Notes on Resilience

Send us Fan Mail Anxiety doesn’t mean you’re broken; it means you care. When stakes rise, that surge of energy can sharpen focus, rally teams, and improve decisions—if you know how to work with it.  We sit down with Harvard Medical School psychologist David Rosmarin to unpack a practical, research-grounded approach any leader can use to turn anxious moments into traction. David explains what anxie...

Send us Fan Mail A cargo plane cockpit isn’t the first place most people look for lessons on software leadership—until you hear what happens when a co-pilot stays silent. A single dismissive moment can shut down a voice and invite disaster In this episode, I talk with Nate Amidon, founder and CEO of Form 100 Consulting Today, about how trust, humility, and psychological safety turn complex, invisi...

Send us Fan Mail Resilience isn’t about being unbreakable.  We sit down with Dr. Jordan Smoller—psychiatrist, epidemiologist, and geneticist at Harvard and Mass General—to discuss resilience as adaptation and explore why naming harm matters, how acknowledgment from leaders reduces isolation, and the real-world steps that transform empathy into trust. Jordan brings a blend of clinical experience an...

Send us Fan Mail Work should feel human, not like a daily battle with noise, sameness, and stress.  We sit down with Travis Hollman, CEO of Hollman Inc. and founder of MeSpace, to unpack how neuroinclusive design, compassionate leadership, and AI can transform focus, creativity, and retention.  Travis shares his personal journey with dyslexia and ADHD, then connects it to a bold but practical visi...

Send us Fan Mail What if leadership is a practice you start the moment a gap appears?  That’s the lens Sebastián Torres-Calderon brings to our conversation. He was an intern who helped stabilize a hospitality company during COVID and later became its leader  Sebastian traces his first leadership roles back to the soccer field, where playing midfield taught him to connect people, read the whole gam...

Send us Fan Mail A steady voice can feel like a life raft when the world flips.  We sat down with emergency management expert and ICISF faculty member Dr. Mary Schoenfeldt to unpack how leaders actually help in the acute moments and the aftermath—what to say, what not to fake, and how to hand off the mic.  Mary breaks down the brain science behind crisis: survival chemicals narrow our vision, mute...

Send us Fan Mail Resilience isn’t a solo grind or a wellness checklist—it’s a system that lives in people, teams, and the way an organization actually works under pressure.  We sit down with strategic advisor and executive team coach Natasha Kehimkar to reframe resilience as connection. When pressure spikes, leaders often go inward—exactly when community and connection matter most.  Natasha explai...

Send us Fan Mail What if the key to becoming a better leader isn't about mastering others, but mastering yourself?  When executive coach Massimo Backus joins me on this episode, he shares a revolutionary idea that's changing how we think about leadership: self-compassion as a leadership superpower. Most of us have been conditioned to believe that being hard on ourselves drives success. W...

Send us Fan Mail What if the performance metrics we've relied on for decades are actually undermining our success?  Radhika Dutt, entrepreneur, product leader, and author of Radical Product Thinking , challenges conventional leadership wisdom by revealing why traditional goals often backfire and introduces a compassionate approach to leadership through puzzle-setting and puzzle-solving framew...

Send us Fan Mail Discover why emotional intelligence might be the missing puzzle piece in your leadership strategy.  Nada Nasserdeen, founder and CEO of Rise Up For You, unpacks the critical balance between compassion and maintaining high standards in today's workplace. She reveals the startling truth that 80% of business success depends not on technical prowess but on emotional intelligence,...

Send us Fan Mail What if everything you thought you knew about leadership was based on an illusion?  Hussein Hallak takes us on a remarkable journey from his childhood in Syria—where entrepreneur wasn't even a word in Arabic—to becoming a successful company founder who learned the hard way that command-and-control leadership doesn't work. Hussein admits he was once horrible to work with,...

Send us Fan Mail How do you build an organization that grows without losing its soul? Kenny Lange believes the answer lies in compassionate leadership—but not in the way most people think. Kenny challenges the false dichotomy between organizational success and staying true to principles and argues that accountability represents one of the highest forms of compassion. In fact, organizational polici...

