Helping Good Leaders Become Great—One Practical Insight at a Time
You’re busy. The demands are real. But your desire to grow as a leader hasn’t gone anywhere.
That’s why The Learning to Lead Show is designed for leaders like you—driven, growth-minded, and always on the go. Hosted by Executive Leadership Coach Mark J. Cundiff, this podcast delivers practical leadership insights you can use today, not someday.
Each week, you’ll get:
Short, focused teaching episodes packed with real-world lessons from decades of leadership experience, bestselling books, and proven frameworks.
Authentic interviews with front-line leaders who share how they’re navigating challenges, building teams, and leading with purpose, right where they are.
Whether you’re commuting, working out, or grabbing a few quiet minutes between meetings, this show helps you invest in your leadership without adding to your already busy schedule.
Because great leadership isn’t about having more time—it’s about using the time you have to lead on purpose.
This show is for growth-minded professionals who want more than titles and tactics. It’s for those who want to lead with purpose, develop a legacy, and make their future bigger than their past.
So whether you're leading a team, a business, or yourself—tune in, take notes, and let’s grow together.
Site
RSS
Apple
Data updated on 16/09/2026
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
#76 Why 95% of AI Implementations Fail (And How to Be the Exception) with Ben Tasker
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 50:30
Episode Summary
What if the biggest obstacle to AI adoption isn't the technology at all — it's the humans who have to trust it, learn it, and choose to use it? In this episode, Mark sits down with Ben Tasker, an AI capability and workforce transformation expert, to unpack why AI success has almost nothing to do with the algorithm and everything to do with people.
Ben shares his journey from chasing patient volume data with a clipboard in a hospital hallway to leading AI transformation at a FTSE 100 company — and the hard-won leadership lessons along the way. You'll hear his framework for leading AI change (hint: it involves cake), why 95% of organizations fail to implement AI successfully, and practical, no-jargon steps anyone can take to start using AI today — whether you're a new grad, a seasoned leader, or a small business owner just trying to keep up.
About Ben Tasker
Ben Tasker is an AI capability and workforce transformation expert who leads a Data & AI Academy upskilling 36,000 employees at a FTSE 100 company. Formerly Dean of AI at Southern New Hampshire University, he launched applied AI certifications supporting more than 225,000 learners. Ben helps organizations prepare for the future of AI-enabled work.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
#75 Leadership Insights from my Conversation with Katie Neal
Saturday, September 12, 2026 • Duration 08:13
Leadership Insights from My Conversation with Katie Neal
If you don't tell your story, someone else will.
Let that sink in for a second. If you don't tell your story, someone else will tell it for you. That single truth is the heartbeat of this episode, and it's why I wanted to sit back down with you—just the two of us—to unpack the leadership gold from my conversation with Katie Neal.
If you haven't listened to Episode #74, Own Your Own Story: Communication, Confidence, and the Courage to Pivot with Katie Neal, go back and give it a listen first. This episode builds directly on that one.
Meet Katie Neal
Katie was my first Wake Forest alum guest on the show, and as a fellow Wake Forest grad, that meant a lot to me. Katie and I were both communications majors, and she's spent the years since building a career most leaders would love to have:
Certified executive coach
Award-winning communications leader
Founder of Katie Neale Consulting and Coaching
20+ years in journalism, PR, and strategic communications
Senior roles at TimelyCare and Wake Forest University
Katie has built her career helping leaders find clarity, confidence, and purpose in their communication—and it shows in every insight she shared.
What We Explored
Our conversation covered a lot of ground, but here's the practical wisdom we dug into:
Why communication is the through line between trust, hope, compassion, and stability
Preparing for a crisis before it happens, instead of reacting in the moment
Reading the difference between real problems and isolated noise
Using values clarification exercises to get unstuck in your career
Sharpening executive presence through language
Recognizing perfectionism and imposter syndrome in high achievers
Delivering authentic messages instead of scripted ones
Betting on yourself and navigating the fear that comes with it
#74 Own Your Story: Communication, Confidence, and the Courage to Pivot with Katie Neal
Thursday, September 3, 2026 • Duration 54:57
Episode #74: Own Your Story — Communication, Confidence, and the Courage to Pivot with Katie Neal
Episode Overview
If you don't tell your story, someone else will tell it for you.
That's the thread running through my entire conversation with Katie Neal — communications leader, certified executive coach, and my first-ever Demon Deacon guest. Katie has built a career on helping people and organizations own their narrative, and in this episode, she brings that same wisdom to us: how to lead through crisis, communicate with confidence, and navigate the fear that comes with betting on yourself.
Whether you're leading a team, building a business, or standing at a career crossroads, this episode will give you language and tools you can use today.
Key Takeaways
Own your story before someone else writes it for you. Proactive communication builds trust; silence invites speculation.
