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Forward-Looking Leadership

Forward-Looking Leadership

Hosted by Dan Freehling

BusinessManagement
WebsiteRSS feed

Episodes

30

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN

About the show

This is a podcast for visionary leaders building future-ready organizations. You’ll come away from each episode with fresh, in-depth insights on all things leadership and career development.

Listen to episodes

31 recent
June 16, 202644 min

BoardBridge Co-Founder Stephe McMahon on How to Join a Nonprofit Board, Why It Beats Traditional Leadership Development, and the Power of Your 'New Kid Card'

Stephe McMahon (boardbridge.com, linkedin.com/in/stephe-mcmahon-3b2750/), co-founder and Chief BridgeBuilder at BoardBridge, which empowers corporate employees to serve on nonprofit boards, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to dig into why there are more than a million open seats on nonprofit boards and how to close the gap. Stephe explains why the on-ramp to board service is so unclear and how BoardBridge lowers the barrier for individuals and nonprofits alike (01:18). He shares his advice for aspiring board members (07:55) and gives a crash course on board service (14:20). Stephe and Dan discuss board service as a form of leadership development, including new Taproot Foundation and PwC research showing pro bono service outperforms traditional training on human skills (17:44). Stephe makes the case for using your "new kid card" and what good governance actually looks like (32:25) and walks through the BoardBridge process end to end (38:10). Recommended Reading: BoardSource's resources and Taproot Foundation and PwC's "Human Skills at Work" report. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

June 2, 202634 min

Lauren Goldberg on Working With Your ADHD Instead of Against It, Leading Neurodivergent Teams, and When Overconfidence Is Insecurity in Disguise

Lauren Goldberg (laurengoldbergcoaching.com, linkedin.com/in/lauren-e-goldberg/), a career self-discovery and leadership coach for changemakers working with their ADHD instead of against it, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com). Lauren explains why the ADHD label is just bad branding and what leaders can actually do to support neurodivergent team members (00:39). She unpacks internalized ableism and what it looks like to turn down the volume on the inner critic and work with your natural wiring rather than against it (03:50). Lauren and Dan explore why overconfidence and under-confidence so often come from the same place, and how to build confidence that is not rooted in self-judgment (08:33). Lauren describes the exhausting cost of masking and the freedom of embracing the unique shape that school never made room for (13:03). She also shares how she is rethinking her own inner bully and inner best friend language through the lens of parts work (20:24). The conversation turns to the new frontiers she’s exploring in her practice, from nonviolent communication and decolonizing the framework to moving from canceling toward calling people in (24:03). Lauren lays out the crux of Marshall Rosenberg's nonviolent communication (29:12) and closes with book recommendations through a disability justice lens (31:58). Recommended Reading: "Nonviolent Communication" by Marshall B. Rosenberg, "Decolonizing Nonviolent Communication" by Meenadchi, "Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel" by Loretta Ross, "The Body Is Not an Apology" by Sonya Renee Taylor, "Being Heumann" by Judy Heumann, and "Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice" by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

May 19, 202659 min

Navid Ladha on Why Low Pay Is a Leadership Problem, Finding Hidden Remote Roles, and the Future of Social Impact

Navid Ladha (linkedin.com/in/navidladha/, onpurposecareers.org), founder of OnPurpose Careers, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to challenge the notion that purpose-driven work has to come with lower pay. Navid and Dan discuss why underpaying social impact staff creates wealth inequity that disconnects organizations from the communities they serve (02:53) and walk through what job seekers, board members, and executive leaders can each do to shift this (04:10). Navid shares his take on what AI-driven workforce changes may mean for the social sector (08:44) and the policy levers that could bring more people into this work (12:09). Navid and Dan talk about the growing demand for strategic fundraisers and the case for nonprofits to define an "end game" rather than operate in perpetuity (24:32). Navid identifies the highest-paying, most active subsectors right now (27:38) and Dan describes what he calls the "new social sector" (33:58). Both push back on greenwashing and performative social impact branding (37:09). On remote work, Navid shares findings from running the OnPurpose Careers job board (46:00). He also walks through how he sources hidden roles through his network and how jobseekers can train their LinkedIn algorithm to surface real opportunities (48:59). Recommended Reading: "Sparked" by Jonathan Fields, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens" by Ina Garten, and "This Is Marketing" by Seth Godin. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

May 5, 202648 min

Logan Yonavjak on Making Smarter People Decisions, Assessing Leader Readiness With AI, and Why Coachability Beats Pedigree Every Time

Logan Yonavjak (founderready.io), Co-Founder and CEO of Founder Readiness Institute, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to discuss how AI-powered assessment is giving investors, enterprises, and leaders a new window into leadership capacity. Logan explains the concept of vertical development and why it is the theoretical underpinning of Founder Readiness Institute’s work (00:08:35), addresses concerns about AI bias and shares how it can counter traditional human biases, and discusses what she learned from taking her own assessment (00:29:17). Logan makes the case for coachability as the most essential leadership construct (00:27:08) and explains why human leaders in an AI-augmented world will need to hold increasingly more complexity (00:32:42). Recommended Reading: "$100M Leads" by Alex Hormozi. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

April 21, 20261 hr 9 min

Eirik Gislason on Hard-Won Negotiation Lessons from NYC Real Estate, Outmaneuvering Hard Bargainers, and Getting Paid What You Deserve

