Step Wise

Fifteen years ago, Foster Mobley tried to trademark the title of his first book, Leadershit. The trademark office said no. Too profane. Within a few years, bookshelves were full of F-bombs, and Leadershit: Rethinking the True Path to Great Leading suddenly looked downright polite. For the book's 15th birthday, Foster didn't throw a party. He convened a panel: an Olympic gold medalist, a...

Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky is an author, keynote speaker, and leadership expert who's spent over a decade helping leaders do the one thing most get backward: creating a culture where people actually want to speak up. After serving as chief of staff to Simon Sinek, he authored Speak Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up —a practical guide to a blind spot that affects n...

David Betts carries a contradiction most leaders never reconcile: he's living with a degenerative disease that attacks speech and movement, and he spends his days building technology so people with that same disease can tell stories. His career path makes unexpected sense once you know it. He studied theater. Taught at Carnegie Mellon. Then shifted into consulting, where he learned something...

David Betts spent 22 years building teams at Deloitte, scaling their public health practice from one state to 20 during a pandemic, and getting very, very good at solving other people's problems. He's the kind of leader who walks into chaos and thinks: what's actually needed here? Then he figures out how to build it. Last year, he got a diagnosis of ALS. The progressive neurological...

Wisdom isn't the opposite of speed. It's what comes after. Everyone's panicking about AI. Either you're adopting it or you're getting left behind. Speed or irrelevance. That's the choice, right? Wrong. Foster sits down with Jana Devan to talk about what's actually happening beneath all the noise. Leaders across every industry are asking the same question: If mach...

A 38-year-old conductor asks a single question that changes everything: "What would it sound like if we didn't shy away from that high note?" Norman Huynh, Music Director of the Bozeman Symphony, doesn't lead like most people. He asks more than he tells. He builds competence and confidence at the same time. And at an age when most leaders are just finding their footing, he&apos...

Marycay Durrant doesn't believe in the traditional leadership playbook. She's a vibrancy architect who works with some of the world's most successful companies—Pepsi, Deloitte, PayPal, Children's Hospital Los Angeles—to help leaders discover something they've been missing the whole time: their own presence. Her philosophy is simple. Live from love, live from joy. But getti...

A kid with asthma and allergies growing up in Saint Louis is not the profile you'd guess for someone who ends up standing on the summit of Everest six times. Luis Benitez did exactly that, and along the way became the guide who led Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind climber, to the top of the world. Luis has spent his career at the intersection of extreme adventure and public policy. He went o...

Half of all CEOs say they feel lonely in their role. Sixty-one percent say it actively hurts their performance. So why don't more leaders talk about it? In this episode, Foster sits down across the table for an unusually candid conversation about his own experience with loneliness, the moment that started separating his ego from his identity, and what it actually took to build relationships h...

Benjamin Smith was a high school quarterback who could hit every throw in practice and none of them under pressure. That gap between what he could do alone and what he could do with everyone watching became the question that's driven his entire career: where does steady confidence actually come from, and why does it disappear the moment it matters most? Benjamin is a performance and wellness...

"It's not going to happen to my niece." That sentence, Sarabeth Rees says, is the most dangerous one we tell ourselves. It feels true, it feels protective, and it is almost always wrong. Sarabeth is the Executive Director of Everstrong (formerly Stolen Youth), a Seattle nonprofit working to prevent the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children through education, empowerment, a...

Margaret Aitken spent a decade as press secretary to Senator Joe Biden, and what she watched up close wasn't political strategy. It was the quiet, specific way one person could make a room full of strangers feel genuinely heard. She took that education and built a career helping leaders do the same thing, mostly for companies navigating the kind of uncertainty where people stop talking and st...

Seven NCAA championships. An Olympic silver medal. A breast cancer diagnosis. A torn Achilles. Between them, Valorie Kondos Field and Sam Peszek have racked up more defining moments than most people face in a lifetime. What they've learned from all of it isn't what you'd expect. In this conversation, Foster Mobley sits down with legendary UCLA gymnastics coach Miss Val and Olympic m...

