The Leadership Growth Podcast

Lead is a verb, says today’s guest, John Zorbini. John is a successful executive coach, consultant, speaker, facilitator, and adjunct professor and long-time colleague of the Stewart Leadership team. For 30 years, John has held various leadership roles for three of Wisconsin's largest employers, spending 25 of those years in the Chief Human Resources Officer position. In today’s conversation,...

What happens when you stop trusting your gut and let AI do your thinking? Today’s guest says that’s when people start to lose themselves inside AI. “Instead of coming to a problem with your own brief or with your own kind of institutional knowledge, you're letting AI drive your own narrative for you and then just accepting that as fact,” says Elizabeth Rosenberg. Elizabeth is the Founder of b...

Everyone faces adversity. Today’s guest asks, “If something happens that derails your life, what is the initiative that you're willing to take to pave the road to make things possible?” After losing his sight in 2011, André van Hall learned first-hand what it meant to face adversity and reinvent himself. After a career in hospitality, he pivoted to become an author, speaker, and self-styled C...

From food delivery to dating, much of modern life is designed to help us eliminate friction. But today’s guest suggests that we may have eliminated too much friction. Ross Blankenship is an organizational psychologist, executive coach, and author who works with CEOs and senior leadership teams on the human side of leadership. In his forthcoming book, Friction: Uncover the Power of Leading Through...

By the time you read this sentence, the AI landscape has already changed, says Bala Muthiah, Director of Engineering for Lyft. “It’s like A Tale of Two Cities ,” he says, citing the tension between champions and skeptics. “There are dreamers, and we need them. And there is a realism when code goes to production.” In this conversation with Daniel and Peter, Bala shares his insights about how to bal...

Resilience isn't a personality trait, says today's guest, Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier. "It is a state” that runs from high to low on a continuum. Dr. Pelletier, also known as MH, is a leadership psychologist, executive coach, and senior leader with over twenty years of experience across the corporate, insurance, and governance sectors. Her award-winning book, The Resilience Plan , wa...

“Change fatigue is real,” says today’s guest, Tiffany Harvey. “And everyone really navigates change very differently.” Tiffany is a Gallup-certified CliftonStrengths® coach and client partner to Gallup. She led the CliftonStrengths program at Southwest Airlines for five years and now works as a Human Resources Manager at HOAM Ventures. In this episode, Tiffany talks to Daniel and Peter about what...

Between 45 and 50% of your daily actions are habitual, says today’s guest, Dr. Ron Dufresne. Dr. Dufresne is a Professor of Management and Director of the Leadership, Ethics and Organizational Sustainability Program at St. Joseph’s University. He focuses on leadership and ethics with a particular emphasis on the role of character in leadership. Daniel and Peter welcome Ron to discuss habits and th...

What if the same drive that built your career is quietly eroding your relationships at home? When leaders ignore how their behaviors at work are affecting their most important relationships, it leads to exhaustion and burnout, says Lisa Skeffington. “It’s that constant pushing through the whole time, and it’s depleting your physiology without you even realizing that it happens,” she says. Lisa is...

Whether it’s your first leadership role or one you’ve entered after decades of leading people, one thing is sure: your first 90 days in a new position can make or break your tenure. In today’s conversation, Daniel and Peter look at what leaders should and shouldn’t do during their first 90 days. “It’s not a standard checklist for everybody,” says Peter, “and not everybody’s going to come in and do...

When it comes to AI, just about everyone is experiencing some “fear of missing out” right now, says Melissa Reeve. “It’s not just executives. It’s not just your average individual. It’s even people who are writing the code.” Humans are “not equipped to absorb these changes so quickly,” she says. Melissa is the creator of the Hyperadaptive Model and author of Hyperadaptive: Rewiring the Enterprise...

Do you have 27 years of experience or one year repeated 27 times? Too many people find themselves stuck on repeat in their careers–doing the same thing over and over without new challenges or opportunities. While it’s true that everyone bears some responsibility for personal career development, organizations should be part of that process as well. In part two of their conversation about connecting...

