Humanergy Leadership Podcast

Seven books. One summer. A few of them might change how you think about leadership. David Wheatley, co-founder of Humanergy and host of the Humanergy Leadership Podcast, wraps up the season with his annual summer reading list for leaders. This year's picks span decentralized leadership, AI, gender dynamics in the workplace, coaching philosophy, team performance, and how people build a life wo...

AI tools create a specific kind of trust problem on teams, and most leaders aren't sure what to name it or where it's coming from. In this Practical Field Notes episode, Mimi and David react to a Harvard Business Review piece by Jayshree Seth and Amy Edmondson on psychological safety and AI integration. They connect the article's ideas to what leaders are actually navigating in thei...

Managers know when a performance conversation is overdue. What stops them is not knowing what to say, or worrying the conversation will go sideways. In this free workshop, Humanergy coach Jim Marshall shares two practical tools: the WXYZ framework for giving specific, grounded feedback without triggering defensiveness, and Feed Need Seed Weed, a four-part structure for organizing accountability co...

Three high-performing individual contributors got promoted to lead roles. All three are now miserable. The manager who promoted them is asking what to do. In this episode, Humanergy coaches John Barrett and Quay Eady work through exactly that scenario — why it happens, what the manager can do now, and what organizations consistently get wrong about developing people before they're promoted. T...

When leaders ask "why," they often get defensiveness instead of dialogue, even when that's not what they intended. In this episode, David Wheatley explores why the word "why" tends to put people on the front foot and shares a simple language shift that changes the whole tone: replacing "why" with "what's causing that?" It's a small swap, but i...

Most organizations prepare for system changes with FAQs and talking points. When Honor Credit Union switched its core banking platform overnight, 110,000 members woke up to something unfamiliar, and some of them were not happy about it. Jen Wagner and her social media team responded to nearly a thousand comments over two weeks. Not with scripted replies or copy-paste answers. With real people, tal...

Delegation is one of the most talked-about leadership skills, and one of the most poorly executed. In this free workshop session, Humanergy coach Lance Satterthwaite gets into the real reasons leaders avoid delegating or do it badly, and offers concrete ways to change that. He covers four common barriers, it takes time, you love the work, you don't trust it'll get done right, and fear of...

C-suite leaders often know their teams should be thinking strategically, and yet under pressure, those same teams keep dropping back to the tactical level. In this episode, David Wheatley, Dr. Rick Eigenbrod, and Dr. Judy Brown unpack why that keeps happening and what to do about it. The conversation starts with a reframe: the question "how do I get them to be strategic?" is itself the p...

In this episode of The Coaching Table on the Humanergy Leadership Podcast, coaches David Wheatley and Lance Satterthwaite work through a real scenario from a leader caught between a reactive C-suite and a frustrated team. Our scenarios are either submitted directly or found in the wild on public forums. The coaches explore what conversations this leader may need to have, how to calibrate expectati...

Lisa Davis spent four decades as a technology executive, often the only woman in the room. In this conversation with David Wheatley, she shares three of the nine core leadership principles from her new book, The Only Woman in the Room : grit (reframed as conviction), power (as advocacy and influence, not control), and strength (the emotional resilience executive leadership demands). They also disc...

Most organizational bottlenecks aren't caused by bad people or unclear strategy. They're caused by systems that require everything to stop before anything can move forward. In this episode, David Wheatley draws on the surprisingly rich comparison between four-way stops and roundabouts to examine how leaders can shift from permission-based cultures to flow-based ones. He introduces a yiel...

AI doesn't make leaders more thoughtful. It amplifies the choices they're already making. In this workshop recording, Mimi from Humanergy walks through the Four Choices framework (destructive, passive, productive, transformative) and applies it directly to how leaders are using AI right now. She covers what passive AI use actually looks like in everyday work, how to tell the difference b...

What would you do in your first 100 days as CEO, if morale is low, trust is thin, and the team didn’t choose you? In this first episode of The Coaching Table, brought to you by the Humanergy Leadership Podcast (HLP), Humanergy coaches Jim Marshall and Corey Fernandez respond in real time to a high-stakes leadership scenario: A first-time CEO steps into a disorganized organization following leaders...

