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

I don’t think I’ve ever had someone tell me that a major inflection point in their career was the desire to wear slacks to work. But here we are. In this conversation, I sit down with Erika Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Credit Union 1, to explore the unlikely, adventurous arc of her leadership journey.  From small-town barista to executive, … Read More

Leah Boltz was never going to accept that her daughter wouldn’t be able to play at the neighborhood park. So she led a charge that resulted in more than 25 accessible parks across her city.  Leah Boltz, is the Principal for Marketing, Business Development & Community Outreach at Bettisworth North, and in this conversation we talk about how one inaccessible … Read More

I’m sure someone has sorted out how many people John Wick kills across his cinematic run, but I fear I can’t count that high. I know the violence in these movies is severe and ever present, but I think about John Wick every single day when I dive into my work around leadership and building teams that produce outsized results. … Read More

Sara Berry knew that the corporate world wasn’t meeting all of her creative needs, but she didn’t know what to do about it. And then the dots connected and she discovered her super power. Sara is the owner of Out of Office Studio and her background in corporate learning gives her a unique vantage point. She’s lived on both sides … Read More

The next time you wake up at 3AM convinced of impending doom, I want you to ask yourself a question. What if I’m wrong?  It’s fascinating to me how many smart people I know (and work with) who will ask this question non-stop about every strategy and tactic they deploy. They say, “I think I should go left…but what if … Read More

I was sure this interview was going to be awkward… In this episode, I sit down with workplace performance expert, speaker, and author of “Good Awkward,” Henna Pryor to unpack why discomfort, uncertainty, and “butterflies” are not obstacles to growth, but signals that you’re doing something that matters.  We talk about why awkwardness isn’t a personality trait, how leaders accidentally … Read More