Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Rising Leader

We all love following a plan. But sometimes, life and leadership require us to pause, check in, and deeply honor whatever moment we’re in. Today, I sat down prepared with a topic, an outline, and all the excitement to share. But the truth is, I’m feeling sadness and loss, and that feeling led me to reflect on my personal journey and the deeper side of leadership. I’ve decided to take an indefinite break. Maybe it’s for a week, maybe longer, maybe it’s the last episode for a while. I know this is the right time to step back and only continue when it’s a true “ten” for me, when enthusiasm and authenticity return in full force. And in this reflection, I’m inviting you to reconsider what being a rising leader really means for you, at this precise moment.

Over the course of 800 episodes across three podcasts, I’ve had the privilege to interview extraordinary leaders, CEO clients, and thought leaders like Michael Bungay Stanier. My journey is marked by a relentless search for authenticity, not just the list of what leaders “should do,” but who they choose to become. At my core, I’m naturally introverted, a peacemaker at heart, yet I’ve built a reputation for bold truth and unvarnished honesty. Every lesson I’ve shared is drawn from experience, mistakes, and real growth, one rung of the leadership ladder at a time.

“You can speak the truth with kindness. You can hold people accountable with kindness… That’s something that you learn as a leader.” ~Mark

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Why leadership is always a personal adventure, not just a checklist

·     The impact of showing up authentically, even when it means pausing or pivoting

·     How stepping into leadership always means stepping out of your comfort zone

·     The responsibility leaders hold—and why energy and momentum matter

·     Questions every leader should ask: Who do you want to become? How do you want to show up?

·     Embracing the journey: making mistakes, learning, and consciously creating

·     The pendulum swing from over-kindness to bold truth, and settling into authentic accountability

·     Building a community and a legacy through the way you lead, one relationship at a time

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead, as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

You already know that listening is the foundation of effective leadership; we’re told we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. But what if I told you we’re still missing the mark? Leaders are instructed to be curious, not just reactive, yet many of us get stuck in our own heads, unable to truly hear the people around us, especially when the stakes are high. This week, I dive into the transformative art of listening with Oscar Trimboli, author of How to Discover the Hidden Key to Better Communication and the powerhouse behind the Deep Listening movement. Together, we bust some persistent myths about listening, unpack what it really takes to listen at scale in organizations, and explore the five essential levels of listening, starting with yourself.

Let me tell you about Oscar Trimboli. He is an award-winning author, a sought-after keynote speaker, and the host of the Apple award-winning Deep Listening podcast. With a mission to create 100 million deep listeners in the workplace, Oscar’s research spans interviews with leaders, judges, hostage negotiators, and academics, as well as data from over 35,000 workplace listeners. Through his work with organizations like Microsoft, Oscar has seen firsthand the immense impact leaders can have when they listen beyond just words.

"Silent and listen share the identical letters. The most potent listening technique you can use is simply to be silent." ~Oscar Trimboli

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Preparation is everything: Listening starts before the conversation.

·     Take a moment to ground yourself: music, water, breath, or clearing your space all help.

·     Five levels of listening: Start by listening to yourself, then to content, context, what’s unsaid, and ultimately, to meaning.

·     The myth of time: Deep listening doesn’t slow things down; it speeds understanding and shortens meetings by surfacing real issues faster.

·     Inner dialogue sabotage: Over 60% of people can’t deeply listen because their own internal chatter dominates. Recognize it, then practice presence.

·     Short questions win: Keep team questions to eight words or less for maximum impact; anything longer is likely a statement in disguise.

·     Listening at scale requires action: Organizations often survey but forget to close the loop. “You said this, we did that” is key to engagement.

·     Clarify before you answer: Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions, even in job interviews, to ensure you’re addressing what really matters.

·     Giving vs. paying attention: Giving attention is a choice and a sign of generosity. Paying attention feels like an obligation; shift your mindset and see the difference.

Connect with Oscar Trimboli:

• The Listening Quiz: Take Oscar’s free listening assessment for a personalized report and resources to build your listening skills.

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: How to Discover the Hidden Key to Better Communication by Oscar Trimboli
• Podcast: Deep Listening with Oscar Trimboli
• Easy by Groove Armada, Remember the Name by Fort Minor (musical resources Oscar uses for listening preparation)

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

If you’ve ever found yourself struggling under pressure, facing a personal crisis, or simply wondering why your emotional state seems to run the show in high-stakes moments, you’re going to love this conversation. I sat down with my friend Harry Pickens to explore the powerful intersection of music, neuroscience, agency, and leadership. Together, we dive deep into what it truly means to lead from a regulated, resilient nervous system, and why our greatest challenges often become our greatest sources of wisdom.

Harry Pickens is the founder and CEO of Strategic Neuroregulation Institute, a celebrated jazz pianist who’s shared the stage with legends like Dizzy Gillespie, and a leading authority on nervous system modulation for leadership excellence. Over the past three decades, he’s taught more than 10,000 musicians and trained over a thousand therapists, coaches, and leaders in trauma healing and neuroregulation. Harry is also the creator of the Brain Mind Redesign methodology and has transformed his own personal adversities, from brain injury to cancer, into a laboratory for resilience.

“All you have, from one instant to another, is the direction of your attention.

Where do you place it? It’s the ultimate currency.”

~Harry Pickens

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     The hidden crisis in leadership: when our old wounds make our decisions for us

·     Harry’s transformative journey from paralyzing stage fright to mastery, and what music taught him about the nervous system

·     How personal crises, including a recent cancer diagnosis, became a lived laboratory for resilience and growth

·     Actionable steps to identify, track, and “unhook” your emotional triggers

·     The critical role of agency, and what to do when you don’t feel like you have any

·     Why true healing can only happen in a relaxed, safe state (and how to get there)

·     Tactics and micro-practices to build your own nervous system regulation toolkit

·     Leveraging AI as a “cognitive prosthetic” and support for well-being, decision-making, and healing

Guest Contact Information & Resources:

Connect with Harry Pickens on LinkedIn for exercises, resources, and updates on his Belief Transformation Masterclass Series

Resources Mentioned:

Harry’s upcoming book: Reclaiming My Life from Cancer (coming early 2026)

Book: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

What does true freedom really mean for leaders, and how can it shape the way we show up in our lives and work? In this episode, I explore True Freedom as a living, breathing leadership principle. I share my journey of discovering freedom through learning to focus my attention, mastering my emotional responses, and making intentional, values-driven choices that cut through old patterns and people-pleasing habits.

I’m Mark Silverman, executive coach, leadership mentor, and author of Only Tens. As someone diagnosed with ADD in adulthood, I know what it’s like to wrestle with distraction, the need for approval, and the challenge of honoring my own boundaries. Over years of personal work and professional practice, I’ve learned that true freedom is less about external circumstances and more about your inner game, the discipline, courage, and presence you bring to every situation.

“True Freedom is love in every situation” ~Mark

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     How directing your attention is foundational to genuine freedom

·     Ways our triggers and preferences can keep us stuck, and practical steps to release them

·     The evolution from setting boundaries for approval to embracing authentic choices

·     The freedom that comes from not being controlled by the need for credit or validation

·     Why admitting mistakes and cleaning up your messes is core to leadership freedom

·     The relationship between discipline and authentic freedom

·     How practicing emotional equanimity transforms reactivity into power

·     Why real freedom means showing up with love, even amid disagreement or challenge

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Only Tens by Mark Silverman

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Ever wondered if personal achievement and career ambition can be a genuine path to spiritual and personal growth? As someone who’s helped high achievers chase big dreams without losing their soul in the game, I know the tension firsthand. This week, I’m joined by Scott Britton—a leader, entrepreneur, and fellow explorer of consciousness—who has turned a relentless drive for success into a vehicle for deep fulfillment. Together, we dig into what it really means to integrate external accomplishment with inner transformation, and how you don’t have to trade one for the other.

Scott Britton is the former co-founder of Troops, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2022. Today, he’s the CEO of Conscious Talent, hosts Evolution FM, and is the author of the upcoming book, “Conscious: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth.” Scott brings a unique lens to the table: he’s walked the traditional path of achievement, faced burnout and loss of joy, and then courageously shifted towards a life and career built on meaning, presence, and consciousness. His grounded approach shows that you can still have ambition—and let it be clean, powerful fuel for real transformation.

“The practice is making your entire life a spiritual practice, not just 20 minutes in the morning. It’s a deep integration that cascades through every minute of every day.”

 ~Scott Britton

This Week on The Rising Leader:

·     Achievement without awareness can lead to joylessness, even when you “have it all.”

·     True spiritual growth isn’t about checking out of the world or your career, but about transforming your relationship with everything around you.

·     There’s a powerful difference between clean fuel (ambition from joy, contribution, alignment) and dirty fuel (ambition from lack, need for validation, or old wounds).

·     Surrender isn’t passive; it’s being okay with things as they are in the present moment, without giving up your agency or drive.

·     Practical spiritual growth for leaders means using every trigger, reaction, and setback as an opportunity for insight and transformation.

·     Fulfillment and sustainable success come from integrating consciousness into your work, not just leaving everything behind for a spiritual path.

·     When you shift from reactivity to awareness, you gain influence, creativity, and power in any setting—even the boardroom.

·     The willingness to trust, face discomfort, and stay open, even when you’re scared, is what actually leads to lasting freedom.

Connect with Scott Britton:

• Substack: Scott Britton on Substack
• X (Twitter): @britton
• Conscious Talent: conscioustalent.com
• Evolution FM Podcast: Evolution FM

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: “Conscious: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth” by Scott Britton (releases October 7th)
• Book: “The Surrender Experiment” by Michael Singer
• Book: “Awareness” by Anthony De Mello
• Book: “Spiritual Emergency” by Stanislav Grof

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

What does it really mean to be a great leader? After being asked this question during a recent interview, I found myself reflecting deeply on the guests I’ve brought onto The Rising Leader and the mentors who made a lasting impact on my own journey. In this episode, I share the single thread connecting truly great leaders, not their personal achievements, but in how they uplifted and transformed the people around them. I unpack why legacy, impact, and service matter more than accolades and examine what happens when leaders focus solely on numbers and ego.

“The people who… focused on the numbers, were focused on the revenue, were focused on the accolades for themselves… ended up with something kind of empty.”

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     True leaders focus on team and community impact, not individual accomplishments.

·     Service, humility, and lifting others up are consistent traits among the most respected leaders.

·     Prioritizing numbers and personal accolades may lead to bitterness and emptiness later in life.

·     Long-term fulfillment comes from building relationships, supporting others, and creating lasting legacies.

·     Leadership influences not just professional relationships, but personal ones with family and friends.

·     How you treat people throughout your career determines who will show up for you when it matters most, at celebrations, retirements, and even funerals.

·     Great leaders derive motivation from serving others, seeing their team thrive, and enabling the successes of others.

