Dig Deeper

[Interview] From Hero to Host, Letting Go, and Leading with Impact | A Dig Deeper Compilation

There's something seductive about being the leader who walks into the room with the answers. Leadership culture has spent decades rewarding exactly that: the person who steps up, takes charge, and makes things happen. What if that pattern, the very thing that got you here, is also quietly limiting how far your people can go? And what if the most significant move available to you right now isn't to lead more, but to lead differently? This episode explores the shift from hero to host. It's one of those ideas that sounds deceptively simple and turns out to be one of the hardest things a senior leader can actually do. To mark a milestone in the Dig Deeper archive, five extraordinary guests are brought together, each of whom has found their own way into this idea. Through event design, pandemic leadership, organisational transformation, the craft of facilitation, and the quiet philosophy of letting go, they're all pointing at the same thing. I wonder what it would mean for your leadership if you took it seriously. These five voices shape the conversation. DK is a creative producer, speaker coach, and curiosity lightning rod who spent nearly a decade designing celebrated TEDx events in Wellington, known for an approach that starts with the people in the room, not the content on the stage. Sir Ashley Bloomfield served as Director General of Health for New Zealand through COVID-19, and discovered, sometimes painfully, that what people needed from their leader wasn't certainty. James McCulloch is CEO of Victim Support New Zealand, a leader who has quietly and deliberately refused to be the superhero the role invites him to become. Simon Dowling is a facilitator and author who has spent years helping leaders understand the spaces they create and why those spaces shape everything that becomes possible within them. Callum McKirdy is a coach and facilitator who makes a distinction between being, doing, and trying that might just change how you show up in your next meeting. From these five conversations, here's some of what you'll discover: * How the shift from hero to host creates the conditions for lasting organisational change * Why designing with your people in mind, rather than your agenda, changes everything * How the distinction between legacy and impact reveals a fundamentally different kind of leadership * Why kindness and niceness are not the same thing, and why that difference matters profoundly for teams * How self-awareness is the foundation that everything effective leadership rests on * Why the spaces a leader creates, intentionally or not, determine what becomes possible in those spaces * How admitting what you don't know builds, rather than erodes, your credibility as a leader * Why the word between "doing" and "being" is "trying," and what that costs us Timestamps: (00:00) From Hero to Host: A Leadership Paradigm Shift (06:55) The Power of Team Dynamics in Leadership (12:46) Legacy vs. Impact: Redefining Leadership Goals (19:00) Creating Intentional Spaces for Leadership (25:08) The Permission to Be: Authentic Leadership Practices Other references * Ted Lasso [https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy] * Flawsome by Georgia Murch [https://georgiamurch.com/product/flawsome/] * Jim Collins | Level 5 Leadership [https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/level-five-leadership.html] * The Castle (1997) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/] * Tony Blair coming to power [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/05/0501/results.shtml] Connect with the guests: DK: Website [https://justadandak.com/] Sir Ashley Bloomfield: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-bloomfield-knzm-cminstd-b7181b17/] James McCulloch: Website [https://victimsupport.org.nz/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mcculloch-65a2931b/] Simon Dowling: Website [https://www.simondowling.com.au/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simondowling-aus/] Callum McKirdy: Website [https://www.callummckirdy.com/] | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/callummckirdynz/] Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ [https://www.digbyscott.com/] Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe [https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe] Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/]

[Solocast] Fear: Name It, Frame It, Tame It

Have you ever stood in front of a room with your heart thumping in your ears? Or walked away from a moment knowing you should have spoken up, and didn't? Fear runs more of our leadership than we like to admit. Powering through it works for a while, until it doesn't. Getting specific about what's actually going on underneath is where the real shift starts. In this solocast I share a three-part framework I've used for years to work with my own fear, especially before walking onto a stage: name it, frame it, tame it. It's simple, and it applies to all the everyday moments where the stakes feel higher than they probably are. Here's what I get into: * The moment before I addressed a large audience for the first time, and what was actually running through my head * Why putting words to a feeling changes what your brain does next * The difference between fears that are about survival and fears that are about social standing * Why the worst case version we play in our heads rarely shows up in real life * A small action that builds more real confidence than another round of rehearsal * Why naming your fears out loud builds trust with the people you lead References * Fear - Name It Frame It Tame It worksheet [https://drive.google.com/file/d/14_V5JCGNko5sO7nB_3k7SEnBO22cO3yY/view?usp=sharing] * Start Close In | David Whyte [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=030YqrN4SFc] Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/https://www.digbyscott.com/ [https://www.digbyscott.com/] Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts#subscribehttps://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe [https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts#subscribe] Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/]

