The Courage of a Leader

What if the biggest driver of employee engagement isn't charisma? Amy challenges one of leadership's most common misconceptions, showing why authenticity, presence, and intentional leadership inspire people far more than motivational speeches or big personalities. Through five practical leadership questions, she shares strategies for reconnecting disengaged employees, building trust through everyd...

Why do accountability systems fail even when roles and responsibilities seem clear? In this episode, we sit down with Robert Snyder, Founder and President of Innovation Elegance, LLC, to explore why most organizations unintentionally separate authority from accountability, creating confusion, project delays, and trust issues. Robert introduces his Five Verbs framework—draft, review, revise, approv...

What if the hardest thing you ever face becomes the experience that shapes you into a stronger leader? Steve Garraty shares how a cancer diagnosis at age 18 became one of the most defining experiences of his life. Through a season marked by uncertainty, loss, and physical hardship, he discovered the power of perspective, resilience, and gratitude. Steve reflects on how adversity can shape us, not...

In the second episode of the Courage in Action series, Amy explores the traits that define courageous leadership in today’s workplace. She challenges the idea that leadership is about having all the answers and instead focuses on the courage required to navigate uncertainty, have difficult conversations, build trust, and lead authentically. Through practical leadership examples, Amy breaks down ho...

In this first episode of the new Courage in Action series, Amy answers some questions she receives from leaders and their teams about the reality of change, especially when it is unexpected or uncomfortable. She walks through how leaders can pause instead of react, how they can lead their teams with intention, and why resistance to change is often more about identity than logic. She also shares pr...

Most leaders want change, but we often avoid the one place it has to start. Truth. In this encore presentation of our conversation with David Johnson, we challenge the instinct to jump straight to vision and instead ground ourselves in reality. We explore why leaders struggle to be fully transparent, how avoiding hard truths slows everything down, and what it really takes to move people through re...

This encore presentation revisits our conversation with Natasha Miller Williams , a speaker and writer who brings data and insight together to advance the conversation about inclusion in the workplace. Together we explore a powerful idea: one person can challenge an established system. We talk about why systems inside organizations often continue long after they stop serving people well, and how l...

International Women’s Day is more than a calendar moment. It is a leadership opportunity. In this episode, we challenge ourselves to move beyond performative gestures and celebrate in ways that actually build visibility, confidence, and equity. We share four practical ways to recognize the women on our teams with intention and specificity. We reflect on whether they feel seen, heard, and valued. A...

Leadership often asks us to be steady, composed, and productive, even when real emotions are moving underneath. This is an UNFILTERED compilation, in which we bring together some of the most powerful, raw and unfiltered moments from our UNFILTERED series. Across these episodes my co-host Daphna Horowitz and I very intentionally work to slow down and speak honestly about emotional truth at work. An...

Leadership often looks confident and composed from the outside. Inside, it can feel very different. In this UNFILTERED compilation, we slow down and talk honestly about what leaders carry beneath the surface. Self doubt. Imposter syndrome. Loneliness. The pressure to stay in control. These are not flaws or failures. They are human responses to responsibility, care, and growth. We explore why impos...

As we look back on 2025, this conversation brings together five voices who helped shape how we think about leadership when things feel uncertain, human, and real. Russell Harvey , Genevieve Retzlaff , Pat Broe , Mary Lynn Fayoumi , and Susan Inouye each offered a different lens on what it takes to lead forward instead of clinging to what used to work. Together, their insights reflect a year marked...

Crisis and change have a way of revealing what truly drives leadership. In this episode, I explore how leading through uncertainty is less about control and more about clarity, trust, and intentional choice. I introduce a simple but powerful formula for composure and reflect on why staying steady does not mean ignoring emotions yet learning how to lead through them. Trust takes on new weight when...

What if one of the greatest challenges in leadership isn’t decision-making or pressure but loneliness?   In this  Unfiltered Series  conversation, leadership experts  Amy Riley  and  Daphna Horowitz  get real about the isolation that often hides behind confidence and success. Even the most connected leaders can feel unseen when everyone’s looking to them for answers.  Amy and Daphna...

