Grow Strong Leaders Podcast

Want to discover practical tips for having more joy and less stress in your life? Listen to my interview with leadership and executive coach Sharissa Sebastian. Sharissa has more than 15 years of corporate leadership experience, and now she coaches Fortune 100 executives at companies like LinkedIn, Microsoft, Bank of America, and Intuit. Find out her secrets to helping leaders draw on their streng...

Looking for tips that can help you expand your business? My guest James Butler shares a boatload of ideas you can start using immediately. James is a serial entrepreneur who has built four companies from the start-up phase to over a million dollars in revenue. He now consults with companies to help them put the right systems in place to grow their revenues and profitability. He’s also the author o...

Have you considered putting on a live or online event? My guest Sherrie Sokolowski provides sound guidance for planning and conducting this gathering to ensure a successful outcome. Sherrie is the owner of SLS Strategic Event Planning and Consulting. She’s an expert with 15 years of experience, spending 7 years as the event planner at Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle (GKIC) following by 8 years in...

Have you ever felt like you were forcing yourself to fulfill the life others expected you to live? Be prepared to take a fresh look at your life in this wonderful interview with my guest Lisa Berkovitz. She shares how to connect with your true nature, expand your view of your capabilities, and show up as your best self in the world.  Lisa is the Founder of Let Soul Lead, where she provides leaders...

Has your business struggled in the past months due to COVID19? My guest Thomas Beck offers concrete suggestions that can help you turn things around. He describes the reactions that can create more problems for business owners and shares strategies that lead to greater success. Thomas is a Serial Entrepreneur and Founding Partner at Varial Agency, a firm that provides fractional marketing and sale...

Everyone has been impacted by COVID-19, and it’s been a source of great financial, emotional and physical stress for many. My guest Dr. Kozhi Makai shares important insights on how to successfully navigate these unprecedented circumstances. We discuss ideas from his latest book, Disrupted! Resiliently Reintegrating After Stress & Adversity that are relevant to the challenges facing the world –...

What does it mean to be a Healing Organization? That’s the focus of my interview with Michael Gelb, who co-authored a book of the same name with Raj Sisodia. Together they interviewed 25 companies that are focused on delivering value for their STAKEHOLDERS, not just their shareholders. In our rich conversation, Michael explains why he and Raj felt compelled to write this book…and how the approach...

Do you know how to create strong relationships with people from different cultures? My guest Maya Hu-Chan is an expert on this topic, and she describes it in terms of “saving face.” You’ll learn that this term goes much deeper than helping someone avoid embarrassment and what it looks like in action. Maya is an internationally recognized speaker, author and Master Certified Executive Coach, specia...

Would you like to become the key person of influence with your ideal clients? My guest Frank Mulcahy has achieved this goal, and in this interview he gives you the exact steps for achieving this status yourself. Frank is a best-selling author, international speaker and coach. His entrepreneurial journey has included high’s and low’s; he lost more than $5 million in one venture, then came back to b...

Are your sales skills at the level they need to be? My guest Steve Heroux speaks openly about what’s wrong with much of the sales training offered today and what he’s doing to address it. Steve is Founder and CEO of Victory Selling, and he uses a unique tool called the Sales DNA Test to help anyone in a sales role, including business owners, to identify the real factors that are holding them back....

How do the principles in music apply to work teams? My guest Dr. Pelè explains this clear connection in our conversation and in his new book, The 7 Songs of a Successful Team. Dr. Pelè blends his passion for music with his purpose to help leaders and teams achieve the success they seek, and you’ll feel his enthusiasm for both topics in this interview! You’ll also find out how you can listen to the...

In this special episode, we have a “mic swap.” Former guest Angela Cusack interviews Meredith Bell about her new book, Strong for Performance: Create a Coaching Culture with Learning & Development Programs That Stick . Meredith kicks off by revealing the famous Star Wars actor she was friends with in high school! We then turned our discussion to more serious topics, like what’s required to cha...

