You can have the right strategy, the right numbers, and the cleanest slide deck in the world and still fail to move anyone. That gap is not about intelligence or effort. It is about meaning. I sit down with Robert Kennedy III (RK3), keynote speaker and communication strategist, to talk about storytelling as a leadership skill that cuts through noise and turns information into understanding.

We unpack one of the biggest myths holding people back: “I’m not a storyteller.” Robert explains why that is often an identity story, not a talent issue, and how choosing a new agreement with yourself changes what you attempt and what you avoid. We also dig into public speaking fear and nervous energy, including Robert’s unforgettable line about not getting rid of the butterflies but getting them to fly in formation, plus the mindset shift that turns anxiety into excitement.

Then we get practical. Robert shares his Moment, Meaning, Message framework for business storytelling and leadership communication. We explore how ordinary moments can become powerful stories, why relatability beats drama, and how stories create vivid mental images, emotional connection, and trust in a way data rarely can. You’ll also learn what a signature story is, how to find yours, and when personal stories build credibility better than third-party examples.

If you want to become a clearer communicator, a stronger leader, and a more persuasive speaker, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

🌐 Connect with Robert :
• Website: https://robertkennedy3.me/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkennedy3/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertkennedy3

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Day one is exciting. Day two still feels fresh. Day three is when the “new car smell” is gone and the work gets real, and that’s where most goals quietly die. We talk with Dre Baldwin (Dre All Day), former pro basketball player and founder of Work On Your Game, about how to push through that moment without waiting for motivation to magically return.

We get practical about the difference between motivation and discipline, why you can’t build a career on feelings, and how to create execution reliability through structure, habits, and standards. Dre shares the mindset that helped him go from Division III basketball to the pros through personal initiative, cold calls, and proof, then translate the mental game of sport into business, leadership, and life. We also break down confidence as “competence minus interference,” why “fake it till you make it” backfires, and how identity drives behavior when no one is watching.

For leaders, we dig into accountability that doesn’t feel like a personal attack. Instead of vague expectations and late performance reviews, we explore a simple “scoreboard” approach that measures execution early, catches drift before results fall apart, and makes feedback easier to hear and easier to give.

If you’re chasing a big goal, leading a team, or trying to build real consistency, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a third day reset, and leave a review with the standard you’re raising next.

🌐 Connect with Dre:
• Website: https://www.workonyourgame.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dreallday/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drebaldwin/

📚 You can purchase Dre's book on Amazon:
• The Third Day: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097XFT3NG

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✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

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The fastest way to derail a team is to lead on autopilot. Walk into a meeting, speak first, “set direction,” and watch everyone quietly align to your opinion, even when they see a better answer. Step back too far, though, and the same team can feel abandoned, unclear, or unsupported. That tension is exactly where Brad Semmens lives. Brad is the founder of Objective Consulting and Employee Yield, and he brings a rare mix of real-world leadership experience and organizational psychology to a framework he’s developed called the Five Stances of Leadership.

We dig into what it really means to step up, step down, step in, and step back and how those moves create an immediate power dynamic whether we intend it or not. Brad explains leadership through two practical lenses: authority (directive vs distributive) and influence (direct vs indirect). From there, we explore “leading from your center” as the skill that helps you shift from reactive protection to responsive presence, especially when pressure spikes and your default stance kicks in.

One of the biggest takeaways is the difference between filling the space and holding the space. We talk about why some leaders accidentally crowd out ownership by solving too quickly, and how a simple pause plus better questions can unlock psychological safety, clearer thinking, and real accountability. We also get into how strengths can become weaknesses when overused, why complementary styles can either create conflict or balance, and how the “Swiss army knife” leader becomes truly adaptive.

If you want a practical way to build self-awareness, take Brad’s leadership assessment and reflect on your primary and stress stances. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs a reset, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.

🌐 Connect with Brad:
• Website: https://objectiveconsulting.com.au/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-semmens-7068254a/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradsemmens/

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Support the show

✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:

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That thought you can’t stop replaying isn’t just annoying. It quietly shapes how you walk into meetings, how you speak under pressure, and how safe other people feel around you. Susan Drumm, bestselling author of The Leader’s Playlist and founder of Meritage Leadership, joins me to unpack a powerful idea: every leader has a playlist. Some of it is literal music that shifts your energy fast. Some of it is the internal soundtrack of beliefs, doubts, old wounds, and reflex reactions that can end up leading on your behalf.

We dig into pattern recognition and pattern disruption, from Susan’s own unlikely career pivots to the everyday leadership traps of sunk cost fallacy and social expectation. We also get specific about the inner critic and imposter syndrome, including how to create separation from that voice so it stops acting like the only truth in the room. Susan brings nuance too: this isn’t about suppressing anger, grief, or frustration. Emotions carry information, like anger signaling a crossed boundary. The goal is to feel what’s real without getting stuck in an eight-lane neural highway that keeps pulling you back into resentment or self-doubt.

Then we make it practical. Susan shares how music can act as a “pattern interrupt,” why it has such a strong neuroscience effect, and how leaders can build intentional playlists tied to new “I am” or “I create” identity statements. You’ll hear a workplace example of a leader stuck in the story “I am left out” and how shifting state, attention, and behavior changes collaboration outcomes over time. If you want to lead with more emotional regulation, presence, and intention, this will give you a concrete starting point. Subscribe, share with a leader who needs a reset, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

🌐 Connect with Susan:
• Website: https://susandrumm.com/ and https://meritageleadership.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-drumm/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drummleadership/

📚 You can purchase Susan's book on Amazon:
• The Leader's Playlist: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1632996014/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:

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Two people can face the same change and walk away with totally different stories: one feels opportunity, the other feels threat. That gap is where leadership lives. We step back and synthesize three conversations into a simple but demanding framework for modern leadership: Adapt, Care, Connect and the deeper idea underneath it all that leadership is helping people make sense of their world.

