The Balancing Act with Andrew Temte, PhD, CFA

What do 6,000 heart surgeries teach a leader about trust, ego, and the myth of the lone genius?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Dr. Subodh Verma, cardiac surgeon-scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto, whose TEDx talk “What 5,000 Human Hearts Taught Me About Breakthroughs” has been viewed more than 30 mil...

What if the reason your company stopped growing isn’t the market, the team, or the model — but you?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Blake Erickson, co-founder of Scaling.com and co-author, with Dr. Benjamin Hardy, of The Science of Scaling: Grow Your Business Bigger and Faster Than You Think Possible. Blake advises hundreds of companies chasing 100 to 300 percent an...

What if the leaders who land the best roles aren’t the most accomplished on paper, but the most intentional about how they show up?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Kelly O. Kay, partner at Heidrick & Struggles and co-author of Show Up to Win: How to Land the Leadership Role You Want. With more than two decades in executive search, Kelly pulls back the curtain on...

What if joy isn’t something you feel but something you practice — and burnout is what happens when you stop?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Brent Freeman, serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author of the just-released The Alchemy of Joy: The Life-Changing Method to Beat Burnout, Retrain Your Brain, and Build a Life You Love.  Brent spent two decades building...

What if the moment your company announces layoffs is exactly the moment to spend more on training, not less?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Steve Nolan, CEO of The Ariel Group — the leadership and communication development firm founded by performing artists — and a certified MBTI practitioner with more than thirty years of executive leadership.  Steve has spent his...

What does a pork chop sent back to the kitchen three times have to do with hiring your next CEO?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Rodney Morris, Executive Vice President at The Elliot Group and a former president of the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers, who has spent his whole career in the people business — twenty-five years on the human capital side of hosp...

What if burnout isn’t something that happens to you — and what if the leadership skill you’re missing lives in your body, not your head?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Marcel Daane, author of Headstrong Performance, Five Energies of Horrible Bosses and How Not To Become One, and the forthcoming Leadership Tai-Chi: The Art of Leading with Clarity, Wisdom, and Humann...

Why do intelligent, capable, well-intentioned leaders act at their worst under pressure — and what if the answer was a pattern you could learn to see coming?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Ian Stewart, former Head of Applied Behavioural Science at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and author of The Hidden Patterns of Leadership: The Mental Models That Shape How...

What if change fatigue isn’t a weakness to push through, but a signal worth listening to?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Cassandra Worthy, founder and CEO of Change Enthusiasm Global and author of Change Enthusiasm: How to Harness the Power of Emotion for Leadership and Success.  A chemical engineer who spent nearly fifteen years at Procter & Gamble and led org...

What kind of company do you need to become when intelligence itself is no longer scarce?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Brian Solis, head of global innovation at ServiceNow and co-author of Infinite: How Visionary Leaders Transform Today’s Businesses into AI-Forward Companies.  A digital anthropologist and nine-time bestselling author, Brian has spent three decades...

What if the real risk of AI isn’t that it takes your job — but that your company only ever uses it to cut costs?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Dave Wright, Chief Innovation Officer at ServiceNow and co-author of Infinite: How Visionary Leaders Transform Today’s Businesses into AI-Forward Companies.  Dave started out as a mainframe operator in the 1980s and has spe...

What are you pretending not to know about your own leadership — and what is it costing you?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Mike Staver, executive coach, Speaker Hall of Fame inductee, and author of Leadership Isn’t for Cowards and the just-released Navigating Crazy.  For more than thirty years, Mike has helped leaders close the gap between their good intentions and...

What if the problem isn’t that you’re distracted, but that nobody ever trained you in the one thing you can actually control?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Dr. Justin Anderson, founder and CEO of Premier Sport Psychology and author of Intentional Attention: The Science and Practice of Focus Under Pressure, a licensed psychologist and certified mental performance c...

What if the fastest way to fail at AI is to treat it like a race?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Don Gregori, Chief Operating Officer of First Factory and author of The Emergent Leader: A Guide to Brand Building, Leadership, and Self-Mastery.  Don makes the case that leadership starts on the inside and that most AI failures are leadership failures wearing a technol...

With a wave of accountants heading for retirement and AI reshaping the profession, is accounting still a smart career bet?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Hugh Martin — founder of Procountancy and a CIMA Case Study specialist who prepares finance professionals in more than 45 countries to earn the CGMA designation.  Together they get behind the acronyms to managemen...

What does a country actually lose when it makes it harder for the world’s top talent to build a life there?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Vasanthan “Vas” Ramakrishnan — founder and principal consultant of Ascend HSI Advisory Partners, who helps high-skilled scientists, engineers, researchers, and founders navigate the extraordinary-ability pathways into the U.S.,...

What if you've been chasing success backwards? What if joy isn't the reward you earn after hitting your goals — but the foundation that makes hitting them inevitable?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Bose Akadiri — motivational keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and founder and CEO of Goal and Grind LLC, where she's known as “The Joy Amplifier.”  After a decade lead...

In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Suzie Bishop, vice president of product development at The Center for Leadership Studies — the global home of the Situational Leadership® Model — and co-author of the newly released Situational Leadership®: The Model for Leading Others, Navigating Change, and Unlocking Performance.  A Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coach who has spent more tha...

Why do so many brilliant, accomplished leaders freeze the moment the stakes get highest — losing the room before they’ve said a single word?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Kathryn Janicek — a 3x Emmy Award-winning executive presence strategist, former TV news producer, and founder of Janicek Performance Group, where she coaches Fortune 500 leaders for their highest...

What if building a thriving book of business didn’t require working more hours, chasing leads, or scrambling to get yourself out there — but simply getting better at the conversations you’re already having?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Deb Feder — founder of Feder Development and author of the Client Conversation Series, including After Hello and her latest, Migh...

After 250 episodes of the Balancing Act podcast, the host becomes the guest. Producer Nick Temte steps out from behind the glass to interview his dad — and usual host — Andy Temte, in a milestone conversation about where the show started, what 250 episodes have taught him, and where it’s all going. Dr. Andrew (Andy) Temte, CFA, is an author, musician, and the former CEO of Kaplan Professional Educ...

What if the metrics you’re chasing — the downloads, the likes, the impressions — are quietly steering your business in the wrong direction?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Tom Schwab — founder and CEO of Interview Valet and author of Podcast Guest Profits. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate and engineer who found his way into marketing, Tom brings a systems mindset to on...

What if the conversations your team isn’t having are costing you more than the ones it is?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Gustavo Razzetti — culture change instigator, CEO of Fearless Culture, and bestselling author of Remote, Not Distant, Stretch for Change, and his new book Forward Talk: The Bold New Method For Getting Teams Unstuck.  Gustavo introduces the conce...

What if the corruption of great companies isn’t an ethics problem at all — but a design problem?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Eric Ries — creator of the Lean Startup methodology, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way. His new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, argues that corp...

What if everything you've been told about resilience is wrong?  In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, host Andy speaks with Jay Abbasi — CEO and founder of The Conscious Professional, former Tesla leader, and international keynote speaker who has coached leaders at Google, Amazon, and Wells Fargo. After his father’s sudden passing in 2014 woke him up to the costs of living on autopilot, Ja...