The Leadership Tales Podcast with Colin Hunter

“To build those social relationships, you have to have a healthy relationship with yourself. You have to be able to have those internal reflections that will help you move forward.”  Emma Weber is helping people build those reflection muscles in our fast-paced world. She is the founder of Lever – Transfer of Learning and developer of the Turning Learning into Action™ methodology. In 2002, Emm...

Paul and I had a great chat about the balance between productive pressure and work-life balance (or as I like to say, just plain “life balance”), and the disclaimer he put in his email footer to make people’s lives better.  Paul Day is the Group Head of Internal Audit at Standard Chartered Bank, a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasur...

Imagine you’re on stage giving a talk, and right in the front row you see one person scowling at you the entire way through. What do you do?  With a sense of humor and curiosity, Chris Tuff approached the enemy in the front row after the event—and the two are now best friends. Connecting with even the most unlikely of folks is a skill of Chris’s.  Through his energy, humor, and captivati...

“Most of the people who come to me have an abundance of creativity, an abundance of ideas. That’s not the problem. But what they don’t have, is ways of converting that creative energy into projects that get done.”  What an inspiring conversation with Charlie Gilkey! Charlie is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a website that helps changemakers (creatives, leaders, and entrepreneurs) star...

Today on the Leadership Tales Podcast, we look at a leader in a very different field and interview US Air Force F-16 fighter pilot and squadron leader Michelle “MACE” Curran. Michelle is a fascinating leader and author who is inspiring the next generation of pilots and leaders. What lessons can we learn from someone whose leadership experience stems from a military background, where proper communi...

What a deep and inspiring conversation—par for the course with this man, though! Bryan and I started working together last year to fuel my work in changing leadership for a better world, and I couldn’t be happier that we’ve gotten to know each other.  Bryan Wish is the Founder and CEO of Arcbound, an innovative company that helps thought leaders launch their arcs through a full suite of produ...

Absolutely fascinating—Gautam’s research on how we choose our leaders, and the phenomenon of “unfiltered” leaders who bypass the traditional and risk-averse selection process, is eye-opening for anyone in the leadership arena, whether they’re selecting leaders or leading themselves. Gautam Mukunda is a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, author of Indispen...

“I was so happy to hear him talk about his sister not in a negative way, but just that she’s different.” We know our parenting efforts are paying off when we overhear our children speaking of others’ struggles with kindness, understanding, and compassion. What a wonderful conversation!  Mike Porath is the Founder and CEO of The Mighty, the world’s largest health community. Mike founded The Mi...

Who knew that one could look so youthful yet call themselves an elder?! Michael Bungay Stanier (or as he’s often nicknamed, MBS) and I had a good laugh recording this episode as we chatted about the values of leading like an “elder,” despite looking and sounding much more like a 28-year-old ‘bloke’ (British version of man, chap…you can choose your own word).  Michael Bungay Stanier is the aut...

Series 3 contained some of the best interviews we’ve had yet, and in today's bonus episode, we are going to highlight a few of Colin's favorite moments with the guests. This episode features highlights from Johnathan and Melissa Nightingale, Mark Green, Melanie Dulbecco, Carolyn Swora, Jon Alexander, and Stephen Shedletzky. Let’s dive right in.

Today on the Leadership Tales Podcast, we’re presenting a special bonus episode looking back at some of the highlights from our previous series. We’ve had a lot of fascinating guests on the show, and I want to highlight a few of what I think are the greatest moments we’ve had over the podcast’s run. So, we’ve gone back and found some of the best clips from Series One and Series Two and have compil...

Stephen ‘Shed’ Shedletzky is an author, keynote speaker and seasoned leadership coach. His work focuses on inclusion, diversity and psychological safety in the workplace. Stephen explores how we can create and maintain culture and collaboration in our teams even whilst transitioning into a remote or hybrid working space. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how questioning beliefs and building trust a...

Jon Alexander is a seasoned advertising executive. Jon is using his experience in communicating ideas effectively to go beyond the retail and service space to address the larger social and political problems we face in today’s world. In his new book, ‘Citizens: Why The Key to Fixing Everything Is All Of Us’ , Jon explores how leaders can facilitate change beyond the walls of their business and how...