What does it mean to be a “flawless” leader? And is “flawless” leadership even possible? Today’s guest believes it is. Christian “Boo” Boucousis is an author, keynote speaker, and CEO of Afterburner, an organization dedicated to building flawless leaders by applying principles and systems fighter pilots use to perform to their exacting standards. In this conversation with Daniel and Peter, Boo out...

Complicated. Difficult. Overwhelming. These are some of the most common words leaders use when facing talent development and succession planning. What positions are most critical, important, or essential? Who are the best candidates for development? And how can you connect it all to an overall strategy? In today’s episode, Daniel and Peter break it down into a three-step process designed to give o...

Moving into a leadership role involves a lot more than just updating your e-mail signature with your new title. It requires shifting your mindset from the things that made you a successful individual contributor to things that will make you a successful leader. In today’s episode of The Leadership Growth Podcast , Daniel Stewart and Peter Stewart take a deep dive into what makes a successful leade...

“AI might know more than you, but it doesn’t know better than you,” says Dr. Gena Hoxha in today’s episode. Gena is the Chief People Officer and Chief AI Officer at Ignitium, a provider of world-class Account-Based Marketing (ABM) programs for enterprise organizations. She holds a PhD in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University and seeks to help leaders pursue AI integration with foresight, not...

“It’s not about kind of handing away our decision-making rights,” says Dr. Reece Akhtar. “It’s about using AI as a tool–emphasis on a tool–to help us become smarter humans, not the other way around.” Dr. Akhtar is the CEO of Deeper Signals, an end-to-end Soft Skills Intelligence platform designed to help organizations make smarter and fairer talent decisions. He is a contributor to Harvard Busines...

When most people say they want to “be authentic,” what they really mean is they want to be comfortable, says Dr. Laura Sicola. But “comfort zones and authenticity have nothing to do with each other when it comes to real performance,” she says. Laura Sicola is a cognitive linguist, communication expert, speaker, and coach who helps leaders become master influencers. Her TEDx presentation, “Want to...

“Whys unite and whats divide,” says Haydn Shaw. Haydn is the founder of People Driven Results and the author of Sticking Points: How to Get 5 Generations Working Together in the 12 Places They Come Apart . Hailed by Time Magazine as an expert on cultural differences in the workplace, Haydn focuses on helping generations work together better with a combination of clear insight, humor, and practical...

Imagine being “paid to judge people”! That’s how today’s guest jokingly describes his role. Tom Verboven is a Senior Director of Client Success at Mercer Talent Enterprise, where he advises clients on how to drive value through effective human capital strategies. In this conversation with Daniel and Peter, Tom offers his insights and advice for navigating a leadership assessment landscape that now...

No one attends a team offsite wanting it to be a failure, says Daniel. Unsuccessful offsites are perceived as “a bad waste of time.” So what makes an offsite successful–and how can an offsite have a lasting, positive impact on your team or organization? In this episode, Daniel and Peter break down the elements of a successful team offsite and give suggestions for how to make your next one the best...

As a consultant and coach, Lorraine Armijos, founder of LAR Insights, has observed many leaders struggle to respond when she asks how they measure success. The first response, she says, “is just a blank stare.” Some leaders gauge success entirely on revenue numbers. And finally, many leaders give a “laundry list of things.” “It’s really important to start with what problem you’re trying to solve,”...

“If you’re not clear on who you are, then the people around you are not going to be clear on where they’re going,” says Dominic George. Dominic is a leadership strategist, executive coach, and founder of Vision Leadership for Life. He helps high-performing leaders rise into senior leadership without sacrificing their identity, values, or wellbeing. In this conversation with Daniel and Peter, Domin...

When you don’t delegate, you risk impairing the growth of your organization, says Daniel in today’s episode of The Leadership Growth Podcast. “That is a very limiting, very restrictive mindset,” he says. Choosing not to delegate will create bottlenecks in a system, and bottlenecks create inefficiencies. Delegating can be tough for many leaders. Personality traits, poor experiences, and even fears...

Many leaders grew up with a mindset that encouraged giving 120% all day, every day. But giving 120% all the time is not your best, says Amanda Younts, because it’s not sustainable. Known to her audience as The Midlife Catalyst, Amanda promotes a leadership model that encourages self-compassion–a model that sustains leadership performance and improves the workplace for both leaders and their people...