Evolutionary Provocateur

Dawna Jones talk to Will Lauder, founder of Kapuluan Coconut, a social enterprise aiming to merge social, environmental, economic and community values into an artisanal product.

Resource scarcity is no longer an abstract ‘green’ concept. As Dawna Jones finds out from Dr Nadya Zhexembayeva,, for many businesses, scarcity is an unwelcome reality that needs to become a primary strategic consideration.

Systems change specialist Al Blixt talks to Dawna Jones about the forces that work for and against innovation in higher education and how business schools can better prepare students for the real world.

More people quit their bosses than quit their jobs. The manager’s role is under scrutiny. Yet, managers can’t change without a shift in how a company manages itself. Vlatka Hlupic, professor, coach, business leader and author of the Management Shift talks to Dawna about what is happening in bold companies and why it makes a difference to the economy.

The idea of 'flow' or peak performance states has been around for a while. Dawna talks to 'Flow Genome' author and journalist, Steven Kotler, about how well business executives have incorporated the knowledge to function in today’s business environment.

Harvard educated economist and author of the "Price of Fish – A New Approach to Wicked Economics and Better Decisions", Michael Mainelli talks to Dawna Jones about how we can bring economic tools and long-term decision-making up to the task of tackling our new global reality.

We’ve all heard of emotional intelligence, but what about conversational intelligence? How can you use conversation to activate higher-level intelligences such as trust, integrity, empathy and good judgment?

Forget organizational planning, budgeting and performance appraisals; these are all tools of the past. Companies that really want to navigate their way through complexity need to be able to think, not just steer. In this episode of Evolutionary Provocateur, systems theorist and practitioner, Niels Pflaeging, talks to Dawna Jones talk about what thinking differently means in an organization context.

Why do companies ask employees to innovate, and then work hard to block it? Gary Klein, author of Seeing What Others Don’t, talks to Dawna about the value insights bring to companies, the many ways companies work against themselves, and what decision-makers can do to embrace good ideas instead of stopping them.

It’s increasingly clear that traditional ways of organizing how work gets done isn't working to engage employees. Which begs an obvious question. How can organizations re-inject life into their workplaces so that individuals can approach their work with enthusiasm and vigor?

What can rock bands like Metallica, Slayer, U2, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd teach business teams about distributed collaboration, risk management and change? Listen to Dawna Jones2019 interview with Ruth Blatt to find out.

The same lean and agile principles that have changed the way software is developed are now helping companies with the people side of change. To find out what this means in reality, Dawna Jones talks to Lean Sensei Daniel Stoelb about what he2019s learned from working with change in organizations for over thirty-five years and how the principles used in business can apply and support local change initiatives and how we utilize our resources.

If one thing2019s certain in life, its uncertainty. Yet conventional project planning simply fails to take this reality into account. So we could all do with some help managing risk and options in our lives and understanding how those risk and options keep messing up our projects.

Love them or loath them, Ugg Boots are one of those instantly-recognisable brands that has spread across the world from small beginnings back in 1978. But for Ugg2019s founder, Brian Smith, success hasn2019t been plain sailing and his journey has has its ups and downs. Earlier this year, Dawna Jones met Brian Smith to discuss what it takes to weather the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur. As he talks about the Ugg Australia story, he shares some philosophical lessons learned that helped keep his spirits alive when all seemed lost.

With media and personal attention on financial crisis and uncertainty, what can you do to avoid getting sucked in by negativity or doubt? Learn how to become more resilient in the face of unexpected events that pull the rug out from under your feet.

In this Episode we discuss: Why we are being asked to evolve... not change. Why business is under so much pressure and why they are creating their own stress-related illness and disengagement costs. Why people and companies are having trouble adjusting. What lies at the heart of the tension between managers and employees and what they can do about it. How employees and managers can collectively engage in removing barriers to collaboration, adapting the culture while expanding leadership consciousness.

When geologist and mining expert, Dr Ian Thomson, realized that the company he worked for had created the conflict they2019d become embroiled in, it kicked off a steep learning curve about what environmental and social responsibility really is. In this discussion, Dawna and Ian talk about how you can tell companies who are really doing acting responsibly from those who are just talking about it while still practicing a 2018take what you want and run2019 approach. They also talk about how to manage your management style by observing what the pattern of negotiation is. Do you value harmony over conflict? Will you avoid conflict? There is a level of sophistication required to realize notice the pattern of negotiation and know what to do about it. Dr. Ian Thomson has a lifetime of experience in the resource industry, working for the last fifteen years to advance the management of social issues. He has led development of standards and guidelines for the management of social issues during mineral exploration p

How can we break the habit of resurrecting command-and-control management even when we know it doesn2019t work. What does it take to do things differently? What do companies who are making 2018alternative2019 un-management models their new normal have that others don2019t? And what are companies managed by traditional models doing to actively create passive employees?

What happens when you realise that most of the things that people have tried and most of what they think is true no longer fit reality? Diederick Janse is a young entrepreneur who went against prevailing thinking when he started his consulting business right after graduation. His was following an intuitive sense that exploring possibilities was more interesting than being 201Cnormal201D. Together with other friends whose thinking went against the predictable flow, he formed Realize.nl, a consulting company for start-ups focused on conscious business. Dawna talked to Diederick HUB Amsterdam about how he navigates the world of business, the relevance to today's reality of what they teach in university, the potential for SME business, the tricky choice graduates have when considering their direction and the role of inner knowing in decision making. They look at how young people can follow their higher calling in work by following their intuition to restore the glory of work. Diederick Janse2019s expertise

We2019ve known command and control, seen fads come and go and yet people still hate their jobs. To explore why this is, Dawna talks with Jurgen Appelo who explains how the manager2019s role involves recognition that we function in a living system. He explains why management fads fail and talks about his project to gather practical tips for managing in a better way. Jurgen Appelo writes the blog noop.nl, which covers agile management, business improvement, and personal development. He is also the author of Management 3.0, which describes the role of the manager in an agile organisations. A speaker and author, you2019ll find Jurgen keynoting and workshopping at various conferences in many countries.