Born without a choice

What does it really mean to be a leader?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Kevin Wayne Johnson, Founder and CEO of The Johnson Leadership Group LLC, executive coach, mentor, trainer, speaker, bestselling author, and Maxwell Certified Leadership Coach.

After a remarkable 34-year career across the federal government and private industry, Kevin has dedicated the next chapter of his life to developing leaders and helping people discover their gifts, awaken their potential, and become more effective in the way they communicate and serve others.

We talk about servant leadership, purpose, communication, personal growth, resilience, and what it takes to become the kind of leader people actually want to follow.

Kevin shares lessons from decades of leadership experience, including his work with the Department of Defense, organizational change, workforce development, and major government reform initiatives. His experiences have shaped a simple philosophy: know better, do better, and ultimately lead better.

We also explore the connection between leadership and everyday life. Because leadership isn’t only about having a title—it can begin with how we treat people, how we communicate, how we take responsibility, and how willing we are to help others reach their potential.

If you’re a young person trying to understand your gifts, a professional preparing for leadership, or simply someone wondering how you can make a greater impact in the world, this conversation offers valuable lessons about leading with purpose, character, and a servant’s heart.

📲 Contact Details

Kevin Wayne Johnson
Founder & CEO, The Johnson Leadership Group LLC

🌐 Website: The Johnson Leadership Group⁠ 
💼 LinkedIn: Kevin Wayne Johnson on LinkedIn⁠ 
📧 Email: [email protected] 
📞 Phone: (410) 340-8633

CTA for listeners: Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn or visit The Johnson Leadership Group⁠ to learn more about his leadership development, executive coaching, training, mentoring, and speaking work.

What happens when you stop trying to fit into the conversation and start creating your own?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Victor Jones, podcast host, storyteller, entrepreneur, and the voice behind Liquor Talk Podcast.

Victor has spent years building his presence in podcasting and creating a space for honest conversations about relationships, culture, creativity, business, and life. Through hundreds of conversations with creators, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and everyday people, he has learned the power of authenticity, consistency, and simply being willing to have the conversations others might avoid.

We talk about what it really takes to build a podcast, finding your voice as a creator, staying consistent when growth doesn’t happen overnight, overcoming setbacks, and creating meaningful conversations that people actually want to hear.

We also explore something deeper: what does it mean to show up as yourself in a world that constantly tells you who you should be?

Victor shares his perspective on storytelling, community, creativity, and the lessons he’s learned from years behind the microphone.

If you’ve ever wanted to create something of your own, struggled with consistency, or wondered whether your voice really matters, this conversation is for you.

📲 Contact Details

Victor Jones
🎙️ Liquor Talk Podcast
🌐 Website: Liquor Talk Podcast⁠
📧 Email: [email protected] 
📸 Instagram: @liquortalkpodcast⁠
▶️ YouTube: Liquor Talk Podcast on YouTube⁠
🎵 TikTok: @liquortalkpod⁠

CTA for listeners: Visit LiquorTalkPodcast.com⁠ to check out Victor’s podcast, explore episodes, and connect with him for future collaborations.

What happens when your brain’s automatic patterns start working against you?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Dr. Marcia Ruben, an executive coach, organisational consultant, and graduate leadership professor emerita with more than three decades of experience helping leaders navigate complexity and lead with greater clarity.

Dr. Ruben’s work focuses on something many of us experience but don’t always understand: the patterns in our thinking that can cause us to become reactive, overwhelmed, defensive, or stuck.

Drawing from neuroscience, leadership development, adult development, and years of coaching experience, Marcia explains why capable people can struggle under pressure—and how we can begin to rewire those patterns rather than simply trying harder.

We talk about self-awareness, leadership, emotional reactions, decision-making, complexity, uncertainty, and the importance of doing the inner work before trying to lead or influence others.

Marcia also shares insights from her book, The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead., which offers practical tools for leaders who want to move from reaction to intention and from feeling tangled to leading with clarity.

If you’ve ever wondered why you keep reacting the same way, why pressure changes your behaviour, or how to become more intentional in the way you lead your life, this conversation is for you.

📲 Contact Details

Dr. Marcia Ruben, PhD, PCC
🌐 Website: Leadership Tangles / Ruben Consulting Group⁠
📧 Email: [email protected] 
💼 LinkedIn: Marcia Ruben on LinkedIn⁠ 
📖 Book: The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead.

CTA for listeners: Visit leadershiptangles.com⁠ to learn more about Dr. Ruben’s work and her book, The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead.

Why do some people seem impossible to understand while others immediately feel like they “get” you?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Sheila Glazov, bestselling author, internationally known personality expert, professional speaker, educator, and creator of the What Color Is Your Brain?® methodology.

Sheila has developed a fun and memorable way to understand four different Brain Color Personalities—Blue, Yellow, Green, and Orange—and how those differences influence the way we communicate, make decisions, solve problems, handle conflict, and build relationships.

We talk about why people misunderstand each other, how personality differences can create frustration, and why understanding someone else’s perspective can transform the way we communicate with them.

Sheila also explains why our Brain Colors should be an explanation, not an excuse, and how replacing assumptions with curiosity can help us move from criticism to communication and from conflict to connection.

Whether you’re dealing with differences at school, at work, at home, or in your friendships, this conversation offers a fascinating way to understand yourself and the people around you.

And you may even discover which Brain Colors make up your own unique “Brainbow.”

📲 Contact Details

Sheila N. Glazov
🌐 Website: SheilaGlazov.com⁠
📧 Email: [email protected] 
💼 LinkedIn: Sheila Glazov on LinkedIn⁠ 
📸 Instagram: @sheilaglazov⁠ 
▶️ YouTube: Sheila Glazov on YouTube⁠

CTA for listeners: Visit SheilaGlazov.com⁠ to learn more about Sheila’s books, workshops, personality programs, and Brain Color quizzes.

