The Change Agent Podcast

Mothers Still Waiting - Ukraine - Mariam Lambert and The Emile Foundation - The Change Agent Podcast

The Emile Foundation works two cases: 48 infants from the Kherson orphanage and children with disabilities from the Oleshky boarding school, all with living relatives waiting, in many cases without a word, for years. Finding one child can take two months or several years. The Russians are the only ones who can authorise a release. Every country, every institution failed these children. One recent peace proposal offered armistice with no accountability for war crimes. Treating oil access as a higher priority than stolen children is not diplomacy. Childhood has an expiry date. That lands differently once you have heard a mother describe finding a single memory, a ballet lesson her daughter half-remembered, to convince a child she was her mother. 00:00 Introduction 05:10 From volunteer to full-time: the moment Mariam chose this life 10:00 What it costs to walk away from security for a cause 15:30 The scale of Russia's child deportation operation 20:45 How the crime extended to teachers, nurses, and businesses 25:00 The Emile Foundation's two pilot cases and the return process 30:00 What families go through while they wait 36:00 The international community: an honest assessment 42:30 Peace deals, accountability, and why armistice without justice fails victims 48:30 The Seven Women Seven Lives campaign and the mothers still waiting 54:30 Why return and justice must run in parallel 57:00 How Mariam stays in it Mariam Lambert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariam-lambert-43527a3a/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariam-lambert-43527a3a/] Emile Foundation Website: https://emilefoundation.org/ [https://emilefoundation.org/] Our Stuff Our website: https://www.thechangeagent.studio [https://www.thechangeagent.studio] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast [https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw [https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm [https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr [https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr] Music licensed via Soundstripe Song: Winds of Change Artist: Four Trees ContentID: RKQSKSJCG9XNSTHB

The Blueprint for Change - Wani Iris Manly

Wani Iris Manly is an attorney, keynote speaker, and strategic advisor who left a successful law career in Miami to start over in Paris with no contacts, no plan, and no certainty about what came next. In this episode, she explains why most organizations misread resistance as a process problem when it is actually a fear of identity loss, and what leaders should do about it. She walks through her six-part Change Blueprint framework, shares the self-destructive pattern she sees most often in high achievers, and argues that change is a skillset to be built rather than an event to manage. Her closing message is one she developed on the streets of Paris when she had nothing but the decision she had made: success is inevitable, but only if you stop making failure an option. If you are leading people through uncertainty right now, this one is worth your time. Wani Iris Manly Strategic Advisory: https://wanimanly.com/strategic-advisory/ [https://wanimanly.com/strategic-advisory/] Wani Iris Manly LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wani-iris-manly-esq-44510a5a/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wani-iris-manly-esq-44510a5a/] Our Stuff Our website: https://www.thechangeagent.studio [https://www.thechangeagent.studio] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast [https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw [https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm [https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr [https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr] Music licensed via Soundstripe Song: Studied Abroad Artist: Neon Beach ContentID: TMU3DXXJUIZOODH2

Dr. Kevin Mays - Upgrade Your Leadership

Dr. Kevin Mays returns to The Change Agent Podcast for a third conversation, and this one gets uncomfortably honest. The episode explores why capable leaders crack under pressure, why authority becomes a trap, and what the inner work of real leadership actually demands. Dr. Mays draws on his new book, Upgrade Your Leadership, to explain the neuroscience behind reactive behavior and the practices that can change it. If this conversation makes you think differently about how you show up as a leader, subscribing and leaving a review helps the show reach more people who need it. The conversation opens with a question Dr. Mays keeps encountering: why do high performers fail the moment they have to lead people? Their identity is built around being right. That attachment blocks curiosity, breeds reactivity, and creates a blind spot no framework fixes. He introduces the robot brain and the caveman brain to explain how neural programming formed in early childhood gets reactivated under pressure decades later, producing the anger and defensiveness that leaders mistake for strength. Disengagement in an organization is a mirror. If people are checked out and the person at the top is pointing fingers, they are looking in the wrong direction. The fear that building capable, independent people makes you redundant is just the old scripting running the show again. The episode closes with the one discipline everything else depends on: presence. Two minutes of focused breathing, done consistently, rewires the circuitry. That is where the upgrade begins 00:00 Introduction and context 05:30 Self-awareness as the prerequisite for leadership 10:07 The genius brain and the caveman brain explained 17:44 Pressure exposes what frameworks cannot fix 22:13 Emotional regulation as a daily practice, not a moment skill 29:00 Why authority produces diminishing returns 33:15 The fear behind failing to develop other leaders 38:00 Executive presence and the practice of presence 46:07 Control masquerading as responsibility 52:00 Planting seeds and the inside job of leadership Dr. Kevin Mays Website: https://www.upgradeyourleadership.com [https://www.upgradeyourleadership.com] Dr. Kevin Mays Website: https://maysleadership.com/ [https://maysleadership.com/] Dr. Kevin Mays LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kevin-mays [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kevin-mays] Our Stuff Our website: https://www.thechangeagent.studio [https://www.thechangeagent.studio] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast [https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw [https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm [https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr [https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr] Music licensed via Soundstripe Song: Studied Abroad Artist: Neon Beach ContentID: NEKHIFV6MKWF7OVE

