Grow Strong Leaders Podcast
I’m fascinated by what it takes for leaders to live their values consistently, especially when it’s hard.
On the Grow Strong Leaders Podcast, I have candid conversations with senior executives who are sustaining principled leadership inside complex organizations. We explore how leadership capability, organizational systems, and the everyday decisions reinforce values.
Our discussions also explore what gets tested when pressure rises—and the personal guardrails leaders rely on to stay aligned.
If you believe values should guide real decisions—not just appear on the wall—you'll feel right at home here.
Episodes
389 episodes
389: The Power of Being Fully Present
What if one of the most important leadership skills isn't speaking more clearly, making faster decisions, or solving problems more quickly—but simply being fully present?In this thoughtful conversation, psychologist and coach Dr. Pam Gar...
388: Why Values Aren't Enough
Most organizations can describe their values. The real challenge is helping people live them when pressure, habits, and competing priorities get in the way. In this thought-provoking conversation, Stephen Paskoff explains why changi...
387: Who Wins Under Pressure?
What happens when values collide with results and a difficult decision has to be made?Earl Rattray spent more than three decades helping organizations answer that question in real time. Drawing on his experience leading global ethics and...
386: One Conversation Can Change a Life
What if the most important leadership moment of your career lasts only five minutes? Angela Burgess believes that meaningful change often begins with a single conversation. In this episode, she shares the story of a manager who saw ...
385: The Behavior You're Willing to Tolerate
What if your culture isn't defined by your values, but by the behavior you're willing to tolerate? Steve Harris has spent decades helping organizations create environments where employees feel safe speaking up, leaders model the right behaviors...
384: Helping Isn’t Always Helping
What if your desire to help is actually getting in someone else's way? You may think you're supporting, protecting, or guiding others, but sometimes your good intentions can unintentionally limit their growth, confidence, and sense of purpose.&...
383: How JLL Practices Integrity Every Day
How do you sustain an ethical culture across 113,000 employees in more than 80 countries with a team of just four ethics professionals? Kendall Mills shares how JLL has built one of the world's most enduring ethics programs, earning recognition...
382: Leading with a Viewpoint and Grace
Do you need to know more than everyone else to be an effective leader? Chris Ware believes the answer is no. Throughout his career, he has repeatedly stepped into leadership roles where others had deeper expertise, yet he learned how to build t...
381: Why Marvell Employees Actually Speak Up
What makes employees feel safe enough to speak up when something feels wrong? Eva Lehman shares how ethical cultures are built through leadership behaviors, trust, consistency, and systems that reinforce integrity every day. As Vice President a...
380: Who’s Developing Human Judgment?
AI can accelerate answers. But what happens when it weakens the development of judgment, critical thinking, and human connection? Jennifer May explores the growing pressure facing middle managers, the risks organizations face when relationship-...
379: When Performance Replaces People
What happens when organizations become so focused on speed, efficiency, and AI that they slowly lose sight of people? In this thought-provoking conversation, Dr. Kelly Monahan shares insights from her years studying the future of work inside or...
378: The Best Boards Ask the Hardest Questions
Vera Cherepanova, Executive Director of Boards of the Future, believes the strongest boards are not the ones with the best reports, but the ones willing to ask the hardest questions. In this conversation, she explains why ethics cannot be treat...
377: How Medtronic Turns Values Into Action
What happens when doing the right thing costs money, creates tension, or slows results? Tara Shewchuk, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Privacy, Integrity, and Compliance Officer at Medtronic, pulls back the curtain on what ethical leader...
376: When Ambition Disconnects You From Life
What happens when your drive to succeed begins to disconnect you from yourself and the people who matter most? You’ll hear how Kevin Rice navigated extreme personal and professional pressure while building and scaling a company, and what it tau...
375: How Cargill Turns Values Into Daily Decisions
What if your company’s stated values actually guided every decision you make? Christopher Annand, Senior Director of Ethics, Compliance, and Security, shares how Cargill brings this standard to life, where seven guiding principles shape how lea...
374: The Line You Never Cross
Pressure doesn’t reveal your values. It exposes whether you’ve defined them at all. In this conversation with John Castelly, you’re challenged to think about who you are as a leader before the moment arrives when everything is on the l...
373: When Growth Forces an Identity Shift
What happens when you set a bigger goal and it forces you to rethink who you are? In this solo episode, I share how one decision exposed gaps in my leadership approach and led to a series of identity-level shifts. Through working with AI as a s...
372: Your Body Decides Before Your Brain Does
What happens when a high-performing leader hits a wall they never saw coming? Kimberly Arnold knows firsthand. After she spent decades leading large-scale transformations at PwC, Salesforce, and Blue Shield of California, a perfect storm of per...
371: The Weight of Doing the Right Thing
Pressure reveals who you really are as a leader. Brian Aquart, Vice President of Workforce and Community Education at Northwell Health, shares how a defining moment during the first wave of COVID reshaped his understanding of purpose, re...
370: DONE Leaders Finish What Matters Most
Growth doesn’t stall because leaders lack ideas. It stalls because execution gets messy. Andrea Jones, former Intel process engineer and MIT Sloan MBA, turned a painful early career experience into a mission: help organizations execute growth p...
369: Leading Without Judgment When It Counts
Great leadership is revealed in the moments when pressure makes it easiest to abandon your values. Steph Brady shares how falling into management at 21—without training or support—forced her to lead in high-stress situations where her instincts...
368: Why Nonprofits Must Think Like Businesses
Most nonprofits fail for one simple reason: they don’t run like businesses. Dr. Sharon Elefant learned this firsthand and built her company, The Nonprofit Plug, to help founders close that gap. After beginning her career in hospital administrat...
367: Be Yourself at Work
What if being yourself at work wasn’t a risk—but your greatest strength? In this deeply moving conversation, you’ll meet Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX and author of Be Yourself at Work. Her presence alone reminds you wh...
366: Creating a Great Place to Work For All
What does it really take to lead well when the world—and the workplace—feels deeply divided? You’re invited into a thoughtful, grounded conversation with Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work, as we explore how trust, charac...
365: What Really Builds (or Breaks) Trust
What does it really mean to trust someone—and how intentional are you about the choices you make every day? You’ll rethink trust from the inside out as Charles Feltman challenges the idea that trust is vague or emotional and reframes it ...
