What happens when you spend 10 years interviewing some of the world’s top leaders? After 500 interviews with CEOs, generals, founders, bestselling authors, athletes, and elite performers, Jim Vaselopulos and Jan Rutherford discovered a surprising pattern. The most successful leaders were NOT the most polished, they were the most self-aware, adaptable, and relentlessly committed to…
TLP510: Why Your Organization Keeps Getting the Same Results (No Matter What You Change)
TLP510: Why Your Organization Keeps Getting the Same Results (No Matter What You Change)
Maria Brinck is the Founder & President of Zynergy International and author of “The Leadership We Need: A New Mindset for a Brighter Future.”
In this episode, Maria argues that the leadership crisis most organizations face isn’t a skills gap — it’s a flawed model. The qualities we’ve long rewarded in leaders — confidence, decisiveness, and control — were effective in a different era. But in today’s environment, those same traits can actually become liabilities.
She challenges leaders to examine what they have never been asked to question: the unconscious bias shaping who gets selected, who gets developed, and whose voice gets heard.
She also makes the case that the most important thing a leader can unlearn is the need to have all the answers, because that single habit is what keeps collaboration from ever becoming real.
If you have ever wondered why your organization keeps producing the same results no matter how much it changes, this episode is worth your time.
TLP509: Capitalism Without Ethics Is Just Chaos
TLP509: Capitalism Without Ethics Is Just Chaos
Dr. Bill Kline is a professor of business ethics and the Executive Director of the Academy on Capitalism. He argues that capitalism and ethics aren’t separate conversations. They’re the same system.
Without ethics, there are no property rights, no enforceable contracts, and no functioning markets. Strip that away and you don’t get capitalism. You get chaos with a price tag.
In this conversation, Bill discusses the difference between socialism’s ideals and capitalism’s outcomes. He also breaks down what leaders must do to rebuild trust with younger workers, and why one simple question keeps getting ignored: Do we actually understand what capitalism is?
If your organization is struggling to articulate why business and markets matter or you’re watching younger talent disengage from the mission, this episode gives you a clearer way to think about what’s really at stake.
TLP508: Your Scars Are Your Resume
Matt Cavanaugh is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, PhD, former Army Athlete of the Year, and author of “Best Scar Wins: How You Can Be More Than You Were Before.” Leaders often treat failures, setbacks, and scars as liabilities to hide. Matt Cavanaugh argues the opposite — that the scars you’ve earned, physical and…
TLP507: Disrupt or Be Buried: The Mindset That Changes Everything
Patrick Leddin is an army veteran, entrepreneur, and NYT and WSJ Bestselling Author. He is the co-author, with James Patterson, of “Disrupt Everything—and Win: Take Control of Your Future.” Most leaders treat disruption as something to survive. Patrick argues that’s exactly the wrong frame. The gap between leaders who thrive in uncertainty and those who…
TLP506: Retention Is Dead: The Workquake Reshaping Talent
TLP506: Retention Is Dead: The Workquake Reshaping Talent
Steve Cadigan is a global talent strategist, author of “Workquake: Embracing the Aftershocks of COVID-19 to Create a Better Model of Working,” and LinkedIn’s founding Chief HR Officer.
Steve believes the world of work is going through a “workquake” — a fundamental shift that’s breaking the old employer-employee contract. At the core of it is a false premise: the idea of long-term loyalty that neither side can reliably keep.
In this conversation, Steve explains why many of the world’s most successful companies have surprisingly short employee tenure, why the workforce isn’t disloyal but loyal to growth, and why leaders should focus less on retention and more on creating meaningful development while people are with them.
For leaders navigating turnover and rapid change, this episode offers a more honest way to think about talent and what it actually takes to build teams that perform.
Find episode 506 on The Leadership Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!
TLP505: Why Leadership Coaching So Often Fails
TLP505: Why Leadership Coaching So Often Fails
Will Linssen is the CEO of Global Coach Group, and the author of “Triple Win Leadership Coaching: The Coach’s Guide to More Impact, More Coaching, and More Clients.”
In this conversation, Will challenges the traditional model of leadership coaching. Too often, coaching focuses on the leader while leaving the team out of the equation—one reason why team satisfaction frequently remains low even when leaders feel they’ve made progress.
Will explains how great coaches assess coachability before the work even begins, why ego is often the biggest barrier to meaningful change, and what leaders in global, multicultural environments consistently misunderstand about communication and feedback.
We also explore the impact of AI on leadership. Will argues that decades of accumulated expertise are losing their advantage. The leaders who will thrive going forward aren’t the ones with all the answers—they’re the ones who know how to ask the right questions.
If you’ve ever wondered why leadership development often fails to stick inside organizations, this conversation offers a candid look at what’s missing—and what needs to change.
Find episode 505 on The Leadership Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!
TLP504: Why Your Team Is Still Disengaged
TLP504: Why Your Team Is Still Disengaged
Mark Crowley’s newest book is The Power of Employee Well-Being: Move Beyond Engagement to Build Flourishing Teams.
For more than a decade, organizations have chased employee engagement – through surveys, gamification, perks, and wellness apps – yet the results haven’t improved. Gallup now reports engagement at a ten-year low. Mark was one of the early voices questioning the engagement movement, and in this conversation he explains why the model itself is flawed.
We talk about what leaders have been measuring incorrectly, what employee well-being actually means, and why the strongest predictor of team performance isn’t compensation, perks, or pressure to produce. It’s belonging.
If you’re seeing burnout, quiet disengagement, or people simply going through the motions, this conversation offers a different lens on leadership—and practical insights you can start applying immediately.
Find episode 504 on The Leadership Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!
TLP503: 7 Hidden Beliefs That Sabotage Leaders (And How to Break Them) – with Muriel M. Wilkins
TLP503: 7 Hidden Beliefs That Sabotage Leaders (And How to Break Them) – with Muriel M. Wilkins
Muriel M. Wilkins is the founder and CEO of Paravis Partners, host of the HBR podcast, Coaching Real Leaders, and author of “Leadership Unblocked: Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential.”
Muriel makes the case that lasting leadership change doesn’t come from better tactics. It comes from changing the hidden assumptions driving those tactics in the first place.
Drawing on research with over 300 coaching clients, Muriel introduces seven hidden blockers—simple, pervasive beliefs that quietly sabotage even the most capable leaders. She explains why high performers are especially vulnerable, why action bias becomes a liability at the top, and what “doing the inner work” actually looks like when you’re in the thick of real pressure and expectations.
This is one of the most practically grounded conversations we’ve had on self-awareness, sustainable change, and what it really takes to lead at the next level.
TLP502: Never Fire Anyone with Mark Morgenfruh
Mark Morgenfruh is the President and CEO of GetHRready and author of “Never Fire Anyone: A Leader’s Guide on how to Lead People not Companies.” He holds a Master of Human Resource Management from Rutgers University and built his no-nonsense, trust-first philosophy from the ground up.
In this episode, Mark dismantles the two most common leadership failures he calls “keyboard cowboys” (leading from behind a screen) and “happy talk” (avoiding the real conversation until it’s too late). He makes the case that trust isn’t built through programs or policies — it’s built by being a normal human being when you walk through the door.
Mark introduces his values-based leadership and disciplinary model — an alternative to PIPs and terminations. He explains why firing someone is more often a reflection of a bad hire or promotion decision than a performance problem. He also challenges HR to stop being the policy police and start being an enabler of real relationships between leaders and their people.
If you’ve ever avoided a hard conversation, put someone on a PIP, or wondered why your culture feels transactional — this episode is for you.
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