The Power of Agency: Unleashing autonomy with Fred Miller

Learn how to build a high-performance culture by giving people genuine agency, closing the gap between leaders and their teams, and driving change that actually sticks.Most organisations underutilise their people. Not because the talent is not there, but because the systems, structures, and leadership behaviours make it difficult for people to bring their best thinking to work. Fred Miller, CEO of Kaleel Jameson Consulting Group and co-author of The Power of Agency, has spent 53 years helping leaders change that.​The episode covers three interlocking challenges: how to lead change without losing people's trust, how to build real agency rather than just empowering people on paper, and how to close the visibility gap between senior leaders and the teams they lead. Fred's experience spans organisations from Toyota to the City of San Diego, and his examples are specific, practical, and directly applicable.​He also addresses the generational shift in workforce expectations, the difference between superficial and structural change, and why diversity of thinking is not a values exercise but a competitive necessity.CHAPTERS00:00:00: Introduction and Fred's background00:03:00: The Apple lesson: when to push back on a client00:07:00: Contracting for honesty early in a leadership relationship00:10:00: How to lead complex organisational change00:15:00: Building trust before launching a change programme00:20:00: Agency versus empowerment: what leaders get wrong00:25:00: What it takes to run a highly successful organisation00:29:00: Generational expectations and retaining young talent00:36:00: Diversity of thinking as a competitive advantageRESOURCES MENTIONEDNThe Power of Agency by Fred Miller and Judith Katz: Fred's latest book on cultivating autonomy, authority, and leadership at every level of an organisation. Available via kjcg.com.​GUEST BIOGRAPHYFred Miller is CEO of Kaleel Jameson Consulting Group and one of the foremost practitioners in strategic culture change and inclusion, with over 53 years of experience. He is co-author of seven books including The Inclusion Breakthrough and The Power of Agency. He has been named one of the 40 Pioneers of Diversity by Profiles in Diversity Journal and is a recipient of the OD Network Lifetime Achievement Award.Connect with Fred:Website: kjcg.comEmail: [email protected]. Editing my podcast used to be the most time-consuming part of my week. I now use Descript to edit my audio and video by simply deleting words from a transcript. It allows me to create my YouTube Shorts and TikTok clips in a fraction of the time.If you want to try it for your own projects, you can sign up here: https://get.descript.com/LevelUpUsing this link costs you nothing extra, but the small commission I receive helps support the work I do on my podcast and articles. Paid plans start at around £12 / $16 per month (billed annually) for the Hobbyist tier.Music, jingles, and images - attribution.Podcast Background Track: https://pixabay.com/users/poorartistt-45918667/Guitar Jingle: https://pixabay.com/music/introoutro-guitar-intro-ident-151972/Swoosh Sound Effect: https://pixabay.com/users/universfield-28281460/Images: https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation/ & https://www.perplexity.ai/Background: https://pixabay.com/users/tommyvideo-3092371/Thank you for watching/ listening.Follow LevelUp!https://www.levelupleadership.uk/Disclaimer.LevelUp and the podcast host do not endorse, verify, or take responsibility for any products, services, views, or claims presented by guests during podcast episodes. Any opinions or statements made by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of LevelUp or its representatives.© 2025 LevelUp.This episode is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/