Overland Resource Group Profiles in Leadership, Collaboration and Employee Engagement

Mayor Sly James leads the city of Kansas City, Missouri's largest city and the 36th largest city in the nation. A lawyer, Mayor James was re-elected in 2015 with 87% of the vote with a campaign strategy marked by a commitment by both candidates to not go negative in any way. Mayor James discusses his practice of working collaboratively to achieve "more results and better" and team approach in running his administration.   Mayor Sly James Podcast Transcript

Dan Hesse currently serves as a member of the board of Directors of PNC Financial Services Group. He was president and CEO of Sprint from 2007 to 2014. Among his many accolades, Hesse was named “Most Influential Person in Mobile Technology” by LAPTOP magazine (ahead of Steve Jobs) and the Wireless Industry “Person of the Year” by RCR Magazine. In 2014, Glassdoor named him one of America’s highest rated CEO’s by employees (he was the only telecom CEO on the list). For Hesse’s last two full calendar years as CEO, Sprint’s Total Shareholder Return ranked No. 1 among all S&P 500 companies (Netflix was No. 2). Dan Hesse Podcast Transcript

Lee Bolman holds the Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership at the Henry Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He holds a Ph.D in organizational behavior from Yale University. Bolman consults and lectures worldwide to corporations, public agencies, universities and schools. Joan Gallos is a professor of leadership at Wheelock College. She holds master's and doctorate degrees organizational behavior and professional education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Lee Bolman and Joan Gallos Podcast Transcript  

Sydney Finkelstein, author of Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent is interviewed. Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College...and director of Tuck's Center for Leadership. He has published eight previous books, including the Wall Street Journal bestseller Why Smart Executives Fail. Sydney Finkelstein Podcast Transcript

Mike Herron, long-time UAW leader, on the lessons from innovative Saturn experience that still make positive influences today at GM worldwide, and indeed the auto industry. Herron also shares his thoughts on the evolving roles of labor unions in the 21st century, and how unions around the world are bringing great value through labor/management collaboration, benefitting all stakeholders. Mike Herron Podcast Transcript  

Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, professor Brandeis University; Dan Brooks, leader with UAW; and Martin Mulloy, Ford VP-Global Labor Affairs, co-authors of Inside the Ford-UAW Transformation: Pivotal Events in Valuing Work and Delivering Results. This two-part podcast examines the events that led to Ford’s 2009 decision not to accept federal bailout funds, and extraordinary collaboration and relationship shift between all stakeholders that allowed Ford to avoid bankruptcy, and return to sustained profitability. Ford UAW Interview Part II Transcript

Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, professor Brandeis University; Dan Brooks, leader with UAW; and Martin Mulloy, Ford VP-Global Labor Affairs, co-authors of Inside the Ford-UAW Transformation: Pivotal Events in Valuing Work and Delivering Results. This two-part podcast examines the events that led to Ford’s 2009 decision not to accept federal bailout funds, and extraordinary collaboration and relationship shift between all stakeholders that allowed Ford to avoid bankruptcy, and return to sustained profitability.   Ford UAW Podcast Transcript  

Donna Hicks, Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and author of Dignity: The Essential Role it Plays in Resolving Conflict (forward by Rev. Desmond Tutu). Drawing from research and her 20 years of international conflict resolution experience, plus cutting edge research, Hicks explains how dignity is at the root of most conflicts, whether between warring nations or labor/management, and what leaders must do to reconcile and avoid “dignity violations” that poison organization cultures and damage the bottom line. Donna Hicks Podcast Transcript  

Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary during Clinton Administration, and current Professor of Public Policy at UC-Berkeley, discusses points from his 14th book Saving Capitalism for the Many, Not the Few. Reich makes compelling arguments for how better wages and working conditions are actually good long term strategies for businesses, the economy, and the nation. Robert Reich Podcast Transcript  

Huggy Rau, Stanford University business professor, and co-author of best seller Scaling Up: Getting More Without Settling for Less. Rao connects fascinating research and compelling case studies with direct implications for leaders of growing organizations looking for scalability. Huggy Rao Podcast Transcript

Mike Perrone, National President, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), describes successes in building sustainable large-scale collaboration between the union and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He shares first hand insights into shifting relationships, from the tenuous first steps in building the level of trust required to building momentum that moved PASS and FAA from conflict to collaboration.          Mike Perrone Podcast Transcript.

Michael Filler, Director of Public Service Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), educator, strategist, and change agent, served on President Obama’s National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations. In this interview, he provides context for labor relations in federal sector, and unique influence changes in administrations make, and how change agents in labor and management create sustainable collaborative relationships, regardless of political changes.   Michael Filler Podcast Transcript.

Randy Babbitt is Senior Vice President of Labor Relations for Southwest Airlines. Previously, he was Administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and is former president of Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) labor union, and a retired airline captain. Here he describes first-hand examples from his career within government, labor unions, and airline industry the critical need for trust, respect, and recognition of shared interests on building a winning collaborative cultures, particularly within unionized organizations. Randy Babbitt Podcast Transcript.

Robert Hughes is President of Overland Resource Group, which works primarily with labor and management leaders to build collaborative processes that drive performance and workplace improvement. Here he shares stories of individual and organizational transformation from his perspective as a 30+year veteran of building collaborative leadership capacities. Robert Hughes Podcast Transcript.

Paul Rinaldi, is president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) which represents 20,000 controllers, engineers and other safety-related professionals in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Here, he discusses the challenges and benefits of building sustainable collaborative environments. “When we fight, all we are doing is spending our time and energy fighting and not improving the lives of the membership or the safety or the efficiency of the National Airspace System. When we collaborate, what we’re doing is actually improving the work environment for our members [and] enhancing the safety of the system.” Paul Rinaldi Podcast Transcript.

Bob Tobias, is Director of Public Sector Executive Education at American University and former president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 bargaining unit employees in 31 federal agencies and departments. He discusses the relative costs and rewards of collaborative versus adversarial relationships within organizations. He notes “If I assume that you’re out to get me and you assume that I’m out to get you and the only way that we can resolve this conflict is through arm wrestling then that’s the way we’re going to behave.” Dr. Robert Tobias Podcast Transcript.

Dr. Donna Hicks is the author of the book, Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict and Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard. Get the transcript for this interview here.