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Episode 513: with Louisa Loran
Introduction
Everybody, if you, are in a position of leadership, have you thought about your leadership anatomy? Do you know what that means and what it might do to inspire your effectiveness? My guest today is someone who has done a lot of work in this space. Her name is Louisa Loran. Louisa, welcome to the show.
Great to be here, Doug.
Yeah. You have a book called leadership, Anatomy in Motion, and that title alone caught my attention. I’m curious. I mean, as people have attempted to write about and talk about leadership, there’s a lot of buzzwords out there. We admit that there’s a lot of metaphors that can be used, but I have to admit, and anatomy is not one of them that I’ve heard before. But as I hear it, it makes a lot of intuitive sense. Tell us more about where you’re you’re going in that story.
Of course. No half pizza.
What Is Leadership Anatomy?
Yeah. So I built my career in the corporate world. 20 years on the inside, so to speak. I’ve grown up in the world of Diageo and consumer brands with Diageo, not Hennessy. And then I moved to Mersch, the very operational understanding of the global network of supply chains. And then I moved to Google, where I both built AI products and helped their largest customers transform. So across all of these, I saw that there are patterns of not industries and not specific strategies, but how people actually successfully move through change. And what I generally saw was that it was capabilities that existed within all of us. So as I left the corporate world and wanted to bring that expertise to a wider audience, it was very obvious to me that it had to do with something that’s within the individual and within the human, capacity. So the anatomy that I have seen be repeatedly successful is when people envision ambitiously, when they expand through with curiosity, when they steer decisively, and when they embody change with presence.
And the reason that I chose to focus on anatomy is because this is really about using your eyes. It’s about expanding breathing space into and using your lungs. It’s about moving your limbs and being dismissive and clear in your messaging. But just as much understanding that to move through change, it’s about having that agile spine, not being rigid, not being locked, but actually being able to move and redefine yourself within that.
The Agility of an Agile Spine
You packed a lot into the answer. I want to start with the agility of the spine. I love that metaphor and specifically in respect to what leaders have to do. I do often hear my own clients confess that there maybe they’ve been asked to make a big change, or the the company in general is making some big change and they feel stuck. And it’s, it’s inevitably because they have a kind of a singular operating mode. And the change sounds like it’s that one mode is not going to suffice. So that ability to be a little nimble, flexible, agile in the moment can be a struggle for people.
Absolutely it can. And I think that’s that’s why the spine is a healthy metaphor, because we’ve we’ve used it in leadership for for decades. Everyone has heard about leading from behind and leading from the side. And this physical motion of saying, how do I look at my organization and where do I see myself within it? But actually, when you think about needing to position yourself within whatever is needed, it is that agility. It is that ability to move. And it is never about being locked. And it’s also one where you need to understand what do I need to reassess within my own perception, my own narrative, whatever it might be, to be relevant in that future. And you can look at leaders all over the world, and you can see how some of them actually are confidently walking into change. Some of them are saying the words, but they’re standing back and holding on to not being challenged because they think they stand stronger that way. But we all know that actually, if you are up against something, that ability to move is what’s going to keep you best place going forward.
Elasticity: Stretching to the Edge of the Unknown
I like that explanation of it and I I’m reminded of another dimension, another corollary that goes with this and that is the flexibility. Or maybe a better word is elasticity, to basically be willing to move out of your comfort zone, out to the edge of the unknown. Yeah. You know, entering a new market, developing a new product, expanding into a new territory. Those all represent unknowns that leaders occasionally are very uncomfortable doing. And it’s that inability to stretch out to that space of the unknown. And then in a healthy way, sort of, if you will, snap back to their center, where a lot of their energy and their strength and power come from. but you can’t be fearful of going out to the edge. You you have to look over the edge and see what’s going on.
Exactly. And I love that when you talk about elasticity, just like neuroscience explains how we can regenerate and transform how we think and change our perception on things. But exactly as you say. It’s also about finding that home again.
