The Seismic Shift with Michelle K. Johnston

What’s your next move? Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer joins this week’s episode of The Seismic Shift to help mid-career professionals, especially women, become more intentional about their career paths. In today’s conversation with Michelle, Cynthia shares her journey from corporate leadership to executive coaching, highlighting some key shifts in the modern workplace. Drawing from over 30 years in corpor...

What if the key to success, happiness, and fulfillment lies in designing a life filled with connection? Dr. Ruth Gotian and Ayse Birsel bring their expertise in high performance and human-centered design to this episode of The Seismic Shift—exploring the shifts that redefine leadership, collaboration, and friendship. Along with Michelle, Ruth and Ayse recount their journey of meeting through the 1...

AI is transforming the workplace, and leaders must adapt—or risk becoming obsolete. In this episode, Ted Elliott, CEO of Capado, shares how AI is reshaping DevOps, business strategy, and workplace culture. He explains how Capado’s "AI-first" approach helped the company turn a financial deficit into growth, and why AI should be embraced rather than feared. Ted discusses how AI can help leaders beco...

The Super Bowl is more than a game—it’s an opportunity to bring people together and showcase the culture, resilience, and vibrancy of an entire region. In our final Super Bowl episode of the week leading up to the game, Michelle is joined by some of Louisiana’s top leaders who are working behind the scenes to ensure that this event is a success for their entire state. Jill Kidder of Visit Baton Ro...

New Orleans isn’t just hosting the Super Bowl—it’s creating an experience like no other. In our second Super Bowl episode of the week, Michelle welcomes Sandra Lindquist, CEO of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, to talk about what makes New Orleans "built to host." The conversation touches on the city’s unique ability to bring people together, the impact of small businesses, and the spirit of r...

Todd Graves, founder of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, joins Michelle on one of this week’s special Super Bowl episodes of The Seismic Shift! As the King of the Super Bowl Host Committee Parade, Todd is embracing the opportunity to highlight Louisiana as a great place to live, work, and grow a business. During his conversation with Michelle, he discusses his leadership philosophy, the power of co...

For 25 years Bridgett Brown embodied what it meant to be beautiful according to society’s standards. A former Ford model, Bridgett appeared perfect, but in reality she was struggling with everything from eating disorders to suicidal ideation. On today’s powerful episode of The Seismic Shift, Michelle sits down with Bridgett to talk about how this former “it” girl went from the top of the beauty in...

Welcome to a whole new year and another truly impactful episode of The Seismic Shift. We’re starting off 2025 strong, talking with serial healthcare entrepreneur, Chantell Preston, all about how to actually achieve that always-elusive work-life integration. Let’s dive in!  Chantell has been starting her own companies since she was 27 years-old, and in that time she’s learned a thing or two about w...

How do we find that fire in our belly to do something truly revolutionary with our lives? Silicon Valley disruptor and current CEO of Corent Technology, Feyzi Fatehi, knows a thing or two when it comes to answering that question. For today’s episode of The Seismic Shift, Michelle sits down with Feyzi to take a look at his meteoric rise through some of the world’s top technology companies—outlining...

As leaders, it’s essential that we master the art of the delicate conversation to foster connection among the people we lead. But delicate conversations are just that … delicate, and it’s tempting to put them off. Today on The Seismic Shift, Michelle sits down with the world’s no. 1 startup coach, Alisa Cohn, to dive into how to have those delicate conversations we all dread, and how to have them...

For this week’s special, bonus episode of The Seismic Shift, Michelle has the privilege of sitting down with two of her colleagues at Loyola University New Orleans: the university’s new president—and first president of color—Dr. Xavier Cole, and Loyola’s interim dean of the College of Business, Dr. Bobby Savoie. It’s no secret that the value (and price tag) of higher education have come into quest...

The city of New Orleans recently experienced “the Taylor Swift effect”—the whole city coming together culturally and economically for the singer’s Eras Tour weekend. Today on The Seismic Shift, Michelle sits down with GNO, Inc. President & CEO Michael Hecht to talk all about how the city can recreate that sense of joy and belonging during next year’s Super Bowl.  As New Orleans natives, Michel...

