Explore every episode of the podcast The Manager Lab

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack John C. Maxwell’s Law of Solid Ground and explain why trust is the single most important asset for any leader. We cover the three pillars that build trust — competence, connection, and character — and the high costs when trust is broken, including disengagement, slower execution, and higher turnover.

The episode ends with five practical actions managers can take today: keep commitments, choose transparency, admit mistakes quickly, protect your people, and show consistent values. A short leadership reflection closes the episode to help you evaluate whether your team truly trusts you.

In this Manager Lab episode we unpack a new HBR study that shows foundational or "soft" skills—like communication, adaptability, critical thinking and basic numeracy—are more important than ever as AI reshapes work.

The research analyzed nearly 1,000 occupations and 70 million job transitions to reveal a nested skills structure: general foundational skills support intermediate and specialized skills, and roughly 80% of the wage premium from advanced skills comes from those foundational abilities. The episode also highlights "skill entrapment" and equity gaps that limit access to higher-paying pathways.

Practical takeaways include auditing your core skills, practicing nested learning (build the base before specializing), integrating soft-skill practice into daily routines, mentoring early-career talent, and advocating for training that prioritizes fundamentals.

The bottom line: strengthen the trunk of your skill tree to future-proof careers and create more equitable opportunities across organizations.

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack John C. Maxwell's Law of E.F. Hutton: leadership is influence, not title. Discover why credibility, consistent judgment, and trust make people stop and listen.

Learn four practical actions—speak with intention, build a track record, elevate others, and align words with actions—to become the leader whose voice truly matters.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore how to turn individual talent into organizational excellence by aligning people to value, investing in development, building teams (not heroes), and shaping a culture that multiplies talent.

Practical tips include identifying high-impact roles, applying the 70-20-10 learning rule, running role-clarity exercises, and starting weekly leadership habits to reinforce growth.

Welcome to Manager Lab’s deep dive on John C. Maxwell’s Law of Navigation: why leaders must chart the course, not just steer the ship. This episode shows how prepared leaders study the path, anticipate obstacles, learn from the past, and listen to their teams to create clear direction.

Practical tips include defining a clear destination, mapping milestones, and communicating the route often so teams move forward with confidence, purpose, and momentum.

Welcome to the Manager Lab, where each episode explores how managers can unlock their teams' potential. This episode reframes routine, 'boring' meetings as critical leadership moments—showing how presence, curiosity, recognition, and listening for patterns build culture, surface problems early, and create trust.

Learn practical tips to show up fully, ask better questions, spotlight progress, and use everyday meetings to lead more effectively.

In this episode of the Manager Lab we unpack John C. Maxwell's Law of Process: leadership grows through daily, intentional practice rather than overnight breakthroughs.

You'll hear five key takeaways — growth must be intentional; your calendar reveals your priorities; small disciplines repeated lead to big results; you never truly ‘arrive’ as a leader; and the process itself shapes character — plus a practical four-step daily framework: learn, reflect, apply, and invest.

Practical tips include a 20-minute daily growth ritual and a calendar audit to help managers build consistent habits that develop their people and themselves over time.

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack trust as a concrete leadership advantage — not a soft skill but a performance multiplier. You’ll hear why trust is built in small moments, how consistency and vulnerability drive credibility, and why transparency and fairness reduce anxiety and strengthen teams.

The episode offers practical actions managers can use immediately: listen without interrupting, define non‑negotiables, admit mistakes, explain the why behind decisions, audit recent choices for fairness, and keep a visible commitment list. Small, repeated behaviors create high‑trust teams that perform, innovate, and stay.

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack John C. Maxwell’s Law of Influence: leadership is influence, not a title. We contrast positional authority with earned influence and share the core building blocks—trust, character, competence, and connection—plus practical steps managers can take to grow their influence every day.

Listen for five actionable tips: lead yourself by example, invest in relationships, deliver consistent results, empower rather than control, and protect your team. Reflect on who would follow you if your title disappeared and start making daily deposits of trust.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore why many big change efforts stall after an energetic launch and how leaders can prevent a false start. Drawing on Harvard Business Review insights, the host outlines practical steps to create lasting momentum by building alignment, clarifying the problem, involving key stakeholders, and preparing managers for the emotional curve of change.

