want to miss; a high impact leader which an in depth understanding of both leadership, communication and how to achieve goals. I truly enjoyed the conversation with Manley. Every journey changes you, if you take the time to reflect on it afterwards. --- This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer. Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019. If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).