Unshakeable Influence Podcast: Recent Episodes
Daniel Kimble
Daniel Kimble, author of "Unshakeable Influence", executive coach, and CEO of Resonance Executive Coaching talks about mastering the inner game of leadership and coaching executives and teams to become the best versions of themselves.
Julie Garlikov, Chief Commercial Officer of Sherlock Biosciences that is responsible for driving commercial strategy, product innovation and go to market plans to bring novel diagnostic products to the consumer market.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:40)
- What did your transition look like that led you to this company? (02:54)
- You have an atypical background for what you do. What is your background and how do you think it serves in your current role? (05:37)
- How do you approach leadership? (07:15)
- How do you lead now in terms of the VUCA nature of the world today? (15:33)
- How do you support your people be successful and to be more resilient? (16:56)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (19:36)
- What are your style and tips to help others to do their best work? (33:30)
- What are some of your biggest challenges in your leadership journey? (35:05)
- How do you navigate disappointment? (36:42)
- How do you do your best as far as keeping yourself ready for a potential disruption in the market place? (40:29)
- What do you do to help yourself recharge and rejuvenate to stay on top of your game? (44:06)
- What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (46:16)
Kendall Holbrook, Chief Executive Officer of Dev Technology Group, Inc. Dev Technology is an information technology services company delivering mission-critical applications and systems that protect and serve American citizens.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
· Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:39)
· Where did you start your career and how did you get to where you at today? (03:50)
· How did you know if you were ready to make the transistion from Business Development to CEO? (10:05)
· How did you make the transition and get the right person in place to cover your role? (15:21)
· What are the challenges you face now today after 5 years as CEO? (18:24)
· What do you and Dev Technology do to help attract and retain and get the most out of the people that you have? (20:16)
· How do you describe your true north as a leader?(21:52)
· How do you make sure that your organization and yourself follow the organization’s stated values? (24:01)
· What do you do to do to make sure you have the highest functioning team? (35:35)
· What are you trying to be as the role model to people? (46:11)
· What do you do to help yourself recharge and rejuvenate and be at your best day-in and day-out? (49:00)
What is one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (50:13)
Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO of SpringBig, Inc. Springbig is the leading provider of CRM and loyalty marketing solutions for cannabis dispensaries and brands.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:43) • Can you tell us how you handle the growth, attract the right people, fill the right roles while maintaining the organization’s culture? (09:49) • How do you describe your culture and how has it changed over time? (12:11) • What are some of the challenges you have faced along the way? (15:25) • How would you describe your true north as a leader? (17:20) • What do you do to make sure your employees are happy and satisfied consistently? (19:36) • What are your thoughts about the impact of VUCA on leadership, teamwork, and culture and what steps are you taking to lead in today’s world? (25:09) • What’s been your experience as you’ve change from private company to public company? (42:58) • What do you do to help yourself recharge and rejuvenate to stay on top of your game? (45:42) • What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (50:33)
John Holly, Chairman, CEO and President of Davidson Technologies Inc. For 25 years, Davidson has distinguished itself in the aerospace and missile defense industries with an outstanding reputation for excellence.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) • What was your experience of leadership development within the army? (05:30) • What is your true north as a leader? (15:10) • What are some specific examples you might share about how you help the organization as far as the culture and leadership goes? (16:50) • What did you learn in the military and how did you apply that to the VUCA World today? (21:40) • How do you do your best to navigate disagreements within your team? (27:55) • What are some of your biggest challenges along your leadership journey? (31:13) • How did you know that it make sense to fire and find a team that was going to look for the right solution and accept the deadline? (39:03) • What do you do to stay on the top of your game? (47:33) • What’s one key piece of advice you can share with our listeners? (49:08)
Clint Rusch is passionate about helping his teams achieve breakthrough success, often in areas they didn't realize were possible. NorthPoint Logistics is a values-focused full-service international freight forwarder, customs broker, and domestic freight broker. It offers logistics management services and systems which centralize provider networks, automate shipment planning and tracking, and provide world-class service and expertise to help their clients navigate the uncertain waters of supply chains around the world.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) • What has the growth curve of the company looked like? (02:18) • How do you create a company and culture that was well prepared to succeed in the chaos of COVID? (05:37) • Why did you choose Northpoint and why at this point of the time? (09:10) • How do you do your best to assess, ahead of time, that the culture was everything you thought it was before accepting the CEO role? (11:43) • How would you describe your true north as a leader? (13:40) • How do you translate consistent day to day operations? (17:48) • What does psychological safety means to you? (20:53) • What inspired you to join the army and how was it a formative experience for you? (27:03) • What did you learn about leadership in the Army that you use in your day-to-day now? (30:37) • How do you make sure that amongst your team and organization you have clarity around communication and shared understanding? (42:37) • What do you do that to keep yourself at the top of your game? (54:01) • What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (01:00:13)
Tommy Mello, CEO and Founder of A1 Garage Door Service Inc. As every entrepreneur, Tommy started out by doing everything himself from sales and marketing to accounting and hiring. But along the way, he learned that he didn’t need to work 14-hour shifts and sacrifice his family and friends to get his business to where he wanted it to be.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:44) • What inspired you to put extra effort and extra time to get you where you at today? (03:44) • What sets you apart from other players in your industry? (05:33) • What inspired you to invest in your people so much? (07:54) • When and why did you start the path of continuous learning? (10:04) • How would you describe your true north as a leader? (15:30) • What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (23:42) • What led you to consider private equity investment and partnership? (34:03) • With your private equity investment considerations, how did you know that it was a good fit to partner with this private equity firm? (39:47) • What one key piece of advice do you have for our listeners? (41:58)
Krish Chopra, CEO/Co-Founder of NPHub. NPHub’s primary focus is to automate and streamline the clinical rotation process required for Nurse Practitioner students to graduate.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:49) • What was your motivation to start a company? (07:56) • How would you describe your true north as a leader? (12:08) • How do you keep your organization heading the right direction as far as living and speaking the company values? (16:12) • How do you make sure people feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work? (20:22) • What have been the major inflection points along your company’sgrowth curve? (35:09) • What do you see in the next 3 to 5 years as far as the company and the growth curve? (40:09) • What have been some of your learning points and challenges along the way? (42:02) • What do you do to stay in top of the game? (52:07) • What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (54:51)
Christopher Marentis, Chief Executive Officer of Surefire Local. Chris is a technology entrepreneur and business leader on a mission to help small businesses leverage the power of digital transformation. As the founder and CEO of Surefire Local, he has focused the company’s efforts to build powerful marketing solutions that give small businesses cost-effective, easy-to-use tools only available to the big guys. The motivation for Surefire Local was born out of Chris’s background in a multigenerational small business home.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) • What led you to be more of an innovative person? (06:14) • What inspire you to start your company? (12:20) • What inspired you for writing your book? (17:40) • What is it that you’re doing that is different and unique versus some of your competitors? (22:09) • What are the five core values of your company and how do you do your best as a leader to keep the culture on track? (25:05) • What steps do you take as a leader to make sure that these values are consistently lived into each day? (34:08) • What is your true north as a leader? (42:52) • What do you do to keep yourself rejuvenated and at your best? (45:15) • What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (46:19)
Daniel Kenary, Co-Founder & CEO of Mass. Bay Brewing Company, Inc. Daniel is passionate about their company and beer, and they work each day to create great beer drinking experiences.