Something is different about Season 3. Step Wise has always been about the kind of wisdom that doesn't make the highlight reel. The decisions made at 2am. The moment a coach says the thing nobody else will say. The quiet conversation that changes everything. This season, we're going wider and deeper. The guests coming to Season 3 aren't all from the same boardroom. A coach who built...

In this reflective season finale of Step Wise , the mic turns toward our host, Dr. Foster Mobley. Interviewed by Jana Devan, Foster explores what it means to lead with empathy, presence, and wisdom in a world defined by speed and complexity. Together, they unpack the non-negotiables of modern leadership and the best leadership advice, self-awareness, emotional grounding, and authentic connection,...

What does it take to lead with wisdom in a world that never stops changing? In this episode of Step Wise, Dr. Foster Mobley sits down with Dr. Matt Brubaker, Chairman and CEO of FMG Leading, a premier human-capital firm transforming the healthcare industry through leadership. Together, they explore how modern leaders can stay grounded in their humanity while driving performance in complex, investo...

Conflict isn’t something to avoid—it’s something to understand. In this episode of Step Wise , Dr. Foster Mobley sits down with Mark Eckhardt , co-founder and CEO of Common and founder of 1 Million Truths, to explore what it means to lead in a time when every system around us is changing. Mark shares how neuroscience and conflict science reveal the hidden pressures leaders face today, why self-awa...

Jim Fielding has spent more than three decades leading some of the world’s most iconic brands—Disney, DreamWorks, and 20th Century Fox. Today, he’s an author, speaker, coach, and host of the Jim Fielding & Friends podcast. In this conversation with Dr. Foster Mobley, Jim reflects on his journey from corporate executive to solopreneur, sharing the wisdom he’s gained along the way. Together, the...

In this Step Wise conversation, Dr. Foster Mobley sits down with Roberta Tinch , President at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital and healthcare leader in the Inova Health System. Roberta shares how presence, reflection, and intentional pacing shape her leadership—and why balancing relational connection with rigorous accountability is critical in today’s environment. Listeners will hear Roberta’s perspect...

Can love be a leadership strategy? Dr. Julie Kennedy Oehlert thinks so, and she’s got the experience to prove it. In this soul-stirring episode of Step Wise , Julie joins Dr. Foster Mobley to explore what it really takes to lead with courage, empathy, and purpose in a system as complex and high-stakes as healthcare. Drawing on her background as an ER nurse, healthcare executive, brand officer, and...

Andy Levine didn’t set out to build one of the world’s top-rated adventure travel companies, he just wanted to ride his bike through France. But that passion sparked DuVine Cycling + Adventure Co., now a global leader in luxury cycling tours. In this episode, Dr. Foster Mobley talks with Andy about the leadership values that shaped his company: authenticity, attention to detail, and a relentless c...

In this episode of Step Wise , Dr. Foster Mobley sits down with Will Price—venture capitalist, leadership podcaster, and founder of Next Frontier Capital—for a deeply insightful conversation about what it means to lead in a time of complexity and contradiction. Will shares hard-earned wisdom from a career spent investing in and guiding mission-driven founders across the Mountain West. They explore...

What does it take to lead a high-performance team in a hybrid world where trust is fragile and expectations are sky-high? In this compelling conversation, Dr. Foster Mobley sits down with Sarah Broughton , award-winning architect and partner at Rowland+Broughton, to unpack how leadership is evolving—and what still remains essential. Known for her clear-eyed presence, candid perspective, and relent...

What does it take to lead in a world of constant change, mistrust in institutions, and rapidly shifting teams? Retired U.S. Army General James "Spider" Marks returns to Step Wise for Part 2 of his candid and hard-earned leadership wisdom. In this episode, Spider and host Dr. Foster Mobley dive into the challenges today’s leaders face—building trust with Gen Z, adapting to dynamic team en...

What does it really take to lead in today’s uncertain, high-stakes world? According to General James “Spider” Marks—a West Point grad, decorated U.S. Army intelligence leader, and former CNN national security analyst—it’s not titles or talk that define a leader. It’s behavior. In this powerful two-part conversation, Spider joins Dr. Foster Mobley on Step Wise to share hard-earned leadership truths...