A few weeks back, I was invited by Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsLnD) to chat with Laura Overton (@lauraoverton) on his new podcast The Women Talking about Learning.

This is a different podcast where Andrew, as the host effectively holds the space but doesn’t contribute or engage in the conversation between two women who are in the field of Learning and Development.

The topics that we had are all many and varied and there’s no formal questions or structure.  We just allow the conversation to take us wherever.  It’s quite a lovely concept because the conversation meanders and through it, you start to glean your own lessons and reflections about  what they’re talking about.  Stories are left to unfold naturally.

Well, we talked about The Boss One (meaning the podcast about The Boss) and Laura and I shared some thoughts about management and leadership.

To be fair, I can count my best bosses I’ve ever had on the one hand and when I think of the ones who I liked they tended to be younger than me, male and entrepreneurs.  That is, starting a business or fairly new into a new business.  I enjoyed working with them because they had a completely different management style – everything was possible, they wanted ideas, they had the mindset of giving things a go.

Meanwhile my corporate bosses well, let’s just say things went a little awry because of the fact that they had their challenges.  Working in a formal hierarchical environment where it’s political and you succeed based on what allegiances you make with certain people; or how well you can influence upwards or if you have a mentor who is willing to bat for you.  Needless to say, my corporate life was quite frustrating for new ideas and innovations –  and I share that in my podcast.

If you want to listen to it then check out the Women Talking about Learning Podcast.