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Published by Digby Scott
There's no one way to lead. Yet we need to find a way. Our own way. And it can be hard to get right. As we find our way to lead it can be useful to listen to how others found theirs. Each fortnight, I’ll share a rich, unhurried conversation with someone who’s leaned into and learned from the challenges of leadership, change, and life while staying true to themselves. You'll get to experience me doing what I do best: asking the surface-piercing questions to help people see what they couldn't see before. Including you. Learn more about my courses and get more resources at https://www.digbyscott.com/ And follow me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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How do you know when your team needs a rebel and when they need a prefect? And what happens when you've only ever learned to lead one of them? In this episode, I sit down with Cat Hall to explore an idea we built together years ago: rebels and prefects, and why both are essential when you're driving change. Cat brings six research-backed traits from her master's in Change and Organisational Resilience that shape how well people adapt, and partway through the conversation, she turns that research back on herself. We land on something worth sitting with: adaptability starts with psychological safety, and with giving people permission to play. Cat Hall is a workforce strategist and change leader who helps people thrive in a rapidly changing world of work. With a background in organisational development and change, she now works at the intersection of future-of-work strategy and practical change, designing future skills frameworks and adaptive ways of working, from her early years pushing against the status quo inside a large government department, through to building a practical adaptability playbook now used by leaders and HR professionals. Her recent master's research went beyond the adaptability buzzword, focusing on what actually enables people to adapt to change and what organisations and leaders can practically do to foster it. We get into: Why rebels and prefects both matter, and how to know which one your team needs right now How psychological safety is the real starting point for building adaptability Why self-efficacy and resilience show up differently when change is happening to you rather than being led by you How small pockets of autonomy give people permission to experiment with change Why a simple mantra helped Cat get through one of the hardest years of her life Timestamps: (00:00) - Introduction (01:44) - Rebels vs prefects: what do the words actually mean? (05:38) - From "good girl" to rebel: Cat's story (09:22) - Finding organisational development and a career-defining moment (14:09) - Full rebel mode at Inland Revenue, and learning to bring people with you (20:11) - Back to study: a master's in Change and Organisational Resilience (25:13) - The six traits of adaptability, and turning the research on herself (29:51) - Doing a master's through the hardest year of her life (34:37) - Bringing the playbook to life (37:06) - Where adaptability starts: psychological safety and permission to play (39:48) - Reflections, and where to find Cat Hall You can find Cat Hall at: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-hall-834220199/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
When everything around your team feels uncertain, what are you actually meant to give them? Not answers you don't have. Not confidence you can't hold onto forever. A few weeks back, working with a group of senior leaders from a New Zealand local government agency, I asked what they found hardest about leading through uncertainty. Almost every answer came back the same: it's hard to give people certainty. This episode is about why I don't think that's actually the job. I reckon most leaders default into one of two modes when things get shaky: heroing, where you perform having the answers and end up carrying it all yourself, or hoping, where there's no answer and nothing gets handed over either. There's a third mode: hosting, where you create real room for people to find their own answers, whether or not you know the way yourself. Certainty is a promise you often can't keep. Agency is a gift you can always give, and there's real research behind why that matters, including a decades-old study where small everyday choices measurably changed how long people lived. In this solocast, you'll get: Why performing certainty under pressure quietly turns you into the bottleneck The difference between heroing, hoping, and hosting, and why hosting is the one that lasts beyond you What a nursing home study from the seventies reveals about the measurable power of small choices Why giving away agency is still hard, even after fifteen-plus years of coaching leaders through it The cultural pressures, boards, media, performance systems, that quietly punish anyone who says "I don't know" Three practical tools you can use this week: a certainty and agency check-in, an agency audit, and a language shift A simple sailing metaphor for what it looks like to lead without controlling everything Timestamps (00:00) The question that started this: what leaders find hardest about uncertainty (02:29) Heroing, hoping, and hosting: a sailing metaphor for leading without controlling everything (04:35) Why giving away agency is still hard, even after fifteen-plus years of coaching (06:47) Three practical tools: a certainty and agency check-in, an agency audit, and a language shift (09:11) A close: the one decision you could hand over this week I've put together a free model and a downloadable toolkit with the practical questions and language shifts from this episode. Grab it here: https://assets.cdn.filesafe.space/8yuhB4NRc6tP0qlIfnMn/media/6a7003b2a4c8a1a2c376e427.pdf Check out my services and offerings: https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts#subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
