Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

Guest "Brave Leadership" founder Kimberly Davis champions emerging leaders and senior managers navigating today's workplace and partners with HR professionals looking to develop talent. She shares her inspirational message of personal power, responsibility, and impact with organizations nationwide and teaches leadership programs worldwide. Kimberly is a TEDx speaker whose 2018 book, Brave Leadersh...

Guest Michelle Petties is a TEDx speaker, Food Story coach, and author of the award-winning memoir Leaving Large: The Stories of a Food Addict . She reveals how emotional wounds, cultural expectations, and personal history—not hunger—often shape our relationship with food. After battling emotional overeating for decades and gaining and losing over 700 pounds, Michelle discovered that the key to la...

Guest Irene Stern Frielich is the daughter of a German Jewish Holocaust survivor—but for much of her life, the story remained unspoken. In 2017, after rediscovering her father's testimony, Irene set out to physically retrace his escape route from Nazi Germany through his survival in Holland. The result was a journey of reconciliation and healing. Her award-winning memoir, Shattered Stars, Healing...

Guest Byron Edgington is a retired commercial helicopter pilot, writer, a graduate of The Ohio State University, and a dedicated cook using only plants. His other interests include a daily crossword puzzle, meditation, and a four-year association with BizCatalyst 360 and its weekly Friendship Bench. Edgington lives with his wife Mariah in North Florida. His Substack essays, titled "Passing Thought...

Guest None today; just me reflecting on recent events. Summary After participating in New York City's "No Kings" march, I reflect on the urgency of defending democracy, drawing parallels between the current political climate and 1930s Germany. A conversation sparked by a protest sign leads me to contemplate his father's World War II contributions. Later, a chance visit to a bookstore uncovers Reme...

Guest Cindy House is the author  Mother Noise , a memoir in essays and a regular opener for David Sedaris on his tours across the country. She teaches nonfiction in the Lesley University MFA program and memoir writing at the Gotham Writers Workshop. She also offers private writing classes. Summary This podcast episode explores the art of memoir writing with Cindy House, my memoir writing coach. My...

Guest Bill Whiteside is a sales and marketing executive turned software salesman turned lay historian turned writer of narrative non-fiction, specifically a forthcoming book about an incident in Winston Churchill's tenure as Britain's Prime Minister during World War II. Summary In this episode of "Getting Unstuck—Cultivating Curiosity," I talk with Bill about the process of writing the book on Chu...

Guest Valerie Gordon is a 10-time Emmy-winning television producer with over 20 years of producing and overseeing award-winning content for HBO, ESPN, CBS, and the Olympic Games. She knows what makes a story meaningful and memorable and the incredible power of stories to engage, educate and entertain. An engaging speaker with innovative programming, Valerie offers audiences and individuals the sto...

Guest Paul Glover is the No B.S. Executive Leadership Coach, assisting leaders in organizations with revenue up to one billion dollars.  He's a Tedx speaker, an approved Vistage and YPO Speaker on leadership in the Post-Pandemic work environment, the author of WorkQuake ™: Making the Seismic Shift to a Knowledge Economy, a Forbes contributor, a "recovering" federal trial lawyer, an ex-felon, a Sta...

Guest Tony K Silver is a multi-award-winning LinkedIn expert, who has been helping people on the platform since 2008. He works with individuals and teams. He also presents on LinkedIn at conferences, expos, and company events, live and Online. Because LinkedIn is the preferred platform of professionals, he can work across many different industries, which include professional services, financial, c...

Guest Colleen Kelley Creating fun and accessible chemistry stories has been a labor of love for Colleen, as a retired chemistry professor and author of a series of kid's chemistry comic books . In 2023, the PBS short documentary, "Comic Book Chemistry," was awarded an Emmy. Colleen holds a Ph. D. in chemistry from Penn State University and was a tenured professor with research expertise in environ...

