This series began with a conversation with my client, Jennifer Bartkowski, and we’re concluding the same way. Jennifer is the ‘very proud’ CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas. In Fall of 2022 we launched a multi-month, cohort- and practice-based leadership program: Reimagine Girl Scouts Leadership Academy. We’ve tracked the journey and interviewe…

We have constant demands on our attention, energy and time. If we don’t have strategies for staying focused on what is most important we will almost certainly lose the battle and succumb to distractions that leave us feeling depleted and frustrated. My friend and colleague, Dr. Chris Johnson has literally written a book on how to stay present. And …

I’ve worked with a lot of organizations in my time as a coach and leadership consultant and the issue of trust is almost always at or near the center of concern. You’re never done building and nurturing trust. As one of my guests today quotes, “trust is the only thing that affects everything” (Stephen M.R. Covey). We gave it a great deal of air tim…

When I ask experts in the leadership field what the most important attribute for effective leadership today is, I get some version of adaptability or agility. In other words, what is most important is that we’re able to read a context and shift our approach to meet circumstances and challenges with new thinking and behaviors. My guest today, Pam Bo…

As part of the Reimagine Leadership limited series, this is the first episode where we dig into content that we actually threaded throughout the program I developed for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas. Jim Fallon is an Executive Coach for The Conscious Leadership Group and a Strategic Advisor for many organizations. He spent decades as an execut…

Transformation Happens in Community. We don’t reach our potential alone. Without conversation, without rubbing up against each others’ nervous systems. Without vulnerability, self-awareness, being mirrored by others and without engaging to support their development as well. I knew this episode would be special and it was, because I was engaging wit…

Jennifer Bartkowski, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, and Cris Lopez, Senior Vice President at Village MD join me today and we talk about the various and important perspectives to consider when providing development to current and future leaders in your organization. Cris sits on the Board for the Girl Sounds of Northeast Texas and played a k…

In this first episode of Reimagine Leadership, I’m joined by Jennifer Bartkowski, the “very proud CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas”. This is the episode where we make strong links to organizational vision, mission and strategy and how leadership development is critical to an organization’s ability to thrive. It is the thread that connects stra…

Welcome to the first episode of Reimagine Leadership, a limited series podcast on Rise Leaders Radio. In this episode, I introduce you to the leadership program I was invited to create and deliver for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas. This transformational program was focused on developing the leadership capabilities required to build an organiza…

“I bet half of our anxiety is the energy of trying to remember which hat to put on in my relationship with [others]…And people end up becoming a less real version of themselves. …Why can't we be fully present to this process, and not have to put anything on the side - not try to take away the personal parts of who we are?” Showing up fully human Wh…

“Business is the social institution that that makes the world go ‘round. At one point in time, it was government and monarchies, and another point in time, it was religion. Now, it's businesses. So if we want to change the world, we have to change business.” – Nathan Havey 3D Business: A force for positive change In the 1970s, Milton Friedman said …

Do you ever feel overwhelmed and even stuck by situations that feel complex, uncertain and ambiguous? I certainly do. My guest today, Jay Cone, tells us that there's a surprising power in not knowing what to do. He believes that if we can boost our immunity to feeling the chaos, we can respond with creativity and compassion rather than paralysis an…

“If we focus on goals alone, without being tethered into this beingness, [it] can activate and trigger us, and we see those goals as our persecutor…‘Was the goal big enough? Did I do it fast enough?’ So the goal-setting can actually become a persecutor. And in our own mind, we feel victim to that.” – Donna Zajonc Are your goals also your persecutor…

“Imagine if we could all show up in more, if not all, places in life fully ourselves - that we could fully open ourselves to learning, making mistakes, taking feedback, taking risks, and be being fully seen for our humanity and our potential without the fear of embarrassment or retribution.” Move from socially defined to self-authored Have you ever…

“Can you discern between resistance and fear and strategic changes in direction? …not giving up and changing direction because something is hard or scary, yet being willing to change your mind even when something you really wanted to pursue is no longer a good investment of your precious resources?” Reflect, refresh, and recalibrate The change in s…

“[In contrast to] the ‘either/or’, ‘right/wrong’ mindset where there's nothing in between - paradoxical thinking would say, ‘What if it's both? What if there’s value in understanding the first path, and value in equally understanding the other path, and even the third?’ … It’s about being able to hold that tension between paths.” – Renee Moorefield…

“Respect yourself, respect others – respect the people you're working with. When you have those two ingredients, that will drive authentic communication among you and will be a part of your everyday working environment.” – Treg Manning Wholehearted Leadership When Treg reached out to me for leadership coaching, he was facing what he referred to as …

