Why Work Is Broken and How Leaders Can Fix It

Written By Sue Firth
#244: Why Work is Broken and How Leaders Can Fix It
The Executive Edge / Sue Firth

This week I talk to Kate Jones, a Senior Leadership Adviser & Executive Coach.

Kate runs Neon, a coaching and consulting company, which specialises in leadership development for mission-driven organisations, through leadership strategy, team development and one-to-one coaching. At the heart of it all is Kate’s signature Deeply Human® leadership model.

We talk at length about why so much of working life feels grey and exhausting, and what leaders can do about it.

Drawing on her years as a probation officer and management consultant, Kate shares an insight into her approach to leadership, why connection matters more than ever as AI reshapes work, and simple ways to build empathy when it doesn’t come naturally.

A few things we talk about

The hamster wheel. What happens when organisations drain the colour out of their people.

Small decisions, big consequences. We look at the Post Office and Harrods scandals in the UK and how they built up, one “quiet decision” at a time.

Leading through the cuts. Kate is coaching senior leaders in tech who are having to manage repeated rounds of job losses. She discusses how leaders can handle feelings of guilt.

Staying human as AI moves in. Kate brings Pope Leo XIV’s recent book Magnifica Humanitas into the conversation, kicking off a discussion on the significance of taking care of what is quintessentially human.

When empathy feels out of reach. I share the story of a CEO who wanted to support a colleague but froze. Kate offers two practical ways that might help anyone going through the same kind of thing, including a coaching exercise that terrified her, and then changed her.

Kate’s upcoming book

Finally, Kate talks about her upcoming book, scheduled for publication next year. Provisionally titled Deeply Human: Why Work Is Broken and How Leaders Can Fix It, the book combines a rallying cry for change based on her strategic leadership model and a set of reflective questions and practices.

Connect with Kate

Sue Firth
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