“The unique power of purpose is to elicit the extraordinary.”
– Joel Marc Podolny, Dean of Apple University –
Xtra-Ordinary was birthed by Dr Nadine Mayers in 2016.
The Story of Xtra-Ordinary in Nadine’s words
“During a conference on purpose at London Business School in 2016, I was deeply touched by a simple statement made by Joel Podolny, Dean of Apple University: ‘The unique power of purpose is to elicit the extraordinary.’
I had been embedded in the sustainability camp for 6 years… but I often struggled with the idea of aiming for sustainability. Thinking about my own life… I could not image a life, a marriage, a job or a relationship that was merely sustainable… it had to be more!
Although I am in total support of the sustainability movement, and value all the research and all the people who champion its noble cause… I kept searching and straddling between paradox, identity, ambidexterity and sustainability to find my tribe. I found incredible value in each academic camp… but my playing ground was not in academia or in practice – it was in both! What excited me was the effective translation of research into practice in an impactful manner. I wanted to engage leaders and teams on a different level and give them hope and tools for something etraordinary.
Until I heard Joel speak, I had not heard anyone else articulate the power of purpose so clearly. Yes! This was ‘home’… purpose is a springboard for the extraordinary! On the journey home from London, I started Xtra-Ordinary – an organisation that helps individuals, teams and organisations elicit extraordinary behaviour and outcomes through the power of purpose.”
What does Xtra-Ordinary do?
Xtra-Ordinary focuses primarily on strategy consulting and leadership development. The consulting arm focuses on taking organisations and teams on a purpose journey. Previous clients attest to significant value in the journey in many areas, including enhanced employee engagement and better team dynamics, cultural transformation, team health, strategic direction, alignment and integration. See more of the approach on the XO fundamentals page.
The leadership development programme challenges and teachers leaders to become courageous leaders. The primary training tool is courageous leadership workshops, based on the Dare to Lead™ curriculum and research of Dr Brené Brown. The training challenges taken-for-granted assumption about how we lead and gives participants new ways of thinking, language and skills to lead from a place of courage, rather than armour. See more on the Courageous Leadership page.