It’s about knowing that fear is not controlling you, that you actually can stand grounded in the future as well. And that is why you do see leaders who are able to step into new settings continuously be successful, not be defined by the futures around them. But as you said, grow into it, generate followership, and and know that they can also say, actually, I understood that this was not right. I’m going to reassess and move still. So I like your words around it a lot. Thank you.
Envisioning Ambitiously
I also like your idea of the curiosity. say that again for us. How do you describe the curiosity element?
Yeah, the expanding with curiosity. So the four, again, is is envisioning ambitiously. And I think, if I may, I’ll just talk a little bit to that one first, because I must say that many of the leaders I talk to, they’re like we have a good strategy and we know exactly how to optimize. But if the the ceiling is set to low to low from the beginning, then you can do everything right since and you will still not achieve the success that you want to.
So that’s why it is important to first envision ambitiously. And I think I have learned from living across multiple industries how often people just see their own world. They don’t see how other industries or other business model, other revenue models are actually shaping things in a very different way. And therefore all of a sudden the disruption will happen and they didn’t notice. How could it come when in fact they could have just reframed their thinking, or done an exercise to see it through a different lens and defined a different vision for them? Once you have that ambition envisioned for you, it may be to some feeling like a pie in the sky, out of reach. Not possible. But that’s where you also need to learn from many of the businesses that have generated the the lion’s share of wealth the last couple of years, the technology businesses, because a lot of how they have grown is truly thinking like platforms. They have stood on the shoulders of others. They have said, I’m not needing to own everything, but I’m happy to partner and to grow from that.
And that ability to say, I’m going to not control my my desire to know everything, to see everything. But actually I’m going to generate collective platforms where people can bring in their intelligence and I can reach further because of that. That’s about being curious and expanding, because if you start by saying, no, no, no, I want to be here, I have everything I need to know. I’m going to hire everything, and I’m going to control everything. Then again, it will create those blind spots. If you are in a world where actually it is less connected, I can’t think of one right now because everyone is connected, but hypothetically that the principle of expanding with curiosity is just as much about unleashing the potential within your organization. We know how many people just do the job that they have actually got on their job description, or within whatever cubicle they, they, they fill that day. But if you are truly leading in motion, then you are saying, this is where we’re trying to get to.
I welcome everyone’s contribution towards this goal. Doesn’t mean spend your time doing something that’s not relevant for the business, but it invites people across all layers to actually contribute to that goal. And those businesses that have done it successfully, we have seen that they have achieved goals that were higher than what they thought they could, simply because they have unleashed that potential from within by being curious.
A Lesson from the Carpet Industry: Curiosity in Action
And I think, you know, in a world where people often talk in terms of innovation, having that capacity to think beyond your own limits, I think is is really important. I’m Thinking of a story. One of my client companies was in the carpet manufacturing business, and that industry historically is associated with and I’m talking about commercial grade carpet, you know, office buildings and large facilities and such. That industry is traditionally plagued with the unfortunate reality of needing these caustic mastic products, the glue that holds carpet down. And and this company embarked on an innovation for sustainability. They wanted to see if it was at all possible to eliminate the glue, because not only is it toxic while you’re installing, but it’s also, I wouldn’t quite go so far to call it a hazardous waste, but it’s ugly waste when it’s, decommissioned and pulled up and destroyed.
So they looked to nature, and they explored the tactile ability of a certain lizard to climb a tree with what appeared to be, you know, no suction cups or anything. But when they really you get into the microscopic aspects of the design of this creature, there are little suction cups, little minute miniature, if you will. And they became curious about could we replicate that on the backside of our material. And sure enough, they did. And so now they can offer a carpet product that requires no glue down and and no destruction at the end. And, you could argue bad news for the glue makers, but good news for the environment and sustainability. And, it was a it was a curiosity far outside of what you might associate. I mean, who associates lizards in a tree with carpet, you know.
Yeah. No, no. Exactly. But but as you say, it may be bad news for the the glue makers, but the glue makers had not envisioned ambitiously before because then they would have addressed this point already.