[Interview] Intergenerational Healing, Translation, and the Courage to Lead | Christian Penny

What if the leadership model you've inherited is the very thing standing between your team and its potential? Most of us have experienced at least once what it feels like when a team is genuinely alive. When trust is in the room. When leadership moves around naturally, and people show up as their whole selves. And yet for most leaders, most of the time, the unspoken hope remains that the right person will arrive with the right answers and fix things. We race straight to task. We skip the human stuff. We declare a safe space and wonder why trust is still so hard to build, and so easy to lose. What if there's a fundamentally different way of meeting each other? One that's not just a nice idea, but a proven strategy for performance under the kind of pressure that matters most? In this conversation, Christian Penny brings a frame that has been tested across thousands of years on the marae and refined through decades of applying it in drama schools, Olympic programmes, and elite Super Rugby environments. It's a frame where presence and people come before task, not as an indulgence, but as the very investment that pays off when the pressure is on. Where leadership isn't a position but a question: what does this moment require, and who in the room can answer it? And where your distinct strengths, the things that only you bring, aren't optional extras but the contribution your team is quietly waiting for you to own. Christian Penny is one of New Zealand's most quietly radical leadership thinkers. A former Director of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, co-architect of the Ruku Ao leadership programme for senior public sector leaders, and a current adviser to the Hurricanes Super Rugby team and the Black Ferns Sevens, Christian has spent his career asking a single question across wildly different performance contexts: what really creates the conditions where people and performance can thrive? Drawing on Māori frameworks, the craft of theatre, and years at the edge of elite sport, he brings a practice that bridges indigenous wisdom and contemporary leadership with uncommon depth and warmth. In this episode, you will discover: * How the myth of the hero leader persists even when we know it doesn't work, and what the marae offers as a practical, tested alternative * Why putting people before task isn't soft leadership, it's the investment that pays off under the most intense pressure * How "go slow to go fast" transforms team performance precisely when it counts most * Why alignment is often a fantasy, and how learning to use each other's difference is the real leadership skill * How to ask the question that changes the room: "What does this moment require, and who can lead us here?" * Why trust is emergent, not declared, and what that means for how you build it deliberately * How knowing and naming your strengths doesn't just make you more potent, it makes life easier for everyone around you * Why courage, not confidence, is the real prerequisite for stepping up, and how that reframe changes everything Timestamps: (00:00) - The Myth of the Hero Leader (10:25) - Presence Over Task in Leadership (17:26) - The Shift from Hero to Host Leadership (23:31) - Emergent Leadership and Dynamic Teams (30:01) - Overcoming Resistance to New Leadership Models (36:37) - The Importance of Small Victories in Leadership Other references: * Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School [https://www.toiwhakaari.ac.nz] * Ruku Ao leadership programme [https://hpsnz.org.nz/about-us/news-media/christian-penny-to-lead-acclaimed-hp-coach-accelerator-programme/] * Manutūkē Marae, Rongowhakaata [https://maorimaps.com/marae/manutuke] * High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) [https://hpsnz.org.nz] * The Hurricanes [https://www.hurricanes.co.nz] * Black Ferns Sevens [https://www.allblacks.com/teams/black-ferns-sevens/] * Digby Scott's Superpowers exercise [https://www.digbyscott.com/superpowers] You can find Christian at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-penny-54016515/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-penny-54016515/] Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ [https://www.digbyscott.com/] Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe [https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe] Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/]