You've probably heard the advice: back yourself, have confidence, don't let self-doubt hold you back. But what happens when confidence tips into needing to prove something? And what happens when you're the one everyone comes to for the answer, every single time? In this conversation, Monique Davidson traces her own shift from proving herself to improving herself, and what that's changed about how she leads. She talks about building a culture of curiosity, asking better questions instead of jumping in with answers, and about a metaphor she keeps returning to: the cape that leaders wear without realising it, and the weight of carrying it for too long. Monique Davidson became one of New Zealand's youngest local government chief executives at 29. Nearly a decade on, she's leading Horowhenua District Council and serving as Vice President of Taituarā, Local Government Professionals Aotearoa. She's known for a candid, reflective style of leadership grounded in service rather than ego. We get into: The shift from proving yourself to improving yourself, and why it changes everything How to build a culture of curiosity instead of always being the one with the answers Why leaders wear a cape without realising it, and the weight of carrying it for too long The cost of holding on to a hero identity, even when things are going well How to build a healthier relationship with your own ego The distinction between an ally and a confidant, and why every leader needs both Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (00:29) What got you to the top (03:34) From proving to improving (05:42) Your relationship with your ego (10:46) Taking the cape off (14:31) The cost of wearing the cape too long (21:35) Imagine your actions written in the sky (28:59) Balancing delivery and discovery (30:08) Creating a culture of curiosity (38:03) What she'd tell a 29-year-old (41:19) Ally versus confidant (43:59) The kitchen floor (46:49) What she's learned from this conversation You can find Monique on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquedavidson/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts#subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
Do you ever act fast and call it decisive, only to find out later you were missing half the picture? Or maybe you can see exactly what's going wrong, but you're not the one who gets to change it? This episode explores why "focus on what you can control" is only half the story. Acting with agency but no awareness can set you up for exactly the mess you were trying to avoid. This episode walks through a simple two-by-two model, scrambling, sideline, stuck and solid, so you can spot which one you're operating from right now, and what it takes to move towards solid, where agency and awareness work together. You'll walk away with: Why "focus on what you can control" only tells half the story A simple model for spotting whether you're scrambling, sidelined, stuck or solid Three practical shifts for each state, to help you move towards solid Why guarding your energy matters as much as guarding your judgement The ski-field story about the time Digby got tracked down on a chairlift, and what it taught him about hoarding agency Timestamps: (00:00) Why focus on control is only half the story (02:26) What agency without awareness costs you (04:34) What awareness without agency costs you (06:56) Introducing the agency and awareness model (09:16) Three shifts to move out of scrambling (11:18) Three shifts to move out of sideline and stuck (13:35) Staying solid, and where Digby gets caught out (15:32) An invitation to explore this with other leaders Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts#subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
How much of your energy goes into making sure everything looks perfect? Into being the leader who's got it handled, even on the days you really haven't? This episode pulls together five conversations from the Dig Deeper archive, each one built around the same discovery: the leaders who earn real trust aren't the ones with all the answers. They're the ones who let people see what they're still working out. You'll hear what it costs to admit that, and what changes once you do. Five guests, five very different stories. Jodi Willocks left a senior role with no plan and learned to trust her gut instead. Sarah Manley led an organisation through her own rock bottom and found the words to ask for help. Nicola Nation stepped out from under the leader she thought she was supposed to be. Rita Cincotta got called out by a friend for looking “too together” to need anyone. And Erin Judge worked out what leadership looks like once you stop making it about yourself. Here's what we get into: Why trusting her gut mattered more to Jodi than having a plan What it took for Sarah to tell her team the truth about a really hard year The moment Nicola realised she'd been performing someone else's leadership The friend's comment that showed Rita what she'd been putting out into the world Why Erin reckons real impact has got nothing to do with you Timestamps: (00:45) Introduction (01:54) Jodi Willocks: trusting her gut through a career break (07:57) Sarah Manley: leading through rock bottom (15:07) Nicola Nation: stepping into her own version of leadership (20:59) Rita Cincotta: the friend who called out her L plates (28:20) Erin Judge: leadership that isn't about you (33:47) Closing thoughts You can hear the full conversations with each of these guests in the Dig Deeper archive: Jodi Willocks Sarah Manley Nicola Nation Rita Cincotta Erin Judge Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts#subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