Listen for six actionable takeaways—slow down before you speed up, define the problem clearly, build ownership, state what won’t change, equip managers, and track early adoption indicators—to move from announcement to sustained adoption.

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack John C. Maxwell's Law of the Lid: leadership ability determines organizational effectiveness. Learn why your leadership sets the ceiling for your team's performance and how raising your leadership lifts results.

We highlight key takeaways and four practical steps—assess your lid, invest in daily growth, develop leaders, and model expectations—so you can start expanding your impact today.

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack the concept of "experience intelligence" through Bob Iger and Disney’s playbook, showing how intentional design of employee and customer experiences becomes a strategic advantage. You’ll learn why experiences should be treated like measurable strategy, how employee experience drives customer loyalty, and practical steps managers can apply immediately.

Actionable tips include mapping journeys, leading with emotional awareness, elevating small moments, aligning systems with desired experiences, and focusing on long-term development — all to build sustainable culture and competitive advantage.

In this episode of The Manager Lab we challenge the habit of promoting top individual contributors into management by default. Management is a responsibility, not a reward, and requires a different mindset: coaching, delegation, and developing others.

We cover three executive takeaways—create parallel career tracks, prioritize motivation for people development, and redefine readiness—and offer practical tips for managers: shift identity to measure team success, hold regular development conversations, embrace difficult feedback, and prepare successors early.

This episode of Manager Lab explains how to make 360-degree feedback effective by treating it as a development process rather than an evaluation, and why discussing results matters for real growth.

Practical tips include separating feedback from performance reviews, providing context and reflection time, approaching results with curiosity, sharing your takeaways with the team, and focusing on one or two behavior changes to build trust and improve leadership.

In this episode of Manager Lab, we explore how the most effective teams treat change not as a disruptive event but as a routine skill. Learn why frequent, structured change reduces fear and builds confidence.

We outline three practical manager practices—make improvement part of the job, run small experiments instead of big announcements, and normalize reflection—so teams can adapt, learn, and grow resilient together.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore why senior leaders often struggle to describe their true impact and how making that impact visible boosts influence, credibility, and legacy.

Based on the HBR article, you’ll learn three key questions to answer, simple tools—like writing a leadership impact statement and translating strategy into stories—and practical tips to help leaders and their teams communicate the value they create.

Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we explore how leaders can unlock talent. This episode explains why training is not just a cost but a strategic investment that improves performance and increases retention.

We cover the research-backed idea that training signals belief in employees and how managers are critical to turning training into applied behavior and lasting change.

Listen for five practical actions managers can use immediately: set context, debrief, model learning, create practice space, and recognize growth—so training delivers both performance and commitment.

Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we explore how managers, not policies, shape the day-to-day systems that retain top talent. This episode breaks down an HBR insight: policies state intent, but systems—meeting rhythms, workload allocation, promotion signals—determine whether high performers stay. You’ll learn four practical actions managers can take now: audit the signals you send, make growth visible, protect top talent from burnout, and design the team experience on purpose.

Retention happens locally. By changing patterns in how work gets done and who gets opportunities, managers can build a system people don’t want to leave. Tune in to turn policy into practice and keep your best people engaged and growing.

In this episode of Manager Lab we flip a common leadership myth: the best leaders are also exceptional followers. Great followership means actively contributing, challenging constructively, and supporting decisions for the good of the organization.

We define followership, explain why it improves trust and decision quality, outline core behaviors (situational leadership, loyal dissent, mission over ego), and offer five practical tips managers can use immediately to coach and model followership on their teams.

This episode explores what managers should do when a high-performing employee has nowhere to be promoted, drawing on the Harvard Business Review article by Rebecca Knight.

Listeners will learn clear actions: have honest career conversations, redefine growth beyond titles through enriched work and broader scope, give visible and fair recognition or rewards, co-create a future development roadmap, and support long-term goals even if that leads elsewhere.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore whether leaders can be "too nice," why avoiding tough conversations undermines performance, and how unclear feedback erodes trust. The host unpacks the common causes—fear of being disliked, misunderstanding empathy, and conflict avoidance—and shows how niceness can unintentionally lower standards and breed resentment.