I mean, I’ve worked with many great leaders and some of the most traditional ones. I’ve seen people with great values who’ve actually said, I welcome disruptions because it helps me be understand where there are holes in our trees, where actually we should be solving it differently instead of trying to reassess everything so the glue makers could have come up with this solution if they had just envisioned ambitiously. Yeah, I’m sure if they had then gone to their supplier or their their, their customers early on and said, actually, should we partner, should we expand and bring this to market together? There probably would also have been benefits for those carpet makers bringing in people who understood the technology of adding it underneath.
The Personal Work of Leadership Change
Very good point. Well taken. Let me shift gears a little bit. Let me ask you, when I think about hearing a new, in your case, an anatomy proposed, I think about the very personal challenge of making internal change. You know, leader, lead thyself and looking at opportunity to grow your impact and influence as a leader.
But do the work to make that change, to say, okay, I bought Louisa’s book. I’m thinking about these things now. What do I need to do personally to build these capacities or these features in my leadership style, if you want to call it that, or my own leadership belief, how do you talk to people about that ever present need to do that deep personal work?
Yeah. No, absolutely. And that is why, as I said, it’s about the anatomy. Because it does start with ourselves. And no company can change without the individuals changing themselves. And of course the leaders from the top starting it can create a positive ripple effect. Others can also inspire upwards. But but there is for sure that, let’s say momentum and influence. That has to happen from within individually. I love these four behaviors because they are things that you can practice every single day, in every single small thing. It is not just for work. I practice it all the time. If I need to either expand my business or change or pivot in some way, I need to envision ambitiously.
When I’m planning the summer vacation for my kids and me, I need to envision ambitiously what? What do we want to achieve? What do we want to get out of this time together? Who do I need to partner with? Who needs to be part of this solution. How do I prioritize and steer decisively? Because of course, you can’t just dream of everything you want. What are the most important things and how do you reassess based on information coming in all the time? And how do I then also live with the decisions I have made and say, okay, this is why I decided this way. And yes, it wasn’t exactly what we ideally would have dreamt of, but what have I learned from it? What do I take from it? And then I keep doing it again and again and again and again. And by doing this continuously, when that huge change comes, I’m not afraid of it, because it’s a rhythm that I’ve trained all the time. I’m just like, okay, so there’s new information changes coming.
Does it change my envisioning? Oh, this one is great. I actually would love to include it or no, thank you. I’ve reconfirmed that what I did before is still right for me. So it is very much a repeatable behavior and something that means that you become comfortable with change, which is something that surprisingly few people are. and that practice, I think, is rewarding. In life. As in business.
From Having Answers to Asking Questions
Right. And I do see the the critical need to do that personal work. So often I, engage with leaders who are on a company sponsored leadership development journey. And, I often ask the basic question, have you ever even thought about the leader you want to be? Truly, I mean, really, deeply thought about it. And the wide majority, the answer is no. They’ve they’ve been put on a management track. Maybe early on, you know, they were recognized as an individual contributor, high performing individual contributor. So they were given a chance to be a team leader or a supervisor.
And then that turned into manager and that turned into director and then that turned into VP and so on and so on. But all along the way, yes, they are accumulating experiences and yes, it is shaping some of their practices and beliefs. But sometimes it’s all a defensive mode. It’s like, oops, I did that before. It didn’t work. So I’m I’m not going to do that again. But there’s not that intentionality of really thinking about, wait a minute, here’s who I think I can be, and here’s how I want to go about presenting that to the world around me my direct team, my corporate peers and superiors. You know, here’s how I want to show up.
Absolutely. And I see the exact same thing. But I also see a lot of people being very good at articulating what they do not want to be. But but that reflection, as you said, of like, if this is what you want to be. Here are some implications of that. Are you comfortable with that? Should we be practice them in a private space? Should we look at in your current setting if this is what you end up envisioning for you? Are these the people that you need around you? Are you willing to make those tough trade offs? Do you understand that this is required and this is what is required of how you show up? So we practice it continuously so that when they do step into that room that they they feel that they’ve actually done it before.
