Stop Treating Your Company Like a Machine — Norman Wolfe on the Living Organization

The Authenticity You're Measuring Doesn't Exist — Maya Rupert

What if the authenticity we keep demanding from leaders isn't actually a real, measurable thing? In this episode, I sit down with Maya Rupert [https://iop.harvard.edu/fellows/maya-rupert], who managed Julián Castro's 2020 presidential campaign, becoming only the third Black woman in U.S. history to run a presidential campaign, and later served as a senior advisor to Elizabeth Warren. Today she's Executive Vice President at Blue State and the author of The Real Ones: How to Disrupt the Hidden Ways Racism Makes Us Less Authentic. Maya challenged something I hear constantly in the corporate world: that we can just "sense" when someone is or isn't authentic. She argues that judgment is mostly vibes, shaped by how many versions of "someone like them" we've seen before. Which means the narrower our reference points, the harder it is for women and people of color to ever be read as authentic, no matter how genuine they are. We get into how she defines real, self-reflective authenticity, what it was like running a campaign with no budget for message testing, why she asks every candidate to define winning beyond winning, and the one lesson from politics and movement work that business still hasn't learned about getting people to truly own their work. If you've ever been told to "just be yourself" and wondered whose self they meant, this one's for you. 🎧 Chapters 00:00 Welcome and Maya's introduction (plus a guest appearance from Crispin the cat) 01:45 Maya's path and why she wrote The Real Ones 04:01 How do you actually define authenticity? 05:54 The vibes-based test we use to judge leaders 09:49 What the 2020 campaign cycle revealed 11:48 Inside a presidential campaign: likability is "squishy" 14:46 The irony of measuring your own authenticity 18:21 When there's only one winner: redefining what winning means 20:25 The values Maya looks for in the leaders she backs 22:39 What business still needs to learn from movement work 26:38 What worries Maya most right now 30:43 The one thing she'd fix overnight 31:56 Bring joy to your hustle 35:17 Where to find Maya and The Real Ones 📕 Maya's book, The Real Ones, is out now wherever you get your books. Find Maya online: @MayaRupert on X, maya.rupert on Instagram and Bluesky

Your Brain Won't Let You Solve Your Own Problem | Dr. Marcia Reynolds, ICF Past President

Your brain is wired to protect you from your own breakthroughs. That's why you can't think your way out of the things that matter most. Dr. Marcia Reynolds [https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciareynolds/] calls coaches "external thought disruptors." She's one of the most credentialed voices in the field: 5th global president of the ICF, ranked top 5 coach in the world by Global Gurus, ICF Circle of Distinction honoree, and author of the international bestseller Coach the Person Not the Problem. In this conversation, Marcia and I dig into why self-awareness alone isn't enough, what AI genuinely cannot replicate in a coaching session, and how the identity you're quietly holding onto is usually what's keeping you stuck. Find Marcia at covisioning.com Chapters: 0:00 Welcome and introducing Dr. Marcia Reynolds 1:13 Where "coach the person, not the problem" actually came from 3:24 The self-awareness gap: why high performers don't know themselves 7:05 What AI can and cannot do in coaching 9:16 Co-regulation and the energetic connection between coach and client 14:42 How coaches override the protective brain to create real transformation 16:38 When people start questioning purpose: the midlife inflection point 18:38 David's story: leaving 23 years in corporate to build something meaningful 20:49 Why defining yourself by your job title is a trap 23:42 How to coach at the identity level, not just behaviors and goals 27:45 Marcia at 70: skydiving, purpose over profit, and a life well lived 30:53 The honest truth about building a coaching business 33:17 Coaching is just one modality. Purpose is the product. 37:49 Where to find Dr. Marcia Reynolds

Belonging Isn't a Feeling. It's Performance Science. With organizational scientist Andrea D. Carter.

