Unleashed Series

Kim Cameron

Today on Unleashed we are joined by Kim Cameron who became interested in Positive Organizational Scholarship as a result of a decade of studying the consequences of organizational downsizing. Organizations characterized by virtuous practices — forgiveness, compassion, integrity, trust, optimism, kindness—tended to avoid the declining performance associated with downsizing.

Observing this effect led to a variety of empirical studies on the effects of positive leadership and organizational virtuousness on organizational performance.

Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

Today on Unleashed we are joined by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg. Thomas is the author of What’s Your Problem?, a book on how to solve the right problems. He is also the co-author (with Paddy Miller) of Innovation as Usual, a Harvard Business Review Press book on the art of driving innovation in regular organizations. Thomas has worked with managers in nearly all parts of the globe. His research has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, BBC Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek and the Financial Times.

Wayne Baker

Today on Unleashed, we are joined by Wayne Baker, the Robert P. Thome (“toe-may”) Professor of Business Administration and Faculty Director of the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.  His teaching and research focus on social capital, social networks, generosity, positive organizational scholarship, and values.  His latest book is All You Have to Do Is Ask: How to Master the Most Important Skill for Success, which was published earlier this year.  He is a co-founder and board member of Give and Take, Inc., developers of the Givitas collaborative platform, based on principles in his new book.

Buster Benson

Buster Benson is an entrepreneur and a former product leader at Amazon, Twitter, Slack, and Patreon. He previously co-founded The Robot Co-op and McLeod Residence.

Buster wrote the book titled “Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreement”. His interests include creative businesses, collaborative disagreements, cognitive biases, enterprise software, messaging platforms, behaviour change, social games, silly drawings, making life a little bit better through technology.

Sheila Heen

Sheila is a Founder of Triad Consulting Group and has been on the Harvard Law School faculty as a Lecturer on Law since 1995. She often works with executive teams, helping them to work through conflict, repair working relationships, and make sound decisions together.

Sheila’s clients include Pixar, Hugo Boss and the NBA. She’s even provided training for the Obama White House. Sheila has spent more than twenty years with the Harvard Negotiation Project, developing negotiation theory and practice. She specializes in particularly difficult negotiations where emotions run high and relationships become strained.  She is co-author of two New York Times bestsellers: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, and the recently released Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well.

Sheila has appeared on shows as diverse as Oprah and the G. Gordon Liddy show. She has spoken at the Global Leadership Summit, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.  She is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles and Harvard Law School. She is schooled in negotiation daily by her three children.

Dr. Tina Opie

Dr. Tina Opie is an award-winning researcher, consultant, and Associate Professor of Management at Babson College. She advises small and large firms and individuals in the financial services, entertainment, media, beauty, educational, and healthcare industries among others.

As a consultant, Tina’s work provides organizations with strategic direction on how to create more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplaces. Her consulting work has helped organizations such as American Express, Hulu, and the NFL. Her work has appeared in such outlets as O Magazine, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Harvard Business Review. She is also a regular commentator on Harvard Business Review’s Women at Work podcast and Greater Boston’s NPR affiliate television station WGBH. As a thought leader who combines practice and theory, her work has proven to generate high-impact solutions that unleash the power of authenticity in organizations.

Gerry O'Brion

Today we are joined by Gerry O’Brion. After years as an executive with billion-dollar brands, Gerry is now a professional speaker and author. His Power of BECAUSE framework of has helped tens of thousands of CEOs, business owners and sales teams stand out from the sea of sameness and grow their sales.

Gerry began his career in marketing at Procter & Gamble and then was an executive for Coors Light, Quiznos, and Red Robin. He has his MBA from the University of Michigan. Gerry also spent 8 years serving in the military.

The genesis of Gerry’s work, and ultimately his Framework of Influence, started when he worked for large-company marketing divisions and discovered that even the top executives didn’t know why customers picked one competitor over another. In cluttered, noisy, competitive situations this was a big surprise, and answering this question became his mission.

Michelle Anne Johnson

In this opening episode of Season 2, Jeff speaks to Michelle Anne Johnson, a communication consultant that helps leaders and teams become influential speakers so they can maximize key opportunities, make a greater impact, and inspire action. She’s an accomplished Hollywood actress who has performed everything from Shakespeare to stand-up comedy and has guest-starred in numerous top TV shows, including “Friends”, “CSI”, and “Modern Family.”

As a consultant, she has worked internationally as a facilitator and executive speaking coach. She specializes in helping leaders at all levels prepare for high-visibility presentations and keynotes. Her passion is helping people find joy in sharing their voices.

When Jeff asked Michelle how she got into this line of work, she explained that leadership and acting brings together many of the same talents: resilience humility, grit, preparing quickly, sticking with passions during adversity and getting comfortable with uncertainty. Do any of those sound familiar in our current times?