How do you improve patient and client outcomes? Is it possible to prevent burnout in high-pressure fields?

In this episode, surgical oncologist Dr. Laura Lambert explores what leaders can learn from the operating room and what it truly means to have the privilege of caring for another human being, whether as a doctor or as a leader. 

Ideas we explore: 

03:47 – She never wanted to be a doctor...here’s what changed her mind. 

06:55 – What surgeons teach new doctors and why it’s a problem. 

09:47 – How an inward mindset shows up in patient care (and what it costs). 

12:35 – The Anatomy of humanism and why all of us should be practicing it. 

16:05 – How mindset impacts patient outcomes and physician well-being. 

19:35 – Healing vs. fixing: the transformative power of who we are. 

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

Take your learning further—download the complimentary study guide to explore this episode on your own or with your team!  

What if the pressure to cut costs could actually unlock innovation?  

In this episode, former Fortune 500 division president Louise Francesconi and Arbinger consultants Mike Merchant and Duane Boyce share how two organizations on opposite ends of the globe faced the impossible mandate of cutting $100 million. Instead of collapsing under pressure, their leaders discovered how an outward mindset transformed fear, resistance, and self-preservation into collaboration, creativity, and lasting results. 

Ideas we explore:  

02:14 – How to tackle any high-stakes challenge.  

06:52 – Why the way you start determines whether you succeed. 

09:47 – Why you need to shift from self-preservation to supporting others. 

13:35 – What it takes to move a divided, resistant group into alignment. 

18:22 – How to uncover solutions no one sees. 

22:40 – When strategy isn’t enough to deliver results. 

Take your learning further—download the complimentary study guide to explore this episode on your own or with your team!  

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

What if our strengths, values, and even our success are the blind spots that keep us stuck? 

In this episode, Gill Campbell—seasoned executive coach and co-leader of Arbinger UK—shares her personal journey and how she helps senior leaders uncover what’s really blocking their growth. From the hidden fear of being exposed to the subtle ways we self-sabotage, Gill unpacks the surprising truths that coaching reveals and how leaders can finally move forward. 

Ideas we explore:  

02:14 – How strengths can turn into liabilities.  

06:37 – The fear every leader works hardest to hide.  

10:52 – How blame keeps leaders from seeing clearly.  

15:08 – Why values can become dangerous blind spots.  

24:46 – Redefining self-compassion and its role in real change. 

Take your learning further—download the complimentary study guide to explore this episode on your own or with your team!

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

Are you overlooking the potential in “hard” people? What if the most difficult students or employees hold untapped greatness? And what happens when you help people see their progress when they feel stuck or broken?  

We’re starting season 2 of Leading Outward by sitting down with Ivan Cornea, a beloved high school art teacher whose classroom became a place where struggling and rejected students grew into confident leaders, artists, and human beings. In one of his final interviews before his passing, Ivan shares remarkable stories of seeing “difficult” people as people and how those lessons apply to all of us whether we are a leader, parent, coach, friend, or teacher. 

Ideas we explore: 

00:57 – How to unlock potential in people others have written off. 

03:12 – How to help people who feel stuck or broken see their progress. 

08:49 – What to do when someone resists growth. 

13:40 – How to balance patience with demanding the best. 

18:15 – Is it possible to tailor your approach to every individual? 

25:30 – What’s the most important shift leaders must make to truly see people as people?

Have a leadership challenge or question you’d like us to explore on the show? Submit it here!  

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

Are you one of our new listeners? Welcome! We’re giving away a free Leading Outward sweatshirt to any U.S. listener who hasn’t yet left a written review. Just upload a screenshot at leadingoutward.com and we’ll send one your way!

In season 2, we'll be taking you into the exact moments leaders realize they’re the problem.

You’ll hear raw, unscripted coaching sessions with leaders navigating high-stakes decisions and the impact of hard childhoods. While you can find leadership theory everyone, we show you real change that happens in the raw, sometimes clunky moments of professional and personal leadership.

New episodes drop every Tuesday starting September 16.

When was the last time you vented about someone? And why didn’t you just talk to them instead? 