·     Pursuing success is valuable but connecting it to relationship-building and positive impact ensures a richer, more meaningful life and career.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

This week, I’m stepping into a deeply personal space and sharing where I am right now: feeling both empty and fulfilled after the huge milestone of seeing my youngest son married, followed almost immediately by my older son’s engagement. In this solo episode, I get raw and vulnerable about the aftermath of big life transitions, the feeling of completion that can leave us unexpectedly blank, and what it really means to reinvent yourself when your old roles shift or disappear.

“I have a blank canvas all over again. I can reinvent myself. I can double down on what I’m doing. I can do anything. It’s my choice to create who I want to be.” ~Mark

This Week on The Rising Leader:

·     Life’s biggest milestones can leave us feeling oddly empty after the excitement settles; this is a natural part of closure and change.

·     Our sense of self is deeply tied to our roles, parent, worker, leader, and losing those roles means facing a blank slate.

·     It’s critical to pause and take stock, to ask yourself why you’re doing what you do and whether you’re actively choosing your path or simply following inertia.

·     There is power in choosing every aspect of your life, from your job to your family to your daily actions.

·     Who you are isn’t fixed; it’s something you create, continuously, through your choices and commitments.

·     A shift in identity—such as children leaving home or losing a job can be terrifying, but it opens up space to deliberately craft your next chapter.

·     Bringing intentionality to how you show up at work, in your family, and in your relationships can renew your sense of purpose and energy.

·     The blank page of “what’s next” isn’t a crisis; it’s an invitation to imagination, reinvention, and growth.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Delegation. Agreements. Deep listening. These aren’t just leadership buzzwords, they’re the bedrock of the impact we can create as rising leaders. In this episode, I sit down with Jonathan Bennett to discuss the real art of successful delegation, the foundation of honest agreements, and how self-awareness and intentional connection are required to grow both people and organizations. Whether you’re leading a Fortune 500 company or stepping into your first management role, this conversation is brimming with actionable wisdom to help you foster trust, empower your teams, and show up as the best (and realest) version of yourself.

Jonathan Bennett is an author, advisor, and executive coach for purpose-driven leaders. With over 25 years drawn from his roles as a CEO, board member, and founder, Jonathan’s experience has spanned urban, rural, remote, and First Nations communities. He is known for his deep listening, breakthrough solutions, and his unwavering belief that leadership should be inclusive, ethical, and intentional. Jonathan helps leaders deepen their integrity, compassion, and long-term impact—one honest conversation at a time.

“Leaders who learn deep listening and metacognition, it’s like they’ve cracked a cheat code to a whole other way of being.” ~Jonathan Bennett

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Most leaders don’t struggle with what to do—they struggle with how to get out of their own way and execute.

·     True delegation isn’t simply “handing off,” it’s building slow, intentional agreements rooted in open inquiry and shared ownership.

·     The doer, not the delegator, should own notetaking and documentation to reinforce accountability.

·     Upfront, explicit agreements with clear deliverables, milestones, and mechanisms for course correction are essential for autonomy and trust.

·     These practices do not just apply to junior team members; great CEOs and senior leaders cascade these habits to align organizations.

·     Hard conversations about mistakes must be rooted in curiosity and agreement about how to clean up and move forward, never blame.

·     The best leaders continually work on self-awareness, emotional management, and their capacity to truly listen—inside and outside the boardroom.

·     Mentorship doesn’t have to be formal, but clarity and intentionality amplify its power. Ask directly and be transparent about what you need.

Connect with Jonathan Bennett:

LinkedIn

Listen to Jonathan’s private podcast

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Most of us look at confident people and assume they have something we don’t: a mysterious inner certainty that lets them walk into any room, take the stage, or tackle a new challenge without missing a beat. In reality, confidence and courage aren’t feelings you wait to have—they’re qualities you build by showing up scared and doing the hard thing anyway. In this episode, I share my personal journey from self-doubt and fear, through years spent faking it until it became real, and how true courage means stepping up even when your insides are shaking.

"Every single thing I’ve ever done in my life is because of the courage to do something scared."

~Mark Silverman

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Courage is not about the absence of fear but about taking action despite it.

·     Confidence grows through repeated experience, not through waiting to feel ready.

·     Preparation is the foundation—true confidence is earned through putting in the work and practicing beforehand.

·     Failure is inevitable; what matters is surviving it, which builds resilience and a stronger sense of self-confidence.

·     Success isn’t about never being scared—it’s about consistently showing up, even when you want to pull the covers over your head.

·     Many highly accomplished people still feel fear inside; outward signs of confidence can be built through courage and consistent effort.

·     The willingness to “do it anyway” is more important than feeling brave or believing you’re exceptional.

·     Reflecting on your track record—surviving challenges and bouncing back—can bolster your faith in your ability to handle future fear.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

When it comes to leading others, frustration is often an unavoidable part of the journey—but it doesn’t have to be a roadblock. In this episode, I dive deep into the humanity of leadership with Andrew Oxley, exploring how frustration shows up in our lives and organizations, and how understanding different communication styles can turn frustration into collaboration, delight, and results. We discuss the four faces of frustration, recognizing your reactions under stress, and explore practical ways to transition from “hero” or “villain” leadership to the truly impactful role of guide.

Andrew Oxley is a nationally recognized author, executive coach, and the founder of the Oxley Group. His consulting work has impacted tens of thousands of leaders at companies like Coca-Cola, Progressive Insurance, Turner Broadcasting, the Weather Channel, and many more. Andrew’s mission is to help leaders and organizations cut through the noise, return to simplicity, and truly accelerate performance. His allegorical book, “The Four Faces of Frustration: How to Turn Frustration into Delight,” has served as a blueprint for understanding and mastering the complexities of leadership and interpersonal communication.

“It is easiest to understand someone's communication style when you observe them when they're frustrated, because it's like their real selves come out.” ~Andrew Oxley

Today On The Rising Leader:

·     The four faces of frustration: Red (passionate/driver), Yellow (optimist/networker), Blue (analytical/pessimist), and Green (steady/quiet), each handle challenge and stress in unique ways.

·     Recognition and understanding of these communication styles is the first step to diffusing conflict and building stronger teams.

·     No one is just one color; we all have a range, but stress often pushes us into default patterns that may not serve us or others well.

·     As leaders, developing self-awareness (often through asking for feedback from others) is critical—how we think we show up is not always how others experience us.

·     It’s easy to fall into the roles of “hero” (overhelping) or “villain” (overcorrecting) as a leader, but the true goal is to become a “guide” who fosters autonomy and ownership in others.

·     Healthy teams benefit from a mix of these personality types; friction, managed well, creates progress.

·     Strengths become weaknesses if not managed—what got you here may not get you where you want to go.

·     Shifting limiting beliefs and assumptions is vital for leadership growth—it’s not just about behavior, but the beliefs that drive it.

Resources & Guest Contact Information:

Book: The Four Faces of Frustration: How to Turn Frustration into Delight by Andrew Oxley

90-Minute Live Leadership Blueprint Workshop:

Oxley Group

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website

When someone asks, “Would you like a little feedback?”, do you cringe inside, even as you force a smile and nod eagerly? If so, you’re not alone. Today I’m diving deep into the uncomfortable yet transformative experience of receiving feedback, and why, despite its sting, it’s the single most valuable tool for growth. I get personal about my own struggles with taking feedback (even as a coach!), map out the emotional journey most of us go through, and share how to process criticism in a way that actually moves us forward.

“Getting feedback is not easy. And again, I admit it, I don’t like it. But it’s invaluable and will change your life.” ~Mark

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     You’re not alone in dreading feedback—even those dedicated to growth can find it deeply uncomfortable.

·     It’s normal for feedback to trigger discomfort physically and emotionally; breathe through it rather than avoid it.

·     Saying “thank you” is a powerful way to receive feedback, creating space for clarity and reflection.

·     Active listening and asking for examples or clarification makes feedback actionable, not just emotional.

·     Not all feedback is equally relevant; seek trusted allies to help discern what to take on and what to set aside.

·     If someone takes the time to give you feedback (and they’re not just critical by nature), it’s a powerful sign they value your growth and contribution.

·     Focus your efforts—pick one new behavior or habit to address at a time for real, lasting growth.

·     Sharing feedback with someone who knows your worth can help you separate projection from genuine opportunities for improvement.

Resources Mentioned:

Book: Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Have you ever felt the tension between maintaining high standards as a leader and relinquishing control to let your team truly thrive? Today, I dive deep into how you can create an environment of bold influence, build real autonomy, and drive powerful cultural change—without micromanaging. This conversation goes to the heart of how we move from burnout to high performance, and what it actually takes to inspire people to think for themselves and step into accountability.

My guest this week is Andrea Wanerstrand, a seasoned leadership strategist, executive coach, and founder of A3 Culture Lab. With more than 25 years of experience leading talent and performance initiatives at Microsoft, Meta, T-Mobile, and Hitachi, Andrea has helped organizations shift from traditional command-and-control leadership to human-centric, high-performing cultures. She’s the creator of the Mindset Maven Method and the A3 (Authentic, Autonomous, Accountable) philosophy, and has impacted leaders in more than 100 countries through her neuroscience-backed strategies for culture transformation.

“The gap that occurs is between telling someone what they need to do and having them actually do that and seeing the outcome, is whether they even heard exactly what you said or did they hear something different.” ~Andrea Wanerstrand

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Moving from being “in the weeds” to true leadership means learning to drive results through others—not by gripping the wheel, but by guiding, supporting, and validating.

·     Clarity starts with how you set expectations—and real understanding happens when you validate comprehension, not just assume others “get it.”

·     Curiosity-led conversations foster genuine autonomy; asking people to articulate their plan is more effective than asking them to “repeat back” your instructions.

·     Command-and-control leadership stifles innovation and slows growth. Teams need to feel accountable both for outcomes and for sharing in the wins.

·     Autonomy is only sustainable when leaders create agreements, not just set expectations—turning check-ins into co-designed touchpoints.

·     Emotional intelligence is physical as much as mental: top leaders notice tension, triggers, and energy shifts in themselves before they become reactive.

·     Practical tools like breath work, intentional pauses, and body awareness are crucial for managing stress and leading from a place of steadiness.

·     Building a culture where people think for themselves requires “untraining” over-dependence—letting others experiment, share their thinking, and take ownership.

Guest Contact Information

Website: a3culturelab.com

Resources Mentioned

Book: The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

Book: Mindset by Carol Dweck (growth mindset referenced)

Andrea’s Mindset Maven Method and A3 philosophy

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Some days, the world feels especially heavy. I sat down today with a list of topics to discuss, but none of them felt right—until I decided to throw out the script entirely and talk honestly about something more urgent: what to do when you're feeling stuck, helpless, or weighed down by tough times. Today, I’m sharing a deeply personal reflection on overcoming setbacks, navigating depression, and the practical steps that have brought me—and so many others—back from the brink. If you’re struggling or know someone who is, this is a love letter to remind you: you’re not alone, and there’s a way through.

