What's Next! with Tiffani Bova

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
This week, I'm really excited to have Dr. Linda Hill back on the show. She's a top-ranked thinker on Thinker's 50 List and the Wallace Brett Donnan Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Linda doesn't just study leadership; she studies the chemistry of how humans actually get big things done together. She's the co-author of the management Bible, as I like to say, Collective Genius, and the viral HBR hit, Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale. She has a new book coming out called Genius at Scale. 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…leaders who want to build organizations where innovation isn't left to chance but is built into how people work together every day.
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…innovation doesn't happen because you hire a few creative people or run a brainstorming session. According to Linda, real innovation results from disciplined leadership and intentional culture-building. In this conversation, Linda shares what leaders often get wrong about creativity, how to foster productive disagreement without chaos, and why collaboration, experimentation, and learning must be embedded into the system. 
Key Takeaways:
Innovation requires disciplined leadership, not just creative talent or good ideas.

Collective genius emerges when leaders cultivate both safety and accountability.

Productive conflict strengthens ideas when it is structured and purposeful.

Experimentation must be normalized to enable continuous learning.

Culture determines whether innovation thrives or stalls.

WHAT I LOVE MOST…I love Linda's perspective that innovation is not about having all the answers as a leader, it's about building the conditions where great answers can emerge from the group. This shifts the role of leadership from being the smartest person in the room to being the architect of the environment where smart thinking can happen.
Running Time: 31:02
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Linda's Book: Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
 
This week, I'm thrilled to welcome Daniel Coyle to the show. He has spent the last two decades acting as a performance detective for some of the most elite organizations on the planet. While you may know him as the New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code and The Culture Code, Dan's real work happens in the trenches. He served as a special advisor to the Cleveland Guardians. And work closely with Navy SEAL teams, Google, and top soccer academies to decode one simple question: why do some groups click while others crumble? He specializes in micro behaviors and the tiny repeatable signals that turn a group of talented individuals into a flourishing ecosystem. 
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… leaders who want their teams to truly click. This conversation will shift how you think about performance, connection, and culture.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…we tend to believe that if you put talented people together, you'll automatically get a talented team. Daniel challenges that assumption. He says what actually determines whether a group flourishes isn't just individual ability, it's what happens in the space between people. Through real-life examples, Daniel shows the key ingredients to a flourishing team. 
 
Key Takeaways:
Talented individuals do not automatically create high-performing teams.

Status management kills creativity, speed, and collaboration.

The best leaders create space for agency and shared ownership.

Questions build connection faster than answers do. 

Flourishing combines performance with meaning and human energy.

 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Daniel reframes leadership as creating moments where people feel they matter both as individuals and as contributors to something bigger. That simple shift from managing performance to cultivating meaning changes everything.
 
Running Time: 28:26
 
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Daniel's Book: Flourish: The Art of Building Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
 
I'm thrilled to welcome you back to a series I did with my dear friend, Roger Martin. He's the author of the amazing book, Playing to Win. In this episode, we dissect the difference between strategy and planning. 
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…leaders who want to sharpen their thinking and make better strategic choices. If you're responsible for direction, decisions, or results, this conversation will challenge how you think about strategy.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…in this episode, Roger makes the case that real strategy is about making choices and accepting the trade-offs that come with them. He explains why too many organizations avoid hard decisions, how that avoidance weakens execution, and what it actually takes to build a coherent, winning strategy. 
 
Key Takeaways:
Strategy requires making clear, deliberate choices about where to play and how to win.

Avoiding trade-offs leads to diluted focus and mediocre results.

A strong strategy aligns resources, decisions, and behaviors around a single direction.

Leaders must be willing to say no in order to build something truly differentiated.

Execution improves dramatically when strategic choices are clearly understood.

 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Roger's insistence that strategy isn't complicated but it's uncomfortable. The real challenge isn't intelligence or frameworks; it's the willingness to commit to choices and live with the consequences. That reframes leadership in such a practical, grounded way.
 
Running Time: 25:39
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Show Summary on Substack

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
 
I'm thrilled to welcome you back to a series I did with my dear friend, Roger Martin. He's the author of the amazing book, Playing to Win, and together, we're exploring the true meaning of strategy and how it's often misunderstood or misapplied in business today.
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…CEOs, strategy leaders, and executives who want a clearer, more disciplined way to think about strategy. If you've ever questioned whether your strategy is actually driving customer behavior, this episode is for you.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…in this conversation, Roger revisits the most common ways organizations misunderstand strategy and explains why those misunderstandings persist. He walks through what real strategy requires, why execution often fails even when teams are aligned, and how leaders can move beyond planning frameworks to make decisions that actually lead to winning.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS…
Strategy succeeds only when choices reinforce one another and point toward a clear outcome.

Many organizations confuse strategy with planning, which leads to activity without impact.

Customer behavior is the ultimate test of whether a strategy is working.

Poor strategic outcomes are often the result of incomplete or misaligned choices.

Strong strategy requires leaders to be explicit about what they will and will not do.



 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…I love how Roger cuts through the noise and insists that strategy isn't mysterious, it's just demanding. His clarity around choice, discipline, and customer behavior challenges leaders to stop hiding behind complexity and start owning the real decisions required to win.
 
Running Time: 26:59
 
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Show Summary on Substack

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. 
 
This week, I'm excited to welcome Serin Silva to the show. She is a strategic advisor to women founders, CEOs, and leadership teams. She led integration communications for eight acquisitions in a single year at a billion-dollar telecom, helping bring Oracle's first CRM and human capital management platforms to market. She launched the original MSNBC digital brand for Microsoft, and drove strategy for an early food delivery robot long before it was cool. She led five restructures and turnarounds for mid-sized companies, doubled revenue for mid-market tech firms, and delivered 150% business increase in eight months by forcing the right business and mindset pivots, which is why I wanted her to join today. 
 
THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…anyone feeling exhausted by trying to "push" alignment instead of creating it.
 
TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…drawing from her experience leading impressive acquisitions and product launches, Serin explains how leaders can shift from managing "by spreadsheet" to leading with human understanding. She discusses why high achievers often burn themselves out, how asking better questions changes outcomes, and what it really takes to guide people through change without losing momentum or yourself.
 
Key Takeaways:
Leading change works best when leaders prioritize emotional alignment, not just operational efficiency.
Asking better questions requires discipline, curiosity, and a willingness to challenge assumptions respectfully.
Most resistance at work is emotional, even when it shows up as rational debate.
Removing emotion from decision-making frameworks can unlock stalled progress and clarity.
 
WHAT I LOVE MOST…Serin's honesty about learning to temper her fire without losing it. Her insight that growth often comes from separating self-worth from outcomes is a powerful reminder for driven leaders who care deeply about their work.
 
Running Time: 29:20
 
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