The Self-Leadership Lab

What if being physically fit and being mentally resilient require the same fundamental skill: learning how to train yourself? Erwan Le Corre has spent decades exploring that question. As the founder of MovNat, Erwan teaches people to rediscover the natural movements we once performed instinctively as children. Running, jumping, climbing, crawling, balancing, lifting, and carrying aren't simply exe...

What if you could pursue ambitious goals without sacrificing your happiness along the way? Jay Abbasi spent years building a successful career in demanding corporate environments, including Tesla. But when his father died unexpectedly at just 55, Jay began questioning what success really meant and whether he was living the life he actually wanted. Today, Jay is a keynote speaker, workshop facilita...

Heather O'Brien knows what it's like to love God and still struggle with depression, anxiety, fear, and feelings of unworthiness. Today, she's a Christian healing coach, Bible teacher, and host of the Heal with God podcast. But her work grew out of her own journey toward faith, forgiveness, and learning to see herself differently. In this conversation, Heather and I explore what it means to have a...

What are you getting fit for? For Kade Jungkurth, fitness used to be largely about changing his body. Today, it means something much bigger. Kade is the founder of Fitness Jungkie, author of The Fit 4 Life Performance Planner, and a coach who has helped more than 1,000 people improve their health and fitness. In this conversation, Kade shares how the death of a close friend and client helped recon...

Why do we struggle to make habits stick, even when we genuinely want to change? Connie Kwan believes we may be starting in the wrong place. Connie is a former Silicon Valley product executive who worked on technology designed to help people quit smoking. What she discovered was that the people who successfully changed weren't necessarily the ones with the most willpower. They had developed a compe...

Jorge Avalos was told he would never walk again. After 22 years in the Army, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, multiple combat injuries, a devastating skydiving accident, paralysis, numerous surgeries, and later being struck by a pickup truck while cycling, Jorge has had plenty of reasons to quit. He didn't but this conversation isn't about refusing to quit. It's about what Jorge chose to do wi...

At 19 years old, Garrett Mintz was facing a future that looked very different from the one he's living today. After dealing drugs from ages 15 to 19, Garrett received five felony distribution charges, was expelled from Indiana University, and faced the possibility of prison. Then something happened that would change the trajectory of his life. People believed in him. Garrett describes having peopl...

What could 12 years as a pastor possibly have in common with 24 years as an FBI agent? More than you might think. My guest this week is Eric Robinson, a recently retired FBI Special Agent whose career took an unusual path. Before joining the Bureau, Eric spent 12 years in ministry and eventually became a senior pastor. But ministry was taking a toll. Eric found himself carrying the problems of the...

What does it mean to look for good when your circumstances don't feel good at all? That's not a hypothetical question for Kathy Rogers. Kathy is the author of Look for Good: Discovering God in Grief, Celebration, and the Everyday. Her message has been tested through cancer, the death of her mother, and the unimaginable loss of her 29-year-old daughter, Elena. And yet Kathy still chooses to look fo...

What if personal growth isn't always about becoming more? What if sometimes it's about becoming more fully who you already are? Brian Miller is the president of Coach Approach Ministries and founder of P3 Leadership, where his work focuses on presence, partnership, purpose, and helping people grow through what he calls “drawing out rather than pouring in.” That simple idea took our conversation so...

What if becoming a better leader has less to do with learning how to lead others and more to do with learning how to lead yourself? My guest this week is Ahmet Bozer, former President of Coca-Cola International and author of Soulgery: Unlock Your Potential. After spending 26 years at Coca-Cola and eventually overseeing the company's operations outside North America, Ahmet entered the next chapter...

What if becoming the person you think you should be is actually keeping you from becoming who you are? Tripp Lanier has spent more than 20 years coaching men, executives, business owners, and high performers. He's the author of This Book Will Make You Dangerous and host of The New Man Podcast. His work explores a deceptively simple question: What does it take to stop settling and actually feel ali...

What if asking for help isn't weakness, but one of the strongest things a man can do? Mike Van Pelt joins The Self-Leadership Lab for a wide-ranging conversation about what it means to be a man in today's world and why we were never meant to navigate life alone. Mike is the founder of True Man Life Coaching, host of the True Man Podcast, author of True Man True Ways, and founder of American Family...