Carolyn Swora is an author who has had a long career focusing on making substantial changes in leadership and organization. In her upcoming book ‘Evolving’ , Carolyn delves into how what she calls trauma informed leadership can transform the way that teams interact. With a focus on empathy, compassion, and simply listening to our teams, Carolyn’s work encourages us to grow as leaders and as people...

Melanie Dulbecco is the CEO of Torani, a mutli-million dollar company with roots in a family business founded in 1925. As the business has grown, expanded and undergone serious challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and ‘The Great Resignation’, Melanie has embodied the company’s values of improving community, encouraging upward mobility and using business as a force for good. In today’s episode...

Michele Aikens is an author, mother, and experienced thought leader in the development space. After losing her position as a high-level magazine publisher, Michele suffered her greatest professional setback. She found herself reassessing what made her valuable beyond her career in publishing. In her latest book ‘Consider The Possibilities’ , Michele explores reframing one’s life after an unexpecte...

Indigenous-born recruitment leader Jennifer Ménard-Shand has a long and fruitful career in the hospitality recruitment industry. After growing up through a difficult childhood, Jennifer dealt with anxiety and imposter syndrome for the first phase of her professional life. Jennifer has gone on to become a mentor to many culturally oppressed communities via her work in the corporate space. In today’...

Mónica Guzmán is a journalist and author of the new book, ‘I Never Thought Of It That Way’ . As a child of Mexican immigrants with Republican political leanings, Mónica learnt first hand that her Democratic political stance could not be successfully communicated by arguing with her parents. Over the course of her successful career, Mónica has cultivated a means of successfully broaching even the m...

Mark Green is the author of the new book, ‘Activators’ . In the book, Mark mines the depth of leadership experience and thought development knowledge that his long career in banking, IT, and business growth has cultivated in order to deliver a practical guide for leaders and teams at all levels.  In today’s episode, you’ll learn how questions can be more impactful than statements, how expandi...

Kris Kelso has led a career with many facets. A former software engineer, Kris continued his career into team coaching and leadership consulting. His new book, ‘Overcoming The Imposter’ , deals with the common feelings of not feeling deserving of the success we can find as leaders. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to work outside of your comfort zone to achieve greater success and satisfaction...

Leslie Ehm is an author, a leader, and the founder of several team training companies. With experience working on several continents and for prestigious brands like Google, Leslie has honed a highly effective practice of bringing out the authentic potential in herself and the teams she coaches. Her new book ‘Swagger’ is the distillation of her life’s work and a personal handbook for leaders lookin...

Tiziana Casciaro is an Italian-born leadership expert with a rich, diverse background in social science, philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology.  Alongside her co-author Julie Battliana, Tiziana has written a comprehensive and practical study on success. With a focus on balance, particularly the balance of confidence and humility, ‘ Power, For All’ is a book that enables today’s leaders to...

Husband and wife team Jonathan and Melissa Nightingale are a Toronto-based leadership development initiative called Raw Signal Group. With backgrounds in engineering at Mozilla, experience in public relations, and tech start-ups development, Jonathan and Melissa started Raw Signal Group in 2017 with the aim to bring pragmatic, focused leadership techniques to bosses, CEOs and MDs in all fields.&nb...

Mita Mallick is the Head of Inclusion, Equity, and Impact at Carta, and host of The Brown Table Talk Podcast. She has lived the experience of progress in inclusion beyond a mere academic exercise. After growing up in an immigrant Indian-American household, Mita experienced racism and sexism first hand.  This lived experience has become Mita’s life’s work; identifying and endeavoring to rectif...

James Turner is a seasoned CFO and leader with experience working for Barclays and Pru. James’ expertise lies in finding the ideal candidates to build a team which functions at the highest possible level. He shares his insights into the challenges of inclusive hiring and what it takes to be a courageous, vulnerable and strong leader. Listen to today’s episode to learn what to look for at the recru...