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Andy Lane
Combining consulting, research, and presenting BBC programmes including Future Proofing and Hacking Capitalism, Leo explores change and how we respond to it. He argues that disruptive events from pandemics to new technologies give us the opportunity (even the duty) to consider, with a new perspective, environmental, social and capital imbalances. In doing so, leaders will often understand the imperative to change strategy, but will also experience the intense difficulty of realising transformation. Leo delivers a practical understanding of why change is hard and what to do about it.
Against an increasingly polarised backdrop of doomsterism or denial, Leo Johnson’s focus is on unlocking next generation leadership - turbocharging talent not just with direction, but with intent. Leo is a Visiting Business Fellow at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise & Environment, lecturing on the most subscribed Masters programme at Oxford University. He is also the presenter of a number of BBC World and Radio 4 series on megatrends and innovation, including Down to Business, World Challenge, FutureProofing, Hacking Happiness and Hacking Capitalism. He has also served as an adviser at PwC to the Global Centre for Transformative Leadership, and as PwC's Head of Disruption & Innovation.
Leo sets out the colliding trends affecting today's business leaders - from climate change to generative AI and geopolitical instability. He looks at how they interact, how they influence an organisation's place in the world, and brings the future forward with radically divergent scenarios. He maps out the innovation advantages and strategies for navigating business disruption. But his unique perspective is on transformational leadership under conditions of disruption.
How do leaders counter the threat of the rigidity trap – the paradox that, when confronted with potentially seismic threats, teams tend to default to business as usual - and instead unlock the leadership and transformation potential within teams that will turn threats into opportunities? With Oxford’s Smith School, Leo is leading a research project on the Paradox of Intent - a project focused on mapping and unblocking the 12 leadership barriers to insight, intent and execution that sabotage transformation. By exploring the structural, cultural and psychological make-up of organisations, he considers how to incrementally introduce change effectively.
After Oxford and INSEAD, Leo joined the World Bank as a Resource Economist before co-founding the boutique advisory firm Sustainable Finance, since acquired by PwC Group. He is the co-Author of Turnaround Challenge: Business & the City of the Future, and a regular guest contributor to the FT and Judge for the FT’s Boldness in Business Awards.
Leo convinces you straight away of the importance of ‘future-proofing.’ It’s no mean feat to marry business priorities with the demands of sustainability. He does it with boundless Johnson charm, positivity and real insight backed up by fascinating case studies. I’ve never seen a more entertaining and thought provoking way to set out the challenges and eye up the possible solutions.
JLA Agent Christopher Morrell
