#27 Creating a Better Future Through More Wisdom with Dr Bruce Lloyd

Discover how a kid who dreamt of being a motor racing driver became an academic, helping PhD students to develop a broader view of life whilst researching their subjects.

Dr Bruce Lloyd, Emeritus Professor in Strategic Management, London South Bank University has spent over 20 years in industry and finance before joining the academic world to help establish the Management Centre at what is now London South Bank University.

Bruce has written extensively on a wide range of strategy and futures-related issues. He was also the UK coordinator for 'The Millennium Project' 1999-2005 and has been active in the 'Futures industry'.

In true academic, Bruce has been so generous in sharing his wisdom during our interview that I am creating two episodes from our conversation. This first part is almost a masterclass in strategy and how to think about the Future as well as some great personal insights.

In our conversation, Bruce shares how he unexpectedly landed in the academic world as a professor of strategy and supervising PhDs and how he got involved in Future Studies. He explains the relationship as well as the difference between Strategy and Futures Studies and why we are better off with forecasting even if it’s not an exact science.

He tells how teaching in academic world was the most rewarding part of his whole career but also how the administrative side can feel very pressurised as he now enjoys his semi-retirement and doing what he wants rather than following other people’s agenda!

Bruce reveals the connection between leadership, wisdom, knowledge, management and organisation performance as well as how he finds himself studying wisdom. He also shares why values are becoming increasingly important in this world and explains the logical link between data, information, knowledge and wisdom.

He tells us how the quality of conversation in organisations is critical in determining the quality of the decisions taken and why we should be okay to take decision based on imperfect information.

Bruce also explains why we should rehabilitate the word ‘leadership’ and not use it interchangeably for psychopathic, megalomaniacs and dictators. He highlights the distinction between authenticity and empathy and why it’s crucial to make that distinction and enlightens us about the danger of authenticity without values. He reveals how lack of trust in our society comes from people perceiving that there is a lack of fairness in the process of decision making.

Bruce believes that in the face of actual rapid changes, it’s important to have effective learning processes to make sure that change equal progress.

Listen to this rich conversation now. The show notes and references of the show are available go to www.francinebeleyi.com/podcast 

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