March 24, 2025 • 4 mins
We are joined by Kevin Eikenberry, Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group and author of new book "Flexible Leadership, Navigate Uncertainty and Lead With Confidence" to discuss the importance of flexibility and how to put it into practice in your workplace.
More information can be found here: https://kevineikenberry.com/books/
More information can be found here: https://kevineikenberry.com/books/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Leadership can be challenging, especially in the last five years.
Think of all the changes, the big shift, changes that
nobody saw coming. This is West Michigan's Morning News, Steve Kelly.
That is Brett Makita joining us on the liveline. Kevin Ikenberry.
The book is called Flexible Leadership, Navigate Uncertainty and Lead
with Confidence. Kevin is the chief Potential officer at the
(00:24):
Kevin Ikenberry Group. Thanks for doing this today.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Happy to be with you guys this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So the old school, I'm a baby bloomer. I think
you may be to the my way or the highway
sort of days are over. Talk to us about why
leaders need to be more flexible.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, the world has changed a lot, as you already highlighted,
and so guess what leaders need to change with that. Now,
there are some things that don't need to change, like
our principles and our purpose and our values. Those shouldn't
change rooted like a tree, Steve. But if we don't
change our approach, are how we're going to be less
successful as time goes on without questions.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You know what's funny is talking about uncertainly, uncertainty and
you know, being effective and changed and everything you just
look at like college coaches, for instance, and you got
the old school even though he's changed a little bit
and he's still doing and tom Izzo, Steve and I
are Michigan State fans, but I go back to the
Boilermaker himself and Gene Katie and then how Matt Painter
(01:25):
has changed under him and done a great job for Purdue.
And I say that because I know you're a bit
of a Boilermaker fan, right.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I'm a big Boilermaker fan, and I grew up in
West Michigan. But and you know, I can say go green,
go white, but not when they're playing the Boilers. And
there's no doubt that if you think about you can
look at the Sweet sixteen coming up this next week,
where both of those teams will be playing, you can
see that there will be leaders coaches that take different approaches,
(01:54):
and some that have even taken different approaches throughout their career.
The real point here is how do I need to
fly in the moment with the current situation that I
have for us to be more successful. How do I
get out of my natural habit patterns and what my
leadership style might say and actually adjust in the moment
(02:15):
to help my team my organization be more successful.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And I say that because look at what they're dealing with, right,
I mean, you got tom Izzo who's in his seventies now,
and social media and il all this has been thrown out.
Some coaches have gotten out of the business because of that.
Yet he's adjusting Matt Pain or other people I mentioned.
And that's what I love about sports. I know people say, oh,
he's a sports guy or whatever, but it's so relatable
to life.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
It really is. Yeah, if you can get past, you know,
the heartbreak and the adulation and look at it through
the leadership lens or even the work lens, there's so
much that we can learn from it if we'll look
at it beyond just the score.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Can you without giving away the whole book, Kevin, talk
to us a little bit, and you stress relationships a lot.
There's a truth grace flexer that I thought was fascinating.
Give us a little hint about what that means on
how a leader puts that into practice.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, if we think about that, that leader that you
mentioned at the front end of this conversation that's really
focused on getting things done, they're probably going to be
leaning into truth, and there are times when we have
to face the truth. We have to give people what
the truth is. We have to give them the hard feedback.
And there are times when we need to lean more
(03:29):
into what's the situation with that person, and maybe we
need to give them a little grace. That doesn't mean
we get let them off the hook, but maybe we
adjust how we talk about things, when we talk about
things as we slide along that truth grace flexer.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Talk to us a little bit about the times we're
in and why this book and why this book now, Kevin.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, this book now because we have more uncertainty than ever,
and if you want to think about that politically, societally,
but also within our organization. So much has continued to
change in the post pandemic world, and so if we
want to be more effective, I believe that flexibility is
the anecdote to uncertainty. So in a time that's more
uncertain than ever, this is the book that people need,
(04:11):
leaders need to be more successful.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
They have it just grew up right up the street
in West Michigan. It's called Flexible leadership, Navigate uncertainty and
lead with confidence. Kevin Ikeenberry, Chief Potential officer of the
Iikenberry Group. Thank you so much for your time today
my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thanks for having me
Leadership can be challenging, especially in the last five years.
