Rosie,
I’m so glad that you decided to come check this out and am hoping this page is helpful for you.
It’s meant just for you so either way, please let me know – very happy to add more in here.
Without further ado …
Firstly, here’s a wander through my website so you don’t have to. It’s a quick overview of some things that might pique your interest for a chat as we’ve recently revamped the site, but feel free to skip it – the helpful stuff is below.
Where to start?
I’m not exactly quiet about being dyslexic, yet I still devour books – audiobooks. I believe leaders are only as good as their last book, so here are some of my favourites from the last 12 months that literally speak to my work with diverse groups. I’m really fascinated by the way people think and how they behave as they are required to ‘think together’, hence the following collection. I’ve tried to find videos about each book so you can get a sneak-peak so as to not waste your time if it’s not your thing.
Check these out:
Cognitive Diversity – Matthew Syed:
If this strikes a chord, I reckon you’d like his book
Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking
Talking to Strangers – Malcolm Gladwell
In this video, Gladwell talks about the premise of the book.
A longer summary is here:
Find the book here:
The Power of Others – Michael Bond
No video available but this book is gold, with the subtitle:
Peer Pressure, Groupthink and How the People Around Us Shape Everything We Do
Find the book here:
Upstream – Dan Heath
This video is a summary of Heath’s latest book. It’s about how we can solve problems before they happen.
It’s here on Audible:
Find the book here:
Heath’s written a couple of other beauties – like Switch - with his brother Chip. They’re quite different characters so compliment each other really and as a result their books are super-useful in helping leaders hack the systems and behaviours at play in workplace cultures.
PODCASTS
If you find yourself in the mode of listening, here are some of my favourite podcasts which I reckon you might like. I like a good long-form interview pod (i.e. a couple of hours) to dip in and out of when driving, but there are some bloody good 20-30min shows too. Check these out:
Akimbo by Seth Godin. Akimbo's a podcast about our culture and about how we can change it. About seeing what's happening and choosing to do something. The culture is real, but it can be changed. You can bend it. Relatively short, it’s often a good listen:
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/pods/akimbo
Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantum, who uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behaviour, shape our choices and direct our relationships:
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hidden-brain
The Rich Roll Podcast – my absolute favourite. A master-class in personal and professional development, ultra-athlete, wellness evangelist and bestselling author Rich Roll delves deep with the world's brightest and most thought provoking thought leaders to educate, inspire and empower you to unleash your best, most authentic self:
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/rich-roll-podcast/the-rich-roll-podcast
The James Altucher Show - James Altucher interviews the world’s leading peak performers in every area of life. But instead of giving you the typical success story, James digs deeper to find the “Choose Yourself” story—these are the moments we relate to… when someone rises up from personal struggle to reinvent themselves.
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-james-altucher-show
BTW I listen to podcasts on Spotify (episodes seem to get uploaded earlier than on other platforms) or Stitcher and listen to them on my phone while doing other tasks. Download your App of choice.
On an organisational front, I reckon we’ve made a massive mistake spending the last couple of decades recruiting for cultural fit in many roles and functions that would be better served with a bit more diversity – in particular diversity of thought and thinking (a big hint was in the Rebel Ideas book reference). So, I’ve developed a few resources for leaders to look at how their people-management processes might be excluded a valuable but hidden cohort of employees.
People Management processes checklist:
Here’s a simple checklist you might want to have a quick glance at, which I developed to help you answer this question:
“If the future requires us to look at problems from different perspectives, how might your HR and People management processes been excluding or inadvertently holding back the segments of our workforce who naturally think differently?”
What might be hindering their entry to, and performance in, your organisation? My research shows there’s upwards of 20% of entire workplace populations that are forced to hide themselves because they feel different or that they don’t fit in - in effect self-limiting their potential because of fear, shame, stigma or misunderstanding. That’s madness (not mention a complete waste of money and potential). A lot of these people initially showed huge potential but then plateaued; others are seen as problem children.
I reckon this checklist is a good starting point for you:
Speaker reel
Here’s a cheeky video of me speaking ….. just to fill up space.
Whitepapers
Download any of these if they pique your interest:
Harnessing the Bell-Curve is a fundamentally about making better use of the different thinkers across your organisation. It’s another view on diversity and inclusion, and I believe the better way to get a performance advantage through harnessing hidden difference rather than the visible difference most D&I initiatives focus on. Maybe controversial, but it’s my website so hey?!
The Circuit Breaker is about how organisations can take a different approach to wrangling their cultures through having a service mindset. I reckon kindness is the foundation of customer services and the service any customer receives is capped by how well staff are treated inside the organisation by their peers and leaders. Thus, kind cultures grow customer service, experience and retention. Check it out.
The New Strategic Business Partner is for corporate functions to better serve their internal customers. It plays on my Catalyst model.
Again, if you want me to look into anything for you and post it here, please sing out - we’re here to help!
Take care,
Callum
