#448 Do You Have a Right to Get Answers? – Leadership, Communication, and Accountability | Niels Brabandt
The Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
Release Date: 10/29/2025
The Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
Artificial Intelligence is no longer experimental. It is embedded in daily business decisions, workflows, and leadership processes. Yet across organisations, trust in Artificial Intelligence remains fragile. In this episode of the Leadership Podcast, Niels Brabandt explains why AI adoption fails not because of technological limitations, but because leadership underestimates the human, cultural, and organisational risks attached to its use. Business leaders often interpret hesitation towards AI as resistance to change. In reality, scepticism is frequently rational. When Artificial Intelligence...
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
In this episode of The Leadership Podcast, Niels Brabandt provides an evidence-based, executive-level analysis of how to lead Generation Z effectively in today’s organisations and why traditional authority-driven leadership models are no longer sufficient. Drawing on organisational psychology, labour market dynamics and practical leadership experience, Niels Brabandt explains why credibility now outweighs hierarchy, why purpose has become a decisive factor in motivation, and why psychological safety is a strategic prerequisite for performance, innovation and retention. He demonstrates how...
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
This interview is highly valuable for anyone who wants to do more than merely survive in the corporate world and instead build a truly successful, resilient, and fulfilling career. In his conversation with Edward Bjurstrom, former Vice President of Operations at Gilead Sciences and author of The Success Guide: How to Thrive in the Corporate Environment, Niels Brabandt explores what sustainable success in large organisations really requires. The discussion moves far beyond generic career advice and focuses on the practical realities leaders and professionals face every day: pressure, politics,...
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
This podcast interview is a must-listen for anyone who is facing strategic, professional, or personal change and wants to navigate it with clarity, structure, and confidence. In his conversation with author and transformation expert Darryl J. Heffline, Niels Brabandt explores one of the most underestimated leadership challenges: recognising the need for change before disruption forces it upon you. Drawing on Heffline’s book Shifting Gears at the Crossroads, the discussion goes far beyond motivational slogans and addresses the hard questions decision makers rarely ask early enough. When do...
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
Uncertainty has become a permanent condition for today’s business leaders. Geopolitical instability, technological disruption, economic volatility and shifting workforce expectations mean that executives can no longer rely on linear planning or long-term certainty. The central leadership question is no longer how to predict the future, but how to lead credibly when outcomes cannot be fully known. In this episode of The Leadership Podcast, Niels Brabandt, leadership expert, executive coach and organisational advisor, explores how decision makers can develop professional, sustainable...
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
In this episode of The Leadership Podcast, Niels Brabandt analyses a growing and highly relevant challenge in modern organisations: conflict incompetence combined with pseudo-coaching. Based on a real, legally adjudicated case from an international company in London, Niels Brabandt explains how professionally conducted critique conversations are increasingly being interrupted or rejected with references to unqualified coaching advice, emotional self-protection and the misuse of concepts such as “safe spaces”. The episode explores why subjective discomfort is not a legal or organisational...
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
How can Innovation and Efficiency take place at the same time? Anne J. Thorensen shares her experiences on this interview with Niels Brabandt. Host: Niels Brabandt / Contact with Niels Brabandt: Niels Brabandt's Leadership Letter: Niels Brabandt's Website:
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
How can you deliver innovation in your organisation while at the same time staying in time, on track and on target with your daily business? Kris Poria and Jeff Penrose share their approach, their expertise and their experience in this interview with Niels Brabandt. Host: Niels Brabandt / Contact with Niels Brabandt: Niels Brabandt's Leadership Letter: Niels Brabandt's Website:
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
How may a modern approach to coaching look like? Scott Abbott shares his approach in this interview with Niels Brabandt. Host: Niels Brabandt / Contact with Niels Brabandt: Niels Brabandt's Leadership Letter: Niels Brabandt's Website:
info_outlineThe Leadership Podcast by Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA / NB Networks
How to optimise Public Services? Vijay K. Luthra shares his insights and expertise in this interview with Niels Brabandt. Host: Niels Brabandt / Contact with Niels Brabandt: Niels Brabandt's Leadership Letter: Niels Brabandt's Website:
info_outlineIn this episode, Niels Brabandt, Founder and Owner of NB Networks, explores one of the most overlooked questions in modern leadership:
Do people have a right to get an answer?
In a world of constant messages, endless meetings, and overflowing inboxes, silence has become a management habit—and a dangerous one. Leaders often justify non-responsiveness as efficiency, while employees interpret it as neglect. Both are wrong.
Niels Brabandt examines why communication is not a courtesy but a core leadership responsibility. Drawing on his expertise in Sustainable Leadership, he explains:
-
Why unanswered questions damage trust and performance.
-
How to distinguish between complicated and complex issues when responding.
-
The importance of situative leadership and clear communication rules.
-
Why self-reflection is essential for leaders and employees alike.
-
How organisations can create accountability without overregulation.
The episode delivers a clear message:
There may be no legal right to an answer, but there is a moral and organisational duty to communicate. Leadership without communication is not leadership—it’s silence with a title.
A must-listen for executives, decision-makers, and leadership professionals aiming to build credibility, trust, and sustainable performance within their organisations.
Keywords:
Niels Brabandt, Leadership, Communication, Sustainable Leadership, Organisational Behaviour, Management, Leadership Development, Business Ethics, Situative Leadership, Professional Communication, Leadership Podcast, NB Networks, Corporate Culture, Accountability, Trust in Leadership
Host: Niels Brabandt / NB@NB-Networks.com
Contact to Niels Brabandt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsbrabandt/
Niels Brabandt's Leadership Letter: https://expert.nb-networks.com/
Niels Brabandt's Website: https://www.nb-networks.biz/