Notes on Resilience

Send us Fan Mail Real care at work isn’t about saying yes to everything. It is about designing a culture where people can struggle together and still deliver.  We brought Pete Turner, partner and senior executive coach at 2B Limitless, to talk about how teams can be genuinely compassionate without "compassioning" themselves out of business. From the pains of fast growth pains to real-wor...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wish you had a steady rhythm to move you through doubt, fatigue, and fear?  We sit down with Shaun Murphy—Mr. Motivation—to explore how a veteran turned educator, musician, and author uses leadership and motivation to transform pain into power. Sean shares the core lessons from the Army: leaders provide purpose, direction, and motivation, and trust is built by keeping your wo...

Send us Fan Mail Resilience shows up in the small choices that restore steadiness after a hard season, and in the rare moments when private truth reshapes public policy. As we mark three years of the show, I share the unexpected chapter that changed my professional life: partnering with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on the Post-Disaster Mental Health Response Act. The work was slow and human. It d...

Send us Fan Mail What if the choices that define you arrive sideways—on an ordinary day, without a plan, and ask you to cross a threshold you never imagined existed?  We pull together standout moments from season three to explore how our identifies can change in real time: a spontaneous dance on a Paris stage, a living kidney donation made without hesitation, a tattoo on trust, a climb up Mount Fu...

Send us Fan Mail Silence protects bullies. We sit down with Kim Williams—veteran HR executive, survivor of workplace abuse, and founder of the Fair Path Project—to unpack how brilliant jerks get shielded, why moral injury cuts deeper than most leaders realize, and what it takes to turn empathy into accountability. Kim explains how fear operates at every level: employees fear retaliation, HR fears...

Send us Fan Mail What if the fastest path to better outcomes is a renewed commitment to empathy you can actually teach, measure, and scale?  We sit down with Dr. Helen Riess—Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, founder of Empathetics, and author of The Empathy Effect—to unpack the science that turns the so-called soft skills into hard results. Helen shares the journey from lab to classroom to ente...

Send us Fan Mail Crisis leadership is about recognizing reality faster than everyone else. And telling the truth when it’s hardest.  We sit down with Samantha Montano—associate professor of emergency management and author of Disasterology—to unpack what actually works when the stakes are life and death. From Katrina’s painful lessons to the East Palestine train derailment and the long haul of COVI...

Send us Fan Mail Fear rewires leadership in the moments that matter most.  We sit down with Melissa Agnes, keynote speaker, author of Crisis Ready, and a shaper of ISO 22361, to explore how leaders can move from survival mode to creation mode when the stakes are high. Melissa shares why so many teams cling to the concept of getting back to normal after disruption, and how that reflex can stall rec...

Send us Fan Mail News travels faster than your approval chain—so who speaks for you when it matters most?  We sit down with crisis management consultant Suzanne Bernier to unpack what effective leadership looks like under pressure. The conversation quickly turns practical: why a team-led model outperforms lone-wolf leadership, how to select a spokesperson who naturally projects trust, and when to...

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...