“Is our life an illustration of the ideals that we hold dear? Are we a living example of our personal philosophies for how to live meaningfully?” Letting your life speak As Maya Angelou famously said, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” As conscious and conscienti…

“What if life was a place full of possibilities for us to get better at the things that we care about? Instead of a place where we need to prove that we’re great and perfect?” – Fran Cherny If we expect ourselves to master new skills easily and in short time, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment and very likely a resistance to future chang…

“When we focus on outcomes and take creative steps to go after that, we solve problems in service to those. It’s not that the Outcome Orientation is all goodness and light and problem free, but that we can tackle the problems that stand in the way of we really want and really care about.” – David Emerald Womeldorff A 2022 Mindset Goal: An Outcome O…

“’Do Something New’ is about having the courage to take a moment and celebrate it. And finding a way … to move beyond simply seeing and looking to deep observation, or deep listening. It’s about going further than I normally would.” – Bonnie Pitman The power of observation: Transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary We get stuck and can't see…

“Don’t tell me what you value; show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” –Joe Biden Put your values into action A lot of energy goes into defining an organization's Vision, Mission and Values. It's an exciting time and an inspiring exercise. Usually, steps are taken to put this Core Ideology into action but it often remains separate f…

“This book is a love letter to any fellow humans who have felt like they were the underdogs for deeply caring about people and their wellbeing at work.” – MaryBeth Hyland, Permission to Be Human: A Conscious Leader’s Guide to Creating a Values-Driven Culture Wellbeing at work Just as we go to a doctor if we break an arm, we should treat ourselves w…

We will all grapple with trauma in some form. If you haven’t experienced it yet personally, then as a leader, mentor, friend, or loved one, you’ll be with someone who has. Drawing from my own recent experience, I want to share what I’ve learned from an event that rattled my nervous system. We'll all get shaken by life, and whether it’s a heated arg…

“We want to inspire a change in the social currency to be not one of status or prestige, but one around what it is that we're doing for others…we think a lot can happen from making small everyday changes or actions.” – Cory Ames, CEO of Grow Ensemble Using Business as a Force for Good Inspiring and generous. When I think of my interactions with CEO…

“There’s 10.1 million positions open [in the post-COVID workforce], there is this great resignation, a great reconsideration: What am I doing? Do I feel attached to my company? Do I feel like I have purpose?” – Mike Sullivan, CEO of the LOOMIS Agency The 7 Elements of Great Culture The pandemic changed the landscape of the working world as we know …

“Ultimately, I decided I just wanted to create the kind of place that people want to work on Monday morning - they want to come, there’s no Sunday night dread. And again, it doesn't mean that it's perfect. But what it does mean is that we're focused on the right things.” - Mike Sullivan, CEO of The LOOMIS Agency A Strong Culture is a Competitive Ad…

He says look forward to getting old. He says keep changing, you just get more who you really are. - Roger S. Keyes, Hokusai Says Podcast art: The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai The Art is the First Iteration. We take it from there. The poet reminds us that art is a product of inspiration and interpretation. The artist initiates us wi…

“Look at sales in a very simple definition - that is delivering value for what someone needs. If you look at sales in that light, that’s a very noble profession. It starts with helping make sure that companies have the right people in their organization and Sales[people] who have the right knowledge, mindset, approach, cultural fit for the business…

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” - Viktor Frankl Unlocking our freedom from within When we think of independence, we often think of it as an external event, like Juneteenth or the Fourth of July. But freedom and i…

“When we’re blending, we felt in lockstep, we were in flow. Perhaps we even felt like the conversation was a nice dance. We felt open, connected with, 'gotten'…When we are able to blend, we have stronger relationships that are based on deeper trust.” 'Blend' to build stronger relationships In a society that seems to value being right and accomplish…

“Our embodiment is our extraordinary ability to put complex actions and interactions on autopilot. So that what comes next, or how to respond, becomes second nature... I'm talking about the body as a reflection of the person who lives within it.” -Amanda Blake, Your Body is Your Brain Embodiment, Learning and Leadership Amanda Blake is the author o…

“When we connect to our own energy and life force, we're actually connecting to the big energy out there in the world…And this is the venue, the entry point into connecting with all the rest of life around us.” - Mark Mooney Connect with your body, connect with the world According to Mark Mooney, the embodied or self-actuated self includes a deep c…

"If we insist on being buttoned up, polished professionals, that gets us a certain distance in our business lives. But showing up as a human being and being willing to relate to our clients and our colleagues as human beings, not just as professionals, gets us 10 times further.” - Andrea Howe Strong connections build trust Andrea Howe kicks convent…

