The Inner Edge: Leadership, Self-Mastery, and Reinvention for a New Era

“When we fail, we learn what doesn't work, we learn to adjust, we learn to bounce back and try a different approach. If we avoid failure, we can't learn.” In this episode on the Power Presence Academy podcast, I want to dive deep into a topic that resonates with so many, the fear of failure. Through my work as an executive coach I've heard countless stories of individuals struggling...

“Presence is the energy you embody. We are energetic beings, and we all embody a presence.” How powerful is your presence? I received a question from a listener recently asking me about the meaning of the name of the podcast. Specifically, what is Power Presence?  I decided to address his question in this episode. To do this I start by defining what I consider presence to be and sharing two exampl...

“The best teams and the best leaders are the ones who will say: please tell me more about that.”  What is inclusion? How do we practice it in organizational life? In this episode, I talk with Kelly McDonald, a speaker and author on the topic with an extensive background researching consumer trends and changing demographics.  We discuss how to create an inclusive workplace with practical strategies...

“What can you do today to feel more alive and fulfilled  with meaning and purpose?”   Our pop culture and  the media is flooded with methods and strategies to help us become happy, or at least happier.  Today, let’s discuss this happiness trap and reconsider and reframe this relentless pursuit of happiness.   Instead of searching for happiness, I suggest we pursue deeper meaning, purpose, signific...

“You've got to decide whether this is going to be a hobby, or if it's going to be a business. And those are two very different things.” Have you been thinking about becoming a leadership coach ? Are you already a leadership coach, but struggling with turning your passion and aspirations into a successful business? In this episode, I address the growing interest in executive coaching as a...

“Listening to yourself takes courage, because sometimes you may not like what you hear.” Have you ever had something happen to you that feels like a signal from the universe, but you just dismiss it as meaningless? In this episode, I want to talk about the notion of listening, but listening from a very different vantage point than you'd expect. As leaders, we often talk about listening to oth...

“When you have walked in the shoes of other people, empathy comes much easier.” Can you learn to be more empathetic? There’s no better person to garner an informed opinion from about this question than Dr. Helen Riess, founder and CEO of Empathetics, Inc., a company that provides empathy training to hospitals and doctors. And her answer is yes. Dr. Riess and I discuss why empathy is important in l...

“If you want to lead transformational change, you have to do the work on yourself first.” What makes a leader great? This question is a hard one to answer, even after my 25+ years studying and working in the field of human and leadership development. As I think more deeply about that question, I am convinced after all this experience working with leaders that a great leader is someone who spends t...

“The most important things in this world are the products of the human mind” Your conscious mind is responsible for only a tiny sliver of what science says is going on inside your brain. Most of what you experience, your moods and the things you like and dislike come from a much more mysterious, unknown part of your mind, the unconscious. That’s what we’re talking about in this episode, with psych...

If you're a leader trying to create a more engaged culture, where there's a sense of belonging and purpose, then you're not going to want to miss this episode. My guest today is Claude Silver, the Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia. You may recognize VaynerMedia by the name of its owner, Gary Vaynerchuk, known as Gary Vee, a wildly popular entrepreneur and social media influencer re...

“Your soul needs nurturing and care too, and that nurturing comes from alignment with meaning and purpose. Whatever else you are placing before your physical and spiritual self-care rituals will only cause you to be reactive and out of the flow.” You know what it feels like when you're at your best, you're in the flow, and you're just rocking it on all cylinders. Those days when you...

“A warrior for the human spirit is the sane human being wanting to serve an insane, inhumane time.” Welcome back to the rest of my conversation with Dr. Margaret Wheatley. If you missed the last episode where we started our conversation, I really encourage you to go back and listen to it before you start this one. If you're not familiar with Dr. Margaret Wheatley, you're missing out. She...

