Leading through uncertainty means accepting complexity rather than fighting it. The most powerful tool for doing so is clarity.
While conventional wisdom suggests focusing on trust-building and communication skills, Squadify data shows that starting with clarity – specifically around shared goals, processes, and measures of success – is what actually transforms groups of individuals into cohesive teams and drives performance.
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Autonomy in teams requires clarity, not chaos. Successful autonomous teams need defined authority over coordination, transparent processes, and intentional facilitation to empower people whilst maintaining alignment and effectiveness.
Jon Barnes is a facilitator, coach, and co-founder of Pala, and he focuses on helping teams and organisations become more autonomous. His approach spans a spectrum from making hierarchies feel less hierarchical, to helping teams operate fundamentally without line management.
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There's a scientific basis for understanding optimal team size, including research on connection complexity, social loafing, and performance data that challenges common assumptions about how many people should work together effectively.
In this Q&A episode, Dan and Pia dive into the science and the data, to discover the optimum team size.
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While AI will dramatically reshape work and careers – potentially displacing entry-level jobs and creating “companies of one” – the true competitive advantage will lie in taking a human-centric approach to AI adoption, where diverse teams maintain creativity, critical thinking and genuine human connection rather than simply automating away people to maximise shareholder returns.
Larry Chao is the founding Chief Strategy and Operations Officer at trustme.ai, a startup building tools for AI governance. He’s also involved with nonprofits like Berkeley Skydeck and the Ethical AI Governance Group, where he helps empower the next generation of innovators to develop AI responsibly.
Sunaina Lobo has been a Chief Human Resources Officer three times over, and is now a strategic advisor to trustme.aiand co-founder of Momentum Global HR, where she does strategic HR consulting with an AI lens.
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Successful team performance requires slowing down to achieve alignment before rushing into action. Spending more time upfront ensuring everyone truly understands the problem statement, decision-making roles, and priorities will save significant time, energy, and relationship breakdowns later.
Without this foundational alignment, teams waste enormous amounts of time in ineffective meetings, experience constant breakdowns in execution, and carry baggage from unresolved issues that poisons future decisions. The key is to move with discipline and sophistication rather than mere speed, investing in both the technical frameworks and the relational intelligence needed to bring out the best thinking from diverse perspectives.
Susan Asiyanbi is the founder and CEO of the Olori Network, an executive leadership practice that works with CEOs, executive teams, and boards, specialising in studying what the strongest executive teams and boards do differently.
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Rather than trying to "fix" people or show them rungs on a ladder, social mobility comes from recognising individuals, giving them psychological safety, and allowing them to fulfil their own potential.
Diverse workplaces thrive not because of tokenistic inclusion efforts, but because different voices at the table lead to better outcomes and more successful organisations.
Dan and Pia are joined by Arad Reisberg, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor at Brunel University of London, campaigner for social justice and social mobility, and co-founder of the Social Mobility Leaders Forum.
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Restaurant franchises can be powerful environments for leadership development, especially for young people. When managed with intentionality, these seemingly entry-level jobs can provide significant opportunities for personal growth, skill development, and career advancement.
Melissa Nuttall, along with her partner, is the franchisee of a quick service restaurant in New Zealand. In this conversation with Pia and Dan, she lays out how good customer service and continuous training create positive work cycles that benefit both employees and customers.
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While many teams focus on building trust to improve performance, it's actually clarity that needs to be addressed first.
Research shows that teams need clear roles, goals and processes before they can effectively build trust and collaborate. This represents a significant shift from traditional thinking about team development, and the data shows that improving clarity drives up trust results, whilst working directly on trust doesn't impact clarity scores.
In this episode, Squadify’s Chief Data Officer, Juliet Owen re-joins Dan and Pia to discuss the role clarity plays in driving team performance.
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Leaders who are respected are 12x more likely to be seen as effective than those who are simply liked. This is because respect is tied to competence, fairness, and consistency.
Respect in leadership isn't about titles or status, but about treating team members as capable adults rather than children. This helps avoid learned helplessness among teams, and creates environments where people feel safe to take risks, speak up, and even fail without fear of punishment.
Robyn Djelassi is a Chief People Officer, non-executive director, and coach. She runs her own HR consultancy working with organisations across Australia, with a focus on helping organisations achieve business results through their people.
Her approach to HR is a little different from the warm-and-fuzzy cliché that has permeated the industry, but is done with heart.
Robyn’s ADULTS leadership framework
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Too many "best places to work" lists focus on performative, low-cost perks like free breakfasts and dog-friendly offices. But they ignore fundamental issues like fair pay, reasonable working hours, and meaningful parental leave.
