The Hard Skills

Hosted by Dr. Mira Brancu

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About the show

Welcome to “The Hard Skills” podcast, a practical and research-driven show that explores the core leadership skills needed to fuel leadership to activate real change, such as creating inclusive and healthy workplaces. Through expert interviews and live coaching calls, we challenge the notion of "soft skills," question long-held but inaccurate leadership development beliefs, and offer real, practical solutions for complex leadership challenges. Hosted by Dr. Mira Brancu, a clinical and organizational development psychologist with extensive leadership experience, we’ll delve into topics of leadership identity, leading with uncertainty, navigating workplace politics, and creating critical organizational change. This podcast will especially appeal to high-achieving leaders in healthcare, tech, and academic, industries. Whether you're seeking personal growth, looking to enhance your leadership abilities, or interested in Dr. Brancu's coaching services and membership community, join us as we unravel the complexities of leadership and inspire you to embrace the hard skills.

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60 recent

51 min

Working Hard But Your Team Still Doesn't See It? (Here's Why), with Margaret Andrews

You've been working so hard to be an effective leader, and somehow your team still doesn't see it. This episode shows you exactly why, and how to close the gap before it stalls your career.Margaret Andrews ran the MBA program at MIT Sloan for seven years and is now an Associate Dean at Harvard. She's spent two decades teaching leadership and emotional intelligence to high achievers, and her conclusion is uncomfortable: some of the highest achievers still get stuck in the people management skills even when they have developed the greatest business strategies. In this conversation with Dr. Mira Brancu, Margaret breaks down the S-curve framework that explains why your growth sometimes feels like regression, six questions that build real self-awareness, and an interactive Best Boss Exercise you can do right now. Plus the story of Phil, an executive who looked in the mirror, didn't recognize the leader he had become, and rebuilt himself from scratch.Subscribe for weekly conversations on the intersection of culture, mental health, and the real hard skills of leadership.Find our guest here:Connect with Margaret AndrewsWebsite: https://www.margaretandrews.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaretcandrews/ To find more of my work:Subscribe to this channelSubscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksGet my free Strategic Clarity and Leadership Resilience assessment: https://mailchi.mp/e1ebf8505764/slr-assessment Get my Free Burnout Root Cause Assessment: https://mailchi.mp/29d7d18fae4a/burnout-root-cause-assessmentGet my Workplace Grief Guide: https://mailchi.mp/46873b910380/workplace-grief-field-guide Find other free resources to support your leadership growth: https://gotowerscope.com/other-free-stuff

1 hr 10 min

Signs Your Cult-ure Drifted Into Cult-like, with Candice Schutter

Emotional intelligence is supposed to make workplaces better. But what if it might also teach people to tolerate what should be intolerable?Candice Schutter spent two decades inside the wellness industry, leading programs, training instructors, building cultures of care, until her body started screaming that something was wrong through panic attacks and a nervous system in overdrive. She started digging into cult dynamics, coercive control, and the psychology of mission-driven organizations. What she found changed everything.In this conversation with Dr. Mira Brancu, Candice breaks down what she calls "the drift," the slow, invisible process by which caring cultures slide into high-control environments. You will learn when wellness programs can train people to tolerate dysfunction, why high emotional intelligence can suggest greater ability to manipulate, and what the dark side of transformational leadership looks like from the inside.If you have ever felt a disconnect between the language of psychological safety and the reality of structural control at your workplace, this episode will give you the frameworks to name what you have been feeling.Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, mental health, and navigating workplace dynamics.Find our guest here:https://thedeeperpulse.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/candiceschutter/ https://www.facebook.com/candice.schutter https://www.instagram.com/candiceschutter/To find more of my work:Subscribe to this channelSubscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksEpisodes and other resources referenced:How to Speak Up When it Matters Most, with Ira Chaleff: https://youtu.be/_sUAHNUw6N0 IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

50 min

EXECUTIVE COACH: Why Strong Women Burn Out at the Top, with Duygu Alptekin Gursu

Most women in leadership got there by working twice as hard as the men around them. And it's quietly destroying their health.In this conversation, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with executive coach Duygu Alpteka Gursu, who spent nearly three decades climbing the corporate ladder at companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever before her body finally forced her to stop. Duygu shares the moment she realized the rules of leadership were never written for her, including the day a male colleague with less experience got promoted two grades above her immediately after returning from nine months of military service.She and Mira walk through the three career moments where most women either lean in or quietly check out. They get into the messy stuff nobody talks about at the office, like burnout recovery, motherhood penalties, and the menopause years that hit right when women are at the peak of their careers. If you've ever felt like you have to choose between your career and your well-being, this one is for you.Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, burnout, and women's leadership in the real world.Find our guest here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/duygualptekingursuhttps://www.instagram.com/duygualptekingursu/ IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