Preparation is the foundation of calm leadership. Crisis response isn't improvised — it's rehearsed.
Your language shapes your credibility. Small shifts — flagging, bridging, cutting jargon — dramatically change how you're perceived.
Clarify your core values to get unstuck. They've likely been guiding you since childhood, whether you've named them or not.
High achievers need to be led differently. Ask them what energizes and drains them — then act on what you hear.
Confidence is built through repetition. Practice isn't optional. Do the reps.
About Katie Neal
Katie Neal, ACC, is a certified executive coach, award-winning communications leader, and sought-after speaker and facilitator. As CEO and principal of Katie Neal Consulting & Coaching, she helps high achievers lead with intention and advance their careers. She brings more than 20 years of journalism, PR, and strategic communications experience, having held senior communications roles at TimelyCare and her alma mater, Wake Forest University. Today, through coaching, keynotes, and workshops, she develops leaders and empowers them to show up with clarity, confidence, and purpose.
#73 Leadership Insights from my Conversation with Adam Roach
Monday, August 31, 2026 • Duration 07:40
What does it cost you to keep chasing success once it stops feeling like enough?
That's the question sitting at the center of this episode. Last week, Adam Roach joined the show for a candid, story-filled conversation in Episode #72, From Success to Significance: The Beach Chair Moment.
Adam is the founder of the I Love Coaching community, where he helps established coaches build businesses rooted in clarity and ownership. Before that, he built and sold a real estate franchise, owned a SaaS technology company, and even ran the Beverly Hills Tennis Club in his twenties.
By every outside measure, Adam had already won. Then his father, a Hall of Fame Olympic swim coach, passed away in 2019. Standing in front of hundreds of people his father had shaped over a lifetime, Adam had a realization that would change everything: he had spent years building success, while his dad had quietly built significance.
In this episode, I'm sharing the five biggest leadership insights I took from that conversation, and I'm challenging you to sit with them the same way I did.
5 Key Takeaways from My Conversation with Adam Roach
1. Success and Significance Are Not the Same Thing
Adam spent years chasing success. Franchises. A software company. A comfortable lifestyle. It wasn't until he lost his father that he saw the difference clearly. In Adam's words:
"Significance should be coming from your leadership, and if you focus on significance first, success will always follow."
Success alone eventually hits a ceiling. Significance is what outlasts you. It's what filled the room at Adam's father's funeral, decades after some of those relationships began.
Success can build your name. Only significance builds your legacy.
2. Leadership Is Caught, Not Taught
Adam's father and grandfather never sat him down to teach him leadership theory. They simply lived it — hard work, consistency, showing up — and Adam absorbed it by watching.
The people you lead are absorbing your example far more than your instructions. What are you modeling when you don't realize anyone's watching? 3. Every Leader Is Wearing a Pose This might be the most piercing idea Adam shared. He offered a simple framework: a wound creates a lie, the lie creates a vow, and the vow becomes the pose you perform every day — often without realizing it. For Adam, it looked like this:
#72 From Success to Significance: The Beach Chair Moment with Adam Roach
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 58:14
#72 From Success to Significance: The Beach Chair Moment with Adam Roach
You can check every box success is supposed to give you — the businesses, the income, the lifestyle — and still feel like something's missing. That's exactly where my guest today found himself.
Adam Roach built three real estate franchises, a SaaS technology company, and ran a Beverly Hills tennis club in his twenties. By every outside measure, he'd made it. Then his father — a Hall of Fame Olympic swim coach — passed away in 2019. Standing in front of hundreds of people whose lives his dad had shaped, Adam realized he'd spent years chasing success while his father had quietly built something far more lasting: significance.
That realization sent him to a beach chair with a Bible, a journal, and one prayer. Within weeks, he'd sold three businesses in a single day and started over with nothing but a calling he couldn't yet see the shape of. Today he leads the I Love Coaching community, helping coaches on four continents build businesses rooted in clarity and ownership — all pointed at a North Star he received in that very beach chair moment.
In this episode, we talk about:
The difference between success and significance, and why success alone always leads to a dead end
The beach chair moment that led Adam to sell three businesses in one day
The W + L + V = POSE framework for uncovering the wound, lie, and vow driving your identity
Why leadership is "caught, not taught"
How Adam learned to stop being self-reliant — including forgiving a $250,000 debt mid-negotiation
The REAL Coach Method for building trust without ever having to sell
Why a silent, phone-free morning walk is his most important daily discipline
What he's learned about leadership from his friendship with John Maxwell
If you've ever felt the itch that there's something more waiting for you, even in the middle of success, this conversation is for you.
#71 Leadership Insights from my Conversation with Greg Gerber
Friday, August 21, 2026 • Duration 07:14
Episode 71: Leadership Insights from My Conversation with Greg Gerber
The Question Behind This Episode
What happens when the career that once defined you disappears?
