UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders

What happens when integrity collides with convenience? In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Dr. Troy Hall and Trevor Crunelle chat with leadership coach, author, and podcaster Kathy Archer for a refreshingly honest conversation about confidence, competence, and the cost of leadership missteps. Kathy shares a pivotal UH-OH moment involving AI, trust, and a leadership value...

What happens when a leader’s best intentions quietly become a burden? In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Dr. Troy Hall and guest host, Trevor Crunelle, chat with Chris Lorence for a candid conversation about ambition, assumptions, and an unexpected leadership blind spot. Chris shares a powerful UH-OH moment that emerged from a leadership 360 assessment. While he was wide...

This Ground Zero episode sets the tone for UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders . Before the guests, our hosts made their fair share of mistakes. Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy kick things off by sharing their own leadership UH-OH moments. From a simple technical oversight that could have derailed a client experience, to career-limiting behaviors that quietly stalled advancement, this episod...

What happens when a leader wants to be liked more than trusted? In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders , John Little shares a pivotal leadership UH-OH from his early career at CNN. This mistake cost him credibility, confidence, and a leadership role. At just 27 years old, John stepped into leadership with good intentions and the wrong strategy: trying to be everyone’s friend....

What happens when success comes faster than wisdom? In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Donzel Leggett shares a powerful early-career UH-OH that many emerging leaders will recognize and few will admit. Thrust into management before he even wanted the role, Donzel felt the pressure to prove himself, deliver results, and not let anyone down. He did exactly that. And it near...

Regina Huber has lived in six countries, speaks multiple languages, knows dances from across Africa, and built businesses on two continents. But her biggest UH-OH didn’t happen on the dance floor. It happened in Brazil when a trusted business partner drained a joint account to buy himself a shiny new car, derailing their entire venture and leaving Regina with a $100,000 loss, an angry neighborhood...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Ben-Jamin Toy chats with the endlessly energetic Dr. Danny Brassell, a man who’s lived enough careers to fill a mini-series and enough UH-OH moments to keep it interesting. Danny opens up about the weekend he and his wife bought ten investment properties across the country, from Phoenix, to Salt Lake City, Mississippi, Indianapolis, and...

In this episode of Uh-Oh Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Dr. Troy and Ben-Jamin welcome the dynamic and deeply authentic Kenya Dunn. Known for her power, influence, and transparency, Kenya brings the kind of honesty leaders rarely show publicly. From plant lessons to business lessons, Kenya draws unexpected connections between growth, care, and the moments where everything nearly falls apart....

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, hosts Dr. Troy and Ben-Jamin Toy welcome Rosie Zilinskas. Rosie is a Certified High Performance Coach, keynote speaker, and founder of No Woman Left Behind. Rosie shares her powerful journey from surviving a difficult divorce to thriving as a corporate executive and coach dedicated to empowering women in the workplace. Listeners will he...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Dr. Troy and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with Jeff Price, CEO of Communications Advisory Service. Jeff opens up about the costly UH-OH that hit his company for $47,000 and the even bigger impact it had on his confidence, delegation habits, and leadership mindset. From learning to ask the obvious questions to understanding how integrity sometimes...

Even the best leaders have their UH-OH moments. For Danielle Shroyer, a seasoned HR leader turned coach, her big one came down to something deceptively simple: unclear expectations. In this episode, Dr. Troy and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with Danielle to unpack how a performance improvement plan turned into a lesson in communication, comprehension, and compassion. They talk accountability, silent toxicit...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with John Knowlton, a seasoned entrepreneur and C12 Coach, who shares the moment he realized that setting big goals without changing behavior is a recipe for frustration. John opens up about the year his wealth management firm set a $1 billion target... then stalled out. Through a candid discussion a...

What happens when everything you’ve built—your reputation, your funding, your credibility—is rooted in the wrong story? Dr. Deborah Heiser, founder of The Mentor Project and author of The Mentorship Edge , joins Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy to share the UH-OH moment that completely changed her career. As a young researcher in the field of aging, Deborah realized she was studying only one side o...

When leadership meets culture clash, lessons get learned the hard way. In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, host Ben-Jamin Toy chats with Kevin Wayne Johnson, founder of The Johnson Leadership Group, to unpack a defining leadership UH-OH. From his 34-year federal career to leading through union politics and organizational culture, Kevin shares what happens when you step in...

What happens when a leadership coach loses everything in one phone call? Dr. Andy Neillie joins hosts Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy for a candid, faith-filled conversation about what he learned when the 2008 crash forced him out of consulting and into an unexpected new career—running swim schools. Andy’s UH-OH moment was humbling. From keynote stages to cleaning up beer bottles by the pool, he l...

What happens when you spend nearly three decades ignoring the pull of entrepreneurship? In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with Yusef Marshall, a leader, coach, musician, author, and man of deep faith, who opens up about his biggest UH-OH — resisting the call to build something of his own. Yusef reveals how chasing stability cost him...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders , Ben-Jamin Toy chats with Jake Isaacs, a serial integrator, fixer, and behind-the-scenes operator who has made a career out of turning chaos into order. Jake shares his unlikely start working for the Chicago Bears as a teenager, his journey through hospitality, tech, and nonprofit leadership, and why he proudly embraces the role of “num...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Michelle Merritt, Chief Strategy Officer at D&S Executive Career Management, shares her UH-OH moment from early in her career. After accepting a role with an automatic “yes” and no negotiation, she later realized the long-term cost of leaving money on the table. Over time, that $10,000 gap added up to $1.4 million in lost earnings....

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, hosts Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with Mathias Lemos Castillo , founder of MLC Consulting. Mathias shares his most recent UH-OH moment: leading a presentation for board members when his laptop suddenly shut down mid-session. With only seconds to react, he pivoted to a backup computer, reconnected, and carried on, proving that l...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders , hosts Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with Will Crosswell, Chief Retail Officer at Ardent Credit Union. Will shares a pivotal career misstep when he walked into a credit union presentation underprepared and overconfident. Instead of gaining buy-in, he faced a hard reality check that became a turning point in his leadership journey...

What happens when your first big leadership role turns into a reality check? In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, hosts Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with Nick Wodogaza, a seasoned credit union executive and leadership advisor, to uncover the costly lesson he learned when he went from peer to manager overnight. Nick shares the UH-OH moment that reshaped his leadersh...

What happens when a leader realizes their team fears them? For bestselling author and speaker Kyle McDowell, that was the big UH-OH moment. In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Kyle shares how self-reflection and vulnerability transformed his leadership—from ego-driven “me” to purpose-driven “we.” Expect raw honesty, lessons on accountability, and a fresh perspective on wh...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Ben-Jamin Toy and Dr. Troy Hall sit down with marketing strategist and journalist Ellie White-Stevens to talk about the costly mistakes new business owners make and how to avoid them. Ellie shares her own “Double UH-OH” moments, from overlooking the value of a good bookkeeper and business attorney to discovering unexpected expenses that...

What happens when your future plans get completely rerouted at 18? In this raw and reflective episode, Jon Clark sits down with Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy to share his biggest UH-OH—becoming a father as a teenager—and how that life-altering moment shaped everything that followed. From trading dorm rooms for diapers to discovering the power of presence, Jon opens up about how his identity evol...

In this episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Joe Caruso shares a moment that almost turned into an UH-OH, and the unexpected tool that helped him avoid it: a sticky note. Listen in as Joe reflects on: The power of emotional regulation in leadership How a simple pause can change your next move Why it’s better to respond than to react especially when trust is on the line What it mea...