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Today, we chat with the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Navalent, Ron Carucci. Navalent is a consulting firm that offers executive coaching and consulting for senior leaders to solve organizational problems at the source. Ron’s 30-plus years of experience in helping executives with transformational change at their organizations has seen him become a juggernaut in the field, and a prolific author as well! 

Ron walks us through his early days of studying performing arts and the unlikely journey that led to his current role. He explains why he chose to get into behavioral psychology, why he decided that corporate wasn’t for him anymore, what we can all learn from his latest written offering, To Be Honest, along with his thoughts on why leaders need to be more deliberate in seeking and accepting honest feedback.

We wrap up this intriguing conversation by exploring the moral dilemma of working with organizations that are not geared toward sustainability, before Ron gets real about his involvement with White Men for Racial Justice and how this community has influenced his work and life as a whole. To hear all about redesigning leadership and culture for organizational growth, seeking racial justice, and so much more, be sure to tune in!

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Key Points From This Episode:

•   Introducing Ron Carucci as he talks us through his career up until his current role. [02:45]

•   The ins and outs behind his decision to dive into behavioral psychology. [04:55]

•   Why he chose to leave the corporate sphere and venture out on his own. [07:11]

•   The organizational work that he was primarily focused on earlier in his career. [09:29]

•   Key takeaways from Ron’s latest book, To Be Honest. [10:03]

•   How businesses can eradicate the culture of being nice over giving honest feedback. [17:40]

•   The way Ron deals with the moral dilemma of working with non-green organizations. [23:56]

•   How and why he became a member of White Men for Racial Justice (WMRJ). [26:39]

•   A peek into how his involvement in WMRJ influences his work and life. [30:13]

•   Where you can go to learn more about Ron’s work. [40:12]

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Quotes:

“To not lose hope in humanity, I have to constantly keep myself in front of stories that remind me that there are good people in the world; there are good leaders in the world — it’s a conscious effort every day to choose hope.” — @RonCarucci [02:31]

“Telling great stories is very interesting, but engaging people on their story — that will never get boring.” — @RonCarucci [04:59]

“I realized: the same behavior that gets me into a little hot water inside companies, gets me paid a lot of money outside companies. I accepted the fact that if I was going to embrace and live out my passion for organizations — it was going to have to be by not being part of one.” — @RonCarucci [07:21] 

“I tell leaders all the time: If you don’t have someone coming into your office, at least one or twice a week, telling you something that makes you uncomfortable, [then] you can be very confident [that] your leadership sucks.” — @RonCarucci [22:34]

“When I was ready to justify my visit, she said, ‘Hi sir, welcome in’ and she ushered me along. Why didn’t I have to qualify myself?  — this wash of squeamishness and oldness and sweating came over me as I realized what had happened —  his skin color was different than mine.” — @RonCarucci [27:35]

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Ron Carucci on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roncarucci/

Ron Carucci on X: https://twitter.com/RonCarucci

Navalent: https://www.navalent.com/

To Be Honest: https://tobehonest.net/

Rising to Power: https://bookshop.org/p/books/rising-to-power-the-journey-of-exceptional-executives-ron-a-carucci/12410336

White Men for Racial Justice: https://www.wmrj.org/

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