A Productive Conversation

John Baird & Edward Sullivan talk about Leading with Heart


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This episode is brought to you by Your Clockwise Week—a personalized weekly structure built around your actual life, not an ideal one. If your week feels full but not fitting, you can learn more at mikevardy.com/yourclockwiseweek.


This week I am delighted to not bring you just one guest this week, but two!

I am joined by John Baird and Edward Sullivan to discuss their new book Leading with Heart: 5 Conversations that Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results.

This episode feels like a couple of friends having a conversation over coffee. We chat about the idea of the "lights on, lights off experiment", how fear and Maslow's hierarchy of needs play a part in why they constructed the book the way they did, and we go over how to read it!

John Baird has been considered one of the premier executive coaches in Silicon Valley for over 25 years. He built his career coaching in the C-Suite at companies ranging from Apple and Nike to start-ups like DoorDash and MasterClass. He earned a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Purdue University. He is currently Founder & Chairman of the renowned executive coaching consultancy Velocity.

Edward Sullivan has been coaching and advising start-up founders, Fortune 10 executives, and heads of state for over 15 years. His clients include executives from Google, Salesforce, Slack, and dozens of other fast-growth companies. He holds an MBA from Wharton and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. Edward is CEO & President of the renowned executive coaching consultancy Velocity.

Links Worth Exploring

  • Connect with John: Twitter | LinkedIn
  • Connect with Edward: Twitter | LinkedIn
  • Pre-order Leading with Heart: 5 Conversations that Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results.
  • Visit their Velocity Coaching website
  • Related Conversation: Episode 413: Mohammad Anwar and Chris Pitre talk about Love as a Business Strategy
  • Related Blog Post: Failing Forward: A 5 Step Process to Fight the Fear of Failure


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    Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later.

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    If this episode resonated, I’m exploring ideas like these more deeply in my upcoming book, Productiveness. You can follow along as it takes shape at mikevardy.com/productiveness.

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    A Productive ConversationBy Mike Vardy

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