THIS Leader Podcast

We've all been the referee at some point — spotting the miss, calling the foul, expecting the correction to land just because we named it. If you've ever caught yourself half-composing a performance conversation in your head before it even starts, already a little frustrated, this episode is for you. In this episode, you'll hear about: The referee vs. the GPS. Two completely different ways of resp...

The best leaders know how to contribute the highest value.  But here's the uncomfortable truth: most of us are so busy doing our work — and doing good work — that we rarely stop to ask if we're doing the right work.  In a recent workshop, I asked a room of thirty accomplished professionals a simple question: how are you measured at work? The room went silent. These were talented, driven people, an...

Most leaders want the same thing: for their people to understand the business. But what if the thing that actually changes how people work together isn't understanding the org chart — it's understanding each other? My guest today, Kris Reyes of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, built a ten-month leadership program around exactly that idea, and the results speak for themselves: forty applications a y...

What does it take to build a workplace people don't want to leave? Jason Behrmann, City Manager of the City of Elk Grove, has spent years finding out — and he's refreshingly honest that it's still a work in progress. In this conversation, we get into what he calls a "destination workplace": a place people want to work, and a place with a clear vision. Both halves matter, and you'll hear them show...

Someone at the top makes a decision. A new priority, a new initiative, a new direction. And then it lands on someone else — someone who wasn't in the room when the decision got made, who doesn't have the context or the backstory or the why. And they're supposed to just execute. Fast. So they ask a question. They hesitate. And if you're the leader carrying the directive, that response can start to...

What if the biggest factor in how hard a conversation is isn't the other person at all — but it's the mindset you walked in with? This week I'm talking with Allyson Hauck, a labor attorney who has spent nearly two decades on both sides of the bargaining table. She's negotiated from inside organizations, as the HR Director for the City of Monterey and the Chief HR Officer for Watsonville Community...

What if the reason your hard conversations keep landing badly has less to do with you, and more to do with the format you're having them in? Scott Farmer had the same difficult conversation with two colleagues — same preparation, same general message, same care. One conversation in person, the other via video. He describes the difference like a textbook experiment, and the results were not even cl...

Hard seasons don't ask permission. Budget cuts, a reorg, a client crisis — you don't get to choose whether they come. What you get to choose is how you show up when they do. In this episode, you'll hear about: Why turbulence is the wrong problem to solve. Hard times aren't a sign something's broken — they're just weather. The question isn't how to avoid them, it's what you do once you're in them....

Not all conflict is loud. Some of it is a colleague who quietly stops including you, or a decision you can see going wrong but can't seem to influence. This week is about that harder-to-name conflict — the kind we tend to carry around instead of address. I brought two real situations from listeners to Maryse Postlewaite, a conflict resolution educator with more than forty-five years of experience...

Imagine opening Slack on an ordinary Tuesday and watching your colleagues' names turn gray, one by one. You refresh. You assume it's a glitch. And then your own access drops, your laptop locks, and your badge stops working. No call. No meeting. No warning. That actually happened — and it's stories like this that might be haunting your team members right now. In this episode, I get into what organi...

Alignment doesn't happen because everyone nodded. It happens because people leave the room with a shared understanding of the decision, a genuine commitment to move it forward, and the confidence to communicate it consistently to everyone else. That's where many teams get stuck. We mistake compliance for alignment, assume silence means agreement, and only realize something was missing when the sam...

We're surrounded by great leadership content. Podcasts. Books. Courses. Articles. It's never been easier to consume information. So why do we have to revisit the same struggles and content time and again? In this episode, I explore the difference between consuming information and structured learning and why our tendency toward consumption quietly keeps so many leaders from growing as quickly as th...

Most of us think we're paying attention to the right things in those conversations. We prepare some points, choose our words carefully, and think about timing and delivery. We care about others and want to have healthy relationships. But even with the best intentions, our language can sometimes send messages we never meant to communicate. A confident, and self-assured opinion can quietly convey cl...

No leader wakes up in the morning hoping their team is confused, misaligned, or operating from different assumptions. And yet clarity has a way of slipping through our fingers. In this episode, I move beyond the idea that clarity is important and explore what it actually takes to create it. Because clarity isn't a destination. It's an ongoing leadership practice. It's a rhythm. It's a habit. Clari...

Your team member walks in frustrated, overwhelmed, resistant to the change you just rolled out and your instinct is to reassure her with logic, data, and a compelling vision of the future. But the harder you push, the more it backfires. Why? It's because change sometimes feels threatening and when people feel threatened, overwhelmed, uncertain, or resistant, they're not processing information the...

When was the last time someone on your team asked a question that made everyone really stop and think? For many teams, those moments feel uncomfortable. There are deadlines to hit, problems to solve, and a never-ending list of priorities competing for attention. So the question gets set aside, and everyone gets back to work. The trouble is that innovation rarely emerges from moving faster through...

What happens when a new employee ignores their own good instincts and follows the wrong advice instead? In this episode, I share a personal story about a new employee who found himself caught between what his gut was telling him and the advice of a more senior team member. It's also the story of a manager whose four simple words changed the way he saw himself and his future. In this episode, you'l...

Even strong teams drift over time. Expectations can become assumptions. Purpose gets overshadowed by deadlines. Relationships become more transactional. And before anyone notices, people are working alongside each other rather than together. It's not a sign that anything is wrong with you or your people. It's just what happens. In this episode, I share a simple framework for bringing your team bac...

Much of our leadership stress doesn't come from big crises. It comes from the constant stream of "quick asks," shifting priorities, vague expectations, and the pressure to keep everyone happy without dropping the ball yourself. In this episode, Claire shares a simple framework to help you respond to those requests and to the people above you with confidence, clarity, and a lot less stress. Instead...

Leadership has a way of pulling us into constant motion. Decisions to make. Problems to solve. Expectations to meet. And over time, it becomes surprisingly easy to lead from urgency instead of intention. Without even realizing it, many of us drift away from the values, strengths, and deeper sense of purpose that once grounded us. We become highly productive, highly responsible… and quietly disconn...

You're a capable, committed leader, but why does it sometimes feel like your best thinking disappears exactly when you need it most? In this episode, I sit down with leadership coach Lisa Alessi to explore what's actually happening in your nervous system when pressure hits and what to do about it.   What you'll learn in this episode: Why you cannot think your way out of a triggered state and what...

Telling your team "it's safe to speak up" isn't enough to create the kind of high-performing teamwork that you're looking for. In this episode, Janet Williams, founder of Progressive Discoveries and a 25-year veteran of complex, high-stakes organizations, joins me to unpack what psychological safety in an organization really is.  Here's what we dig into: Why silence is a signal, not a personality...

We all have our "things" that frustrate us to no end— the slow driver in the fast lane, the dish that's always left in the sink by an inconsiderate co-worker, the skyrocketing grocery bill. And without realizing it, we often retell our frustrating stories, amplify our own indignation, and exaggerate the stress that comes with these experiences time and again. In this episode, Claire explores the h...

You're working hard. You're skilled. You're committed. So why do the same frustrations keep showing up — in your team, in your organization, and if you're honest, in yourself? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ryan Gottfredson — Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, professor of leadership at Cal State Fullerton, and global authority on vertical development — to explore the ques...

You invested in someone. You coached them, advocated for them, went to bat for them. And then — they expected more than they'd earned. If that story sounds familiar, this episode is for you. In this episode, you'll hear about: The Three E's Framework — Engagement (the goal), Enablement (your role), and Entitlement (the signal that something needs to shift) — and why knowing the difference changes...