Have you ever heard these words paired together – culture + humility? If not, you’ll learn why they belong together—and how you can use them to deepen your understanding of yourself and others—from my guest Angela Cusack. Angela is the Founder of Igniting Success, working her coaching magic with C-suite executives to have a transformational impact on the entire organization. For the past 15 years,...

Why is it critical for a leader to have a clear vision in order to create a culture that’s thriving? My guest Dr. Oleg Konovalov has written an entire book about this in Leaderology ! In this interview, he explains why effective leadership requires executives to understand their role in shaping a culture where people thrive. Oleg is a thought leader, author, business educator and consultant with o...

Have you or someone you know had to deal with a serious health issue? My guest Pamela Cournoyer faced Stage 4 Lymphoma in 2012, and she is thriving today. In this interview she describes her journey from diagnosis to recovery and talks about how she uses this experience and insight in her work with clients today. Pamela is an internationally recognized conflict management maven, and her specialtie...

What does it mean to create hope in yourself and others? My guest Libby Gill wrote an entire book about this fascinating topic. In this excellent interview, Libby brings to life the concepts in her book, The Hope-Driven Leader: Harness the Power of Positivity at Work, with examples of leaders who are the shapers of hope-driven cultures. Libby is an executive coach, leadership expert and award-winn...

Are you looking for a simple yet effective way to double or triple your revenue? My guest Adam Urbanski is known as the Millionaire Marketing Mentor for a reason. Over the past 20 years, he’s helped thousands of coaches, consultants and other service professionals achieve ambitious revenue goals in as little as 90 days. I’ve known Adam since 2006, and he’s the real deal. He knows how to help you m...

If you’re a business owner who wants to expand your business dramatically, this episode is for you. My guest Brad Sugars is the founder and Chairman of ActionCoach, the #1 global business coaching franchise that he’s grown to 1,000 coaches in more than 80 countries. He’s also the author of 17 books, including the one we discussed in this episode: Pulling Profits Out of a Hat: Adding Zeros to Your...

What if there were a simpler, easier way to acquire new clients? My guest Adam Kawalec is a Life and Leadership Coach whose approach results in 83% of his potential clients saying YES. These days, he invests no money in marketing his services. Instead, he asks for and receives referrals on a continuous basis due to the transformation his clients experience in their work with him. Adam is based in...

Have you ever started working on a project with someone you have a history with...and allowed your previous interactions with the person to influence the attitude you bring to the current situation? My guest Katie Bishop has. She recently co-authored a book, "The Best Seller", with her father. In this interview we explore why this project took five years and how her view of her dad chang...

Do you find it hard to make time for marketing and sales because you're too busy delivering your services? My guest Dr. Kevin Gazzara has found effective ways to keep his firm's pipeline full. Kevin is co-founder and Senior Partner at Magna Leadership Solutions based in Pheonix, AZ. Since founding his company 12 years ago, Kevin has consistently done five things to grow his business. Tak...

Have you wondered why so many experts stress the importance of having high emotional intelligence (EQ)? My guest Amy Sargent makes the case in a very compelling way. I loved that her own EQ skills are highly evolved, and she provides concrete examples to illustrate how you can use EQ in everyday situations. As Executive Director at the Institute for Social + Emotional Intelligence, Amy helps lead...

Want to find out how to network so effectively that you regularly get introductions to your ideal clients? Come prepared to take notes as you listen to my interview with Steven Crawford, as he reveals many of the brilliant strategies he uses to land more clients. Steven is the Director of Sales and a senior consultant with McGee Productivity Solutions based in Denver, Colorado. He manages a team o...

Want to find out the two big mistakes that leaders and salespeople make in the area of communication? You'll learn the answer in my interview with guest, Todd Holzman, CEO of Holzman & Company. Over the past 25 years, Todd has worked with 25,000 leaders and salespeople to help them improve the quality of their conversations. He's discovered that, across all industries, countries, and...

Whenever Meredith Bell and Dr. Mark Goulston have a conversation, rich observations and insights inevitably emerge. In this episode, they explore topics that are relevant no matter what role(s) you have in life. They talk about Mark’s latest projects and then delve into topics like kindness, generosity, and what it means to enjoy a fellow human being. That’s followed by a discussion of the impact...