The twenty-fifth episode of GREAT PODVERSATIONS features Matthew Barzun speaking with Amy Edmondson about Barzun’s book The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go.

MATTHEW BARZUN has served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. He served as National Finance Chair for former President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

The Power of Giving Away Power explores a new organizational shape and mindset in which organizations are designed as dynamic and flexible networks of distinct yet interwoven individuals. Barzun describes “constellation mindset” and how top organizations create and share power through teamwork.  Filmmaker Ken Burns praises “Bravo. These are ideas that can heal and inspire in a time when we are suspicious, tribal, at each others’ throats.”

Barzun joined CNET Networks in 1993 as its fourth employee and held various management positions during his 11 years with the company, including Chief Strategy Officer. In 2008, he volunteered for then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign, leading the effort to conduct supporter-driven small-dollar fundraisers.

AMY C. EDMONDSON is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society.

Edmondson has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011, and most recently was ranked #3 in 2019; she also received that organization’s Breakthrough Idea Award in 2019, and Talent Award in 2017.  She studies teaming, psychological safety, and organizational learning, and her articles have been published by numerous academic and management outlets, including Administrative Science Quarterly,  Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review and California Management Review. Her most recent book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth (Wiley, 2019), offers a practical guide for organizations serious about success in the modern economy and has been translated into 11 languages.

1. The Power of Giving Away Power  by Matthew Barzun
2. Teaming  by Amy Edmondson
3. Building the Future: Big Teaming for Audacious Innovation  by Amy Edmondson and Susan Salter Reynolds
4. The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth  by Amy Edmondson and Jennifer Jill Araya

Original air date: 7/9/2021

Listen below on your favorite podcast app, then Subscribe, so you never miss an episode!