From Curiosity to Action

What 100+ leaders talked about at the Leadership and Humanity Symposium

This is the second part of the Curiosity: Notes from the Field article, in which I reflect on the content and discussions of a recent Leadership and Humanity Symposium in Hobart, Australia. If you’re more interested in leadership-related insights, this article is for you.

Just to recap, in early September 2024, I attended an annual Leadership Symposium hosted by Tasmanian Leaders, with the theme for this year being Humanity. In short, given the challenges we observe in the world, how might we lead with humanity?

This was attended by ~100 people, approximately a dozen speakers, and covered the following topics:

• Global and local disruptions and trends

• The impact of psychological safety in the workplace

• Mindsets for creating more human workplaces

• Navigating complexity as leaders

• Humanity in the 21st century

• And of course, guiding people from curiosity to action by yours truly

In this article, I’ll share my notes and takeaways on the topics discussed, as well as share the outcomes of my sessions.

A ‘call to gather’ drumming session by John Tamara, 2023 Tasmanian of the Year

On navigating disruptions

The day started with a keynote by Petah Marian, Director of Foresight and Communications at KPMG Australia, who took us through parts of the 2024 Futures Report (which is a nice read in and of itself). Specifically, Petah presented the topics she believes are of most relevance from a leadership and humanity perspective:

• A Better World: Petah started by highlighting that irrespective of technological disruptions, it always comes back to people, our communities, and the world we live in. The three major focal points identified by KPMG were climate adaptation, (physically) healthy populations, and societal wellbeing (and connection).

  • Of note: There appears to be a growing focus on how we operationalise in these areas; aka ‘let’s start building stuff’.

• Intelligent Performance: Petah highlighted the obvious tech disruptions that are happening right now, which include gen AI, robotics and automation, and Industry 4.0 (basically, the merging of advanced technologies in manufacturing).

  • Of note: Far from the rise of Skynet, Petah showed us how some organisations were leveraging advanced robotics to help workers living with disabilities retain gainful employment and minimise injuries.

• Trusted Forever: ‘Q-Day’ is fast approaching and you’re not alone if you thought: “Say what now?” ‘Quantum Day’ to the moment when quantum computing becomes powerful enough to crack the encryption systems that underpin our digital society. What will this do to our ability to trust our underlying systems? How do we ‘accelerate’ trust?

  • Of note: 3 out of 5 people at present don’t trust the information that is generated by AI.

  • Of (a more depressing) note: There are already black-market operators who are scraping and hoarding currently secure account information, waiting for the day that quantum computing becomes powerful enough to crack all of them at the same time.

In closing, Petah left us with the thought that being ‘future proof’ should no longer be the goal of leaders, especially given that we may not know the scope and scale of disruptions. Instead, she proposes that being ‘future fit’ should be the goal for leaders, to possess the skills needed to navigate disruptions.

On the curiosity of the crowd

I took the stage immediately after Petah, and my initial reflection was that perhaps the operative word in ‘Navigating Disruption’ is actually ‘navigation’, which created a perfect segueway to my first session on curiosity.

Here, I first proposed that curiosity was not the same as asking more questions, after which I asked delegates to identify a burning question they had. They were asked to write it down on a giant round sticker and to place it on our ‘Wonder Wall’.

Far from being a twee workshop activity, what this wall represented was the boundaries of what delegates knew, coming into the day. Think about it: If you ask a question, it’s because you don’t know the answer to something. Therefore, this ‘Wonder Wall’ of questions conceptually represents what delegates did not know.

By presenting it thus, we have a baseline that we can return to at the end of the day, to reflect on what’s changed and evolved.

So what did people ask?

Well, after transcribing all of the questions and undertaking a keyword and sentiment analysis, this is what we saw:

1. Human-centred leadership: A major theme revolved around maintaining humanity, empathy, and ethical decision-making in leadership. Many delegates were focused on how to be compassionate leaders who prioritise people, even amid challenges.

2. Leadership through complexity: There was collective curiosity on how to prepare and evolve leaders for complexity and uncertainty, with this combination of keywords appearing over 20 times on the Wonder Wall.

3. AI and technology: It’s perhaps to be expected that many delegates were concerned about the role of AI and other technologies in leadership, questioning how to integrate AI into the workplace while preserving human values.

4. Well-being, mental health, and psychological safety: Well-being was a strong concern, with questions focused on how leaders can balance the demands of the workplace with staff mental health, creating psychologically safe environments, and ensuring teams feel supported during times of change.

5. Team dynamics, collaboration, and growth: Many questions focus on how to lead high-performing teams effectively through change, encourage collaboration, and promote positive team dynamics.

6. Curiosity and adaptation: Curiosity emerged as a key driver for leadership, problem-solving, and adaptation. Delegates were keen to explore how curiosity can inspire innovation, foster growth, and tackle complex challenges.

On creating psychologically safe environments

Linda Manean, Co-CEO of LeaderLab, presented a session on psychological safety, a concept that is gaining momentum in many workplaces.