Here are some key moments from our conversation: • Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) • What inspired you to start a beer business? (02:50) • For the first few years imagining probably with a lot of challenges, what was it like for the first three to five years? (08:17) • What do you think has changed overtime in your industry? (10:01) • As your company is now in a massive industry, what is your perspective on that? (13:23) • As a leader when you’re leading the company, what did you consider to support the business as it continues to grow? (15:03) • What are your visions for the company? (22:23) • How do you do your best to make sure the culture is consistent and people are doing the right thing all the time? (28:11) • What do you do to help the company do their best in hiring? (30:45) • How would you describe your true north and key values as a leader? (38:50) • What key piece of advice you can share for listener’s takeaway? (42:26)
Michelle Johnson is an Author, Racial Equity Educator, Yoga Teacher and Practitioner. She has years of experience facilitating various workshops, immersions, and retreats focused on dismantling racism, processing individual and collective grief, healing the collective, and working with people and groups who have experienced trauma. Michelle is the author of three books, with a fourth upcoming in 2023.
Here are some key moments from our conversation: • Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:57) • How you got started on this path and what are some of the inflection points along your journey? (02:55) • What is the common thread that runs through everything that you do? (07:17) • How did you cultivate your style of leading people? (21:15) • Do you agree that there is a certain level of dance and sometimes when facilitating you are not going to have the impact you are aiming for? (29:15) • What does it look like for you in cultivating and being in touch with your inner guidance? (31:14) • What advice might you have for people who still figuring out how to get in touch with themselves? (35:37) • What would you say to people who might want to improve their capacity to be with their own emotions more effectively? (52:27) • What are you focusing on as far as your next level of growth and impact to the world? (54:50) • What is one key piece of advice for the listeners on consistently becoming and being the best version of themselves? (1:00:06)
Lucas James Talent Partners is an On-Demand Talent Acquisition Services firm focused on providing clients a high quality, cost-effective, variable, and transparent talent acquisition experience. The most efficient, cost-effective way to perform talent acquisition activities is in-house - and they give their client partners a solution to help expand their internal offerings on an as-needed, cost friendly basis.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:43)
- How did you come up with your unique ways of addressing clients recruiting challenges? (03:49)
- What do you think is the reason why companies don’t invest more on talent acquisition? (11:10)
- What has your company’s growth curve been like, and the success factors and challenges you have seen along the way? (13:03)
- How would you describe your north star as a leader? (19:30)
- How would you characterize the culture of the organization now? (21:11)
- What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (43:10)
- What key piece of advice for people listening can you share? (44:59)
Patrick Dennis is the Chief Executive Officer of ExtraHop. Working alongside a world-class executive team and a seasoned board of directors, Patrick is responsible for driving company-wide strategy and priorities with a focus on customer success, innovation, and rapid, scalable growth.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41)
- What drew you to this role? (02:27)
- Did you think maybe someday you will be a CEO? (06:38)
- How was your journey and transition into your first CEO role? (09:52)
- How do you go about making the best hiring decisions? (15:01)
- What do you do to get the best out of the organization’s people? (19:27)
- How do you describe your true north as a leader? (25:51)
- What is your practice about how you as a leader encourage and enforce accountability within your organization? (30:00)
- What are some of your biggest challenges as a leader and how you overcome them? (33:10)
- How did you know that you have enough confidence for your first CEO role? (38:57)
- What do you do to make sure you are getting quality feedback including feedback that might be difficult to hear? (43:33)
- What do you do to recharge? (47:32)
- One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners? (50:15)
Dan Fantasia, CEO & Co Founder of Treeline. It was founded in 2001 and is known for helping companies hire elite sales professionals in 30 days or less. Thousands of clients and tens of thousands of sales athletes have turned to Treeline to reach new altitudes.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41)
- What is different and unique about how Treeline solves problems for clients? (02:00)
- What are the core values of Treeline’s culture? (08:20)
- Leaders are free to make mistakes. (11:37)
- Why was company culture a motivating factor to start your company?(13:15)
- Through the growth your company has experienced over the years, how do you keep the culture going to the direction you wanted it to go? (16:36)
- What have you done over the years to help the company and individuals improve one step at a time? (20:56)
- What do you do to be the better version of yourself? (25:20)
- One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners. (30:35)
David Berman, Co-Founder & CEO of Berman McAleer. David established Berman Financial Group in 1999 and realized his professional dream of partnering with his best friend in 2002 to form Berman McAleer. As CEO, he set the company’s strategic direction and chairs the executive committee.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41)
- How does your unusual incentive structure provide better service to clients? (04:33)
- Value system that creates more fulfillment for employees and clients. (11:58)
- Three core values of the organization (13:07)
- How do you work with clients to help them get clear about what money really means to them? (18:43)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (24:53)
- How long have you been working with a coach and what benefits have you experienced? (33:24)
- What is it that will make you happy if it’s not just achievements or accomplishments? (38:59)
- What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (40:46)
- One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners. (41:49)
Aliyah Nance, VP of People at Paystand. Aliyah is an experienced Finance and HR Professional with a demonstrated history of working with high growth startups. She is a strong accounting professional skilled in Negotiation, Budgeting, Business Planning, Strategy, Team Building and Customer Service.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:39)
- How did you make the transition to VP of People when you didn’t come from that background? (03:22)
- What led you to be more people focused? (06:59)
- People drive the company more than anything else (08:05)
- What was the transition like as you accepted the role of full time VP of People? (09:26)
- How did Paystand successfully open their offices just two months after the pandemic started? And why? (12:35)
- What are your key values as a leader? (15:54)
- How do you do your best to hire the right people? (17:43)
- How do you lead by example and embody the leadership values? (18:54)
- How do you keep your company culture growing in the direction you want it to grow? (20:38)
- What were your key challenges along the way and what did you learn from them? (22:18)
- How do you recharge and rejuvenate? (27:04)
- One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners. (29:15)
Mike Zani, CEO of The Predictive Index. They develop systems and methodologies for talent optimization, and bring that discipline through a platform and the world’s largest network of talent optimization consultants. Mike helps leaders intentionally and strategically designs great teams and a successful culture.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:44)
- How has your company changed and grown over time and how do you manage that change and growth? (08:38)
- For you, what is a great teacher or coach? (12:50)
- What is your true north as a leader and how does it translate to your day to day behavior and how you lead? (16:16)
- What is your experience as far as the importance of consistency in your leadership conversations? (23:23)
- What predictive index does? (25:52)
- How can people engage with your tool and services? (28:21)
- What are some of your biggest challenges along the way and what have you learned from them? (29:54)
- Overlaps in leadership journey and personal growth. (34:20)
- Share something about your book. (36:59)
- What do you do to keep yourself at the top of your game? (39:09)
- One key piece of advice you want to share base from your experience? (40:35)
Alec Ford, Chief Executive Officer of Karius that envisions a world where infectious disease is no longer a major threat to human health. To achieve this, the Karius Test uses genomics and AI to map a patient’s microbial landscape from a single blood sample to enable clinicians to make rapid treatment decisions.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:40)