Guest In a career that spanned a quarter-century, Ted Czech covered crime for newspapers in three states. Disenchanted with how journalism was taught and practiced, Czech launched a second career in public relations in 2021 and began work on Saving the Beast: A Recovering Reporter Reflects on America's Broken Media and How to Fix It. Why This Episode Matters This episode explores the state of Amer...

Guest Jon Waterman 's immersive explorations of wilderness and environmental issues are distilled within his 17 books, in a mission to inspire readers to protect the planet's natural wonders.   His book  Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis   is drawn from some of his life's most profound journeys.  By taking risks and tackling difficult issues, his work transcends tradi...

Guest Matt Ence is a teacher at Bountiful High School in Bountiful, UT. Matt retired from the military in 2017, when he began his teaching career. He teaches a course on the Holocaust, as well as courses in AP World History and US History. Matt became a Museum Teacher Fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2023. Summary Matt discusses teaching a dedicated Holocaust course. He covers the c...

Guest Jennifer Raff is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas.  She works with Indigenous communities and tribes across North America who wish to use DNA as a tool for investigating questions of recent and more distant histories. Her first book, "Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas," is a New York Times bestseller and has won multiple awards, including the Phi Bet...

Guest Reuben Swartz is the founder of Mimiran , the fun, anti-CRM for independent consultants. He founded Mimiran out of his experience as a sales and marketing consultant for the Fortune 500 who struggled with his own business development efforts. He's also the host and chief nerd on the Sales for Nerds podcast . Summary – Why this discussion matters This episode explores how solopreneurs can eff...

Guests Jane Kelly founded Eat Your Books in 2009 with her sister Fiona Nugent because she wanted to easily find recipes in her extensive cookbook collection, and reasoned there are other cooks with the same need. She has spent the past 15 years building the site into a search engine for 2.6 million recipes found in cookbooks, food magazines, and online. Previously, she held senior roles in televis...

Guest Deborah Sosin, MSW, is a writer, editor, psychotherapist, and an instructor at GrubStreet, the Center for Creative Writing. Her essays have appeared in the  New York Times, Boston Globe, Salon, Cognoscenti, Brevity Blog,  and several literary magazines. She wrote the award-winning picture book  Charlotte and the Quiet Place;  and a workbook,  Sober Starting Today . Debbie just completed  Thi...

Guest Sarah Elkins is your guide to uncovering the right personal stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and effectively demonstrate their character, values, and vision. She is a storyteller, communication coach, author, and professional musician. As a Gallup-certified StrengthsFinder coach, Sarah uses that tool and story-sharing strate...

Guest Julie A. Vitale, Ph. D. is the Superintendent of the Oceanside Unified School District. Her educational journey includes a Ph. D. in Urban Educational Administration from Claremont Graduate University, a Master of Arts in Educational Administration, and a Masters and Bachelor of Arts from the University of LaVerne. Dr. Vitale has been a faculty member at Concordia University since 2007, cont...

Peter Byck is an award-winning documentary film director helping to lead a $10 million research project comparing Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing with conventional grazing. He is the director of the docuseries  Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there) ,  which is all about inventive farmers and maverick scientists building a path to solving climate change with hooves, hearts, and soil.  Byc...

Guest Paul Banks is an ADHD father and husband who broke out of corporate life and spent 5 years in complex SaaS sales, understanding how to create meaningful connections through the power of video content.  The former retail manager and volunteer police officer now spends his days combining technology, AI, and expertise to help his clients attract and convert premium clients.  His 'Why' is to hel...

Allan M. Winkler is the University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Miami University of Ohio. He has also taught at Yale University and the University of Oregon and, for one year each, at the University of Helsinki in Finland, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In addition to his own books, he co-authored a college textbook and a high school...

Guest Ben Goldfarb is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and many other publications. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet , named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times, and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter , winner of the PEN/E....

Guest Ben Goldfarb is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and many other publications. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet , named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times, and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter , winner of the PEN/E....