That's the question at the heart of this episode. It's my follow-up reflection on Episode 70, Stories of Reinvention, Forward from 50: How to Rediscover Purpose, Passion, and Possibility with Greg Gerber — and I wanted to sit with it a little longer, because I think a lot of us are closer to this moment than we realize.
Meet Greg Gerber
Greg spent nearly 20 years as a journalist covering the RV industry, building his own daily publication to 16,000 subscribers. Then he did something almost unheard of in his field: he sold everything, bought a motor home, and lived in it full-time for three years — traveling to all 48 lower states to report from inside the industry he'd spent two decades covering.
What he found on the road led to a series of editorials that cost him nearly two-thirds of his revenue within weeks, and eventually, the business itself.
That loss became the foundation for Forward from 50 — Greg's platform helping people over 50 discover that meaning and purpose don't end at retirement. They just change shape. Nearly 200 interviews later, he keeps hearing the same story: people stepping out of careers that no longer fit and into work that finally does.
The truth we kept coming back to: You don't retire from your purpose. You retire from your job.
What We Talked About
Recognizing apathy creep before it drains your passion
Separating the job you had to do from the purpose you're meant to do
Turning pain and loss into a new direction
Identifying your natural talents through honest self-evaluation
Overcoming imposter syndrome when starting something new
Using curiosity to stay sharp and engaged at any age
Finding purpose by helping someone else, not just yourself
"You don't retire from your purpose because your purpose has changed. You want to do something that makes an impact. And once you discover what it is that you want to do, you pick up that baton, and you run that race.""I personally don't believe you can have a purpose without helping other people.""You don't need to know everything and have all the answers. You just need to be a step or two ahead of the person seeking assistance.""The people who remain curious, who are always looking and learning and asking questions, they are the ones that their minds tend to remain sharp."
#70 Stories of Reinvention, Forward from 50: How to Rediscover Purpose, Passion, and Possibility with Greg Gerber
Sunday, August 16, 2026 • Duration 52:33
#70 Stories of Reinvention, Forward from 50: How to Rediscover Purpose, Passion, and Possibility with Greg Gerber
What happens when the career that defined you for 20 years disappears, not slowly, but all at once?
That's exactly what happened to my guest today, Greg Gerber. For nearly two decades, Greg was the voice of the RV industry, building a daily publication that reached 16,000 subscribers. Then he sold everything, bought a motor home, and lived in it full time for three years, reporting from inside the industry he covered. What he uncovered led to a series of editorials that cost him almost two-thirds of his revenue within weeks, and eventually, the business he'd built his identity around.
That loss became the doorway to Forward From 50, the platform Greg founded to help people over 50 rediscover purpose, not just recreation, in the years ahead of them. Nearly 200 interviews later, he's heard the same story again and again: people stepping away from careers that no longer fit, and into work that finally does.
In this episode, we talk about:
🔹 What "apathy creep" looks like, and why so many high achievers drift into it without realizing it
🔹 The real difference between retiring from your job and retiring from your purpose
🔹 How losing nearly everything forced Greg to rebuild his identity from scratch
🔹 The story of an engineer who traded MRI machines for balloon animals, Olympic officiating, and quieter pickleball courts
🔹 The 22-question guide that can help anyone who feels stuck find direction
🔹 Why curiosity — not recreation — is what keeps us sharp as we age
If you've ever wondered what comes next after the title, the paycheck, or the identity you built your life around, this conversation is for you.
Connect with Greg Gerber:
🌐 Website:
#69 Leadership Insights from my Conversation with Hanna Bauer
Monday, August 10, 2026 • Duration 09:51
Episode #69: Leadership Insights from My Conversation with Hanna Bauer
What if the crisis you're dreading isn't actually your biggest problem? What if it's simply the spotlight that finally shows everyone what was already there?
That's the question I couldn't stop thinking about after my conversation with Hanna Bauer in Episode #68, "The Great Recession of Trust: How Leaders Can Rebuild What's Been Lost." In this episode, I'm unpacking five key takeaways from that conversation — insights I believe every growth-minded leader needs to hear.
Meet Hanna Bauer
Hanna is the founder of Heartnomics, a Maxwell Leadership Certified Facilitator, a Six Sigma Black Belt, and a Baldrige Examiner who has guided leaders and organizations across 29 states and 7 countries.
But here's what makes Hanna's story different: her framework didn't come out of a business school case study. It came from a childhood spent fighting a life-threatening heart condition — surviving two heart attacks before the age of 10, and becoming part of a pioneering 1992 heart surgery that has since saved more than 3,000 children.
Years later, as a CEO, Hanna nearly broke her own company by mastering strategy and systems while letting go of the thing she knew best: her people. That collapse — and the industry-wide disruption that followed — taught her a truth she's built her entire career on:
Crisis doesn't create culture's problems. It reveals the ones that were already there.
