The Evolving Leader

In this compelling episode of The Evolving Leader, we sit down with Mike Mears, former CIA leadership head and author of "Certainty: How Great Bosses Can Change Minds and Drive Innovation." Mike shares powerful insights from his extraordinary career – from his days as a combat platoon leader and nuclear missile commander to his transformative work at GE and the CIA. Discover how his relentless curiosity led him to question conventional leadership practices, the pivotal moments that reshaped his approach, and the lessons he's learned about inspiring teams in a world driven by uncertainty.

 How can leaders inspire and motivate in a world driven by uncertainty? Join us as we explore the habits, mindsets, and actionable insights that can transform how you lead and connect with your team.

Further reading from Mike Mears:

Certainty. How Great Bosses Can Change Minds and Drive Innovation:

https://www.certaintyleadershipbook.com/

Mike Mears’s Website:

https://www.mikemears.biz

Mike Mears’s Leadership Newsletter:

https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/i5b5t0

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

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LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

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The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

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It's no secret that the world is changing rapidly (perhaps faster than many of us appreciate) and this demands a new kind of leadership. But is your ego holding back your ability to evolve and lead effectively?

In this episode, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are in conversation with business philosopher, consultant and author of ‘Ego Flip: How to Reset Your Leadership Life’, James Woodcock. The conversation goes beyond theory, exploring practical ways to understand your own perspective and offers simple, actionable ideas like the ‘one breath rule’ and ‘noticing thinking’. 

If you're interested in understanding how ego shapes not just individuals but also organizations and how leadership can evolve for the future, this episode offers valuable insights on how to potentially reset your leadership life.

Referenced during this episode:

EgoFlip (J Woodcock, 2024)

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:

Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader

LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

Twitter               @Evolving_Leader

Bluesky            @evolvingleader.bsky.social

YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this bonus episode of The Evolving Leader, host Jean Gomes speaks with Damian Lowe, a senior software engineer at Symphony AI. They discuss how many of us have moved beyond the initial reactions to services like ChatGPT towards a current phase focused on experimenting, learning, and building. Damian shares that for programmers, AI tools like large language models (LLMs) are already providing a tangible 10-20% productivity gain for tasks like code suggestions and reviews, noting that both the technology and human adaptation are still maturing. However he adds that while AI excels at basic or medium tasks, its performance degrades quickly at higher complexity levels, often producing "nonsense," and he emphasizes that effective adaptation requires not just better prompting, but a crucial understanding of the difference between how machines "think" (based on probabilities) and how humans think. 

Looking ahead, Damian is optimistic that within 3-5 years AI could make many jobs significantly easier, potentially reducing "grunt work" and fostering more creativity through effective human-machine collaboration. He underscores the importance for leaders in helping teams understand AI's capabilities and limits, encouraging experimentation, and stresses the need to maintain critical thinking and human skills alongside AI adoption.

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader
 LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast
 Twitter               @Evolving_Leader
 YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

This week on The Evolving Leader is a double celebration – after more than 4 years and 190 episodes, we are thrilled to release our first in-person episode where co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender (usually sat thousands of miles apart) were together with guest, the renowned science writer Caroline Williams. Long term listeners will remember that we spoke to Caroline way back in season 2, and we are so pleased that Caroline agreed to come back and talk to us again, this time about her work around the science of interoception and her new book Inner Sense.

Reading from Caroline Williams:

Inner Sense: How the New Science of Interoception Can Transform Your Health

Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:

Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader

LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

Twitter               @Evolving_Leader

Bluesky            @evolvingleader.bsky.social

YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to Nicky Lowe. 

Nicky started her career working for a Silicon Valley tech company during the lead up to Y2K, where the financial rewards were great but for many their own wellbeing was secondary. After having her first child Nicky experienced burnout on her return to work, as she says ‘underestimating the psychosocial factors that impact women - especially mothers in the workplace’. Nicky became extremely curious as to what had happened and as a result reimagined her approach to her career and motherhood - learning what it takes to thrive both as a leader, mother and woman and for the last 20 years, Nicky has been an executive coach specialising in helping her clients achieve success in their lives without sacrificing their health or wellbeing. 

