Deep Leadership

What if the biggest problem in our public schools isn't the teachers, but the leadership systems we've built around them? Teachers are overwhelmed. Principals are stretched thin. New initiatives, policies, and reporting requirements keep piling up. Yet despite everyone's best efforts, many schools continue to struggle. What if we're trying to solve the wrong problem? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I sit down with Dr. Lindsay Whorton, President of the Holdsworth Center and author of A New School Leadership Architecture, to explore why our public schools have a leadership problem and what we can...

Why Running From Fear Makes Everything Worse. What do you do when a wild lion charges straight at you? Your natural instinct is to run. But running might be the worst decision you could make. And as it turns out, the same lesson applies to leadership and life. In this episode of Deep Leadership, I sit down with David Gerber, a mental performance coach for professional athletes and executives, TEDx speaker, partner at Novus Global, and author of The Lion Is You. David has spent weeks tracking wild lions on foot in the African wilderness...

Leadership isn't about you. It's about the people you lead. Too many leaders focus on delivering their message, sharing their vision, and telling people what to do. But what if the secret to effective leadership isn't about what you say, but how you make people think, feel, and act? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I sit down with Bob Rogers, founder of BRC Imagination Arts and author of Deep Story. Bob began his career as a magician at Disneyland and went on to create award-winning experiences for organizations like Disney, NASA, Ford, Coca-Cola, and...

What if the second half of your life could actually be better than the first? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I sit down with Dr. Kenneth Ro, a double board-certified physician with more than 35 years of experience on the front lines of medicine and the author of Prime: How to Win in the Second Half of Life. After treating more than 170,000 patients, Dr. Ro noticed a troubling pattern: successful men were quietly struggling with declining energy, burnout, changing health, and a loss of identity, often accepting it all as a normal part of getting older. <...

Stop Trying to Manage Uncertainty. Use It. Uncertainty isn’t going away. In fact, it may be the new normal. So instead of trying to manage change, what if leaders learned how to use it to their advantage? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Hall of Fame speaker, award-winning author, and leadership expert Meridith Elliott Powell. Meridith has spent more than 25 years studying how leaders and organizations navigate economic downturns, disruption, and constant change. We discuss why the leaders who thrive in uncertain environments think differently, why acti...

What if you can’t fix your entire company, but you can build an exceptional team within it? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I’m joined by Stephen Baer, serial entrepreneur, investor, and bestselling author of Stickology: How to Build Unbreakable Connections with Employees and Customers for Life. Stephen has spent his career studying a question every leader should care about: Why do people stay, and why do they leave? We discuss why employee engagement shouldn’t be treated as an HR initiative, how the employee experience directly affects the customer experience, and why people...

What happens when your identity is built on achievement, and then everything you’ve achieved disappears? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I talk with Steve "Moby" Leitch, Amazon bestselling author, endurance athlete, leadership coach, and one of only a small number of people to complete the Ocean Seven. Steve shares his remarkable journey from success to losing his business, marriage, health, and sense of identity, and how he rebuilt his life through faith, discipline, purpose, and self-leadership. We discuss why leadership starts long before you lead anyone else, the danger of tying yo...

Strategy is not planning. And being busy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being strategic. In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Charlie Curson, founder of Mandarin and author of the international bestselling book Be More Strategic. Charlie has spent more than 25 years helping leaders around the world develop their ability to think strategically and make better decisions in complex environments. We discuss why so many leaders confuse strategy with planning, why operationally strong leaders can struggle when they move into strategic roles, and how strategic thinking is a capability that c...

What if one of the best signs of leadership is that your business runs better when you’re not there? In this episode, I sit down with Joe Sandin, founder and CEO of Onsharp, a software company he started from his college dorm room more than 26 years ago. Joe built the company without outside investment, choosing to grow at his own pace while focusing on relationships, culture, and building a business designed to last. We talk about the difficult transition every entrepreneur eventually faces: moving from doing the work yourself to trusting other people to le...

Hope is not a strategy. In this episode of Deep Leadership, I sit down with Alan Porter, a retired U.S. Army Blackhawk instructor pilot, financial fiduciary, author, and founder of Strategic Wealth Strategies. Alan spent more than 21 years in the Army, where he learned that when the pressure is highest, you don’t rise to the occasion. You fall back on your preparation. Today, he applies that same philosophy to financial stewardship, risk management, and helping leaders prepare for the unexpected. We discuss: • What military aviation teaches us about leadership and...

