Talk, Unleashed

When I asked today’s guest what leadership means to him, his immediate response was listening, which makes perfect sense. After all, the sound is the very thing that drives John McClain . It has since he was 10 years old. And he’s not just good at it. He’s great. Companies like Chevrolet, Dodge, Intel, and MGM Resorts think so. And the Emmy Awards and Grammy on the shelf at Monster Sound and Pictu...

Adapt or die. Always seemed a pretty aggressive statement. It’s true though. Especially when it comes to technology. Trends of new platforms and services have shifted our world in remarkable ways in the last 20 years and for those who’ve leaned into those changes with curiosity, well, they’re still around. One of those people is Jim Louderback. He’s one of the most trusted and respected voices in...

Having vision, clarity, and the right circle of trusted advisors. Sounds like a no-brainer for success, right? Funny how not simple it actually is. What IS a trusted advisor? Who are the people who trust and how do you engage with them? Today’s guest, Lori Michele Leavitt is a consultant and coach who guides organizations and the people who lead them to engaged leadership and the ability to pivot....

It’s a word that’s come up on our podcast before – empathy. Today’s guest, Beverly Ulbrich , highlights it as part of the way she defines her method of dog training. Empathetic. A former Silicon Valley Tech Exec turned dog trainer (sounds a bit like last week’s guest J ), Beverly turned her attention to full-time dog training nearly 20 years ago and much like Talk Unleashed’s host, Cathy Brooks ,...

With 36 episodes under our belt, we’re taking a moment to regroup, think about where things are right now and share a little bit about what it is we’re doing here, how that has evolved from our start and where things are going next. The guest is your host, Cathy Brooks . She is a communications professional whose work ranges from radio to television, newspaper and digital platforms. For 22 years s...

Audiobooks. They’re among the most intimate of voiceover genres and give a whole new meaning to having voices in your head. A narrator relates the story – including all the characters – and they are directly in your ear. In today’s episode, we hear from someone who may sound familiar. Not surprising, considering that Jack de Golia has brought nearly 175 book titles to life (some of those are comin...

Despite my skepticism at someone who declares themselves “leader of the pack” – especially given the fact that the word pack is actually utterly inaccurate in describing a group of dogs (more on that another time), when I was pointed to the Instagram feed for Antonio Diaz, I found myself pleased. Here is someone who pulls no punches, tells it like it is, and most of all focuses on helping people b...

There aren’t many people in the world who can say they haven’t faced some kind of trauma or tragedy in life. And while it’s not a competition – there are some whose paths are decidedly more rocky than others. People choose to handle that in different ways. Not all of them decide to climb Mount Everest. Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is an explorer, mountaineer, author, survivor and activist. Perhaps even i...

When her husband brought home a computer in the 1980s Robin Raskin had two options: learn about the technology or get a divorce. She opted to do the former and to add to that by writing a column about it for InfoWorld Magazine. That column got Robin noticed and launched her into a career as one of the most influential women in technology publishing. Rising through the ranks in Ziff-Davis, Robin wa...

Music heals. It always has. It’s one of the few things that is common to all people – regardless of nationality, culture, religion or politics. It’s a binding element. A societal glue that has the power to heal. Today’s guest, Alice Sauro, believes this to the marrow of her bones. Among the first kids in the US to be trained under the Suzuki Method, Alice went on to study at Julliard and then to p...

Finding purpose is pretty much the whole reason any of us meander around on this blue marble on any given day. For some, getting to that “why” takes a minute and some serious navigation. For others, it’s about serendipity. Ashley Watkins is a lawyer who, after spending some time in the corporate world defending insurance companies, realized that the loud sound she heard was her soul being sucked o...

Imposter. Fraud. They’re powerful words and they both sit in the title of the soon-to-be-released memoir of today’s guest, Christina Aldan . Neither of those words necessarily come to mind when you think of Christina. She’s a respected brand marketing strategist and keynote speaker, she’s graced the TEDx stage , and is a known authority on the topic of emotional intelligence. When her tweet about...