So I completely agree. I also think that we need to acknowledge that most leaders who have gone through that journey that you just described, they have often reached those levels because they have had the answers, because they’ve been good at delivering. And we all know that when you reach a certain level, that is not the competence that’s going to make you a successful leader. It is actually often quite the opposite that you have the ability to create the context that people can then contribute to. So from having to have given all the answers, you have to be asking the questions that open up and have people contribute. And that is a very mental switch that takes a lot of courage, but that you can see the clear reward from. And that has to be done very consciously for, for, for most people, I would say I actually haven’t seen anywhere. It’s not a conscious choice.
The Pressure to Be More Strategic
No, I agree with you totally. And that is the inevitable progression. And a lot of times I’m I’m given an opportunity to work with people because what they’ll say is, you know, here’s what my career journey up to this point has looked like, you know, three or 4 or 5 stops along the way.
And now I’m feeling the pressure. The common phraseology is I’m feeling the pressure to be more strategic. And a I’m not sure I know what that is be I feel like I’m leaving something behind. See, it almost feels like I’m not really doing anything, and I don’t. I can’t rationalize that. So it’s a struggle to make that pivot, to become the person that is doing the envisioning of opportunity, the the asking of key questions rather than being the giver of answers. And then in the process. Still, don’t forget you need to develop the people around you so that they have that that long term arc and continuity for the business.
Yeah. And I think that that the thing is that that you can train this in any stage of your career and, and when you are on top, you still have a boss, you have a board, you have an owner, you have whoever it may be. But but practicing understanding. Okay. What does envisioning mean for me? What does it mean for the business? What does it mean for my boss? And what happens when these things do not align? Do I either influence? Do I clarify? Do I sequence how this contributes or is it not the place for me? Because I’m also shocked how many people go to work every single day, and they actually have a good feeling of what they could and what to do, but it’s not aligned with the environment that they’re in, and instead they get depressed and don’t contribute.
And in the end, the business may end up saying, we don’t need you because we’re not getting what we want from you. When, again, that exercise could have been done already internally, and I even do some of these exercises with very, very senior leaders and it doesn’t mean that you join in and then suddenly you have to change your job, but you are prepared and you are consciously leaning into where you will bring the greatest value and therefore also deliver most for the business and be happiest as an individual along that way.
The Three-Circle Venn Diagram
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s the the reality. And going back to the context of what I said about doing that inner work and developing your own sense of leadership purpose. The the very next step after that is then to do that analysis. And what I do is encourage people to build a three circle Venn diagram. You know, one circle is the work you just did about the leader you think you want to be. And how that could be optimized in another circle is the definition of the leader.
You feel or see or observe the company wanting you to be. And then the third circle is the leader the people beneath you want you to be. And those don’t always align real tightly. And and hopefully in a, in an optimum situation, there’s a healthy overlap right there in the center. And as I jokingly tell my clients, I’ve never had anybody give me back a stack of pancakes when they do those three circles. Oh, There’s always something outlying that is an opportunity to consider, or there is the ever present potential that once you know what you need and want, you’ll realize the situation you’re in is not a good fit.
No, no. And I love that you talk about the three circle Venn diagram. I was doing one of the strategies for an industry leading company, and it was a company that all of us know, a huge scale, massive, massive billion dollar business. And it exactly started with a Venn diagram because we all say or think differently expanded or that innovate. But the brain’s not wired that way.
But indeed, when you do frame the question in this case, it was what did the customers want? And what do we offer in certain segments? And there was no overlap. There was no pancakes on top of each other at all. And that realization of saying, well, no wonder margins are under pressure. If we are true to what they want and what we want. Actually, they should never buy. So why are they buying? And what can we actually get to a place where we will make money? And I love those framings that are so simple, but it’s easier for people to do that third person assessment, just like you said. Okay. What do they want? What do I want? And then what does the market want. Because just saying to yourself evolve or change or grow, but what does that mean. And and into what and for whom. So so simple tools like that I indeed use all the time as well. And the conversation around them and the awareness is what helps people become more open in their own journey.
