100 Episodes Of Leadership Lessons

The leadership journey most of us expect is clean, linear, and predictable. The one we actually live is full of detours, wrong turns, awkward lessons, and surprising resets and that’s exactly where the growth happens. For this special 100th episode of The Path to Leadership, I’m going solo to reflect on what I’ve learned from building this podcast, coaching leaders, and watching people navigate real careers in real time. 

I share why Catalyst Development is a “how-to-do leadership” company, because most of us already know why leadership matters. What we need are practical leadership skills: self-awareness, decision-making, communication, relationship-building, and the ability to learn fast when things don’t go as planned. This reflection also comes after International Women’s Day conversations in Kansas City, including a powerful moment with Dynamic Logistics where we talked about how teams can show up for each other and create stronger workplace culture together. 

You’ll hear two stories that land like bookends: a coaching client stepping into the perfect next role after earlier timing didn’t align, and a soon-to-be graduate facing the discouraging reality of finding that first job. Different chapters of life, same core takeaway: the best decisions are often “best in the moment,” and leadership development is turning those moments into momentum. 

Before you go, I give simple homework: picture where you want to be in one year, name the skills and relationships you’ll need, and choose intentional actions to invest in that future. If this resonates, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a rating or review, then message me on LinkedIn with your path to leadership and what you want to hear next.

Follow us on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/rhondajhale/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieervin/

www.jolyean.com

www.katieervin.com

Check out Rhonda's Etsy shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThingsForge

Order Dr. Katie's books: 

• 52 Weeks of LEADERship:  https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=afiG9oMq4YoXnvxsSD9PDjTrezQvZd6A7vBE1T2yaGz
• You Might Be an Asshole: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=O4ZMvNNamwFzFFUAjJB1s6pjudAiHrUlcUX0iMUlzI6

Learn more about Catalyst LEADERs Institute:  www.katieervin.com/leaders

 
Theme music by Emma Jo https://emmajo.rocks/

Transcript

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Dr. Katie 0:32

Hello and welcome back to the path to leadership. I'm Dr. Katie and I'm solo today. Rhonda is not with me today. Scheduling has been a little bit of a challenge. I've been traveling, she's been sick, I've been sick, everything's been a little crazy. So this week and next week's path to leadership is going to be a little different, going a little old school, where they're going to be me hosting this week, Rhonda hosting next week.

Welcome And 100th Episode

Dr. Katie 1:14

So happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone who is listening, thrilled to have you. Welcome to our new listeners. Welcome back to our longtime listeners. So thrilled to have you at The Path to Leadership. Also, this is a special edition because it's our hundredth podcast. I cannot believe I've been doing this for a hundred episodes. Having so many fantastic guests on the episode, having Rhonda join me as a co-host has been such a gift for me. And I know people listening to this have really loved the dynamic of having Rhonda on as a co-host. I love to have conversations with her about leadership all the time. So thank you to everyone who has been with me from the beginning or um has come along the way. I love doing this podcast. And as I've been having conversations this week on different work that I'm doing, it's been really fun to talk about the podcast and why I started it, what my goal was in doing it, was really to highlight the work that I'm doing in not just Kansas City, but around the country and with international clients, but more importantly, to really highlight leadership. The company that I own, which is Catalyst Development, I love to tell people it's a how-to-do leadership

Leadership Skills Over Leadership Hype

Dr. Katie 2:38

company, not a why you should be a leader company. I mean, at this point, I think we know why we should be a leader. The problem is we don't always have the skills to be leaders, or we have the skills, we just don't always understand them or recognize them. And so that's really the work I do. And that's really why I love this podcast because it allows us to have those conversations that Rhonda and I are seeing in our community and as we're engaging with people leaders and with individual contributors, people that are at the beginning of their careers, people that are more towards the end of their careers in all different industries, whether people are in paid leadership roles, there's just so much leadership all around us. And so we love to have these conversations. And this past week has been a really fun conversation as we celebrate International Women's Day and really the raising up of women doing great things around us. I was so fortunate to speak at a organization here in Kansas City Dynamic Logistics. They're a great firm here doing logistics uh across the country and really celebrating their women, but also to see the

