Profiles in Leadership

Hosted by Steve Anderson

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Episodes

320

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Dr. Steve Anderson is a storyteller and a lifelong learner who is deeply committed to helping leaders grow. Born out of deep seeded curiosity and passion, Steve launched his podcast as a vehicle for interviewing accomplished leaders who excel in building cultures and developing teams that create impact and deliver value to customers, employees and stakeholders. In this capacity, he is able to tap into his experience as a CEO of a $75 million-dollar company and a 39 year career as a Physical Therapist to ask questions that produce answers for those at all levels – from entry level professionals to seasoned executives – can learn from and build upon. Steve is known for interviewing guests from a wide range of backgrounds and digging deep to find “Pearls of Wisdom” that can be put into practice as professionals look to learn and grow. Steve is an Executive Coach at Orange Dot Coaching.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 11, 202655 min

Maximos Lih, Great Leaders Evolve from Heroes to Hosts

Maximos Lih is an Executive Coach and founder of Emboldened LLC, where he helps small teams scale without losing their edge and leaders grow with purpose and trust. His leadership philosophy was shaped by his grandfather—a self-taught orphan who became a four-star general—who taught him that true greatness is measured by how you make people feel. After immigrating to the U.S. and graduating from UC Berkeley, Maximos joined Google, where he specialized in recruiting top engineering talent before moving to Google Ventures. There, he guided hundreds of founders through rapid growth, witnessing companies like Uber and Flatiron Health scale at remarkable speed. Today, he draws on those experiences to coach the next generation of leaders in building mission-driven, high-performing teams.

August 5, 20261 hr 1 min

Julie Castle, CEO, Knowing Your Values and Staying True to Your Purpose

Julie Castle has dedicated her life to saving animals. Since joining Best Friends Animal Society in 1996 as employee #17, she has grown with the organization and advanced its mission to save the lives of dogs and cats in America’s animal shelters. Now CEO, Julie has helped guide Best Friends through a period of significant growth, including expanding the organization’s fundraising from $60 million to more than $130 million. Under her leadership, Best Friends has been recognized as a Harris Poll Brand of the Year four times and named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. Throughout her career, Julie has championed an approach rooted in collaboration, helping bring together shelters, rescues, and communities around our shared commitment to lifesaving. Celebrating 30 years with Best Friends in 2026, Julie remains focused on strengthening the partnerships, policies, and momentum needed to help every shelter and every community reach no-kill. She leads a team of nearly 1,000 employees working toward one shared mission: Save Them All.

July 29, 20261 hr 5 min

Ken Ro, MD, Presence is the Deepest Form of Leadership

KennethRoMD.com is a double board-certified Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine physician who has treated more than 170,000 patients across a 35-year ER career. His book PRIME reframes midlife as a powerful awakening rather than decline. He created the RECLAIM™ Method to restore men’s vitality, identity, and purpose through precision medicine, neuroscience, narrative psychology, and emotional reintegration. He is a medical expert in filmmaker Charles Mattocks’ upcoming international docuseries about sleep and health, bringing attention to the invisible epidemic of sleep disorders destroying men’s vitality. Dr.Rospeaks to corporations, executive teams, and healthcare organizations about the silent burnout dismantling men’s performance in midlife— and teaches organizations how to rebuild resilience using precision-health tools and his RECLAIM™ framework.

July 24, 20261 hr 1 min

Duncan Brand, People First Leadership is the Key to Success

DuncanBrandis a leadership and organizational effectiveness advisor, author of Mind the Gap , and founder of Intrinsic Leader. He has worked with nearly 100 organizations across healthcare, technology, finance, and the public sector, helping leaders strengthen culture, succession planning, and team effectiveness. Drawing from firsthand experience during the financial crisis at the Federal Reserve and throughout COVID-era healthcare challenges,Duncanfocuses on helping organizations move beyond outdated leadership models and build people-first systems that support adaptability, engagement, and long-term effectiveness in the modern workplace.