Most of us remember our childhood pets. On some level, we know they play critical roles in our lives beyond just the fact that they’re cute and cuddly. Some folks though, like Rachel Diamond, not only remember every single pet in their life, but they also are super clear on the lessons that each one brought. Rachel is an architect, designer, and coach and when she’s not creating beautiful things a...

In a world fraught with such conditionality there are few things more unconditional than the love of a dog. It’s probably one of the main reasons folks get them. The lessons we get to learn from the kind of connection we have with our dogs can, if we stay present to it, be life-changing. Relationship and Marriage Coach Jen Williamson knows this first hand. The work she does is about creating power...

Being present. You’d think that it was a no-brainer in terms of the world, right? Thing is, today’s world is saturated by disconnection. The faux perception is that just because there are myriad digital links that somehow that means connection and presence. Not so. Being present, truly present, is something that takes effort and is a lesson that today’s guest, Katia Ravé , learned as a child. When...

How comfortable are you being uncomfortable? Really uncomfortable. The answer to that for most people is that they’re not. We live today in a world of instant gratification, immediate release, placating, and soothing. None of these things are good for leadership and as far as Jeffrey Hayzlett is concerned, that gets to change. He knows a little about leadership having held the Chief Marketing Offi...

All the world’s a stage. If only that actually were true. It might just be a more respectful place. The truth is that the medium of theater is a very particular thing. It’s an art form woefully underserved when shown via other media. The theater is about history. It’s about context. It’s about a very truly ancient understanding of how things will go. People show up to a space. The lights go down....

Selflessness. It’s not about ignoring yourself. In fact, true acts of selflessness, true acts of altruism require that the individual doing the work be utterly saturated in self-care. Think of it this way. If my life is a cup and I’m pouring into others from my cup, eventually that cup is empty. That serves no one. As one of my leadership coaches, Judith Rich , suggests – instead my cup gets to be...

Kate Schutt is powerful singer-songwriter whose narratives tell stories of relationships and life. When she delivered a TEDx talk on grief she became something of an accidental expert on the topic. Not a surprise, really. Her storytelling is masterful and her music always has wended its way through meaningful topics . She’s the kind of person whose quiet countenance is supercharged by a direct and...

Storytelling is a critical element of who we are as a species. It’s how we relate to the world – to our place in it, to our worth and value, and to others. Good storytelling is a marrow of the bones sort of thing, and Catherine Connors is a master storyteller . She also is uniquely positioned to understand the true craft of story and specifically how that relates to the role of story in leadership...

This week world renowned expert in aggressive dog rehabilitation and education, Michael Shikashio , returns to Talk Unleashed to dig a bit more deeply into the themes of leadership, empathy, compassion and the art of listening. The world of dog training presents a powerful microcosm of the deep divides in society today. What if there were no opposing “camps” of training methods. What if the method...

What do you do when you drop the ball? What do you do when an important commitment just gets … forgotten? If you’re truly in the heart of your leadership, the leadership of your life – you shift. It’s that simple. Really. No fault. No blame. No guilt. No shame. Just shift. Acknowledge, recognize, commit to address it. Move forward. These last weeks have been pretty heavy on that front, struggling...

In a world beset with cynicism and darkness, meeting someone who’s touted as “quite possibly the happiest person on earth” may give rise to skepticism. It would be unfounded. The truth is that Melissa Moats is every bit as joyous as she appears and it’s not an act. It’s not that she hasn’t faced hardship. She has. It’s not that she hasn’t experienced tough times. She has. It’s that she spends her...

Responsibility. Today’s world has most folks talking about it as though it were something outside of themselves. Few places exemplify that more than Silicon Valley – a place where brilliant ideas from brilliant people often take on lives of their own since the creators didn’t play the tape all the way forward. What does that mean? It means the “unintended” consequences wrought by technology are st...

Unedited. Unvarnished. Unabashedly herself. That’s Sarah Lacy to a T. After a successful career as a Journalist in Silicon Valley – largely doing in-depth, investigative work – she decided to walk away . Why? Misogyny and the bullies who fostered it. That may be something of an oversimplification but in the end, her walking away from the grind of covering the news of the tech industry led her to l...