When today’s guest realized most companies were automating chaos instead of clarity, they decided to fix it. In this conversation, I check in with Shelly Thomas, the founder of Building Beta, to unpack what’s actually happening with AI inside organizations right now. Not the hype. Not the buzzwords. The real work. Shelly brings a rare mix of engineering rigor and … Read More

I probably shouldn’t be telling you this… For the record: whatever you say to an employee you lead about another employee you lead after saying those seven words is a truly bad idea. In fact, if you ever hear those words coming out of your mouth about any topic at all, just stop talking. The problem for many leaders is … Read More

What do you call it when the work you do and the thing you love are so tangled together you can’t quite tell them apart? In this conversation, I sit down with Joe Sprague, former CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, to explore what it actually takes to lead at the highest levels, and why his love of aviation made his career … Read More

A couple months back I spent about 3 days fully wiped out with the flu. I just had zero juice in the tank. And for reasons not fully clear, even to me, I spent a lot of time watching old episodes of Matlock. A couple things struck me as I took this nostalgic trip back to my youth: It’s not … Read More

What does it take to lead an organization where creativity, community, and logistics collide every week? In this conversation, I sat down with Daniel Ponickly, Executive Director of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, whose background spans professional dance, film, arts education, and nonprofit leadership, a unique mix that shapes how he thinks about leadership. We talked about how he moved to … Read More

When my brain gets the best of me in the middle of the night I use two simple techniques to short circuit the chaos: 1. I count to 100 in French2. I list the 50 states in alphabetical order But this isn’t really about sleeping better. It’s about paying attention to what we rehearse. Because the byproduct of this exercise … Read More

When Fotini Iconomopoulos was growing up, she earned the nickname “the negotiator” and she’s been turning high-stakes conversations into high-impact outcomes ever since. In this episode, I sit down with negotiation expert, author, and speaker Fotini Iconomopoulos to unpack what real negotiation looks like in everyday leadership, not power suits and table-pounding, but clarity, empathy, and trust. Fotini shares why … Read More

Dear Leaders: you don’t have to have all the answers. I know that deep down you already know this. I know you know that NO ONE has ALL the answers. But it just feels so good to be the one who solves for X. And yet, how much better is it to give your people the chance to find X? … Read More

When Stephen Flanagan was 21 he wasn’t reading just leadership books, he was running a $6M restaurant. And that pressure-cooker taught him something most leaders miss: habits beat hype. In this episode of Leadership Huddle, Stephen Flanagan, Founder of Seeks Consulting, breaks down how mid-level managers become “execution-ready” leaders by translating strategy into simple daily actions. We talk about why … Read More

25 years ago I found myself across the desk from my boss expecting our usual weekly chat about how things were going around the print shop I worked in. The first words out of his mouth were not at all what I had expected… “What the hell is wrong with you?” His delivery might have been out of line, but … Read More

What if the people quietly shaping your community are also carrying the most practical leadership wisdom?  In this episode, I sit down with Cheyenna Kuplack to unpack what real leadership looks like behind the scenes. Cheyenna and I talk about leading while still feeling nervous, why “we can do hard things” is more than a phrase, and how great leaders … Read More

There may be no tradition more widely embraced by busy professionals than the meeting after the meeting. We barely had time for the meeting, but we absolutely made time to find quiet hallways or text threads to talk about all the things we didn’t actually understand or accomplish during the meeting. And it’s your fault. Okay, maybe not every single … Read More

When Collin Henderson was chasing wins as a Division-I athlete, he didn’t realize the real opponent was in his own head…and mastering that game would change everything. In this conversation, I sit down with author, speaker, and performance coach Collin Henderson to unpack the hidden mental patterns that shape performance, leadership, and culture. Collin shares how performance anxiety, perfectionism, and … Read More

The face you’re going to make when you read the next sentence is the face everyone makes when they read the next sentence. You will know clarity is high on your team when people start telling you “NO.” I get it. As leaders we aren’t always hoping and praying to hear our people tell us “no,” but we should be. … Read More

Tasha Pineda’s path kept putting her at tables where decisions shape real lives. In this conversation, Tasha and I talk about leadership in the moments that actually matter: when things are messy, uncertain, and human.  From growing up around foster care systems to leading through earthquakes, pandemics, and now statewide grantmaking strategy, her story is about learning to influence without … Read More

My wife and I genuinely like each other. So, obviously, our relationship is perfect and there are never any tense or complicated moments between us. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Like any couple, we overreact and underreact and misunderstand and miss-speak and forget we are on the same team. But we figured something out that makes being consistently copacetic more likely: everything just works … Read More