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Partnering Leadership
Partnering Leadership is a top global podcast designed to help CEOs and senior leaders navigate the complexities of leadership, strategy, culture, and innovation. Hosted by Mahan Tavakoli—a seasoned leadership advisor with over 25 years of experience and recognized as a top thought leader in management—the podcast brings you real-world insights and practical advice to drive meaningful results.
Mahan’s experience as a trusted advisor shapes each discussion, driving deeper insights that challenge conventional thinking and uncover innovative approaches. Drawing from his extensive advisory background, Mahan dives into candid conversations with purpose-driven CEOs and global thought leaders, exploring how they overcame their biggest challenges and achieved transformative success. Each episode provides actionable strategies, real-world examples, and proven approaches to help you navigate change, align teams, and drive lasting impact.
Hear directly from top experts such as Ram Charan, Ken Blanchard, John Kotter, Stephen M.R. Covey, Hal Elrod, Carmine Gallo, Daniel Burrus, Garry Ridge, Jacob Morgan, Emily Field, Jonah Berger, Barbara Kellerman, Rich Diviney, Andrea Sampson, Ajay Agrawal, Dave Ulrich, Jerry Colonna, Renee Cummings, Brian Johnson, Warren Berger, Gustavo Razzetti, Azeem Azhar, David McRaney, Tim Clark, Jim Detert, Gary Bolles, Greg Satell, Robert Wolcott, Alden Mills, Minter Dial, Greg Wooldridge, Pete Steinberg, Joseph Fuller, Paul Roetzer, Whitney Johnson, Ron Adner, Bob Johansen, Leidy Klotz, Paul Smith, Louis Rosenberg, Rob Sadow, Dan Turchin, Steve Robinson, Park Howell, Mark Crowley, Maz Jobrani, LaTonya Wilkins, Rob Cross, Aiden McCullen, Eduardo Briceno, Jan Rutherford, Stephen Wunker, Charlene Li, Jon Levy, Anu Gupta, John Rossman, David Marquet, Tamsen Webster, Jack Phillips, Vanessa Bohns, Patrick McGinnis, Hakeem Oluseyi, Ed Hess, and Carolyn Dewar as well as renowned leaders like David Rubenstein, Jean Case, Tony Pierce, Linda Rabbitt, Paul Daugherty, Richard Bynum, John Veihmeyer, Howard Ross, Bill Novelli, Tien Wong, Stephanie Linnartz, Chuck Robb, Doug Dennerline, Charlene Drew Jarvis, Robert Rosenberg, Diane Hoskins, Deidre Paknad, David Gardner, and Marty Rodgers, and many more!
Their insights, paired with Mahan's expertise, equip you to tackle complex challenges, foster a high-performance culture, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving world.
Listen today to gain the tools, perspectives, and proven strategies that can transform your leadership journey.
Available on all major podcast platforms or visit https://partneringleadership.com.
Partnering Leadership
458 Why Your Team Is Busy, Exhausted, and Still Not Moving the Needle with Liane Davey
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Why do so many teams work harder than ever but still struggle to make meaningful progress?
In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with organizational psychologist and bestselling author Liane Davey, author of Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work, about why leaders need to rethink how they approach priorities, productivity, and performance.
Liane explains why the biggest challenge facing many organizations is not simply the amount of work people have to do. It is the invisible thought load created by competing demands, constant interruptions, emotional strain, and unclear priorities. Drawing on her work with leadership teams, she shares why many organizations are operating at full throttle but losing altitude because they keep adding effort instead of reducing drag.
In the conversation, Liane discusses why leaders often confuse activity and output with meaningful progress. She explores how organizations unintentionally reward busyness, why constant responsiveness can pull people away from their highest-value work, and how leaders can help teams focus on outcomes rather than simply doing more.
Liane also explores the impact of AI on leadership and the future of work. While AI can reduce some workload, she explains why it can also increase thought load by creating more information, more decisions, and more complexity. Her insights challenge leaders to think differently about human capacity, emotional energy, and creating the conditions where people can do their best work.
Actionable Takeaways
- You’ll learn why teams can be working harder than ever and still fail to achieve the outcomes that matter most.
- Hear why Liane Davey believes leaders need to move beyond measuring activity and productivity to focus on true effectiveness.
- Discover how rewarding constant responsiveness can unintentionally reinforce distraction and prevent people from doing their most important work.
- You’ll learn the difference between workload and thought load and why the hidden mental burden on teams impacts performance, creativity, and collaboration.
- Hear why productivity can become a trap when organizations create more outputs without questioning whether those outputs create value.
- Discover why emotions are not separate from performance and how leaders can help teams process emotions before they create unnecessary friction.
- You’ll learn why a lack of conflict can be a warning sign and how healthy tension helps teams make better decisions.
- Hear how leaders can uncover the unseen work that drains people’s capacity and address the sources of overload.
- Discover how AI can reduce workload while increasing thought load, requiring leaders to rethink how people and technology work together.
- Learn why managing focus, energy, and human capacity will become even more important as organizations face greater complexity and faster change.
Connect with Liane Davey
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