What We Talked About
Throughout our conversation, Hanna unpacked why we're living through what she calls "the great recession of trust." We talked about why love is the foundation beneath empathy and accountability — not a soft skill leaders can afford to skip. And we explored why resilience has to be built long before a crisis ever arrives.
Here are the topics we covered:
Why crisis doesn't stop you — it reveals you
Why love is the foundation of trust, not a soft skill
Why building resilience before you need it is imperative to your success
Diagnosing organizational misalignment before it costs you your best people
"Resilience is really the result of the leadership, the result of learning from failures, the result of being able to debrief. It's basically that bank account so that when those times require you to use resilience, you have something to pull from."
#68 The Great Recession of Trust: How Leaders Can Rebuild What's Been Lost with Hanna Bauer (John Maxwell Faculty Member)
Thursday, August 6, 2026 • Duration 49:51
#68 The Great Recession of Trust: How Leaders Can Rebuild What's Been Lost with Hanna Bauer
Episode Summary
What do you do when the very system you built to create clarity ends up costing you the heart of your organization? That's the question Hanna Bauer had to face — and it's the question we're wrestling with together in this episode.
Hanna's story starts long before her career in leadership development. At just four years old, she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition. What followed was a childhood spent in and out of hospitals, enduring two heart attacks by age 10, failed treatments, and a groundbreaking heart ablation surgery that hadn't been tried before, a surgery her doctor compared to finding one light switch in a pitch-black, spinning room. It worked. And twenty years later, that same procedure had saved 3,000 more children.
That's a miracle. But it's also, as Hanna discovered, a masterclass in leadership, one she didn't recognize until decades later, when she found herself as a results-driven executive who had gotten so good at strategy and systems that she'd let go of what she knew best: the heart. The people.
In this conversation, we talk about:
The four leadership lessons Hanna learned as a child — courage, the language of love, empathy without answers, and reframing failure as part of the process
Why she believes "crisis doesn't stop you — it reveals you" and what that means for the culture you're building right now, in the calm before the storm
Her HEART framework and BEAT methodology, born not from a whiteboard session but from her own lived experience of survival
Why love isn't a soft skill — and how she connects empathy, authenticity, confidence, and trust directly back to it
How to balance love with accountability without losing credibility as a leader
The signs of a misaligned organization — from meeting-about-the-meeting culture to the silent cost of lost human potential
Why we're living through what Hanna calls "a great recession of trust" — and what leaders can do to start rebuilding it
What it's been like serving on the John Maxwell faculty, including leading full-country transformation initiatives in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Panama
"Strategy's great, we need it. Processes are great, they give us clarity. But without people, without the heart, you really don't have anything.""Crisis really doesn't... the crisis is not there to stop you. The crisis there is there to reveal you.""Resilience is really the result of the leadership, the result of learning from failures, the result of being able to debrief. It's basically that bank account... so that when those times require for you to use the resilience, you have something to pull from.""You cannot have a valued workforce without also having a loved workforce.""Once you've tasted significance, success is never enough."
#67 Leadership Insights from my Conversation with Neill Marshall & Kurt Mosley
Sunday, August 2, 2026 • Duration 06:54
#67 Leadership Insights from my Conversation with Neill Marshall and Kurt Mosley
Guests: Neil Marshall & Kurt Mosley, HealthSearch Partners
Episode Overview
What if the most important leadership decisions you'll ever make happen before you've even earned the right to lead?
In this episode, I sit down with Neil Marshall and Kurt Mosley of HealthSearch Partners — an executive search firm that has guided more than 700 executive-level searches in hospitals and healthcare. Across all that experience, they've uncovered a pattern that holds true no matter the industry: the first 90 days aren't about strategy. They're about trust.
Get that window right, and everything else accelerates. Get it wrong, and you could spend the next year trying to recover credibility you never built in the first place.
Neil and Kurt share story after story — from a CEO who replaced worn-out mattresses in a hospital residence the same day he heard about them, to a leader who quietly climbed a ladder to fix a light bulb instead of delegating it away. Small acts. Enormous credibility.
At the heart of it all is one simple, powerful truth:
Trust is earned before it is given.
Great leaders don't walk in the door and announce who they are. They show it — one consistent, credible action at a time.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
Building trust before you try to lead change
Using symbolic acts to set the tone for a new role
Listening well enough to understand culture before changing it
Creating an early win that builds lasting credibility
Separating real problems from isolated complaints
Avoiding the most common first 90-day mistakes
Turning early wins into sustainable systems
Resetting with integrity after a misstep
Whether you're stepping into a brand-new role or you're a season into your current one and need a reset, this episode will help you:
"Culture is the multiplier. It'll take ten of your big wins away from you if you misread it."
