OM DENNE EPISODE
Guest: Jonathan Reams
Your leadership team identifies a recurring problem, redesigns the process, and sees improvement…temporarily. Then the same problem returns wearing slightly different clothes.
What didn’t the leaders fix? According to adult-development researcher Jonathan Reams: “Themselves.”
In this conversation with host Maureen Metcalf, Jonathan explains why a decision process can perform only as well as the people operating it. Leaders’ experience, assumptions, emotional reactions, and capacity to handle complexity shape which signals they notice, how they interpret them, and what they ultimately decide.
Jonathan and Maureen explore why intelligent executives can examine the same facts, yet see different problems behind them; how teams leave meetings with apparent agreement but take conflicting actions; and why escalation may be a rational response to cognitive overload and self-protection. They also reveal how vague directives such as “take smart risks” can slow decisions rather than accelerate them.
You’ll learn why moving faster can sometimes make an organization slower, how discomfort contributes to signal blindness, and why the next process redesign should begin with one question whose answer the leader does not already know.
Produced in partnership with the International Leadership Association. Learn about their next global conference at https://ilaglobalconference.org/.
Other insightful episodes you’ll enjoy:
- Getting Lost in the Language of Leadership with Jonathan Reams
- Reality Lost: How Disinformation Shapes Your World with Tara McGowan
- Forecast Isn’t Fact: Building Strength from Uncertainty with Paul Gibbons
For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn.
RESOURCES:
Learn more about Jonathan and his work on his website, https://jonathanreams.com/.
Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.
Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI, or check out the Kindle version at https://amzn.to/44buVz8. The audiobook version is now available at https://amzn.to/4dTCleZ.
Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.
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OUR PODCAST TEAM:
Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf
Editor & Executive Producer: Dan Mushalko
Graphics Editor: Stacia Rogan
Booking Producer: Jenna Reik (Jreik@innovativeleadership.com)
Theme Music by Pavel Bekirov from Pixabay.
CONNECT WITH US:
YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ILI-LinkedIn2
Website: InnovativeLeadershipInstitute.com
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About Our Guest:
Jonathan Reams is driven by an insatiable curiosity about the essence of human nature and how to cultivate this essence in the service of leadership. He uses various outlets for achieving this. He held a position at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology from 2007 until 2024, where he taught and did research on leadership development, coaching and counseling. He served as Editor-in Chief of Integral Review from 2005 until 2023. He is also a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Leadership and the European Center for Leadership Practice. Jonathan's Ph.D. is in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University.
Jonathan practices the cultivation of leadership through consulting and leadership development program design and delivery. He brings awareness based technology to this work, focusing on how the inner workings of human nature can develop leadership capacities for today's complex challenges.