We talk about adaptive leadership as your context shifts: startup to scale up, stability to disruption, expert teams to developing teams. Instead of replaying the style that made you successful last year, we explore how to create the kind of environment where people can learn through experience, scrape their knees, and build judgment while still being protected from real danger. The question that keeps coming back is simple: what does this person need from me right now?

We also dig into caring leadership and why well being and performance are inseparable. We unpack self care, crew care, and red zone care, plus the small, everyday moments that build psychological safety and trust. Then we turn to change leadership and the crucial distinction between communication and conversation. Emails, decks, and town halls may broadcast the plan, but dialogue helps people work through what the change means for their identity, status, certainty, and belonging.

If you want practical prompts you can use this week and a challenge to create one real conversation where meaning gets made, hit play. Subscribe, share with a leader who is navigating change, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Support the show

✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:

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Most change initiatives don’t fail because the plan is flawed. They fail because leaders confuse communication with conversation and then wonder why people feel anxious, resistant, or checked out. We sit down with returning guest Huw Thomas, author of Change Anything, to move beyond individual psychology and get practical about organizational change management that actually sticks.

We dig into why “overcommunicate” often backfires, how one-way announcements create confusion, and what it looks like to replace broadcasting with dialogue. Resistance gets a full reframe: it’s frequently a rational response to perceived loss of certainty, control, competence, identity, or status. We also talk about the real-world consequences of poorly led change, including psychosocial risk, and what care and dignity look like in high-stakes moments like reorganizations and redundancies.

From there, we get tactical about building agency. When people feel coerced, they push back even if they agree with the logic. When they’re invited to help shape the “how” within clear guardrails, they bring better ideas and real ownership. We also tackle change fatigue and change overload, focusing on change governance, sequencing, and why doing a few priorities exceptionally well beats running dozens of initiatives into gridlock. Finally, we land on the deeper truth behind transformation: it’s habit change, not system change, and adoption improves when leaders design around real “day in the life” workflows and build a learning habit across teams.

If this helps you lead with more clarity and humanity, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review. What’s one change you’ll turn into a conversation this week?

🌐 Connect with Huw:
• Website: https://huwthomas.com.au/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashuw/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huwthomas.au/

📚 You can purchase Huw's free playbook on this link:
https://q54ia.share-ap1.hsforms.com/2OomaD0oIQjmTGFw9uRu25Q

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Support the show

✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:

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What if the leadership skill your team needs most is not sharper strategy or faster execution, but a leader who genuinely cares and knows what to do when things get hard? I sit down with Graeme Cowan, a leading voice on workplace mental health, resilience, and leadership, and a founding director of R U OK Day. Graeme also shares his own lived experience of depression and the long road back, plus the purpose that came from turning struggle into service.

We dig into why caring leadership is not soft and not in conflict with performance. It is how you create sustainable results without losing good people to burnout. We talk about “mood contagion” and why your energy sets the tone, then get practical with Graeme’s moodometer framework so you can notice early warning signs while you are still in the amber zone. If you lead a team, support leaders, or work in HR, you will hear clear ways to protect your own wellbeing while still showing up for others.

From there, we move into crew care: belonging, psychological safety, and growing together. Graeme shares simple rituals that build trust fast, including a powerful approach used in elite teams. We also cover red zone care and Graeme’s I CARE framework so you can support someone in distress with empathy, without trying to be their therapist, and know when to guide them toward EAP, a GP, or helplines like Lifeline and Beyond Blue.

If you want practical tools for burnout prevention, employee wellbeing, and building resilient teams, hit play. Then share this with a leader who needs it, subscribe on your favorite podcast app, and leave a review so more people find these conversations. What is one small act of care you will practice this week?

🌐 Connect with Graeme:
• Website: https://graemecowan.com.au/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graemecowan1/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graemecowan/

📚 You can purchase Graeme's book on Amazon:
• Great Leaders Care: Developing Safe, Resilient and Successful Teams: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1394389337/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:

👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891

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The leadership style that got you promoted can quietly become the thing that holds you back. When you move from building great work to leading people, the rules change fast, especially for technical founders and high-performing individual contributors who suddenly wake up running a business instead of writing code.

We sit down with Mike Krupit, a serial entrepreneur and executive coach who has lived the journey from software engineer to CTO, COO, and CEO across eight startups. Together, we break down why humans are not deterministic, why “best performer” promotions often fail, and why not everyone should be pushed into people management. We also dig into smarter organizational design: building roles around real strengths and creating dual career ladders so experts can grow without becoming reluctant managers.

Then we tackle the pressure cooker topic leaders cannot avoid: AI disruption. Mike shares how to lead through uncertainty when technology moves faster than people can grow, why overcommunication beats silence, and how to run real two-way dialogue that addresses fear without pretending you have perfect answers. We close with a practical lens for situational leadership: knowing when to go into founder mode, when to step back into trust mode, and how to let teams learn through safe mistakes that build ownership.

If you’re focused on leadership development, change management, founder to CEO growth, or navigating AI at work, you’ll leave with clear questions to ask and moves to try this week. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

🌐 Connect with Mike:
• Website: https://www.trajectify.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkrupit/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mkrupit/

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Support the show

✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!

📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers

📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV

If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too.

If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade:

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