Leadership Jam Session

What are some attributes that successful leaders and teams share? Jon Macaskill is a retired Navy SEAL commander who served in the military for almost 24 years. He joins me to discuss four attributes of successful leaders he has witnessed throughout his career.  Today, Jon uses his experience and personal stories to help organizations overcome some of their day-to-day challenges. He is also t...

Can you reduce the amount of time it takes to build trust with your employees? This is a question that regularly comes up in my workshops. And in this new installment of our ‘Ask Rob’ series, that’s precisely what I’m discussing. I share a few techniques I use to reduce the timeline of building trust with my employees. I also examine some of the reasons the journey of building trust can be elusive...

As a manager, you'll often find yourself trying to hire for an open position. While this is a standard process, choosing the right applicant can sometimes get tricky. How do you determine who the person sitting down in front of you truly is? Moreover, how can you find out whether or not they have or lack self-awareness? Today's episode will consist of a discussion during one of my workshops called...

What are the fundamentals of good leadership? Today's guest is Captain Dave Forman, US Navy Submarine Captain and founder of Wolfpack Leadership. Dave provides his clients with practical training and the application of proven leadership methods from US submarines. He has over 20 years of experience at all leadership levels, from line manager to chief executive. Dave leverages his success and exper...

The matrix environment: When you have employees reporting to you and reporting to other managers on a dotted line. Getting everyone on the same page with this type of team alignment can get a little confusing.  Nevertheless, a matrix environment defined by sincerity, humility, and communication can yield impressive results. So, what are the most significant challenges and benefits of managing...

How do great leaders approach team management? Today's guest is Scott Holmes, a good friend who used to work with me at a previous company. Scott is a great leader and has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He is currently the vice president of the commercial business group at a startup biotech company. In this week's episode of the Leadership Jam Session Podcast, Scott joins...

Many of you reach out to me from time to time with a challenging management scenario, where you'd like to get guidance on how to approach that. Today's episode will feature a new format that we rolled out called ‘Ask Rob’. Today's question is from Doug, who is from Colorado: "Hi, Rob. I was recently promoted into a management position about eight months ago,and I often hear you talk about transiti...

Today's episode will focus on a prevalent yet challenging scenario that plagues all of us: How do you deal with an employee who lacks self-awareness?  As leaders, we've all been there, and I'm confident you've seen this scenario time and time again.   However, objectively assessing the situation can get tricky. Sometimes, it may even boil down to a difference in communication styles or p...

Earlier this week we released the first part of our tribute to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, where I shared a bit about my time as an officer in the Fire Department of my hometown, Kenilworth, New Jersey. I talked about some of the leadership lessons I learned during those years and how I led a firefighters company into New York City on 9/11. So, today's episode is the second part of our trib...

As the Leadership Jam Session Podcast is approaching its 50th episode, I want to thank all of my listeners for investing your time to tune in and listen to my podcast.  In this episode I share a little bit about my time as an officer in the Fire Department of my hometown, Kenilworth, New Jersey, and some of the valuable lessons on leadership I got to learn during those years. The fantast...

Today's episode will feature a new format we're launching called 'Ask Rob', where I answer questions I've received from listeners on how to handle challenging scenarios related to managing teams. This episode is based on a question I recently received asking me how to manage two employees who are not getting along but need to work together to achieve a common goal.  To help me tackle this spe...

How do you handle getting directions passed down from your boss that you don't necessarily agree with? And how do you communicate these decisions to your team? There may be cases where these directions are coming from high up in the organization, and there's not much you can do about it. But you need to know that sometimes it's okay to push back, especially if you understand the environment you're...

What does it mean to be an authentic leader? And how can you develop that mindset? Today's guest is Sean Georges, a former Marine Corps officer who graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy and currently serves as a Senior Vice President and General Counsel for a publicly traded company.  Sean's experiences during his years in the Marine Corps provided him with a vast re...

The COVID pandemic drastically changed the way we think about business and community-building. Virtual environments have practically become the new workspace for a significant part of the worldwide workforce. As a leader, building and maintaining your team's trust in such strange times can be challenging to get right. Perhaps your team doesn't get along too well virtually, or the strategies you ha...

Regardless of the industry you come from, trying to lead your teams through a restructuring or a merger acquisition while keeping them focused can be daunting. Problems such as a lack of communication among the team or a shared frustration over a slow transitional process can quickly arise. The difference between success and failure will depend significantly on your team management and leadership...

What happens when you've had multiple coaching discussions with your employee, and you haven't seen any progress made against the expectations that you previously set for them?  Situations like these are never easy, but the best way to deal with them is to have a particular and direct conversation with your employee. In business, we call it the 'Come To Jesus Meeting.' And fortunately, there...

Imagine the following: you have an employee looking to get promoted, but your manager or other decision-makers don't think they are ready. What is the best way to deal with this challenging scenario? Like in most tricky situations in life, the key lies in effective communication. It takes coordinated effort and honest conversation to determine if the employee truly meets the required skills for th...

In this Jam Session, I sit with Abigail Manning who is the Founder of CACL Inc., creator of the Authentic Health curriculum, workshop trainer & international speaker on professional & personal development & wellbeing. Abigail is passionately committed to helping others live their best lives by removing limiting thoughts, overcoming life obstacles and relentlessly moving forward. She co...

In this Jam Session, I sit with successful real estate leader Karlton “Karl” Utter who is Vice President of Career Development at Howard Hannah Real Estate Services. Karl shares his experiences with leading new teams and his approach to leadership development through the lens of real estate sales and management.   Key Takeaways:    I...

In this episode I sit with Rebecca (Becca) Mehrwerth, a biotech executive with 30 years of healthcare industry experience having held leadership positions within small and large companies. Becca brings some unique leadership experience related to being a part of three startup companies. Becca shares her leadership journey and approach to successfully leading teams thr...

In this Jam Session, I sit with Dr. Philip Zimmerman. Dr. Zimmerman is an expert on culture and passionate about developing the next generation of leaders. His leadership journey includes scaling his first business to multi-million dollars before being acquired by a public traded company, CFO of an eight figure consulting firm, and eventually wanting to pay it forward, he retired and became a high...

The path to leadership is certainly not always linear. Career paths can sometimes Zig when you want to Zag. Sometimes, it may mean taking lateral positions or even taking a step back, so long as the purpose is to take 2 steps forward. When it’s happening, it can be hard to see that you’re on a journey, and that the journey is unique to you. In this Jam Session, I sit with leaders Melissa Manner an...

In this Jam Session, I sit with Dr. Philip Agrios. Dr. Agrios is an Executive Performance Consultant specializing in guiding leaders to unleash their hidden potentials. Dr. Agrios shares how you, as a leader, can quickly and simply change your state of mind by revealing an inborn trait that causes subconscious blocks which lead to ineffective outcomes. Once understood, personal and professional po...

In this Jam Session, I sit with Ken Miller, President and CEO at NASCO Healthcare. Ken is a transformational leader with more than 30 years of experience. Ken started his career as a sales representative and worked his way up through various positions of increasing responsibilities with companies such as Upjohn, Roche, and Novo Nordisk, to mention a few. His vast executive experiences landed him l...

In this Jam Session, I sit with Monte Pedersen. Monte is a seasoned executive and leader in the area of strategy, execution, and operations. Monte’s leadership consultancy has a unique value proposition where he specializes in helping senior leaders and organizations achieve their initiatives through the process of strategy execution management. Key Takeaways: As a senior leader, you need to conti...