Related Shows Based on Content Similarities
Discover shows related to The Learning To Lead Show with Mark J. Cundiff, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
1. If you don't tell your story, someone else will
Katie's journalism background taught her something every leader needs to internalize: silence is never neutral. When leaders don't proactively communicate, people fill in the gaps with their own doubts, judgments, and biases.
Here's how Katie put it:
"If you don't fill in the blanks for other people, then people can crowd that with their own misperceptions, their judgments, their doubts, and their biases."
Leadership lesson: Proactive communication isn't optional. If you don't own your narrative, someone else will write it for you.
2. Preparation is what separates calm leaders from reactive ones
Katie pointed to American Airlines' CEO response to the tragic midair collision as a model of calm, transparent crisis leadership. The difference wasn't in-the-moment talent—it was a playbook built long before the crisis hit.
"You cannot outsource human judgment. Anytime you're leading from a place of fear, from a reactive place, that has a really high likelihood of going awry."
Leadership lesson: Practicing your response before a crisis is what makes composure possible during one.
3. Getting unstuck starts with knowing your core values
When Katie coaches a leader who feels stuck, she doesn't start with the job market, LinkedIn, or resumes. She starts with a values clarification exercise. Our core values rarely change over a lifetime—they simply need to be named.
As Katie explains it, when you realize what really motivates you and guides your decision-making, it becomes easy to say no to what doesn't align—including an unrealistic version of success.
Leadership lesson: You can't move forward with clarity until you know what actually matters to you.
4. Small language shifts build executive presence
Katie coaches leaders on techniques like flagging language, bridging, and the ABC model—Acknowledge, Bridge, Conclude—for answering hard questions without ever saying "no comment." These small shifts consistently make a leader sound more confident and credible.
Leadership lesson: Confidence isn't just what you know. It's how clearly and directly you say it.
5. High achievers need to be led differently
Katie describes high performers as swans gliding across the water—calm and polished on the surface, paddling fiercely underneath. Perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and burnout often hide behind the very people leaders trust most with high-stakes work.
Her go-to coaching question for leaders wrestling with imposter syndrome:
"What is the evidence that you don't belong in this room?"
Leadership lesson: Don't assume your strongest people are fine just because they look that way. Ask.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
What We Cover in This Episode
Katie's Leadership Journey
From nearly becoming a doctor, to falling in love with public speaking at Wake Forest, to a year in broadcast journalism, to building a career across PR agencies in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Singapore — Katie shares how a leap of faith with her now-husband set her career in motion, and how another leap, this time to Lexington, Kentucky, eventually led her to launch her own coaching practice.
Why Every Leader Needs to Be a Storyteller
Katie unpacks a striking Gallup statistic: across 56 countries, people said they want four things most from their leaders — hope, trust, compassion, and stability. The through line connecting all four? Communication.
"If you don't tell your story, someone else will tell it for you."
The Traits of Truly Great Leaders
They are exceptional listeners
They collaborate before they decide
They communicate the decision and rally people around it
They lead with high emotional intelligence
They stay connected to both their purpose and their people
Crisis Communication: What Separates Calm Leaders from Reactive Ones
Katie breaks down why preparation is the difference-maker in a crisis — using the American Airlines/Army helicopter tragedy as a case study in calm, transparent leadership. She also addresses a threat leaders couldn't have imagined a decade ago: deepfakes of senior leadership, and why every organization — especially nonprofits — needs a crisis communications plan and the discipline to practice it.
Key steps for building a crisis-ready organization:
Budget time and resources toward a communications plan
If you don't have in-house expertise, bring in someone who knows your market
Update your plan regularly — does it account for today's threats (like AI-generated misinformation)?
Run crisis communication drills, not just written plans
Prepare a communications cascade so every audience-facing team has an aligned message
Navigating a Career Pivot
Katie walks through how she coaches people who feel stuck — starting with a values clarification exercise to identify the five or six core values that have guided you since childhood. She shares her own: trust, responsibility, relationships, communication, achievement, and fun.
"When you realize what really motivates you and guides your decision-making, it's easy to say no to what doesn't align — including an unrealistic version of success."
She also encourages listeners to ask: Who's on your personal board of directors, and what do they see in you that you don't see in yourself?
Telling Your Own Story (Without Sounding Boastful)
Katie shares her framework for a strong elevator pitch — who you are, what you do, and why it matters to the organization in front of you — and why that pitch should flex depending on your audience.
The Hidden Struggles of High Achievers
Katie describes the "swan on water" phenomenon — high performers look calm on the surface while paddling furiously underneath. Common struggles include:
Perfectionism and unreasonably high self-expectations
Imposter syndrome — constantly wondering, "When will they figure out I don't belong here?"
Burnout, often because high achievers get handed more work, not less
Katie's go-to coaching question for imposter syndrome:
"What is the evidence that you don't belong in the room?"