Think of all the changes, the big shift, changes that
nobody saw coming. This is West Michigan's Morning News, Steve Kelly.
That is Brett Makita joining us on the liveline. Kevin Ikenberry.
The book is called Flexible Leadership, Navigate Uncertainty and Lead
with Confidence. Kevin is the chief Potential officer at the
(00:24):
Kevin Ikenberry Group. Thanks for doing this today.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Happy to be with you guys this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So the old school, I'm a baby bloomer. I think
you may be to the my way or the highway
sort of days are over. Talk to us about why
leaders need to be more flexible.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, the world has changed a lot, as you already highlighted,
and so guess what leaders need to change with that. Now,
there are some things that don't need to change, like
our principles and our purpose and our values. Those shouldn't
change rooted like a tree, Steve. But if we don't
change our approach, are how we're going to be less
successful as time goes on without questions.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You know what's funny is talking about uncertainly, uncertainty and
you know, being effective and changed and everything you just
look at like college coaches, for instance, and you got
the old school even though he's changed a little bit
and he's still doing and tom Izzo, Steve and I
are Michigan State fans, but I go back to the
Boilermaker himself and Gene Katie and then how Matt Painter
(01:25):
has changed under him and done a great job for Purdue.
And I say that because I know you're a bit
of a Boilermaker fan, right.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I'm a big Boilermaker fan, and I grew up in
West Michigan. But and you know, I can say go green,
go white, but not when they're playing the Boilers. And
there's no doubt that if you think about you can
look at the Sweet sixteen coming up this next week,
where both of those teams will be playing, you can
see that there will be leaders coaches that take different approaches,
(01:54):
and some that have even taken different approaches throughout their career.
The real point here is how do I need to
fly in the moment with the current situation that I
have for us to be more successful. How do I
get out of my natural habit patterns and what my
leadership style might say and actually adjust in the moment
(02:15):
to help my team my organization be more successful.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And I say that because look at what they're dealing with, right,
I mean, you got tom Izzo who's in his seventies now,
and social media and il all this has been thrown out.
Some coaches have gotten out of the business because of that.
Yet he's adjusting Matt Pain or other people I mentioned.
And that's what I love about sports. I know people say, oh,
he's a sports guy or whatever, but it's so relatable
to life.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
It really is. Yeah, if you can get past, you know,
the heartbreak and the adulation and look at it through
the leadership lens or even the work lens, there's so
much that we can learn from it if we'll look
at it beyond just the score.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Can you without giving away the whole book, Kevin, talk
to us a little bit, and you stress relationships a lot.
There's a truth grace flexer that I thought was fascinating.
Give us a little hint about what that means on
how a leader puts that into practice.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, if we think about that, that leader that you
mentioned at the front end of this conversation that's really
focused on getting things done, they're probably going to be
leaning into truth, and there are times when we have
to face the truth. We have to give people what
the truth is. We have to give them the hard feedback.
And there are times when we need to lean more
(03:29):
into what's the situation with that person, and maybe we
need to give them a little grace. That doesn't mean
we get let them off the hook, but maybe we
adjust how we talk about things, when we talk about
things as we slide along that truth grace flexer.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Talk to us a little bit about the times we're
in and why this book and why this book now, Kevin.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, this book now because we have more uncertainty than ever,
and if you want to think about that politically, societally,
but also within our organization. So much has continued to
change in the post pandemic world, and so if we
want to be more effective, I believe that flexibility is
the anecdote to uncertainty. So in a time that's more
uncertain than ever, this is the book that people need,
(04:11):
leaders need to be more successful.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
They have it just grew up right up the street
in West Michigan. It's called Flexible leadership, Navigate uncertainty and
lead with confidence. Kevin Ikeenberry, Chief Potential officer of the
Iikenberry Group. Thank you so much for your time today
my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thanks for having me
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