1 hr 8 min

I/O PSYCHOLOGIST EXPLAINS: When Success Demands Self-Abandonment, with Dra. CarolLaine Garcia

What if everything you were taught about success and leadership was causing you to abandon your own needs? This conversation will completely change how you see work, identity, and what it means to truly win in life.In this episode of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with Dr. CarolLaine M. Garcia, a Dominican-American I/O psychologist, decolonial researcher, and creator of Queen Mindset Leadership(R) who spent a decade consulting for Fortune 500 companies before walking away to rebuild leadership from lived experience.CarolLaine unpacks why self-abandonment has been typecast as leadership, and what it actually means to lead from wholeness rather than exhaustion. You'll learn about the four data centers of mind, heart, body, and spirit that most leaders leave completely offline, why burnout recovery starts with tuning into the intelligences you've been trained to ignore, and how personal development rooted in creativity and decolonial thinking can transform the way you lead yourself and others.Whether you're navigating burnout prevention, questioning traditional leadership development, or simply tired of performing a version of success that doesn't feel like yours, this conversation will give you both the language and the permission to lead differently.Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, mental health, and the hard skills nobody teaches you.Learn more about Dra. CarolLaine M. Garcia at:https://www.drcarollainemgarcia.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcarollainemgarcia https://www.instagram.com/drcarollainemgarciaIF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

54 min

How to Make the Leap from Individual Contributor to Executive, with Dr. Mehul Mankad

What does it take to move from individual contributor to C-Suite and from the public to the private sector? This conversation reveals the hidden mistakes that keep smart people stuck and the mindset leaps required to succeed. In this powerful episode, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with forensic psychiatrist and CMO, Dr. Mehul Mankad, to explore the real journey from being a high-performing technical expert to becoming an effective executive leader. It dives deep into the mindset shifts required to move from simply doing the work to leading others, including how to handle responsibility, prioritize what truly matters, and influence decisions at a higher level. You’ll also learn the stark differences between working in structured environments and stepping into fast-paced startup roles where there’s no safety net and accountability is entirely on you. More importantly, this discussion highlights why continuous learning and adaptability matter far more than collecting degrees, and how understanding people, systems, and decision-making can redefine your career path. Whether you’re aiming for leadership, considering a career shift, or feeling stuck despite working hard, this episode offers insights that can completely change how you approach growth and success.Ready to stop over-doing and start leading? Subscribe to The Hard Skills for weekly strategies on clinical and corporate high performance.Referenced Episodes and Links:The Science and Future of Great Coaching, with BetterUp’s Chief Coaching Officer, Dr. Woodward: https://youtu.be/3X3xs_B6L4M?si=bhzJVgSF2sJx8Xt6How to Build a Career That Actually Serves Your Life, with Dr. Sharon Hull: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wdfa3axn0TI https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmankad/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/psychiatry-and-law-podcast/id1352806975https://www.novumhealth.com/ IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

45 min

Why Leaders need to lead with both empathy and courage in 2026, with Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham

Leaders want high-trust teams, but their daily actions might be actively destroying them. Most leaders believe they’re building trust and leading the right way, but their teams quietly experience the opposite. Are you experiencing an intention-action gap in creating the workplace culture you want?In this episode of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with lawyer-turned-leadership expert Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham, who breaks down one of the most overlooked problems in modern leadership: the intention–action gap, where leaders genuinely want to create inclusive, high-trust workplaces, but their actions fail to match those intentions. Drawing from her background in law, Valerie explains why relying on rules, compliance, or legal frameworks alone can actually damage workplace culture. She shares how leaders unknowingly break trust, why fast-paced environments amplify bias, and how companies often solve the wrong problems entirely. You’ll also learn about her company’s 8 Leadership Principles, why empathy and courage are often misunderstood, and how “hidden strengths” can reshape how leaders grow. If you’re a manager, entrepreneur, or team leader trying to build trust and engagement in your organization, this episode gives you a practical, science-backed framework to close the gap between intention and impact.Learn more about Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham at:https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriezolezziwyndham https://promotinggoodllc.com/ IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