International Women’s Day Reflections

Dr. Katie 4:02

men in the room that were not just cheering on the women in the room, but cheering on each other. Like, how do we really come together, you know, as strong teams and as strong organizations? And I got to have some really neat conversations before and after about, you know, how we show up at work. And really, I got to share my story, my path to leadership. Of, you know, there were times in my career where I was young and dumb, or maybe not even young, just dumb. Or I made the best decisions in the moment where I thought I was doing the right things based on what I knew. And they didn't work out for me. And in my path, where we think our path to leadership, especially when we start out, we're a little naive in a in our in our career journey. We think, here's a clean path

Career Missteps And Pivots

Dr. Katie 4:54

and here's how I'm going to get there. And we realize that there's roadblocks and there's missteps and there's mistakes, and there's times we start going down a road and it's not the right road, or maybe at the time it was the best road that was presented to us. And we have these pivots and we have these resets and we have these times in our career where we really get to learn from the decisions we make that allows us to move throughout our career. And so it's been such a fun week. And then I had that conversation, and then I actually just wrapped up with a coaching client who I am just so blessed to have worked with a couple of times, and she just accepted a new offer, and she had talked to this company a couple of times in her career journey, and it wasn't the right time for her, and it wasn't the right time for them. And now it is the perfect time. Like the universe has aligned beautifully,

Coaching Win And Perfect Timing

Dr. Katie 5:54

and she's really set up for success in this company, but more importantly, the company is set up for success with her at this moment in her in her career journey. And so that is really fun to be with her as she maneuvers some making the best decisions in the moment to, oh boy, what did I learn from that decision? To now being set up for this wild success going forward. And then also had a conversation yesterday with a May 2026 grad. So a couple months until they're out in the workforce, and really struggling with finding out that the you know, finding that that first job is is hard, and that he he even knows that it's not going to be the perfect job, that is going to be an opportunity for him to learn and to grow. But it can be discouraging, especially when

New Grad Anxiety And First Jobs

Dr. Katie 6:54

you think that you're going to be set up for success. And his parents are in industries that they have been doing since college. Like they went to college for this industry, they landed the job in this industry, they have grown in this industry, and he's chosen a much different career path, one that really lights a fire and passion in him. And it's been it's been a hard journey for him to find that right first step and that opportunity for him to to learn and grow. And so it's it's funny the dichotomy of these two conversations of this amazing coaching client who she is really ready for that last chapter in her career journey, that that last perfect step for the next seven to 10 to 12 years of of career life. And this young man who's just starting out his career journey, and for it all to be landing on the hundredth episode of The Path to Leadership, it's a beautiful culmination of who I want to be to individuals and to leaders, to people leaders, to individual contributors. It is just a bow on who I want to be and the resource I want to be. So just want to jump on and share a little reflection of this week and the podcast

Your Path To Leadership Homework

Dr. Katie 8:21

and my journey and what I've seen and experienced. I hope you'll take some nuggets from this and and the so what homework I would like you to do this week is to really think about and reflect on your path to leadership, whether it is a title of leader that you have, maybe you're a title, a people leader, or maybe it is just the influence that you have that puts you in a leadership role. I really want you to think about your path to leadership and the homework that I gave the individuals at dynamic logistics is I really want you to think about where you want to be in a year. What do you want that to look like? What are the skills, the connections, the relationships that are necessary to get you there? And then how are you going to really invest in that? How are you going to really do intentional work? So I challenge you to do that as you're listening to the to the podcast and getting ready to go into the rest of your day, the rest of your week, the rest of the month. Do some real intentional work about your path to leadership. And I would love to hear from you. You can message if you're listening to this on a on pod the podcast platform through Apple. You can message the the podcast, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. All of the information is in the show notes. I would love to hear from you on your path to leadership. How is that going for you? Where do you need support? Where can Rhonda and I do more podcasts to expose you to

Share Feedback And Stay Connected

Dr. Katie 10:02

some tools and resources that we have or to bring in other people that can share it? We would love to hear from you. Guests that you would like to see, let us know. Again, thank you for sharing the podcast. Thank you for telling our stories. Thank you for those that have rated the podcast and reviewed it. It really helps our expansion. And for those of you that are listening around the world, again, we are in awe of our international reach. Thank you for continuing to listen, to download, and to engage. And Ronda will talk to you next week on the path to leadership. I'll be back in two weeks. I'm sneaking away on a quick mother-son cruise with my son and going to spend some amazing time with my, he will be 24 next week. So my 24 year old, just to have a little downtime and rest and relaxation, and to spend some time to reflect on my work and my path. Thank you so much for joining me. And Rhonda will talk to you next time on the path to leadership. Bye, everyone.