Leveraging Leadership
Are you ready to up your leadership game? Tune in to Leveraging Leadership, where Chiefs of Staff, executives, and business professionals find the tools, strategies, and insights they need to excel. Hosted by Emily Sander, a C-suite executive turned leadership coach, this podcast delivers practical and tactical takeaways every week.
Whether you're tackling tough conversations, fine-tuning your KPIs, or mastering delegation, this show offers new perspectives and actionable advice to help you feel confident and thrive in your role.
Each Monday, enjoy interviews with leaders from diverse fields—primarily business, but also from military, politics, and higher education. Every Wednesday, catch a solo episode where Emily shares concise, actionable insights on a specific topic you can apply immediately.
If you appreciate relatable, informal conversations that pack a punch with no fluff, you’re in the right place. While especially valuable for Chiefs of Staff and their Principals, the insights are useful for any leader aiming to grow.
Don’t miss your chance to advance as a leader.
Episodes
158 episodes
When to Involve Additional Team Members in Critical Business Decisions
Emily Sander, Chief of Staff to an executive leadership coach, discusses how to handle underperforming team members by involving others in the team. She shares a case where a founder had difficulty getting metrics from a team member named Sharo...
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Season 1
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Episode 158
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8:16
How an Irish Comedian Uses Humor to Enhance Business Communication
Emily Sander interviews Conor Cunneen, a former VP of Marketing turned keynote speaker and business humorist. Conor discusses the power of humor in business, using the "LAUGH" acronym to add humor to presentations. He shares examples like a neu...
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Season 1
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Episode 157
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37:22
Making Critical Leadership Decisions During Major Industry Disruptions
Emily Sander discusses how leaders can make strategic decisions when unexpected events occur, using an example of a project that fell behind due to industry changes. A company leader had to shift focus from their planned initiative to tackle a ...
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Season 1
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Episode 156
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4:22
How a Chief of Staff Role Can Boost Your Career Big Time
Melissa Schmidiger shares her journey from working at McKinsey & Company to becoming Chief of Staff at Ayala Land. She highlights the importance of building relationships, understanding one's career goals, and being authentic, which ultimat...
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Season 1
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Episode 155
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33:36
Worth The Fight? Juggling Short-Terms Wins and Long-Term Goals
Emily Sander talks about deciding which battles to fight in a leadership role. She shares a story of a Chief of Staff who chose a short-term reorg plan to avoid conflict with a long-standing Chief Product Officer. Another example is a CEO who d...
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Season 1
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Episode 154
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7:48
Finding Balance Between Work Tasks and Relationship Building
Emily Sander interviews Matt Hartman, a Chief of Staff at Oracle, about his dual role overseeing employee-facing technology and a service group. Matt shares his strategies for prioritization, like focusing on company-wide goals first, utilizing...
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Season 1
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Episode 153
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40:10
Avoiding Overcorrection in Personal Growth - Balancing Leadership Strengths
Emily Sander discusses the importance of not losing your strengths while trying to fix your weaknesses. She shares examples like someone being too aggressive in communication and someone being too timid. Emily emphasizes that being direct can b...
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Season 1
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Episode 152
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10:00
A Decade in the Making: Founder and COS Together Again at Beyond Barriers
Emily Sander talks with guests Nikki Barua and Cheryl Couch about building and leading Beyond Barriers. Nikki explains how the company turns talent into high achievers with AI coaching, and Cheryl shares insights from her Chief of Staff role. T...
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Season 1
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Episode 151
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39:03
Using Flash Reports to Improve Leadership Communication and Keep the Board Happy
Emily Sander discusses the benefits of flash reports in tracking company performance. Flash reports provide a quick overview with KPIs from each department and brief updates from department leaders. They help leadership teams stay informed and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 150
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14:49
How Chief of Staff Association Elevates Leadership and Organizational Alignment Globally
Emily Sander interviews Trent Smyth and Jeremy Costa from the Chief of Staff Association, exploring the relationship between a Principal and Chief of Staff. They discuss the role of a Chief of Staff and the association's programs at Oxford and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 149
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44:42
Mapping Contributions: How Every Team Member Affects Customer Satisfaction
This episode of Leveraging Leadership focuses on defining the customer using three key questions. Emily Sander, Chief of Staff, discusses how crucial it is for everyone to understand their impact on the customer and what the customer really, RE...
