Leadership: Fantasy, Reality and Theory
Craft Building Series Event #57 — Advance Interview with host Anna Hummel-Gumaelius before our May 16th Leadership event
As part of our Grey Swan Guild and Cygnus Ventures, we are committed to improving the craft of our Guild members and prospective Guild members. CBS Episode #57 — Leadership: Fantasy, Reality and Theory represents our monthly intervention of insight, interaction and collective expertise that covers a relevant topic widely for the benefit of improving all of us.
Here is our conversation about the event coming up May 16th in advance with one of our golden swans, leadership expert, Creator of Space for Growth — MRG RE and host ·Anna Hummel-Gumaelius.
Sean Moffitt, Guild Co-Founder and Cygnus Event Sponsor (SM):
Welcome. This is the trailer to our Craft Building Series #57 that our Grey Swan Guild produces and convenes. I’m joined by Anna Hummel-Gumaelius, who I have worked with a lot over last 3 years on the Grey Swan Guild — she brings so much the table.
Welcome we are teasing out your topic and you’ve come up with, this incredibly good title; Leadership, Fantasy, Reality, and Theory that just makes me want to know more.
I should probably more formally introduce you. You are based out of Stockholm. You have a long history in terms of developing leadership amongst executive teams and business teams that you work with. You are an advise senior advisor, founder of MRG GE, and a very long standing.
Gray Swan Guild. Member! Welcome! And now yes, let’s get into your title.
Anna Hummel-Gumaelius, Host of Leadership CBS #57 (AHG):
Yes, thank you, Sean. Yeah, I’m looking forward to doing this. I think it’s my own curiosity that brought me to this title.
I know for myself, (early in my career), I had all these fantasies about, leaders, what they were, how they were, you know, behaving and that everybody had their … if I can use that word… had their shit together, and they knew what to do. So I’m wanting to compare that to then. What did I think ?
The second part we want to cover is reality. What does the panel really think and know? What is leading really for them today in their everyday lives, both for themselves and for leading others.
And then the final part. I also want to give the participants or the people joining something to go away with. A book, a theory, a process model, something that can really be hands on, that can be used today.
SM: I’m excited. You’ve already sent me the bios of the people (included below) that you’ve brought into the panel , an esteemed crew of people that have a lot of credentials behind them. Please tell me a little bit about the people that you’ve assembled for this event?
AHG: Yes. I have brought together three great panelists. That have really broad backgrounds. Different regions, different countries, different perspectives, and they all work in the future of leadership.
I’ve got Abel Buko, who’s a New Yorker that has moved all the way to Sweden. And now working in the diversity and inclusion space.
I’ve got Lisa Hildebrand, who’s originally from Germany. She’s also lived in Sweden and studied in Sweden, and she works as a Futurist with the future of retail, which is really exciting.
And I’ve got Ricardo Marvão, who’s not only built an incredibly successful incubator in Portugal, but he has also now formed an academy for young politicians, and also an academy for space training.
So it’s a broad perspective and a broad perspective among countries and industries. And also I’m gonna say it’s super wide for ages because I include myself. I mean as the young part of that range of course :). Yeah. It’s going to be so interesting because there are global crew people with a lot of variety.
SM: Love the make up of the panel, what do you think the interplay is going to be between each other?
ASG: I think they’re both going to make each other curious and also challenge each other. I think they’re gonna come from very different perspective. Listeners will get to know their stories or backgrounds that will surprise, but also tools and theories that will really help people.
SM: Now right on the heels of your event that our Grey Swan Guild has sponsored is the launch event of our Guild producing its first book, and it’s all about the uncertainty that we faced in the last 3 years. We have had the pandemic, the economy, supply chain issues, economic strife, and war conflict. That’s pretty close to your shores, you know. Has leadership taken on a different resonance g iven all of the uncertainty we faced over, particularly the last 3 or 4 years.
ASG: Hmm!Well, I think that everybody’s had to step up, and some people were already ready for that. I think everybody has had to build resilience and everybody has had to sort of digest the fact that we do not have control.
So the stance of how I lead myself becomes more and more important every day, and I think I mean that is the core.