The Power of Language in Leadership
This is one of the most practical parts of the conversation. Katie introduces three techniques for sharpening executive presence:
Flagging language — "If you remember one thing, it's this..."
Bridging language — moving confidently from a hard question to your key message
The ABC method — Acknowledge, Bridge, Conclude — for answering questions you don't have full answers to, without saying "no comment"
She also names two common communication mistakes leaders make: leaning on jargon instead of real language, and speaking too much instead of listening.
What Authentic Leadership Communication Looks Like
Katie shares practical, tactical advice for leaders — especially on video: eye contact with the camera, open-hand gestures, strong posture, and above all, practice. She reflects on preparing for her TED Talk at Bellarmine University and the discipline it took to deliver a scripted message that still sounded like her.
Betting on Herself
Katie opens up about leaving a stable VP role at TimelyCare to build her coaching practice from scratch — and how she manages the very real, everyday fear that comes with entrepreneurship without letting it steal her sleep.
Advice for Young Professionals Entering the Workforce
Lean into your network — including relationships you haven't even considered yet
Show up and connect — at networking events, on LinkedIn, through thank-you notes — and treat networking as relationship-building, not transaction
Polish your communication — handshake, eye contact, asking good questions, and cutting words like "just" and "I'm sorry"
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
The wound: watching his father find validation from the outside world
The lie: he was inadequate
The vow: win at everything
The pose: a performer who had to achieve in order to feel worthy
Until you name the wound driving you, you're likely leading from a mask instead of your true identity.
4. Trust Is Built Through Invitation, Not Persuasion
Adam's Real Coach method — Relevant, Experiential, Authentic Leader — is built on one idea: when you're clear on who you are and the outcome you offer, you never have to sell. You invite.
Clarity removes the need to convince anyone of anything.
5. Standards Outlast Presence
When Adam ran his real estate offices, his team recited their vision statement every week and answered one question: "What's the one thing you did to move us closer to it?" Two simple rules governed everything: no one says "it's not my job," and no one has more fun than we do.
That kept the team aligned even when Adam wasn't in the room.
A team that only performs when the leader is watching doesn't yet have real standards. It's just supervision.
The Beach Chair Moment
One of the things that stuck with me most is how much quiet reflection shapes Adam's life. He takes a morning walk every day just to get his mind right. And then there's the beach chair moment he shares in the full episode — sitting on the beach with his Bible, some water, and a notebook, working through where his life was headed next.
That reflection is what's driving Adam's clarity and purpose today, as he works to help coaches around the world reach and impact 100 million people.
So let me ask you what I'm asking myself: What is your mission? What is your vision? Where are you actually headed in this next season of your life?
If you haven't listened to the full conversation yet, go back to Episode 72 and hear Adam tell the beach chair story in his own words.
A Quick Thank You
The Learning to Lead Show has now been downloaded in 431 cities, across 65 countries and 42 U.S. states. That growth is because of listeners like you sharing the show.
If you haven't already, subscribe so every new episode lands in your podcast app automatically — and if today's episode (or any episode) added value to your leadership journey, a rating helps us reach more leaders with these conversations.
Now go out and learn, grow, and lead. Take your leadership to the next level.
Related: Episode 72 — From Success to Significance: The Beach Chair Moment with Adam Roach
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Grab a free Copyof the 6 Things You DON'T need to be a World Class Coach (these are the 6 things I had to learn the hard way)
Serious about becoming a coach? Learn more on the I Love Coaching Community Discovery Page. If the copy and the video on that page Resonates with you.. Take the next step (see no. 3)
Become a member and get unstuck from your current situation. Build a 6- and 7-figure coaching business using The REAL Coach Method.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
5 Key Takeaways
1. Your Purpose Doesn't Retire When Your Job Does
Greg lost nearly two-thirds of his income within weeks, and within a couple of years, the business he'd spent 20 years building was gone. But here's what he told me:
Leadership lesson: A job ending is not the same as your purpose ending. The role changes — the mission doesn't have to.
If you're in a career transition, a season of change, or you're just not sure what's next, take a moment to ask yourself what your purpose really is, separate from the title you've been holding. You've been given gifts and talents for a reason. There's still a race for you to run.
2. Apathy Creep Is Real, and It's Quiet
Greg names something I think a lot of high achievers will recognize. Boredom sets in. Results feel less satisfying. A quiet sense of being pushed aside starts to erode the enthusiasm you once had.
Leadership insight: Disengagement rarely announces itself. It creeps in through routine — and you have to interrupt it on purpose.
3. Purpose Isn't Purpose Unless It Helps Someone Else
Greg was direct about this one. Recreation and hobbies are enjoyable, but they aren't the same as purpose. What turns an activity into a calling is using it to help someone else.
Leadership lesson: If you want your next chapter to feel meaningful — not just busy — build it around who it serves, not just what you enjoy.