- What’s the typical process to identify infections? (04:23)
- How Karius improves outcome as the test is more holistic and timeliness of results is much more immediate (07:43)
- What drew you to this industry and what keeps you going? (08:52)
- Whatever you are trying to do, you should overestimate what is required and go above and beyond expectations. (17:58)
- Your career progression over the years. (20:30)
- How’s the current transition in your career going for you? (28:10)
- How did your vision change over time? (30:50)
- The more investment you’re willing to make, the more confident you become. (38:43)
- How do you recharge and rejuvenate? (47:58)
- One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners? (51:50)
- How do you maximize the chances of people to feel comfortable? (55:13)
- Any final or closing thoughts for the audience. (1:01:47)
Alex Frommeyer, CEO and Co-Founder of Beam Benefits. Beam Benefits simplifies and modernizes employee benefits through their intuitive digital platform, self-service tools, AI-powered underwriting, and unique Beam Perks™ program. Beam Benefits delivers a simple, smart, and wellness-focused experience for brokers, employers, and members that include dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:43)
- What inspired you and your partners to start a business? (04:25)
- Why were you so clear at a relatively young age, the three of you wanted to partner and form a business together? (06:17)
- What are you doing to digitize and help your clients more effectively? (11:45)
- For 10 years now since you started, what’s the growth curve been like? (17:42)
- We deliberately took smoother and more linear path to make sure we didn’t grow too quickly. (19:56)
- What were the stepping stones along the way? (20:55)
- How do you describe your True North - key values as a leader? (23:16)
- How do you manage the company’s rapid growth curve? (29:03)
- Leadership growth is willingness to take feedback. (30:05)
- Why are you so clear about being laser focusd on your company culture? (34:35)
- How you keep your self going and high energy? (43:55)
- One key piece of advice you want to share to our listeners? (47:15)
Lalith Subramanian, Vice President, Product Development of DocuSign. Lalith has deep expertise in information security(endpoint, forensics, eDiscovery), data governance, AI/ML, BPM/data integration, content management, ERP, regulated vertical solutions (Healthcare, Pharma/Lifesciences, Fin.Svcs) and with proven success in building and leading distributed product management and engineering teams and managing global customer relationships.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:44)
- With your first leadership role, what was the transition like for you and how did you grow through that? (03:39)
- To deliver success, it’s about the combine output rather than individual output. (10:01)
- How do you navigate of letting go of the details of technology and then embracing more of your leadership ability? (10:50)
- How did you describe your true north as a leader and your key values as a leader? (13:26)
- What were the significant inflection points along your career progression and what did you learn from them? (18:55)
- Adaptation of your leadership style to accommodate cultural sensitivity was an important thing. (24:30)
- What key mentor have you experience in your career and how did that person impact you? (28:53)
- What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (31:41)
- One key piece of advice in leadership for people. (34:14)
DeLinda Forsythe, CEO & Founder of Innovative Commercial Environments (ICE). ICE focuses on developing the most creative office and hospitality spaces in San Diego - Creating Spaces to Transcend the Ordinary.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:40)
- What was the inspiration for you to launch a different way of approaching commercial furniture and office spaces? (04:50)
- In your experience, how do leadership, soft skills and mentorship translate to financial results? (07:42)
- Employees and clients value us as much as we value them. (10:50)
- Changing the conversation to being about the best value/ROI vs. just the best price. (24:04)
- What are some of the leadership challenges you have faced along the way and how did you overcome them? (25:41)
- What’s next for you and what does it look like? (32:27)
- One key piece of advice in leadership for people listening. (38:40)
Krista Snelling, President and CEO of Santa Cruz County Bank that focus on developing long-term relationships, providing responsive customer service, problem-solving, and direct access to decision makers. Since opening in February of 2004, Santa Cruz County Bank has made a commitment to be an environmentally aware and conscientious business.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:45)
- Where you started in your career and where you landed now? (04:45)
- What did you love about your job and how did you know you love it when you’re in it? (09:50)
- How to deal with people? (10:52)
- How would you describe your leadership and style? (15:24)
- Bond and make a connection with people. (20:11)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (21:00)
- Transition that you made both in new company and as a first time CEO. (27:54)
- What was your strategy coming in to make that transition? (32:45)
- How did you prioritize where to start? (36:54)
- Some of the challenges you faced along the way? (41:18)
- One of the biggest challenges senior leaders face. (47:57)
- What helps you rejuvenate? (53:43)
- One key piece of advice to the listeners. (54:43)
Joseph Perekupka, Chief Executive Officer of Freespira, Inc. Joseph is a Commercial Leader and Executive with broad experience in all aspects of launching start-up companies and med-tech products. He demonstrated success in Digital Health and Medical Devices across the spectrum of critical facets of the business, including: sales, marketing, operations, contracting and P&L management.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41)
- Approach to the challenges in healthcare system. (09:04)
- Your journey as a leader, where did you start and how did you end up here? (16:00)
- Opportunities to increase the impact of the product. (23:40)
- How do we get to these patients and remove the obstacles that they see in terms their ability to get care? (24:2)
- With change comes opportunity. (27:15)
- The rest of your journey in leaving and getting back again in Freespira. (27:45)
- What else did you do in being intentional about making this transition? (32:10)
- How do you describe your true north as a leader? (34:32)
- What have been some of your challenges in your career and how did you overcome it? (41:35)
- What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (50:26)
- Parenthood and leadership. (55:00)
- One key thing about leadership? (58:36)
Laura Franco, a Partner of Winston & Strawn LLP. Laura is a member of Winston & Strawn's Videogame, Gaming and Esports Group dedicated to providing comprehensive legal solutions to companies in these industries. She has extensive experience representing global companies in trademark, copyright, patent, unfair competition, false advertising and domain name litigation, in federal and state courts, and the TTAB.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:43)
- Advice to your clients as brand protection goes. (02:48)
- What makes Winston & Strawn such a good culture? (06:23)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (15:53)
- The importance of personal connection with our team members. (17:29)
- Support for all levels of staff in the company. (19:20)
- Be transparent and forthcoming about my mistakes as a leader. (20:18)
- What are your biggest challenges in your career and how do you overcome them and learn from them? (24:13)
- What is your advice to your younger self? (27:08)
- What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (35:00)
- What key piece of advice you have for people listening to focus on as leaders? (36:11)
- How did it impact you not having female role models? (40:19)
- Any final or closing thoughts for the audience? (45:20)
Ankit Mahadevia, Co-Founder and CEO for Spero Therapeutics. Ankit focused on novel treatments for Gram Negative infections. He built team responsible for 11 approved antibacterial drugs and raised $97M in private capital across Seed through Series C crossover round to enable construction of multi program late stage infectious disease pipeline and he leads program that achieved positive Phase III outcome in single pivotal trial required for US approval.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:43)
- What inspired you to write a book? (01:38)
- Introverts can be great leaders. (05:48)
- Being transparent and believing in something bigger than you are. (08:43)
- What’s your take on introvert leadership? (09:09)
- How do you help yourself to get the space you need to recharge after being drained through the interactions with others? (17:06)
- How do you define your true north as a leader and how did that feed into the book that you’ve written? (19:02)
- Finding, attracting and retaining the right people. (30:22)
- Any advice you have for people who are might introverted? (32:30)
- Challenges you faced along the way and some challenges as an introvert leader? (38:25)
