Podcast
Coaching for Leaders
Hosted by Dave Stachowiak · EN
Leaders aren’t born; they’re made. Many leaders reach points in their careers where what worked yesterday doesn’t work today. This Monday show helps leaders thrive at these key inflection points. Independently produced weekly since 2011, Dr. Dave Stachowiak shares insights from a decade of leading a global leadership academy, plus more than 15 years of leadership at Dale Carnegie. Bestselling authors, proven leaders, expert thinkers, and deep conversation have attracted 50 million downloads and over 300,000 followers. Join the FREE membership to search the entire leadership and management library by topic at CoachingforLeaders.com
195episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Getting Up to Altitude, with Hayley Park
Mar 5, 202500:17:16Summary readyDave speaks with Hayley Park, an alum of the Coaching for Leaders Academy, on how she got to altitude for better perspective on what's happening in the organization. Applications to the Coaching for Leaders Academy will close on March 14, 2025. Visit the Academy page for details and to apply.
Summary723: Create Visibility for Your Work, with Melody Wilding
Mar 3, 202500:39:32Summary readyMelody Wilding: Managing Up Melody Wilding is an executive and leadership coach for smart, sensitive high-achievers who are tired of getting in their own way. She teaches human behavior at Hunter College and is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Business Insider, who named her one of the “most innovative coaches.” She is the author of Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge*. Good work speaks for itself. It’s a lie many of us have wished was true, but found that there’s actually much more work involved. In this conversation, Melody and I discuss what really helps in creating more visibility. Key Points Good work does not speak for itself. Our fear of appearing self-promotional can hinder the visibility conversations that our leaders and team need from us. A story will be told about your work. By having stories that you are ready to tell, you get to shape the narrative. Instead of listing what you’ve done, highlight what you want to be known for. Give visibility to work that is important to your team, puts you in contact with stakeholders, and impacts that bottom line. Always have a 3-step pocket update at the ready. Share a (1) project, (2) detail, and (3) result. Capitalize on casual conversation. Say yes to the right invitations and be the person that keeps the relationship going. Resources Mentioned Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge* by Melody Wilding Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes Get Noticed Without Selling Out, with Laura Huang (episode 480) How to Start Finding Useful Stories, with David Hutchens (episode 593) Getting Better at Internal Communication, with Roy Schwartz (episode 687) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
SummaryStrengthening Peer Relationships, with Raj Bawa
Feb 28, 202500:17:46Summary readyDave speaks with Raj Bawa, an alum of the Coaching for Leaders Academy, on how he focused his attention on creating better relationships with peer executives. Applications to the Coaching for Leaders Academy will close on March 14, 2025. Visit the Academy page for details and to apply.
Summary722: Where to Start in Survival Mode, with Rebecca Homkes
Feb 24, 202500:34:43Summary readyRebecca Homkes: Survive, Reset, Thrive Rebecca Homkes is a high-growth strategy specialist and CEO and executive advisor. She is a Lecturer at the London Business School, Faculty at Duke Corporate Executive Education, and Advisor and Faculty at the Boston Consulting Group focused on AI and Climate and Sustainability. She is the author of Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times*. Uncertainty seems to be more and more the norm. Sometimes, that leads an organization into survival mode. If that’s where you are now, this conversation is the roadmap for what to do next. Key Points We default to the assumption that uncertainty is unequivocally bad. Executives are often overconfident in their ability to predict the future and get tied into patterns that reward following the plan. We tend to adopt the first explanation we hear that makes sense instead of examining our beliefs. Make good decisions even when you cannot make good predictions. Avoid attempting to predict the end state. Stop planning and start preparing. People are often most honest when in survival mode, opening up opportunity for learning and growth. Ask these two questions: What could break us? What could make us? Resources Mentioned Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times* by Rebecca Homkes Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes The Way to Make Better Decisions, with Annie Duke (episode 499) Help Your Team Embrace Growth Mindset, with Eduardo Briceño (episode 644) How to Handle High-Pressure Situations, with Dan Dworkis (episode 701) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Summary721: How to Lead Engaging Meetings, with Jess Britt