And, and just to wrap this up and be specific about that, that approach, if if you’re a leader in your current situation and you’re feeling some kind of friction, things just aren’t meshing together the way you like, whether it’s customer demand, the supplier Availability. Product alignment. Product iteration. People. Any of the elements that are in your business right now, if you’re feeling a friction point, chances are you need to map out those elements in a in a simple circle diagram and say does this does this overlap well? Is it a good fit? Is it a good match? And for the things that are outliers in that diagram, those may be your solutions. You it’s not to say it won’t ever fit, it is to say I’ve got some work to do to make this fit better. And and I think that leads us right back into that idea of curiosity, being able to ask the right questions about the challenger up against.
Building Your Own Leadership Anatomy Mirror
Yeah, one of the latest things I’ve just been working on, because a lot of people have said, how do I how do I get close? I read the book.
I, I’m not at the level where my company is paying me a full executive coaching partnership. So I just built a leadership anatomy mirror, basically asking you questions about how you envision, how you expand, how you steer, how you embody. And they’re done equally on the company and yourself. And in the end, it just gives you that view of saying, actually, maybe your company is great at stirring, but you are not. Is that okay? Is it something that in your function you can live with someone else doing? Or is that what’s creating the sense of you not being in control of your own future? And how can you actually train that more effectively? So so you simply can say, what’s the status quo? Where do I need to train? And how can I take more agency into my own change growth journey?
Steering Decisively
Yeah, let’s let’s hit one more of the points. Talk about the steering again first. Again, restate that part of the anatomy. How do you describe it.
Yeah. So steering decisively is again the third one. Once you’ve envisioned the ambition to sleep, once you expand in curiosity, of course you can’t just grow everything and it can’t be expansive continuously. So you need to steer decisively. And this is actually where many of the traditional business skills come into play play, clear communication, staffing, all prioritization, etc., but in a motion driven way. So it’s much more about saying, what does it mean that I staff for the future? Am I consciously putting my best people into the smallest business units, but the ones that will make the revenue in the future? Am I communicating that what we just did fail, but what we learned from it, and therefore how we want other people to apply the learnings instead of the outcomes? Are we continuously saying, I got a new data point? That means I need to reprioritize and my budgets need to be assessed differently. And also looking underneath how when you do steer decisively. A lot of this is often based on some of the own vulnerabilities within leaders of saying, actually, I wanted this to be true because someone said it to me many years ago, when in fact that is just not a data point that should be part of your steering anymore.
Letting Go of the White-Knuckle Grip
I love that, and you know, the steering I think about, well, the first thing to be honest that comes to mind when I think about steering. I think about sort of that white knuckle approach or you’re driving down a road if you might be on some super highway, super roadway where it’s constructed reasonably straight with gentle curves over the terrain, the need for the hard white knuckle grip is not as severe. You know, you you can kind of and I know now we’re talking about autonomous automobiles. So I’m I admit I’m talking an old analogy here, folks. But the point being that when the, when the road is is less certain you might be white knuckling it. You have this really hard grip, and I think when you transfer that to a business sense, the the conundrum is you don’t necessarily want to keep that white knuckle grip in times of stress. You actually may want to release a little bit and let your people elevate and and apply more of their skill and ability in the moment, and being able to kind of let go and let others, you know, navigate through the the challenge, maybe far more productive.
Yeah. But I think a lot of this is also about responsibility. So right now a lot of businesses are continuously cutting. They have put a lot of money into AI deployments. They have not gotten the full value from it. I have so many customers that are like the AI model is telling me this and it’s not giving the ROI, but reality is. It’s telling you something about your business. Are you using it as a lens to understand where friction exists? And do you remove the friction instead of blaming the tool instead? I also think that responsibility comes back to saying, well, I have a budget, I deliver a certain contribution, but if I am not seeing that my part is getting towards that level of a contribution, I proactively go back and I give back. So you can’t just loosen those white knuckles. Before the organization have understood that they also have to steer. It is not the cfo’s responsibility to make sure a business is profitable, it is everyone’s.
Financial Rigor and a Culture of Ownership
I love that, and a lot of my listeners have heard my stories.
