Leadership Deep Dive

In this episode, Margaret and David  explore what it means to smile at fear — and how this practice can help us become braver, more self-aware leaders. Drawing on David’s book, The Spiritual Path of Leadership: Awakening Your Inner Sage, they explore how fear shapes our behavior, why we sometimes withhold what needs to be […]

David sits down with organizational consultant Daniel Roth and discusses hisE3 Effect framework (Enable, Empower, Endeavor), which asks leaders three questions: Have you enabled your people with what they need? Have you empowered them to act? Have you built the follow-through that keeps performance improving? Roth, founder of the Pangea Effect and author of The E3 Effect, argues […]

Hard to believe, but most nonprofit boards get fundraising all wrong.  Nonprofit board members think their job is to attend meetings and second motions. It’s not. A board member’s real job is to imagine what the organization could do with unlimited resources, then find the people willing to fund that vision. Stone Payton, a board […]

Margaret and David discuss how blurry vision can teach you about your Zone of Genius. Margaret shared how she’d been living with completely incorrect eyeglass prescriptions for years.  A wake-up call that mirrors how leaders often keep their true potential “blurry” out of fear or habit. We explore the difference between your zone of excellence […]

We spend a lot of time helping leaders stay in the moments that are hard: difficult conversations, conflict, disappointment, and the inevitable gut punches of leadership. But what about the other end of the spectrum? Joy as a leadership skill may sound unexpected — and even a little less urgent—but learning how to receive, savor, […]

When bad news hits, your nervous system fires into shock before you can think clearly. Leading through the gut punch does not force positivity; instead, name what you feel, let it move through you, and re-regulate before reaching for hope. Recently, David’s wife was diagnosed with a melanoma on her cheek. Melanoma! When you hear […]

This episode takes a deep dive into out-of-the-box leadership as we honor CTI co-founder and inspiration Henry Kimsey-House. In this episode, Margaret Katz Cann and David Langiulli welcome transformational coach and longtime friend Nancy West for a heartfelt conversation honoring the life and legacy of Henry Kimsey-House, one of the primary founders of the Co-Active […]

Margaret and David sit down with John Mollura, a former NASA and elite U.S. military field testing leader turned leadership coach and author of the forthcoming book, Let it Fly. The discussion focused on the challenges of overthinking and analysis paralysis in leadership, drawing from John’s experiences in high-stakes environments. He emphasized the importance of […]

Ethical influence means persuading others using only what is true, makes common sense, and you’d recommend to someone you love. Barry Moline — award-winning author and certified Cialdini Institute trainer — breaks down the difference between ethical influence and manipulation, and why leaders who master this distinction build more trust, not less. Most leaders want […]

AI can process, predict, and perform — but it cannot genuinely feel compassion, commune spiritually, or exercise free will. Dr. Brian Arnold, former world-class athlete turned chaplain and author of Relationship vs. AI, argues that human relationships are not just valuable in the age of AI — they are irreplaceable. You won’t hear a hospital […]

In this episode of the Leadership Deep Dive podcast, David, 40 years after a climbing accident, gets a second chance to process some grief. The grief was from two traumas that he has carried around for all those decades, losing first a sister and then a close friend in quick succession. Given who he was […]

Better Not Perfect.  Why Perfectionism Is Holding Your Leadership Back. Perfectionism sounds like a virtue. It isn’t. Christy Pretzinger — founder of The Better Leader Project, CEO of WG Content, and author of the forthcoming book Better Not Perfect — said something to David on the show that stopped him cold. She described perfectionism not […]

Does being distracted = being exhausted? In this episode of Leadership Deep Dive, Margaret Katz Cann and David Langiulli explore a challenge that affects nearly everyone: distraction. The conversation started about fatigue and quickly becomes an exploration of one common contributor: how constant interruptions drain our energy, diminish our creativity, and undermine our relationships. The […...

Here’s a provocative question: Is intelligence overrated? Especially when it comes to leadership and fundraising? David and Margaret have both been noodling about this concept lately — about what happens from trying too hard or overcompensating. Both have been writing on it from different angles on LinkedIn (see Margaret’s recent post here and David’s article […]

I Had a Really Successful Career, But I was Miserable. Have you ever looked at your impressive resume, noted your promotions and salary bumps, and felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness? You did everything right. You climbed the corporate ladder, hit your milestones, and made your family proud. Yet, you wake up feeling utterly drained. […]

Ever wish you were better at processing grudges and releasing resentments? This episode is for anyone who has ever found yourself replaying an old wound years — or even decades — after it happened. In this heartfelt and deeply personal episode, Margaret and David take a look into what happens when we hold onto grudges […]

 Have you ever wondered what has our brains turn towards an act of generosity — like what, exactly, is the neuroscience of giving? In this episode, Margaret and David sit down with Cherian Koshy, bestselling author of Neurogiving: The Science of Donor Decision Making, for a conversation sparked by this question: What if the key […]

In this episode, Margaret sits down with David to celebrate the release of his new book, Life Lessons from Memorable Movies.  David’s latest is a collection of essays that uses iconic film quotes as springboards for real-world wisdom on leadership, relationships, and personal growth. Inspiration for the Idea David traces the book’s origins to his […]

Can you actually sharpen intuition, or is it something you’re simply born with (or without)? Margaret and I explored that question on the Show recently, and we kept coming back to this: intuition isn’t magic. It’s a muscle. Have you ever walked into a room and instantly felt the tension? Or perhaps you’ve looked at […]

Margaret and David visit with Danny Bobrow about Persuasion without Pressure. Have you ever found yourself talking to your team, convinced your brilliant solution was exactly what they needed, only to see their eyes glaze over? That phenomenon is what Danny calls “expert override.” As the creator of the Persuasion Blueprint, Danny holds dual MBAs […]

In this episode of Leadership Deep Dive, hosts Margaret and David explore recovering from disappointment. Feeling dissapointment is a universal yet often avoided experience. So, how might we more skillfully navigating the sting of disappointment? The “Splat!” David’s own recent “splat” sparked the conversation. This took the form of a significant setback while self-publishing the...

Anger is a tricky emotion for leaders to navigate. Most of us do not have it completely figured out. We either let our temper burn bridges with our colleagues, or we stuff the emotion down until it makes us sick. But what if anger isn’t something to banish or fear? What if it actually serves […]

David visits with communication expert and best-selling author, Robert Kennedy III, about the art of transformative communication. Words have impact. They can create or destroy. As leaders, we often default to safe “org speak” or quick texts, missing the opportunity to truly connect. But what if the key to influence lies in the stories we ignore every […]

Have you ever reached a major milestone—a promotion, a big sale, a new house—only to feel… empty? We spend so much of our professional lives chasing “success,” yet true happiness often feels like a moving target. Steven Shortt, the founder of The Happy People Project, comes on the show with David and shares how he […]

What does leading with soul look like?  David sits down with Patrick Dunn and asks that question. Have you ever found yourself sitting in front of your laptop at midnight, typing out yet another email, and wondering, “Why am I doing this?” We’ve all been there. We get caught up climbing the ladder, trying to […]