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

It’s rare for a 43-year old to have had only one employer. And rarer still for that employer be the same employer his father and grandfather had. In this episode, I sit down with Wade Binkley, President of Riverboat Discovery, to explore what it really means to lead a legacy business in Alaska. We talk about growing up inside a … Read More

Have you ever had to have a difficult conversation with someone on your team? Maybe they screwed something up, or were behaving poorly. Maybe you had to deliver some news they weren’t likely to enjoy. I know a few people who genuinely relish diving into a challenging conversation, but most of the people I know would wish them all away … Read More

When you start off as a professional hip hop dancer, you naturally expect to become one of the most thoughtful facilitators in corporate America. Right? Well, in this episode, I sit down with Frank Ziede, founder of Common Ground Consulting, to talk about his wild evolution, explore what truly great facilitation looks like, and why most “mandatory training” feels like … Read More

In my 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams workshops we do an exercise in which participant leaders write a “movie synopsis” for the projects their team is involved in. The goal is to accurately describe the project in the shortest, simplest language so it can be easily understood by anyone on the team. Team members will still need Puzzle Box … Read More