Leading Excellence

Carolyn is the former CEO of Save the Children, the world’s leading child-focused NGO. Under her leadership, the organization reached more than 130 million children a year, providing critical resources in areas such as health care, education and child protection. Among her many honors, she  was named as one of People’s “25 Women Changing the World”  and as one of Fortune’s “World's Greatest Leaders”.  In this episode, Carolyn covers many topics, including:

- Leading a mission-driven organization

- Managing diverse stakeholders

- Applying business process discipline and vigor to a non-profit 

- Creating a long-term strategy and then translating it into action

- Leveraging all levels of your organization to drive diversity, inclusion, and sustainability

- Developing your successor

- Following your passion to create a rewarding career

Human is the President of King Digital, producer of iconic games such as the Candy Crush franchise.  In this extended interview, Human talks about how he built a great career by following what most interested him.  He also shares what he’s learned about leading a creative organization, driving priorities, improving diversity, and cultivating self-awareness.

Paul Orzeske has successfully led multiple global businesses, both public and privately held.  In this episode, we discuss the role of the general manager, the unique challenges and opportunities of living overseas, how to round out your critical skillsets, the importance of listening to all levels of an organization, and what it's like when a team is fully invested in your success.

John Sharood is the founder and CEO of Mousam Valley Mushrooms, an organic specialty mushroom farm in southern Maine that serves the US East Coast. https://mousamvalleymushrooms.com/  

In this episode, John shares experiences from a career that includes everything from GE executive to successful entrepreneur.  We’ll discuss how aligning your career with your values helps get you through the difficult times, some best practices for developing rising talent, the necessary interconnection between leadership and management, and some hard lessons in trust.