Do you know that feeling when you're the one everyone comes to, the one with the answers, the one holding it all together? It can feel like competence. It might actually be a bottleneck with your name on the label. In this solocast I share a moment from a coaching conversation with a leader who runs a big, messy part of the health system. She described her role as owning the circus, then caught herself and landed on something better: it's everybody's circus, and she's just the ringleader. I unpack why that distinction matters, why leaders who hold onto everything end up exhausted, and why what they build tends to wobble the moment they step back. You'll get: Why "I own that circus" and "it's everybody's circus" are two completely different ways to lead The difference between the ringleader and someone carrying every act themselves Why being across everything feels like competence, but works against you over time What tends to happen to a team the moment a leader who's been holding everything steps back A question worth sitting with: which parts of your circus were never yours to own in the first place Where to find my free five-minute Collective Brilliance self-assessment Other references Are You the Circus Owner or the Ringleader? Blog Post Free five-minute leadership self-assessment: Your Lasting Impact Stage Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
What if the thing you're calling stuck is actually the moment your character is being revealed, not tested? Most of us treat the messy middle, that stretch between where we are and where we'd rather be, as something to survive rather than something to learn from. We chase the next skill, the next framework, the next fix, when the real block might be a story we've been telling ourselves for years without ever checking if it's still true. This episode is an invitation to slow down and look at that gap differently. My guest Andrew Horsfield has spent his career helping leaders navigate exactly this territory, and he brings a host mindset and a systems-aware lens to it: rather than pushing for outcomes, he asks what a person, a team, or a relationship actually needs to move well. Andrew is a performance consultant and the author of Better . He's also just come through eighteen months in which he and his wife counted twelve or thirteen major life events hitting at once, including his mother's cancer diagnosis and a son struggling at school. What he shares isn't theory. It's lived. In this conversation, we explore: Why the messy middle reveals who we are rather than building it from scratch How to tell the difference between productive struggle and simply spinning your wheels Why reflection is a practice almost nobody actually does, and what gets in the way How a mentor's question, "why do you always have to be approved of?", can expose a story problem hiding behind what looks like a skill problem Why courage in leadership often looks quiet rather than dramatic How the tool Bigger Me and Smaller Me can help you notice which version of yourself is driving Why understanding someone's perspective matters more than winning the argument How three simple end of day questions can turn effort into genuine growth I wonder what might shift if you started treating your own messy middle as information rather than a problem to fix. What's possible here isn't a tidier life. It's a truer one. Timestamps: (00:00) - Navigating the Messy Middle (12:12) - Choosing Between Bigger Me and Smaller Me (20:57) - Turning Struggles into Strengths (31:08) - The Courage to Lead: Insights from Mentorship (38:55) - Productive vs. Unproductive Struggle: Finding the Right Path (46:52) - The Power of Story: Shaping Our Leadership Journey References: Robin Sharma The Messy Middle | Scott Belsky Bigger Me Tool You can find Andrew at: Website: andrewhorsfield.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhorsfield/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
You've probably noticed that the way you lead in one room doesn't quite land in the next. The approach that makes you sharp in a crisis can fall flat in a quiet one-on-one. And most of the time you're not choosing your style at all. You're running the one that comes naturally. This solocast looks at two things that separate leaders who operate well at senior levels: fluency and fluidity. Fluency is your range across the organisation. The ability to move between functions, contexts and conversations without losing your footing. Fluidity is quieter. It's noticing your default mode and choosing, in the moment, to step out of it when the situation in front of you asks for something else. You'll come away with a clearer read on your own defaults, and a simple way to choose who you need to be before you walk into the room. Here's some of what we get into: Why fluency is built over time, through the range of experiences you collect along the way What organisational literacy actually looks like, and why fluent leaders lean on it The difference between knowing your natural style and being run by it A door-framing question to ask before any meeting: who do I need to be here? Why self-awareness, not just behaviour, is the real marker of fluidity Have a think about your own default mode as you listen. I reckon you'll spot it quickly. The more interesting question is what it might be costing you on the days you don't step out of it. Fluency & Fluidity Blog Post Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
