In this special, unplanned studio session, Jason sits down with Dr. Dominic Morais, a longtime friend from Vanderbilt and a leader in talent development and organizational culture (San Antonio Spurs).

This episode goes beyond the “X’s and O’s” of business and gets into what most leaders avoid: the person behind the company trust, care, accountability, emotional intelligence, and the internal drivers that shape performance.

Dom breaks down practical frameworks leaders can actually use:

• Trust = competence, care, character
• Work = results, processes, relationships
• Why leaders must coach instead of control
• How to build a culture people buy into (and perform in)
• Operating from love vs fear and why that changes everything

⏱️ Timestamps 

00:00 – Surprise studio session: “No notes, no cards, not even the branding”
02:00 – Meet Dr. Dom Morais: Tesla, Spurs, culture & people development
06:10 – The #1 leadership struggle: forgetting it’s always about people
09:30 – “Work is results, processes, and relationships”
12:20 – Trust framework: competence, care, character
16:40 – Why data alone doesn’t persuade (and what actually does)
20:30 – Vulnerability, fear, and leading from love vs fear
26:10 – Internal motivation vs external validation (and identity cliffs)
31:40 – Why leaders avoid self-reflection (and how trust opens it up)
36:20 – Emotional intelligence: self-awareness → self-management → social awareness
42:10 – Coaching vs telling: “That’s not a question, that’s a suggestion”
47:40 – Building leaders who can operate without you
52:20 – Burnout, culture measurement, and why it impacts the bottom line
56:30 – Accountability gets easier when people know you care
01:00:40 – Dom’s coaching clinic (Feb 26): building sustainable high performance
01:04:10 – Carl Jung quote: roots, darkness, and integration
01:09:20 – Dom’s “Last to First” moment + redefining success
01:13:30 – Final message: check in with yourself then lead your people

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