Magic in the Room #9: Fight for the Heart of It

April 13, 2020

While working from home, Luke, Chris, and Hannah discuss disruption and how disrupting the status quo provides an opportunity to fight for what really matters – the heart of it – and to have the courage to have the difficult conversations that make room for productive conflict and growth.

As we face massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a chance to reinvent ourselves and the what we do business. Learn what it means to fight for the heart of it and come out stronger on the other side. Your hosts also share their favorite part of social distancing.

 

Although it has been an incredibly challenging time, your podcast hosts try to take a few positives from the lockdown period. Hannah is enjoying being as introverted as wants without having to feel guilty about it. As a self-confessed people pleaser, Chris admits he is guilty if doing a lot of things that he doesn’t always want to, just because it’s what the other person needs and expects. But the physical constraints have also allowed him to enjoy being an introvert too.

Luke is enjoying breaking free from traditional boring meeting rooms and enjoying the multi-monitor setup that enables him to drift where his mind wants to take him. He shared a moment of serendipity where a simple typo of the phrase talent matrix kept him entertained for hours. But the main topic of this episode is understanding what we mean when we say fighting for the heart of it.

For Chris, the heart of the matter is a belief system that leaders possess, which enables them to follow up. They are committed to those beliefs of what makes a community thrive, and they stand up for everything that makes it work. 

If he’s not advancing his purpose or moving forward, he’s discounting from it. So, when Chris is putting forth the effort, he’s either driving himself and his purpose forward or constraining himself and the purpose he’s looking to achieve. Chris believes, there is no middle ground, and the closer he can live to that binary existence, the better off he feels.

When Luke says fight for the heart of it or fight for the heart of the matter, that’s exactly what he’s talking about. But he also advises that it’s also about courage, vision, and clarity. Hannah also believes that having the courage to pursue your vision and having conversations in the midst of chaos or disruption is invaluable. 

 

It’s also an opportunity to take stock of what is and what isn’t important. Whether it’s the status quo that is changing, changes are thrust upon us, or if we are the ones we’re initiating change, the approach should be the same.

When you’re facing change or disruption, it can quickly become chaotic, and it’s easy to lose sight of why you exist in the first place. But this moment could be seen as the perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of the original vision and its evolution. The big question is, how are we staying true to our purpose? 

After listening to this episode, what lockdown stories and lessons you have learned?

Magic in the Room #200: How to Lead through Polarities

By Sarah Whitfield • May 5, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace that are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success. Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.

Magic in the Room #199: The Power of Mattering

By Sarah Whitfield • April 7, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke Freeman, Hannah Bratterud, and Chris Province dive into the concept of “mattering,” inspired by Zach Mercurio’s work, and explore why it is a foundational driver of engagement, performance, and culture in organizations. They challenge leaders to move beyond assuming people matter to actively ensuring individuals feel that they matter by being valued and by contributing value to a shared purpose. The conversation highlights how mattering differs from belonging, why it cannot be replaced by perks or efficiency, and how leadership behaviors like attention, recognition, and presence directly shape whether people feel seen, heard, and understood. Through examples ranging from workplace dynamics to broader societal trends like social disconnection, they argue that disengagement, conflict, and even poor performance are symptoms of a mattering deficit. Ultimately, they position mattering not as a soft concept, but as a measurable, actionable leadership responsibility that underpins trust, resilience, and long-term success.
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