Leadership Kung Fu

Plan for the future, episode 70 of Leadership Kung Fu is here! Today Jen and Sandi welcome Doug Stephens to the show to talk about his latest book The Future of Competitive Advantage: A Business Plan to Save Your Customers, Your Company, and Democracy and how to navigate a leadership role in an uncertain business world. Join them in their dive into the texts and discuss: Doug's accolades as an aut...

Welcome to episode 69 of Leadership Kung Fu! When times feel uncertain and people are dealing with so much both in and outside of the workplace, where does that put leadership? Jen and Sandi say "Do better!" Join them on this episode as they tackle: The role of the passing of time Why it's a non-HR issue What influences decision-making and the impact it can have Value vs. price increase The corpor...

Let's create space, it's episode 68 of Leadership Kung Fu! How do you like our new art and look? Many workplaces feel like disagreeing is stopping progress, when in reality, it can be the beginning of it! Jen and Sandi sit down in episode 68 to encourage you to make room for dissent by discussing: Why creating space is currently not happening in workforces The role of Psychological Safety in creat...

Welcome to episode 67 of Leadership Kung Fu! If you've ever come up empty-handed when searching for answers from a leader, or your team is divided on what they thought the project completion standard was, you might have experienced Expectation Drift! Sandi and Jen jump in to tackle this topic to help teams and leaders identify and get ahead of a potential problem. Listen along as they discuss: Wha...

It's critical that you know that Episode 66 of Leadership Kung Fu is here! Welcome to February's topic of what outsourcing thinking actually does to your team and how your practices can keep the problem-solving muscles healthy. Sandi and Jen dive right into: How the cost of time with critical thinking is a lie Low accountability and leaderned helplessness The role of psychological safety System 1...

Starting off 2026 strong, it's episode 65 of Leadership Kung Fu! Join Sandi and Jen in this new year as they revisit the topic of strategy in the workplace and how to get it unstuck from your meeting slide deck and out in action in your workforce. Listen along as they discuss: Strategy to action How strategies from Q4 are looking in Q1 Personal anecdotes The importance of your "No" list Facing the...

Start making plans, episode 64 of Leadership Kung Fu is here! Jen and Sandi are thinking about the future on today's episode and discussing workplace succession plans! What happens when your CEO has a medical event? Can someone easily take over if your manager has a family emergency? Who steps in when retirements are announced? Join Sandi and Jen as they cover how you and your team can think ahead...

Our actions have aligned to bring you Episode 63 of Leadership Kung Fu! Join Sandi and Jen as they excitedly tackle the topic of aligned action and how your teams' strategies can hinge upon it. Dive in with them as they cover: What gets in the way of aligned action Fragmented ownership Working in silos vs. moving forward collectively Decisions vs. feedback Where incentives knock you out of alignme...

New to the group, it's episode 62 of Leadership Kung Fu! Sandi and Jen are enthusiastic about today's topic of new leaders and how you and your organization can set them up for success and if you're a new leader, how to tackle that transition with flying colors. Listen in as they discuss: common new leader hurdles and transition difficulties how values shift in a new role the art of letting go wha...

Welcome to episode 61 of Leadership Kung Fu! Jen and Sandi are talking the talk and walking the walk to bring you today's topic: why leadership teams can stall! Settle in as they chat about: Words are nice, but action is important Stalling due to fear of conflict Feeling safe in the workplace How multiple priorities can actually be a hindrance Corporate whiplash and fatigue Alignment vs. accountab...

Ready for some self reflection? Here's episode 60 of Leadership Kung Fu! Sandi and Jen are asking us to take some time and join them a moment as they chat about the importance of a mid-year check in, not just with our teams, but with ourselves too! Listen along as they highlight: The importance of sense-making Measuring your efficacy, not your results How often are  you getting feedback? Your lead...

It's a group effort over here on Leadership Kung Fu, so we're glad you're here for episode 59! Join Jen and Sandi as they dissect the topic of Concious Un-Bossing, and listen along as they cover: Jen's NEW book Workers are the Solution, Not the Problem: A Guidebook to Leading Differently how Gen Z is bringing changes to the workplace conscious uncoupling what it means to start to change a workplac...