Companies often use marketing language to make minimal benefits sound impressive, like claiming "enhanced parental leave" when they're barely exceeding the statutory minimum. This creates a disconnect between how organisations present themselves and the actual employee experience.
Amy Wilson is a commercial consultant advisor, with a background in marketing, who helps companies grow and founders focus on what matters. She mentors young and underrepresented founders, and she joins Dan and Pia to discuss her LinkedIn post critiquing The Times’ Best “Places to Work" list.
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Effective change management hinges on the quality of our conversations. Asking questions can be an exertion of power, so motivational interviewing seeks to bring clarity and ensure information is shared in a way that respects the recipient's readiness to receive it.
Jeffrey Wetherhold is a change management professional who helps organisations and teams navigate difficult changes. He specialises in motivational interviewing and uses this approach to help teams have more effective conversations during periods of change.
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The “traditional” understanding of hybrid working is being challenged as organisations try to implement more structured approaches, creating friction with employees who developed their own interpretations of what hybrid working means during the pandemic.
Matthew Davis is an associate professor at the University of Leeds. He specialises in organisational and business psychology, with extensive research experience in workplace environments. He researches and consults on hybrid work patterns, and studies how companies are adapting their workspaces and practices.
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Treating people unkindly at work isn't just a personal issue; it's a systemic problem that affects everyone's performance. The evidence shows that when people understand how behaviour impacts performance, they're more likely to change their own conduct, reducing disrespectful behaviour in the workplace.
Dr Chris Turner is an emergency medicine consultant in the UK, and the cofounder of an organisation called Civility Saves Lives. Chris rose to prominence during a local NHS crisis, where he was recognised in official inquiries for speaking truth to power. His work on workplace behaviour started with one small talk that went viral, eventually leading to TEDx talks and broader recognition.
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Kindness and productivity are not opposing forces in business. In fact, kindness can be a powerful driver of success when treated as a practical approach rather than just a nice-to-have value.
Shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, and focusing on collaboration rather than competition, can transform how teams work together.
Graham Allcott is an author and the founder of Think Productive, a global company that helps teams improve their work through productivity and leadership training. He’s written multiple books, including the international bestseller How to be a Productivity Ninja. His latest book, Kind, explores the relationship between kindness and business success.
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Traditional ways of working are failing in today's complex world, with global engagement levels dropping and productivity losses reaching $438 billion.
Adopting business agility – not just its tools and processes, but its mindset shifts – helps organisations move beyond outdated approaches and create more effective ways of working.
Joining Dan and Pia is Natal Dank, an HR author, speaker, and consultant specialising in helping businesses become great workplaces. Her work particularly focuses on HR and people teams, bringing business agility principles to organisations.
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Most change initiatives fail because they focus solely on technical aspects like planning, roles, and measures, while neglecting the human element – particularly the need for people to understand why changes are happening and to feel heard throughout the process.
Jeffrey Wetherhold is a behavioral scientist who’s built his career around organisational change management. He transitioned from behavioural science to community health, and now runs his own change management consultancy.
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Spiritual intelligence in leadership goes far beyond simply posting mission statements on walls - it's about cultivating fundamental qualities like purpose, gratitude, humility and presence that create genuinely harmonious and productive workplaces.
Research shows that leaders who embrace these qualities build teams with higher morale, greater commitment, and even better financial results.
Yosi Amram is an expert in spiritual intelligent leadership and a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, leaving that role to become a clinical psychologist. His research on spiritual intelligence has been cited over a thousand times, proving that spiritual intelligence gets results.
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Effective leadership remains fundamentally the same regardless of location. It's the context that changes, not the core principles. The key is to think “leadership first, location second".
While the physical setting may vary, the essential aspects of human behaviour, interaction, and needs remain constant, making it crucial for leaders to maintain their foundational leadership skills while adapting to new working environments.
Kevin Eikenberry is an author, business owner, speaker, and podcaster. He co-wrote The Long Distance Leader and runs the Remote Leadership Institute. He’s been leading remote teams for about 15 years and specialises in remote and hybrid leadership training.
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Most managers are unprepared for their roles, with 82% having no management training at all. Effective team leadership needs structured, accessible tools to help managers build psychological safety, connection, and engagement with their teams.
Jennifer Dulski is the founder and CEO of Rising Team, a software-guided interactive learning platform for managers to develop their teams. Rising Team helps leaders build insights and deeper connections with their teams through structured development kits and short sessions that can be conducted virtually or in-person.
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