“I said, you know what? I'm going to be the change I want to see in the world and I'm going to go look for people who need help, people who need me. And that pulled me out of my funk, out of my depression.” ~Mark

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Many people, no matter how good they look on the outside, are quietly struggling. You’re not alone.

·     Helping others, even in small, anonymous ways, can be a powerful tool to lift yourself out of a dark place.

·     Exercise, journaling, positive influences, and reaching out to people all help shift your state of mind.

·     It’s easy to fall for the narrative that everyone else is doing fine; in truth, most people have something heavy weighing on them.

·     Don’t believe everything that goes on in your mind; so much of our negativity is amplified by society, media, and old stories from our past.

·     If you’re a helper, take care of yourself first; you’ll have more to give when you’re whole.

·     Reaching out for support is a sign of strength, not weakness.

·     Small steps forward, taken consistently, are the way through tough times—there’s always something to learn or gain on the other side.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

When you think of leadership, how often do you consider the wiring of your own brain? Today, I sit down with Dr. Phillipe Douyon, a board-certified neurologist, two-time kidney transplant recipient, and champion of neuroplasticity, to explore the science behind change, resilience, and finding genuine purpose. From personal adversity to guiding others toward powerful, purpose-driven lives, Dr. Douyon connects what’s happening in our heads to the way we show up as leaders, parents, and human beings.

Dr. Phillipe Douyon’s journey into neurology was inspired by witnessing epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease within his own family. After surviving two kidney transplants (one from his father, another from a cousin-in-law), he founded the In Life Brain Fit Institute and wrote, “Neuroplasticity: Your Brain’s Superpower.” Dr. Douyon is devoted to teaching people how to change their minds—literally and figuratively, by harnessing the everyday power and potential of their brains.

“If you're not taking charge of your own brain, somebody else for damn sure is.”

~ Dr. Phillipe Douyon

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Adversity can be a catalyst for discovering one's purpose and shifting focus from self-pity to making a greater impact.

·     Helping others isn’t just morally right—the brain’s dopamine response rewards supporting those around us.

·     Neuroplasticity is a lifelong superpower; our brains can continue to change and adapt, enabling personal growth at any age.

·     Purpose is crucial: When people lose their sense of purpose, there is a measurable decline in their health and cognitive function.

·     Exercise is the most powerful promoter of neuroplasticity and is an effective antidepressant and anti-anxiety intervention.

·     Connection, with ourselves and with others, remains at the very heart of well-being and brain health.

·     Be mindful of your mental “diet:” What you read, watch, and the people you surround yourself with all impact your mindset.

·     Take responsibility for your mindset and emotional health, or risk letting external forces shape your thoughts and actions.

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Neuroplasticity: Your Brain’s Superpower by Dr. Phillipe Douyon
• Dr. Phillipe Douyon’s Online Course: https://www.inlebrainfitinstitute.com/

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Have you ever found yourself paralyzed by nerves before a big meeting, new venture, or bold conversation, wishing you could just overcome the fear? In today’s episode, I share the story of my spirit animal: a tiny rubber chicken named Chicken Shit. Inspired by a lesson from the first shaman I ever met, this episode is all about embracing fear, owning our “chicken shit,” and charging ahead anyway. I break down why being afraid isn’t a flaw; it’s a part of leadership and human experience, and why anything worth doing is worth doing scared.

This episode is inspired by Rafael Bejarano, the first shaman I ever met. An unforgettable figure with his South American accent, dazzling beads, and long flowing hair, Raphael led circles of coaches and leaders and proudly proclaimed that his spirit animal was not the mighty eagle or buffalo, but a squeaky rubber chicken. His courage and authenticity deeply impacted me, and his legacy lives on in the lessons—and the chicken—he passed to me.

“Chicken Shit is my spirit animal because whatever I do in the world, I do scared.” ~Mark

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Your fear is not a flaw—it’s proof that you care about doing big, important things.

·     Every leader, even the most accomplished and confident, experiences fear before stepping into a new challenge.

·     “Chicken Shit” can be a powerful symbol for embracing, not fighting, your nerves.

·     From promotions and new jobs to hard conversations and creative risks, bold moves almost always come with butterflies.

·     The nervous system gets used to the familiar feeling of fear; you can learn to move forward even when afraid.

·     Icons like Bono and Bruce Springsteen still get nervous before performances, proving that fear never truly disappears.

·     The exhilaration of facing your fear—and jumping off that metaphorical cliff—can be transformative.

·     Remember, it’s not about eliminating fear; it’s about doing it anyway, step by step.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Sometimes life, and business, just isn’t fair. For every leader who has felt the sting of setbacks, seen the politics at work, and found themselves navigating an unfair system, this conversation will resonate. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Chung, a woman whose journey through the aviation industry was literally missing rungs on the ladder. We explore what it truly takes to build resilience, maintain a sense of purpose in the face of adversity, and become the kind of leader who brings out the best in others, regardless of the obstacles. We get real about handling discouragement, growing thick skin, and leading while staying true to your core values and faith.

Stephanie Chung has paved a remarkable path as the first African American president of a major private aviation company. With decades of experience as a sales leader, executive, and now a keynote speaker and advisor, Stephanie’s approach centers around faith, authenticity, and transformation. Her story is one of perseverance, compassionate leadership, and an unwavering commitment to uplifting others, both in business and in life.

“Leadership is not for the faint of heart, but if you’re called into it… you have the ability to impact people’s lives beyond what you could ever imagine.” ~Stephanie Chung

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     How to build (and keep) resilience in an unfair world

·     Growing thick skin by facing challenges head-on

·     Letting go of negativity and protecting your mental space

·     The role of setbacks in shaping who we become as leaders

·     Why you should let your kids (and yourself) struggle—it’s vital for growth

·     The power of an honest support system that pushes you back into the ring

·     Integrating faith with leadership through authentic action, not just words

·     Understanding the universal need to be seen, heard, and to provide for those we love

Connect with Stephanie Chung:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thestephaniechung/

Website: https://stephaniechung.com/

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You by Stephanie Chung
• Book: Michael Bungay Stanier, How to Work With (Almost) Anyone
• Articles & Reports: Harvard Business Review, Deloitte, McKinsey reports on diverse teams

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Trying to have it all as an ambitious leader, a thriving career, a rich family life, and good mental health can seem impossible. This week, I sit down with world-renowned executive, author, and leadership powerhouse Stephanie Chung for a fireside chat about her personal and professional journey, as well as her trailblazing work in business, aviation, and human capital. Together, we get real about the hard-won lessons, mistakes, and wisdom that come from decades at the top—and how anyone can cultivate success and fulfillment, without sacrificing what matters most.

Stephanie Chung has over 30 years of experience as an innovator and leader in business growth and human capital development. She became the first African American (and woman) to helm a private jet company, worked across industry giants like American Airlines, Flexjet, and Bombardier, and is a #1 international bestselling author of Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You. Known for her sought-after expertise in sales, business management, and DEI, Stephanie’s lived experience and deep, practical wisdom have inspired leaders around the globe.

“Curiosity comes before empathy. Be curious about others, really ask questions you don’t know the answers to.” ~Stephanie Chung

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     You can truly have it all—career, family, and health—but it requires intention, discipline, and learning from your mistakes.

·     The modern workforce is radically diverse. To lead and to win, you must know how to lead people across generations, cultures, backgrounds, abilities, and perspectives.

·     Making everyone on your team feel seen and heard isn’t just human—it’s a competitive edge.

·     The best leaders ask questions with genuine curiosity, listen deeply, learn, and act on what they discover.

·     Presence is more important than perfect balance—be 100% focused wherever you are, whether at work or at home.

·     Set boundaries with your time and communicate expectations up, down, and across within your organization.

·     For women, learning to say “no” firmly—but kindly—is an essential leadership skill, especially outside work.

·     Practical tips (like gift routines for children) can ease family transitions and support work-life integration for working parents.

Get in Touch with Stephanie Chung:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thestephaniechung/
• Website: https://stephaniechung.com/

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You by Stephanie Chung
• Michael Bungay Stanier, How to Work With (Almost) Anyone
• Harvard Business Review, Deloitte, McKinsey reports on diverse teams

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Have you ever looked up to a superstar, admired a successful public figure, or taken guidance from an influential leader, only to later learn about the human struggles, messy realities, and hidden challenges behind their public persona? In this episode, “I Was Selling a Lie,” I dive into why we put successful people on pedestals, the inevitable letdown when their humanity comes to light, and why real leadership means embracing imperfection. I draw on stories from famous artists, coaches, influencers, and even my chocolate chip cravings to reveal the essential truth: no one is above being hopelessly human.

"My aim isn’t to sell perfection but to invite you into honest conversations about growth, failure, and what it really takes to lead while being human." ~Mark

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     The hidden struggles behind fame, success, and leadership.

·     Why perfection in role models is an unhelpful illusion.

·     Real stories from influential figures like Boy George, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Jay Shetty, Andrew Huberman, and others.

·     The myth that personal development riders to perfection.

·     Real leadership advice: learning by embracing your full humanity.

·     My own vulnerabilities—chocolate chip confessions and being “Mark Mark” vs. “Coach Mark”.

·     The distinction between performative vulnerability and genuine openness.

·     The true cost of greatness, with reflections on Michael Jordan and Stevie Nicks.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Ever wondered what it looks like to build an impactful business from nothing—starting at age 22—and still keep your soul, care for your team, and navigate personal struggles most never see? In this conversation, I sit down with Alex Strathdee, founder and CEO of Shelf Life, the company behind the marketing success of my own Rising Leader handbook and numerous bestselling authors. We dig into Alex’s unconventional entrepreneurial journey, the power of resilience, what it actually takes to build a thriving team, and how embracing vulnerability and our own mental health challenges can become a hidden strength in leadership.

Alex Strathdee founded Shelf Life at just 22, growing it into a million-dollar company with 17 employees and a remarkable 90% employee retention rate. Working alongside renowned authors like Mike Michalowicz and Michael Bungay Stanier, and having clients such as Reid Hoffman and Gay Hendricks, he has become the go-to expert for authors looking to turn their ideas into impact. But Alex’s real superpower isn’t just marketing wizardry—it’s his relentless honesty, deep empathy (inspired by his remarkable grandmother), and unwavering commitment to building a business that’s as healthy on the inside as it appears from the outside.

“If this woman [my grandma] can stay happy and positive, then come on, I gotta find some positivity here.” ~Alex Strathdee

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     The seeds of leadership can come from unexpected places. Alex’s primary inspiration is his grandmother, whose resilience and positivity shaped his approach to people and business.

·     Entrepreneurial success ultimately hinges on persistence, learning from failures, and seeking mentorship.

