#10 - How Successful Leaders Maintain Focus In A Distracted World|Doug Conant - a podcast by Tanveer Naseer

How can leaders be attentive to those they serve when their time is becoming increasingly fragmented and demands on it growing? How can recognizing the efforts of our employees lead to a sense of purpose and community and with it, a drive towards achieving excellence? These are a few of the topics I discuss with retired CEO and renowned leadership expert Doug Conant in the 10th episode of my leadership podcast show, “Leadership Biz Cafe”.

For the last 10 years, Doug has served as the President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, which under his stewawdship was transformed from one of the worst Fortune 500 organizations in terms of employee engagement levels to one of the best.  As a result, Campbell's experienced not only improved productivity and profitability under his stewardship, but the company also received numerous awards recognizing the organization as one of the best places to work.

Since retiring from Campbell's in 2011, Doug has remained quite active in the leadership field, both through his speaking engagements and his writings in such publications as the Harvard Business Review. Recently, Doug also accepted a position to serve on the Avon corporate board, in addition to serving on the boards of several charitable and other non-profit organizations.

Doug also co-authored with Mette Norgaard the New York Times bestseller “TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments”.Over the course of our conversation, Doug and I discuss:

How leaders can transform daily interruptions into opportunities to help others succeed.Why “all leadership models are wrong” and what leaders should use instead.
The two traits that successful leaders share and use to navigate today's complex and changing business landscape.
What a near-fatal accident revealed to Doug about the power of community and fostering a sense of belonging.The four needs leaders should address to transform their company into a world-class and enduring organization.

As I mentioned at the end of the show, I’d love to hear what you think about this episode, as well as what other topics you’d be interested in hearing more about in upcoming episodes of my show. You can share your thoughts/ideas by leaving a comment below or by filling out the contact form on my website.Click on the player below to listen to the podcast:



[Running time: 50 minutes]I’d appreciate it if you could help support future episodes of this leadership podcast by taking a moment to rate my show on Google Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, iTunes, or your preferred podcast platform.

It’s worth noting that my leadership podcast was recognized by Inc. As one of “12 podcasts that will make you a better leader”. So please help me get the word out about my show.Noteworthy links:

Buy Doug Conant's book “TouchPoints"on Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers).
Learn more about Doug's work and speaking engagements at ConantLeadership.com.

Further episodes of Leadership Biz Cafe with Tanveer Naseer

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