4. You Don't Need All the Answers to Guide Someone Else
Greg admitted he wrestled with imposter syndrome when he first started Forward from 50. What freed him wasn't expertise — it was reframing what guidance actually requires.
Leadership insight: You don't have to take someone from A to Z. You just have to get them to point B and connect them to what's next.
5. Curiosity Is What Keeps Leaders Sharp
This might be my favorite part of the conversation. Greg points to curiosity — not recreation — as the real driver of sustained energy and sharpness over time. It reminded me of Dan Sullivan's Laws of Lifetime Growth, where the very first law is: always make your future bigger than your past.
Leadership lesson: Growth isn't a phase of life. It's a daily habit of staying curious enough to keep learning.
Leaders who keep asking questions keep growing. Leaders who stop, stay comfortable — and eventually stall.
Final Word
You don't retire from your purpose. You retire from your job.
Wherever you are in your journey — whether you're navigating a career transition, feeling that quiet apathy creep in, or just wondering what's next — I hope this episode reminded you that your best contribution might still be ahead of you. Pick up the baton. Run your race.
Thank You
We've now been downloaded in 423 cities, across 65 countries, and 42 states in the U.S. Thank you for helping us spread the word.
Subscribe so every new episode hits your podcast app the moment it's published
Leave a rating and let us know what you think of the conversations we're having
Download Leader Notes for a comprehensive summary of the topics and resources covered in this episode
Now go out and learn, grow, and lead — and take your organization to the next level.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
About Greg: Greg Gerber is the founder of Forward From 50, a Wisconsin native who moved to Arizona in 2009. A journalist by trade, he created the RV industry's first entirely online news site and its first business-related podcast before founding Forward From 50 in 2021 to help people over 50 pursue lives of purpose. Learn more: forwardfrom50.com/about
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
Balancing love with accountability without losing credibility
Understanding trust as the true currency of leadership
Measuring the cost of lost human potential
Leading transformation at the individual, organizational, and national level
If you haven't listened to Episode #68 yet, I'd challenge you to go back and take in the full conversation. Hanna speaks from her heart — she named her business Heartnomics for a reason — and it comes through in a deeply authentic way as she walks all the way back to her childhood and the battle she fought just to stay alive.
Five Key Takeaways for Growth-Minded Leaders
1. Crisis Doesn't Stop You — It Reveals You
When Hanna's industry faced total disruption, she realized the crisis wasn't creating new problems. It was bringing to light the ones that had been tolerated all along.
Leadership insight: The culture that shows up under pressure was already there in good times — it just wasn't being tested yet. Ask yourself: what would a crisis reveal about my team right now?
2. Love Is the Foundation of Trust — Not a Soft Skill
Hanna pushes back hard on the idea that love is fluff. She connects it directly to empathy, authenticity, confidence, and the genuine ability to value people. As she puts it, you cannot have a valued workforce without also having a loved workforce.
Leadership insight: You can't ask your team for empathy, authenticity, or engagement without first giving them love. It's the root — not the extra.
3. Resilience Is Built Before You Need It
Just like cardiovascular endurance, resilience isn't something you can summon in the middle of a crisis. Hanna says it has to be trained in the calm. Here's how she describes it:
Leadership insight: If you're waiting for a crisis to start building resilience in your team, you're already behind.
4. Misalignment Shows Up in Patterns, Not Single Events
Hanna outlines the early warning signs of a misaligned organization: high turnover, no succession plan, constant bottlenecks, and — above all — a meeting culture where you need a meeting before the meeting, and another one after it, just to solve the same issues.
Leadership insight: Misalignment rarely announces itself. It shows up first in your calendar and your org chart — long before it ever shows up in your numbers.
5. Trust Is the Leader's Currency
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, over 64% of people don't trust the organizations they work with. Hanna connects that deficit directly to a leader's ability to drive change.
Think about your own organization for a moment. What's your trust rating? How would your people describe the trust they have in you as a leader — and in the organization as a whole?
I've seen this play out time and again in coaching and consulting engagements: low trust between levels and departments is almost always at the root of a struggling culture.
Leadership insight: You can't spend trust you haven't built. Every ask for change is a withdrawal from an account leaders have to fill first.
The Bottom Line
Trust is the currency of leadership, and it has to be built before it's spent. Great leaders don't demand trust because of their title — they build it through love, consistency, and systems that keep people at the center.
So here's my challenge to you this week: go build that trust. Show your team you have their back. Love and care for them well enough that when the ask comes, they already know the answer.
