Podcast Summary

Podcast: Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold
Episode: Ep. 513 - Elevating Leadership: Conflict Resolution & Training Implementation
Date: September 25, 2025
Host: Cameron Herold

Episode Overview

In this episode, Cameron Herold delves into actionable leadership strategies for COOs and managers, focusing on conflict resolution and how to actually implement leadership training in an organization. Key topics include empowering managers to solve problems independently, establishing habits for effective communication, and creating systems so that leadership development doesn’t become a one-time event but a continuing process. Herold emphasizes the necessity of accountability, ongoing practice, and dedicated time for leadership growth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Empowering Managers for Conflict Resolution

• Encouraging Self-Sufficiency: Herold advocates for pushing managers to resolve their own conflicts, rather than relying on the leader to mediate.
  • “Our job is to get results through people. Our job is to grow their skills and their confidence. Our job is not to be the mediator. It's not to be the tiebreaker. The best thing moms and dads can do is get the kids to work it out. Don't tell me, talk to Bobby.” — Herold (01:29)
• Role-Playing and Practice: He suggests role-playing the conflict model with managers as needed, but encourages them to attempt problem-solving first before seeking help.

2. Building Positive Team Dynamics

• Weekly Gratitude Practice: Herold implemented a practice where, at each weekly leadership meeting, every leader must thank or praise a different business area for something positive that happened in the last week.
  • “[...]Celebrate all random acts of kindness instead of pointing fingers at each other. If we're going to point fingers, it's like, if I'm pointing finger at you, there's three pointing back at me.” — Herold (02:29)
• Breaking Down Silos: This approach helped erode blame-cultures and encouraged more interdepartmental appreciation and collaboration.

3. Project Management and Communication

• Advance Notice: Herold stresses the importance of proactive communication—teams should not be asked for last-minute work, but be included in planning stages well ahead.
• Training in Key Skills: He ties together essential business skills: project management, delegation, conflict management, and communication—all as leadership fundamentals.

4. Implementing Leadership Training that Sticks

• The Problem: Leadership training often becomes a check-the-box exercise, and many organizations fail to see real change.
• Herold’s Solution:
  • Go through all 12 training modules as a team to get an overview (total ~6 hours).
  • Subsequently, revisit two modules per week in depth for six weeks.
  • After each pair of modules, hold short “book report” sessions where each person shares what they learned and what they’ll actually implement.
  • Continue the discussion and accountability in regular one-on-one coaching sessions—ask what’s being practiced and how it’s going.
  • Repeat the training cycle several times: “They need to go through that cycle of learning four times. Three or four times… Going through it once gives them the concept, but then they need to practice it, then they need to do it, then they need to think about it, then they need to go and learn it again.” — Herold (05:14)

5. Leadership is a Process, Not an Event

• The Professional Athlete Analogy:
  • “It's like, why do the best athletes on the planet still have coaches? [...] They don't learn about a swing coach when they're 18 and they never think about their swing again—they're always working on some component.” — Herold (06:10)
  • Even at major companies like Starbucks, senior leaders revisit their core leadership content (e.g., situational leadership) every quarter.

6. Accountability Through Scheduling

• No More ‘Didn’t Have Time’:
  • Herold calls out a common excuse—you didn’t put training or leadership development in your calendar, so it never happened.
  • “If you tell me you care about something, show me your bank account and show me your calendar and I'll show you if you care about it.” — Herold (07:32)
• Coaching Tip:
  • Help team members identify the time for learning and actually put it in their schedules.
  • Immediate action: “By the way, I know you said today at 2 o'clock you're going to start. It's 2 o'clock. Let's do it. Give it 30 minutes. Go through it right now and then call me in 30 minutes and tell me what you thought of that module.” — Herold (08:16)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Our job is to get results through people…not to be the mediator. It's not to be the tiebreaker.” — Cameron Herold (01:24)
• “If I'm pointing finger at you, there's three pointing back at me.” — Cameron Herold (02:29)
• “Going through it once gives them the concept, but then they need to practice it…then they need to go and learn it again.” — Cameron Herold (05:14)
• “Why do the best athletes on the planet still have coaches? Because they're still working through some parts...they're always working on some components.” — Cameron Herold (06:10)
• “If you tell me you care about something, show me your bank account and show me your calendar and I'll show you if you care about it.” — Cameron Herold (07:32)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Empowering managers to resolve conflict: 00:00 - 01:35
• Weekly leadership gratitude exercise & team dynamics: 02:17 - 02:50
• Implementing leadership training (discussion & cycle): 04:49 - 06:04
• Professional athlete analogy for continuous improvement: 06:06 - 07:30
• Scheduling accountability & action: 07:32 - 08:17

Conclusion

This episode offers a no-nonsense, repeatable approach for COOs and team leads to increase leadership effectiveness: empower managers for problem-solving, foster positive internal culture with regular praise, systematize leadership training for enduring benefits, and reinforce growth by literally scheduling (and checking up on) development in managers’ calendars. Herold’s balance of tough love and pragmatic tactics delivers a toolkit listeners can implement right away to elevate their leadership and their teams.