Catalysts in Cars Getting Coffee Episode 4
Doug Barton, director of the UWEBC, talks with leadership coach and consultant Jennifer Anderson about the challenges leaders face as organizations navigate transformation. They explore how leaders can prepare for a human-and-AI workforce, practice deliberate calm amid uncertainty, and bring people along as the strategy moves from planning to action.
Transcript
UWEBC Podcast Introduction
Customer experience, technology, people, and supply chains are shaping how organizations operate today, but keeping up isn’t easy. At the UWEBC, we connect leaders navigating transformational change every day. Each week, we bring you the journeys and perspectives of Wisconsin leaders shaping the future of business.
From the University of Wisconsin–Madison, this is the UWEBC podcast.
Doug Barton:
Hey, folks. It’s Doug Barton with UWEBC, and this is another episode of Catalysts in Cars Getting Cookies.
Jennifer Anderson:
Cookies, yes.
Doug Barton:
We got cookies today, direct from the Fluno Center. We were just there.
My guest today is Jenny Anderson. Jenny, say hello.
Jennifer Anderson:
Hello.
Doug Barton:
Let’s do a little bit of a bio. Give us some background.
You’re in the car. We’re doing Catalysts. Who are you?
Jennifer Anderson:
First, by way of background, those of you who might know me probably don’t know me as Jenny. But because Doug and I have known each other for so long, he still calls me Jenny.
Doug Barton:
I do.
Jennifer Anderson:
It’s my childhood name.
Anyway, I’m a leadership coach and consultant. I help leaders and organizations as they’re going through transformation, helping them navigate change for themselves and their teams.
Doug Barton:
You also supervise robotic cars, including a fully self-driving car today.
Jennifer Anderson:
I do. As a matter of fact, today I am supervising this beauty.
Doug Barton:
Does this beauty have a name?
Jennifer Anderson:
We named it Red Star in honor of Kate’s dad.
Doug Barton:
Oh, Red Star.
Jennifer Anderson:
He had a nickname, Ricky Red Star. That’s how we did that.
Doug Barton:
Okay, Ricky.
Here we are. We have a special topic. Jennifer is especially well-versed in what I would call the things we’re going to be grappling with in the future of our enterprises and the future of work.
I’m also going to give a little preview, if you will, of our Executive Summit that we’re going to have this September at our Annual Conference.
Jenny, let me lay these out. There are three topics we’re going to grapple with at our Executive Summit, and I’d love for you to say a word about them.
One is the way artificial intelligence is going to help us in our work, augment the people in our workforce, and so on. That’s going to take a little bit of wayfinding in our companies.
You’ve heard of AI. You’re using it right now.
Jennifer Anderson:
I’ve heard of AI, as a matter of fact.
I think one of the things we need to do first is recognize that it takes some time to adapt, just as we did today.
Doug Barton:
Yeah, in this vehicle and with our video camera.
Jennifer Anderson:
Yes. All the things.
Doug Barton:
All the things.
Let me share this short story. I was with a number of technology executives this morning for breakfast in Lake Geneva.
They gave a bunch of examples of how important they think it is to start small, demonstrate value, and put guardrails in place because AI is new to a lot of the people you’ll be working with.
When you introduce it into a technical environment, it can also exploit some of your vulnerabilities.
The last point the technology executives talked about was how important it is to have use cases two, three, four, five, and beyond, because as people get excited about this future, they’re going to want it coming at them faster.
Jennifer Anderson:
Right.
Doug Barton:
That goes back to your point about change. Adaptation has to become a muscle group.
Jennifer Anderson:
Sure. As you build that muscle memory, you’re going to want to use it in different ways, and you’re going to want quicker responses.
Doug Barton:
That’s the first topic: the human-plus-AI workforce of the future.
The second topic is a favorite of yours.
Jennifer Anderson:
A favorite of mine, too.
Doug Barton:
We call it deliberate calm. It’s going to be the key to adaptive leadership and sustained high performance.
Our guest speaker will be our beloved Chad McGehee, a meditation and mental performance expert, coach, and researcher.
