Today’s episode features Heather Handyside, President and COO of Thompson & Co. Public Relations, who joins me to talk about leadership, culture, and making big career transitions. 

Heather’s career spans high-profile roles in government, corporate communications, and now agency leadership, and she brings a wealth of perspective on building strong teams and maintaining high standards while fostering genuine support for her people.

We talk about what it takes to “leave your ego at the door,” why humility and accountability are essential leadership traits, and how surrounding yourself with talented, driven colleagues can accelerate everyone’s growth. 

Heather also shares how she balances high expectations with flexibility, adapts to generational shifts in the workplace, and why community involvement is both personally meaningful and professionally valuable.

Whether you’re leading a small team or a large organization, Heather’s insights on judgment, trust, and culture are a masterclass in modern leadership.

Connect with Heather: LinkedIn

My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results—without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets

A friend of mine* has recently been waking around 4AM and struggling to fall back asleep.

I’m no sleep expert, but we chatted about how he responded to this nocturnal frustration and something struck me.

Every time he woke up unexpectedly, he grabbed his phone and scrolled social media in an attempt to settle his mind and return to sleep.

And he scrolled and scrolled, night after night, unable to find rest.

Regardless of how you rate the soothing properties of Instagram, the thing that immediately jumped out at me was that he did the exact same thing every night, hoping it would produce different results.

I offered a couple alternatives that I employed from time to time and each was summarily rejected because it “wouldn’t work” for him.

And yet he was happy to grab his phone each night, a method that was already proven to be ineffective.

Here’s a wild approach: when the thing you are trying isn’t working, try something else.

When the results you are hoping for aren’t realized through the actions you are taking, act differently.

It’s not rocket science.

I don’t know exactly what you’re wrestling with right now, but I do know that the only way to get new results is to incorporate new behaviors.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Identify something you’d like to change and try a new method for producing that change this week. Do something WILD that you’re sure won’t work and see what happens. I can’t guarantee your new method will work, but I can guarantee that you’ll never find yourself closer to a solution if you keep doing the same things.

* Yes, he said I could share this…

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

In this episode of the Leadership Huddle, I sit down with Dr. Luke Meinert, Superintendent of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. With over two decades of experience in Alaska’s public schools, Luke brings both strategic clarity and a deep sense of humanity to a role that is equal parts challenge and opportunity. 

We talk about baseball as a metaphor for leadership, what leaders can learn from kindergarten teachers, and how storytelling—even if it’s imperfect—can be a powerful tool for connection.

Luke reflects on difficult decisions like school closures, shares how he builds a leadership culture of distributed ownership, and reminds us that even in complex systems, simple, clear, actionable goals can drive meaningful change. 

His passion for lifelong learning, his humility in navigating criticism, and his commitment to getting into schools and staying connected to students and staff alike make this a must-listen for anyone in a leadership role.

Connect with Luke:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lmeinert907
Instagram: @drlukemeinert

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

The other night I had this dream in which I realized I was married to Kelly Clarkson.

There was a legitimate feeling of increased status and cachet in having such a direct connection to a rich, famous, superstar.

Except there was one big problem.

In addition to the fact that Dream Geoff had no recollection of ever having met Kelly, he was also married to our actual wife, Nicole, of whom we are both quite fond.

Dream Geoff was trying to sort out if it was legal to be married to two different people – as long as they lived in separate states – when I woke up.I’m sure Kelly Clarkson is great, but it was a relief to wake up next to Nicole because I love Nicole.

And Nicole is real. 

In our 28 years of marriage, we’ve weathered a few storms, had a few laughs, raised a human, and been teammates in the trenches. 

Day in and day out, we’ve made it work together.

And that’s better than a sudden connection to fame and fortune.

Throughout your career you might find yourself in situations where ingratiating yourself to someone with money, or power, or influence feels like a great way to improve your status.

Just don’t do it at the expense of those who have been there, day in and day out.

And don’t confuse clever networking with loyalty and actual concern. Transactional relationships are fleeting. Don’t believe the hype.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Make a list of five people who matter most to your real-life leadership journey—and ask yourself: When’s the last time I invested in that relationship? This week, do something to reconnect or reinforce at least one of them.

PS: I’m not arguing against having strategic relationships that help you move your career forward. I’m just arguing that you shouldn’t mortgage your real relationships in an effort to enrich relationships that are transactional in nature.

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

In this episode, I talk with Jesse Finkelstein, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Page Two Books, a publishing firm that’s redefining what it means to bring a book to life. Jesse shares her journey from bilingual camp counselor to publishing executive, and why she and her co-founder built a company that treats authors like CEOs—with a C-suite behind them. 

We dig into what makes Page Two’s hybrid model so compelling for thought leaders and entrepreneurs, why books still matter in a TikTok world, and how Jesse has intentionally shaped both her team and her leadership approach through real collaboration, curiosity, and a deep respect for the human experience.

Jesse also opens up about navigating co-leadership, parenting while scaling a business, and what acceptance has taught her about progress. If you’re thinking about writing a book—or simply want to lead with more humanity—this one’s for you.

