Becker Business Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode: Leadership, Mentorship, and Building Winning Teams with Lori Beth Irvin of LB Ingenuity
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Lori Beth Irvin
Date: December 8, 2025

Overview

This episode features a rich discussion with Lori Beth Irvin, founder of LB Ingenuity, on her leadership journey, the value and challenges of mentorship, building and maintaining strong teams, and leading with intention in complex business environments. Through personal anecdotes and practical advice, Lori Beth shares insights on personal growth, developing organizational culture, decision-making under pressure, and the mixture of fear and faith inherent in entrepreneurship.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lori Beth’s Introduction and Career Turning Points

• Lori Beth Irvin introduces herself as the owner of LB Ingenuity, with 30 years of corporate experience and four years running her consulting business.
• Turning Point #1:
  • Lack of a mentor early in her career became a catalyst for self-reliance, developing a unique leadership style based on strategic thinking rather than task-following.
  • Quote:

    “I had taskmasters and micromanagers; the absence of that kind of became its own teacher for me.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [01:49]

• Turning Point #2:
  • Recognized the damaging effects of organizational silos and the importance of aligning departments toward common goals.
  • Quote:

    “While everybody was working hard, they really weren’t working together... and it just didn’t work for the overall growth goals.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [04:55]

2. Self-Taught vs. Mentored Leadership

• Lori shares the generational differences in seeking and valuing mentorship, noting a positive trend in younger generations demanding and benefiting from mentorship.
• She emphasizes the dual impact of mentorship—professional and personal—and its lasting legacy.
  • Quote:

    “Every person that you touch has a ripple effect of how they treat somebody else in an organization.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [07:22]

• Discusses the fear leaders sometimes have of being replaced by mentees and why that mindset is short-sighted.
  • Quote:

    “If I teach you all the trade secrets... then you’re going to take my job, and that’s just not necessarily true... Don’t we want that to happen so we can retire?”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [07:00]

3. Building Winning Teams

• Key Principle: Integrity and consistency in showing up matter more than teachable skills—tenacity and ownership are critical.
• Enjoyment of work and mutual reliability within teams drive better performance and resilience.
  • Quote:

    “Skills can be taught, but the root core passion and tenacity… you just have to discern if that's a person that's right for your team.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [09:36]

• Observes that younger generations sometimes give up too easily and stresses the importance of persistence and navigating hard conversations.

4. Leadership Qualities in a Complex World

• With rapid advances in AI and tech, Lori emphasizes the need for steadiness, emotional intelligence, and careful decision-making.
• Proactive, long-term thinking trumps reactive, short-term fixes.
  • Quote:

    “Leaders who stand out today are the ones that are really steady and who can stay grounded even when there’s a lot of shifting dynamics.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [11:18]

• The ability to “read the room” and manage team dynamics empathetically is crucial.

5. Creating Culture Intentionally

• Culture is shaped in small, everyday moments—through tone, communication, and the handling of both good and bad news.
• Modern leadership is shifting toward more transparency and directness.
  • Quote:

    “Workers don’t necessarily want perfection from leaders. They want consistency, transparency, and fairness and that’s how you gain their respect.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [14:20]

• Respect and professionalism should be the baseline, not the bonus.

6. Decision-Making Under Pressure & Learning from Setbacks

• Lori describes decision-making under stress as a practiced skill:
  • Slow down where possible, even for a moment, to separate emotion from facts.
  • Three criteria guide her decisions: timing, impact, and long-term business outcomes.
  • Quote:

    “Good decision-making isn’t necessarily about speed... even just slowing down the pace just for a matter of minutes can make the best outcome.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [17:32]

7. Advice for Emerging Leaders

• Top Three Tips:
  1. Learn the business beyond your immediate role.
  2. Protect your bandwidth—avoid burnout by pacing yourself.
  3. Be selective and unafraid to say no; not all opportunities are right for you.
  • Quote:

    “Be confident enough in yourself to say no if the opportunity... is not the right one. And don’t be afraid to take risks. I wish I had learned that a little earlier on.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [19:33]

8. On Risk-Taking and Trusting Intuition

• Thoughtful risk-taking is essential, particularly when feeling stagnant or plateaued.
• Intuition plays a big role in recognizing when to leap, despite anxieties or “type A” tendencies.
  • Quote:

    “If I had never taken a risk to start my own business, I would never be where I am today.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [21:32]

• Recommends writing down the worst-case scenarios to make risks feel more manageable.

9. Entrepreneurship as a Leap of Faith

• Lori Beth shares her own leap—leaving corporate for entrepreneurship despite no guaranteed clients and dealing with chronic illness and self-doubt.
• Once she committed, opportunities appeared and anxiety transformed into fulfillment.
  • Quote:

    “As soon as I did have the faith to step over the ledge, then everything met me where I was at… what’s the worst that can happen? And then when I itemized the worst… it really wasn’t as bad as what you had in your mind.”
    — Lori Beth Irvin, [23:12]

• Encourages other founders to reframe risk and recognize that setbacks are rarely as catastrophic as feared.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Mentorship’s Broader Value:

  “It’s flipping the script… how you’re leaving sort of like a professional legacy for people.”
  — Lori Beth Irvin, [07:09]

• On Building Teams:

  “Showing up each day with purpose, not permission.”
  — Lori Beth Irvin, [09:03]

• On Leadership in Complexity:

  “Leaders… who can take a pause before reacting, not take a long pause that you lose opportunity…”
  — Lori Beth Irvin, [11:43]

• On Intuition and Courage:

  “It was a quick decision, which was probably good because it didn’t give me time to ruminate... and then after I took the step, everything fell into place.”
  — Lori Beth Irvin, [22:32]

Key Timestamps

• [01:49] – Initial turning point: the impact of not having a mentor
• [04:55] – Recognizing and addressing organizational silos
• [07:09] – Fear-based barriers to mentorship and legacy thinking
• [09:03] – Core values for building high-performing teams
• [11:18] – Leadership qualities for a fast-changing world
• [14:20] – Shaping organizational culture intentionally
• [17:32] – Decision-making under stress
• [19:33] – Advice for emerging leaders
• [21:32] – Intentional and individualized risk-taking
• [22:32] – Entrepreneurship: anxiety, risk, and fulfillment

Conclusion

This episode is a masterclass in practical leadership: led by self-taught initiative, fueled by a desire for purposeful connection and mentorship, and grounded in authenticity and courage. Lori Beth Irvin’s candor on overcoming fear, building strong teams, and leading with integrity offers a motivational roadmap for leaders and entrepreneurs alike—reminding listeners that every risk and setback is both a challenge and a catalyst for growth.