Maybe share a little bit about those two words coupled together. How does deliberate calm speak to you about what the future needs or asks of us?
Jennifer Anderson:
To me, it’s all about leadership presence.
As leaders, we need to make sure we’re intentional about how we’re showing up. We need to be present.
We may not always be calm, but our presence can provide the sense of groundedness that people around us need, especially when things are evolving so quickly and there’s a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity happening around us.
It’s about being calm amid the storm and being deliberate about it. You need to be deliberate in the moment, but you also need to have an ongoing practice, which I know Chad is very passionate about.
Doug Barton:
Right.
My own career has been marked by times when I certainly wasn’t calm in the midst of the storm. I don’t know if that’s anyone else’s experience, but maybe just last week.
Jennifer Anderson:
Oh, God. Still recovering here.
Doug Barton:
You don’t have to make me laugh.
Jennifer Anderson:
We don’t have to be calm all the time, Doug.
Doug Barton:
That’s right.
Jennifer Anderson:
This is why we’re doing In the Car with Cookies.
Doug Barton:
That’s right.
Jennifer Anderson:
We have to be real. We have to be willing to be vulnerable.
But I think if we have perspective and can show up with that perspective and presence, it sends that energy of calm and ease that really influences everyone else around us.
Doug Barton:
Yeah. There’s a certain allowing for whatever comes up.
Jennifer Anderson:
Right.
Doug Barton:
You’re not making it wrong, but you’re also persevering and accomplishing in spite of it.
The third topic, and we’re getting to the third of our three topics, is strategy activation.
We’re also on beautiful Observatory Drive.
Jennifer Anderson:
Yeah. I’m seeing some sailboats out there on the water.
Doug Barton:
That is beautiful Lake Mendota, another topic you and I are both passionate about.
Jennifer Anderson:
Sailing?
Doug Barton:
Okay, yes. Sailing, sure. I was thinking boating, but I was going to say strategy activation.
Jennifer Anderson:
I missed the reference there.
Doug Barton:
The last one is strategy activation.
I think this is a very special topic. I’ve spent a lot of time on the notion of strategy formulation, valuation, and the like.
We know today’s world requires us to activate many and varied interests across our teams to execute strategy.
I don’t know if you want to say a word about how that contextualizes change in technology.
Jennifer Anderson:
I think sometimes we overlook the fact that implementing strategy requires change and doing things differently.
Whether you’re changing roles and responsibilities, structure, or your target market, strategy is rarely, “Let’s keep doing the same thing we’ve always done.”
To activate it in a way that brings people along, rather than simply forcing the change on them, is a really important way of approaching it.
Doug Barton:
Terrific.
We’ve just stopped in front of Memorial Union, so I’ll continue our drive here momentarily.
Jennifer Anderson:
I think we need to back up a little bit.
Doug Barton:
We might have to edit this part out. That’ll be our first time.
Look, we’ve avoided all the pedestrians.
Jennifer Anderson:
Yeah. We had an intentional pause there.
Doug Barton:
Look how calm we were in the midst of it.
Jennifer Anderson:
Maybe you were.
Doug Barton:
Well done having that hand on the wheel.
The other thing I would say is that our speaker there is Aric Wood. Aric is a UWEBC favorite. I think he’s done three or four sessions for us.
What I adore about his conversation is that it puts humans at the center of change, understanding what they need and how to enable them, whatever your strategy is.
It may be new ways of working. It might be new technology.
Jennifer Anderson:
Yeah.
Doug Barton:
I think that wraps up our conversation.
Jennifer Anderson:
I’m looking forward to this event. I think this Executive Summit is going to be really fun, and not just fun, but also really insightful. I’m looking forward to it.
Doug Barton:
Awesome. Thanks for being our guest.
Jennifer Anderson:
You’re welcome.
Doug Barton:
Thanks for having me. On, Wisconsin. Bye-bye.
UWEBC Podcast Closing
If you want to keep the conversation going, check out the UWEBC website for more events, resources, and details on what’s coming next. Thanks for listening, and from the UWEBC, we’re glad you joined us.