·     Alex highlights the importance of asking for help and surrounding yourself with people who have already solved similar problems.

·     Relationships are everything; from first opportunities to company-saving advice, success, and new directions are rooted in genuine connections.

·     Vulnerability isn’t a liability; sharing mental health struggles (from OCD to intrusive thoughts) opened doors for Alex to get the help and tools he needed, transforming a challenge into a leadership strength.

·     Hiring and scaling require both toughness and care; having a strong “number two” (like Laura, his COO) is key to growth and balances out your own blind spots.

·     Letting go of being the “nice guy” is sometimes necessary—hard conversations and holding the team accountable keep the mission intact.

·     Systems matter: Alex and his leadership team leverage frameworks like Gino Wickman’s Traction to set rocks, build accountability, and keep everyone rowing in the same direction.

·     Helping your team thrive doesn’t mean coddling—it’s about setting high standards and supporting people to level up, all while keeping the company’s core mission at the center.

Connect with Alex Strathdee:

·     Shelf Life and author marketing services: getshelflife.com

·     Book: Before the Bestseller – Alex’s comprehensive guide to marketing your book

·     LinkedIn: Alex Strathdee

Resources and Mentions:

·     Book: Before the Bestseller by Alex Strathdee

·     Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

·     Book: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

·     Book: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

·     Book: Who by Geoff Smart & Randy Street

·     Book: Traction by Gino Wickman

·     International OCD Foundation

·     Book: Needing to Know for Sure by Dr. Sally Winston & Dr. Martin Seif

·     Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

·     Authors Unite (Tyler Wagner’s company)

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Ever feel like the things you’re sharing as a leader are just “Captain Obvious” moments—messages that have been repeated endlessly, but still need to be heard? I woke up this morning with a clear urge to discuss something that’s not just essential, but foundational for every leader: perspective. No matter how often it’s discussed, perspective is the tool that brings clarity, emotional intelligence, and coaching power to every conversation, every conflict, and every team you lead. In today’s episode, I delve into why perspective is your responsibility as a leader, how it helps others navigate and resolve challenges, and why giving—and requesting—perspective is crucial to keeping your organization on track.

“Your job as a leader is to be the adult, to have the perspective, to have the emotional perspective that this is a disagreement, this isn't personal, and it's for you to get perspective as soon as possible.” ~Mark

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Perspective is the fundamental gift and duty of every leader—it’s your lived experience, information, and oversight that others don’t have.

·     As adults and leaders, we often find ourselves in situations where we see more than those we lead, and it is our responsibility to remind others of the bigger picture.

·     Emotional intelligence is essential for stepping back from reactive, defensive modes and regaining perspective in heated moments.

·     Coaching isn’t just about hour-long sessions; sometimes the most valuable support is a quick call that offers a grounded perspective.

·     People get emotionally triggered and lose sight of reality or consequences; your job is to help them regain balance and hope.

·     Just like children “borrow” your emotional regulation, team members often need to “borrow” your perspective to stabilize during chaos.

·     Regularly check in and ask for clarity yourself—“Am I being a jerk in this?” or “Am I seeing this clearly?”—no leader goes it alone.

·     Offering your regulated, big-picture view can help team members see the vision, reconnect to purpose, and solve problems more effectively.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

We all talk about how a strong relationship with your significant other is crucial, but how often do we really sit down to discuss the ground rules that hold it all together? In today’s episode, I take a thoughtful look at the different kinds of agreements we make with our partners, especially when high-pressure careers, kids, and life’s unpredictability enter the mix. I discuss setting clear expectations, negotiating roles, and effective communication, so your relationship can be the greatest asset to your leadership journey, not a detractor.

This episode highlights insights from my conversation with John Sapone, a seasoned VP of Sales with an impressive track record at several of the world’s fastest-growing startups. John's approach with his spouse offers a real-world example of how crafting intentional agreements in a demanding household leads to clarity, understanding, and a sense of team, both at home and at work.

“Fences make good neighbors.

 Ground rules and agreements make really strong relationships.”

 ~Mark Silverman

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     High-performing jobs can be "greedy," often bleeding into evenings and weekends, so it’s critical to have explicit agreements about time and expectations at home.

·     Clear ground rules are the foundation of strong partnerships, especially when both partners face significant demands from their careers and families.

·     Openly discussing what each person needs to feel valued, seen, and secure makes negotiation possible and resentment less likely.

·     It’s vital to regularly update your agreements and check in with your partner as circumstances and feelings inevitably shift.

·     Joint understanding about who handles what—especially in crisis or when competing demands arise—prevents conflict and promotes teamwork.

·     Using tools like the enneagram or personality assessments helps couples better understand one another and navigate differences.

·     Left unspoken, unmet expectations quickly metastasize into frustration, distance, and potential relationship breakdown.

·     Coming together intentionally as a team—striving for win-win rather than “getting yours”—builds resilience and success at home and professionally.

Resources Mentioned:

·     Enneagram and other personality testing tools (for couples and teams)

·     To receive my agreement versus expectations guide, send me a note!

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Devon Bandison is an author, coach, and speaker. He is the go-to mind coach of the NBA and one of the most sought-after personal and business coaches in the world. As a coach, Devon works with Fortune 100 Companies and people from all walks of life, from professional athletes and teams, CEOs and executives, salespeople and small business owners to filmmakers, producers, and the world’s leading business and life coaches. He is the author of Fatherhood is Leadership and is a contributing writer for Inc. Magazine. Devon holds a B.A. in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Public Administration.

Devon joins me today to discuss how words shape your thoughts, leadership, and world. He emphasizes the importance of knowing your starting point. He explains why leaders need to define their three cornerstones, focus on what truly matters, and prioritize accordingly. Devon also highlights the difference between “keeping” and “being” your word and underscores how creativity and great leadership happen when we create space.

“Your word creates your world. When I look at the greatest leaders, I see commitment and integrity.” - Devon Bandison

This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:

●     Devon’s two-minute wisdom drop

●     Understanding your starting point

●     Distinguishing between what’s true and what your mind believes to be true

●     Self-forgiveness and rewiring your mind to break free from self-judgment

●     Why “slowly” is the fastest way

●     Warren Buffett on being busy

●     Slowing down and knowing your three cornerstones as a leader

●     Entering the "zone" or “flow state” in sports and how it's achieved through slowing down and being present

●     The most dangerous phrase in the human language

●     How not being able to keep your word to yourself develops an inner critic

●     “Keeping” your word versus “being” your word

●     “Default” cultures and creating a culture of agreements through language and integrity

●     How Devon learned a life-changing lesson about the power of one's word and integrity

●     The Game Changer Experience

Resources Mentioned:

●     The most important question a father can ask himself | Devon Bandison | TEDxBocaRaton

Related Episode:

●     Fatherhood, Leadership and Legacy with Devon Bandison

●     Playing the Bigger Game with Dr. Jeff Spencer

●     Slowing Down to Speed Up

Connect with Devon Bandison:

●     Devon Bandison Website

●     Book: Fatherhood Is Leadership: Your Playbook for Success, Self-Leadership, and a Richer Life

●     Devon Bandison on LinkedIn

●     Devon Bandison on Instagram

Grab Your Advanced Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through the ranks of your company so fast that you wish you had a manual to becoming an effective leader? Then The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

The Rising Leader Handbook officially releases in October 2023, but you don’t have to wait!

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your advanced copy and get started on mastering the skills you need to become the leader your team needs you to be.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners, like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Are you chasing external markers of success, or are you genuinely growing into the leader you want to become? Today, I challenge you to stop and really feel where your drive is coming from. In this episode, I deeply reflect on the difference between being driven by the endless pursuit of success and embracing the sometimes messy, enriching journey of growth. We’ll take a closer look at what it costs to achieve your goals if you’re coming from a place of lack and discuss how marrying ambition with inner development is the key to lasting fulfillment.

“I’ve spent time with people who have reached all their goals, and they’re still not satisfied, they’re still not happy.” ~Mark

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     How to distinguish between chasing success and pursuing growth

·     Why proving yourself to others can lead to burnout and emptiness

·     The warning signs that you’re “climbing the ladder on the wrong wall”

·     The hidden costs of goal-oriented living—on family, health, and fulfillment

·     Why growth-oriented leaders are more fulfilled, not just more successful

·     A coaching approach that marries achievement with personal evolution

·     How to set values-based goals and measure your fulfillment

·     The emptiness of endless achievement without inner satisfaction

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Ever feel like you’re living your life—or growing your career—on autopilot? In this episode, I dive into the distinction between a “created rise” and a “default rise.” Are you intentionally building the path you want, or just following the steps that seem to be laid out for you? I share stories from my transition from tech to coaching, how that pivotal distinction changed my life, and how it might just change the trajectory of your leadership journey.

“Drop by drop, you can change the trajectory of your career, of your life, of your relationship, of everything.” ~Mark Silverman

This Week on The Rising Leader:

·     A default rise happens when you follow the expected path without conscious intention; a created rise requires active, ongoing decisions.

·     Small, deliberate choices—putting your resume together, scheduling networking lunches—are the foundation of big career moves.

·     You can sculpt your next role based not only on what you want, but equally on what you don’t want.

·     If you’re valuable to your organization, you have leverage to shape your responsibilities and environment.

·     The “zone of genius” (per Gay Hendricks) is where work feels effortless and impactful—aim to spend most of your time there.

·     Leadership often comes with “golden handcuffs”—more money, more responsibility, but less freedom—unless you create your own path.

·     Identify what drains you and build a team or structure so that others can excel where you don’t.

·     Transformational change is about consistent micro-steps and self-awareness, not giant leaps.

Resources Mentioned:

● Gay Hendricks’s “Zone of Genius” framework (from The Big Leap)

● Rich Litvin—Coaching inspiration and the original source for the created vs default life distinction

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Ever feel like all the self-improvement advice out there is just noise—one source claims broccoli is a health hazard: another calls it a superfood? Today, I’m peeling back the layers on true holistic wellness with someone who believes transformation isn’t just physical, but mental, emotional, and even spiritual. In this episode, I sit down with Mark Anderson, a renowned personal trainer and biohacking expert, to explore the “diamond” of being human. Together, we dive into why people suffer, the trap of constantly chasing “more,” and the practical steps executives (and anyone) can take to rise above overwhelm, calm the nervous system, and step into their highest potential.

Mark Anderson is a functional personal trainer with over 15 years of experience, an expert in high performance, biohacking, and mindset coaching. His journey began in the military, shifted to defense contracting, and ultimately led him to pursue his passion for integrative wellness. Mark is passionate about helping people break free from the cycle of stress and suffering by designing individualized routines that address the mind, body, and spirit. He works with diverse clients, from high-powered executives to anyone ready for real, rooted transformation.

“You can do breath work whenever you want. Breath is free, and it can take you

 from a high-stress state to calm.” ~ Mark Anderson

This Week on The Rising Leader:

·     Suffering is often rooted in being stuck in the “3D”—chasing material things, more money, or status, instead of addressing deeper needs.

