Small Brave Moves

She built a career caring for others — and somewhere along the way forgot to care for herself. For Amy Birkel, COO of Heritage Communities, rescuing her team wasn't just a habit. It was an identity. Learning the difference between rescuing and leading turned out to be the hardest leadership lesson of her career. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi is joined by Amy...

What if the bottleneck isn't your people, your process, or your plan? You've built a great team. You've got the strategy. And somehow, things still aren't moving the way they should. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi sits down with Cara Skowronski — professional EOS implementer and former CEO and COO — for an honest conversation about the leadersh...

You're leading. You're delivering. And somewhere underneath all of it, you know something is off — not with your team, not with your strategy, but with how you're operating as a leader. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi makes the case that what most leaders are missing isn't better time management or a stronger vision — it's a leadership oper...

Most leaders say they want a better culture. Almost none of them actually build one. Not because they don't care — but because they're waiting for someone else to install the system. Forbes-featured leadership expert and keynote speaker Nicole Bianchi cuts through the culture-building noise in this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast. She makes the case that a brave culture doesn&ap...

It's June. The vision you sold your team in January is dead. Nobody has said it out loud — including you. And that silence is exactly where team alignment goes to die. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, keynote speaker and leadership expert Nicole Bianchi explains that misalignment doesn't announce itself — it shows up quietly in meetings that cover the same ground, tensio...

The hardest person you will ever lead isn't the underperformer, the difficult peer, or the boss who keeps moving the goalposts. It's you. And most leaders never see it coming. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi makes the case that the leadership crisis quietly draining organizations right now isn't a strategy problem or a people problem — it's a se...

That conversation you've been moving from this week to next for the past 30 days? That's the one. Your avoidance isn't protecting anyone — it's costing everyone. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, leadership expert and keynote speaker Nicole Bianchi addresses the accountability problem most leaders refuse to look at directly: it's not that your team won&apos...

The future belongs to organizations with brave leaders.  The research is already telling you what you probably feel: most of the workforce is anxious, most leaders aren't ready, and the gap between where organizations are and where they need to be is widening every year. The question isn't whether change is coming. It's whether you'll be brave enough to lead through it.  Global...

What happens when you stop settling for what’s offered and start asking for what you’re truly worth? In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast Nicole Bianchi sits down with Maggie Seng Sadowsky—food scientist, CPG innovator, and founder of 8 Track Foods—to explore what it truly means to step into your worth, trust your vision, and lead others along the way. Nicole and Maggie unpack a defini...

There's a moment most leaders know well — heart pounding, voice shaking, surrounded by people with bigger titles — where you have to decide whether to raise your hand or stay quiet. Olivia Lynch raised hers. In a room of 400 senior Salesforce executives, with her CEO present and cameras rolling. In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi sits down with Olivia Lynch, Dire...

There's a person on your team whose behavior has become a pattern — the one everyone talks about, but no one addresses. You know exactly who it is, don't you? Nicole Bianchi names what's actually happening when leaders keep delaying that conversation in this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast. Because every day you say nothing is a day your team reads your silence as a standar...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi makes a bold claim that cuts through the noise of every AI conversation happening in boardrooms right now: AI adoption problem isn't a technology problem. It's a leadership problem.  With nearly two-thirds of organizations stuck in pilot mode and only 22% of workers globally feeling confident their job is safe, Nicole expos...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi makes a confession most leadership experts won't: she still feels fear. And she's here to tell you that's not a problem — it's the point. This episode is built around a single reframe that changes everything: fear isn't a stop sign. It's a compass. And the leaders who grow the fastest aren't the one...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi delivers a direct, no-excuses framework to begin repairing broken workplace culture without a budget, without a title, and without waiting for permission.  Drawing on her years of executive coaching experience, Nicole cuts through the noise on why culture breaks in the modern workplace — tolerated behavior, unclear expectations, and...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, keynote speaker, executive coach, and leadership expert Nicole Bianchi explores one of the most overlooked drivers of leadership effectiveness: brave communication. Nicole reveals a powerful truth — leadership is not defined by strategy, title, or experience, but by the conversations leaders are willing (or unwilling) to have. Drawing from her expe...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast , keynote speaker and leadership expert Nicole Bianchi gives her take on a powerful but often overlooked leadership challenge: internal resistance . While many organizations focus on strategy, execution, and performance metrics, Nicole reveals a deeper truth — most leadership breakdowns are not external problems, but internal reactions . When pressu...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, leadership expert, keynote speaker, and executive coach Nicole Bianchi reveals a truth many organizations overlook: most performance problems aren’t operational—they’re courage problems in disguise. Drawing from her experience transforming Fortune 500 executive teams, Nicole reveals how avoidance quietly stalls innovation, delays decisions, weakens...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, leadership expert Nicole Bianchi unpacks one of the most misunderstood leadership qualities: executive presence. Often associated with charisma, confidence, or commanding authority, executive presence is far more nuanced — and far more human. Nicole explores why true leadership presence isn’t about dominating the room, but about grounding it. It’s...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, leadership expert Nicole Bianchi explores why leadership avoidance quietly erodes authority, culture, and performance, and how disciplined micro-courage — just five intentional minutes a day — can radically transform how leaders and teams show up.  Drawing from years of executive coaching experience, she explains why the most effective leaders aren...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi explores the neuroscience of brave leadership and reveals why courage is not a personality trait — but a trainable skill rooted in brain science. Drawing on research around neuroplasticity, leadership development, and workplace transformation, Nicole breaks down what actually happens in the brain when leaders take a small brave move....

In this powerful episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast , executive leadership coach and bestselling author Nicole Bianchi addresses a silent epidemic among high-performing leaders: overfunctioning.  Many mid-level to C-suite executives—especially women in leadership—don’t burn out because they’re incapable. They burn out because they’re highly capable . They step in early, smooth things over, a...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves Podcast, Nicole Bianchi is joined by Melissa Hurrington—CFO & VP of Operations at Premier Claims, LinkedIn Top Voice, keynote speaker, and advocate for women in leadership.  Melissa gets real about the unseen work of self-leadership—moving from “performing” to leading authentically. She shares how she traded the polished “CFO costume” for unapologetic a...

In this episode of Small Brave Moves, Nicole Bianchi sits down with Nash Mahupete, President & CEO of QLI, a nationally renowned leader in brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation.  Nash shares his 25-year journey from CNA to CEO, revealing how purpose-driven leadership, mission focused leadership, and a deep passion for people development can transform organizations and lives.  Nash...

In this powerful episode of the Small Brave Moves podcast, Nicole Bianchi sits down with Melanie Marshall — award-winning speaker, filmmaker, and former BBC journalist who spent two decades reporting from some of the most dangerous places on earth.  From war zones in Afghanistan to political unrest in Tripoli, Mel learned what it means to lead through chaos, regulate emotions under pressure, and f...

In this episode of the Small Brave Moves podcast, Nicole Bianchi is joined by Damon Lembi, CEO of Learnit, three-time bestselling author, and host of the Learn It All podcast. With over 2 million learners served, Damon has proven that companies who outlearn, outlast . Nicole and Damon discuss: How to build a culture of learning and bravery in today’s uncertain workplace Why middle managers struggl...