Feb 22, 202500:38:01Summary readyJess Britt Jess Britt is an experienced executive and nonprofit board chair. Today as a coach and consultant, she uses a facilitative leadership approach to empower leaders and teams to build collaborative, high-performing, data-driven workplace cultures. She’s an alum of our Academy and for the past two years, has taken a leadership role inside our community as a Coaching for Leaders fellow, providing coaching and facilitation to our members. While some leaders love to hate meetings, a well-designed meeting can open huge opportunities to connect, engage, and build culture on a team. In this conversation, Jess and I zero in on simple tactics that will help you engage attendees and lead meetings that people actually enjoy. We explore how objectives, facilitation tactics, and adult learning principles can help and invite you to start with one. Key Points Identifying both shared and non-shared objectives helps you design meetings, informs how you show up, makes meetings less frustrating, and helps you pivot. Invite discussion and engagement at the start with a warm-up question. If possible, connect the question to an objective of the meeting. Check-out questions are a quick indicator of what worked and what didn’t. Use emojis, voting, or a quick question to assess, and follow up if something didn’t land. Adults learn best by drawing on past experiences and taking action. Bring in role plays, think-pair-share, and gallery walks to help engage people. Simple debrief questions will open up insights. Consider prompts like: “What came out of this?” “What did you hear?” and “I heard you discussing an idea. Tell us more.” Reach out to Jess at jess@jessbritt.com and tell her one thing you tried from this conversation and what happened. She’ll respond by sharing her full guide of meeting facilitation ideas we weren’t able to entirely cover in this episode. Resources Mentioned Jess Britt’s website Coaching for Leaders Academy Related Episodes How to Lead Meetings That Get Results, with Mamie Kanfer Stewart (episode 358) Moving Towards Meetings of Significance, with Seth Godin (episode 632) Bringing Your Strengths to a Big Job, with General CQ Brown, Jr. (episode 691) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Summary720: The Way Towards a Bit More Bravery, with Margie Warrell
Feb 17, 202500:38:20Summary readyMargie Warrell: The Courage Gap Margie Warrell is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, leadership coach, and Forbes columnist. With twenty-five years of experience living and working around the world, she has dedicated her life to helping others overcome fear and unlock their potential. She is the author of The Courage Gap: 5 Steps to Braver Action*. Whether it’s painting a vision of the future or giving feedback on something that didn’t work yesterday, courage is a necessity for leaders. In this episode, Margie and I highlight the way towards just a bit more of it. Key Points Leaders may rise in the ranks because of what they do, but cap themselves because of who they are. The smarter we are, the more our fears work in the background. Beware discounting the future. Fear causes us to value the future less than the present. Reel in fearcasting worst-case scenarios. These can prevent us from seeing the benefits of action. Stop rationalizing inaction and excess caution. An excuse is always there to prevent you from doing what’s right and true. Avoid betraying yourself to secure status with others. Resources Mentioned The Courage Gap: 5 Steps to Braver Action* by Margie Warrell Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes How to Protect Your Confidence, with Nate Zinsser (episode 573) How to Help People Engage in Growth, with Whitney Johnson (episode 576) How to Grow From Feedback, with Jennifer Garvey Berger (episode 713) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
SummaryGetting More and Better Insights, with Irma Tragesser
Feb 14, 202500:21:32Summary readyDave speaks with Irma Tragesser, an alum of the Coaching for Leaders Academy, on how she shifted her approach to get more and better insights from her team. Applications to the Coaching for Leaders Academy will close on March 14, 2025. Visit the Academy page for details and to apply.