[Solocast] Put Down the Mallet

You're across everything. The problems, the people, the pressure. And somehow, no matter how much you get through, there's always another thing popping up that needs your attention. Sound familiar? In this episode, Digby explores what it actually means to have a leadership identity and why most leaders are defining theirs by accident, one reactive moment at a time. Drawing on William James's observation that the ability to bring back a wandering attention is the very root of judgement and character, he makes the case that where you direct your focus is not a time management question. It's an identity question. In this episode, we cover: * Why reactive leadership is like playing whack-a-mole and what it costs you over time * The difference between solving problems and building the systems that make fewer problems inevitable * How to define a leadership identity that guides your decisions before the pressure hits * A practical exercise to help you name your purpose and start leading from it * The one question that cuts through the noise: what do you need to build so your team can thrive without you? Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/https://www.digbyscott.com/ [https://www.digbyscott.com/] Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribehttps://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe [https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe] Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/]

[Interview] Making Work Meaningful, Letting Go of the Hero, and Legacy Now | Prina Shah

You've built the career. You've hit the milestones, earned the respect, ticked the boxes that once seemed so far away. And yet there's a quiet discomfort underneath it all. Something that's hard to name but hard to ignore. A sense that the achievements are real, and yet something at the heart of it is still missing. I wonder if that feeling is more common among successful leaders than any of us let on. What if the thing that's missing isn't another goal, a bigger title, or a smarter strategy, but a deeper sense of what your leadership is actually for? In this conversation, Prina Shah and I explore the idea that legacy isn't something you earn at the end of a long career and hand it over at your farewell function. It's something you can build right now, today, with this team, on this project. We also get into what it really means to manage your energy rather than just your time, and what it looks like to step back from heroic leadership and build something that genuinely doesn't depend entirely on you. Prina Shah is a coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, and the author of Make Work Meaningful: How to Create a Culture That Leaves a Legacy [https://www.makeworkmeaningful.shop/]. She's spent years working alongside executives who have achieved extraordinary things, and she asks the question most leaders are too busy to sit with: what's missing from a heart perspective? In this conversation, we explore: * How to reframe legacy as something you leave every single day, not a footnote reserved for the end of a career * Why leaders who carry that nagging sense of something missing often haven't yet defined what will actually fulfil them * How shifting from ambition to meaning changes the quality of decisions you make * Why managing your energy rather than your time is the more honest path to sustained performance * How a simple "door framing" practice can keep you genuinely present across a day of back-to-back meetings * Why becoming the indispensable go-to in your organisation might be the thing quietly holding your team back * How building a learning culture inside your team creates resilience that doesn't depend on you to sustain it * Why the question "what important things have no action steps attached to them?" might be the most useful one you haven't been asking Timestamps: (00:00) - Reframing Legacy: A Daily Consideration (05:00) - The Missing Piece: Fulfilment Beyond Achievements (12:06) - Energy Management: The Key to Effective Leadership (18:06) - Creating a Learning Culture: Empowering Teams (25:00) - Breaking the Bottleneck: Trusting Your Team (32:12) - Redefining Work: Balancing Leadership and Reflection Other references: * Make Work Meaningful: How to Create a Culture That Leaves a Legacy [https://www.makeworkmeaningful.shop/] — Prina Shah [https://www.makeworkmeaningful.shop/] * Ways to Change Your Workplace [https://www.waystochangetheworkplace.com] Podcast [https://www.waystochangetheworkplace.com] — Prina Shah (host) * Simon Sinek [https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/] * Seth Godin [https://www.amazon.com/Song-Significance-New-Manifesto-Teams/dp/0593715543] — "work is not working" * "Becoming the Boss" [https://hbr.org/2007/01/becoming-the-boss]— Linda A. Hill, Harvard Business Review (January 2007) * Prina's self-coaching journal [https://www.prinashah.com/Online-Resources] You can find Prina at: Website: https://www.prinashah.com [https://www.prinashah.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prinashah/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/prinashah/] Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ [https://www.digbyscott.com/] Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe [https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe] Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/]