- My transparency is a strength. (41:11)
- What’s the one most important thing you’d want to leave the audience with? (42:36)
- Final and closing thoughts for the audience. (43:27)
Arvinder Dhalla, VP of Clinical Development for Rani Therapeutics. Arvinder is a problem-solver, results-oriented, innovative scientist and leader with more than 20 years of Biotech and Med-tech experience in cardiovascular, endocrinology and PAH therapeutic areas. She led multiple drug development programs from early discovery to clinical development and participated in investigational new drug (IND) and new drug (NDA) applications which resulted in two drug approvals.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41)
- Focus of the company and what makes it different from others. (4:46)
- Impact internally and outside impact in the industry (9:48)
- What are your key values and your true north as a leader? (11:43)
- You have to lead by example and show people what you want to see in them (13:47)
- What do you think led to your success today? (14:45)
- Be the best you can be, no matter what. (17:40)
- Biases exist. (22:00)
- What would be the key piece of advice you want to give people? (23:04)
- Do your best work. (24:54)
- Any challenges you face along the way? (26:01)
- Is it part of your approach to break problems down to smaller bite sizes as more manageable? (28:15)
- What helps you to recharge to stay at your best? (31:03)
- If you could distill everything you know about leadership down to one key piece of advice, what would that one key thing be? (33:57)
- For the women and the minorities listening, what advice you want to leave them with? (34:52)
- Final and closing thoughts for the audience (36:55)
Kevin Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of GR0. Kevin simultaneously, launched a grammar website, thewordcounter.com, to prove his strategies of work. Then worked with several startups as a growth marketer before launching GR0, his own SEO agency.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
• The power of your network (4:40)
• Your network must have believed in you and your company and putting their reputation on the line. How did you achieve that? (5:06)
• What do you think it is about you that contributed to your decision to start a company and then be so successful at it? (6:55)
• The power of taking risks (8:30)
• How did you achieve such rapid growth from an operational perspective and a people perspective - adding a couple layers of management in such short period of time? (10:00)
• Learning how to trust your team (10:57)
• How you do your best to select the right people for your company’s environment who will be that kind of person who you do trust? (12:18)
• What do you do to inspire people to want to stay with your company longer term? (14:13)
• Having strong culture (15:28)
• Matching the culture to personal values (17:50)
• How would you describe your true north as a leader? (20:36)
• What were your challenges along the way and how you overcome and learn from them? (22:19)
• How do you help yourself stay at the top of your game? (24:50)
• If you had to distill everything you know about leadership down to one key piece of advice, what would it be? (27:41)
• For entrepreneurs or inspiring entrepreneurs listening, what advice do you have for them? (28:45)
#Freedom #Respect #TakeADayOff #DecisionMaker #Purpose #BestVersionOfYourSelf #Honesty
Adam Taylor, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vericall. Adam has a passion for creating solutions that marry the two key functions of delivering great user experiences and maximizing revenue for clients. Since launching VeriCall, he is able to use his expertise in designing bespoke solutions for high volume service operations across multi platforms and acquisition routes for his clients.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Bringing opportunity to local areas (3:07)
- Creating a fulfilling career rather than “just work” (4:32)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (4:55)
- Setting your mission statement and then living it day-by-day (6:58)
- What are the key moments and challenges along the way to get to where you at today? (18:44)
- How did you ramp up in terms of leadership and management structure? (22:33)
- How do you go about influencing the decision makers who purchase your services? (37:33)
- What are the ways in which you recharge and help yourself stay on track? (42:24)
- The biggest challenge for people starting on a business? (44:29)
- What is one key piece of advice you’d like to leave entrepreneurs with? (46:35)
Derek Hansen, CEO, and Co-founder of Mynt Systems - a company that was born from a desire to create a paradigm shift in the energy and sustainability world by combining multiple functions that would result in a turn-key model with massive results for people, the planet, and profit. Derek had a passion for all things Building Performance since childhood and began working part-time, as a teenager, in his father’s company TGC, Inc. Following his passion for architecture, he worked as an intern at the prestigious Thatcher and Thompson Architects before moving into construction.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- What the company does and when did you start it? (2:45)
- How did you execute that complex business concept? (5:43)
- How does your business model, and purpose of life meld with your overall worldview, values, and meaning? (12:20)
- Talk about how does your mantra as a leader translate to your day-to-day decisions? (19:30)
- Talk about more on personal & business transformation, how do you see that in terms of helping your people, business, and client’s transformation? (23:00)
- In the selection of your people, how do you make sure that you get the right fit? (26:55)
- What do you do to recharge and stay on track? (40:55)
- If you could take everything you know about leadership/Entrepreneurship and distill it down to one key piece of advice, what would that one thing be? (45:43)
- Any final or closing thoughts? (47:45)
Derek Hansen, CEO, and Co-founder of Mynt Systems - a company that was born from a desire to create a paradigm shift in the energy and sustainability world by combining multiple functions that would result in a turn-key model with massive results for people, the planet, and profit. Derek had a passion for all things Building Performance since childhood and began working part-time, as a teenager, in his father’s company TGC, Inc. Following his passion for architecture, he worked as an intern at the prestigious Thatcher and Thompson Architects before moving into construction.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- What the company does and when did you start it? (2:45)
- How did you execute that complex business concept? (5:43)
- How does your business model, and purpose of life meld with your overall worldview, values, and meaning? (12:20)
- Talk about how does your mantra as a leader translate to your day-to-day decisions? (19:30)
- Talk about more on personal & business transformation, how do you see that in terms of helping your people, business, and client’s transformation? (23:00)
- In the selection of your people, how do you make sure that you get the right fit? (26:55)
- What do you do to recharge and stay on track? (40:55)
- If you could take everything you know about leadership/Entrepreneurship and distill it down to one key piece of advice, what would that one thing be? (45:43)
- Any final or closing thoughts? (47:45)
Basel "Vasili" Nassar is the founder and Chief Executive Officer at Boss Nation Brands, Inc. A skilled executive with over 25 years of experience building industry-leading innovations, focused on both consumable and non-consumable goods. He co-founded 3 Greek Gods, a leading brand within the Greek Yogurt retail space, and grew the brand portfolio to over $100 million. A true entrepreneur who is still actively working closely with his team to innovate and acquire market share, in both broad and narrow segment markets.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- What inspired you to start Boss Nation Brands? (1:57)
- What’s different or unique about Boss Nation Brands compared to other brands? (2:48)
- How does your true north as a leader inform your day-to-day decisions? (4:50)
- Talk about how you have gone about attracting, retaining, and developing people over time? (6:46)
- What do see as a perfect storm condition and how did you address them? (10:30)
- What have been some of your biggest challenges in your career and how did you overcome them? (13:15)
- What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (15:45)
- If you could take everything you know about leadership and distill it down to one key piece of advice, what would that one thing be? (19:30)
- Any final or closing thoughts? (20:45)
Ben Landers, Founder, and Advisor of Blue Corona- a 9-time Inc. 5000 digital marketing & technology company that focuses on home services helping them increase sales, reduce cost, and differentiate their brands online. Ben is currently the brand ambassador and the host of the Growth Stories Podcast. He believes that the company exists to help clients' businesses grow, and its success is solely dependent on the growth and success of others.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- How did you achieve the 9-time Inc. 5000 notoriety?