Referenced during this episode:

https://luminate-group.co.uk/

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader

LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

Twitter               @Evolving_Leader

Bluesky            @evolvingleader.bsky.social

YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender discuss the pervasive issue of misinformation and its implications for society with Professor Sander van der Linden. Sander is Professor of Social Psychology in Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and has also held posts at Princeton and Yale University. His research interests centre around the psychology of human judgment and decision-making and in particular he is interested in the social influence and persuasion process and how people are influenced by (mis)information and how they can gain resistance to persuasion through psychological inoculation. 

Sander is also interested in the psychology of conspiracy theories, extremism and radicalization, (digital) media effects, social networks, polarization, and the emergence of social norms, reasoning about evidence, and public understanding of risk and uncertainty. He has published around 175 papers and is ranked among the top 1% of all social scientists worldwide.  

In 2023, Sander’s book ‘FOOLPROOF: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity’ was published.

Referenced during this episode:

https://foolproofbook.com

https://inoculation.science/

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader

LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

Twitter               @Evolving_Leader

Bluesky            @evolvingleader.bsky.social

YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this bonus episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, host Scott Allender talks to Enneagram Practitioner, Leadership Consultant, and Author Stephanie Barron Hall. During the episode, Stephanie explains what the Enneagram is, how people new to the Enneagram might approach it and how it can be applied to teams in the workplace. 

Stephanie is the author of 'Enneagram In Real Life - Find Your Type and Take Steps Toward Growth'

Further reading from Stephanie Barron Hall:

Get your copy of Enneagram in Real Life https://www.ninetypes.co/enneagram-in-real-life

Find Your Enneagram Type: https://www.ninetypes.co/find-your-enneagram-type 

Listen to the Enneagram in Real Life Podcast: https://www.enneagramirl.com/ 

Learn more about team sessions: https://www.ninetypes.co/

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader

LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

Twitter               @Evolving_Leader

YouTube           @evolvingleader

Bluesky          @evolvingleader.bsky.social

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

During this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are in conversation with Dr Marc Brackett. As the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Marc is professor in the Child Study Center at Yale, and author of the best-selling book 'Permission to Feel'. Marc’s next book ‘Dealing With Feeling – Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want’ is due for release in September 2025.

An award-winning researcher for 25 years, Marc has published 175 scholarly articles on the role of Emotional Intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, physical and mental health, and workplace performance. He is also the lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning (SEL) that has been adopted by over 5,000 schools across the globe, improving the lives of millions of children and adults. 

In addition to being featured frequently across media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Good Morning America and more, Marc is also in demand as a keynote speaker and is co-founder of Oji Life Lab, a corporate learning firm that develops innovative digital learning systems for emotional intelligence.

Referenced during this episode:

‘How We Feel’ app: https://howwefeel.org/

‘Dealing With Feelings’ webcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRM-kVGeBRqdXAf7q7ut91HZQlfZSx_VX&si=oLRQ11SXM1GqTEgC

‘Permission to Feel: Unlock the power of emotions to help yourself and your children thrive’ (Quercus, 2019) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Permission-Feel-emotions-yourself-children/dp/1787478815/

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader

LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast

Twitter               @Evolving_Leader

Bluesky            @evolvingleader.bsky.social

YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team

In this episode of The Evolving Leader, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to CEO and Executive Transition advisor Ty Wiggins. He advises leading companies on leadership transitions and executive onboarding to ensure the accelerated paths to effectiveness and is one of only a handful of people globally with a PhD in senior leadership transitions. Ty is the author of ‘The New CEO – Lessons From CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly’ (Wiley, 2024).

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)
The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)

Social:

Instagram           @evolvingleader
LinkedIn             The Evolving Leader Podcast
Bluesky           @evolvingleader.bsky.social
YouTube           @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Send a message to The Evolving Leader team