McStay on What Matters - 001 - Chris Ballard and Presence in Leadership

You Cannot Recruit Your Way Out of a Skills Crisis

Steve Cadigan, former Chief HR Officer at LinkedIn and author of Workquake, joins me to talk about what leaders are getting wrong about talent, development, and the future of work. We discuss why one-size-fits-all talent strategies are failing, why people are increasingly loyal to learning and growth rather than companies, and why organizations will not be able to recruit their way out of the accelerating need for new skills. Steve also shares lessons from LinkedIn’s rapid growth, his own transition after leaving the company, and why careers are built on trust more than hard work. This conversation is about development, but not in the classroom sense. It is about how leaders create the conditions for people to keep growing while the world around them changes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.seanmcstay.com [https://www.seanmcstay.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

McStay on What Matters - 003 - Glenn Lesko and Judgement in leadership

In the third episode of McStay on What Matters, Sean sits down with Glenn Lesko, a partner at Pender and Howe and executive recruitment specialist with nearly three decades of experience finding and assessing senior leaders, to talk about judgment. What does it actually mean to use good judgment, and how do leaders develop it over time? Glenn shares how understanding an organization goes far deeper than a job description, why the gap between what companies say they need and what they actually need is where the real work begins, and how the best decisions in hiring and in leadership come from staying human in a process that often tries to be anything but. Glenn: https://penderhowe.com/en/ [https://penderhowe.com/en/] McStay on What Matters is a biweekly podcast about the decisions leaders carry alone and how they navigate them. YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@SeanMcStay [https://www.youtube.com/@SeanMcStay] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.seanmcstay.com [https://www.seanmcstay.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

McStay on What Matters - 002 - Jason Donkersgoed and Reality in Leadership

In the second episode of McStay on What Matters, Sean sits down with Jason Donkersgoed, a leadership coach and consultant with over 30 years of experience leading teams across retail, finance, and higher education, to talk about reality in leadership. What happens when leaders avoid naming what everyone already sees? Jason shares what he has learned about surfacing difficult truths, building the trust required for honest conversation, and why the clearest thing a leader can do is often the kindest. McStay on What Matters is a biweekly podcast about the decisions leaders carry alone and how they navigate them. YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@SeanMcStay [https://www.youtube.com/@SeanMcStay] Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-donkersgoed/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-donkersgoed/] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.seanmcstay.com [https://www.seanmcstay.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

McStay on What Matters - 001 - Chris Ballard and Presence in Leadership

In the first episode of McStay on What Matters, Sean sits down with Chris Ballard, former Ontario cabinet minister turned CEO and consultant, to talk about presence in leadership. What does it actually look like when a leader is fully in the room versus performing being in the room? Chris shares what he learned about presence through politics, public service, corporate governance, and the transition to consulting. McStay on What Matters is a biweekly podcast about the decisions leaders carry alone and how they navigate them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.seanmcstay.com [https://www.seanmcstay.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]