If this episode resonated with you, here's how you can help:
Subscribe to the Learning to Lead Show so every new episode lands right in your podcast app
Leave a rating in your favorite podcast app — it helps us climb the rankings, reach more growth-minded leaders, and attract guests you'll want to hear from
Download your free Leader Notes for this episode — a comprehensive summary of the key topics and resources, linked in the show notes
Until next time — go out this week and learn, grow, lead, and take your organization to the next level.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
Key Quotes from the Episode
Takeaways You Can Apply This Week
If you walk away from this episode with nothing else, let it be this:
Audit your own alignment. Are your systems clear, but your people quietly disengaged? Misalignment often hides behind productivity, until it doesn't.
Build resilience before you need it. Like cardiovascular endurance, resilience is trained in the calm, not summoned in the crisis. Where are you investing in your team's capacity today?
Redefine accountability as a byproduct of community. You can't hold people accountable to a culture they don't feel safe in. Proximity and trust come first.
Start measuring what actually matters. Are you tracking satisfaction, belonging, and meaning — or just deadlines and deliverables?
Remember: service is leadership. Hannah didn't set out to become a leader. She simply started serving. Sometimes that's exactly where leadership begins for you too.
About Hanna Bauer
Hanna Bauer is a leadership consultant, John Maxwell faculty member, and Six Sigma Black Belt who helps individuals and organizations align strategy, systems, and people so they can navigate crisis and seize opportunity with resilience. She is the creator of the HEART framework and BEAT methodology, and has led leadership and transformation initiatives across multiple countries, including the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Panama.
Before you close this out and move on to the next thing, ask yourself: Where in my leadership have I let systems replace people? You don't have to have all the answers today. You just have to be willing to be there and to lead from the heart, like Hanna's grandmother once did for her.
If this episode moved you, share it with a leader in your circle who needs to hear it — and subscribe to The Learning to Lead Show so you never miss what's next.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
Contact Mark at: mark@markjcundiff.com
Build trust faster — without rushing your decisions
Read culture accurately before trying to change it
Create early wins that actually matter
Lead with consistency instead of big declarations
Recover credibility after a misstep
5 Key Takeaways for Growth-Minded Leaders
1. Trust Is Earned in the First 90 Days — Not Given by Title
Most new leaders assume their title has already earned them a followership. Neil and Kurt see it differently: it's not your strategy people need to trust first — it's you.
The first 90 days are a momentum phase. Build trust early, and everything that follows accelerates. Skip that step, and you'll spend the next year trying to recover credibility you never built.
Leadership Lesson: Your title gives you authority. Your first 90 days determine whether you've earned the right to lead.
2. Small Symbolic Acts Build Lasting Credibility
One CEO moved into a hospital's residence dorms for his first 90 days. When a resident mentioned the mattresses were worn out, he had them replaced that same day. Another leader quietly climbed a ladder to fix a burned-out light bulb rather than pointing it out to someone else.
Neither leader gave a speech. Both built credibility that outlasted their tenure.
Leadership Insight: One symbolic act is worth more than a hundred emails or edicts.
3. Listening Has to Come Before Declaring
New leaders are often expected to move fast. Neil and Kurt caution against mistaking motion for progress. The leaders who last diagnose before they prescribe — they ask before they act.
Four questions to ask early in any new role:
What's working that I shouldn't mess up?
What's getting in your way?
What are people not saying out loud, but everybody knows?
If we're successful in 90 days, what's different?
Leadership Lesson: Ask before you act. People trust leaders who understand them before they try to change them.
4. Culture Is the Multiplier
As Kurt put it plainly: misreading culture can undo a leader's best work.
A leader has to earn the right to change a culture by first understanding it. Otherwise, even good decisions land as tone-deaf ones.
Leadership Insight: You can't lead what you don't understand.
5. Ownership Turns Mistakes Into Trust
Even the best leaders stumble in their first 90 days. What separates leaders who recover from those who don't is simple: ownership.
People forgive mistakes — but they won't forgive you for being disingenuous. The leaders who reset well go back to their team, and often their board, and say plainly what they got wrong, what they learned, and what they're changing.
Leadership Lesson: Accountability isn't weakness — it's how credibility is rebuilt.
Bringing It Home
Whether you're starting a brand-new role or you need to reset where you currently stand, these five principles are practices you can put into place right now — and take your organization to the next level.
Resources Mentioned
Leader Notes — Download your free summary and outline of every topic covered in this interview.
Connect & Subscribe
Subscribe so every new episode of Learning to Lead arrives in your favorite podcast player as soon as it's published.
If this episode added value, a 5-star rating helps more leaders find the show — we'd be grateful for yours.
Now get out there this week and learn, grow, and lead — and take your organization to the next level.
LeaderNotes is a quick-hit companion to each episode of The Learning to Lead Show. In just 5–10 minutes, Mark Cundiff recaps the top leadership insights, frameworks, and action steps from each interview, designed for busy, growth-minded leaders who want to review and apply the episode’s biggest takeaways on the go. It’s like the highlight reel + playbook—all in one.
