Lead & Follow

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Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/the-power-of-listening-what-real-support-actually-looks-like-eran-magen/

Active listening is often described as a key leadership skill, but in this episode, Sharna asks Dr. Eran Magen to explain why listening is actually a fundamental communication skill for every human being and a critical part of all healthy relationships. Eran shares insights into the psychology of listening and why people often struggle to truly listen when they are focused on defending their own ideas, preparing a response, or trying to solve a problem too quickly. 

Eran is the founder of Early Alert, which works with universities, hospitals, public schools and first responder agencies to prevent suicide and promote wellness among students and employees. He earned his M.A. in education and Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University, completed post-doctoral training in population health as a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar, and served as the research director for the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Counseling and Psychological Services. 

You'll learn:

• The difference between hearing someone and truly understanding them
• How listening builds trust and psychological safety
• Why good teamwork requires everyone to both contribute ideas and receive information
• Practical ways to become a more present and effective communicator

Connect with Dr. Eran Magen
www.parentingforhumans.com

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

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Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/creative-collaboration-how-artists-share-control-without-losing-the-vision-glover-gill/

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Glover Gill believes the best creative collaborations aren't driven by one person's vision alone. Reflecting on the creation of the dance theater work Uno, he describes moments when the music seemed to take on a life of its own—requiring him to stop controlling the process and trust where the work was leading. Together, he and host Sharna Fabiano explore how artists balance creative direction with openness when building something together.

Glover Gill has spent decades composing and performing across theater, film, and live performance. His long-running collaborations include acclaimed filmmaker Richard Linklater and numerous musicians, dancers, and theater artists, giving him a rare perspective on how lasting creative partnerships evolve through trust, complementary strengths, and shared purpose.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to share creative control in a way that makes the project better
• How role clarity strengthens creative partnerships. 
• How to recognize when a project is asking you to adapt instead of staying with your original plan.

Find Glover Gill’s Music:

Siggs Lagoon, Houston
www.sigslagoon.com

Waterloo Records, Austin
www.waterloorecords.com

Episode References:

Richard Linklater, Waking Life
Watch Trailer

Tosca String Quartet/Tosca Tango Orchestra
www.toscastrings.com

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

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Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/building-trust-at-work-how-play-strengthens-collaborative-relationships-tova-moreno/

What keeps a mentor–apprentice relationship strong over years of working together? For theatrical tailor Tova Moreno, the answer isn't stricter processes or constant seriousness—it's creating enough trust that play becomes part of the work itself. Drawing from her experience at Artur & Tailors in New York City, she shares how humor, curiosity, and mutual respect strengthen collaboration while maintaining the high standards that fine craftsmanship demands.

Tova Moreno is a theatrical tailor based in New York City who works alongside master tailor Artur Allakhverdyan at Artur & Tailors, Ltd. Through years of apprenticeship, she has developed a nuanced understanding of how skilled craftspeople share responsibility, earn trust, and create an environment where both precision and playfulness can thrive.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why psychological safety is essential before play can improve workplace culture.
• How mentor–apprentice relationships balance guidance, initiative, and growing independence.
• What role humor and lightness play in sustaining long-term working relationships.
• How trust helps teams maintain high standards without creating unnecessary tension.
• Why enjoying the work together can lead to stronger collaboration and greater job satisfaction.

Episode References:

Dr. Barbara Kellerman
www.barbarakellerman.com

Artur & Tailors
www.arturandtailors.com/

Bias Bespoke
www.biasbespoke.com/

Support the show

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/team-communication-skills-how-volleyball-players-coordinate-in-real-time-carri-dominick/

On a volleyball court, leadership can change every few seconds. Dr. Carri Dominick explores how players coordinate in real time—sometimes leading through action, sometimes supporting from the background, and constantly communicating to help the person with the ball succeed. Her experience as an athlete reveals why effective teams depend not only on individual skill, but on the ability to read situations and respond together.

Dr. Carri Dominick is a physical therapist and lifelong athlete whose experience in competitive volleyball gives her a unique perspective on communication, teamwork, and performance. In this conversation, she shares how players develop the awareness and verbal communication skills needed to adapt moment by moment during high-pressure situations.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How volleyball players communicate and make decisions during fast-moving team situations.
• Why effective teams need people who can lead from any position.
• How athletes train the communication skills required for successful teamwork.
• What sports teams can teach organizations about real-time coordination and support.
• Why knowing when to step forward—and when to support someone else—is a critical team skill.

 Connect with Dr. Carri Dominick
www.rechargetherapy.com

Support the show

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/collaborative-storytelling-how-dungeons-dragons-players-build-games-together-martin-heuschober/

A great Dungeons & Dragons game depends on something surprising: nobody gets to control the whole story. Game masters create the world, but players constantly reshape what happens through their choices, creativity, and responses. Martin Heuschober explores how improvisational role-playing creates a unique form of collaboration where everyone must know when to initiate, when to respond, and how to make space for others to contribute.

Martin Heuschober is a software programmer, blues dancer, and longtime player of tabletop role-playing games, including Dungeons & Dragons. His experience with improvisational games gives him a fascinating perspective on how groups create together, how participants influence shared outcomes, and why the best contributors are often those who can both act and adapt.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Dungeons & Dragons players use improvisation to create stories together.
• Why collaborative storytelling requires both initiative and responsiveness.
• What role-playing games reveal about creative teamwork and group decision-making.
• How game masters create opportunities for players to contribute their ideas.
• Why the ability to respond to questions creatively is crucial to a successful game

Actual Play

Critical role: Probably the most prominent (actual play) show right now - these are professional voice actors, so they know how to make their characters be very recognizable. 