Have you ever caught yourself fighting a habit, a reaction, a way of showing up that you've been trying to fix for years? There's something worth sitting with in that. What if the behaviour you want to change isn't actually broken? What if it's doing exactly what it was designed to do, but it’s now just well past the point where it's still useful? In this episode, Dr. Amy Silver and I explore the idea that the patterns we run, like people-pleasing, over-controlling, avoiding the hard conversation, aren't character flaws but protective strategies. They made sense at some point. The work isn't to fight them. It's to see them clearly, meet them with self-compassion, and then get deliberate about what happens next. I wonder what becomes possible for you and the people you lead when that reframe lands. Dr. Amy Silver is a clinical psychologist with over three decades of experience studying how fear and habit shape human behaviour. She began her career at Oxford University, where she worked as a tutor and researcher before making a bold leap to drama school and then into the corporate world. She is the author of the award-winning book The Loudest Guest: How to Change and Control Your Relationship with Fear , and works with organisations, leadership teams, and executives across Australia to build cultures of courageous collaboration. Amy brings rare depth to this space: the rigour of clinical psychology combined with the humanity of someone who lives what she teaches. You'll learn: How to recognise a protective pattern for what it is, without making it mean something about who you are Why self-compassion isn't a nice-to-have idea but the prerequisite for any real behaviour change How fear operates in teams and why so much of what looks like dysfunction is actually people trying to stay safe Why the question isn't "what's wrong with this pattern?" but "how flexible can I be with it?" How to identify your personal choice points and build experiments for what to do differently Why changing your environment, even in small ways, can shift the pattern before you've said a word How the difference between self-awareness and deliberate action is where real leadership lives Why the most useful thing you can do with your fear is stop fighting it and start using it as a guide Other References The Loudest Guest | Dr. Amy Silver Conversations Create Growth | Dr. Amy Silver Oxford Guide to Behavioural Experiments in Cognitive Therapy | Bennett-Levy, Westbrook Exposure Therapy : Flooded vs Graded Approach The Amygdala and Threat Detection Timestamps: (00:00) - Mastering Fear: A Personal Journey (05:51) - The Role of Self-Compassion (17:49) - Deliberate Action and Choice Points (21:10) - Changing the Environment for Better Outcomes (29:37) - Understanding Team Dynamics and Patterns (42:34) - The Power of Choice in Everyday Life You can find Dr. Amy Silver at: Website: https://www.dramysilver.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amysilverbrave Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
Right now, public sector organisations across New Zealand are losing people in numbers we haven't seen before. The redundancy figures get reported. The org chart gets updated. But what happens to the knowledge that walks out the door with them, the way someone could read a tricky stakeholder in three seconds, the history of why a system was built the way it was, the relationships that kept the wheels turning? In this solocast, Digby argues most leaders are treating workforce reduction as a numbers exercise when it's actually a capability exercise. Systems and technology can pick up some of the slack. They cannot replace the relational, tacit knowledge that lives in people's heads and in how a team works together. Digby sets out a practical way to prepare for these transitions: map where critical capability actually sits before it leaves, invest deliberately in the people who stay, and build systems strong enough to survive the next departure. As he puts it, you can be the fire or the fire tender. You'll learn: How to identify the institutional knowledge that exists only in people's heads, before it walks out the door Why systems and technology can't replace the relational work that holds a team together The difference between leading as the fire and leading as the fire tender A practical way to map critical capability before a restructure hits How to invest in the people who stay so they can carry things forward What it actually takes to build a team that survives transition without falling apart Other References What Survives When People Leave Blog Post Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