·     True wellness and transformation require starting with basics: sleep, breathing, and mindfulness—tools accessible to everyone.

·     Conscious breathwork is a powerful, underutilized way to reset the nervous system, become present, and access creativity.

·     Most people operate on autopilot; interrupting old patterns with simple practices (like pausing or conscious breathing) sets the foundation for personal change.

·     High performers and executives are still human, subject to the same stress and feeling of overwhelm as anyone else—they just need the right tools.

·     Physical movement is important for fitness, mental, and emotional health. Our bodies are made to move.

·     Change doesn’t need to be drastic. Start with small pattern interrupts—like reframing your reaction to traffic or the weather—and build from there.

·     Genuine transformation comes from curiosity, awareness, and a willingness to experiment with what brings one back to oneself.

Find More of Mark Anderson:

● Instagram: @markanderson_mwa

● Website: mwafitness.com

Resources Mentioned:

● Breathwork routines (demo included in the episode—rewind and practice!)

● PEMF mats, movement walks, and other biohacking tools for holistic wellness

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

You’ve heard it before—your reputation precedes you. But how often do you really consider how your reputation is judged by everyone across your organization, not just your direct boss or team? In this episode, I dive into the critical connection between your reputation and your relationships, revealing why what others say about you when you’re not in the room can alter your career path. I unpack the art of being a trusted advisor, the importance of accessibility and warmth, especially for high achievers, and offer actionable strategies to build support throughout your organization so you’re the person everyone wants to see win.

"When things are going to shit, you're not a bull in a china closet. You're still supportive, you're still respectful to everybody."

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Step into leadership by being the go-to person who takes ownership and eases your boss’s challenges

·     Build win-win relationships with your peers on the leadership team—cooperation beats competition

·     Your reputation is shaped by every interaction, across every level of the organization

·     High-performing individuals can unintentionally intimidate; leading with warmth and accessibility counters this

·     Promotion decisions are rarely made in isolation—everyone’s opinion matters

·     Remaining steady, respectful, and supportive even during tough times differentiates leaders from doers

·     Being a reliable supporter in moments of uncertainty makes you indispensable

·     Offering help proactively, especially when others are struggling, forges a legacy of trust and respect

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Have you ever found yourself butting heads with a peer at work, knowing you need to escalate the disagreement up the ladder, but unsure how to do it without leaving a trail of drama or broken trust? This week, I’m joined again by my close friend and leadership expert Helen Appleby for a candid conversation on “clean” and “dirty” escalations. We unpack what it means to disagree well, the cost of toxic escalation, and how true leaders keep the organization’s health front and center, no matter how high the stakes.

Helen Appleby is an executive coach with over a decade of experience helping leaders and teams thrive. Formerly a global VP, she is the author of the widely acclaimed book The Unwritten Rules of Women’s Leadership and is currently working on her next book, Leaders Health Check: How to Build Healthy High-Performing Teams. Her approach blends clarity, candor, and real-world practicality, making her a go-to guide for building trust and navigating workplace conflict.

“Disagreements are normal, they’re natural. The trick is to disagree without breaking rapport.”

 ~ Helen Appleby

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Clean escalation is about jointly deciding to raise an issue after real listening and honest curiosity about each other’s perspectives.

·     Dirty escalation—going behind someone’s back to complain to a boss or board—erodes trust, fuels toxicity, and wastes organizational energy.

·     Taking a step back and asking, “Whose team am I on?” reminds leaders to prioritize the success of the whole organization, not just their function.

·     Great leaders avoid triangulation and refuse to play parent when their direct reports run to them with complaints about each other.

·     Establishing shared language around trust, feedback, and conflict (like “grit in the pipes”) is critical to building psychological safety and team health.

·     Disagreement is inevitable, but learning to handle it maturely, without breaking relationships, sets high-performing teams apart.

·     Leaders must explicitly teach and model the expectation of clean escalation and collective accountability.

·     Self-awareness and feedback—for individuals and the whole team—are central to ongoing leadership and team development.

Guest Contact Information:

Connect with Helen Appleby on LinkedIn or visit HelenApplebyCoaching.com.

Resources Mentioned:

·      Book: The Unwritten Rules of Women’s Leadership by Helen Appleby

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

 What if you're not at your best? We've all experienced those days where everything feels like an uphill battle, when no matter the effort, things don’t seem to fall into place. In this episode, I explore the challenges and essential strategies for handling those tough days with grace and introspection. Through personal stories, like my memorable encounter with a rushed and hungry surgeon, I reflect on the importance of self-care and understanding when it's crucial to pause, reassess, and adjust our approach to leadership when our capacity is compromised.

My journey as an educator and mentor has taught me the value of emotional intelligence in navigating pressure. Being a leader often means maintaining composure, even when chaos might reign internally. I share how crucial it is to embrace those off days not as setbacks but as opportunities to recalibrate, ask for help, and be honest about our limitations with ourselves and our teams. Through my stories and insights, I aim to provide a roadmap for showing up effectively, even when we're not at our best.

“If we can get grounded and centered and question, ‘what's needed in this situation?’”

Today on The Rising Leader:

• Acknowledging when you’re not at your best and taking appropriate action is crucial.
• The paradox of pushing through versus knowing when to pause for personal care and reflection.
• The positive outcomes that stem from ensuring your emotional and physical readiness before tackling high-pressure responsibilities.
• Open communication can prevent misunderstandings when you're not performing at your peak.
• Seeking support and creating new agreements can alleviate pressure and improve outcomes.
• The value of using transparency to empower your team with context about your current state.
• Determining when a commitment requires your full capacity and when adjustments are necessary.
• Being truthful about your condition fosters understanding and minimizes potential negative impacts.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

In this episode of The Rising Leader, I had a conversation with Stephanie Chung, where we explored the challenges and strategies of modern leadership in today's rapidly changing environment. We focused on how leaders can effectively manage diverse teams, innovate strategically, and maintain composure in uncertain times. Stephanie shared practical advice on the importance of self-care, brain training for uncertainty, and the need for leaders to communicate transparently and consistently. Our discussion also covered the evolving dynamics of the workplace and the critical skills needed to lead successfully through complexity and change.

Stephanie Chung is a groundbreaking leader with an illustrious career spanning over 30 years. Known for her strategic innovation and pioneering achievements, she broke barriers as the first African American to lead a private jet company. Stephanie has held pivotal roles at American Airlines, Flexjet, and Bombardier Aerospace, earning accolades like Adweek’s Women Trailblazers and Ebony’s Power 100 recognition. She authored "Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You," offering nuanced insights into leadership, diversity, and fostering inclusive environments.

“Train the brain for uncertainty.” ~Stephanie Chung

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Effective leadership requires embracing both challenges and change.

·     To lead successfully, it's crucial to prioritize self-care and rest.

·     Training your brain to handle uncertainty can enhance decision-making.

·     Leadership involves managing diverse teams with varying needs and perspectives.

·     Transparency and over-communication are essential for building trust.

·     The concept of work-life balance may be outdated; prioritize life integration.

·     Each leader must constantly evaluate and expand their leadership capabilities.

·     In times of stress and change, leadership is both an opportunity and a responsibility.

Connect with Stephanie Chung:

·      Website: stephaniechung.com

·      Social Media: @TheStephanieChung on various platforms

·      Newsletter: Your Ally in Leadership (available on Substack)

For more information on the science of leadership and success, check out Stephanie’s latest works and subscribe to her newsletter for insights drawn from neuroscience.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead, as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Navigating the art of influence, this week, I delve into the delicate balance between being an influencer and being influenced. Drawing from recent experiences onboarding three new clients who share the same enneagram type, I explore the challenges faced by driven, goal-oriented individuals. I also discussed how energy in a meeting can be shaped by mood and how to maintain composure amidst differing opinions.

Anecdotes from my journey allow us to explore strategies for emotional intelligence thoroughly. I share insights that have shaped my approach, from empathic tendencies in reading a room to overcoming nervousness through grounding techniques.

“In moments of contradiction, breathe, settle into your groundedness, and influence the direction of the room.” ~Mark J. Silverman

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     The impact of a leader's energy on a meeting

·     The journey from being influenced to becoming an influencer

·     Strategies for staying grounded in tense situations

·     The role of emotional intelligence in leadership

·     Techniques for handling public contradictions gracefully

·     The power of calm presence in leadership

·     The importance of breathing through fear

·     Embracing mistakes as a path to growth

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

You've been with us as we dive into tough conversations about resilience and navigating uncertain times. In this episode, I brought on Gregory Vetter, a revolutionary entrepreneur who transformed a family recipe into Tessa Mae's, the leading organic salad dressing brand in the US, and pioneered clean food manufacturing. Gregory shares his remarkable entrepreneurial journey, detailing how he handled the trials that came with scaling a successful brand, investor infighting, and eventual turmoil, all while maintaining his integrity and leadership values.

Gregory Vetter's resilience and perseverance make his story truly inspiring. Once an insurance seller searching for change, Gregory found his calling in the food industry, co-founding Alta Fresh Foods and establishing the Homegrown Brand Accelerator. In his book, "Undressed: The Unfiltered Story of My Failed American Dream and How It Led to Success," he candidly outlines how he turned setbacks into stepping stones towards his ultimate goal. Gregory's leadership philosophy centers around leaving things better than he found them and leading by example.

“You have all the answers. You're just too scared to say them.” - Gregory Vetter

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Understanding the struggles of entrepreneurship and leadership through Gregory’s story

·     How to find purpose and meaning in challenging times

·     The significance of cultivating a strong morning routine

·     Importance of having a trusted support system

·     Navigating the emotional reactions to professional setbacks

·     Pursuing personal growth through adversity

·     The role of literature and historical figures in gaining perspective

·     Balancing willpower and rational decision-making in overcoming obstacles

Gregory Vetter's Contact Information:

·      Website: GregoryVetter.com

·      Instagram: @GLVetter

·      LinkedIn: Gregory Vetter

Resources Mentioned:

·      Gregory Vetter’s book: "Undressed: The Unfiltered Story of My Failed American Dream and How It Led to Success"

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

In this episode, I explore the profound connection between spirituality and leadership. Over the last 40 years, I've been on a deep spiritual journey that has greatly influenced my personal and professional life. From overcoming homelessness and addiction to writing "The Rising Leader," I've integrated my spiritual growth into understanding and teaching leadership dynamics.

For the past few decades, my quest has been one of spiritual introspection, evolving significantly since turning 60. This journey has allowed me to question and understand complex spiritual concepts and their role in developing effective leadership skills. It's not just about religious values but a more profound, personal spiritual connection that influences how we lead and connect with others.

“Spirituality in leadership means rising above automatic reactions

 to effectively address challenges.”