Send us Fan Mail What's the true value of kindness in business?  According to Tara May, CEO of Aspiritech, compassion is a powerful driver of innovation, revenue, and profit. Our conversation explores the ROI of kindness, a concept that challenges traditional views by connecting human-centered leadership directly to business outcomes. Tara shares compelling insights from her experience leadin...

Send us Fan Mail When crisis hits, what separates exceptional leaders from the rest?  Dr. Heidi Steinecker draws from her remarkable career as Deputy Director of the California Department of Public Health and US Citizen Diplomat to reveal the unexpected qualities that define crisis leadership. "What will do the least amount of harm?"  This guiding question frames her approach to crisis m...

Send us Fan Mail No one will listen to you and really embrace you unless they know that you're there with the right intentions. Ali Uren, founder of Kiikstart, challenges conventional thinking about what truly drives workplace success. The episode introduces Ali's powerful concept of the kindness bank--a framework where leaders make daily deposits through acts of generosity, attentivenes...

Send us Fan Mail When a disability care organization struggled with high turnover and poor morale, today's guest, Karen Ansen, suggested flipping its organizational chart to put frontline caregivers at the top.  The organization transformed its culture and operations by asking employees directly what they needed. Karen is an employment lawyer and leadership coach who brings humanity to high-c...

Send us Fan Mail Leaders tend to bifurcate, going to one extreme or the other. Some become hyper-competent but emotionally disconnected. Others display overwhelming empathy without direction. Crisis response expert Jeff Gorter reveals that effective leadership during traumatic events requires a delicate balance of compassion and competence. Drawing from his experience responding to organizational...

Send us Fan Mail When tested, we don't rise to the level of our aspirations. We fall back to the level of our training, habits, and policies. This episode originally aired on The Breakout podcast, where I joined hosts Dr. Keri Ohlrich and Kelly Guenther to talk about trauma, recovery, resilience, and how society fails invisible victims of traumatic events.  For every physical injury in mass v...

Send us Fan Mail In this first in an occasional series on what we owe each other after collective traumas, bioethicist Alham Saadat shares unique insights from her experiences as a refugee and her work in bioethics at the Broad Institute. Alham offers insights into the obligations we have toward one another both during crisis and in everyday life. "What we owe to each other is at the core of...

Send us Fan Mail Ever noticed how the most successful leaders somehow manage to build thriving businesses while maintaining genuine human connections?  Rob Gallaher discovered this secret the hard way. After years of working excessive hours, micromanaging his team, and watching his personal life deteriorate, he knew something had to change. Rob joins us to share how compassion transformed his appr...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when we acknowledge our full humanity in the workplace?  Fran Benjamin, Managing Partner at GoodWorks Consulting, delivers a masterclass in organizational transformation that challenges longstanding assumptions about leadership. Fran offers a definition of compassion: "that moment in which one can no longer distinguish themselves from the other," and explore...

Send us Fan Mail When you think of manufacturing environments, compassionate leadership and unconditional love probably aren't the first concepts that come to mind. Yet at Cambridge Air Solutions, these principles form the backbone of a thriving culture that's delivering remarkable business results. Meg Brown, Chief Operating Officer, reveals the surprisingly simple practices that have t...

Send us Fan Mail "We have more information than ever and less knowledge. We talk at each other more than ever and we're less connected."  James Warren, founder and CEO of Share More Stories, takes us on a journey through the transformative power of stories as the lifeblood of the human experience. He reveals how storytelling creates three essential benefits for organizations: enhanc...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wondered why good people sometimes make terrible decisions?  Kevin McCarthy lived this question when he unwittingly became involved in what turned out to be Washington state's largest fraud case—an experience that landed him in federal prison for 33 months despite having no knowledge of the crime. Rather than becoming bitter, Kevin transformed this devastating s...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when disaster strikes a community and the ripple effects touch everyone differently? This episode originally aired on The Security Circle podcast, where I joined host Yoyo Hamblen to talk about trauma, recovery, and resilience. I'm sharing it here because the conversation gets to the heart of what we're exploring on Notes on Resilience: the real work of rebu...