Season 2 Episode 3: The Architecture of Work | Anant Shukla | Leading a Team People Join to Learn

What does it actually take to lead people well? Most of us learn it the hard way, usually after we've been promoted for being good at something else. In this episode of The Architecture of Work, I sit down with Dr. Anant Shukla, someone I've known for more than twenty years. Anant is the Managing Director of Ambidience Global, a company working on energy, climate and gender that he built from scratch less than three years ago. Before that he spent two decades with the United Nations Environment Programme, GIZ and EESL, working with governments and teams across India, Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe. We talk about the parts of work nobody puts in a job description. In this episode: • What a direct Indian with a German boss had to learn in Indonesia, where you sometimes need a friendship before someone's "yes" means yes • Why he spends six months to a year planning a three-year project, and how being open early saves months later • How his team grew from four people to twelve in nine months, with some joining because they wanted to learn • Why, when someone isn't working out, he tries them in a different role before letting them go • The power plant he installed inside a working trauma centre in Delhi, and why the hardest part was earning the trust of the man who ran it • Why a twelve-person remote team is already putting POSH and HR policies in place before it needs them • How his idea of success moved from "I" to "we" If you manage people, or you've ever watched the most qualified person in the room struggle to get anything done, this one is for you. About The Architecture of Work The Architecture of Work is a segment of Relationship Ironies of the World We Live In. I talk to leaders about the relationships underneath how a workplace runs: how people build trust, hire, disagree, grow and sometimes leave. Years in HR and my work now as a relationship coach and corporate trainer have shown me that the patterns that break teams are usually the same ones that break relationships at home. These conversations are where I look at them up close. New episodes every Friday. Connect with Anant LinkedIn:   / dranantshukla   X (Twitter): https://x.com/Anant_Shukla Ambidience Global: https://www.ambidience.com Ambidience Global on LinkedIn:   / ambidienceglobal   Ambidience on Instagram:   / ambidience   Ambidience Foundation: https://www.ambidience.org Ambidience Foundation on LinkedIn:   / ambidiencefoundation   Connect with Swati www.coachswatimukherjee.com