Lifting Leaders

We are a few weeks into 2025 and, already, resolutions are being ditched and forgotten. Want to know why 80% of our New Year’s resolutions fail by February, each year?  If you have ever had trouble sticking to your annual New Year’s resolutions, you will want to listen to this week’s episode!  We are excited to welcome back speaker, facilitator, wife of Jon Ondrasik (aka: Five For Fighting), and soon-to-be best-selling author, Carla Ondrasik.  If you’ve followed our podcast over the past year, you may recall that Carla was with us, in March of 2024 (Episode 89) where she talked about the book she was starting to write. Well, it is being printed as we type and will be on bookshelves, everywhere, in the Fall.  Listen in and learn more about Carla’s journey to publishing her book and hear her advice for anyone who is interested in writing.  Find out about the neuroscience behind trying, and how that impacts our attitudes and behaviors. Spend some time with us and we think you will feel energized and inspired to “Stop Trying…” and just start doing.  Enjoy.

Are you ready to Ditch the Ditty?  What in the World is a Ditty, anyway??  Join us for this first episode of the new year, that we are calling “Leaders Thrive in 25!”, with two of the three authors of the book, Ditch the Ditty, which launches this week, Lindsay Godwin and Molly McGuigan (with Miriam Novotny, here, at heart!). Do you ever find yourself responding “yes,” to tasks, that no one else will take on (or are ever asked to)? Have you ever wondered how important these tasks that you really don’t want or (maybe) need to do, really are? While this phenomenon may not be exclusive to women, it is much more prevalent and, interestingly, it is often quietly, culturally endorsed.  We hope you will listen in, as we believe you will find this episode to be richly insightful and will leave you wanting more…we did!  Luckily, their new book launches on January 7th!

Yes! It is Wrapping Season – beautiful paper, ribbons, tons of tape and tags, everywhere!  Oh!  But WAIT!  We’re wrapping up a few other things, as well!!  If you have been listening to our podcast, you know that we have been doing a series on Coaching for a Better World.  We have officially wrapped up our series, with a beautiful two-part interview, with Hudson Institute of Coaching leaders.  We had interviews with several other amazing coaches who are making a power impact in the world, through out-of-the-box thinking and coaching.  Listen in and learn about some of the gems we found through these interviews…they’re inspiring!  Hey!  We are also wrapping up our podcast year!  Before we take a few weeks off, we want to share our gratitude for this 2024 gift trip we’ve been on.  And you, our listeners are the reason we call it a gift.  Learn just a snippet of what is to come, in the New Year.  In the meantime, however you celebrate this season, we wish you health and happiness and we look forward to bringing new episodes for you, in 2025! 

This week, we are thrilled to continue the capstone of our special series, Coaching for a Better World, by bringing you the second part of our two-part interview with Dr. Pam McLean, PhD. and Michael Hudson. In this episode Pam and Michael help us explore the value of self-observation as a practical step in a more developmental leadership model. Listen in as Pam shares the impact of valuing/devaluing the relationship, in leadership.  Learn what may be on the horizon for coaches as we acknowledge a unique gift that coaches possess.  Whether or not you are a professional coach, as a leader, you will, once again, gain valuable insights from this episode.  We invite you to spend this time with us, as we celebrate the close of our series, with two of our favorite leaders. Final Note: Thanks for supporting our Hope Survey. If you have not taken it yet, please visit our website and take the survey. Your voice matters! 

This week, we are pleased and honored to begin the capstone of our special series, Coaching for a Better World, with two of our favorite iconic leaders in the coaching industry, Pam McLean and Michael Hudson. Our discussion with Pam and Michael was so rich with highly relevant and timely insights and information about developing leaders, for today and beyond.  Listen in and learn about some of the concerns that are prompting many in the coaching and development industries to rethink the way leaders are developed.  Hear Pam and Michael talk about new approaches and benefits to critical mass learning that dwarf any other engagement and development efforts practiced, so far. Whether or not you are a professional coach, as a leader, you will gain some valuable insights from this episode.  We have so much more information to share that we will conclude this amazing interview with Pam and Michael, in next week’s episode.

We begin this Thanksgiving week by sharing our gratitude and thoughts around things we are thankful for.  In light of all things that seem troubling, in today’s world, there are so many amazing reasons to still be thankful.  Spend this short episode with us and learn what we are feeling thankful for, this year. Looking for something to be thankful for?  Start with your mirror…step outside…look at your family, friends, and a pet.  We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday and we look forward to continuing our Coaching for a Better World series, next week.  You will find the link to this episode below. Final Note: Thanks for supporting our Hope Survey. Your voice matters!

We are nearing the end of our special series, “Coaching for a Better World,” and, this week, we are bringing back an episode we recorded, last year, with Amy Yip, Somatic Life Transformation and Mental Fitness coach, keynote speaker, and International best-selling author, of “Unfinished Business.” Amy just received The Independent Authors’ Network, Book for the Year, for outstanding non-fiction writing.  In this episode you will hear Amy’s story about growing up as a first generation, Asian American, navigating her life journey, with her immigrant parents, who did not speak English.  Listen in and learn some of the challenges that influenced the decisions she made and some that purposely didn’t.  We Hope you enjoy this episode in celebration of Amy’s great achievement.

We are well into our special series, “Coaching for a Better World,” and, this week, we are delighted to welcome dynamic leadership and team-development coach, author, and Managing Principal of the firm, Intrinsic Lead, Melissa Castro. As a Millennial herself, Melissa focuses much of her coaching and consulting on helping leaders beat burnout, build sustainable teams, and use their influence to create positive change. Did you know that the Millennial generation makes up between 32%-35% of today’s working population? With this in mind, if you work with this generation’s leaders and want to better understand what is important to them and what drives their behaviors, listen in.  If you are considered a Millennial and are interested in learning more about the value of coaching for you and your fellow leaders, you are in the right place. This episode is FULL of valuable gems that are sure to spark insights for all leaders, no matter what your generation.

As we continue with our Coaching For A Better World series, we want to share just a little about the wonderful world of coaching.  What exactly IS coaching?  How is that different from therapy or mentoring? What’s the benefit of being coached? What can I expect when I meet with a coach?  These are common questions that often surface whenever a coach introduces themself.  If you’ve ever been coached, you may recall asking these questions before you took the dive.  If you haven’t been coached, we hope you will find our conversation helps you decide if you would like to explore new ways of working on the challenges you may be experiencing.  In any event, we Hope you find this episode informative and inviting.

This week, we continue our special series, “Coaching for a Better World,” by expanding on empathy in leadership, a topic shared by Josh Speraneo, our previous guest, who specializes in working with highly sensitive people (HSP). In our typical “Gems” fashion, we discuss insights from a Center For Creative Leadership article on this topic. Does empathic leadership really matter and is there a place for empathy at work?  What’s the difference between empathy and sympathy? What are some of the outcomes of leader empathy and why is that important?  Listen in to learn the answers to these questions and more.  This is a relatively short episode AND it’s packed with insightful gems!  We hope you find it inspiring!