Success Secrets and Stories
To share management leadership concepts that actually work.
You are responsible for your development as a leader. Don't expect the boss to invest the training budget in your career. Consider this podcast as an investment of time in your career, with a bit of management humor added at the same time.
Episodes
137 episodes
How Leaders Spot Burnout And Restore Hope And Communication
Burnout doesn’t always look like falling apart. Sometimes it looks like a capable person still hitting deadlines while quietly losing sleep, losing humor, and losing the feeling that their day is theirs. Greg and I start with that familiar late...
What If Your Best Talent Are Already Within Your Organization?
A hiring freeze hits, overtime gets cut, deadlines don’t move, and suddenly every manager hears the same message: make do with what you have. We start with a real factory-floor moment where the pressure is obvious, the team is tired, and the wo...
Agreements Beat Expectations
A missed deadline can feel like disrespect, but it often starts with something far less dramatic: an expectation nobody ever agreed to. We open with a simple workplace story a budget report “due Monday” that someone thought was due Wednesday an...
NEW BOOK Announcement: The Fifth Gear of Leadership; A Leader's Transformation
We would like to announce Dr. Durst and I have created a new leadership novel, The Fifth Gear of Leadership: A Leader’s Transformation, built around the MBR program and written for people who learn best through story, pressure, and choic...
Human Centered Leadership With MBR Principles
Blame is easy, but it’s expensive. When teams live in “they did it to me,” deadlines slip, trust erodes, and coaching turns into policing. John Wandolowski and Greg Powell get real about human-centered leadership using Dr. Durst’s Management By...
What If The Real Measure Of Success Is Who Listens?
Time is the one thing even the richest people can’t buy more of, and that truth changes how we think about leadership. Greg and I dig into why “more valuable than gold” isn’t a slogan, it’s a real compass for your career, your family, and the c...
100% Responsibility Stops Super Managers Syndrome
Being a manager right now can feel like getting squeezed from every direction: bigger goals, tighter budgets, fewer people, and a job description that quietly expands until it’s impossible. We talk about that reality head-on and name what so ma...
Stop Saying: "It’s Not My Fault"
“It’s not my fault” can be a fact, but it’s also a trap. When teams lead with explanations instead of ownership, responsibility gets diluted, problems get escalated, and leaders turn into bottlenecks. John Wondolowski and Greg Powell break down...
Career Development Means Growing Your People
Your team is telling you the truth every day, but not always with words. When leaders treat silence as satisfaction, careers stall, engagement drops, and “development” turns into a once-a-year checkbox.Greg and I talk through the Manage...
Resume Gets You Hired And Character Gets You Fired
The resume is neat, confident, and full of bullet points. The reality is a human being who shows up on Monday morning, and sometimes that gap is not a gap at all, it is a canyon. Greg and I talk about why skills may get someone hired, but chara...
Prepare For A Leadership Interview That Counts
The fastest way to derail a leadership interview is to treat it like a normal promotion chat. We open with the question that decides more careers than people want to admit: “Why do you want to be a leader?” Then Greg and I unpack what interview...
Your Team Trusts Integrity But Follows Character
Leadership doesn’t usually fail because someone lacks skill. It fails when pressure shows up, trade-offs get real, and doing the right thing costs time, comfort, popularity, or control. That’s where character shows itself, and where a lot of le...
Business Cycles And Career Cycles Explained = Developed Satisfaction
Your career was never meant to be a straight line, and trying to force it into one is where a lot of stress begins. Greg and I break down a simple model that instantly makes work feel more navigable: business cycles and career cycles move throu...
Stop Waiting For Permission And Start Building Your Leadership Path
The promotion you’re waiting for isn’t late—it’s not coming. Greg and I take a hard look at how careers actually advance today and share a practical blueprint to stop waiting for permission and start building momentum, whether you’re aiming for...
Ego and Humility, The Two-Edge Sword of Leadership
What happens to a team when confidence turns brittle and the smartest person in the room insists on being the only mind that matters? Greg and I pull back the curtain on the real tension leaders face every day: using ego to step forward while u...
Cost Center OR Value Engine? You must Lead the Conversation!
A 20% cost reduction isn’t a tweak—it’s triage. We unpack what leaders can do when the email lands and the room goes quiet: how to spot the warning signs before the meeting, protect non-negotiables like safety and compliance, and turn “overhead...
Hard, Not Hopeless: The Sweet Spot Of Stretch Goals
Ready to set goals that feel ambitious, doable, and worth the effort? Greg and I dig into the craft of stretch goals and show how to design targets that motivate teams, protect resources, and deliver results you can take to the board with confi...
Acceptance - Not Authority - Unlocks Performance
Change arrives with a new title, but trust doesn’t. Greg and I dive into the first 90 days of leadership and show how acceptance—not authority—unlocks performance, psychological safety, and durable culture. From replacing stiff reviews with cof...
Leaders Thrive When They Ask Better Questions Of Their Data
What if the most powerful analytics tool in your organization is the data you already collect? Greg and I dive into the mindset shift leaders need to make statistics useful: start with clear definitions, ask sharper questions, and turn simple d...
Ownership Beats Oversight: A Practical Path To Trust And On‑Time Work
Ever feel like you’re carrying your team’s deadlines on your back? We dive into a real story from a manufacturing floor where late, incomplete reports were wrecking schedules, burning out a supervisor, and eroding trust. The fix wasn’t louder e...
Scott Adams Lessons For Real-World Leadership
Office life can feel like a maze of meetings, vague goals, and energy-sucking routines—and that’s exactly why Scott Adams’ ideas still hit home. Join John and Greg as they unpack the practical playbook behind the humor and explore how to turn e...
Ownership Builds People, Control Breaks Culture
Feeling like the bottleneck at work? We break down a simple, human framework that helps supervisors stop rescuing and start leading, so teams think, anticipate, and own results. Drawing on Management by Responsibility (MBR), we share practical ...
What Happens When Innovation Serves People, Not Processes
What if your tech stack made people feel more capable, more connected, and more heard? We dive into a people-first playbook for leaders, educators, and builders who want technology to amplify human potential rather than squeeze it into a workfl...
Lessons from Coach Cignetti: How to Win = Evaluate Culture, Accountability, Talent
What if the fastest way to stronger results isn’t a bold new strategy but a return to fundamentals? We dive into the leadership playbook behind Kurt Cignetti’s rapid turnaround at Indiana University football, and translate his on-field methods ...
AI-Powered Retention: Practical Playbook For Managers
Retention is changing fast, and so are the tools leaders can use to keep people engaged, growing, and proud to stay. We explore how supervisors and managers can blend real human coaching with smart AI insights to protect high performers, preven...