In this episode, I sit down with Anna Gould, Director of Sales at GCI Communications and unofficial holder of the title “Person Most Likely to Know the Answer to Your Problem.” Anna’s career is a masterclass in growth through grit, humility, and relentless curiosity. From swapping physical tapes at her parents’ wireless cable company in Fairbanks to leading a statewide sales team, she’s never stopped learning—or leading.

We talk about how chaos fuels her creativity, how she mentors her team using a practical coaching method called GROW, and how her introversion hasn’t stopped her from becoming one of the most connected and influential people in the company. Anna also shares her distaste for “that’s not my job” thinking, the power of delegation (and Dolly Parton children’s books), and what it really means to advocate for yourself—and for others.

Anna’s story is packed with insight, warmth, and just the right amount of Red Sox/Yankees trash talk. You’re going to love this one.

Connect with Anna:LinkedIn: Anna Gould
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!

At the beginning of June I spent a week on a cruise ship, intentionally cut off from the internet.

Before I left, I diligently tied up loose ends and set up my out of office email so that I wouldn’t leave anyone hanging.

It was a blissful week of sun, sand, and sea. And naps.

And then I came home and reconnected to all the things.

I was greeted with a couple of text messages – a medium with no out of office functionality – from a client asking for feedback who likely spent the week wondering (at least once or twice) why I was ignoring them.

In that moment I realized that I needed to start proactively reaching out to clients with my upcoming availability before disconnecting.

I added the behavior to my travel prep checklist and now this gap won’t exist next time.

As leaders we need to be constantly collecting feedback (did this work?) and iterating our habits (let’s try tweaking this…) to ensure we are being more effective tomorrow than we were yesterday.

Helping your team grow into their potential starts with you consistently embracing the opportunity to do it better next time.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Reflect on the past week and identify anything that could have worked smoother. Identify something you can do (try?) to improve it and “install” it in your process for next time.

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!

This week on Leadership Huddle…I sit down with Dean Caravelis—Founder and CEO at Blezoo—to talk about what it really means to lead with intention, creativity, and a deep respect for both your team and your customers. Dean has spent nearly two decades helping brands show up in unforgettable ways, and he’s just released his first book, The Experience in a Box Playbook, a brilliant resource for marketing managers and leaders alike.We get into the weeds of what it means to serve as a leader (sometimes literally taking out the trash), how presentation shapes perception, and why being deeply connected to both your team and your customer is non-negotiable. Dean’s philosophy? Business is a playground for meaningful experiences—and every detail matters.You’ll hear stories, metaphors, and a few laugh-out-loud moments that will leave you thinking about how you show up—for your people, your work, and yourself.Connect with Dean:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deancaravelisWebsites: blezoo.com and deancaravelis.com

I can now get a Mountain Dew at Subway.

The sandwiches are the same as they’ve always been, but now I can get a delicious, ice cold Mountain Dew to accompany the meal.

That changes my calculus when choosing a spot to grab a quick bite to eat.

In a similar way, your leadership can be the frosty Mountain Dew that pairs with the work someone on your team loves doing.

(Is this a monumental stretch?)

Just like my restaurant choice can be influenced by the availability of my favorite beverage, the experience your people have at work is directly influenced by their relationship with you.

Here’s a question worth considering: if they had an opportunity to move to another organization and all else was equal, would their relationship with you make it easier for them to stay or easier for them to go?

This is not about pandering to their whims, but about ensuring that you are leading in a way that makes it possible for them to be successful. 

An icy Mountain Dew doesn’t solve every problem, but it sure tilts the scales.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Ask your people if they are getting what they need from you. You’re not trying to meet every preference they have, but to determine if your leadership is creating opportunities for them to be successful or obstacles that are getting in the way of that success.

(PS: Don’t worry, Jersey Mike’s, I would choose you every time if you were in Fairbanks)

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 sit down with Amy Nordrum, Executive Editor at MIT Technology Review and one of the sharpest minds working at the intersection of journalism, technology, and leadership. Amy shares what it’s like to lead a newsroom that covers emerging tech while producing some of MIT Tech Review’s most influential projects — including the “10 Breakthrough Technologies” list and “35 Innovators Under 35.”

We talk about what drew her into journalism, how she balances creative curiosity with operational excellence, and the unique challenges (and rewards) of helping smart people do their best work. Amy opens up about imposter syndrome, embracing discomfort as part of growth, and the thrill of chasing stories born from pure curiosity. We also dig into how the media landscape is evolving — and why now, more than ever, we need trusted sources and principled editors steering the ship.

This is a conversation about leadership, ambition, and navigating change — and Amy brings both clarity and warmth to all of it.

Connect with Amy:LinkedIn
The Download Newsletter

I recently saw a video of a guy learning to surf.

