Excellence Foresight with Nancy Nouaimeh

AI is getting smarter by the month, but a lot of workplaces still feel stuck and oddly exhausted. We keep hearing about productivity breakthroughs, yet many organizations cannot show enterprise-wide gains even when employees say they work faster with AI. That gap is where leadership, culture, and performance systems get exposed.

I sit down with Ernesto Gomez, founder of Aspen Mindset and author of Regrowth and The Soul Edge,...

Circular economy is dropping worldwide even as sustainability talk is louder than ever and that’s the wake-up call we can’t ignore. We’re consuming more than 100 billion tons of materials a year, yet only a small share loops back into the economy. So what does “circularity” actually mean when you’re running a business, managing risk, and trying to hit net zero targets without getting buried in co...

Answers are everywhere now, but strong leadership is getting harder. When information is abundant, the real advantage shifts to something upstream: the quality of the questions we ask, the connections we make across disciplines, and the humility to admit we do not know yet. I share a reflective, solo perspective on why curiosity may become more valuable than expertise in the years ahead, and how that changes the way we lead, learn,...

The biggest threat to organizational resilience might not be technology disruption or AI at all. It might be the way we think about talent, especially who we decide is “valuable” when change speeds up and trust in leadership gets shaky.

We sit down with executive and career transition coach John Tarnoff to challenge a stubborn workplace myth: that experience slows organizations down. John makes the case that mult...

Pressure does not make an organization better or worse. It exposes what is already there. In this episode I sit down with Gerard Murphy, drawing on decades of policing, safeguarding, crisis leadership, and international security advisory work, to get brutally practical about organizational maturity and excellence under pressure. When the environment turns time critical and reputationally sensitive, do you get clearer or do you get ...

Crisis doesn’t show up as a calendar invite. It seeps into tone, silence, rushed decisions, and the moment your team stops asking hard questions. I’m Nancy Nouaimeh, and I’m speaking directly to leaders navigating disruption not only in markets and systems, but inside themselves. When uncertainty rises, it’s tempting to reach for tighter controls and faster answers. But crisis doesn’t travel through go...

Recognition isn’t a perk; it’s a system signal. We sit down with Kelly Price, founder of ThriveHR, to unpack why so many companies chase “engagement” while skipping the first principle: measure how work truly happens, then align rewards, roles, and routines to that reality. Kelly blends hospitality, psychology, and hard‑won HR experience to show how culture improves when operations and people practices stop ...

Excellence doesn’t live in a slide deck; it shows up when the stakes are high and the ground is unfamiliar. That’s why we invited Mark Monteil, who left a successful manufacturing career to lead in New Caledonia’s mining sector, to unpack what changes when your decisions echo for years and people’s safety depends on your culture. The story starts with a courageous pivot: trading autopilot for responsibility....

Results don’t slip because your strategy is fuzzy. They slip because daily behavior doesn’t match what the strategy demands. We kick off 2026 by drawing a hard line between intent and action and by showing how to design systems that make the right behaviors obvious, repeatable, and resilient under pressure. The heart of the conversation is True North—five non‑negotiable outcomes tied to clear principles—and ...

Change rarely fails because of bad strategy; it fails because execution collides with human reality. We sit down with Julia Moore from the Center for Implementation to unpack how leaders can swap “train and pray” for practical, evidence-informed strategies that people will actually use. From hospitals to schools to public health, Julia shows how to design for behavior, not just broadcast information.

We start by ...

A peloton moves faster than any lone rider, not by heroics but by trust, timing, and the quiet work no one sees. That same dynamic powers great organizations. We sit down with Peter Barnett, director of executive education at the Shingo Institute, to trace how cycling’s paceline, Team Sky's marginal gains, and principle-driven leadership create cultures that endure pressure and win the long game.

Peter shares how small...

What happens when system thinking meets creative entrepreneurship? Jennifer Yeh's remarkable journey offers a masterclass in lean, strategic scaling. In just one year, she grew her photography platform Shoot from $800,000 to $10.1 million with a team of only 4-5 people, all while raising three children as a single mom.

The secret to this extraordinary growth lies in Jennifer's methodical approach to business processes. By me...

What would happen if you gave yourself permission to adapt, create, and lead differently in our disruptive world? 

Jillian Reilly discovered the answer while tackling the world's largest HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe. Amid this immense social challenge, she recognized that while she could provide tools and resources, the one thing she couldn't give people was permission, the internal authorization to change their lives....

What truly separates exceptional organizations from the rest? It's not just about having the right processes or the best talent, it's about creating environments where learning flourishes at every level. Sabrina Malter, a seasoned business coach with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, joins us to explore how bringing learning to life transforms organizations from the inside out.

Sabrina shares the jo...

Dr. Robert Joslin, founder of the Association of International Project Management Officers (AIPMO), joins us for a profound exploration of how Project Management Offices can evolve from administrative functions into strategic drivers of organizational excellence.

From his early days working in his father's electronics workshop to developing frameworks that bridge academic research with practical implementation, Dr. Robert sh...

What makes some organizations excel while others struggle? The answer lies in understanding and implementing a proven framework for organizational excellence.

Dawn Ringrose, principal of Organizational Excellence Specialist Canada, takes us on a fascinating journey through her groundbreaking work on the Global Index for Organizational Excellence. This first-of-its-kind research project has gathered insights from approximatel...

Are you truly ready for change? This question sits at the heart of organizational success. Change readiness separates thriving companies from those merely struggling to keep up.

The statistics tell a compelling story: 73% of organizations anticipate more change initiatives in the coming years, yet an alarming number will fail. Why? Because they're approaching change all wrong. Organizations with change readiness embedded in ...

Why do perfect solutions fail to stick in organizations? The answer lies not in the quality of our problem-solving, but in our ability to create sustainable systems that support long-term success.

In this deep dive into organizational excellence, I unpack the critical difference between systems that look good in documentation and those that actually drive results in the real world. Drawing from the powerful framework of Shin...

Nancy Nouaimeh steps into the guest seat for this powerful Women's Day special, offering a rare glimpse into her journey as a global entrepreneur running companies across Dubai and Dublin.

From her unexpected beginnings sequencing fungal DNA in Belgium to becoming the first Shingo Institute affiliate in the Middle East, Nancy reveals how her career evolution taught her that true excellence isn't a destination—it's a da...