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (4:15)
- For your company’s transformation, how did you align behind that set of beliefs and operationalize them? (5:30)
- Talking about recruitment, how are you selecting people who are most likely to be engaged and thrive at work in your environment? (8:35)
- In transitioning your position from CEO/Founder to more of an advisory role now, how is the journey been for you, and how is your true north as a leader kind of informed your decisions along the way (12:48)
- What’s transpired in your awareness to make that decision to shift into another role back in 2018 (18:08)
- When you started Blue Corona, what did that leap of faith looks like and how did that come about? (24:15)
- What do you see next for you and Blue Corona? (31:38)
- How do you overcome or mitigate challenges? (35:55)
- How do you stay on top of your game and recharge? (40:54)
- If you could take everything you know about leadership and entrepreneurship and distill it down to one key piece of advice for our listeners, what is the nugget you want to leave people with? (42:07)
Scott Seagren, who works as a Leadership Coach and is a trusted colleague of Daniel’s, has an open, insightful, and meaningful conversation about the great resignation and how it’s being driven in large part by the great reconnection, where people are wanting to connect more with themselves, others, and to something bigger and more meaningful than just a job and paycheck.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Thoughts about people who change jobs or careers and what they are looking for? (2:15)
- The great pause before the great resignation (6:55)
- Reconnection with self and others? (8:30)
- The distinction between being alone and being lonely? (10:30)
- Are you moving away from something you don’t want or towards something you do want? (14:00)
- Connections bigger than ourselves and our spiritual journey (17:54)
- What is your experience in deeper connections with family? (27:32)
- Over isolation and pivoting on emotion during the Pandemic (31:30)
- The connection between lightness and Darkness in us (33:10)
- Stepping back, taking a deeper look, and recommitting (40:15)
- Risk of getting away from the job or working away from the boss, when perhaps what you’re really trying to run from is inside of yourself (42:15)
- Emotional trauma and blinders (45:00)
- The inner critic (52:05)
- Closing thoughts (56:05)
Aaron Brown, VP Talent Development at Mountain America Credit Union. A systems-thinking data-driven business minded leadership development professional that is passionate about people, learning, and culture. He knows how to strategically align people, processes, and workforce systems to shape high-performance culture. He designs success drivers into the system vs. chasing engagement and attrition through symptomatic approaches. Aaron shaped his career and helped him a lot with his opportunity growth in an overseas environment growing up and learning about diversity. He believes that investing in people is the best way to achieve business objectives.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Tell us about how Mountain America Credit Union got to be recognized as the best place to work by Glassdoor? (4:55)
- How did you help each person in your organization to help embody the company values? (8:45)
- Behavioral change in the bigger picture. (13:20)
- What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a talent development leader? And how do you overcome those challenges? (21:20)
- What is next, where do you go from here? (26:15)
- How do you enroll the executive team and the whole leadership Council into the approach (35:30)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (40:15)
- How does your true north inform your leadership decisions? (48:30)
- What do you do to recharge and sustain yourself in what I’m sure is a very demanding role? (54:10)
- If you could take everything you know about leadership and distill it down to one key piece of advice for our listeners, what would that be? (57:30)
- And what about Talent Development leaders specifically, what advice do you have for them? (58:40)
- Any final thoughts you want to leave the audience with? (1:01:08)
Description
Martin Rowinski, CEO at Boardsi, born and raised in Warsaw Poland -a global technology pioneer, executive recruitment expert, and international speaker with 25 years of c-level experience. Rowinski created and spearheaded their proprietary software that allows companies to effortlessly search for the most qualified Boards of Directors and Boards of Advisors from a pool of thousands of top executives across the U.S. and internationally. As well he is the author of the book “The Corporate Matchmaker”, which talks about executives and members of the board advisory.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- How would you describe what Boardsi does? (4:49)
- What drew you to do this business? (6:55)
- What is your “secret sauce” that sets you apart from other firms like yours? (8:25)
- What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in getting Boardsi off the ground and to where it is now? (13:55)
- How are you getting the funnels upfront to get those leads? (16:30)
- How would you describe your true north as a leader? (18:40)
- How does your true north inform your leadership decisions? (21:10)
- How do you attract the right people? (25:45)
- For your employees, how do you help them stay inspired (30:00)
- What do you do to recharge and sustain yourself in what I’m sure is a very demanding role? (32:20)
- If you could take everything you know about leadership and distill it down to one key piece of advice for our listeners, what would that be? (35:50)
- And what about entrepreneurs specifically, what advice do you have for them? (37:25)
- Any final thoughts you want to leave the audience with? (38:40)
Carolyn Herzog, Chief Legal Officer and member of the Audit Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel, is a globally-focused Legal Coach with a deep understanding of the distinct cultural differences that can impact business strategy. Carolyn is a cybersecurity C-Suite executive that has worked in a variety of industries including Fortune 500 and large UK multinational technology and international development. She believes that being resilient will get you through terrible times and unprecedented situations.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- How do you describe your true north as a leader (1:10)
- How do you differentiate between diversity, inclusion, and fairness (5:20)
- What changes does it makes to you over time (9:20)
- How your true north helps you in your leadership decision-making (18:12)
- Why do you think in your experience introvert leaders have been more effective (21:35)
- What are the biggest challenges you have faced as a General Counsel leader and how have you overcome those (24:30)
- How do you keep yourself recharged (34:15)
- What would you give as a piece of advice on leadership (36:28)
- As a General Counsel leader, what advice can you give for legal leadership (40:29)
- Final thoughts you want to leave (44:40)
Steve Grau, CEO & Founder of Royal Ambulance, became well acquainted with the healthcare system when his grandfather had a stroke and suffered from severe mobile impairment. From that moment Steve was determined to improve the health care system. His goal was to improve the experience for hospital patients and their families, which steered him to solve the challenges associated with inter-facility patient transport. One of the missions of his company is to become a beacon for young professionals to join him and grow together along the way.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- What are the unique challenges you have faced and how do you address them (4:50)
- How do you innovate despite of all the challenges regarding the rates that are dictated by customers (8:03)
- How do they see you as a differentiated service in a customer standpoint (13:40)
- How do you describe your true north as a leader (15:32)
- What do you recognize more fully as far as your impact as a leader (18:55)
- What are the biggest challenges you have faced as a leader in Healthcare and how have you overcome those (22:25)
- How are you addressing attrition (26:10)
- What do you do to sustain yourself when you're feeling burnout. (31:28)
- One key thing that you leave people with about leadership, what would that thing be (37:47)
- What advice you can give to healthcare leaders? (39:50)
- Final thought you want to leave (42:10)
Lisa Lang started her education pursuing a career as a teacher and followed a non-traditional career path that eventually led to her current position as General Counsel for Kentucky State University. By focusing on her passions and making unconventional choices, she has been able to create a space for herself that intersects all of her experience gained in military and civilian roles, while allowing her to live the life that she wants to lead.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- What drove you to work with a leadership coach and what have been some major learning points (2:50)
- How did the coaching process help you be more adaptive and resilient in your role (7:00)
- Describe your “True North” as a leader (13:08)
- As a legal leader what are some of the specific challenges of your profession and how do you overcome those challenges (21:28)
- What were some of the key things that helped you make the adaptation from military to civilian environments (27:00)
- As a GC in Higher Education, what are the similarities and/or differences from being a GC in private/public companies (28:51)
- What career advancement advice do you have for legal leaders who are early in their career (32:10)
- What are some of the non-traditional career choices you made along the way and how did it all fit in looking back (34:30)
- When you look back on all of your career pivots, how did they help you get to where you are in your career today (38:50)
- If you could distill everything you know about leadership into one key piece of advice, what would it be (42:10)
I am excited and grateful to share my interview of John O'Melia with you in this episode. Building a career from a consultant foundation, John developed a depth and breadth of experience spanning many business units. He moved into the start-up world in 2017, worked his way up to CEO with Seal Software, and played a pivotal role in selling that company to DocuSign in 2020. John is currently the Chief Customer Officer with Contentsquare and graciously connected with me to dive into his career path experience.
Here are some key moments from our conversation:
- Being perceived as prepared for your CEO role (3:45)
- First 6 months in CEO role (6:00)
- Making the choice to transition CEO-CCO (7:40)
- Defining your True North as a leader (13:50)
- Key Mentors and how have they influenced you (22:20)
- Special Mention: Rick Devenuti (both John and I worked closely with this influential leader) (25:00)
- Key career moments (26:40)
- Most impactful career lesson (35:21)
- Merges and Acquisitions (43:00)
Sometimes referred to as a corporate agitator or a changemaker Lisha Bell is, by her own definition, “a woman on a mission”. She recognizes and appreciates the limits of one person’s influence and has mastered working with community to scale impact. I had the honor of interviewing Lisha recently and am excited to be able to share that conversation with you as we kick off the 2022 season.
Here are some key moments from our discussion:
- What is Your True North? (2:40)
- Changing Organizations From Within VS Finding a Better Environment (5:00)
- Employee Activism (9:30)
- Approaching Challenging Conversations (12:45)
- Choosing Risk (14:45)
- Manifesting Destiny (17:30)
- Assessing Priorities to Make Greatest Impact (19:45)
- Current Challenges (21:00)
- Unlearning (27:05)
Given the uncertainty that we exist in right now, it can be challenging to focus on long-term goals. In this liminal space that seems to never end, how can we maximize our ability to create powerful intentions as we approach another New Year? Today Colin T. McLetchie, PCC BCPP (President and Founder of Five Ways Forward) and I dive into this idea and develop concrete ideas you can use to create lasting and powerful impact.
