Leadership: The Secret Sauce

What if the most powerful leadership skill isn't influence, communication, or strategy—but making people feel truly seen? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Dave Lipski and Matt Dodson sit down with executive and life coach Judith Sitruk to explore the coaching philosophy that has helped her impact thousands of clients across organizations, leadership roles, and life transitions. Jud...

What happens when expertise gets in the way of leadership? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, David Drake shares the moments that transformed his approach to coaching, leadership, and organizational change. David is the creator of Narrative Coaching and a globally recognized thought leader in coaching, leadership development, and human transformation. Throughout this conversation, he...

What happens when leadership frameworks stop working in real life? In this episode of Secret Sauce, leadership coach Pari Smart shares the behind-the-scenes realities of coaching leaders through uncertainty, burnout, and high-pressure environments. From launching a healthcare coaching program at the start of COVID to helping overwhelmed nurse managers navigate emotional exhaustion, Pari reveals th...

What happens after you leave the security of corporate leadership to build something of your own? In this returning guest episode, Nik Dewar opens up about the realities of transitioning from leading major sales organizations at Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft into entrepreneurship and executive coaching. But this conversation goes deeper than business strategy. Nik shares the invisible side of lea...

What truly makes a leader effective in today’s rapidly changing world? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell—executive coach and former U.S. Air Force leader—to uncover the human side of leadership that too often gets overlooked. Buzz shares how decades of military service shaped his approach to coaching, leadership, and service—and why he believes...

What separates leaders who thrive in complexity from those who struggle? According to Dr. Thomas Epperson, it comes down to one powerful trait: adaptability. In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Dr. Thomas shares how his early life experiences—from supervising adults as a kid on a construction site to leading high-stakes training rooms in his twenties—shaped the leadership philosophy h...

What if one of the most powerful leadership skills isn’t action — but patience? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Matt Dodson and Dave Lipski sit down with international mentoring and coaching expert Rossella Pin to explore the discipline of waiting, listening, and allowing insight to emerge. Rossella shares her coaching “secret sauce” — energetic patience — and explains why silence...

What if leadership isn’t primarily about authority, performance, or strategy — but about relationship? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Matt Dodson and Dave Lipski sit down with leadership coach Mary Azzolini to explore the mindset and practices that help people truly grow. Mary shares her coaching framework — Sense, Synthesize, Sustain — a practical approach to understanding compl...

What if the biggest barrier to leadership growth isn’t lack of skill — but lack of honesty with ourselves? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Matt Dodson and Dave Lipski sit down with leadership coach and researcher Abhijit Bhattacharya to explore the role of self-honesty, presence, and discomfort in real transformation. Abhijit shares his personal turning point — walking away from a...

In this episode of The Secret Sauce, Matt Dodson and Dave Lipski sit down with Lisa Ann Edwards—former executive coach, technology founder, and expert in measuring the ROI of coaching—to explore how leaders make sense of complexity in an increasingly noisy world. Lisa shares her journey from reluctant coach to building AI-powered coaching solutions, and why her true strength lies in simplifying th...

What if leadership isn’t about having better answers, but about helping people see more clearly? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Dr. Marcia Reynolds, globally recognized leadership coach, researcher, and author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem, to explore what truly creates change in leadership and coaching conversations. Marcia shares why advice rarely sticks...

Leadership doesn’t break down because leaders don’t care. It breaks down in the moments we miss. In the Season 5 premiere of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Mickey Connolly, Chairman and Founder of Conversant, to explore how presence, language, and timing shape leadership more than authority or strategy ever could. Mickey shares the moment that changed the trajectory of his life and...

What separates leadership that sounds good from leadership that actually works? In this Season 4 Review and Reflection episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, hosts Matt Dodson and Dave Lipski, joined by podcast producer JP, look back on the most meaningful insights and patterns that emerged across Season 4. As Matt reflects, the leaders and coaches who made the biggest impact weren’t relying on...

What if leadership isn’t about doing more but about how you show up? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with leadership coach Matt Mills to explore his core belief: impactful presence is what truly builds trust, clarity, and momentum inside organizations. Matt shares what he’s learned from over a decade of coaching leaders—from the C-suite to emerging managers—and why man...

What if the fastest path to growth isn’t more expertise—but more honesty? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Bob Kunkle to explore vulnerability as a core leadership and coaching competency—not a weakness, but a catalyst for real change. Bob shares how his journey into coaching revealed a simple truth: when leaders feel safe enough to be fully themselves, the convers...

What if the most effective leaders aren’t the ones driving change — but the ones creating the conditions for it? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Sandra Stewart, longtime executive coach, author, and leader at the intersection of coaching and change management. With over two decades of experience, Sandra shares why sustainable change doesn’t come from control, pres...

In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Dr. Richard Boyatzis—one of the most influential voices in leadership science, emotional intelligence, and coaching over the last five decades. Richard shares: The origin story of the competency movement in the 1970s The key question that opens the brain for real change Why vision—not goals—is the real engine of transformation How s...

In this CIO After Dark episode recorded live at ISSF Converge 2025, we sit down with three powerhouse coaches — Tolu Akande, Kneisha Sanders, and Joan Cook — for an honest, energizing conversation about what truly drives coaching cultures inside organizations. Together, they explore: The real secret ingredients behind coaching cultures: relationship, presence, and trust Why sponsorship at the top...

In this episode of CIO After Dark, we sit down with Teresa Stimson and Nathan Gonzalez from AdventHealth—one of the country’s largest healthcare systems—to explore how coaching is transforming leadership from the inside out. What starts as a conversation about coaching quickly becomes something deeper: A story of wholeness, presence, and creating the kind of leadership culture healthcare desperate...

In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Satu Järvilahti, a leadership and talent development consultant whose journey spans Finland, Switzerland, and the United States. At the center of her secret sauce is a uniquely Finnish concept: sisu. Sisu is the quiet kind of resilience: the ability to stay grounded, calm, and courageous in the face of uncertainty. Not the loud, per...

In this episode of CIO After Dark, we sit down with Preeti D’Mello, founder of the Fulfillment Institute and longtime champion of coaching cultures inside some of the world’s largest organizations. Preeti’s secret sauce is clear: fulfillment is the missing operating system in most leadership and organizational conversations. Not happiness. Not productivity. Fulfillment. She shares powerful stories...

In this CIO After Dark conversation, co-hosted by Katherine Lord, we sit down with Matt Becker—coach, facilitator, and champion of leadership development—to uncover his secret sauce for creating lasting change inside organizations. For Matt, it all comes down to three words: curiosity, care, and critical thinking. He believes a true coaching culture starts with curiosity, thrives on compassion, an...

In this special CIO After Dark episode, we sit down with Michelle Chambers, founder of Teams Matter, to uncover her secret sauce of leadership—and why team coaching is some of the hardest, most rewarding work a leader can do. With over 30 years in organizational development, Michelle shares her insights on how real transformation happens between leaders, not just within them. She talks about holdi...

In this inaugural episode of CIO After Dark, recorded live at ICF Converge 2025, we sit down with Michelle Davis and Saskia Houwing, the dynamic coaching duo from Wipfli, who are transforming how internal coaching works in professional services. Michelle and Saskia's journey from doubling their team size (from one to two!) to serving 3,200 employees reveals what it takes to build a coaching cultur...

In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Bethany Peters, a leadership coach and educator who’s passionate about developing leaders with a coaching mindset. Bethany’s journey from teaching English as a Second Language to leadership development shaped the way she sees coaching—as both a skill and a language. Her secret sauce lies in helping leaders cultivate curiosity, care,...