In this season finale, we hear from three listeners whose lives shifted because of the show: a mom who saw her son differently, a leader who publicly owned his coaching experience, and a son who finally had an honest conversation with his parents. These are stories of ownership, agency, and the space where real change starts. 

Topics we address: 

01:05 — How we unintentionally take away people’s growth when we speak for them 

07:20 — How vulnerability can make people see you as a more credible leader 

10:30 — Why venting feels good but never solves the problem 

13:50 — How to remove the difficulty out of hard conversations 

18:00 — How old stories keep us from seeing who someone is now 

Have a leadership challenge or question you’d like us to explore on the show? Submit it here!  

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session.

What was it all for?

You've shared the vision, trained the team, and gave them everything they needed to succeed.

And they still aren't following through.

In part two of this raw coaching series, Daniel—a high school principal—continues to wrestle with this leadership challenge. What starts as a reflection on stalled execution becomes a deep reckoning with busyness, control, and the fear of leading in a way that might cost you your people.

If you’ve ever felt the weight of being ultimately responsible for the outcomes and still coming up short then this episode is for you.

Ideas we explore: 

01:20 — Why your team might be slow to act 

06:10 — What gets lost when you rush connection 

10:40 — How busyness is shaping the way you lead 

14:00 — The fear of being truly seen 

18:00 — What it actually takes to change a leadership habit 

Have a leadership challenge or question you’d like us to explore on the show? Submit it here!  

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

Feel like you're just being thorough? Focused on quality? Clear about your expectations? You might call it leadership, but to your team, it might feel like control. So what happens when your high standards start getting in the way of growth?

In this raw coaching episode—part one of a two-part series—Daniel, a high school principal with deep experience across every level of school leadership, wrestles with that exact tension. With help from his Arbinger coach, Daniel uncovers how his desire for consistency and excellence is actually limiting his team’s growth and holding him back from the kind of leader he wants to be.  

Ideas we explore: 

01:35 — How to lead well when you’re stretched too thin 

10:55 — When your efforts to help actually cause delays 

14:30 — The difference between shielding your team and stealing their shot 

21:05 — How control quietly strains relationships at work and at home 

27:10 — What it means to delegate a task without delegating responsibility 

Have a leadership challenge or question you’d like us to explore on the show? Submit it here!

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

Ever resented someone you were supposed to help? Or felt too exhausted to care, even when you knew you should?

Our guests have. Daren Forbes has dedicated his life to funeral service, and Dr. Steve Jackson serves people as a physician. They know what it’s like to feel called to meaningful, people-centered work—and still feel resentful, drained, or disconnected from the very people they’re trying to serve. They share their messy moments when their mindset became the deciding factor in their ability to show up effectively instead of shut down.

Ideas we explore: 

01:20 — How to keep showing up when you’re completely worn out 

05:45 — The shift that moves you from resentment back into service 

10:30 — Unlocking creativity and care even when exhausted 

13:50 — How an inward mindset clouds your judgment 

18:05 — Why caring for coworkers reduces burnout and turnover 

27:45 — How well-meaning policies can quietly set people up to fail 

Have a leadership challenge or question you’d like us to explore on the show? Submit it here!

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session. 

Can we let people—especially the ones we care about most—chart their own path? What about when we think they're making a mistake?

In this part 2 episode, Janette returns to examine how the same leadership patterns she’s untangling in her role at work are playing out at home—with her son, her daughter-in-law, and her husband. What starts as a family conflict becomes a raw reckoning with expectations, identity, and the cost of clinging to an ideal instead of truly seeing people.

Ideas we explore:  

01:15 — When stepping in to help actually gets in the way  

04:10 — How the ideal in your head is sabotaging your relationships  

07:00 — It isn't love when it's about you  

15:00 — Clinging to being right makes connection impossible  

21:50 — Your mindset shapes every relationship you touch  

28:00 — The courage it takes to truly see and acknowledge others

Have a leadership challenge or question you’d like us to explore on the show? Submit it here!

Need help developing your leaders or organization? Schedule a complimentary strategy session.