54 min

How Courageous Followership Creates Better Leaders And Governments, with Ira Chaleff

Most people think being a "good follower" means staying silent and obeying. In reality, your silence might be the very thing destroying your organization from the inside out.In this episode of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu speaks with leadership expert and author Ira Chaleff about the concept of courageous followership and why leadership success depends not only on strong leaders but also on followers who are willing to speak up. They explore how followers can influence leaders, the four styles of followership, and the balance between supporting leadership and constructively challenging decisions when necessary. Ira also explains the idea of intelligent disobedience and how individuals can develop the courage and critical thinking needed to question authority when actions conflict with shared values or organizational goals. This episode offers practical insights on navigating power dynamics at work, building healthier leader–follower relationships, and using your voice responsibly to strengthen teams and organizations. Whether you're navigating a corporate hierarchy or dealing with a toxic political environment, this conversation provides a roadmap for leveraging your influence, setting boundaries, and ensuring your voice is heard. Learn how to break the "freeze" response and use critical thinking to protect your career and your values.If you want to master the "hard skills" of leadership and followership, hit the subscribe button and join our community of growth-minded professionals!Find Ira Chaleff at: www.irachaleffauthor.com IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

37 min

Stop Telling Your Team to Move On (You're Making It Worse) (The Three-Part Workplace Grief Series)

Your team isn't resistant to change. They're grieving, and most leadership training never names it. That's why every "move on" conversation backfires and every engagement initiative fails.In this three-part compilation of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu walks through what ambiguous workplace grief actually is, why restructures and layoffs create real loss that looks nothing like typical grief or depression, and how leaders keep mislabeling it as disengagement, low morale, or quiet quitting.Part one shows you how to spot the difference between grief, burnout, change resistance, and institutional betrayal. Part two breaks down the three well-meaning leader responses that make everything worse (the minimizer, the false optimist, and the conflict avoider) and why even great change management fails without a grief-informed leadership framework. Part three gives you the exact framework, including specific language you can use with your team after layoffs, a merger, or a reorg.If you lead people through organizational change, this is the episode that will change how you show up.Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, burnout, and mental health at work.IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

57 min

EXECUTIVE COACH EXPLAINS: How Humor Makes You a Better Leader, with Dr. Paul Damiano

Most leaders know they should be more approachable and develop trust, but nobody tells you that humor might be the fastest way to get there.In this episode, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with Dr. Paul Damiano, executive coach and creator of "Funny Business," a methodology using cartoons and humor to deepen awareness in leaders worldwide, to talk about something most leadership conversations skip entirely: how humor actually works as a leadership tool. Not stand-up comedy, not being the funny person in the room, but using levity and perspective to build trust, disarm tension, and get to the truth faster.Paul shares how he uses cartoons as a projective coaching technique with executives to surface what is really going on beneath the surface, and Mira goes through the exercise herself on camera to demonstrate the practice. What you see is a leader who is deeply self-aware, using a simple tool to sharpen that awareness even further.Whether you lead a small team or a room of 100, Paul makes a compelling case that humor is not just a nice-to-have. It is one of the most underused and disproportionately powerful tools a leader can develop.Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership, mental health, and the real skills that make great leaders.Learn more about Dr. Paul Damiano at:www.creategoodworks.comwww.linkedin.com/in/pauldamianoIF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/

39 min

Using Humor as a Powerful Resiliency and Connection Tool, with Dr. Daniel Cruz Lattimore

Is workplace tension draining your team's energy? Discover how a well-timed humorous comment might resolve issues faster than another difficult conversation. And when it doesn’t.In this powerful episode of The Hard Skills, Dr. Mira Brancu sits down with experiential consultant, psychologist, and self-proclaimed “comedic philosopher,” Dr. Daniel Cruz Lattimore to unpack a critical, overlooked leadership tool. Humor isn't just about getting laughs; it's a strategic driver of psychological safety and team resilience. You'll learn when humor is misused and acts as cloaked bullying and damages trust, how to properly read your organization's unwritten cultural rules before attempting a joke, and why the improv concept of "yes, and" builds unstoppable, supportive teams. Whether you are dealing with heavy change management or simply want a low-risk way to spark genuine connection in your daily huddles, this episode proves that sometimes the heaviest work requires a lighter touch.Subscribe to The Hard Skills podcast to master authentic leadership and transform your workplace culture today!Find Dr. Lattimore here:https://www.instagram.com/omiyoconsultingllchttps://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellattimore/IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/