What happens when the mind that helped you survive difficult circumstances becomes the very thing you struggle to quiet?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by David Godshall, a former Navy SEAL and Beirut veteran who spent more than 20,000 hours training his mind under the guidance of a Tibetan Buddhist master. His journey took him from military service and buried trauma to a decades-long search for a practical way to understand and train the mind.

David shares what happened when years of unprocessed stress finally caught up with him, and how his search for a better way led him through Zen, mindfulness, and intensive mental training.

But this conversation isn’t about mysticism. David now teaches practical mind-training tools designed to help people quiet overthinking, reduce stress and anxiety, and create more space between what happens and how they respond.

We talk about resilience, the restless mind, emotional reactions, finding calm in difficult moments, and why peace isn’t necessarily something we find — it can be something we learn.

David also shares his 60-Second Reset, a practical technique listeners can take away and begin using immediately.

If you’ve ever felt like your mind won’t switch off, this conversation offers a powerful perspective: you may not be able to control everything that happens in life, but you can learn how to change your relationship with your mind.

📲 Contact Details

David Godshall
🌐 Website: davidgodshall.com⁠
💼 LinkedIn: David Godshall on LinkedIn⁠
🎁 Free 60-Second Reset: Available through his website.

CTA for listeners: Visit davidgodshall.com⁠ to download David’s free mind-training resources and learn more about his forthcoming work on quieting a restless mind.

What happens when you’ve dreamed of becoming a writer your entire life—but somewhere along the way, you lose your creative spark?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by bestselling mystery author and creativity coach Liz Mugavero, also known as Cate Conte.

Liz’s journey began with a childhood obsession with books and storytelling, eventually leading her to create multiple successful mystery series, including the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, Cat Café Mysteries, and Full Moon Mysteries. But her journey wasn’t always easy. After losing her creative mojo, Liz spent years working through limiting beliefs and rebuilding her relationship with creativity.

We talk about finding your voice, overcoming creative blocks, pursuing the dreams you had when you were younger, and what it takes to keep going when your path doesn’t look the way you expected.

Liz also shares how she now helps other writers experience their own creative recovery and finally start—and finish—the stories they’ve been carrying inside them.

If you’ve ever felt like you lost touch with something you once loved, this conversation is a reminder that your creativity—and your dreams—can still find their way back to you.

📲 Contact Details

Liz Mugavero / Cate Conte
🌐 Website: cateconte.com⁠
📧 Email: [email protected] 
📸 Instagram: @lizmugavero⁠ 
📰 Substack: Get Writing⁠

CTA for listeners: Visit Cate Conte’s website⁠ to explore her books, creativity coaching, The Creativity Lab, and resources for writers.

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Venchele Saint Dic, a public health writer, editor, author, and doctoral student in Public Health Leadership.

Venchele shares how her experiences, writing, and public health work have shaped her commitment to helping people and communities navigate life-changing circumstances. We talk about resilience, health equity, communication, personal development, culture, and the power of storytelling.

We also explore her journey as an author, her work with MESFAMI Care Inc., and why making health information more accessible can help families not just survive difficult moments, but build the knowledge and confidence to thrive.

Venchele’s Contact Details

• Website: Pathway Coach Writing⁠
• LinkedIn: Venchele Saint Dic on LinkedIn⁠
• Email: [email protected] — listed as her press contact.
• Instagram: @Mesfami_CareInc
• Author: Journey to Redemption and Faith, featured in Passport to Self-Discovery Volume 2.

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Maxim Shapiro, a men’s purpose and life coach who helps men move from feeling stuck or disconnected toward greater clarity, purpose, and authenticity.

Max shares his personal journey from feeling unfulfilled and disconnected despite outward success to making major changes in his life and discovering a stronger sense of direction. We talk about purpose, identity, authenticity, masculinity, self-respect, and what it means to stop living on autopilot.

It’s a conversation about the choices we make, the expectations we inherit, and how finding your own direction can change the way you experience life. His work and story have also been featured on other podcasts discussing purpose, masculinity, and personal growth.

Maxim’s Contact Details

• Website: Forward Motion Coaching
• YouTube: Maxim Shapiro
• LinkedIn: Maxim Shapiro, MBA
• Focus: Men’s purpose, personal growth, authenticity, self-leadership, and finding direction.

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Meta Titus for a deeply personal conversation about faith, identity, the Book of Revelation, and the experiences that have shaped Meta’s understanding of the world.

Meta shares the story behind their spiritual journey, including time spent in nature, their interpretation of biblical passages, and why they believe those experiences have given them a unique perspective on Revelation.

We explore what it means to search for meaning in extraordinary experiences, how personal beliefs develop, and why having honest conversations about faith and identity can be so important.

The episode approaches Meta’s experiences as their personal perspective, rather than presenting their religious interpretations as established fact.

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Sandy Phillips Kirkham, an author, speaker, and advocate for survivors of clergy abuse.

Sandy shares how her experience as a teenager in a church community eventually led her to confront a painful chapter of her past decades later. We discuss grooming, manipulation, trust, healing, finding your voice, and the importance of speaking up when something feels wrong.

Sandy also explains how her experience inspired her book, Let Me Prey Upon You: Breaking Free From a Minister’s Sexual Abuse, and how she now uses her voice to raise awareness and support others. Her work focuses not only on what happened, but also on hope, healing, and moving forward.

Sandy’s Contact Details

• Website: Sandy Phillips Kirkham's website⁠
• Book: Let Me Prey Upon You: Breaking Free From a Minister’s Sexual Abuse
• Book preview: Free book preview⁠
• Interview email: [email protected]