In my early career. I was with a large regional bank, and the one thing I learned there is financial rigor and discipline. We had a very rigorous budget process that some people couldn’t suffer. They, you know, they went through 1 or 2 of them and said, no, this organization doesn’t fit for me. I’m out. You know, they and but those of us that that endured it and actually embraced it discovered that the the key number one principle was we are the sum of our parts. And when we set a budget, we’re going to not do it top down per se. But everybody’s going to understand their part in the budget. And we had a monthly scorecard for every cost center. Every cost center knew whether they were on target or not. And as a manager of that unit, you had responsibility to get it back on track and be sure your box on the chart was reporting favorably. And, you know, for those of us that have a little competitive blood, you know, there was I’m not going to deny there were some side bets about how the monthlies were going to show up and, you know, things of that sort.
But it was it was friendly competition to, get us to the goal and the long. So what is we ran off 64 consecutive quarters of earnings growth 16 years. We grew as a bank even in ups and downs in the economy. You know, we had real estate problems. We had oil and gas problems. We had all the classic sector ups and downs over that 16 year period. But we kept chugging along because we had we had a rigor and we had a plan.
Yeah. And I think what what you’re really describing in my years at least, is that there was a culture in the sense of responsibility to keep making sure that you delivered well, because unfortunately, I must say, I see a lot of people clinging to those dashboards and scorecards and saying I’m good because my number looks good on the scorecard. But you are measuring something that was said in the past that necessarily doesn’t represent the future environment that you’re stepping into. So if you have not built that culture, if you’ve not built that within people wanting to contribute well, wanting to show up, wanting to compete, to have a good contribution, then I think this is sometimes a risky way of running a business.
A scorecard gives you that moment in time based on set parameters and set criteria based on past performance.
Point and point. Well taken. And you’re right, and I probably should have articulated it a little better. We did have and you’re number one. You’re right. It’s a culture thing. It’s it’s it’s the culture for performance. And our performance model did include and what was rigorous about our budget process. Was a a hard ask about what’s possible next. You know what? What changes do we see in the market? Are there products? Are there sectors that we’re not in yet? Do or are we in a sector we need to exit. You know, do we you know, what do we need to do. And all of those kind of questions were heavily massaged and worked through during that budget process. And I’m not talking about a 3 or 4 week cycle. I’m talking about a 3 or 4 month cycle to to put this thing together every year. But even then, even if it was locked in, then there was still reasonable opportunity to, you know, on day two, if something opened up in a market, we had a rigor to assess it, analyze it and bring it in as an opportunity or a change that we were willing to make, and knowing that it was going to have an impact on our numbers.
But but we did everything we could to, you know, again, adjust and lock in on what that looked like. So there was plenty of opportunity for that open minded growth. But bottom line, I agree with you totally. It was a culture thing that started at the top of the house. Our CEO and CFO were in lockstep on how how we needed to operate.
Culture Starts at the Top
Yeah. And I think that that principle of saying is there new data coming in and then we all pivot around that, that’s a very, very healthy behavior in in any business. But if you get to a business where it’s large, it’s complex, it’s distributed. Maybe you have retail outlets that are far from the headquarters. That is really what makes and breaks the good and the bad businesses, because there’s so much insight. There’s so much knowledge out there. And now with AI, you can be more accessible than ever before. But knowing that actually this is a data point that allows me to get more out of my business by staring decisively.
That’s the important part of this. If you lock it in the past, then you are set to that. But but also being overwhelmed by every data point can also have an adverse effect. So, so that behavior of saying, how do I steer? I’m not afraid. New input. Great. Relevant. I’ll keep it. Not relevant. I’ll I’ll push it out. Yeah. That’s really one of the behaviors that again, get those people cutting above their weight.
Well and not to tread lightly on it, but like I said, it was a culture. It was a rigor that, you had to embrace if you were going to be a leader in that organization. And there were many of us that loved it, enjoyed it. Felt it as a healthy challenge and a great opportunity, and there was great reward. I’m not going to deny, you know, if for what was happening there. But there were those that came in and hung around for a while and said, you know, I can’t do this.
