The Daily LEAD

Hosted by Brad Otto

Business Education Health Fitness

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Episodes

362

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

A leadership podcast for any leader who is passionate about leadership development and self-care, and relationships. It consists of two segments a week: Mental Health Mondays, and Everyday Leaders on Thursdays.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 22, 2026Episode 61327 min

Episode 613 Are We Counting The Right Things?

What if your church is growing, but its impact isn't? Churches and nonprofits are really good at counting things—attendance, giving, participation, programs, and budgets. But are we measuring what actually matters? This episode challenges leaders to move beyond organizational performance and rediscover the importance of vision, transformation, and lasting impact. We'll explore why numbers matter but never tell the whole story, how churches can confuse activity with effectiveness, and what it means to create a new scorecard for success. Because the ultimate measure of a church isn't simply how many people show up on Sunday—it's what happens in people's lives because they did.

October 19, 2026Episode 61222 min

Episode 612 The Guilt of Saying No: When Boundaries Feel Like Betrayal

Have you ever felt guilty and assumed you did something wrong, or felt anxious and convinced yourself something bad was coming? This Mental Health Monday explores emotional reasoning—why our brains sometimes mistake feelings for facts—and three practical ways to challenge negative thinking without dismissing our emotions. Recommended Books: Understanding the Nervous System Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory — Deb Dana The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk The Nervous System Workbook — Deb Dana Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle — Emily & Amelia Nagoski The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy — Deb Dana

October 15, 2026Episode 61123 min

Episode 611 When What We Do Gets In the Way of Why We Exist

What happens when a business becomes more purpose-driven than a church? Inspired by the book Make Your Mark: The Creative’s Guide to Building a Business with Impact and its challenge that the best organizations are driven by purpose rather than products or profits, this episode asks church and nonprofit leaders to examine the difference between protecting what we do and pursuing why we exist . Why does this program still exist? What problem are we actually solving? What need are we meeting? And perhaps the hardest question: If we were starting our organization today, knowing what we know about our community right now, would we create what currently exists? Purpose should drive programs—not the other way around. Because when preserving the organization becomes more important than accomplishing the mission, we may keep everything running while completely losing sight of why we're running it.

October 12, 2026Episode 61025 min

Episode 610 Why Being Unheard Hurts More Than It Should

Why does being dismissed sometimes hurt so deeply? In Part Two, we explore how childhood invalidation can shape our reactions as adults, why old wounds resurface in everyday conversations, and how to stop second-guessing ourselves and rebuild trust in our own voice. Resources & References Miranda Fricker — Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (2007). Explores credibility, testimonial injustice, and what happens when someone's knowledge or perspective is unfairly dismissed. Jonice Webb — Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect (2012). Explores how childhood emotional neglect and invalidation can influence self-trust, emotional awareness, and adult relationships.

October 8, 2026Episode 60924 min

Episode 609 Agreement Isn't Action

Everyone agreed—so why didn’t anything change? In this episode we explore a reminder that general agreement doesn’t automatically create change; it takes substantial energy to move a group even when everyone is on board. For church and nonprofit leaders, this distinction is critical. We can agree that we need to reach new people, develop leaders, improve communication, engage our communities, or change outdated systems—and still remain exactly where we are. In this episode, we explore the difference between consensus and movement, why change requires ownership and follow-through, and how leaders turn “we should” into “we did.” Because agreement may get everyone facing the same direction, but leadership gets them moving.

October 5, 2026Episode 60822 min

Episode 608 I Literally Just Said That: The Psychology of Feeling Unheard-Part 1

Ever share an idea that gets ignored—only to hear someone else say the exact same thing and suddenly everyone listens? This week, we're talking about credibility discounting, why some voices are given more weight than others, and how to reclaim your voice without getting louder.

October 1, 2026Episode 60723 min

Episode 607 Everybody Should Be Able To Talk to Anybody

What happens when the organizational chart starts determining not only who is responsible, but who is allowed to talk to whom? This episode explores why healthy churches and nonprofits need both open communication and clear accountability . We’ll talk about organizational silos, communication vacuums, the danger of making leaders the middleman for every conversation, and why talking to people instead of about them is essential for healthy culture. Great organizations don’t just have good information—they create pathways for that information to move. Because your organizational structure may need lines, but your communication culture needs bridges.

September 28, 2026Episode 60616 min

Episode 606 Are We Okay? The Deeper Roots of Reassurance Seeking

Why do some of us need reassurance again and again—even after we've already received it? This Mental Health Monday explores the deeper roots of reassurance-seeking, from anxiety and uncertainty to attachment, self-trust, and fear of disconnection, plus practical ways to begin breaking the cycle.

September 24, 2026Episode 60522 min

Episode 605 The High Cost of Getting It Right

How much is your organization spending—through time, energy, bureaucracy, missed opportunities, and frustrated leaders—trying to make sure nobody ever makes a mistake? This episode explores what happens when healthy accountability becomes organizational paralysis. For church and nonprofit leaders, the challenge isn’t to eliminate mistakes; it’s to know which mistakes require strong safeguards and which ones we can afford to make, learn from, and fix. Because sometimes the greatest cost isn’t the mistake itself—it’s everything we sacrifice trying to guarantee that nothing ever goes wrong.

September 21, 2026Episode 60418 min

Episode 604 Worst-Case Scenario Thinking: Understanding Catastrophizing

Ever turn one unanswered text, small mistake, or unexpected problem into a full-blown disaster in your head? This Mental Health Monday explores catastrophizing—why our brains jump to worst-case scenarios, how anxiety makes those thoughts feel believable, and simple ways to come back to what’s actually happening.

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