Season 1 Highlights
A Call to Lead
That’s a wrap! Season 1 of A Call to Lead is in the books.
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Michelle Yeoh
A Call to Lead
This new episode of A Call to Lead has me in Singapore, sitting down in front of a live audience with one of the world’s most respected and popular global movie stars. Michelle Yeoh grew up in Malaysia and England, gained her early fame in Hong Kong action films, and went on to star in mega-hits such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, Star Trek: Discovery, and Crazy Rich Asians.
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Mercedes Abramo
A Call to Lead
This latest episode features one of the smartest women in retail. Mercedes Abramo is the President and CEO of Cartier North America, and I had the opportunity to sit down with her at Cartier’s Hudson Yards boutique in New York City this past April. Growing up in a retail household (her dad was a senior executive at Lord & Taylor), Mercedes had her sights set on becoming a lawyer. She majored in political science, worked at a law firm, couldn’t stand it, got a job in a hotel—and found her calling.
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Sylvia Acevedo
A Call to Lead
Whether you're a Girl Scout or not (I am—once a Scout, always a Scout), my conversation with Sylvia Acevedo, the CEO of the Girl Scouts, is worth a listen. Sylvia has a remarkable path to success: As a young woman, she was discouraged from pursuing her interest in engineering. So what did she do? She went to school for engineering and became a rocket scientist at NASA. After stops at IBM and Apple and Dell, Sylvia is leading millions of Girl Scouts to places they've never gone before.
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Sarah Hauser
A Call to Lead
On this new episode of A Call to Lead, I sit down with someone out of my world, and probably out of your world too. Sarah Hauser is a champion windsurfer who knows a lot about leadership and navigating your ideal career. Sarah talks about how a missed deadline forced her to delay her plan to pursue a math degree and gave her an unplanned year off to pursue windsurfing, which turned out to be her true calling.
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Tony Blair
A Call to Lead
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently sat down with me at A Call to Lead in Orlando. And on this week's podcast, we bring you the enlightening conversation. When the Prime Minister, who urged me to call him Tony, talks about the world or recalls his own experience as PM, he dispenses loads wisdom about leadership.
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Karlie Kloss
A Call to Lead
On this episode of A Call to Lead, you'll meet Karlie Kloss, a 26-year-old wonder who is building on her success as one of the world's top fashion models to expand her leadership platform and scale her social impact. She is teaching young women how to code at Kode with Klossy, her tech summer camps across the U.S. She is helping to discover the next generation of fashion designers on Project Runway, where she is the new host and executive producer.
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Adam Grant
A Call to Lead
We got a lot smarter after talking with Adam Grant on this new episode of A Call to Lead. You may know Adam from his best-selling books including Give and Take and Originals, and his hit podcast, WorkLife. Professor Grant's classes at Wharton are also wildly popular, which isn't surprising because he is one of today's smartest, freshest, and, yes, most original thinkers on leadership and success. Adam and I tackled these topics from all angles.
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Laura Dern
A Call to Lead
Today on A Call to Lead, you'll meet Laura Dern, one of the world's great actors. Laura knows leadership. In films like Jurassic Park and Wildand TV shows like Enlightened and Twin Peaks, she has captured the complexities and vulnerabilities of strong women. In HBO's Big Little Lies, Laura's award-winning performance as Renata Klein is a study of a tech CEO who is also a fierce and frightened mother. Laura and I covered a lot of ground including leadership, parenthood, and gender equity in the workplace.
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Jen Rubio
A Call to Lead
Today on A Call to Lead, I talk with Jen Rubio, the inspiring co-founder, president, and chief brand officer of Away. Jen co-founded Away on the notion that luggage—holding many of life's most important things when we travel—had become commoditized. Away injects style and community into travel.
info_outlineThis new episode of A Call to Lead has me in Singapore, sitting down in front of a live audience with one of the world’s most respected and popular global movie stars. Michelle Yeoh grew up in Malaysia and England, gained her early fame in Hong Kong action films, and went on to star in mega-hits such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, Star Trek: Discovery, and Crazy Rich Asians. Michelle played family matriarch Eleanor Young in that blockbuster romantic comedy. As a master of her craft, Michelle shared great advice that applies to leadership in business and life. Here are 5 Points that my team and I found particularly valuable.
- Like every good leader, Michelle fuels her work with empathy. “Empathy plays a big role for all of us. If you can't empathize, how can you lead?That is how I approach the different characters they I played, like a geisha. I don't know anything about that world. It’s one of the most beautiful cultures, from Japan, and out of respect to that culture, I have to get it right.”
- Michelle speaks my language: lead with humility and vulnerability: “As a leader, a lot of the times you are personified in a certain way—be eloquent and give good advice and lead. God, that must be so tiring. Isn't it much more interesting if you can communicate and empathize and be able to have that moment of vulnerability? If I feel that you care for me—that you're vulnerable and you understand a loss of a child or a close family member—then I believe you will begin to understand me.”
- Never fear failure, Michelle says: “The more you fear that you're going to fail, you've already failed. Because you're just going to conform to something that you are comfortable with and probably just do it the same old way and regurgitate the same things. And there will never be an improvement.”
- Ask for help, she adds. “I'm never afraid to ask for help. I believe that I don't know enough. One of the reasons why I didn't use to come to these talks, apart from stage fright, was, ‘Oh my God, they're going to discover that I know nothing." And then I thought: It's okay to know nothing.’ If I knew everything, it's only downhill from there because then I would be so arrogant.”
- Practice self-control: “I was a squash player, and I had one of the best teachers. Once, when I lost a match and threw my racket across the room, he said quietly, "What was the point of that?" I never threw another fit again. To be a really good player, learn self-control. Respect when you fail. That's when you can get better.
You can learn more by visiting: www.sap.com/acalltolead. And you can subscribe and listen to episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher. We welcome your feedback on the pod! Tweet me @JenniferBMorgan and use the hashtag #acalltolead or e-mail us at [email protected].
Where to Listen: Subscribe and listen to episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher.
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Jennifer Morgan is a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and President of SAP’s Cloud Business Group.