~Mark Silverman

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     My journey and its integration with leadership

·     Defining spirituality beyond religious labels

·     Insights on emotional intelligence as a key leadership trait

·     The importance of presence and self-inquiry

·     Lessons from spiritual thinkers like Michael Singer and Ram Dass

·     Reflect on how my spiritual journey has influenced my leadership style over several decades.

·     Explore the role of emotional intelligence in creating strong, effective leadership.

·     Discuss how spiritual insights encourage being present and handling challenges with clarity.

·     Illustrate how spirituality helps leaders transcend automatic reactions to address problems more effectively.

·     Draw from the teachings of Michael Singer and Ram Dass to reinforce the connection between spiritual growth and leadership development.

·     Stress the importance of self-awareness in defusing difficult situations through asking insightful questions.

·     Highlight that proper growth involves freeing oneself from what previously held one back.

Resources Mentioned:

Books: "The Untethered Soul", "Living Untethered", "The Surrender Experiment" by Michael Singer

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

In today's episode of The Rising Leader, we're diving into the complexities of dealing with uncertainty in our ever-evolving world. We explore how to transform stressful situations into opportunities for growth and being our best selves, no matter the challenges we face. I had the privilege of speaking with Michael Neill, a transformational teacher known for his work on breaking down cultural myths around stress and pressure in both business and life.

Michael Neill is an internationally renowned transformational teacher, author, broadcaster, and speaker with a unique ability to blend the sacred with the profane. As the CEO of the Genius Catalyst, Michael has influenced the growth of thousands through his consultancy and multimedia organization. He has authored several insightful books, including "The Inside-Out Revolution" and "Supercoach," which have significantly shaped and informed my own coaching approach.

"We're made for reality, like we really are. We do really well in real-time." ~Michael Neill

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Stress and uncertainty are not new; they have been a consistent part of the last few years.

·     The real world is separate from the stories we imagine about it; imagination can cause unnecessary stress.

·     Recognize that unpleasant thoughts and feelings are signals, much like physical pain, prompting you to change your focus.

·     Losing the taste for negative emotions helps naturally shift towards more positive thoughts and actions.

·     Real change occurs not from effort but from losing interest in unhelpful habits and gaining interest in the present.

·     If stress and worry seem useful, it’s harder to change—seeing them as unhelpful opens up the possibility for change.

·     Even one moment of clarity or insight can transform habitual thinking, offering a shortcut to peace.

·     True goodness and effective action come from being in a good state of mind rather than obligation or guilt.

Guest Contact Information:

·      Michael Neill's website: michaelneill.org

·      Explore the Basic Course: michaelneill.org/basic-course

Resources Mentioned:

·      Book: "The Inside-Out Revolution" by Michael Neill

·      Podcast: "Caffeine for the Soul" by Michael Neill

·      Book: "It's That Simple" by Mavis Karn

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Have you ever thought about what truly drives effective leadership? For many, it isn't about wielding power with an iron fist; it's about creating a culture where people feel valued and safe. In this engaging episode, we delve into the inspiring journey of Garry Ridge, former CEO of the WD40 Company, who transformed a household name into a global success story, not through authoritarian command, but by fostering an environment of care, safety, and engagement.

Garry Ridge, a distinguished thought leader, author, and former Chairman and CEO of WD40, shares his profound leadership insights emphasizing emotional intelligence and team culture. With over 35 years of experience, Gary has been at the helm of creating positive workplaces and is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego. His book, "Any Dumbass Can Do It," offers numerous learning moments from his leadership journey at WD40.

“A leader cannot give their leftovers; each interaction deserves a full plate.” – Garry Ridge

This week on The Rising Leader:

·      The significance of a clearly defined, authentic purpose

·      How WD40 became one of the best companies to work for

·      Creating a culture where employees feel safe and valued

·      The difference between motivating and inspiring team members

·      Why we must reduce fear in organizations for better engagement

·      Insights into embracing failures as learning moments

·      How to combat the current 'pandemic of loneliness'

·      The personal journey to emotional intelligence and self-awareness

Guest Contact Information:

·      Website: thelearningmoment.net

·      LinkedIn: Garry Ridge on LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned:

·      Book: "Any Dumbass Can Do It: Learning Moments from an Everyday CEO at a Multibillion Dollar Company" by Garry Ridge

·      Quiz: Master Your Dumbassery Quiz at thelearningmoment.net

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Welcome back, leaders. Today, we're exploring how to adapt and thrive amidst uncertainty in the ever-changing landscape of 2025 and beyond. John Little joins me for a candid conversation on resilience, adaptability, and finding anchors in unprecedented times. We delve into introspection, community, and personal growth to help you confidently navigate, no matter what challenges arise.

John Little is a business leader, entrepreneur, and consultant with over 25 years of experience. John is the principal consultant and founder of The Winner’s Edge Coaching, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in Inclusion, Equity, Belonging, and Engagement strategies, leadership development, business structures, and operation management. With a comprehensive understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion, John has led impactful strategy for global enterprises, advising top executives, including CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and CHROs, on DEI initiatives. As a certified DISC, MBTI, and FIRO-B facilitator, John provides valuable insights into personality types and relationship dynamics, enhancing his coaching effectiveness.

“Just keep showing up; that's the most important thing that you can do.”

~John Little

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Navigating the uncertainties of 2025 and finding resilience

·     The need for introspection and mindfulness for self-growth

·     Building community to combat isolation and find support

·     How to handle fear and reluctance in times of the unknown

·     The importance of mourning expectations to move forward

·     Challenges and attributes of effective leaders in today's world

·     Self-awareness and understanding imposter syndrome

·     Encouraging confidence through past successes

Connect with John:

The Winners Edge Coaching

LinkedIn

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Have you ever been so triggered that you lost your composure in a situation? In our latest episode of The Rising Leader, I delve into what happens when high achievers and leaders lose their calm and how they can navigate these turbulent moments. This episode explores the strategies I teach, grounded in emotional intelligence, to handle one's emotions when under pressure and maintain clarity and control.

In today's episode, I recount a personal story involving my eldest son, sharing how I managed my initial emotional reaction. I share my process of moving from fear to understanding and effective communication. This real-world application of the principles I teach provides insight into maintaining authenticity and taking responsibility for one's emotions.

“When you're losing your shit, you cannot be inauthentic. You can't completely fake it.”

~Mark Silverman

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Dealing with emotional triggers in leadership roles

·     The importance of being even-tempered under pressure

·     Taking responsibility for your emotions

·     The power of naming your emotions

·     How to use language to communicate when you're triggered

·     Building partnerships through shared language

·     Maintaining authenticity while taking control of your emotions

·     Practical steps for managing moments of high emotion

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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I'm thrilled to bring you this inspiring conversation with Steve Schlafman, a former venture capitalist who has undergone a powerful transformation in his life and work. We dive into our complex relationship with success and how to thrive amidst the constant changes in today's world. Steve's journey from the high-paced world of venture capital to founding Downshift, a coaching firm that supports ambitious professionals through transition and transformation, provides a fascinating lens on redefining success and maintaining ambition without burnout.

Steve Schlafman comes to us with an impressive background, having held roles at top firms in New York, such as Primary Venture Partners and RRE Ventures, as well as operating positions at Microsoft, the New England Patriots, and various startups. Despite this success, Steve felt disconnected and burnt out, prompting a period of self-discovery that ultimately led to the founding of Downshift. Through his work, Steve now helps executives and creators refine their inner compass in an intentional and deeply energizing way.

"It's not about slowing down to a standstill; it's learning to change gears so you can accelerate."

~ Steve Schlafman

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     The realization of a need for change often starts as a whisper and grows into a secret that needs to be honored.

·     Professionals feel off despite their success, and there's a longing for authenticity and fulfillment.

·     It’s possible to remain ambitious while developing a healthy relationship with your career and personal life.

·     Slowing down isn’t about inactivity but about being deliberate to gain momentum and deeper fulfillment.

·     Acknowledging and addressing resistance can aid significant personal and professional growth.

·     A well-balanced life outside work contributes to better performance and satisfaction within work.

·     Embrace the unknown and mystery rather than viewing every problem as needing an immediate fix.

·     We are deeply interconnected with our environment; recognizing this can bring more awareness and adaptability.

Guest Contact Info:

·      Schlaf.co

·      @schlaf

·      Downshift.me

Resources:

·      Blog: Where the Road Bends

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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In today's episode, I dive into a powerful meditation technique I recently discussed with the incredible Michael Neal, author of Super Coach and the Inside Out Revolution. This meditation is designed to calm the mind, reduce anxiety, and bring us into the present moment, where we can tackle challenges with clarity and focus. I share my personal experience with this technique and how it has helped me overcome procrastination and anxiety in my own life.

"One of the reasons we're good in a crisis is something terrible is happening, but we show up as our best because we can show up in the present, we can do incredible things in the present." 

~Mark Silverman

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Procrastination is often rooted in fear and anxiety and can be overcome through mindfulness and meditation.

·     The past is already gone, and we often don't remember it clearly. It's important to thank the past and let it go.

·     The future is unknown, and we can't do anything about it in the present. Worrying about the future only creates unnecessary stress and anxiety.

·     The present moment is where we are always safe, grounded, and able to manage things effectively.

·     Setting a timer for focused work periods can help us stay present and productive.

·     Our minds often wander to the past or future, leading to stress and unhappiness. Restoring ourselves to the present is crucial for our well-being.

·     Simple grounding techniques, like wiggling your fingers and toes or taking deep breaths, can help you stay present and focused.

·     Focusing on the task, whether washing dishes, handling paperwork, or making a phone call, can help us stay grounded in the present moment.

Resources Mentioned:

Super Coach by Michael Neal

The Inside Out Revolution by Michael Neal

The Now Habit by Dr. Neil Fiore

The Now Habit at Work by Dr. Neil Fiore

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook


Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.


In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

So, we're early in the new season of "The Rising Leader," today, we're diving deep into the themes of grounding, success, and transformational coaching with Michael McDonald. In light of the significant changes expected in 2025, it's vital to understand how to stay grounded and centered amid the chaos. Michael, a transformational coach with clients ranging from CEOs to other coaches globally, shares his evolved coaching philosophy, focusing on subtracting rather than adding to his client's lives to find their inner tranquility and true potential.

Michael McDonald is a transformational coach for entrepreneurs and executives, working with CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, and mentoring other coaches around the world. With a style described as part Mr. Rogers, part Inception, he helps high performers find effortlessness, inspiration, and simplicity in everything they’re up to, great and small.

“Something awesome is trying to happen, and your job is to allow it.” - Michael McDonald

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Recognize the difference between overwhelm and overload to manage stress effectively.

·     Circumstances aren’t inherently scary; it’s our stories about them that cause fear.

·     Grounding and finding inner stability is about subtracting mental clutter, not adding new tasks.

·     People often complicate their lives with unnecessary actions and thoughts.

