Is empathy enough to make you a better leader—or can it sometimes backfire?

In this episode of The Performance Quotient, host Will Lindstrom welcomes Todd White, executive coach and founder of ClearPeg, to explore why empathy in leadership often falls short and what it really takes to make it work.

Todd introduces “the empathy equation,” a framework that blends understanding, feeling, caring, and doing. Each element can build a connection or create unintended consequences if leaders overuse it. 

Real empathy requires balancing those elements with resilience, accountability, and trust.

Highlights Covered:

• The four components of empathy and their double-edged impact on leadership
• Why empathy without resilience creates dependency rather than growth
• How “squinting with your ears” helps leaders listen more effectively
• The role of trust, respect, care, and accountability in earning engagement
• Why some leaders inspire teams to follow them into a burning building while others struggle to gain even basic buy-in

Todd’s insights cut through the buzzwords and reveal why empathy alone isn’t enough—and how leaders can combine care with resilience to create clarity, direction, and lasting performance.

Learn more about Todd’s work at ClearPeg.

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Can one simple question predict the health of your entire organization?

In this episode of The Performance Quotient, Will Lindstrom sits down with Stanley Liebowitz - founder and CEO of Predixxa and advisor to more than 450 organizations - to unpack one of the most surprising insights in organizational performance: how employees answer the question “Does my immediate supervisor care about my growth and development?”

Stanley discovered that when employees answer yes, engagement, productivity, and customer satisfaction metrics soar. But when the answer is maybe or no, performance indicators plummet across the board. This insight has reshaped how companies diagnose alignment and measure culture.

Highlights Covered:

• How one company went from near-bankruptcy to record-breaking sales by focusing on manager care
• Why culture isn’t monolithic - every department has its microculture driven by its manager
• Tools like diagnostics, brainstorming, and multivoting that turn data into collaborative solutions
• Why uncovering blind spots at the department level creates sustainable performance gains for the organization
• How small improvements in performance and costs can yield double-digit revenue growth.

Stanley’s work demonstrates that caring leadership isn’t just “soft”—it’s a predictive indicator of organizational resilience, growth, and profitability.

Learn more about his work at Predixxa

Seeking to align your leadership, culture, and capital goals - we'd love to hear from you. No sales talk - just a conversation about your challenges - book a call today.

What if the key to resilience isn’t grit - but great feedback?

In this episode of the Performance Quotient, Will Lindstrom sits down with executive coach and ClearPeg.com founder, Todd White, to unpack why resilience isn’t about perfection - it’s about taking your at-bats, failing forward, and listening well enough to improve.

Highlights:

•  Why annual performance reviews fall short - and what real feedback systems should look like
•  The power of “how” questions over “why” questions in high-pressure conversations
•  How to create psychological safety so mistakes become growth moments
•  The leadership shift from manager to coach - and how it impacts performance
•  Why feedback is a “contact sport” requiring trust, timing, and human connection.

Todd brings decades of experience coaching high-performing STEM and tech leaders, offering a clear path for organizations looking to transform feedback into a competitive advantage. 

If your company is scaling, pivoting, or navigating change - this episode offers practical insights on building resilient teams that learn quickly - and lead even faster.

Todd White is an executive coach founder of Clearpeg and a self-described recovering engineer. He's worked across engineering strategy. Hr. And global consulting before dedicating his focus to professional development. Today Todd has coached thousands of high performing professionals, especially in the high tech and stem fields, guiding them through pressure pivot points as well as leadership growth. He's the creator of the 5 pillars of professional development and is known for helping top talent, build clarity influence, and, most importantly, have behavioral fluency without losing their edge.

Connect with Todd at clearpeg.com or follow him on LinkedIn.

Seeking to align your leadership, culture, and capital goals - we'd love to hear from you. No sales talk - just a conversation about your challenges - book a call today.

What is the biggest blind spot leaders face when working with investor-led boards?

With 2025 shaping up to be a year of fast-paced transactions, the relationship between leaders and investor-led boards has never been more critical. 

In this episode, Jim Courtney, a seasoned leader who has worked with corporate boards to heavily investor-led boards - shares his insights on navigating these different entities.

Jim shares his perspectives:

• The key differences between corporate and investor-led boards
• The challenges leaders face when working with finance-driven boards
• Best practices for building trust, alignment, and influence with board members
• Strategies for leveraging the board chair to strengthen relationships and eliminate surprises

Finally, Jim shares his #1 piece of advice for executives looking to build more effective, high-trust relationships with their boards.

Tune in  to gain insights that can transform your leadership approach when managing various types of boards.

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Seeking to align your leadership, culture, and capital goals - we'd love to hear from you. No sales talk - just a conversation about your challenges - book a call today.