What if some of the best answers to today’s leadership challenges were written thousands of years ago? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Josh Herring, Director of the Logres Institute for Classical Liberal Studies, Curriculum Program Manager for the Rafiki Foundation, and author of Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve: C.S. Lewis’s Images of Gender. Josh makes the case that modern education has increasingly emphasized skills and credentials while losing touch with the deeper intellectual traditions that once shaped leaders and critical thinkers. We discuss what l...

Too many ideas can be just as dangerous as too few. In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I talk with David Fung, a former senior director at Salesforce who spent more than 20 years in tech before founding Coachful Coaching. David has led high-performing teams through constant change, and today he helps leaders navigate transitions, build resilience, and lead with greater clarity. We discuss why one of the most important jobs of a leader is not generating more ideas, but filtering them before they reach the team. David explains how leaders can unintentionally overwhelm...

What do your toughest decisions reveal about who you really are as a leader? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I talk with Dr. Fay Niewiadomski, international award-winning change management strategist, cultural transformation consultant, and author of Decisions That Matter. Fay has spent decades working with leaders, CEOs, board members, presidents, and government ministers around the world. We explore why leadership is ultimately revealed through the decisions we make, especially when our values are tested. Fay explains why leaders need to establish their boundaries before a crisis hits, what happens when personal and organizational values...

Conflict is unavoidable in leadership. The question is whether you deal with it or let it grow. In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Irvine Nugent, leadership and conflict management expert, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Conflict EQ. Growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles gave Irvin an early and deeply personal understanding of conflict, trust, and the consequences of unresolved tension. We discuss why leaders often avoid difficult conversations, how conflict can actually become a productive force, and why staying calm under pressure isn’t necessarily the same...

What if the biggest mistake a small business can make is trying to operate like a big company? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Sri Kaza, seasoned business leader, former McKinsey advisor, entrepreneur, and author of Unconvention. After studying thousands of small businesses and examining which ones survived major disruptions, Sri discovered something surprising: the companies that endured weren’t necessarily following conventional business wisdom. They were doing things differently. Sri explains why small businesses have advantages that large corporations struggle to replicate, including close relationships with cust...

As AI continues to reshape the workplace, what will separate the people who thrive from those who get left behind? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I’m joined by Katie O’Malley, executive coach, leadership educator, and founder of Encourage Coaching. Katie has spent more than 20 years helping people build meaningful careers, become stronger leaders, and create more courageous workplace cultures. We discuss why the future of work may depend less on technical skills and more on the distinctly human skills that AI can’t replicate. Katie explains why critical thinking, learning agility, communication, empath...

What if the biggest thing holding your team back is you? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Dave Garrison, leadership strategist, former CEO, and co-author of The Buy-In Advantage. Dave has spent more than 25 years helping leaders build organizations where employees don’t just show up, they bring their ideas, energy, and initiative with them. We discuss why great leaders stop trying to have all the answers and instead learn how to develop better thinkers. Dave explains how leaders can unintentionally train employees to depend on them, turning themselves into...

What does your voice say about you before people even process your words? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Carl DuPont, co-author of The Presence Principle and an expert in executive presence, vocal intelligence, and leadership communication. Carl explains why our voices reveal far more than we realize and how leaders can use tone, inflection, rhythm, volume, and even silence to communicate confidence and build trust. We also explore the connection between vocal intelligence and emotional intelligence, why staying calm matters when the pressure is on, and how le...

What if the biggest mistake you’re making as a leader is spending too much time on your low performers? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I sit down with Mike Goldman, leadership team coach, TEDx speaker, and USA Today bestselling author of The Strength of Talent: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Profit. Mike challenges the traditional approach to performance management and explains why leaders often spend far too much time trying to fix struggling employees while neglecting their very best people. We discuss why annual performance reviews are broken, how to id...

How Great Leaders Stay Calm Under Pressure What does it take to stay calm when lives are on the line? In this episode of the Deep Leadership podcast, I sit down with Noel Cardenas, retired U.S. Army Colonel and CEO of Memorial Hermann Southeast & Pearland Hospitals, to explore what leadership looks like under the most demanding conditions imaginable. Noel shares lessons from building a 164-bed combat support hospital in Iraq in just 48 hours, leading hundreds of soldiers during two combat deployments, and guiding healthcare teams through the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss why...