·     The deep mind is a wisdom-oriented, intuitive part of our brain that should guide us, with the conceptual mind serving as an advisor.

·     Authentic, intuitive impulses come from a place of knowing beyond our conceptual thoughts.

·     Most empowerment strategies involve creating stronger concepts, while true peace comes from quieting the mind.

·     Trusting yourself and letting go of rigid thoughts can lead to profound peace and effectiveness.

Resources Mentioned:

·      Book: "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie

·      TED Talk: "How to Make Stress Your Friend" by Kelly McGonagall

·      Book: "Reinventing Yourself" by Steve Chandler

·      Michael Neal's YouTube Video: "Why Aren’t We Awesomer?"

·      Heroic Arete +1s by Brian Johnson

·      Watch Ian McGilchrist’s talks on YouTube

To follow Michael McDonald and tap into his daily doses of wisdom, visit his website at authenticintegrity.com or email him at michael@authenticintegrity.com.

Instagram: @authentiintegrity

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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You’ve probably heard me say a million times that when I feel resentment, it’s a sign of something more profound. Maybe it means I haven’t set a boundary, I haven’t asked for something I want, or maybe, just maybe, I’m jealous. In this episode of The Rising Leader, I dive deep into the goldmine hidden in our feelings of resentment and harsh judgment. By examining our emotions and reactions, we can uncover valuable insights about our unmet needs and desires. Whether dealing with colleagues at work or frustrations on the road, there’s always something to learn from the negative feelings we harbor.

This week’s episode features insights from an executive coaching session. The client, a brilliant leader, stayed up until 2:00 AM fixing reports from his team, while another leader in the organization had no such issues. We peel back the layers of jealousy and resentment to reveal lessons in leadership and accountability. Without swinging to extremes, we explore how even the most negative judgments can be turned into self-reflective gold.

“Resentment can be a beacon pointing us towards what we truly desire or lack in our lives.”

~Mark Silverman

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     How resentment reveals unmet needs

·     The importance of setting boundaries

·     Transforming jealousy into self-improvement

·     A coaching case study on leadership and report handling

·     The power of accountability in leadership

·     Using negative judgments as positive learning tools

·     Venting frustrations: Road rage as a reflection of inner desires

·     Expanding personal and professional range through self-reflection

Resources Mentioned:

“Lead From the Heart: Transformational Leadership for The 21st Century” by Mark C. Crowley

“Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity” by Kim Scott

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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In this episode of The Rising Leader, I explore the profound connection between nature, stress, and leadership with my insightful guest, Sam Morris. We dive into how one can experience nature, from superficial encounters to profound, transformative engagements. We also discuss the cultural endorsement of stress and its impact on decision-making and team coherence, as well as how adopting a vitality-oriented mindset can lead to better outcomes in both personal and professional life. Additionally, I share a personal story about a client struggling with work-life balance and the importance of communication in reducing stress.

Sam Morris, the founder of Zen Warrior Training and co-founder of USA Protective Care, joins me to delve into his journey of resilience and renewal following a life-changing car accident in 1999. Sam's leadership philosophy is built on mindfulness, anti-fragility, and the continuous breakdown of identity assumptions to uncover greater self-awareness. He offers a unique perspective on stress, identity, and how leaders can thrive by integrating this wisdom into their lives.

“Seeing life as a game makes it less about the outcomes and more about the adventure.”

- Sam Morris

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Differentiating superficial and deep engagement with nature

·     The cultural endorsement of stress and its impact on leadership

·     How redirecting attention to physical sensations can alleviate stress

·     The importance of self-care activities like breath, movement, and good sleep

·     The concept of stress addiction and its ties to identity

·     Distinguishing control from agency in managing life and work

·     Building mindful awareness to reduce reactive emotions

·     Understanding the significance of seeing life from a "30,000-foot perspective"

Resources Mentioned:

Michael Singer's transformational podcasts

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Stepping into 2025 presents unique challenges and stressors unlike any we've faced before. In this first episode of the year, I address how AI, shifting business practices, political upheavals, and other pressures shape our lives and work environments. We'll explore effective strategies for staying grounded and becoming the best versions of ourselves amidst uncertainty. Over the coming months, I'll have insightful conversations with spiritual masters and thought leaders in positive psychology to help you navigate these stormy times with grace and resilience.

Our guests in these upcoming episodes will be an array of compelling voices with whom I've had the privilege to connect over the years. These experts have a wealth of wisdom to share. Their teachings have profoundly impacted my life, and I'm honored to bring them into your world as we tackle the pressures of modern life together.

"I want you to thrive in 2025, 2026, 2027 for the decades to come." ~ Mark Silverman

Today on The Rising Leader:

·     Recognize the heightened stressors of 2025 and their implications on personal and professional lives.

·     Understand the importance of staying grounded and centered amidst uncertainty.

·     Explore the fears surrounding AI and its impact on job security and work practices.

·     Learn strategies for adapting to rapid technological and societal changes.

·     Gain insights from spiritual masters and mindset experts on managing stress and maintaining well-being.

·     Discover methods for showing up as your best self for your family and colleagues despite external chaos.

·     Understand the power of positive psychology in building resilience and mental strength.

·     Embrace continuous learning and growth through everyday interactions to become a rising leader.

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Kim Scott is an author, speaker, and the Co-founder of Radical Candor, an enterprise dedicated to creating productive organizations where respect and collaboration combine. Before co-founding Radical Candor, Kim served as a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies, as well as a faculty member at Apple University. She also led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google. She is the author of Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-Ass Culture of Inclusivity. Kim holds a Bachelor’s degree in Slavic Literature from Princeton University.

Kim joins us today to discuss the art of radical candor and giving, soliciting, and receiving feedback without losing your humanity. She reveals how she came up with the idea of Radical Candor and how she got out of the conundrum between being kind and giving people direct feedback. She explains why the phrase “Don’t take it personally” should be eliminated from your vocabulary. She describes the “Asshole Quadrant” and explains how radical candor differs from “obnoxious aggression.” Kim also elaborates on creating a healthy culture and environment of feedback and offers her best practices for giving and soliciting feedback with radical candor.

“Ensure that your praise is specific and sincere and that your criticisms are kind and clear.” - Kim Scott

This week on Mastering Overwhelm:

●     Kim’s background and the struggles she faced when she first became a leader

●     Teaching a dog to sit and Kim’s shift to learning about empathy, care, and radical candor

●     The “Asshole Quadrant” and how radical candor is different from obnoxious aggression

●     What ruinous empathy means

●     The CEO’s challenge with giving and receiving feedback

●     Making a safe space for feedback and incentivizing it

●     The importance of timing when giving radical candor

●     Praise as radical candor and how it can challenge people to be their best

●     Kim’s recipe for staying grounded and centered

●     How knowing yourself helps build radical candor

Connect with Kim Scott:

●     Kim Scott Website

●     Radical Candor

●     Book: Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-Ass Culture of Inclusivity

●     Book: Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

●     Radical Candor on LinkedIn

●     Radical Candor on Instagram

●     Radical Candor on Facebook

●     Radical Candor on Twitter

●     Radical Candor on Medium

●     The Radical Candor Podcast

●     Kim Scott on LinkedIn

●     Kim Scott on Medium

●     Kim Scott on Twitter

Mastering Overwhelm - Set Yourself Free to Enjoy Your Success

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Mastering Overwhelm Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Matt Abrahams is a professor, keynote speaker, and martial artist. He is a leading expert in communication and serves as a lecturer in organizational behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he received the school’s Alumni Teaching Award. Matt teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. Additionally, he teaches public speaking and co-teaches improvisational speaking in the Stanford Continuing Studies Program. Matt is also a sought-after communications consultant and coach who has helped numerous presenters prepare for Nobel Prize presentations, TEDx talks, the World Economic Forum, and other high-stakes talks and speeches. He is the author of Freaking Out and hosts the award-winning podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart.

Matt joins me today to discuss managing public speaking anxiety and how to effectively navigate spontaneous public talks. He explains why anxiety from public speaking can’t be truly overcome and shares the two-pronged approach to managing the symptoms and sources of public speaking anxiety. He illustrates how we can reframe spontaneous public speaking situations not as threats, but as opportunities for exploration and collaboration. He outlines the “Pace, Space, & Grace” approach to high-impact, high-intensity conversations. He shares a story of serendipity and why he makes it a point to say “yes” to opportunities whenever possible. Matt also outlines the three “Rs” people must consider before asserting their viewpoint and underscores how persuasion involves more than convincing another person to do what you want them to do.

“Most communication we do as leaders is spontaneous. We work hard on the presentations and meetings we run but, in reality, a lot of what we do in our everyday lives is spontaneous.” - Matt Abrahams

This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:

●     Glossophobia and its roots

●     Learning to manage the fear of public speaking

●     The “feel/real divide” and how we can shift our mindset about public speaking

●     The Spotlight Effect and focusing on the value you bring to your audience

●     Quick exercises to relieve the symptoms of public speaking anxiety

●     How to speak effectively in impromptu or spontaneous situations

●     Showing up as a powerful leader and team member in meetings

●     How to make your voice matter in group conversations

●     The secret to effective persuasion

●     How to properly apologize when you’ve made a mistake

Resources Mentioned:

●     Podcast: Business Minds Coffee Chat with Jay Scherr

●     Book: Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott

●     Speaking Up Without Freaking Out | Matt Abrahams | TEDxPaloAlto

Connect with Matt Abrahams:

●     Matt Abrahams Website

●     Podcast: Think Fast, Talk Smart The Podcast

●     Think Fast, Talk Smart on Instagram

●     Think Fast, Talk Smart on YouTube

●     Think Fast, Talk Smart on Threads

●     Think Fast, Talk Smart on TikTok

●     Think Fast, Talk Smart on Twitter

●     Matt Abrahams on LinkedIn

Grab Your Advanced Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through the ranks of your company so fast that you wish you had a manual to becoming an effective leader? Then The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

The Rising Leader Handbook officially releases in October 2023, but you don’t have to wait!

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your advanced copy and get started on mastering the skills you need to become the leader your team needs you to be.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Larry Quinlan is a technology leader, public board director, and strategic advisor to private equity. He is the former Global Chief Information Officer of Deloitte, one of the world’s largest professional services organizations for over 330,000 people in more than 150 countries and territories. As Deloitte’s Global CIO, Larry led 10,000 IT professionals across the world and drove significant revenue as the lead client partner for several of the company’s global clients. In 2021, after more than 30 years in service, Larry retired from Deloitte. Today, Larry serves as a board member and director for several non-profit and for-profit organizations including ServiceNow, UBS, Npower, and United Way Miami.

Larry joins me today to share the lessons he learned through becoming the Global Chief Information Officer for the world’s largest professional services firm. He emphasizes the importance of listening to the voices inside you and trusting yourself. He explains how to add value as a leader while surrounding yourself with people who are better than you. Larry also outlines the characteristics that he thinks made people want to help him rise through the ranks and underscores how the support of others was crucial to his professional success.

