Welcome to Episode 79 of my podcast with Marisa Zalabak. Marisa runs a business called Open Channel Culture. She is a professional speaker, and an Educational Psychologist.

Marisa came on the programme to talk about several topics including how adaptive leaders handle change in an ever-changing environment. This is especially relevant post Covid.

Marisa believes business and the environment work together but advances in technology, and in leadership practice, influence how well we do this. She is an expert in organisational change and in the podcast, discusses how business can be adaptive. Decisions we make have an impact on our people. The increased reliance on technology means her role includes reviewing the ethics of the use of artificial intelligence systems. Leaders don’t have to be experts in IT, but it can help to understand how the choices they make impact their sustainability.

What does she talk about?

Adaptive Leadership is a concept or theory developed by Harvard experts. They talk about 4 pillars. These include: emotional intelligence, organisational culture, life-long learning, and character agility. This results in a strong sense of how adept you are at flexing or responding to the environment. Being responsive results in changes in behaviour or approach in any one period of time. She also talks about artificial intelligence and how we use that so that our business is sustainable without leaving an impact on the environment or an unsustainable carbon footprint.

I asked about how difficult it is to be a Leader these days as such a lot rides on so many qualities and characteristics of a Leader. She acknowledges it’s never been easy. She has great compassion for people and has experienced leadership herself but she is passionate about supporting business.

We moved on to discuss the use of AI and I was surprised to realise how much I’m already using it. If we make advances in this topic as rapidly, or quicker than we have been doing, then our lives are going to become more automated and easier. But, it has implications. Who is exposed to our data as we are asked to complete questionnaires, or invited to leave our information? And are we happy with how much is ‘out there’ for others to find?

I found the topic fascinating and I hope you find it an interesting topic too.