The episode offers practical guidance: combine care with candor, normalize discomfort, set explicit expectations, and intervene early. Listeners are left with a simple reflection: where might being too nice be getting in the way of effective management?

Welcome to the Manager Lab episode on mentorship, inspired by Andy Lopata's HBR article "Weave Mentorship into the Fabric of Your Organization." This episode argues mentorship should be a daily leadership behavior, not just a formal HR program.

Traditional mentorship programs often fall short because they are time-bound, top-down, and optional. When mentorship is embedded into everyday work—ongoing, peer-driven, informal, and everyone’s responsibility—it becomes how work gets done and how people develop.

Key takeaways: everyone can be a mentor (including reverse and peer mentoring); shift from giving advice to holding development conversations; make mentorship visible and valued in performance and recognition; and create conditions for mentorship by building psychological safety and protecting time to learn.

Challenge: this week, intentionally mentor one person by asking powerful questions to help them think, decide, and grow.

In this episode of the Manager Lab we explore Antonio Rodriguez’s Harvard Business Review idea of the Project-Driven Organization: why projects now create most organizational value and how traditional functional structures fall short.

We cover three key takeaways—translate strategy into disciplined projects, treat project skills as leadership skills, and manage capacity realistically—and five practical actions managers can take today to make projects visible, clarify success, protect capacity, build skills, and sponsor outcomes.

This episode of Manager Lab distills a Harvard Business Review article into four science-backed leadership practices: define your aspirational self, change systems rather than relying on willpower, prioritize a learning mindset over performance, and embrace discomfort to drive change. Practical takeaways help leaders increase impact, resilience, and fulfillment in the year ahead.

In this episode of the Manager Lab, the host shares a personal New Year ritual inspired by Stephen Covey’s Four Categories—physical, mental, social-emotional, and spiritual—to reflect on the past year and set clear, intentional goals for 2026.

Practical tips include reviewing last year’s goals, keeping 3–5 priorities per category, using tools like Evernote to track progress, performing quarterly check-ins, and discussing plans with a partner to build accountability and support.

In this Manager Lab episode you’ll learn how a simple, structured team wrap-up week helps teams reflect on the year, recognize contributions, capture lessons, and set intentions so they finish with closure and begin the next year aligned and energized.

Practical manager actions and a flexible five-day format are shared to turn reflection into learning, recognition into trust, and endings into momentum.

In this episode of Manager Lab we draw leadership lessons from a record-setting NFL kicker to show that pressure is predictable and trainable. Learn why top performers view pressure as a signal and how preparation beats nerves.

Practical takeaways for managers include building repeatable pre-performance routines, focusing on controllables, practicing under simulated pressure, and separating identity from outcomes to foster resilience and better team performance.

In this episode of Manager Lab we summarize The Octopus Organization and explain why talent development must be a continuous, strategic investment.

Learn practical tactics: embed learning into projects, use micro-learning, plan skills development, enable curiosity groups and skill swaps, and hold regular development conversations to turn managers into coaches and retain top talent.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore how to balance data with human judgment, based on The Octopus Organization. The host explains why overreliance on data can lead to false certainty and missed context, and shares practical ways to make data more useful.

Key tips include seeking counter-narratives, analyzing granular distributions instead of averages, improving data literacy across roles, pairing metrics with human stories, and embedding analysts into business teams. These steps help turn data into better decisions that account for real people.

Listen for actionable strategies to treat data as a tool—not a replacement for human insight—and to build systems that unlock your team’s full potential.

In this Manager Lab episode we unpack the first part of The Octopus Organization and explore how to stop upholding poor leadership. The host explains why promoting bad leadership harms culture and productivity, and presents practical tactics leaders can use to change: speak last, build a shadow cabinet, connect through shared experience, create multiple feedback channels, stop one harmful behavior, develop self-awareness, and model empathy and vulnerability.

This short episode offers actionable steps to treat leadership as a behavior, not a role, and to cultivate leaders who create ownership, trust, and psychological safety across teams.

In this episode of Manager Lab we examine why employee trust is declining and why trust matters for engagement, alignment, speed, and retention.

We unpack the three trust pillars—competence, benevolence, and integrity—and explain common causes of erosion like poor transparency, inconsistent actions, short-term decision-making, and fear at work.