“What really makes the difference is the people who wake up every single day trying to make something better—whether you were there or not.” - Larry Quinlan

This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:

●     Larry’s background, origin story, and how his family became his early foundation for success

●     His college education and the jobs he took to fund his university studies

●     How Larry discovered his love for technology while attending graduate school

●     Going against conventional wisdom and trusting the voices inside you

●     Leaving on good terms and how Larry became a part of Deloitte

●     How the help of other people was key to Larry becoming the Global CIO of Deloitte

●     Speaking your truth and becoming a trusted advisor to the CEO

●     Letting other people be the smarter person in the room

●     Building trust and its role in elevating a colleague

●     The importance of creating an environment where people can be their best

Related Episode:

●     Leadership, Authenticity, Accountability, and Values with Michael D. Robinson

Connect with Larry Quinlan:

●     Larry Quinlan on LinkedIn

Grab Your Advanced Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through the ranks of your company so fast that you wish you had a manual to becoming an effective leader? Then The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

The Rising Leader Handbook officially releases in October 2023, but you don’t have to wait!

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your advanced copy and get started on mastering the skills you need to become the leader your team needs you to be.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners, like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Garry Ridge is the Chairman and CEO of the WD-40 Company. Garry has been working with the WD-40 Company for nearly 40 years and, as its CEO, is responsible for driving the company’s culture and values. In addition to his role at the WD-40 Company, Garry shares his experience and insights as an executive coach, consultant, and speaker through his platform, the Living Moment. He has been instrumental in re-igniting excitement and cultivating cultures that foster breakthrough innovations in organizations across 62 countries.

Garry joins me today to discuss what it takes to be a servant-leader with an open heart. He discusses the importance of vulnerability and leadership and reveals the characteristics of a toxic CEO. He describes the difference between using empathy and ego and shares what inspires him to be the leader that he is today. He also underscores the value of leading your people through a crisis and highlights how an organization’s values protect its people.

“Our success as leaders is based on the will of the people and the strategy we want to execute.” - Garry Ridge

This week on Mastering Overwhelm:

●     The importance of vulnerability in leadership

●     The attributes of a soul-sucking CEO

●     How Garry’s helping people navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic

●     What it means to pivot around fear

●     How Garry helps his leaders manage remote workers

●     Using empathy versus ego in redirecting people when they need to be redirected

●     Why it’s important to take care of your people amidst a crisis

●     How business leaders impact happy families and communities

●     The characteristics that differentiate leaders from managers

●     How an organization’s values protect its people

●     How Garry manages his time and keeps himself from overwhelm

●     What inspires Garry to be the leader that he is today

●     Why he doesn’t like the word “busy”

●     What we can learn from indigenous leaders

Resources Mentioned:

●     Grow Strong Leaders Podcast

●     From Start-Up to Grown-Up: Grow Your Leadership to Grow Your Business by Alisa Cohn

●     Work is Love Made Visible: A Collection of Essays About the Power of Finding Your Purpose From the World’s Greatest Thought Leaders by Marshall Goldsmith, Frances Hesselbein, and Sarah McArthur

Connect with Garry Ridge:

●     WD-40 Company

●     Careers at WD-40 Company

●     WD-40 Company on Facebook

●     WD-40 Company on Twitter

●     WD-40 Company on Instagram

●     WD-40 Company on YouTube

●     The Learning Moment

●     The Learning Moment on LinkedIn

●     The Learning Moment on Twitter

●     The Learning Moment on YouTube

●     Garry Ridge on LinkedIn

Mastering Overwhelm - Set Yourself Free to Enjoy Your Success

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Mastering Overwhelm Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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Have you ever felt unheard or not respected? Perhaps you’ve been in a political conversation where you know with every fiber of your being that what the other person is saying is completely wrong, untrue, or they’re listening to the wrong sources – and it triggers you. Then you begin to get ‘wrapped around the axle’. Perhaps there was an experience you felt could have been avoided that triggered you to react in an emotional way rather than a calm, wise one.

It can be hard to stay calm, cool, and collected during a passionate or heated conversation, especially when you wholeheartedly believe that you’re right, and the other person is wrong. But, like Michael Singer said: “You don’t have to be strong, you need to be wise.” So in these moments, is it more important to be right – or to be happy and effective?

In this episode, I discuss how we often fall into the trap of spinning our wheels or get ‘wrapped around the axle’ over things people say or events that happen. I discuss how arguing with events or realities often causes us to get distracted and leak energy and power. I discuss how our emotional intelligence determines how much power we leak in the office, in the boardroom, or in life overall and how our ego often plays a problematic role in these settings. I also discuss the power of taking deep breaths when things don’t go the way you think they should and the beauty of saying ‘thank you’ when receiving unwanted or unexpected feedback.

“When things happen at work – the person who can get to sane faster, the person who can get to emotional maturity and emotional intelligence faster is the person who has the power in every conversation.” - Mark Silverman

This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:

●     How arguing with reality and the things that happen cause us to leak energy, power, and get distracted

●     How we often fall into the trap of spinning our wheels

●     How having strong emotional intelligence prevents us from leaking power

●     The power of calmly asking questions

●     How our ego is often the root cause of most problems or arguments

●     Asking yourself: Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy and effective

●     Taking deep breaths when things don’t go the way we think they should

●     Saying ‘thank you’ when receiving negative feedback

My Favorite Cliches on Being Right vs. Being Effective:

●     Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?

●     “When you argue with reality, you only lose 100% of the time.” - Byron Katie

●     Acceptance is the key to my serenity.

●     “How do we know something should have happened? Because it did.” - Byron Katie

●     “You don’t have to be strong. You need to be wise.” - Michael Singer

Resources Mentioned:

●     Book: Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament by Michael A. Singer

●     Book: Loving What Is by Byron Katie

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Visit our website for more exclusive content and information.

Michael D. Robinson is the Vice President of Healthcare for North America at VMware, a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps—enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. A tech industry veteran, Michael has driven hundreds of thousands in revenue, created billion-dollar business divisions, and supported scores of sales careers. He formerly served as the Vice President for US Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft, where he worked for over 14 years before joining Year Up as an Executive Director in 2016. In addition to his work at VMware, Michael is a managing partner at micro ventures, LLC. and works as the Board Director of NovoDynamics, where he serves as a trusted advisor to the CEO.

Michael joins me today to offer his ideas on leadership, authenticity, and aligning with your values. He shares leadership principles from his time in the military that he applies in his work today. He describes how he found his knack for developing other people. He explains how authenticity can help people gravitate toward you and be open to your advice and describes how diversity creates momentum and velocity for organizations. Michael also highlights the value of being true to your convictions and underscores navigating systematic oppression as an African American in corporate America.

“The hardest thing as a leader is being accountable and making those course corrections when needed. You have to be on the hook and be accountable yourself.” - Michael D. Robinson

This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:

●     People capital and the treasure of the relationships I built

●     Michael’s background and how he became a leader of organizations

●     Managing up and how Michael discovered that he had a knack for developing other people

●     Helping other leaders develop a passion for people

●     What inspires Michael to create other leaders

●     The hardest challenges Michael met in the early stages of his leadership career

●     Speaking your mind while moving up through the ranks

●     Aligning with your values and being confident in your abilities as a leader

●     Michael’s thoughts on navigating “coop-petition”

●     Being an intrapreneur and getting a business within a business to follow the culture you want to cultivate

●     Staying true to yourself and navigating systematic oppression in organizations

Connect with Michael D. Robinson:

●     VMware

●     VMware on LinkedIn

●     VMware on Facebook

●     VMware on Twitter

●     Michael D. Robinson on LinkedIn

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

Have you ever wondered what it truly takes to build trust within a team? In this episode, I sit down with Keith Ferrazzi, who shares his extensive research on the multifaceted nature of trust and the innovative models he's developed to foster strong team dynamics. We dive into his concept of "CO Elevation," the importance of personal and professional relationships, and practical methods to enhance communication and candor in the workplace.

Keith Ferrazzi is a renowned speaker and author whose work has transformed how organizations think about networking, leadership, and team dynamics. His books, including the seminal "Never Eat Alone," have redefined global personal and professional success strategies. His latest work, "Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship," builds on two decades of research and offers actionable practices to turn individual leadership into cohesive team collaboration.

"Trust isn't just given; it's built through consistent, actionable practices." - Keith Ferrazzi

This week on The Rising Leader Podcast:

·     The three spectrums of trust: professional, structural, and personal

·     Building personal relationships to overcome trust issues

·     Keith's concept of "CO Elevation" and fostering supportive team environments

·     The "candor break" practice to encourage open communication

·     Insights from Keith's new book "Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship"

·     Strategies for peer-to-peer coaching and feedback in teams

·     Practical ways to implement feedback without hierarchical pressure

·     The critical shift from conflict avoidance to candor

Resources Mentioned:

Keith Ferrazzi's website

Book: "Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship" by Keith Ferrazzi

Book: "Rising Leader Handbook" by Mark Silverman

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Visit our website for more exclusive content and information.

This week on The Rising Leader:

·     Vulnerability and feedback are crucial for creating high-functioning teams.

·     Effective leadership starts with understanding both yourself and others.

·     Emotional intelligence is key to managing feedback and reactions.

·     The Enneagram helps identify prime motivations and fears, which shape interactions.

·     Diverse personality types require tailored leadership approaches.

·     Building trust involves understanding and empathy with those you lead.

·     Addressing root causes of outsized reactions can lead to more mature leadership.

·     The importance of introspection and curiosity in personal and professional growth.

Get ready for an enlightening discussion as I reflect on my recent interview with Keith Farazzi, the author of the groundbreaking networking book "Never Eat Alone". Keith's upcoming book, "Never Lead Alone", delves into team dynamics and the power of vulnerability and feedback in creating high-functioning teams. In this episode, I explore how Keith's approach intersects with my own coaching methods and highlight the importance of understanding the nuances behind effective leadership.

“The bullet points are very understandable; it’s the execution and getting other human beings to execute on those bullet points that’s the tough part.”

Resources Mentioned:

• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
• Never Lead Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

Grab Your Copy of The Rising Leader Handbook

Do you find yourself rising through your company's ranks so fast that you wish you had a manual to become an effective leader? Then, The Rising Leader Handbook is right for you.

In The Rising Leader Handbook, you’ll learn how to shift your perspective and gain the leadership skills you need, regardless of the breadth of your responsibilities, by leveraging the relationships you’ve built with the CEO, the Leadership Team, and the team you lead as well as your relationship with yourself.

Visit The Rising Leader Handbook: Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders to grab your copy and start mastering your skills to become your team leader.

Leader, It’s Time to Rise!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Rising Leader Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeart Radio

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help me reach more listeners like you.

Join me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.