Ruthlessly Caring and Other Paradoxes with Amy Walters Cohen

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Jean Gomes and Emma Sinclair talk to applied psychology researcher and author Amy Walters Cohen. In her book ‘Ruthlessly Caring and Other Paradoxical Mindsets’, Amy explores how leaders cope with the true landscape of leadership judgement, comprising competing demands and seemingly impossible paradoxes that morph over time. Sit back and listen as Amy, Jean and Emma discuss the rise in the forces that create (what Amy refers to as) the washing machine effect, and the five paradoxical mindsets that she believes will be essential for future fit leadership. 

References from this episode:
Ruthlessly Caring and Other Paradoxical Mindsets (Amy Walters Cohen, 2023)


Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading in a Non-Linear World: Building Wellbeing, Strategic and Innovation Mindsets for the Future (Jean Gomes, 2022)

The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence: A Journey to Personal and Professional Success (Scott Allender, 2023)


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The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:43 Talk us through your journey and what is currently exciting you most?
• 5:11 If you go back in your career, what were the stand-out ah-ha moments?
• 7:28 Your book starts by exploring the wide range of forces that are currently shaping the leadership landscape to combine what you call a ‘washing machine effect’. Can you tell us what you mean by the ‘washing machine effect’?
• 10:41 Your book outlines a number of paradoxes that leaders need to embrace. What have you learnt about how leaders can successfully confront these paradoxes in a risk averse environment?
• 15:06 One of the mindsets that you focus on in your book is being ‘ruthlessly caring’. Why does it matter to be ruthlessly caring and how can leaders build that as a capacity for themselves?
• 22:01 The next paradox is ambitiously appreciative. Can you pull apart the differences between that and ruthlessly caring?
• 27:12 Do you have any examples or scenarios where that plays out really well, where you’re able to appreciate yourself and your wellbeing and enabling that to gain a stronger performance?
• 31:23 Shall we do the third mindset, politically virtuous? How do leaders manage to avoid becoming overwhelmed by politics?
• 36:51 Next is what you call ‘confidently humble’ where leaders believe in their abilities but at the same time they know they can’t do it. Why is this so important right now and what can we do to cultivate constructive doubt?
• 42:48 On the other side of that, the humility and the ability to question yourself leads a lot of people to self doubt as opposed to a positive form of questioning themselves.
• 45:25 Shall we move to your final mindset which is responsibly daring and this is balancing pragmatism with vision, creativity and taking risks? Can you summarise some skills for leaders to challenge that status quo and adopt that mindset?
• 52:07 What’s next for you?