The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

How many times this month have you smiled through a day that was quietly wearing you down? Mission-driven work has a way of doing that to you. You care so much that you say yes to one more thing, then another, and then you realize you've been running on fumes. You hold it together for your team, your board, your donors, and your family, and the one person nobody seems to check in on is you. Now pi...

You can have a room full of people nodding along and think everything is fine. That's actually the problem. When everyone agrees, when nobody pushes back, when the room goes quiet the moment a decision is made, that silence isn't peace. It's a warning sign. And most leaders miss it entirely because they're chasing the next win, the next KPI, the next quarter, and they've stopped looking at the peo...

You can do everything right in your career and still find yourself staring at the ceiling at 2 am, wondering what exactly you're building. The title sounds impressive, and the salary looks good, but somewhere along the way the thing that was supposed to give you a life started quietly taking it. The years go faster than the days, and it's easy to look up one morning and realize the schedule you bu...

Twenty-three years is a long time to spend earning a reputation. Michele Trongaard has one that precedes her everywhere she goes in this industry, and after sitting across from her for this conversation, I understand exactly why. Michele is stepping away from her role as a district CFO after more than two decades in public school finance, and she's doing it on her own terms, heading into a new cha...

  Picture your ideal Tuesday. You come in with a clear head, a short list of things that actually matter, and a couple of hours of uninterrupted time to think strategically about where you're taking this thing. Now picture your actual Tuesday. Six fires before noon. Three decisions that landed on your desk that someone else should have made. A calendar that left no room for anything except reactin...

When was the last time you made something? A drawing, a photo, a collage, a doodle in the margin of a notebook. Something you made with your hands because something in you wanted to. Most of us have to think about it. And the longer we think, the further back the answer goes. Somewhere along the way, we handed our creative lives back. Not all at once, and not on purpose. Just gradually, between th...

Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This convers...

Most of us have been there in some form or another. You know the truth. You can see it. You can feel it. And everywhere you look, the official version of events tells a completely different story. The institutions say one thing. The media repeats it. Slowly, the narrative everyone keeps hearing becomes the narrative everyone starts to believe, even when it is wrong. Sandy Rosenthal refused to let...

Be honest. When's the last time you actually felt calm, not just looked calm? Because those are two very different things, and most of us have gotten so good at faking the second one that we forget what the first one even feels like. You handle the hard conversation. You keep your voice steady in the meeting that's falling apart. You hold it together for everyone else in the room. And then later,...

Most of us have spent years learning how to communicate better. Better words, better models, better frameworks. And yet somehow the same conflicts keep happening, the same conversations keep getting avoided, and the same people keep making the room tense the moment they walk in. Dr. Annie Campanile has a different theory about why, and it starts somewhere most leadership training never goes. Watch...

If you listened to Part 1, you already know Ileana Garcia doesn't hold back. Part 2 goes somewhere I honestly didn't expect when we sat down to record it. We start with something that still visibly stings a little: the Wall Street Journal feature that was supposed to be a proud moment for her and instead turned into something else entirely. Ileana walks me through what actually happened behind tha...

Have you ever had that moment where you realize the life you built isn't actually the one you want anymore? Today's guest knows that feeling better than almost anyone I've talked to on this show. Ileana Garcia (you probably know her as Illy in the Streets on TikTok) has spent the last few years turning her gray divorce and everything that followed into some of the most honest and funniest content...

If you run a business and have ever lost a customer because you didn't call them back fast enough, this one is going to sting. A lead comes in, life happens, and by the time someone picks up the phone, that customer has already booked with whoever responded first. My guest, Austin Willman, built his entire business around fixing that exact problem. He started in door-to-door solar sales, learned t...

You already know the feeling. You put your phone down after an hour of scrolling and somehow feel more drained than before you picked it up. Maybe you're in a room full of people you love, and everyone's looking at their screen instead of each other. Maybe you've been quietly wondering if the way you've been living and connecting is actually working for you anymore. If any of that sounds familiar,...

Have you ever walked into a room and felt like everyone else already knew how to network, how to pitch themselves, how to sound confident, and how to make the right connections? Here is the much-awaited part two of my conversation with Sasha Grinshpun on The Ripple Effect Podcast. We get into the real stuff that so many professionals, founders, entrepreneurs, and leaders are wrestling with right n...

This one felt personal. If you've ever walked into a room and felt like everyone else had it figured out, or you've ever watched somebody get an opportunity and thought, "Wait, how did that happen for them?" then you're going to connect with this conversation. It was such an honor to have Sasha Grinshpun on The Ripple Effect Podcast. Sasha is an executive coach, career strategist, and facilitator...

There's a strange pressure a lot of us feel right now. We're supposed to be innovative, strategic, emotionally intelligent, creative, calm under pressure, and still have enough left at the end of the day for the people we love. That's a lot. And that's why I appreciated this conversation with David Lowe-Rogstad . David has spent more than 25 years at the forefront of creative technology, building...

This episode is something special. Our special guest is none other than Mike O'Krent , founder of LifeStories Alive, a company devoted to helping families preserve the voices, memories, and life lessons of the people they love most. Mike's journey is incredible: from interviewing Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation to building a business that turns family stories into lasti...

You walk into the conversation feeling clear, calm, and even confident. Then, somehow, you walk out, replaying every sentence, wondering if you said it wrong, if you overreacted, if you are the problem. If that sounds familiar, there's a good chance you just tried communicating with a narcissist, or you're dealing with narcissistic tendencies up close at work or at home. Maybe it's a narcissistic...

Welcome back to The Ripple Effect Podcast. Today, you're getting a conversation that hits where it counts. Barbara Burgess joins us for a powerful interview that goes way beyond career talk and straight into what it really takes to move from corporate America to entrepreneurship. Barbara Burgess is an author, mother, executive, and unapologetic dark-chocolate lover who's embraced the beautiful mes...

When was the last time you truly forgave yourself? This episode of The Ripple Effect Podcast goes deep into the places we don't talk about often. And I want to thank our special guest, Shawn Mahshie, for showing up with such honesty and courage so we can all learn what real self-forgiveness looks like. Shawn Mahshie is a coach, author, and thought leader who helps people stop beating themselves up...

What if the difference between becoming average and becoming exceptional comes down to who you choose to learn from and the courage to ask for mentorship? In today's episode of The Ripple Effect Podcast, I'm truly honored and excited to interview John A. Dailey, a Marine badass and one of the most compelling voices I've ever had the privilege of interviewing. John joined the Marines at just sevent...

Have you ever worked for a company that tells you to bring your full self to work, celebrates authenticity and psychological safety, and then turns around and crushes you with metrics, perfectionism, and burnout? If you find yourself nodding, this episode is for you. Shaun Tinney , a speaker, performance coach, and the author of Practice Everything , joins me for a deep, honest conversation about...

Welcome back to The Ripple Effect Podcast . Today's conversation is one of those interviews that sticks with you long after it ends. Meet Jen Newbill . Jen brings over 25 years of HR experience across talent acquisition, leadership development, learning and development, and HR operations. She has coached leaders and executives in both startup and large enterprise environments and completed the Awa...

I honestly can't believe we are kicking off Season 11 of The Ripple Effect Podcast . This episode is really just me sitting down with you and talking about where this show has been, where it's going, and why I'm more excited about this season than any season we've done before. What started as an idea has turned into something way bigger than I ever imagined, and that's because of you showing up, l...