Leading Smart

The show about Managing in the Brainpower Age. A field guide to the joys and challenges of leading and working in the modern workplace. Chris Williams is your guide to the stories and ideas that will inspire you to be a better leader in the world of knowledge work.

Academy Road 03/25/2021

Academy Road The end of Season Two heralds a new journey: the road to the Leading Smart Academy. The Academy will be a deep resource for leaders just starting out, those facing specific challenges, and veterans looking for a refresher. Sign up to be first in line. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/18456956

Time Change 03/18/2021

Time Change The most indelible cultural change is led from the top. Where the leader lives, promotes, recognizes, and corrects in furtherance of the effort. In this episode we explore a small example that can be a model for all organization culture change. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/18370094

Conversation with Bob Muglia 03/11/2021

Conversation with Bob Muglia Bob Muglia has led teams from as many as 10,000 to a small startup, often taking over teams in distress and returning them to success. But his focus has always been as much on how teams work as much as what they do, in what he calls values-based leadership. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/18275147

Sense of Change 03/04/2021

Sense of Change Changing an organizational culture is a heavy lift even if the issue is not especially thorny. The real question is who can make that change? In this episode we explore an example where a fairly small cultural change requires a clear sense of how to change. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/18182540

Conversation with Brian Pedersen 02/25/2021

Conversation with Brian Pedersen Brian Pedersen’s team helps companies negotiate the maze of corporate taxes. On top of the unique experience that requires, he faces all the challenges met by any leader of knowledge workers. Yet Brian has done it all remotely, even before it was required. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/18083510

Harmonics 02/18/2021

Harmonics When a solid team mixes with a clear vision and an outstanding culture, the resulting brew can be magical. Success that breeds more success, enough to break records. In this episode we explore the qualities necessary to create organizational harmonics. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17985146

Conversation with David Sobeski 02/11/2021

Conversation with David Sobeski David Sobeski has exercised his skill of a broad view with a detail focus at some of most customer-obsessed companies in the world including Disney and Nordstrom. All while remote working long before it was cool. This is my conversation with David Sobeski. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17906129

Culture Club 02/04/2021

Culture Club What makes up an organization’s culture? What effect does culture have on the output of the team? Does a culture bend to the market or does the market select winners based on their culture? The series on organizational culture begins with: Culture Club. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17810135

Conversation with Liz Pearce 01/28/2021

Conversation with Liz Pearce Liz Pearce was in marketing at Sony, Google, and Amazon, and then a marketing consultant. At one of her clients, she rose from contract marketing consultant to CEO. Now leading Seattle startup Fresh Chalk, she discusses her journey, leadership, and the CEO role. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17727410

I Swear 01/21/2021

I Swear The series on communication wraps up with a look at cursing in the workplace. We explore my tendency to use expletives inappropriately as well as how cursing is indicative of organizational culture and the power of leaders. This time, "I Swear". /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17625023

Conversation with Donn Denman 01/14/2021

Conversation with Donn Denman Donn Denman was an engineer at Apple in the very early years and is now at Google. In our conversation he shares what it was like working with Steve Jobs, what it’s like today at Google, and how vision and passion can change the world. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17534351

How's It Going 01/07/2021

How's It Going The series on communication continues with the best way to understand how your team and project are doing. There’s a wrong way and a right way to find out the answer to the question that keeps every leader up at night: “How’s it Going?” /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17460344

Bottom Feeder Redux 12/31/2020

Bottom Feeder Redux The exploration into firing continues with a look at the low end. What is magical about the bottom ten percent? How does stack ranking cheat some people out of a good performance review? What exactly is poor performance? This is Bottom Feeder. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17240528

Duck and Cover Redux 12/24/2020

Duck and Cover Redux How a brutal performance review meeting ended with me getting a stapler hurled at my head. And how that lead to one of my most steadfast rules: in the workplace, no surprises. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17240366

Conversation with Adam Bosworth 12/17/2020

Conversation with Adam Bosworth Adam Bosworth has led major startup projects both inside and outside of seminal companies of the tech world. In our talk he shares what he learned about building teams and about the impact of company culture on the products, the team, and himself. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17228273