Here are some of the key points from our discussion:
- NY Resolutions vs Setting Intentions/Themes (5:25)
- Creating A Spacious Structure (11:40)
- Inviting Others to Be Part of the Journey (12:30)
- Creation vs Shedding (22:30)
- Getting Clear About Desired Results (29:50)
- Inviting Self-Compassion (35:25)
- Evaluating Where We Are (45:00)
- Making the Choice vs Obligation (48:55)
- Intention Setting—Not Just For New Year (53:40)
Today Colin T. McLetchie, PCC BCPP (President and Founder of Five Ways Forward) returns as guest co-host to share his years of experience with me regarding the primary tool of leadership: Conversation. Here are some of the key points from our discussion:
- The difference between communication and conversation
- How to know when to move from email to scheduling a meeting (4:00)
- The Missing Conversations (7:30)
- Conversations that should be prohibited (10:25)
- Conversations that should be required (21:40)
- Why is leadership and conversation intertwined (23:00)
- Carrying context-the continuous nature of conversation (27:20)
- The role of emotion in conversation (31:10)
- Blocks from and tools for getting present for conversation (36:48)
- How to have courageous conversations (50:40)
Returning guest co-host Colin T. McLetchie, PCC BCPP (President and Founder of Five Ways Forward) and I expand on a topic we touched on last week: Leadership With Love. We discuss the intersections between work life and personal life, and how leadership can be an expression of love. Here are a few key highlights from our discussion.
- The false dichotomy of living two lives: work and personal
- Job descriptions as indicators of inherent biases within your organization
- Defining who you want to be as a leader and why
- Defining what leadership is to your organization
- Parallels between our experience with primary caregivers and our leadership style
- Support employees by helping them into a position well-suited to their skills
- More possibilities emerge when we listen to heart wisdom
- Courageous conversations vs difficult conversations
- Unlearning patterns that aren’t serving us
- Impacting the bottom line by shifting company culture
- The importance of building time to reflect
- Accessibility of growth mindset
- Action steps to begin moving forward in the direction of leading with love
This week Colin T. McLetchie, PCC BCPP, President and Founder of Five Ways Forward, and I share a few of our favorite poems with each other. We discuss how they apply to leadership, development, and organizational culture. Here are a few key highlights from our discussion.
RUMI (timestamp 2:35)
- Elevated consciousness as a leader
- Expanding possibilities: “Either/or” vs “both/and” thinking
- Staying present amidst nervous system reactivity
- Staying connected to Self and Other
LAO TZU (timestamp 31:00)
- Separating our personal worth from our achievements
- Examining our goals through new lenses
- Stepping into your goal to achieve it
- Defining Mastery
- Embracing Complexity
ANAIS NIN (timestamp 53:40)
- The high cost of stagnancy
- Preparing new managers for fundamental changes
- “Leaders bring the weather”
WALT WHITMAN (timestamp 1:06:20)
- We all have opportunities to contribute
- Finding victory in the mundane
- Becoming increasingly mindful of our impact
How can organizations be more mindful of political impact outside of their organization? This week guest co-host Lisa Dempsey, CPCC, PCC, CEO and Founder of Leadership Labs International, and I discuss the connection between business and politics. Here are a few key highlights from our discussion.
- Dangers of claiming to be apolitical while having real-world impact
- Examples of variety of ways businesses are entangled with politics
- Financial incentives of making our values clear: Attract and retain more customers and employees in alignment with company values
- Importance of actions matching our values
- Transparency vs Secrecy—benefits and pitfalls
- Creating genuine connection by owning your story
- Closing the gap between intention and impact
- Taking stock of individual/company values to find alignment in our career
- Making impact within our organizational environment
How can we use the concept of setting boundaries to create more connection within our teams? This week guest co-host Lisa Dempsey, CPCC, PCC, CEO and Founder of Leadership Labs International, and I discuss the concept of using boundaries to drive connection and co-create more harmoniously. Here are a few key highlights from our discussion.
- Using boundaries to connect as opposed to disconnect
- The costs of a lack of boundaries within our teams
- Finding the sweet spots of energy-motivation and engagement
- Defining where our responsibilities begin and end
- Tips to effectively communicate boundaries
- Self-discovery: Getting crisp about who we are and are not as a leader
- Team-discovery: Connecting and listening to others
- Organization-discovery: Understanding the bigger picture and our shared goals
- Reframing the limiting belief that boundaries are unacceptable in the workplace
- Increasing employee retention with an environment of healthy boundaries
- Benefits achieved by setting healthy boundaries
- Examples of relationships improved through boundary conversations
- Compassion versus responsibility for feelings of others
Returning guest co-host Lisa Dempsey, CEO and Founder of Leadership Labs International, and I discuss the what, why, and how of psychological safety. What is it? Why is it important? How can we put it into action? Here are a few key highlights from our discussion.
- Amy Edmondson coined the term “Psychological Safety” as the belief that “one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes”
- Psychological safety is foundational for an effective leader
- The costs of the absence of psychological safety
- Benefits of making uncomfortable conversations welcome in our teams
- The three levels of connection: to ourselves, to others, to something bigger than ourselves
- Trust as a by-product of psychological safety
- The power of asking more than we tell
- Recognizing the gap between Intention and Impact
- Cultivating safety in open feedback
- Naming the elephant in the room
- The benefits achieved when psychological safety is present
How can we be intentional as we transition into some new version of normal while moving into a post-pandemic world? In this week’s episode I connect with guest co-host Lisa Dempsey, CEO and Founder of Leadership Labs International, and we discuss some ideas to focus our attention where it matters. Here are some of the key points:
- The temptation to re-adopt familiar practices that are no longer serving us.
- Tuning in to the value found and positive aspects we have gained from experiencing a more remote workplace.
- Opportunities to see each other as whole people (coworkers, employees to employers, parents to children)
- Tips to avoid the tendency to over-correct: temporary vs permanent adjustments
- Integration: how do we retain the positive from our temporary adjustments
- Convergence: create space and allow time for task-positive brainwork as well as default mode
- Pause and reflect on impact of pre-pandemic patterns
- Viewing new intention-setting as small-scale experiments
- Benefits of an annual reflection of intentions vs impact
- Incremental improvements add up to exponential effect
Thanks for listening!
Lisa Dempsey, CEO and Founder of Leadership Labs International, graciously guest co-hosts again this week. We talk about the lack of gender balanced leadership and its impacts, where the gaps are, and what we need to do to attain a better balance. Here are a few of the key highlights with resources for you to dive deeper as your interests and time allow.
- Gender gaps/pay gaps stats, and outcomes that stem from gender imbalances resources below
- The gender pay gap situation in the EU
- Gender pay gap in US held steady in 2020
- The systemic nature of gender imbalance in leadership
- Diversity dividend-how do companies benefit from having diverse workforces resources below
- 2018 Delivering through Diversity
- 2019 Diversity wins: How Inclusion Matters
- Market reach benefits achieved by a diverse workforce
- Separating personal experience from the impact of our actions
- Emotional conditioning of the gender binary and how that translates to the professional world
- The double bind women and men face in the workplace resource below
- The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership
- Tangible ways we can change our personal behavior to spark larger change
- The value of self-acceptance and letting go of performing narratives
- Creating environments of inclusion and championing our teams for fully showing up
- Some of the improvements we have seen over the last decade
Thank you for listening!