“Where we are now, compared to where we were 30 years ago is an entirely new, startlingly destructive time.” One of the things that I like to do on this podcast is have deeper conversations about issues regarding leadership, and what type of leader and person we need to become to lead effectively. That’s why I’m delighted to have Margaret Wheatley as my guest today. As a consultant, senior-level a...

“Trust your life force. Trust that there is something bigger than you.” We talk so much about developing IQ and emotional intelligence, but I think we shy away from conversations about our shared spiritual essence and the search for meaning and purpose. Today's guest opens up the door for us to think about connecting with our spirit, our soul’s essence, and operating with less ego and more so...

“The world's become so complex that you have to think creatively. You have to learn how to cultivate your intuition. You have to understand intuition.” My guest today is Michael Gelb, the best-selling author of the acclaimed book, “How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci” and expert on how to think more creatively. Michael speaks about creativity, connection, healing, and intuition and how it can...

“Dialogue is not about a conversation. It involves conversation. [...] Dialogue is actually a way or a state of being.” In this episode, it's my pleasure to have Susan Taylor with us. She is a leader, professional facilitator, coach, and CEO of Generon International - a company that focuses on high-level leadership development and particularly on facilitating the process of real dialogue in o...

“It's this trifecta of burnout. The exhaustion of stress, the cynicism toward the job, and a negative sense of your effectiveness in the job itself.” Do you think you're suffering from burnout? What about your employees? Are they suffering from burnout? Do you know the difference between burnout and exhaustion? How do we identify burnout in ourselves and others?  What can leaders do to c...

“Your joy doesn't come from filling out the paperwork, your joy doesn't come from meeting that priority goal, your joy comes from the people that you lead” How can we create workplaces where we lead with love and laughter? Whether you're working in a corporation, a nonprofit, or a government organization, think about the climate and think about the culture that you're creating...

“If you're going to help others, you are the instrument. Your presence, how you come across, what you say, your composure, the quality and tone of your energy, how you respond to the group, and what you model—That presence is the tool.” Today we're going to be diving into a topic that is absolutely essential for effective leadership. It is commonly called “conscious use of self”. How you...

“A key thing that I've learned along the way is that as leaders, we're always in the spotlight. And you need to always lead by example.” In this episode, I talk to Anthony Wysocki. Anthony has over 25 years of service with the US federal government. He currently serves as a director in the Office of the Inspector General in the US Department of Transportation. I invited him on the show t...

“I can't explain the amount of energy and time and resources we had to display in order to get all these people to come on board and work for us and with us. It was the biggest lesson of my life. And it looks like it worked." I'm thrilled to have Dimitra Kolotoura as my guest today. She is a former PR and communications agency owner, turned fashion entrepreneur. Dimitra is the co-fo...

“Stop using the scale as a measure of your health. It's what we were taught to do. [...] But it's really, really wrong. We are more than just that number. And it's a very poor indicator of chronic health.” You may have seen today's guest on Tik Tok, Instagram, or YouTube because she's a sensation on social media. She's an OB/GYN who specializes in treating menopausal...

“We look at all these things that we shouldn't do, and we punish ourselves. Let's add the positive and naturally, these negative things will go away.” In this episode, I talk to Joey Thurman, a health, fitness, and nutrition expert and a trainer for celebrities, A-listers, and millionaires. He has appeared on numerous television shows as a fitness expert and his advice has been featured...

“I think another thing is this idea of lifelong learning. Now, it's kind of a buzzword. And there are lots of things about Drucker that have now become buzzwords. But Drucker really lived this idea of lifelong learning.” In this episode, I talk to Bruce Rosenstein, managing editor of Leader to Leader and author of “Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way” and “Living in More Than One World:...

“Everybody can learn to reinvent whatever it is you want to do. You just have to learn how to go about it.” Gendered ageism is the intersection of age and gender bias in the workplace. This is a growing concern for professional women. I talk to so many women about wanting to reinvent themselves and start a new career or get a new job. They’re hesitant because they feel as if they're dismissed...