If you can lead yourself, you can also lead others, and you can also be led by others, which is very important. If you’re gonna be a successful leader.
SM: Sometimes you try to plan these events to the detail … at least I do.
I’m not too sure what your step particular style is, but sometimes you get surprised by something. Any surprises that you either plan for, or maybe we might expect coming into this event?
ASG: Well, that’s fine! I’ve got some teachers from the panel about these theories, and you know their experiences. So I think that there’s some surprises there, and I also had the great fortune to spend some time with Peter Senge a few months ago, and I challenged and tried him out on some of these topics. So I’m also gonna throw in some outtakes with Peter and someof my own surprises around.
We had a discussion about leadership being broken, but not as such. There’s so many sort of buzzwords around, you know e.g. servant, leadership, etc., etc., and so I asked him what he uses, and I can assure you, will be surprised.
SM: I like it. I’m excited already. Maybe we’ll get we’ll impart that excitement to everybody now. Do your best ad person pitch here, look straight into the camera, to your potentialLl istener, or interactive person that may show up to our event. What should they expect? What are they gonna get out of this hour?
ASG: Yeah, if you want to step into an hour of reflecting on how you can take an authentic view of leadership that’s really built from your own standpoints, please join us and if you also want to get some advice and tips and tricks, and be surprised, by what Peter Senge said. Join, and you will be able to go away with something that you can actually use the next day.
SM: That’s amazing. And I think it’s also noted, no matter where you are. I think you’d agree with me. All of us can be leaders right? So I think this topic is probably relevant to everybody.
ASG: That’s gonna be coming in. It is. I think the case is that we all have to be leaders, not everybody wants to, but everybody has to. And so that’s also a question, you know, it’s not just looking to other people leading. It’s “How do I lead in my everyday circumstance?”
SM: I love it well, it’s it’s gonna be great hours spent. It’s gonna be Tuesday, May 16th. Please join us on our Grey Swan Guid’s Linkedin Live. It will be 4PM Stockholm time (Central European time) or Stockholm time or 10am ET for those in my Eastern North American Time Zone. My hope is you’ll be able to join us for the hour.
ASG: Yup!
SM: Anna. I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for doing this, and I know it’s going to be brilliant already, so.
Bios of the Panel:
Anna Hummel-Gumaelius: (Sweden)
I’m the management consultant that realized how fundamental the growth of the individual and the group is to an organization’s overall ability to develop over time.
I have from that point on curiously immersed myself in the psychology of the organization and the developmental processes of the group and the individual. I now run the boutique consultancy firm MRG RE where I create the space for leaders, teams and organisations to take the leaps necessary to live up to the expectations of the future.
My personal WHY is to create space for growth to emerge for 10 000 people by 2030.
Abel Buko (Sweden)
After spending ten years in university studying philosophy, feminist theory, linguistics, and visual arts (+ a brief fling as a technical trainer at Apple), I spent the ten following years in advertising in NYC and Stockholm.
In the fall of 2021, I returned to my roots and now work as the Sustainability Manager at Zimpler. In this role, I aim to drive real change where it matters by discovering how the business affects its surrounding communities and secondly asking what our responsibilities are.
Lisa Hildebrand (Germany)
Innovation strategist who deeply believes in the power of boundless curiosity and in embracing human vulnerability and fostering eco-thinking.
Currently, she is on a mission to unlock human potential through and despite increased digitalization.
Ricardo Marvão (Belgium)
Co-founder Beta-i • Entrepreneur • Connector • Multipotentialite • Firestarter • Passion for Education & Space, Proud Father & Husband
Beta-i is a collaborative innovation consultancy with global reach, experts in designing and managing projects from strategy to pilot testing.
I’ve founded also a number of educational projects in Portugal like Singularity University, European Innovation Academy (entrepreneurship summer school for university students), Próxima Geração (academy for the next generation of politicians) and Space for Business executive program.
I also have over 10 years international experience in the Space Industry working with ESA, Inmarsat, Airbus and many others in many parts of the globe like Germany, UK, France, China & USA.
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