In this episode of UNFILTERED: Courageous Conversations about Anger and What your fire is trying to tell you , Amy and Daphna explore the misunderstood emotion of anger, an experience many of us are taught to hide or downplay. Together, they unpack why anger is often labeled as “unprofessional” or “unproductive” and instead reframe it as a natural, informative and deeply human emotion. They discus...

We all want to do things well — to be responsible, stay on top of it, make sure nothing slips through the cracks. But when does that turn into control ? In this episode of UNFILTERED , Daphna Horowitz and Amy Riley get honest about the fine line between responsible leadership and the need to control everything. They unpack why leaders grip so tightly, what it costs in terms of energy, creativity,...

Join us as we explore how courageous leadership helps us integrate technology with purpose instead of pressure. We look at leaders who chose clarity over complexity and used vision to guide innovation. Their success came from reconnecting to why the work matters, asking better questions, and shaping tools around real human needs. When we lead this way, we create space for confidence, trust, and mo...

In today’s world of endless notifications, overflowing inboxes and constant noise, focus and presence feel harder than ever to hold onto. In this episode of UNFILTERED Courageous Conversations about Focus and Presence in a Distraction-Heavy World , Daphna and Amy take an unflinching look at the cost of distraction from information overload (the equivalent of 16 movies a day!) to the hidden toll of...

Grief is one of the hardest things to talk about, yet it touches every one of us. In the latest conversation in the UNFILTERED Series, Amy and Daphna open up about loss, leadership, and the human side of work. Together, they explore why grief feels so overwhelming, how words often fall short, and what it means to truly show up for someone. They look at the role of leaders in creating safe spaces,...

What if the quietest voice in the room held the most valuable insight?   In our next episode of the UNFILTERED Series, Daphna and I explore what it really means to be an introvert in an extroverted workplace. We uncover how introversion is defined by energy, not shyness, and why so many workplaces miss out on the best thinking when only the fastest talkers are heard.   Together...

Céline Williams, founder of reVisionary and an award-winning executive coach, reminds us that critical thinking is one of the rarest yet most vital skills a leader can bring to the table. With over 20 years of experience in leadership development and organizational transformation, she shows how being intentional in our decisions means recognizing biases, questioning assumptions, and digging deeper...

Susan Inouye is a transformational executive coach and best‑selling author who helps leaders build cultures of engagement and belonging. We explore her Sawubona approach, which means “I see you,” and the five leader shifts that move teams from control to connection, conformity to seeing and accepting, expectations to intentions, authority to authenticity, and bottom‑line myopia to belonging. We le...

We’re excited to bring you an encore presentation with Eric Larson, Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and Chairman of Tilia Holdings. Eric shares how his leadership legacy connects science, design, and business to transform the food supply chain, focusing on food safety, nutrition, and sustainability. He shows us that purpose is the gravity that holds organizations together and guides decisions, even in times o...

There is an engagement crisis in our workplaces currently!  Elizabeth “El” Lages, Chief People and Culture Officer at Flexera, shares how strong values, intentional leadership, and accountability fuel high engagement across global teams. Join us as we hear how her approach blends communication, transparency, and people-first practices to keep culture aligned and performance strong even throug...

When the ground keeps shifting beneath us, courageous leadership means leaning into what’s real; our experience, our humility, and our values.   Mary Lynn Fayoumi, President and CEO of HR Source, brings decades of wisdom in workplace culture and HR leadership. She guides organizations through disruption with a clear focus on purpose and people, and she shows us how to do the same. We tal...

Is it hot in here, or is it… Menopause? In this powerful episode of UNFILTERED, Daphna and Amy crack open one of the most misunderstood and under-discussed life transitions: menopause. From brain fog to emotional turbulence, night sweats to shifting identities, they share their raw, personal experiences and invite you into a conversation that too often happens in whispers, or not at all. This isn’...