The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups 

by Daniel Coyle

Review by Michelle Telling

Every couple of months or so I venture south on the train from Bedford into London and meet up with an inspiring group of Kiwi women enjoying coffee, brunch (@ Ozone Coffee Roasters), and a lively chat about a book. The book we read, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle, was really well received and everyone was clearly engaged by it with loads of positive discussion.

For me, the book can be summed up with these five words and some quotes taken direct from the book:

• Safety – ‘safety is not mere emotional weather but rather the foundation on which strong culture is built’.
• Belonging – ‘belonging cues have to do not with character or discipline but with building an environment that answers basic questions: Are we connected? Do we share a future?
• Listening – ‘the most effective listeners behave like trampolines, they aren’t passive sponges but active responders’.
• Thank-you – ‘thank-yous aren’t only expressions of gratitude; they’re crucial belonging cues that generate a contagious sense of safety, connection, and motivation’.
• Vulnerability – ‘vulnerability is less about the sender than the receiver…a shared exchange of openness, it’s the most basic building block of cooperation and trust…the vulnerability loop is contagious’.

Helen Clark – the Future of Leadership
By Julia Hitchcock

The ‘Future of Leadership’ was the overarching theme for NZBWN’s intimate dinner event with Helen Clark at the lovely Modern Pantry.

Helen spoke to a room filled of NZBWN members as part of a celebration of our successful mentoring programme.
This included current mentees on our leadership group, previous mentees from the last few years, current mentors and guest speakers, industry and community leaders and our mentoring programme team.

The evening began with each table discussing their respective leadership-focused questions covering diversity, support, challenges, examples, sources of inspiration... and the rest!

Helen then spoke to the attendees on leadership in the political and corporate world as it stands and the evolution of these throughout her career. She spoke both about the positive change that she has seen concerning females in leading roles and the obstacles that are yet to be overcome.

Helen answered questions regarding where she finds support herself, her role models and what she deems as the Future of leadership going forward.

The night concluded with each table reporting back on their assigned topics with insights into real world examples of role models, constructive leadership traits and how women can support each other to both shape and continue to be the leaders of the future.

The event was an amazing success and a memorable night for all!
Helen is truly tuned in with the economic and political worlds and her perspective on the evening’s topic was hugely inspiring.

The golden nugget of the evening was Helen’s clear message that all of us in the room needed to help women up the ladder from behind and this could be as easy as a few words of support.

Thinking, Fast and Slow, written by Daniel Kahneman
Book review by Liz Hargreaves

NZ Business Women’s Network Book Club (Business Book Brunch) met on Saturday 16^th February at the Ozone Coffee Roasters in Leonard Street, London. Rachael and Kirsty provided a warm welcome in the funky ‘boardroom’, set the scene for easy sharing and ensured the smooth running of our discussion around the book of the month;

Thinking, Fast and Slow, written by Daniel Kahneman, psychologist and economist, Senior Scholar, Emeritus Professor and awarded a Nobel Prize.

We were immediately engaged, ready to learn, yet the early theme was we generally found Thinking, Fast and Slow to be a challenging read. Off to a slow start we were able to take a ‘deep breath’ thanks to the arrival of our delicious brunch, scrumptious coffee and tea, then we all set back to it… and the inspired conversation started to flow.

This book is the result of many years of research of two friends who are and were arguably two of the world’s brightest psychologists. The Author aims to give us a language for thinking and talking about the mind. He journeys us through Thinking, Fast and Slow by breaking it into five parts,

Part 1 – presents System 1 and System 2, an approach to judgement and choice,

Part 2 – updates the study of judgement heuristics – we take shortcuts which prevent us from seeing the full picture