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Season 1
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Episode 148
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11:51
Inside a Startup: From Interview Process to Product Launch in Women’s Health
Maya Ayed, Chief of Staff at Amira Health, shares her journey from big tech to startups, including hosting events to build her network. She explains Amira Health's mission to help women with menopause sleep better using a wristband and cooling ...
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Season 1
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Episode 147
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34:11
Strategic Alignment and Lines of Sight from Corporate Level to Individuals
Emily discusses strategic alignment through the balanced scorecard, touching on corporate, business unit, and individual levels. She shares practical examples from her client management department and explains the importance of communication ch...
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Season 1
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Episode 146
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13:21
How a Principal and Chief of Staff From T-Mobile Started Venture Forge
Emily Sander talks with Adam Maddock and Marcus East about their careers and roles at T Mobile, highlighting Adam's background as a Marine and his role as Chief of Staff and Marcus's position as Chief Digital Officer. They discuss the importanc...
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Season 1
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Episode 145
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52:36
Understanding Cause and Effect Across Your Org Using Strategy Maps
Emily Sander explains the cause and effect relationship between the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, and learning and development. She shares examples like employee training programs leading to stream...
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Season 1
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Episode 144
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13:12
From Olympics to TEDx: A Winning Mindset in Sports and Business
Joey Lye, Olympic bronze medalist and TEDx speaker, shares how she achieved a 1.000 batting average at the Tokyo Olympics through mindset and preparation. She also discusses managing pressure using mindfulness techniques and the importance of a...
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Season 1
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Episode 143
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42:09
Unpacking the Balanced Scorecard: Financial, Customer, Internal Process, and Learning Perspectives
Emily breaks down how to use the balanced scorecard to operationalize strategy, focusing on its four key perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, and learning and development. She discusses how financial metrics like cash flow are l...
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Season 1
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Episode 142
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18:36
Mastering Startup Leadership: CEO and Chief of Staff Role Evolution
Tim Moore talks about the evolving role of a startup CEO, noting the need to step back and let others, like a Chief of Staff, handle daily operations. Natalie Piekarski shares her experience transitioning from executive assistant to Chief of St...
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Season 1
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Episode 141
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38:41
Balanced Scorecard Basics: Financial and Non-Financial Metrics for Leaders
Emily Sander talks about using the Balanced Scorecard to improve business strategy. She explains how it can help align teams, balance financial and non-financial elements, and focus on both short-term and long-term goals. Emily also previews up...
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Season 1
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Episode 140
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11:57
From Control Freak to Leader: Principal’s Perspective on Delegation and Trust with Chief of Staff
Bethany, Chief Actuary and Chief Analytics Officer at Johns Hopkins, discusses her struggle with delegating tasks and the value of having Natalie as her Chief of Staff. She highlights the importance of diverse skill sets, storytelling in leader...
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Season 1
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Episode 139
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30:19
Influence Outcomes with the Feel, Think, Do Framework
Emily shares a simple but powerful communication tip: ask yourself what you want your audience to feel, think, and do. She gives examples for board meetings, all hands meetings, and hiring key people. Keep it simple and specific, like getting f...
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Season 1
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Episode 138
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5:19
The Significance Factor: Leading with Purpose and Achieving Greatness
Emily Sander talks with Dr. Wayne Pernell, a bestselling author and President of Dynamic Leader, Inc., about his book "Choosing Your Power" and the themes of empowerment and personal values. Dr. Pernell discusses the shift from career success t...
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Season 1
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Episode 137
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45:17
Bridging the Gap Between Nebulous Concepts and Tangible Business Outcomes
Emily explains how to turn vague ideas into clear proposals with tangible outcomes, using examples like investing $40,000 in executive coaching for key team members and a $20,000 offsite to boost sales team morale. She offers advice on reducing...
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Season 1
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Episode 136
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7:00
Outsmarting Imposter Syndrome: Rewiring the Brain for Confidence in 3 Steps
Emily chats with Tara Halliday about achieving effortless confidence by eliminating conditional worth and threat perception. Tara explains how her Inner Success Program helps people, including Chief of Staff Emily, overcome imposter syndrome, p...
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Season 1
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Episode 135
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30:43
Speaking in Tweets: Effective Strategies for Communicating with a Rapid-Fire Boss
Emily shares a story about her coaching client who struggled with his fast-paced, detail-averse boss. She explains how they adapted by using short, bullet-point emails, formulating yes/no questions, and using Google Notes for quick information ...
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Season 1
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Episode 134
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6:18