Finally, the episode gives six practical, immediate actions for managers: narrate decisions, close the say–do gap, share information early, increase accessibility, invite and reward dissent, and follow up quickly—showing how small, consistent behaviors rebuild trust and improve performance.

Welcome to the Manager Lab episode about celebrating wins: why leaders often skip recognition, how neglecting celebration harms motivation and well-being, and the science showing that pausing to acknowledge progress strengthens performance.

Discover seven practical tips—celebrate small and specific, connect wins to purpose, spread credit, honor learning, and build celebration rituals—to boost momentum, clarity, and resilience for you and your team.

This episode explains why psychological safety — the freedom to speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear — is essential for reducing burnout and retaining staff, especially during crises. It reviews large-scale research showing that teams with established psychological safety fare better when resources are constrained.

Listeners get four concrete actions managers can take: model uncertainty and invite input, run regular safe check-ins, reward interpersonal risk-taking with visible learning loops, and align processes and onboarding to support employee voice.

In this episode of the Manager Lab, the host leads a reflective pause on gratitude, exploring nine life categories that shape how we live and lead: health, relationships, work and purpose, growth, nature, daily comforts, freedom, moments of joy and stillness, and spirituality.

The episode offers simple reflections and practical encouragement to reconnect with what matters, helping managers return to their roles with renewed perspective, presence, and purpose.

In this episode of Manager Lab we review John Blakey's HBR article on measuring trust and argue that trust is a measurable strategic asset rooted in observable leader behaviors: ability, integrity, and benevolence.

The episode outlines a four-step process for measuring trust and offers practical actions for managers—baseline surveys, defined governance and metrics, behavior-focused action plans, embedding trust in routines, and transparent follow-up—to move trust from rhetoric to operational reality.

Transformation succeeds when talent is treated as a strategic pillar, not an afterthought. This episode breaks down how to identify the critical roles that drive change, build capabilities from within, and align talent systems—performance, rewards, and career paths—to reinforce the new operating model.

Learn practical steps: map the 10–20% of mission-critical roles, reallocate top performers to those roles, invest in targeted internal development, and audit incentive systems to remove contradictions that block progress.

In this Manager Lab episode we unpack Robin Sharma’s The 5 AM Club: the parable that introduces the 20-20-20 victory hour, the four interior empires (mindset, heartset, healthset, soulset), and practical tactics for focus and recovery.

Hosts share actionable tips — write a morning manifesto, prepare the night before, keep the first hour tech-free, use weekly self-checks, and follow a 66-day habit-installation plan — to help leaders build consistency, creativity, and energy.

In this Manager Lab episode we unpack HBR research on what makes a great negotiator: disciplined preparation, fluent communication, trustworthy behavior, and principled value creation.

We translate those findings into practical tips for managers — prepare structurally, listen and probe, honor commitments, and coach teams to prioritize win‑win outcomes — so you can improve negotiations both inside and outside your organization.

In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack three lesser-known threat responses at work — the please/appease response, the attach or cry-for-help response, and the collapse (disengagement). Using insights from Ron Carucci’s HBR article, we explain how these behaviors signal low psychological safety and give managers practical steps: reward honesty, invite respectful dissent, offer steady but non-reactive support, clarify expectations, adjust workload, and normalize rest.

Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we explore talent management through actionable insights. In this episode we review Ron Carucci’s Harvard Business Review article on the six defensive behaviors and focus on the first three: fight, flight, and freeze.

Learn how to de-escalate aggressive behaviors with curiosity, invite withdrawn teammates into conversations without pressure, and make uncertainty safe for those who struggle to decide. Practical approaches help managers turn protective responses into opportunities for psychological safety and better team performance.

In this episode of the Manager Lab, host Greg Gillum explores a Harvard Business Review finding that middle managers report the lowest levels of psychological safety—hindering learning, innovation, and communication across organizations.

We define psychological safety, explain why middle managers are uniquely squeezed between senior leadership and their teams, and share four quick takeaways about how safety differs from comfort, the bridge-or-bottleneck role of middle managers, the impact of leader behavior, and the value of small consistent actions.

The episode offers practical steps for senior leaders (model vulnerability, create direct channels, reward candor) and middle managers (ask open questions, admit uncertainty, build peer networks, treat mistakes as learning), plus HR tips to measure and support psychological safety.