I’m not I can’t stand to this rigor, you know, and I don’t know what they were looking for, but it wasn’t that so.
Why Every Industry Needs All Four Behaviors
And I can say for sure, with the amount of different industries I’ve been in, there are certain businesses that lend themselves very easily to envisioning ambitiously other businesses and very much also generations that lend themselves more to expanding with curiosity. Certain industries have a lot of expertise in steering decisively, and certain individuals have a lot of skill. There are a few businesses, of course, that also can embody change with presence, but that’s more individual driven. But when you start to look at how the markets move, where value gets distributed, where let’s say tech was able to go in and define a lot of changes that were able that then impacted software businesses, then impacted value in infrastructures that then impacted the abilities in channels and retails, etc.. Actually, no one can say they don’t need any of this. And the more you are curious about who do I learn what from? How do I practice it and bring it into my business? That is again where you control your own agency and decision of the future.
AI, Disruption, and Reading the Headlines
Yeah, I like the way you said that and it it reminded me of I’m doing some work. I have a few clients in the tech sector, and what I found interesting is the whole advent of AI is disrupting the technology companies more than potentially anybody else, and hearing the struggles that some of the software and technology giants themselves are going through with implementing a new technology. That sounds strange, you know, but but it’s a it’s a real thing that is is definitely going on.
But I think it we’re back to our carpet glue company again. It’s a matter of if you had envisioned yourself, then you would have done it before the market told you you had to. And that, I think, is what’s going on right now that a lot of people are reading the headlines and they are feeling that they need to be reactive, but actually there’s no new news. They could have seen it themselves if they wanted to. So that’s what a lot of people are saying actually. How do you read the market? How do you read the industry movement? How do you read the headlines? And then you decide what you want to do? It doesn’t mean chase everything, but be aware of it.
Be conscious, be intentional.
I heard a great phrase a while just recently. It was don’t be afraid of AI replacing your job. Be afraid of the person that knows how to use AI replacing your job.
Well, I think if you are afraid of any form of AI, it’s because you’re not aware of what you’re contributing with.
Closing Thoughts and How to Connect with Louisa Loran
I agree. Agreed. All right. Louisa. I think we’re about up on time for today. Thank you so much for sharing. Tell people the best way to get in touch with you if they’re interested in knowing more.
Absolutely. Of course. Louisa. Lauren. Com. You can find everything. There are also a lot of the media channels that I’ve been present in may give you more depth. Of course, the book is available in whatever channel you wish on Amazon, etc. and that’s leadership Anatomy in Motion. And I would also say I’m quite active on LinkedIn, so feel free to reach out. I always appreciate the ability to learn with you and see where you are in your journey, and how I can compliment on those framings and steps that will empower you to to thrive more in your business and in life.
Well that’s great. And as always, folks, we’re going to have Lewis’s links in our show notes, so please do drop in and check that out. I do like to remind you that we have a video version of this show over on YouTube channel by the same name, leadership powered by Common Sense. Check out our archives. There we are beyond episode 500, so we’ve got quite a bit of content there to look into. I would always love to hear from you, whether it’s through YouTube or website or email. Leave me a comment or note. Give me a recommendation if you’ve got a topic or a guest you’d like to propose. I’m always open to that, and I think that’s about it for today. So we’re going to sign off. Say goodbye. Go out there and make it a great day.
Meet Our Guest
LOUISA LORAN has led transformative growth across some of the world’s most respected companies—DIAGEO, MAERSK, and Google. A strategic mind with a human lens, she has shaped industries by combining technological foresight with the courage to act before the path is clear. Across more than two decades and all continents, Louisa has worked across B2B, B2C, and global tech— bridging commercial impact with human-centered change. Louisa also serves on the boards of Copenhagen Business School and CataCap Private Equity and is the author of Leadership Anatomy in Motion, published globally by Fast Company.
Bringing clarity and alignment, she advises boards and executive teams through strategic transitions—shaping both direction and dynamics to unlock value and stay relevant. Known for turning complexity into decisive direction, she is a trusted advisor and sought-after speaker.
Links for Louisa:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-loran
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