Most teams believe they’re aligned. But alignment rarely breaks overnight. It drifts. Priorities shift. Roles become unclear. Communication breaks down. Before long, teams are working hard but not necessarily moving in the same direction. In this episode, Humanergy coach Quay Eady shares practical strategies leaders can use to spot alignment drift early and bring their teams back onto the same pag...

Throughout the session, AI is framed as a thinking partner and perspective-expander, not a decision maker. Human judgment, values, and responsibility remain central. AI is changing fast. Humans aren’t. In this episode, we explore how leaders can integrate AI thoughtfully by treating it as part of a personal board of directors rather than another tool to chase. We look at life stages, inner circles...

AI can process data and optimize outcomes, but it can’t provide purpose, empathy, or moral judgment. In this episode, Humanergy coach David Wheatley explores why the rise of AI elevates the role of human leadership. The conversation focuses on meaning, emotion, ethics, and the practical steps leaders can take to stay firmly in the loop as algorithms play a bigger role at work. This episode is a re...

What if your team’s “people problems” are actually design problems? In this episode, David Wheatley is joined by Dr. Judy Brown and Dr. Rick Eigenbrod to explore a leadership question that doesn’t get asked enough, how much of team performance comes down to structure, not personalities . You’ll hear why collaboration may be more natural than we think, how organizations accidentally get in the way...

Leadership isn’t about titles or authority. It’s about the choices you make every day and how those choices influence the people around you. In this episode, David Wheatley shares a simple but powerful framework built on two continuums, care and commitment, that reveal four distinct leadership choices. From destructive to transformative, these choices show up everywhere, even on the sidelines of a...

Feedback shapes performance, trust, and culture, yet many leaders struggle to give it in ways that truly help people grow. In this workshop excerpt, Humanergy Coach Corey Fernandez breaks down what effective feedback looks like, why it matters, and how to make it a regular, low-stress part of your leadership rhythm. You’ll learn:  • Why feedback often creates surprise or defensiveness  • How to sh...

In this short episode, David Wheatley revisits the classic “quarterback to coach” transition. Many leaders are promoted for being great doers, then struggle to step back and let others take the field. David shares a memorable story from manufacturing, practical cues for staying out of the weeds, and a simple mantra for every new leader: stay off the field and build capacity. A great listen for any...

Tired of polarized talk at work? Megan Fuciarelli maps a clear path forward. She and David unpack the Metamorphustice continuum, practical ways to move beyond allyship, and how leaders use curiosity, empathy, and direct communication to build trust and performance. We hit reflective prompts, real-world examples, and the business case for values-aligned DEI that boosts morale, retention, and result...

In this short episode, Humanergy’s David Wheatley shares a powerful story about an engineering leader who learned to shift from solving problems himself to building a team that could solve them. Discover how one simple visual tool helped transform his leadership, empower his team’s critical thinking, and free him to focus on what truly matters—leading. Learn more leadership tools and insights at h...

In this episode, we explore one of the most powerful yet underused leadership tools— coaching . Humanergy coach, Nikki Patterson, shows how to shift from solving every problem yourself to helping others grow their own capability and confidence. You’ll discover: What coaching really means (and how it differs from mentoring or advising) When to use coaching versus directing or teaching A simple GROW...

David Wheatley talks with Stephanie Chung about her new book "Ally Leadership: How to lead people who are not like you" . Among the tips are: Ask - Establish an environment Listen - Assure alignment  Learn - Rally the troops You take action - Navigate the narrows Learn more about Humanergy's work: https://www.humanergy.com Join the Humanergy community on LinkedIn . Sign up for our F...

In the final episode of Humanergy’s TrueSuccess Blueprint anniversary series, host Mimi Mitrius talks with co-founders John Barrett and David Wheatley about what it really takes to sustain success over decades. They unpack two of Humanergy’s eight TrueSuccess goals— living mindful, purposeful, and balanced lives and maintaining a lean, scalable performance infrastructure —and share how these princ...