Summary719: How to Better Manage Your Emotions, with Ethan Kross
Feb 10, 202500:37:56Summary readyEthan Kross: Shift Ethan Kross is the author of the national bestseller Chatter and one of the world’s leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top-ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he is the Director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. He's the author of the new book, Shift: Managing Your Emotions--So They Don't Manage You*. Being a leader means that our emotions get triggered, often many times a day. While none of us can avoid those triggers, how we respond to them can make all the difference. In this conversation, Ethan and I explore his research on how to better manage our emotions. Key Points We often assume that approaching emotions is universally good and avoiding emotions is universally bad. Reality is much more nuanced. We can strategically use our senses to modulate our feelings. Music is a simple and powerful way to manage emotions proactively. Use playlists that align with the mood you wish to create. Using distancing language when talking to yourself (i.e. saying “you” instead of “I”) can help you regulate. Time shifting may help regulate your emotions. Ask yourself, how will I feel about this in a week? A month? A year? Different tools work for different people at different times. Experiment to help you determine what works best for you. Resources Mentioned Shift: Managing Your Emotions--So They Don't Manage You by Ethan Kross Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes How to Find Helpful Advisors, with Ethan Kross (episode 516) How to Grow From Your Errors, with Amy Edmondson (episode 663) How to Handle High-Pressure Situations, with Dan Dworkis (episode 701) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Summary718: How Leaders Can Use the Algorithms for Good, with Sandra Matz
Feb 3, 202500:38:54Summary readySandra Matz: Mindmasters Sandra Matz is a Columbia Business School professor, computational social scientist, and pioneering expert in psychological targeting. Her research uncovers the hidden relationships between our digital lives and our psychology with the goal of helping businesses and individuals make better decisions. She is the author of Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior*. Algorithms are becoming more influential with each passing day. That’s why leaders must understand their power and then decide how their organizations engage. In this conversation, Sandra and I discuss where psychological targeting is at, where it’s going, and the opportunity you have to make the world a bit better. Key Points Everyone knows everything in a small town (for better or worse). In the same way, psychological targeting can be used for both evil and good. Psychological targeting already is successful at identifying wealth, personality, income level, and sexual orientation – and keeps improving. None of this is going away. Understanding how the game of targeting is played can help you make it work to your advantage. Leaders and organizations who use targeting responsibly can do tremendous good, including helping people save money and flag early interventions for health crises. Be transparent with what data you’re collecting and how you’re using it. Consider newer practices like federated learning that protect privacy and provide permission-based access. Design systems and practices that anticipate the reality of future leaders with different values. Resources Mentioned Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior by Sandra Matz Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes Serve Others Through Marketing, with Seth Godin (episode 381) The Way to Earn Attention, with Raja Rajamannar (episode 521) The Reason People Make Buying Decisions, with Marcus Collins (episode 664) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Summary717: A Key Tactic for Way Better Conversations, with Alison Wood Brooks
Jan 27, 202500:38:51Summary readyAlison Wood Brooks: Talk Alison Wood Brooks is the O’Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School, where she created and teaches a course called TALK. As a behavioral scientist, she is a leading expert on the science of conversation and her research was referenced in two of the top ten most-viewed TED talks and depicted in Pixar’s Inside Out 2. She is the author of Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves*. Conversations are the venues where leaders do so much of their work. We all know someone who always can keep a conversation interesting and relevant. In this episode, Alison and I discuss how a key tactic can help you towards more meaningful conversations. Key Points Healthy relationships are critical for success, and relationships are about talking. Good conversation is both instinct and deliberate effort. Preparing topics in advance improves conversation immensely. Topics for conversation can be sourced from almost anywhere and help even if we don’t use those topics. Good topic management is more important than the right topic. The best conversationalists know when to shift. Small talk in an essential exploration ground for getting to bigger, more meaningful conversation. Resources Mentioned Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves* by Alison Wood Brooks Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes The Way Into Difficult Conversations, with Kwame Christian (episode 497) How to Help Difficult Conversations Go Better, with Sheila Heen (episode 655) How to Connect with People Better, with Charles Duhigg (episode 670) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Summary