When I started The Self-Leadership Lab, I thought I was creating a podcast to help other people learn how to lead themselves. One hundred episodes later, I think the person it has taught the most might be me. For this special 100th episode, I'm looking back at five lessons that have changed how I understand self-leadership: You have to be honest with yourself. Discipline is an act of stewardship....

What does it take to write more than 50 books while building a successful career as a professional voice actor? This week on The Self-Leadership Lab, Bobby welcomes bestselling author and voice actor Aaron Ryan for a fascinating conversation about creativity, entrepreneurship, writing, and the opportunities, and challenges, facing creators in the age of artificial intelligence. Aaron shares his un...

Have you ever felt like you're trying to become someone else just to be enough? In this solo episode, I share a realization that has reshaped the way I think about personal growth and self-leadership. Inspired by Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David, we'll explore a different way of thinking about growth and not by adding more to our lives, but by removing everything that isn't truly us. Toget...

How well do you really know yourself? More importantly… How do other people experience you? This week on The Self-Leadership Lab, Bobby Shelton welcomes organizational psychologist Dr. Mark Smith for a fascinating conversation about leadership assessments, hiring, organizational culture, and the hidden blind spots that limit our growth. Drawing on decades of experience assessing leaders, Dr. Smith...

What if the hardest moment of your life became the very thing that gave your life greater purpose? This week on The Self-Leadership Lab, Bobby sits down with Tyler Moon, a sudden cardiac arrest survivor, speaker, and author, to discuss one remarkable question: What do you do after life gives you a second chance? At just 25 years old, Tyler collapsed during the Twin Cities 10-Mile Race and received...

What if the biggest battle you'll ever fight isn't on a battlefield—but within yourself? This week on The Self-Leadership Lab, Bobby Shelton welcomes retired Navy SEAL Commander, bestselling author, and leadership expert Mark Divine for a conversation that goes far beyond resilience and performance. Mark shares the unlikely path that led him from Wall Street to the Navy SEALs, how meditation resha...

Why do so many leaders spend Sunday evening worrying about Monday morning? According to leadership consultant Ed Potoczak, the answer usually isn't the workload. It's the people dynamics underneath it. In this episode of The Self-Leadership Lab, Ed shares why so many organizations struggle with misaligned teams, unclear communication, and cultures where people don't feel seen, valued, or respected...

What if stress, burnout, poor health, and disconnection aren't separate problems? What if they're signals that something deeper has fallen out of alignment? In this episode of The Self-Leadership Lab, I sit down with Dr. Mickra Hamilton, author of The Coherence Effect, to explore what it means to bring our minds, bodies, relationships, values, and actions back into coherence. Mickra spent 30 years...

What separates truly exceptional leaders from everyone else? According to leadership consultant and author Judith Germain, it's not charisma, confidence, or authority. It's the courage to think differently while remaining committed to the good of others. In this episode of The Self-Leadership Lab, Bobby sits down with Judith, author of The Maverick Paradox, to explore why the best leaders challeng...

Is work-life balance even possible? According to leadership steward Roxanne Shapiro, the better question is whether we're living in harmony. In this episode of The Self-Leadership Lab, Bobby sits down with Roxanne for a conversation that challenges many of today's assumptions about leadership. Together they explore why self-awareness, emotional intelligence, relationships, and personal harmony sha...

We spend nearly one-third of our lives asleep, yet many of us sacrifice it in the name of productivity. In this episode of The Self-Leadership Lab, I sit down with sleep medicine physician Dr. Benjamin Long to explore why sleep may be the most overlooked pillar of physical health, mental clarity, emotional resilience, and spiritual well-being. Together we discuss the science behind REM sleep, deep...

What if the biggest obstacle to personal growth isn't a lack of discipline—but a lack of awareness? In this episode of The Self-Leadership Lab, I sit down with leadership coach and co-author of Live Fully. Lead Authentically, Kurt Bush, to explore how our everyday encounters reveal the patterns that quietly shape our lives. Kurt introduces a powerful framework for recognizing the moments that trig...