Travel back in time with Jen and Sandi as they chat about a topic that's not necessarily new, but is certainly still a topic of discussion: working remotely and hybrid workforces! Whether you're taking a break in the breakroom or moving laundry in between meetings, listen along as Jen and Sandi discuss: The importance of asking questions and the weight of listening a brief conversation about how e...

Don't be afraid, it's a new episode of Leadership Kung Fu! This episode is all about fearful leadership and what that can cost your place of business. Jen and Sandi waste no time diving into what can truly be at stake when leadership takes a reactive instead of a strategic approach. Listen along as they delve into: what can trigger reactive leadership how you show up and how that can impact your t...

How to deal with conflict can be, well, confliciting! In this episode, Jen and Sandi tackle the topic of conflict and how knowing yourself can aid you in knowing how to conquer conflict! Listen along as they cover: why conflict can be good for leaders the different types of conflict how to identify what your own conflict behavior is what harm withdrawing from conflict can do  the role of EQ (emoti...

Welcome to Episode 55 of Leadership Kung Fu! Jen and Sandi are back after a shiny new rebrand and  a first episode of 2025! To start out this year, listen along as they tackle topics such as:  what has changed within things you subscribe to and how the workplace is different than what it was 10/15+ years ago how "no" is not a bad word in the workplace vulnerability is a good, healthy thing not all...

Happy holidays from Organizational Transformational Kung Fu: The Podcast! Jen and Sandi are looking to the future this week and talk about goals and how to set them, keep them, and meet them! Follow along as they chat about: their year in review what reflection can do for you and writing vs. typing/digital record keeping hard vs. soft transformations the role of practice and support in discipline...

In this week's episode of OT Kung Fu, Jen and Sandi revisit the types of listening they talked about with author Sean Grace and ponder how the listening types affect us in the workplace. Join them as they cover: how virtual calls have affected listening the importance of body language what curiosity really does for you conversational blindspots levels of learning Neha Sangwan's book  TalkRx: Five...

Welcome back to OT Kung Fu: The Podcast! Sandi and Jen are joined this week by the incredible author Sean Grace! From Sean's website:  "Sean Grace is a communication consultant, author, coach, and speaker, with over 25 years of experience developing and training sales, marketing, and leadership talent across diverse industries. His unique brand of business consulting is forged from his long career...

Welcome to Episode 51 of OT Kung Fu: The Podcast! Joining Jen and Sandi this week is Curtis Bateman, co-author of  Change: How to Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity and vice president of direct international offices for FranklinCovey. From the FranklinCovey site:                  "With over twenty-five years of experience in the training industry, Curtis is an internationally recognized presenter,...

It's OT Kung Fu's 50th episode! We have another book review episode, this week featuring Hidden Potential by Adam Grant! Join Jen and Sandi while they cover topics like: -Performance Reviews and how they have changed from potential to goal-oriented -How imperfect leaders are more beneficial than "perfect" leaders -How meeting folks where there are at instead of where you want them to be cultivates...

You made it to the end of July, and we have a new episode of OT Kung Fu for you to celebrate and gear up before a new month begins tomorrow! Jen and Sandi are joined on this episode by Dr. Todd Conklin, author of  Pre-Accident Investigations: An Introduction to Organizational Safety  as well as host of his organizational safety podcast of the same name. From his website:      " Todd Conklin spent...

Happy Summer! Beat the heat with Sandi and Jen and listen along as they tackle the topic of influence (as a person, not for social media)! Today they cover: How reciprocity is different within the workplace How you show up as a leader to your peers vs. to your boss The traits of a successful workplace influencer Their love and use of the EverythingDiSC® by Wiley within training they have done Nego...

We have a real treat for listeners today! Jen and Sandi are joined by award-winning author Dan Pontefract to talk about his new book Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team that Flourishes ! From his website: "Dan is a renowned keynote speaker who has presented at four TED events and delivers approximately 50 keynotes annually. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria's Gustavson Sc...

Welcome back to OT Book Club, er, we mean OT Kung Fu! Jen and Sandi invite you to listen in as they discuss "Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything" by Bryce G. Hoffman. Enjoy the ASMR of Jen and Sandi flipping through to their favorite parts and points of the book and chatting about how you can empower your teams to think critically in tough situation...