How much of your energy goes into being the version of yourself you think the room expects? For many senior leaders, that performance runs quietly in the background all day, and it is exhausting. You spend years climbing toward the room where the big decisions get made, only to arrive and quietly wonder whether the person doing the job is actually you. This episode explores what changes when you stop managing a persona and start leading from who you already are. My guest Erin Judge calls the hierarchy we all defer to the "fictional ladder," and once you see it that way, the distance between the newest person in the room and the most senior starts to look a lot smaller. What becomes possible when you trust that the thoughts in your own head are as worth saying as anyone else's? We also explore a deceptively simple idea for handling feedback: rather than rebuilding yourself every time someone pushes back, you keep your essence and adjust the dial. Erin Judge (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) has built her career inside some of New Zealand's most complex systems: child welfare, criminal justice, and sector-wide public reform. She came from a low socio-economic background, was the first in her family to go to university, and was admitted to the bar at 21. She went on to become Chief Legal Officer at Oranga Tamariki and helped establish the Government Legal Network. These days she works for herself, moving between Iwi, NGOs and the public sector, and the value she brings is holding several of those worlds at once and helping each one see where the other is coming from. You'll learn: How to tell the difference between leading and managing, and why chasing the title is the wrong prize Why the newest person in the room might be the most valuable, and how to give them permission to speak How dialling your strengths up or down beats trying to become someone you're not Why every strength carries a shadow, and what it costs to hide behind the thing you're good at How understanding someone's motivation changes the way you influence them Why seeking out hard things, and views that rile you, builds the kind of resilience that lasts How to lead for impact that outlives your tenure, without needing the credit Why a breadth of experiences often matters more than deep technical expertise Timestamps: (05:03) - Journey to Authentic Leadership (10:00) - Resilience Through Adversity (25:41) - Understanding Perspectives and Influencing Change (28:05) - The Duality of Superpowers (35:18) - Leading vs Managing (39:39) - Creating Lasting Impact Beyond Tenure Other References Supernormal , by Meg Jay Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein Proverb: planting trees whose shade you'll never sit in You can find Erin at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-j-16001153 Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
How much of your day do you actually choose to give your attention to? Not just your time but your attention. Because there's a difference. And most leaders are managing the wrong thing. This episode cuts through the noise around productivity to explore what's really going on when leaders feel stretched thin and constantly reactive. The answer isn't a better calendar or a tighter to-do list. It's getting deliberate about where your focus actually lands and protecting it like it matters. Because it does. In this solocast, Digby explores the distinction between time, attention, and intention management, and why most productivity advice stops one layer too shallow. You'll hear about: Why time management alone won't fix a scattered leadership practice The difference between attention and intention, and why intention is where the real leverage lives How notifications and constant availability are quietly eroding your capacity to lead well Why sanctuary time, protected space to think without interruption isn't a luxury, it's a leadership discipline What wisdom has to do with AI, and why it's the distinctly human edge that no tool can replicate The one question worth sitting with at the end of each day Other references Leadership as an Act of Attention Blog Post Check out my services and offerings: https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
How much of what you measure actually tells you whether you're making a difference? Most senior leaders can point to a dashboard full of healthy-looking numbers. Attendance is up, participation is steady, the reports come back green. And underneath it all sits a question that's easy to avoid: is any of this the thing that actually matters? Grant Yonge took a job with that exact question built into the title. When Grant said yes to becoming Executive Director, Organisational Impact at the Y , his honest answer was that he didn't yet know what impact meant. What he knew was what it wasn't. This conversation follows what happened next: the shift away from counting participation towards real evidence about whether young people are flourishing, and the discovery that a 180-year-old story could anchor purpose better than any strategy document. What if the most useful thing you measured was also the hardest thing to count? Let's explore what changes when a leader stops settling for the easy version. Grant Yonge is Executive Director, Organisational Impact at the Y in Western Australia. He arrived there by an unusual route, starting out in hotel and resort management before spending the past fifteen years in the not-for-profit sector. He brings corporate rigour and a genuine sense of purpose to the work, and he thinks about leadership the way he thinks about playing in a band. In this episode, you'll hear: How to move an organisation from counting participation to evidencing real impact Why "getting to what's real" matters as much in corporate and government as it does in the social sector How a story from 1844 becomes a living tool for shaping culture today Why knowing your part, and resisting the urge to play every part, makes the whole team stronger How stepping back can create more impact