“The goal of most sales books and training programs is to get more sales. The goal of trust-based selling is to help the customer…The paradox is that if you abandon attachment to the sale as the goal and instead do the sale as a fortunate byproduct, you'll actually do better.” - Charles H. Green The trust equation How do we measure trust? In sales …

“Think of virtual distance as an unconscious sense of social and emotional detachment that starts to grow. As we use more and more computer-mediated communications, it shows up as changes in our behavior because we don't feel as close to people, but we may not realize that it's happening to us.” - Dr. Karen Lojeski Perhaps you can relate to the sce…

“We have virtual real estate that makes you look and feel and act and behave as if you were in a real office. So it's not virtual reality, it's reality…the way my brain reacts and creates by changing the environment I’m in…my persona changes [while being] connected to colleagues around the world.” - Toni Portmann Using Technology to Reduce Isolatio…

“What values can do both for individuals and organizations is provide a sense of stability, a sense of continuity, and to provide something to cling to that is timeless and changeless in a world where everything seems to be changing.” - Jerry Magar It’s the beginning of a new year, and you’re likely setting goals and taking inventory in many areas …

Can your voice be heard? Is your value being recognized? Dr. Chris Johnson has joined me again in this episode to discuss a foundational leadership capability: the ability to speak up about the value we personally bring to our work. Our conviction is contagious and compelling, inspiring others to trust and believe in us as well. “You need to be abl…

Are you completing a task or working towards a bigger vision? If you have a Cathedral Story, your work, your goals – your life will have more meaning. As the co-founder of Intrizen, Jonathan Haberkorn specializes in making sense of complex processes and organizing them in a way that emphasizes human interactions first. By prioritizing the people wh…

Shop local is a mantra we’re hearing – and hopefully practicing – more often these days. Did you know we can also invest local? Michael H. Shuman is an expert in local economies. He’s a lawyer, economist, entrepreneur, author and activist when it comes to local. We cover the positive social and economic impact of local investment and talk about cha…

Our attention is in demand. It’s up to us to know how to keep it focused on what matters most so that we spend more time enjoying what’s in front of us: other humans, nature, pets, art, etc. Managing our attention also provides a pathway for bringing our unique gifts to the world. Join me and Seth Braun as we explore the grander implications of Att…

I called in a lifeline for this one. I wanted to talk about the importance of a supportive ecosystem when engaging in leadership coaching and didn’t like what I was producing on my own. So when my esteemed colleague, Jerry Magar, offered to interview me, I gladly accepted. And he delivered! "The pressure and expectation of organizational leadership…

Sofiya Deva didn’t waver from her commitment to launch a new business, This Same Sky, even in the face of a pandemic. She was unwilling to turn away from any of her ‘loves’ – of beauty, for supporting multi-generational artisans, ethical and sustainable fashion and her self-described geeky love of strategy and business. I believe Jim Collins would …

Jay Gordon Cone Ph.D. has decades under his belt working with leadership teams to build successful strategies and navigate challenging times. These days he is also focusing his considerable intellectual horsepower and passion on creating a “vaccine against mind traps and closed-mindedness”. Jay believes if we can boost our immunity to chaos, we can…

Dr. Chris Johnson’s background combines psychology, Aikido (she’s a 3rd degree Black Belt!) and mindfulness training. The result is a powerful and pragmatic approach for moving wisdom into action. We talk about Embodied Leadership and the importance of creating a Leadership Pause habit. “Embodied leadership has an edge over anything conventional, b…

Renee Moorefield and Jane Cocking share important findings from research they conducted on the relationships between leadership, ethnicity, and thriving. Based on data from 900+ leaders in the BWLW database, Black and Hispanic leaders who completed surveys about their well-being scored significantly higher than leaders who identify as white or Asia…

This episode is being re-published because the content feels incredibly relevant given our political and social environment. In the late-1990s Jennifer Touchet and a group of committed citizens took a clear and unified stand against a powerful and complex system and won! They used positive political strategies based on a win-win-win approach and in…

Organizations committed to sustainable change bake it into their business model. There are a host of labels and designations for those that “do good”: conscious capitalism, social impact, social entrepreneurship, B Corp, etc. In this episode, we explore the differences and how they function. Suzanne Smith, founder & CEO of Social Impact Architects …

There are times in our professional lives where we need to advocate for ourselves. – to take a stand. Recognizing our worth and being able to communicate it isn’t rude, nor is it bragging. But it can be uncomfortable. Owning our value supports our authenticity, which liberates our spirit and launches excellent performance. “When we're able to own o…