Learn to Lead

On this episode, our host Matt Confer shares some gratitude and reflections about what he has learned since the beginning of the Learn to Lead podcast, 100 episodes ago. Since then, we have been fortunate to share key leadership lessons with more than 39,000 listeners. Those lessons have come from world-class coaches, trailblazers of industry, entrepreneurs, and even a memory champion and an impro...

Steve Hoffman is the Chairman & CEO of Founders Space, a global innovation hub for entrepreneurs, corporations, and investors, with over 50 partners in 22 countries. Hoffman is also a venture investor, founder of three venture-backed and two bootstrapped startups, and author of several award-winning books, including Make Elephants Fly , Surviving a Startup , and The Five Forces . In this episo...

Laura Gates is a sought-after executive coach, team facilitator and advisor to executives at Silicon Valley’s top tech companies, including Google and LinkedIn, as well as advisor and mentor to VC-backed start-up Founders in tech, bio-tech and blockchain. With over 25 years of coaching and facilitation experience primarily in tech, engineering, AI and machine learning, Laura’s prestigious client r...

Dan Schawbel is a  New York Times  bestselling author, Managing Partner of Workplace Intelligence, workplace researcher, global keynote speaker, podcast host, and career expert. He has led over 60 research studies in partnership with brands like Oracle, WeWork, and American Express in his career, surveying over 3 million people in 26 different countries. Dan has also interviewed ove...

Jason Feifer is the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, host of popular podcasts including Build for Tomorrow , author of the book by the same name, keynote speaker, startup advisor, and nonstop optimism machine. His goal is to help you become more resilient and adaptable in a world of constant change — so you can seize new opportunities before anyone else does! On this episode, we discuss J...

Nozomi Morgan leads a team of experts in developing global leaders. Her team helps organizations develop Co-created Culture which she believes is the foundation for individuals and organizations to fulfill their purpose in this world.  Her diverse international background — having lived in Asia, Europe and North America — gives her a wealth of experience and knowledge as a strategic partner t...

Brandi Nicole Johnson is "on a mission to help the world reimagine work so that work is integrated into our lives, instead of becoming our whole identity." Prior to becoming a coach and a tech learning executive, she climbed the ultimate career ladder in the nonprofit sector, growing from intern to Executive Director all before the age of 30. As the first company hire in the Learning and Developme...

Dr. Ruth Gotian is the Chief Learning Officer, Assistant Professor of Education in Anesthesiology, and former Assistant Dean of Mentoring and Executive Director of the Mentoring Academy at Weill Cornell Medicine. A leadership development and mentorship expert, she researches the most successful people of our generation, including Nobel laureates, astronauts, CEOs, and Olympic champions, to learn a...

Dr. Ken Blanchard is the co-founder and Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies and co-author of the iconic 1982 classic, The One Minute Manager. In the past three decades, Ken has authored or coauthored 60 books whose combined sales total more than 23 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 42 languages. In 2005 Ken was inducted into Amazon’s Ha...

Jennifer Brenneman is a Senior Director of Leadership Development at MongoDB. Prior to her work at MongoDB, Jennifer worked in Leadership Development and Instructional Leadership at Teach For All. Thus far, her career has focused on supporting adults to achieve their potential through facilitated experiences, coaching, and leadership development programs. On this episode, we discussed the differen...

Morag Barrett is a highly accomplished keynote speaker, leadership development expert, and bestselling author of Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships and The Future-Proof Workplace. Morag is the founder and CEO of SkyeTeam, a boutique leadership development firm, and has supported more than 15,000 leaders from 20 countries and on 4 continents achieve outstanding results by improving the e...

Niiamah Ashong is the Founder of the Outliers' Edge Multiverse, a leadership expert, and a high-performance coach. His work focuses on what you can do when you realize you have a different perspective or don't "fit in" -- when you're an outlier. Niiamah's experiences working at organizations as varied as the leading global consulting firm Deloitte and cutting-edge tech companies have given him a u...

