Episode #6
3 Execs Get Real: How to Lead When Everything Is Urgent | S01E06
Three senior executives get honest about what it actually takes to lead when everything on your desk is marked urgent. The Group CEO of DNI (formerly CEO of Discovery Health), the Head of Corporate and Public Sector Sales at Citi, and the Group Chief Risk Officer at FirstRand get into the two-inboxes principle, why almost nothing truly needs an instant decision, and the courage it takes to let the people you hired do their jobs. WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/V38sgMQKzVA The PEAK Practice is Gilan's three-week programme for high performers who want their wisest response to arrive while they're still in the room, instead of arriving late, on the drive home. Put your name on the list to hear first when the next cohort opens: https://www.peakawake.com GUESTS: Ryan Noach, group CEO of DNI and former CEO of Discovery Health, where he led 6,000 staff serving 4 million customers. A medical doctor by training, he now oversees an investment group with stakes in 23 businesses. Sheetal Shah, head of corporate and public sector sales at Citi, covering governments and multinationals across Sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty-five years in sales taught her that what got her here won't get her there. Emma Mer, group chief risk officer at FirstRand, running one of the most critical functions in one of South Africa's largest financial services groups. She leads with a village mindset, starting from trust. THEY EXPLAIN: ◼ Why very little is so urgent that it needs an instant decision, and how to buy time to think ◼ The two-inboxes principle, and what slips when the urgent one gets too full ◼ How managing your energy beats managing your time (and why Emma is never in a grocery store) ◼ Why A players hire A plus players, and what that asks a leader to stop doing ◼ The difference between excellence and perfection TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) - Episode trailer (01:17) - Welcome to Leading Awake (03:56) - The PEAK Practice (04:37) - What seasoned leaders have changed their minds about (07:07) - How becoming a parent changed Emma's leadership (10:28) - Managing energy, not time (12:58) - Ryan's counterpoint: the always-on leader (17:06) - The T-shaped leader (and why so little is truly urgent) (19:05) - The two inboxes: urgent vs important (22:13) - Protecting your team from the noise (24:09) - The Adrian Gore dinner: three hours, phone face down (25:21) - Too many big rocks: the Four Thousand Weeks reframe (27:29) - Letting go of control (and the trust Ryan can't rebuild) (31:21) - What got you here won't get you there (32:52) - A players hire A plus players (36:39) - The structure that makes trust hold (38:54) - Excellence is not perfection (39:15) - The PEAK Practice (mid-episode) (40:55) - The sweet spot between patience and pressure (42:20) - Hire for attitude (you can teach the product) (44:13) - Don't set people up to fail (46:51) - Bad news first: what earns real trust (49:30) - Giving away the credit, taking the accountability (51:55) - Saying no without burning relationships (55:52) - Closing reflections + PEAK Practice ABOUT LEADING AWAKE: Leading Awake is a podcast for senior leaders who want to see clearly under pressure and respond wisely in the moments that count. Each episode is an honest, unscripted conversation with leaders willing to drop the mask. Host Gilan Gork started as a professional mentalist working with the human mind on stages across more than 40 countries, including Fortune 500 companies, governments, and NATO. That work pulled him deeper into the inner game of leadership, and into the body of work that became PeakAwake. THE PEAK PRACTICE: When the pressure is on, your perception narrows, exactly when you need it widest. Timothy Gallwey wrote the formula 50 years ago and it still holds. Performance equals potential minus interference. You already have the ability. It's the noise that pressure and complexity stir up that gets in the way, and clearing some of it lets more of the ability you already have show up in crucial moments, while it still counts. The PEAK Practice is three weeks of putting in the reps, so the next difficult moment meets a version of you that's already practised for it. You practise on 14 days across the three weeks, about 15 minutes each time, eyes closed in the app, working on a real situation of your own rather than a case study. You also meet Gilan and your cohort live online 4 times, 90 minutes each. The cohort is 6 to 8 leaders, curated, each carrying real responsibility. Since 2020, more than 1,000 people have trained these skills with Gilan, in an earlier version of this work. Waitlist members get a preferential rate, with no payment or commitment: https://www.peakawake.com IF THIS CONVERSATION LANDS WITH YOU: Follow Leading Awake on your podcast app so you don't miss the next conversation. And if you have a moment, please leave a rating or a review. It sounds like a small thing, but it's the most useful way to help platforms recommend the show to other senior leaders. If you know a leader who'd recognise themselves in this episode (the one whose calendar is back to back and whose strategic work keeps waiting) share it with them.