What if belonging isn't a soft, feel-good idea but the actual infrastructure that decides whether your team performs? In this episode of the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast, I chat with Andrea Carter, organizational scientist, founder of Belonging First, and adjunct professor at Adler University. Fresh off presenting at Google HQ in London for the launch of the Global Workplace Happiness Report, Andrea breaks down what her research across 150,000 employees reveals about why people stay, perform, and actually feel happy at work. A few things we get into: - The finding that people are least happy at work when they're with their boss, and what that says about how we train managers - Why organizations keep investing the most in what matters the least - The five measurable indicators of belonging: comfort, connection, contribution, psychological safety, and well-being - The difference between engagement (who's busy) and contribution (who's creating real impact) - Why employees experience work as a relationship while organizations treat it as a transaction Andrea also shares a free diagnostic, the Belonging Breakdown, so you can see where belonging is breaking down on your own team. Learn more about Andrea's work: https://belongingfirst.com Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreadcarter/If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who leads a team. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and introductions 01:30 Andrea's detour to Google HQ in London 03:31 Happy workers perform measurably better 04:33 Why people are least happy with their boss 06:38 Why companies invest the most in what matters least 07:54 Belonging as performance science: the five indicators 10:00 Engagement vs contribution 12:00 Why psychological safety is only one fifth of belonging 14:00 The problem with most resilience training 15:49 What good infrastructure looks like 19:00 When AI does more harm than good in HR 23:24 Fitting in vs belonging: the 50-50 equation 26:45 What do we actually do about it 29:14 The Belonging Breakdown diagnostic 30:20 What drives Andrea's passion for this work 33:14 Bringing joy to your work today

You Haven't Delegated. You've Just Handed Off the Task. — with Brooke Dukes

You Haven't Delegated. You've Just Handed Off the Task. — with Brooke Dukes Most founders think they've delegated. They haven't. They've handed off the task and kept the ownership, and that's why their growth has stalled. Brooke Dukes has built four businesses, consulted Fortune 500s for over two decades, and now runs Success by Design — a leadership operating system for founders who've become the bottleneck in their own company. She's also the author of Burn On Not Out and host of the podcast by the same name. In this conversation, Brooke and I get into why "my bandwidth is my company's ceiling" is the most uncomfortable sentence a founder can say out loud, the five-day exercise she gives every client to prove the bottleneck isn't their people, and the moment at 33 — on a corporate jet, in preterm labour, walking away from a six-figure bonus — that ended her Fortune 100 career. If you've ever told yourself "if I don't do it, it won't get done," this one's for you. Chapters00:00 Intro01:29 Four businesses in, here's what Brooke learned04:34 Why growing companies actually stall06:36 Early warning signs you've become the bottleneck08:06 The five-day exercise that reveals where the real problem is11:45 The pushback every founder gives (and why it doesn't hold up)14:47 What being the bottleneck actually costs you19:40 Burn on, not out: the corporate jet moment that changed everything23:16 Leaving a Fortune 500 on your own terms27:06 Why you can't have a Plan B as a founder31:01 The 90-second rule for handling doubt34:52 Brooke's advice for bringing more joy into your day Connect with Brooke DukesPodcast: Burn On, Not OutBook: Burn On Not OutCompany: BMD / Success by Design

How to Disagree Without Losing Respect — Ron Harvey

How do you disagree with someone without the conversation falling apart? Ron Harvey spent 21 years in the U.S. Army and now leads as VP of GCS Consulting. In this episode, he and David Fung unpack what most leaders get wrong about disagreement, respect, and leading people in a world that's changing fast. A few moments that stood out: → Why most disagreements aren't really about the issue→ The difference between appreciating people and tolerating them→ How to spot toxic positivity on a team→ Why your worldview needs an annual upgrade, like your iPhone→ Why coaching isn't about making your team better, it's about making you better Chapters 00:00 Intro: Meet Ron Harvey01:11 21 years in the U.S. Army02:00 "People always matter" — where it comes from04:57 How to disagree without losing respect07:57 What respect actually looks like as a behavior12:57 Why "just make a difference" is Ron's north star15:12 How to measure the intangible18:04 Why coaching is about making YOU better, not your team20:11 The most common leadership mistake Ron still sees21:04 The vulnerability exercise Ron runs with executive teams23:41 Toxic positivity vs. toxic negativity26:39 Finding the sweet spot between the two extremes28:23 Why your worldview needs an annual upgrade (the iPhone test)32:14 What to carry from the past, and what to leave behind35:55 Stop driving through life looking in the rearview mirror37:19 Ron's advice for finding more joy39:26 Where to find Ron