"I think being a leader and running an organization, especially one that's hard, that's big, is actually really hard. And it frustrates me when I read something and people are trying to make it sound easy or simple." - Rebecca Davis

As 2023 wrapped, we decided two things about the Saturday Sessions livestreams. One was to shift to midweek at a more humane time for our US folks, and the other was that our conversations were much better suited to a podcast than a Livestream. This is the kick-off episode for 2024. It's called "the coffee club" because that's how we want it to feel for ourselves and our listeners. What happens when a group of lean-agile experts get together once a week and talk over a virtual coffee about what's exciting them or making them curious?

We were all fresh from our holidays, and lots of reading time in this episode, so the conversation was a ramble through the books, we'd all read and the inspiration we'd found. The conversation started with the challenge of sustained focus on changing an executive leadership culture and moved to the importance of reflective conversations in creating a learning organization. Nancy Duarte's amazing books on Slide:ology and storytelling then took us on a long journey through presentation skills and lessons we've learned over the years we've been presenting.

Cast:

Eric Willeke

Rebecca Davis

Mark Richards

Show Notes

Book References:

• Slide:ology - Duarte
• Resonate - Duarte
• Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge - Willis
• More than a Motorcycle - Teerlink and Oxley
• Out of the Crisis - Deming
• American Icon - Hoffman
• The Fifth Discipline - Senge
• The Lean Machine - Oosterwal
• The ART of Focused Conversation - Stanfield (ORID technique)
• One Mission - Fussell, Goodyear
• Team of Teams - McChrystal, Silverman, Collins, Fussell
• Second Mountain - Brooks
• Organizational Traps - Argyris
• Influence - Decker

Other References:

• Problem-Solving Leadership Course - Derby
• Relationship Temperature Check - Satir