July 18, 202640 min

Nelson Nigel, From Yellow Cab Driver in NYC to Successful Business Owner

Nelson Nigel is the Founder and CEO of Moto Nation. Back in 2016 Nelson as an Uber driver noticed that taxis and car services do not offer installed child car seats, and parents are helpless. He found a void in the transportation marketplace that Uber and Lyft have explicitly left open. Nelson created a mobile app to provide a convenient and safe alternative to lugging car seats to and from airports to change how parents travel with small children. Today, Kidmoto is a trusted brand that connects parents to a network of professionally trained drivers that provide airport transfers with secured child car seats for safe and convenient airport travel in 52 US cities. After operating for 6 years Kidmoto has over 40k completed rides, 40 part-time employees, 500 independent drivers nationwide, over a 7-figure revenue for 2024 and is valued at $25 million.

July 13, 202655 min

Dr. Jennifer Berry, Transformational Leadership Through Collaboration with Education, Industry and Community Ecosystems

Dr. Jennifer Berry Dr. Jennifer Berry is a transformational leader driving purposeful collaboration between education, industry, and community ecosystems. As CEO of SmartLab, she champions mission-driven innovation that equips learners for tomorrow's workforce and fosters systemic change that matters for partners, funders, and communities. Her work accelerates strategic partnerships, measurable outcomes, and shared impact at scale.

July 7, 202653 min

Andrew Johnson, What Can the NFL and Other Professional Sports Organizations Teach on How to Lead our Businesses

Andrew Johnson is a leadership advisor and author of Iron Sharpens Iron , where he explores how the operating systems of elite sport can help businesses build stronger accountability, execution, and performance cultures. Drawing from lessons in professional sport, particularly the NFL, Andrew translates concepts like scoreboard clarity, roster discipline, standards under pressure, and “tape review” into practical frameworks leaders can apply inside modern organisations. His work focuses on helping companies move from average to elite by creating cultures where accountability is visible, standards are consistent, and performance improves because there is nowhere to hide. As a podcast guest, Andrew brings a practical and thought-provoking perspective on leadership, competition, talent, and sustained high performance.

July 2, 20261 hr 2 min

Jon Lee, From Clinical Physical Therapist to Tech Entrepreneur

Jon is the co-founder of Pickle, as well as a Physical Therapist. He’s been featured by organizations such as NYU, the University of Oxford, WebPT, and the United Nations, working with healthcare executives around the globe on workforce strategy and big data analytics. Jonathon holds an MBA from the University of Oxford (UK) and a DPT from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist, and fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists.

June 29, 202659 min

Sandra Crespo, Neurospicy Talent Can Help Organization Turn Neurodiversity into a Meaningful Advantage

Sandra Crespo, LCSW, is a sought-after speaker, executive coach, and mental health professional who helps organizations build workplaces where “neurospicy” talent can thrive. Her work sits at the intersection of mental health, systems thinking, and leadership development, reframing how ADHD shows up in high-performing environments beyond pathology or productivity fixes to real-world experiences like communication, burnout, creativity, and decision-making. She has spoken on major stages including AfroTech, created the S.P.I.C.Y. Framework to help organizations turn neurodiversity into a meaningful advantage, collaborates with the National Association of Social Workers, serves on the board of CHADD, and is pursuing doctoral research focused on ADHD.

June 20, 202651 min

Rebecca Homkes, Leaders Need to Stop Planning and Start Preparing

Dr. Rebecca Homkes is an economist and high-growth strategy specialist who advises CEOs and executive teams focused on growth and success through uncertainty. Uncertainty isn’t new and we've pretty much "normalized" it at this point—but what’s different now is the stacking of uncertainty. Tariffs, AI disruption, shifting policy signals, and constant organizational change are all hitting leaders at once. The result isn’t just uncertainty—it’s chaos. And chaos has a cost. Dr. Homkes helps leaders understand why uncertainty is inevitable, but chaos is optional— and how the best leaders can build clarity, momentum, and growth even when the external environment is unpredictable and ever-changing. Dr. Homkes is a Lecturer at London Business School and Duke Corporate Executive Education, and the director of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) global Active Learning Program. She's also the author of Survive Reset Thrive and a frequent contributor on Bloomberg and CNBC