Try one simple step this week: ask your team, "What’s one thing we’re not talking about that we should be?" and listen without judgment to spark openness.

In this episode of Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explains how busy managers can coach effectively without long sessions by using Monique Valcour's approach: practice strategic silence, use a simple bridge structure (ask, guide, commit), and focus on high-impact micro-coaching moments.

The episode includes five practical actions managers can try this week to build coaching into everyday work and develop a stronger, more autonomous team.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore why a feedback-rich culture matters, drawing on the HBR article “Building a Feedback‑Rich Culture.” You’ll learn how feedback drives trust, learning, and better performance, plus the four cultural elements that make feedback safe and effective.

The episode also gives five practical tips managers can use today—modeling feedback, micro-checkins, balancing positive and developmental comments, preparing conversations with SBI, and creating peer/upward rituals—and how to overcome common obstacles so feedback becomes a sustainable rhythm.

In this episode of the Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explores four organizational red flags that make top candidates decline offers: lack of role clarity, poor hiring practices, disengaged employees, and damaged reputation.

Greg explains how to spot these signals during recruiting and offers clear, actionable tips managers can use to refine job profiles, streamline the candidate journey, audit candidate-facing culture, and communicate transparently to improve hiring and retention.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore Ron Carucci’s Harvard Business Review article on the emotional strengths required to lead through change, focusing on five key tensions leaders must hold: agency vs. ambivalence, belonging vs. disruption, confidence vs. humility, patience vs. impatience, and consistency vs. adaptability.

Practical takeaways include building emotional awareness, being transparent about inner conflicts, recalibrating often, keeping a coherent change story, and protecting recovery time—plus simple actions you can try this week to practice holding tension more effectively.

In this episode of Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explains why clarifying your personal core values improves decision-making, builds trust, and guides leaders through complex trade-offs.

Learn a four-step process—reflect on pivotal stories, distill recurring themes, test your values, and make them visible—and five practical actions you can try this week: journal, run a values mirror meeting, frame trade-offs, anchor performance conversations, and run values retrospectives.

Lead with clarity and act with intention: use your values as a compass to make consistent, credible choices that compound trust over time.

In this episode of Manager Lab we explore Katie Best's Harvard Business Review article on self-coaching and walk through the SOLVE framework to lead yourself through high‑stakes problems when an executive coach isn't available.

Learn the five steps—State the problem, Open the box, Lay out the solution, Venture forth, and Elevate your learning—and how to apply them to diagnose root causes, design practical plans, act carefully, and reflect to strengthen your leadership over time.

In this episode of Manager Lab, we explore Rebecca Knight's HBR article "When Managing Your Team Becomes Too Much" and outline five practical strategies to reclaim time and refocus on strategic leadership. Learn how to segment your team, align work upfront, turn meetings into problem-solving sessions, empower your people, and have candid conversations about capacity.

Discover actionable tips—like subgrouping direct reports, creating one-page briefs, setting rescue thresholds, and redesigning meeting agendas—that you can apply immediately to reduce overload and scale your leadership effectively.

Music. Welcome to the Manager Lab. This episode explores how loneliness is reshaping workplaces, driven by hybrid work, technology, and broader social shifts, and how that erosion of trust and belonging harms innovation, engagement, and retention.

It highlights surprising insights—connection is part of the work, weak ties matter, and vulnerability builds trust—and offers practical strategies: build rituals and shared identity, design space for authentic connection, role-model vulnerability, create opportunities for weak ties, measure loneliness, and embed connection into hybrid policies.

Leaders and employees can start small—one ritual, one personal check-in—to strengthen connection, resilience, and creativity in their teams.

In this episode of Manager Lab, host Greg Gillum breaks down decision-making and delegation using Cheryl Strauss Einhorn’s HBR framework: "Should You Delegate That Decision? Ask These Four Questions."

Learn the four questions to determine when to delegate—who’s closest to the action, whether a decision can be routinized, whose perspective will improve the outcome, and where momentum is stalled—plus a real-world example involving minor design approvals.

Greg shares practical tools (decision audits, decision matrices, clear decision rights), common pitfalls to avoid, and a simple weekly challenge to help you start delegating effectively and grow leadership across your team.