Dr. Valentina Schneider - Know Your Empathy

Dr. Valentina Schneider returns to The Change Agent for a second conversation, and this one gets into the research that most leadership advice skips. Valentina recently moved from her PhD work at London Business School into applied leadership advisory, and she brings both the data and the real-world context to bear on a single, uncomfortable question: what if the empathy leaders are praised for is actually making them less effective? The episode centers on the difference between cognitive and affective empathy, two distinct processes that science has long separated but leadership training still treats as one. Valentina walks through what each type looks like in practice, why one produces better outcomes across nearly every leadership scenario her research examined, and what happens neurologically when a leader absorbs the emotional state of the room rather than reading it. The conversation also covers narcissism, vulnerability, anger management, and the specific pressures female leaders face. If you lead people or work alongside leaders, this episode is worth your time. 00:00 Introduction and Valentina's transition to industry 05:00 Why empathy became a top leadership demand after COVID 08:00 Cognitive vs affective empathy explained 12:00 How each type of empathy plays out when letting someone go 16:00 Emotional contagion and why it makes leaders change course 20:00 The bias problem inside affective empathy 27:00 Cognitive empathy as the leadership superpower 33:00 Empathy, gender labels, and the authority double standard 38:00 Using empathy to defuse anger in the room 43:00 Vulnerability at work and when it backfires 48:00 One thing every leader should take away Dr. Valentina Schneider LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-sara-schneider-phd/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-sara-schneider-phd/] Our Stuff Our website: https://www.thechangeagent.studio [https://www.thechangeagent.studio] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast [https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw [https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm [https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr [https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr] Music licensed via Soundstripe Song: Studied Abroad Artist: Neon Beach ContentID: LQIWHSG1OOG3LI3I

Behind It All - with Eric Adams

Eric Adams started The Change Agent Podcast in February 2025 with a conviction that leadership had a personal side most shows were ignoring. In this episode, the camera turns around. Producer Tonya sits down with Eric to ask the questions he normally asks everyone else: why he built this, what it costs, and where he intends to take it. The podcast began as an audio-only experiment in basic management principles. But somewhere in that first year, Eric noticed he kept gravitating toward something harder to teach: what actually makes a person worth following. The episodes shifted. Empathetic leadership. Leading under conflict. The structural content gave way to the personal, and the show found its footing. The move to video in early 2026 was not just a format change. Eric describes it as a shift in the relationship with the listener. Video demands your eyes. That demand, they found, matched the weight of the conversations they were starting to have. Tonya pulls back the curtain on what one episode actually takes: roughly 40 hours of work before a single frame records. Guest research. Question development. One-sheets. Pre-conversations. The workflow that holds it together. Eric talks about what keeps that effort going across more than a year, and the answer has two parts. The first is mission. The second is competitive: he wants this to be the best podcast out there, and he means it. The conversation lands on what Eric believes every guest on the show has shared, regardless of their field or their stakes. He names Valentina Schneider, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Olga Rudnieva as examples. Not one of them, he says, led with process. Every single one led with care. That thread, running through every episode, is what the show is really about. What Eric wants in two years is not a follower count. He wants the Change Agent Podcast to be the name that comes to mind when someone hears about consequential leadership and asks where they can learn more. If you have never listened before, this is the episode that shows you exactly what you would be signing up for. 00:00 Introduction and why this episode is different 02:25 From audio only to video and what changed 04:20 The hardest part of hosting: research and tonal switching 06:18 What every great guest has had in common 08:13 How the show filters and sometimes turns away guests 11:45 Where the show is headed in two years 13:27 Why this podcast matters to Eric personally 15:16 What keeps the work going after more than a year 18:17 Every episode is a different canvas. Our Stuff Our website: https://www.thechangeagent.studio [https://www.thechangeagent.studio] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast [https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChangeAgentPodcast] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-change-agent-podcast/id1794550342] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw [https://open.spotify.com/show/4LoAakYrrg60ld766wKqto?si=OjaQfNF9RbiRH1GCzxOtsw] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm [https://www.instagram.com/thechangeagentpodcast?igsh=OXRoZmp5Z2FhdjJm] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr [https://www.facebook.com/share/1WtowvBVkr/?mibextid=wwXIfr] Music: Studied Abroad - by Neon Beach ContentID (Soundstripe): ARAFPVTBKIQCY9ZD