Dimension 20: Series of fun D&D shows by UCB alumni

LA by Night: Series in the setting of Vampire: the Masquerade, a horror-themed game

Red Moon Role-Playing: Radio audio drama style of games, mostly horror genre

Safety Tools

Gehenna Gaming Consent Form: A good tool when running/playing horror games to make sure you are aware of your own and your players boundaries

RPG Safety Toolkit by Kienna Shaw: More tools to keep the players comfortable and the characters frightened

About Role Playing

Adventuring Academy: A podcast about role playing

Support the show

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/ensemble-performance-how-actors-create-powerful-scenes-through-collaboration-dan-istrate/

A great actor does not create a character alone. Onstage, every performer is shaped by the choices, reactions, and presence of the people around them. Actor and director Dan Istrate explores how powerful theater emerges when performers move fluidly between initiating and responding—allowing unexpected moments to appear through genuine connection with fellow actors, directors, and audiences.

Dan Istrate is an actor and director originally from Romania, where he graduated from the University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest and performed at several theaters before moving to the United States in 2001. He also played the lead role in the Romanian feature film Double Ecstasy. Drawing from decades of performance experience, Dan shares how openness, awareness, and responsiveness create memorable moments on stage.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why great actors must listen and respond to scene partners, not just deliver their own performance.
• What acting teaches about embracing uncertainty and the unknown.
• Why a character’s power emerges through interactions with other performers.

Episode References:
Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower

Connect with Dan Istrate:
IG: @DanIstrateDC
FB: Dan.Istrate.796

Support the show

*
Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/organizational-culture-how-power-sharing-creates-more-resilient-teams-sara-murdock/

What makes an organization resilient when change, uncertainty, and competing priorities become the norm? According to organizational sustainability specialist Dr. Sara Murdock, the answer isn't simply better leadership—it’s creating systems where people at every level can contribute, challenge assumptions, and learn from failure without fear. Sustainable organizations, she argues, are built through healthy power dynamics as much as sound strategy.

Dr. Sara Murdock specializes in the people and culture side of organizational sustainability and advises organizations ranging from solo entrepreneurs to global corporations. Her work focuses on organizational design, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, helping leaders create environments where people, relationships, and long-term performance reinforce one another.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why sharing influence across an organization leads to better decisions and greater resilience.
• How productive failure helps organizations learn instead of repeating the same mistakes.
• What organizational sustainability means beyond environmental initiatives.
• How power dynamics shape trust, innovation, and collaboration.
• Why healthy organizational systems depend on people feeling safe to contribute their perspective.

Connect with Dr. Sara Murdock

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/saraevamurdock/

IG: @drsaramurdock

Website: https://www.futuresindex.xyz/

Podcast: Road to Sustainability Podcast

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/employee-buy-in-vs-ownership-why-change-initiatives-succeed-or-fail-tom-klaus/

Many organizational change efforts stall because leaders ask people to "buy in" rather than help shape the solution. Drawing on decades of work with nonprofit organizations, Dr. Tom Klaus explains why lasting change depends on shared ownership, mutual trust, and recognizing that the people closest to the work often have expertise that leaders don't.

Dr. Tom Klaus has spent his career helping nonprofit organizations strengthen leadership, guide organizational change, and build healthier relationships across every level of an organization. His experience has shown that successful change depends not only on subject-matter expertise but also on listening to the people who understand the organization's culture, relationships, and day-to-day realities.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why shared ownership produces stronger organizational change than employee buy-in.
• How content experts and context experts contribute different kinds of leadership during change initiatives.
• What relational trust looks like in practice—and how it develops over time.
• Why effective leaders sometimes create the greatest impact by stepping back and letting others shape the process.
• How organizations can build change processes that encourage participation instead of compliance.

References in this Episode:
Tamarack Institute

Support the show

*
Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/employee-development-the-skills-every-organization-should-be-teaching-brian-rook/

Most workplace learning programs are designed to prepare people to become leaders. But what about the skills employees need every day when they aren't the one making the final decision? Brian Rook argues that organizations can improve communication, trust, and performance by developing the often-overlooked abilities that help people contribute effectively from any role.

As Assistant Vice President of Training at Lincoln Financial Group, Brian Rook designs employee development programs for professionals in advisor and securities operations. A researcher and international speaker on leadership and workplace learning, he has introduced training that explicitly develops these collaborative skills, helping employees communicate more effectively, build trust, and strengthen performance across multiple industries.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why employee development should go beyond preparing people for management roles.
• How workplace learning can improve communication, trust, and decision-making across an organization.
• What causes engaged employees to become disengaged—and how organizations can rebuild trust.
• Why listening before acting is one of the most valuable professional skills employees can develop.
• How training programs can help people contribute more effectively, regardless of their position or title.

References in this Episode
Courageous Followership Tango video  

Support the show

*
Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/outdoor-education-how-nature-becomes-the-classroom-tara-laidlaw/

What changes when teachers stop treating nature as the backdrop for learning and begin treating it as an active participant? Place-based educator Tara Laidlaw explores how farms, forests, meadows, and mountains become classrooms that reshape the relationship between teacher, student, and environment. In these settings, knowing when to guide and when to step back becomes an essential teaching skill.

Tara Laidlaw has spent nearly 15 years designing educational experiences that connect learners with the places around them. As a program manager, instructional designer, facilitator, and teacher trainer, she specializes in place-based education, helping educators use local landscapes to foster curiosity, observation, and deeper engagement with learning.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What place-based education looks like in practice.
• How outdoor learning changes the roles of teachers and students.
• Why effective educators sometimes learn by observing alongside their students.
• How natural environments encourage curiosity, adaptability, and shared discovery.
• What educators can learn by taking cues from the landscape instead of relying solely on lesson plans.

Connect with Tara on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-laidlaw/

Support the show

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams. 

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support