Lisa Dempsey, Founder/CEO of Leadership Labs International, and I have a conversation about the importance of saying no to the less important things so that we can fully commit to our highest priorities, and strategies to accomplish this within your organization. Here are some of the highlights:
· How overcommitment leads to mediocrity
· The cost of saying yes to everything
· How our executive function is affected by a constant state of overwhelm
· Ways to recognize symptoms of overwhelm, what to learn from it, and how to adjust
· Reprioritizing as a key to gain clarity
· The concept of psychological safety within an organization
· Letting go of the Leadership Bias to engage more authentically with your CEO
· Testing the waters for pushback conversations
· Explaining the why to increase engagement
· Measuring success of your business on a continuum as well as the fiscal year
Today I connected with Nic Marks, statistician/founder of "Friday Pulse"/author, about measuring quality of life as it relates to our teams and company culture.
We touch on key points such as:
· Types of unhappiness
· What we measure tends to improve-What we measure matters
· Balancing the negativity/positivity balance
· Sitting with discomfort to help employees feel heard
· How to hit the sweet spot of surveys (creating surveys that work)
· Creating a team meeting "meal box" for your company
· Some of the challenges within neuroscience of categorizing emotions
· The importance of embracing all emotions as valuable data
· How our hunger to create meaning out of life relates to happiness
In this episode, guest co-host Lisa Dempsey and I discuss how leaders can help themselves and their organizations both avoid and overcome burnout. Key points include:
- Everyone is susceptible to burnout, especially in today's VUCA world
- What leaders and organizations can do to better support themselves and their staff
- How to replenish our energy once we've become burned out
- How to recognize and avoid or at least minimize burnout in our day to day work
In this episode, my guest co-host Lisa Dempsey and I discuss Leadership as a never-ending practice. This means it's a continuous growth curve and we never get it fully right, but the more we mindfully practice the better we get at it. In today's VUCA world, seeing leadership as a practice rather than a destination is especially important to help us have more compassion for ourselves when we struggle as leaders, while also remaining dedicated to continuous improvement to our leadership capabilities.
With guest co-host Lisa Dempsey, Daniel discusses the leadership, organizational, and personal lessons that can be drawn from Simone Biles' leadership during the Olympics.
The discussion includes the following:
- The importance of holistic health for maximum performance and fulfillment in life
- The pressures Olympic athletes face, and how that maps to pressures that leaders sometimes face
- The money part of competing in the Olympics creates a severe power imbalance that is ripe with opportunity for poor treatment or even abuse
- Simone staying in the sport at great sacrifice to use the platform to raise awareness about sexual abuse in the world, and within US Gymnastics – a clear leadership choice
- Simone is an excellent example of being willing to take a risky and unpopular stance in service to her own well-being and the greater good
- Simone is also an excellent example of achieving excellence in spite of very challenging circumstances where the odds were stacked against her in so many ways
- What we organizational leaders can learn from Simone Biles about leadership and achieving excellence under pressure, while knowing how to practice proper self-care
The landscape of work will be forever changed by Coronavirus. Working from home will be much more of the new normal. Virtual is becoming the new face to face. In the next six months, we have an opportunity to undo ten years worth of bad habits. How to practice letting go of your never-ending cycle of reactivity.
By slowing down, you can learn to go even faster. Daniel analyzes turn 11 at Sonoma Raceway from the perspective of leaders slowing down so they can really thrive. Your glory moments only become possible when you do the right things beforehand to be prepared. Whether you're going full throttle in your work right now, or slower than usual, you can benefit from slowing down and being more strategic. We also touch on working through our fears and into our best selves, and Daniel shares some stories about his podcast and speaking career, and how he's continually honing his craft and confidence.
What does the path to re-opening look like? What are some of the risks? What are the positives and opportunities? How can we learn to choose what is most important to us? What does the future of learning and development look like? And how to navigate your own comfort zone, learning zone, and overwhelm zone during COVID-19.
Had a great conversation with Jen Roberts, CEO and founder of Difference consulting about life, leadership, and what the "next normal" might look like for HUMANS in business after this experience.
In this fun episode we discuss: Nic's experience as a renowned TED speaker on the Happy Planet Index and the Friday Pulse a leading survey used to measure and drive a happier and more productive workplace. We also discuss some of the pitfalls of traditional employee engagement surveys, and how the Friday Pulse is different.
Special preview of episode two of Coaches on Zoom Getting Coffee, featuring Corey Stanford, the CEO and founder of Scaling Leaders.
Special episode featuring a candid conversation with Daniel's friend and executive coaching colleague Marlena DeCarion. This episode is a preview of the soon to be launched Coaches on Zoom Getting Coffee podcast. The new podcast will be published both as a video and audio podcast. Stay tuned!
Highlights from today's episode include: Human behavior in times of crisis. How your inner game of leadership and self-managing your inner state are now more important than ever. The importance of being of service and thinking globally. Adapting to working from home. What it feels like to be under social "lock down". How self-care and doing our part to keep the economy going align. The impact on small businesses and what you can do to help us.
COVID19 leadership and business resources, vetted by Daniel:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/covid-19-implications-for-business
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/292334/covid-strategies-policies-world-largest-companies.aspx https://www.bloomberg.com/magazine/businessweek/20_13 https://coronavirus.travax.com/library/coronaviruses/events/coronavirus-disease-2019 https://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Teams-Dummies-Tara-Powers/dp/1119453801/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
In an impromptu and open-hearted conversation about the leadership and business impacts of COVID-19, I’m joined by friend and fellow leadership development leader, Shani Magosky, CEO/Founder of the Leadershift Project and host of the Leadershift Podcast. Our leadership, teamwork, and organizational cultures are all being tested right now. Never has it been more important to cultivate our best inner game of leadership. Specifically, we need to communicate clearly, frequently and throughout every part of the org – especially about current priorities, upcoming changes, and revised accountabilities; lean into our own org’s true north when making tough decisions; be compassionate and take a “we” stance; and make it our biggest priority to co-create the best outcomes for everyone by staying focused on productive tasks rather than getting stuck in worry or inaction.
Politics are unavoidable. Every organization has them. How to work office politics with your integrity intact. How to keep moving forward if your environment feels “too political”. How to recognize the ways in which you are being political and/or shooting yourself in the foot. How to introspect on your motives and improve your Inner Game of Leadership to be able to navigate office politics effectively and authentically. How to decide if your current political environment at work is the right fit for you.
Daniel shares his story about how he found his calling in life at age 21, but ignored it. Fortunately he found it again in his forties. He also discussed what it feels like when you find your calling and how easy it is to take it for granted and be blind to our biggest gifts. He also shares how he started singing in his forties, and thereby uncovered another calling of his. Finally, Daniel shares some tangible tips on how anyone can find their calling in life.
Daniel shares a racing story of a near disastrous start to a race he ended up winning. And how important practicing was to that outcome. Practice does not make you perfect, but it does make you a lot better. Mastery does not mean perfection. It means accepting you will never be perfect, and always striving for more. It also means appreciating the journey and not just the outcomes. The more you practice, the less likely you are to make a mistake and the more quickly you are likely to recover when you do make a mistake. The only person it's helpful to compare yourself against, is yourself.
Daniel reads a life changing motorcycle racing story from his book, and discusses how leadership is not just about results and winning. Leadership is about how you get even better results by having strong relationships with others, and a healthy perspective on what it means to win.
We discuss how there are no overnight success stories. We also touch on: how to uncover and cultivate the unique and powerful voice that is inside of everyone. How face to face interactions are even more important than ever in today's world. How to show up as your best self more consistently. How introverts can leverage their strengths and be a strong leader. And how HR/LD executives can improve their influence in the boardroom.
