Coffee, Chaos, & Cashflow

#59 Building Trust in Public Sector Leadership: Insights from Dr. Asa James Swan

Coffee, Chaos, & Cashflow Season 4 Episode 59

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0:00 | 46:05

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What does it take to lead when the roads, bridges, and winter storms don’t wait for a perfect plan? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Asa James Swan—founder and CEO of GREAT Leaders, former Chief of Staff and Legislative Liaison for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), and the nation’s first-ever Chief Leadership Officer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Before Asa helped shape leadership training across the state, he was in the trenches of one of government’s most demanding agencies: the Cabinet responsible for Kentucky’s entire transportation infrastructure. We explore how he applied the five pillars of GREAT leadership (Gritty, Relational, Equipped, Authentic, Transformational) to navigate bureaucracy, lead legacy employees, manage crises, and build trust in a high-stakes public safety environment.

Whether you lead a team of two or two thousand, this conversation is packed with real-world lessons on how to stay authentic, equip your people, and drive change when the pressure is on.

Connect with Asa: 

https://great-leaders.org/begin-the-conversation/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/asa-james-swan/

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