Importantly, Linda defines psychological safe as: “A belief that we will not be dismissed, humiliated or penalised for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, mistakes, or feedback.” She clarified that psychological safety was not a ‘kumbaya’ thing. It’s not:

A shield from accountability | Just niceness | Coddling | Consensus decision-making | Unearned autonomy | Political correctness | Rhetorical reassurance

Linda presented what she believed were the major factors to create psychological safety, that being:

• Security: The need for predictability

• Autonomy: The need for control over our choices

• Fairness: The need to engage in and experience fair exchanges

• Esteem: The need to be well regarded by those around us

• Trust: The social need to belong to and protect our ‘in-groups’

Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from Linda’s session was the results of the straw poll on what delegates valued the most in terms of psychological safety:

This triggers a few follow-on observations from me:

1. It was twice as important for people to feel the need to control their choices, rather than needing to engage in a fair exchange.

2. People did not seem to prioritise the need for predictability, to belong, nor to be regarded by those around us.

3. However, let’s not forget that the delegates are largely people who hold leadership roles, so perhaps those are not unsurprising observations.

On humanising workplaces

Leanne Holdsworth, an Associate at Cultivating Leadership, took us through a session on the importance of keeping humanity front of mind when it comes to workplaces. She shared 5 mindsets / perspectives for delegates to keep in mind:

• Everyone can be a leader

• The importance of creating a sense of belonging

• Approaching challenges through learning and growth

• Being courageous about including ‘love’ and ‘care’ as values

• Thinking about the humans in the system

The thing that most piqued my curiosity was when Leanne shared that there is a person at her organisation who has the role title: ‘Gardener of Belonging’. I just really like what this title evokes; the idea that ‘belonging’ is a dynamic system that must be fertilised, trimmed, and cultivated over time.

On leading through complexity

Instead of a keynote, we had a panel discussion featuring Dr Aiden Thornton (Senior Research Fellow in Leadership and Complexity at the Australian National University), Kym Goodes (Director at 3P Advisory), and Kate Chambers APM (Commander, Tasmania Police).

Three takeaways stood out to me:

1. Aiden shared an interesting perspective that when we think of a heated house that’s nestled in a cold, snowy environment, the thing that regulates the heating of the house is not the person holding the remote nor the heating unit; it’s actually the thermostat. This piece of equipment is actually the thing that tells a heating unit when to turn on or off.
   
   Thus, when we think about what regulates ‘heat’ in a social environment, how do we figure out what might actually be the social thermostat?

2. Kate shared her ‘30% rule’ which - in the context of leadership - was about building momentum by convincing 30% of the people you manage to buy into your idea or initiatives. If you can get to that 30% threshold, that’s enough to start generating traction.

3. Kym shared a simple quote that caught my attention: “Courage and fear are not mutually exclusive.” Given my love for venn diagrams, I can totally relate to the notion that leaders can be courageous and s—t-scared at the same time.

On being human in the 21st century

Dr Anthony Howard, Founder and CEO of the Confidere Group, presented the last keynote of the day, sharing some deeply personal stories from his leadership journey, and how it’s influenced his perspectives on what being human means.

There were a few notes I jotted down:

1. Life is a work of art; despite mistakes along the way, despite events that are outside of our control, the tapestry that is life can still hold beauty.

2. Leadership is an interpersonal relationship, for there can be no leaders without followers. I jotted down an additional musing: This also suggests that followers can also significantly empower or restrict a leader’s potential to succeed.

3. Therefore, Anthony suggests that leadership is about creating art together, which I’m grateful to hear given my own arts social enterprise!

4. And finally, I reflected on the role that philosophy continues to play in the realm of leadership; that perhaps leadership remains a balance between art vs science.

From curiosity to action

At the end of the day, I returned to the podium and simply asked delegates to consider what’s changed? That when they looked at the burning questions they initially posted on the Wonder Wall, what has shifted? What’s evolved? What are they curious about next?

Then, at breakfast the next day, I asked delegates to transmute their curiosity to action with the prompt: What’s an experiment they can run within 6 months, that might help them answer their new questions?

I won’t publish the experiments here but what I can do is present the shift in sentiment from the Wonder Wall to the experiments:

1. From concern to action

Initially, delegates were uncertain about how to navigate the rapid pace of change, especially with AI and societal disruption. Over the Symposium, this concern shifted to a more action-oriented approach. Delegates became focused on experimenting with practical solutions, moving from hesitation to proactive exploration.

2. From caution to optimism

Where the tone of the questions on the Wonder Wall could be described as ‘cautious’, the tone of the experiments evolved into one of ‘optimism’. Delegates now view challenges as opportunities, and seemed confident in their ability to embrace change and find solutions through experimentation.

3. From personal reflection to collective action

Several delegates reflected that their original burning question were more internally focused, on what they could do as individuals. This shifted towards collective action, with more emphasis on fostering collaboration, supporting team growth, and making a broader impact within organisations and communities.

4. From theory to practice

Initial reflections were largely theoretical, exploring broad ideas about leadership and the future. As a result of the prompt to consider what experiments they could run, delegates focused on taking specific, actionable steps within their teams and organisations. Perhaps most fulfilling for me was the feeling of seeing people leave the Symposium with a sense of purpose and action; that it wasn’t just a talkfest.

In closing

*whew* That was quite a lot! If you’ve made it this far, well done! This was a fun event for me, and I’m personally grateful to Tasmanian Leaders and CEO Angela Driver for the opportunity to run some sessions on cultivating curiosity, and for the chance to convince delegates that they too could be cat people…

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If you’d like to read about what’s involved in preparing for a Symposium like this, check out my article below.