He was clearly very new to the sport and spent the majority of the video in the ocean instead of on his surfboard.

Every attempt to stand was a battle between his body, his board, and a massive uncaring ocean.

Stiff arms and wobbly knees, fighting for balance and control.

Meanwhile his instructor was gliding around on the same ocean, on the same waves, with no difficulty.

The instructor was a tiny speck in an unchangeable ocean, and yet he took what the ocean gave him and moved with grace and purpose.

It was a crisp reminder to me that most of us are fighting the waves, when we should be learning to surf. 

The Serenity Prayer highlights the importance of understanding what we can change and what we cannot change, a skill most of us could likely stand to refine.

If you can change something for the better, get to work.

If change isn’t possible from where you sit or given the tools at your disposal, learn to surf.

You can’t bend the ocean to your will, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take what the ocean gives you and turn it into something that works for you and your people.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: There are two layers here: learning to surf and teaching your team to surf. But you can’t teach them to surf if they don’t see you surfing first. Examine the most frustrating parts of your work and ask yourself, “is this something I can change or not?” If not, follow that up with, “what would it look like to ‘surf this wave’ instead of trying to fight it?” Your team needs to see you change the things you have the power to change, and navigate the rest with grace and intentionaltiy.

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!

What do Michael Phelps, Pearl Jam, and Arctic engineering have in common? This conversation with Dr. Brock Anundson, Athletic Director at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, weaves them all together in the most delightful way. Brock shares stories from his early days working with Olympic athletes (including a great Phelps anecdote), playing in garage bands, and climbing the ranks of college athletics administration.We talk about how practice and preparation show up in his leadership, and the importance of giving team members room to run. Brock reflects on the balance between performance and development, both in athletics and leadership, and how he’s fostering a culture at UAF where people feel trusted, supported, and motivated.You can connect with Brock here:
LinkedIn
Nanooks Athletics Website

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!

On a recent camper adventure, Nicole and I were talking about what we enjoyed most about camping.

My answer: having the explicit license to not be productive.

I am often so compelled to be working on something that spending AN ENTIRE WEEKEND without a project is a rarity.

It’s not that I can’t find a way to kill a rainy afternoon on the couch watching movies, but that in the back of my mind I usually have a nagging sense that I should be working on something.

Camping is a good reminder to me that an essential part of growth is rest.Unfortunately, we often think of growth as being synonymous with MORE.

We presume the point of growth to be about doing more, making more, accomplishing more, being more… But some of the most profound growth is about letting go.

We grow when we realize we don’t have to be perfect. We grow when we adopt boundaries that insulate us from experiences that are harmful to us. We grow when we see that being productive isn’t the highest goal and there is a time and place to prioritize renewal. 

Being productive in your work matters, but so does pausing to reflect on whether your effectiveness is being hindered by a project, habit, or mindset that you need to let go of.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: Check in with your team…and yourself…by asking, “are there things we need to let go of?”

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 sit down with Tara Landes, founder of Bellrock Benchmarking and a master of making leadership development feel both human and doable. We talk about the hidden costs of not delegating, the difference between delegation and dumping, and why most leaders accidentally train their teams to depend on them. Tara shares a framework for understanding growth stages—from blissful ignorance to mindful competence—and how leaders can use that awareness to help their people level up.She also drops gold on how to prep for conferences (spoiler: it’s all about expectations), how to avoid sabotaging your own delegation attempts, and why handing off decisions isn’t abdication—it’s the only path to true interdependence. Oh, and if you’ve ever felt like your job has to be hard to be worthwhile, Tara might just rewire your brain.Connect with Tara at bellrock.ca or on LinkedIn.

In a recent 10 day span I attended 4 graduations. 
From a 3-hour marathon, to a crisp 60-minute sprint, I saw four people I love graduate from four different schools with one common denominator: everything.
I’m sure this is going to sound a little cynical and act as the perfect reminder that I am aging rapidly, but when you hear half a dozen speakers say the same thing with the complete conviction that they are doing it in the most original way… 
But it’s okay because these ceremonies aren’t supposed to be original. 
They are rites of passage.
They are comforting reminders that hard work should be celebrated and that we need to remind one another about our hopes for the future.
There is a time and place for originality. A time and place for putting away the old way and doing something different. A time to be the enemy of the status quo and chart a new path.
But there is also a time and place for tradition and shared history. A time and place for wearing the uniform and reveling in unity. A time to remind one another that many have gone before and many will come after.
As a leader it can be irresistible to focus exclusively on what’s next, but don’t forget that everyone needs to celebrate their victories and be united by shared experience from time to time.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: What is one way you can leverage tradition (or at least repetition) to help unify your people this week?

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!