Eirik Gislason (archwaypartnersinc.com), founder of Archway Partners Coaching, leader of the Excelsior Team at Brown Harris Stevens, and host of the Shear Line: Negotiation Mastery podcast, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to discuss how to get more of what you want without bullying, hard bargaining, or leaving value on the table. Eirik explains why hiring the meanest broker backfires and what strength in negotiation actually looks like (00:42), how collaborative negotiators grow the pie in a real estate deal rather than splitting it (06:05), and the upside and hidden downside of “Minnesota nice” (12:03). He walks through how to prepare for a negotiation with a Trump-style hard bargainer, including anchoring, BATNAs, and process before substance (15:47). Eirik also shares takeaways from the Harvard Law School negotiation program (41:20), unpacks the five most common negotiation mistakes (47:42), and breaks down the four decision-maker types (53:23). Recommended reading: “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury, “Getting to Yes with Yourself” by William Ury, “Think Again” by Adam Grant, “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss, and “Negotiating the Impossible” by Deepak Malhotra. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

April 7, 202636 min

Jermaine Ee on Scaling an AI-Powered Startup, Designing for the 70%, and Not Getting to Choose Your Founder Story

Jermaine Ee, founder of Heirlight (heirlight.com), an AI-powered estate planning app, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to discuss what it takes to make one of life's most avoided conversations easier. Jermaine shares how a dinner with his parents about retirement planted the seed for Heirlight (02:37) and how the app uses guided AI conversation rather than a laundry list of assets to build an estate plan around the user (04:53). He also describes his deliberate choice to stay bootstrapped and away from the venture treadmill (15:35), the mentality required to run a product-driven startup (21:38), and how losing his mother gave his mission a clarity he didn't ask for but can't ignore (22:56). Recommended reading: “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown, “Die with Zero” by Bill Perkins, and “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

December 16, 202557 min

Ang Richard on Coaching Gen Z, Becoming a LinkedIn Top Voice, and Reimagining the Campus-to-Career Playbook

Ang Richard (angrichard.com, linkedin.com/in/angela-richard/), a Gen Z career coach, TEDx speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice, and PhD candidate in higher education, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to examine how Gen Z is navigating a rapidly changing world of work. Angela reflects on shares guidance for early career professionals on handling criticism and staying grounded in impact rather than online noise (03:35). She explores how generational differences in communication styles and values, especially around feedback, work-life balance, and career development, are often misinterpreted as deficiencies rather than differences (06:56). Angela also discusses the current labor market and its disproportionate impact on early career professionals, emphasizing the importance of realistic, data-informed coaching that acknowledges structural barriers alongside individual agency (13:22). The conversation also covers Angela’s approach to LinkedIn as a space for authentic thought leadership, where sharing failures and uncertainty builds trust and community rather than personal branding polish (21:44). Angela shares insights from her doctoral research on the school-to-work transition, sense of belonging, and intersectionality, as well as her work examining how federal workforce policy connects unevenly to community colleges across states (32:07). Recommended reading: “The Privileged Poor” and “Class Dismissed” by Anthony Abraham Jack, “The Unspoken Rules” by Gorick Ng, “Careers by the People” by Mike Wysocki. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

December 9, 202554 min

Roger Kastner on Next-Level OD, IFS-Informed Coaching, and Uncovering Your Superpower

Roger Kastner (linkedin.com/in/roger-kastner/, whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com), a coach and org development practitioner who has led initiatives from Fortune 100 companies to small non-profits, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com). Roger shares insights on aligning culture and strategy with daily work experience (04:04), his evolution from expert to facilitator who co-creates solutions with clients (15:32), and his coaching philosophy informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS), which focuses on understanding and appreciating the different parts of oneself to overcome personal and professional challenges (19:00). Roger also discusses his podcast "What Do You Know To Be True" (whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com), which explores superpowers and their connection to purpose and potential (29:01), and emphasizes meditation as a tool for enhancing presence and decision-making in leadership (50:31). Recommended reading: "Hidden Potential" by Adam Grant, "No Bad Parts" by Richard Schwartz. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

October 7, 202547 min

Amnesty CIO Paul Smith on AI Adoption Beyond the Hype and Developing Talent Others Overlook

Paul Smith (linkedin.com/in/pdsmithmba/), Chief Information Officer at Amnesty International, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com) to discuss tech leadership with people and ethics front and center. Drawing from a career that spans industry (defense, automotive, and more) and humanitarian organizations, Paul shares hard-won insights on AI adoption (00:30), four essential digital skills for non-technical professionals (09:32), and emotional intelligence, strategic communication, and talent development for technical leaders (15:53). Paul relays his own journey from a working class background to the global C-suite (22:00) and emphasizes the power of mentorship, permission-giving, and inclusive hiring to help other non-traditional talent make a similar journey (37:54). Recommended reading: “Bulletproof Your Career” by Patricia Romboletti. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

September 16, 202542 min

Peter Gray on Why Jobseekers Hate Recruiters, Hidden Hiring Biases, and How to Get Noticed

Peter Gray (linkedin.com/in/graypeter/, petergraysearch.com), a social impact executive recruiter and founder of Peter Gray Executive Search, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com). Peter shares lessons from placing more than 40 CEOs and over 200 strategic hires, offering practical guidance on leadership succession, building diverse candidate slates, and avoiding the “unicorn” myth in executive hiring. He breaks down what effective recruitment actually looks like today, from standout job postings to the real way LinkedIn is used by recruiters. The conversation also explores hiring biases, including what Peter calls the “round peg bias,” and makes the case for more flexible, opportunistic hiring. Peter also weighs in on trends affecting the social impact job market, including uncertainty around federal funding, and offers candid advice for both jobseekers and employers. Recommended reading: “Liar’s Poker” and “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis and “When Genius Failed” by Roger Lowenstein. Show notes at forwardlookingleadership.com.

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