In this episode we explore Pavan's role at Lynx Technologies and Pavan's leadership journey. Along the way we discuss how to create a culture of trust, transparency, and collaboration. How to expect excellence from ourselves and others without overwhelming anyone by expecting too much. How to proactively create a strong framework for decision-making such that quality decisions are made. How to bring futurists together with pragmatists and have them align and agree as much as possible.
What it’s like to be a founding member staring a scrappy start-up and then growing it to a sizable company over 15 years. Learning to let go of control and delegate as a leader and company founder. How to focus on the impact you’re having on the world rather than just the financial payoff. How to give feedback in a constructive way that motivates people to improve themselves. Cognitive biases, how to do your best to overcome them. How to select people that will thrive in your organization.
How to proactively prepare yourself and your leadership team for crises that you don’t see coming. How important it is to proactively cultivate strong relationships with your constituents BEFORE crisis strikes. How to cultivate those strong relationships even in a very large organization. How to hear and acknowledge the feelings behind people’s emotional responses to the crisis. How to communicate in a way that instills confidence during a crisis.
In this episode Bill Scanlin and Daniel discuss: Being a C-suite leader while still being approachable. Giving people stretch assignments and then coaching them and giving them room to run with it as they step out of their comfort zone. How to know when to trust others and when not to. Managing up, down, and sideways. Supporting your people with constant learning opportunities.
In this special New Year's episode we discuss: The pagan origins of many Christmas traditions. And a deep dive into a New Year Ritual to help you cultivate the mindset you need to achieve your goals in 2020 and beyond.
In this episode Daniel and Joseph share personal stories about their Christmas traditions. And they discuss:
How to not just get through it, but create the holiday season you most want. Presence is more important than presents. Cultivating gratitude during the holidays. Christmas tacos. How to find the most touching way to give someone a gift. Heart of generosity as a leader.
The outcomes we experience in life all come down to how we spend our time. In this episode Tim shares his passion for being strategic and proactive about how we spend our time, and how that led to the creation of Woven. We discuss the key elements required to cultivate our inner perseverance, and Tim shares some of his experiences working with a coach to help him determine his true north clarity of purpose and how that fuels him. Along the way Tim offers hands on tips for anyone aspiring to get to that next level of leadership, start that new company, or perhaps make that transition into the C-suite.
In this episode we discuss:
Exactly how to decode the true meaning of other people's emotions. The power of empathy. The 90 second rule of releasing emotions. The mindset that often drives "negative" emotions. The power of not judging emotions as either good or bad. Real world examples of how to apply these skills.
Emotions drive behavior as much of more than rational thinking. Mastery in emotional and social intelligence are crucial to becoming Unshakeable in your Influence. Need to first navigate and manage our own emotions before we can navigate and manage other people’s emotions. The distinction between empathy and sympathy, and why it’s important. How to deepen your skills of empathy and sympathy. Emotional Aikido – soothing others by not reacting yourself
In this interview we discuss Andrea’s book, her inspiration to write the book, and how it relates leadership, owning your voice, the #metoo movement, and the relationship between singing and owning your power.
When people feel heard, understood and valued, they do their best work. Therefore, listening is a critical skill for all leaders.
In this episode we walk through step by step practical instructions on how to listen deeply to another person, including, learning how to get genuinely curious about another human being and how to make sure that people really feel heard by you.
When people have the experience that you will listen to them and hear them out without judgment they will become more transparent with you. That transparency drives better business results because difficult issues get surfaced more quickly.
Meeting people where they’re at. Aim to understanding before being understood. When people believe that you see, hear, and value them they become much more open to being influenced by you. The biggest driver of authenticity is how well we know ourselves. Deep dive into the non-verbal aspects of listening and communicating. How to choose to become genuinely curious about others. And the person who speaks the least in a meeting can be the most influential person.
WeWork’s implosion. How it went from a $47B unicorn valuation to near bankruptcy overnight. What went wrong from a leadership perspective and what we can learn from it. How to guard against hubris as a senior executive.
PG&E’s public safety power shutoffs in California - what does it mean from a leadership perspective? With $30B in lawsuits from fires started by their equipment, what incentives does PG&E have and are those incentives best serving the public? What can we learn from this situation about the conflicting short term vs. long term pressures that public companies are often faced with?
In episode 10 we detail:
- Executive Presence, what it is and how to get more of it.
- How “I don’t know” can be the three most important words in a leaders vocabulary.
- How devastating it can be to put others on a pedestal, and why.
- How critical it is to surround yourself with people who are smarter and better than you.
- Apple’s near bankruptcy and miraculous turnaround in the late 1990’s.
In episode 9, we touch on:
- Self-care and how it’s crucial to leadership
- The importance of saying “no” and pushing back as a leader
- Cultivating self-awareness in order to uncover the ways in which we might be unconsciously manipulating others
- Practicing discernment instead of judgment, in how we communicate with others
- How we are the product of the people we are closest to, so we better choose wisely if we want to be our best leadership self
Ever wondered what an executive coaching session is like? Episodes seven & eight of the Unshakable Influence Podcast give you a very rare opportunity to listen in on an executive coaching session, with my co-host Joseph Baker as my client. Give it a listen if you’re curious to learn more about how executive coaching works, or if you want to get a better sense for my style of coaching. And of course, the session delves into some of the Heartset concepts and tools from my book Unshakeable Influence.
Ever wondered what an executive coaching session is like? Episodes seven & eight of the Unshakable Influence Podcast give you a very rare opportunity to listen in on an executive coaching session, with my co-host Joseph Baker as my client. Give it a listen if you’re curious to learn more about how executive coaching works, or if you want to get a better sense for my style of coaching. And of course, the session delves into some of the Heartset concepts and tools from my book Unshakeable Influence.
In this episode we detail:
- Why people don’t share openly, what it costs organizations, and what to do about it
- Importance of a psychologically safe business environment
- Best decisions come from open and transparent culture, and we need psychological safety
- Business costs of expressing anger inappropriately
- The importance of the emotional mind in our decision making
- We’re manipulating each other all the time
- How to lead in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) world
- The crisis of disconnection in our society and why business leaders need to care
In this episode, we discuss:
- Leadership, like racing, is not a solo sport
- Parallels between leadership and Formula 1 racing
- Romanticized version of leadership, versus the reality of leadership
- 60-80% of our influence on others is non-verbal, maximizing our Heartset is about maximizing that other 60-80%
- Emotions are contagious. Great leaders learn to get their own emotions in hand, and use them wisely.
- Emotional climate alone is highly predictive of profits, and the emotional climate of all organizations is set by its leadership
- Letting go of the need for control
In this week’s episode:
- Chapter five (Advanced Mindset skills) of Unshakeable Influence, including:
- How to recover back to your best leadership self when things go awry
- The empowerment paradigm vs. the drama paradigm
This episode:
- Reveals a never before told motorcycle racing story where Daniel selfishly put everyone on the racetrack in danger.
- Describes how important – and difficult – it is to let go of control as a leader
- Provides specific tips on how to recognize and counteract any overly controlling tendencies you may have
- Talks about how our brains are wired with a negativity bias, and what to do about it
- Discusses the tangible leadership benefits of both meditation and gratitude
In this episode, we discuss:
- Mindset, why we need to think about how we think
- You Go Where You Look, why it’s important to focus on what you want rather than on what you don’t want
- Daniel shares a motorcycle racing story demonstrating how important it is to focus where you want to go
- By focusing on the right things we can multiply our performance and the performance of those around us
In this initial episode, we:
• Discuss the first two chapters of my book
• Discuss what it takes to become a champion – whether in the boardroom, on the basketball court, or on the motorcycle road-race track
• Examine leadership and culture in the context of the NBA finals (go Warriors!)
• Touch on how becoming a purpose-driven leader can both pre-empt burnout and drive better business results