Susan Kushnir, co-author of Decoding Executives: What They Say, What They Mean, and What You Should Do, has enjoyed a career in learning and development spanning the non-profit, public, and private sectors with a focus on leadership and people management. She has been the Head of Learning & Development at Sterling National Bank, Director of Lean Six Sigma & Director of Global Learning and...

Vaishali Jadhav is a Global Leadership Development Program Designer and Facilitator at the University of Texas at Austin, a Culterati Summit Fellow, an Instructor at the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, and an all-around leadership development practitioner. Her career has followed the "red thread" of building conscious leaders in organizations like Gallup, Whole Foods Mar...

Jeff Levin is a National Managing Director at a global consulting firm with over 20 years of experience leveraging passion, technology, and innovative solutions to lead and inspire teams. He was also one of Learn to Lead host Matt Confer's early leaders. On this episode, we discuss the ways that Jeff's leadership has grown and changed since his early years, how he's adjusted to manage a group of o...

Jaimie Krause is a Senior Manager of Learning & Development at Indeed, the world's "#1 Job Site" where she oversees all learning and development initiatives for Indeed’s sales enablement professionals. With a Ph. D. from the University of Texas, Jaimie's works at the intersection of I/O psychology, talent development, and corporate L&D strategy. She designs programs and coaches people to d...

Bryan Clayton is the Co-Founder and CEO of GreenPal, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local lawn care professionals. GreenPal has been called the “Uber for lawn care” by Entrepreneur magazine and has over 100,000 active users completing thousands of transactions per day. Before starting GreenPal, Bryan Clayton founded Peachtree Inc., one of the largest landscaping companies in t...

A senior leadership/board advisor, educator, executive coach, and bestselling author, David Nour is internationally recognized as the leading expert on applications of strategic relationships in profitable growth, sustained innovation, and lasting change. The author of ten books, including bestsellers Relationship Economics, Co-Create, and Curve Benders (Wiley, 2021). On this episode, we discussed...

Erin Diehl is a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i. O. Theater and The Annoyance Theatre. Erin conducts workshops across the country leveraging improvisational techniques to improve employees’ skills in corporate settings. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Deloitte, and The Obama Foundation earned her the...

Wes Schroll is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company at 14-years old. After two small start up ventures, he wrote a business plan for what would one day become Fetch Rewards during his sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In March of 2021, Fetch closed its Series D round of financing with $220 Million led by SoftBank. Fetch is a bonafide "Unicorn" with a valuation o...

Happy holidays! As we prepare to enter the new year, we thought it would be a good time to pull together some of the best advice that we received from our podcast guests in the past year. This episode includes the advice that our guests from our most downloaded episodes shared with our audience. The guests include a New York Times best-selling author, a Broadway producer, a Fortune 500 C-suite mem...

As we approach the new year, we wanted to share a short reflection on the time we've spent with you as listeners since we first launched the Learn to Lead Podcast only twenty-one months ago. Host Matt Confer encourages you to think a little about time passing using a short anecdote about great movies, time travel, and the moon landing (trust us!). We are incredibly grateful to get to share the air...

Rita Gunther McGrath is a best-selling author, a sought-after speaker, and a longtime professor at Columbia Business School. She is widely recognized as a premier expert on leading innovation and growth during times of uncertainty. Rita has received the #1 achievement award for strategy from the prestigious Thinkers50 and has been consistently named one of the world’s Top 10 management thinkers in...

Eric Pliner is the CEO of YSC Consulting, a global leadership strategy consultancy headquartered in London and focused on the styles, dynamics, and cultures that enable successful achievement of strategy. On this episode, we discussed Eric’s recommendations for effectively managing difficult conversations at work, the lessons Eric’s learned as a leader in the last year (hint: it involves constant...

Kim Kaupe is the founder of Bright Ideas Only where she has worked with Oprah, Paul McCartney, and Jimmy Buffett. Her first company, The Superfan Company, allowed her to work with everyone from Katie Perry to the Boston Red Sox. She was recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30, and by Inc Magazine, 35 under 35. She also received one of the highest offers on Season 5 of Shark Tank . On this episode, we d...