In this episode of Let Go & Lead, Maril talks with bestselling author and lauded employee engagement expert Mark Crowley. Over 25 years, Crowley drove unprecedented success as a leader in the financial services industry by focusing on a simple but powerful idea: when human beings thrive, organizations thrive as well. He and Maril discuss the unprecedented opportunity leaders have right now to reinvent how we lead and manage people by focusing more on how we make people feel. When leaders trust in human connection and give people more emotional support, they allow themselves to set higher expectations, as well — driving well-being, engagement, retention and broader organizational success. With confidence gained from personal experience, Mark is passionate that any organization can see these business gains by leading in this manner.
About Mark Crowley
Mark C. Crowley is an award-winning pioneer in human-centered leadership. He is the bestselling author of Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership for the 21st Century and the host of the podcast Lead From The Heart. Over 25 years as a leader in the financial services industry, Mark drove record-breaking sales and profitability performance by focusing on emotional connection and people-first leadership. His experiences — as well as a growing body of scientific research — convinced him that the most successful way of motivating human beings in the workplace is to positively affect their hearts. Today, he speaks to global audiences and consults with companies around the idea that humans are not as rational as we think we are, and that changing how managers make employees feel is the best way to inspire organizational excellence.
About Let Go & Lead
Let Go & Lead is a leadership community created by Maril MacDonald, founder and CEO of Gagen MacDonald. Maril brings together provocateurs, pioneers, thought leaders and those leading the conversation around culture, transformation and change.
Over the course of the past 12 years, Let Go & Lead has existed in many forms, from video interviews to resource guides to its current iteration as a podcast. At its core, it remains a place where people can access a diversity of perspectives on interdisciplinary approaches to leadership. Maril is also working on a book incorporating these insights gathered over the past several years from global leaders and change makers.
Maril has interviewed over 120 leaders — from business to academia and nonprofits to the arts — through the years. In each conversation, from personal anecdotes to ground-breaking scientific analysis, she has probed the lessons learned in leadership. From these conversations, the Let Go & Lead framework has emerged. It is both a personal and organizational resource that aims to serve the individual leader or leadership at scale.