We all have those things that are most important to us, but do our calendars actually reflect those priorities? This week on The Seismic Shift, Michelle is joined by an individual who has personally helped her make some of the biggest shifts of her professional life over the past six months. That person is former NFL coach turned executive coach, Taylor Johnson. Taylor is an expert when it comes t...

How do we deal with a micromanaging boss? What if you are that micromanaging boss? Can leading yourself well really bring purpose to even the most mundane job functions? On this week’s episode of The Seismic Shift, Michelle sits down with mother-daughter consulting team Lisa McLeod and Elizabeth Lotardo to answer these questions and more—focusing on the power we can all find in being our own best...

When Bart Foster was forced out of the company he founded, he was challenged to think about how to do business differently. In the aftermath his organization, Business Outside, was born—all about disrupting the ways we connect and working to foster those connections in whole new ways.  On today’s episode of The Seismic Shift, Michelle sits down with Bart—one of her good friends in business—to talk...

Welcome to season 3 of The Seismic Shift podcast! This season Michelle is sitting down with 20 bestselling authors—diving into how their work and research is shaking up the way we live and do business. Our first guest is organizational psychologist and chancellor professor, Steven Rogelberg. Steven is an expert when it comes to meetings, specifically how to build a better meeting.  During today’s...

Welcome back to season 3 of the Seismic Shift podcast!!  We're so excited to tell you all that it is launching on October 2nd.  The Seismic Shift podcast is sponsored by Loyola University New Orleans and we'll be interviewing 20 best selling authors and they'll be talking about the seismic shifts that are shaking up how we work and how we live.  So please tune in, like, subscribe, follow, share, a...

Original Aired Date: 7/13/2022   Every leader has their own story behind them, but do they truly own that same story? If we’re going to lead others through connection, we need to prioritize getting connected with ourselves first. To shed light on this central tenet of connective leadership, Michelle is joined by US Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth Polite, who, having grown up in the highly inca...

Original Aired Date: 2/8/2023   Ever wonder what takes place behind the scenes of a Super Bowl team? Learn leadership best practices from former Super Bowl Champion, Jon Stinchcomb. Jon played for The New Orleans Saints for 8 seasons and served on the offense with Drew Brews when they won Super Bowl XLIV. According to Jon, the secret sauce is not just skill level, it’s your character, how you trea...

Original Aired Date: 9/7/2022   Robért LeBlanc, Founder and CEO of LeBlanc + Smith, is a true servant leader who built his business around his people. “We want our team to enjoy themselves every day while learning and being really productive, and we want them to have joyful and balanced lives while doing so.” This mentality is not the norm in the hospitality industry, where burnout is high and qu...

Original Aired Date: 1/11/2023 Communication and connection are very different. With communication, it’s found to be more transactional getting from A to B. What we find with connecting with our teams in today's work environment now means something different perhaps than it did before. How seen are people? Do they feel heard? Are they cared for? 2022 Businessperson of the Year and the President an...

Original Aired Date: 10/5/2022 We believe that if you actually listen to your team, they will be more motivated to perform well and generate new ideas. Today we have Boysie Bollinger on the podcast to talk about how to listen to lead. Do you believe that lower-level employees often have observations that higher level leaders cannot see? Listen to learn and transform into a leader that listens! You...

Original Aired Date: 3/8/2023  For too long, there have been many experiences underneath the ego-forward leadership umbrella that ultimately have pushed people out the door. Can those past experiences lead to a greater understanding of how to change that narrative in our own leadership? Don McGuire seems to think so. In this episode, Michelle and Don McGuire, CMO of Qualcomm, discuss how empowerin...

Original Aired Date: 12/8/2022 Juan Martin is an executive who epitomes Kindness and Connection. As the Global President of KIND Snacks and Nature’s Bakery, Juan is genuinely trying to make the world a better place through acts of kindness. Juan believes Success is measured by how kind we are to ourselves, each other, and our planet. Tune in to today’s episode of The Seismic Shift podcast to learn...

Original Aired Date: 11/2/2022 Have you ever heard of a construction company that has a Culture of Happiness? Me, neither! But I just spent an afternoon with the leaders of Maxhome and it’s a real thing and it works! I was blown away by their positivity and enthusiasm for their company. Tune in to uncover how Larry Closs, Founder of MaxHome, built such a positive culture.  You can pick up a copy o...