than stepping in Why naming each person's "spikiness" leads to better decisions How to help people find their place in the work, even on their hardest day Why deep conviction and real vulnerability can live in the same leader Timestamps: (08:27) - The Journey to Defining Impact (19:09) - Gathering and Sharing Stories of Impact (26:31) - The Metaphor of Music in Leadership (30:34) - Understanding Your Unique Contribution (35:36) - Navigating Leadership Challenges (39:13) - Connecting to Purpose and Legacy Other References Y.M.C.A Song Y.M.C.A Boy George re-recording How Great Leaders Inspire Action | Simon Sinek TED Talk How to Make of a Life | Jim Collins The Gifts of Imperfection | Brené Brown The Art of Possibility | Ben Zander Keith Richards You can find Grant at: Website: https://theywa.org.au/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-yonge-b6a30924/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
You know how most days go. There's the list to clear, the email that just landed, the conversation that has to happen by Friday. You sort it, and tomorrow you do it all again. Those things matter, and I'm not going to pretend they don't. But if a good day's work is only ever solving the problems of that day, I reckon you're missing a trick. Because your days become your weeks, become your years. When you look back over those years, what will you be able to say you contributed? And what do you want to be able to say? This solocast came out of a briefing call with a school principal. She told me she'd been sitting in her own leadership team meeting, listening to everyone work through what needed doing, and quietly realised she didn't need to be there. She wasn't threatened by that. She felt good, like something had finally worked. We get into what makes that moment possible: the difference between a problem focus and a possibility focus, what shifts when you stop patching symptoms and start improving the system, and the language change that marks leaders who've started thinking beyond their own time in the chair, from "this is what I'm doing" to "how am I setting this place up to outlast me?" Here's some of what I cover: Why a possibility focus lifts your energy, while a problem focus has you tired and playing defence by Tuesday afternoon The shift from delegating tasks to genuinely growing the people around you Three questions we worked through at the conference, worth sitting with on a quiet morning How to find the intersection of where you're energised and where you're uniquely positioned to serve Why lasting impact asks you to choose one thing, not everything at once If relentless busyness is the pattern you keep running into, drop me a line at https://www.digbyscott.com/contact and we'll have a chat. Blog post https://www.digbyscott.com/thoughts/what-will-outlast-you/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe/ Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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 Flawsome by Georgia Murch Jim Collins | Level 5 Leadership The Castle (1997) Tony Blair coming to power Connect with the guests: DK: Website Sir Ashley Bloomfield: LinkedIn James McCulloch: Website | LinkedIn Simon Dowling: Website | LinkedIn Callum McKirdy: Website | LinkedIn Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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 Start Close In | David Whyte Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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 Ruku Ao leadership programme Manutūkē Marae, Rongowhakaata High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) The Hurricanes Black Ferns Sevens Digby Scott's Superpowers exercise You can find Christian at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-penny-54016515/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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 . 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 — Prina Shah Ways to Change Your Workplace Podcast — Prina Shah (host) Simon Sinek Seth Godin — "work is not working" "Becoming the Boss" — Linda A. Hill, Harvard Business Review (January 2007) Prina's self-coaching journal You can find Prina at: Website: https://www.prinashah.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prinashah/ Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
Have you ever missed the moment? Something shifted in a conversation or a meeting, and by the time you noticed, you were already playing catch up. In a world that's systematically eroding our capacity for sustained attention, how do we stay genuinely tuned in when it matters most? This episode introduces a practical framework for sharpening your attention in the room. Drawing on the work of philosopher Simone Weil, who called attention the rarest form of generosity, Digby explores why treating attention as a deliberate leadership practice is one of the most powerful things you can do right now. In this episode, we cover: Why our capacity for sustained attention is under serious pressure and what that means for leaders The four lenses of attention: personal, relational, directional, and contextual How to read what's happening in a room and respond well when it counts Practical ways to apply each lens in your next conversation or meeting Three reflection questions to help you identify which lens you lean on and which you tend to neglect Other references Stolen Focus | Johan Hari Four Lenses Download How to Read the Room Blog version Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/
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