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

A few months ago I needed to thaw a roast and it was the exact moment my relationship with AI started breaking down. Not knowing the best way to thaw this roast or how long it would take, I asked ChatGPT for some help.  I gave it the size of the roast, the temp of my freezer, the temp of … Read More

Dan White is a firm believer that the single biggest accelerant, and the biggest tax, for leaders is trust. In this conversation with former UAF Chancellor Dr. Dan White, we dig into what trust really looks like in practice. Not as a lofty ideal, but as a daily discipline.  Dan shares how self-trust becomes the foundation for every other level … Read More

When my daughter texted Nicole and I to say she had gotten a 98% on her final presentation, we were ecstatic. But before we could respond we were met with a flurry of follow up texts squarely focused on the remaining 2%. Which was ridiculous, but also incredibly familiar. Leaders of all stripes fall into a similar trap. We forget … Read More

Ummm, tomorrow is Christmas. Perhaps you’re listening to this while you are finishing up your Christmas shopping, but it’s more likely you’re hearing this just after the holiday because why wouldn’t you be listening to Christmas music while you finish your shopping? In this Leadership Huddle remix episode I’m sharing clips from 5 interviews from earlier this year. Maybe you … Read More

What if your greatest leadership power isn’t in having all the answers, but in asking better questions? In this conversation with Erica Kemp, Vice President of Branch Administration at Global Credit Union, we explore how intentional presence, trust, and curiosity create powerful leadership cultures, especially across dispersed teams. Erica shares how she balances courage with care, empowers experimentation within safe … Read More