Survey Says 12/10/2020

Survey Says The series on communication continues with a look at how to get good feedback. We examine the many pitfalls and one good way to use surveys as a mechanism to gauge your organization’s health. This is Survey Says. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17134205

Conversation with Somasegar Part 2 12/03/2020

Conversation with Somasegar Part 2 Somasegar pushed Microsoft to “build the muscle” of remote work, long before it was cool … or required by the pandemic. He also stretched himself to become a venture capitalist. In this episode he shares what we all can learn from his journeys. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/17001539

Conversation with Somasegar Part 1 11/26/2020

Conversation with Somasegar Part 1 Somasegar traveled from India to the US for his advanced degrees and ended up joining Microsoft for an illustrious 27-year career. Now he’s a venture capitalist. In this first of two episodes, he talks with us about his journey and his thoughts on leadership. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16960739

Echolocation 11/19/2020

Echolocation The series on communication continues with the focus on listening. We examine why careful examination of the echo of a leader’s message can help not only make the team more effective but diagnose communication problems. This is Echolocation. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16881692

Conversation with Peter Spiro 11/12/2020

Conversation with Peter Spiro Peter Spiro’s work helped build Microsoft into an enterprise software giant. He also led one of the company’s most visible project downfalls. Through it all, he built a deep passion for leadership that he shares with anyone who’ll listen. This time with us. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16777421

Repeat After Me 11/05/2020

Repeat After Me The series on communication continues with a look at why saying something once is never enough. Even a few times is insufficient. The key to successful leadership is a clear, consistent, and frequently expressed vision. This is: Repeat After Me. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16684166

Conversation with Tod Nielsen 10/29/2020

Conversation with Tod Nielsen Tod Nielsen is a multi-time CEO who heads the ERP company FinancialForce. His journey is one of ever-increasing responsibility all the way to the corner office. In this episode we explore his growth and leading through adversity, like the dot com bust and the pandemic. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16586669

Not in Your Head 10/22/2020

Not in Your Head For the start of a series of episodes on communication as a leader, we delve into some scary territory: the boss’s mind. We explore why letting the team in there is, though terrifying, a great idea. This is: Not in Your Head. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16493843

Conversation with Laura Butler 10/15/2020

Conversation with Laura Butler Laura Butler is much more than just the first female Technical Fellow at Microsoft. She is a smart, thoughtful, and accomplished leader. In this conversation we talk leadership, especially as a woman, and her latest passion: investing in people. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16403837

Suite Story 10/08/2020

Suite Story The corporate C-suite, with all its many Chiefs, has become crowded and unwieldy. Along with this has come some pretty crass pandering. This episode tracks the evolution of the executive offices over the last four centuries in this Suite Story. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16315100

Conversation with Michael Kennedy 10/01/2020

Conversation with Michael Kennedy Michael Kennedy’s experience leading finance operations around the world has served him well as the CFO of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, especially during a global pandemic. We talk being a change agent, international leadership, and vision in finance. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16225295

Merit Badge 09/24/2020

Merit Badge The goal of creating a meritocracy seems admirable. But as Michael Sandel points out, it’s unobtainable, and working to get there creates a culture that is corrosive and divisive. We explore why merit is so hard to assign. Be careful with that Merit Badge. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16113449

Conversation with Brenda Leaks 09/17/2020

Conversation with Brenda Leaks Brenda Leaks is developing the next generation of leaders. She does much of that by being an outstanding leader herself. Her op-ed in the Seattle Times on race and equity was a powerful example. In our conversation we discuss how you can lead on those topics too. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/16025285

Every Little Thing 09/10/2020

Every Little Thing Sweating the details isn’t always about dollars and cents. It’s often the little changes a leader can make that improve life for their team. Even if it costs just a dime. They can add up to make a huge difference. This episode is about Every Little Thing. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/15932144

Conversation with David Risher 09/03/2020

Conversation with David Risher What do you do after you help Amazon grow by over 26,000 percent? You move on to the audacious goal of getting a billion people reading. In this conversation with David Risher CEO and co-founder of Worldreader we talk about leading in the world of non-profits. /episode/index/show/clwill/id/15846470

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