Connect with Jesse:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessefinkelstein/
Page Two: https://pagetwo.com/submissions

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

I can fall down a rabbit hole from time to time watching videos about music production.I love hearing about how a certain song uses a sample from a James Bond movie, but they reversed it and chopped it up and turned it into a hook that most people would never know wasn’t wholly original.And it’s wild to me to think that every song I’ve ever loved was built on a foundational palette of 12 tones.The piano sitting next to me has 88 keys, but it’s just 12 notes repeating in ascending scales. The Rolling Stones used the same 12 tones as Metallica and James Brown and Norah Jones and Mozart and Alice in Chains.So, the next time you feel constrained by resources and wish you had more options at your fingertips, just remember that David Bowie turned those 12 tones into “Space Oddity” while Toto turned them into “Rosanna.”Constraints – like the 12-tone scale in music – can leave you feeling under-resourced and frustrated, or they can be a catalyst for creative output that can truly separate your team from the pack.Leadership is about helping your team make the most of what you have.OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: The next time you need to brainstorm solutions ask yourself how the constraints that exist could be an advantage. Introduce additional constraints – like, how would we do this if our budget was slashed in half or what if we had 6 days instead of 6 months – when you brainstorm with your team to help stir up ideas you would never have uncovered from a singular perspective.

In this episode, I talk with Angie Spear, Director of the Alaska International Airport System, about what it really takes to run not one—but two—of the most vital airports in the state: Ted Stevens Anchorage International and Fairbanks International. Angie brings the energy and insight you’d expect from someone who never turns off her “airport radar”—whether she's traveling or just checking out a new terminal’s carpet pattern.

We discuss what makes Alaska’s airports different from the rest of the country, how she leads large and geographically distant teams, and the critical role airports play as lifelines to rural communities. From breakfast pizzas to robotic wildlife mitigation dogs (yes, seriously), Angie shares what it means to run a “mini-city” where customer experience, safety, and community connection all matter.

You’ll hear her passion for servant leadership, her belief in developing people, and why she believes public service isn’t just about compliance—it’s about building something meaningful.

Connect with Angie Spear:
LinkedIn
[email protected]

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

Once upon a time there was a couple named John and Jane and their marriage was in big trouble.
They wanted to fix things, so they went to see a marriage counselor.
The marriage counselor listened to their problems and advised them to wait 6-months until Valentine’s Day, go have a spectacular date – really pull out all the stops, and that should fix things. 
John and Jane were taken aback.
”Isn’t there anything we should be working on on a daily basis?” They asked.
“Nope,” replied the counselor, “just carve out some time once a year for a massive gesture and your relationship will be saved.
I expect this little work of fiction sounds incredibly stupid to you, because it’s obvious that a healthy relationship requires a lot more care and feeding than an annual blockbuster event can provide.
The same thing applies to the growth and development of your people.
The annual conference you send them to can be a huge benefit to them, but it’s not enough.
The annual review is important, but it can’t be the primary feedback they get from you.
The quarterly training is helpful, but only if its content is put into routine practice.
Growth isn’t the result of the thing you do once in a while, it’s the result of the thing you practice.
OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Instead of focusing most of your effort on the annual retreat or the annual reviews, spend the bulk of your time thinking about the daily, weekly, and monthly habits that are helping you and your team level up with consistency.

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

Marc Luiken has held leadership roles that span the skies, the state of Alaska, and the private sector—and in this episode, he brings a wealth of insight from all three. Marc began his career as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, later served as Alaska’s Commissioner of Transportation, and today directs business development at Michael Baker International.

We talk about what real servant leadership looks like, why preparation is everything, and how leading well means planning your exit by developing the people behind you. Marc also shares why he believes satisfaction doesn’t mean stagnation, and how being a lifelong learner—and listener—has shaped every chapter of his leadership journey. From fighter jet missions to multimillion-dollar transportation projects, Marc’s humility and perspective are a masterclass in calm, confident leadership.

If you’ve ever wrestled with making tough calls without perfect information, or if you’re trying to lead others through service rather than control, you’re going to love this conversation.

Connect with Marc on LinkedIn
My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!

Luke Skywalker wouldn’t have saved a galaxy far, far away without Obi Wan Kenobi. Or Yoda.

Neo wouldn’t have escaped the Matrix (and did whatever the hell he did in the second and third movies) without Morpheus.

Do we really think Katniss and Peeta survive the Hunger Games without Haymitch – flawed as he was – as their guide?

To those you lead, you are a guide. You help them see opportunities they may not see and master abilities they haven’t yet developed.

To them, you are Yoda, or Morpheus, or Gandalf, or Mr. Miyagi.

And before they had you to show them the way, you had your own guide(s) who helped you.

This is your reminder that your role as a guide is incredibly important, as was the work of the one(s) who guided you.

None of us realize our full potential on our own. 

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Reflect on the people who have helped you transcend your limiting beliefs and develop unexpected capabilities…and take a moment to thank them. 

My free PDF, “100 Questions for Better 1-1 Meetings,” will help you upgrade the 1-1 conversations with your people so you can easily unearth their hidden potential and uncover valuable insights about your organization. Grab it today!