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Harold (Trey) Carlson has served as chief of staff for NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida since August 2022. In this role, Carlson is responsible for day-to-day operations at Kennedy, helping shape the center's strategic direction while overseeing various policies and initiatives.

Before assuming his current role, Carlson served five years as the Kennedy Space Center legislative affairs manager. He directed KSC’s legislative agenda, interfacing with Congress and the State of Florida legislature and advocating for NASA’s exploration and science mission requirements and Kennedy’s multi-user spaceport needs.

During his tenure as legislative affairs manager, Carlson served several months as NASA’s acting deputy associate administrator for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (OLIA) and eight months as the acting director for Legislative Liaison Division within OLIA. 

Previously, he led the development and execution of Kennedy’s master plan that transformed the center from a single-use, government-operated federal facility to a multi-user spaceport providing both government and commercial launch operations.

Carlson is a former U.S. Navy submariner and holds a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and planning from the University of California at San Diego, and a Master of Science degree in public policy and management from the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon University. 

A Quote From This Episode

• "It’s the people element that is the most important—whether you’re making yeast rolls or launching rockets.”
• “I’ve never thought, ‘Why did I do this?’ after investing time in a relationship.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Podcast: Jordan Peterson
• Podcast: President’s Daily Brief 
• TED: Ian Bremmer’s 2025 outlook

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
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Dr. Doug MacKie has over 30 years of experience as an organisational and business psychologist and executive coach working in the UK, Europe, and Australasia. He specialises in sustainability leadership, high-performance teams, and developing leadership within purposeful organisations. Through his consulting work, he has helped identify and accelerate the development of ethical leadership and team capability in CEO’s, C-Suite executives, and MDs within many of the top 100 companies in the UK and Australia. He is the author of the definitive guide to Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organisations (2016) and is a co-editor of The Practitioners Handbook of Team Coaching (2019). He has recently established the Centre for Climate Change Leadership in Organisations and is the editor of the Handbook on this topic, published in 2023.

A Few Quotes From This Episode

• “There is a significant gap between the scale and impact of anthropogenic climate change and the capacity of contemporary leadership to address those issues.”
• “We need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.”
• “We’re not good at long-term thinking as a species.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Book: Handbook of Climate Change Leadership in Organisations by MacKie (25AFLY2 will get listeners 20% off the handbook)
• Book: Lead for the Planet by Andre
• Book:  Earth for All by Dixon-Decleve et al 
• Book: Climate Change by Hulme 
• Book: Ethical Leadership: A Primer by McManus,R.M. et al
• Book: The Sustainability Mindset Principles by Rimanoczy

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Dr. Juandré Peacock is an accomplished organizational psychologist and speaker. He holds Master's and Doctorate degrees in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, credentials that have underpinned a distinguished career working with some of the most complex organizations in the world.

As a practitioner psychologist, Dr. Peacock applies research-based insights and strategies to every solution to ensure maximum impact. His work spans industries and continents, helping organizations foster connection and engagement, reduce attrition, and create cultures of growth and stability.

An advocate for lifelong learning and innovation, Dr. Peacock has developed proprietary frameworks like RocketStart™, Cornerstone Skills for Managers™, and SynergisticChange™— tools designed to revolutionize how organizations approach talent development and change.

Known for his engaging delivery, Dr.  Peacock crafts experiences integrating scientific research with inspirational narratives into actionable insights for all organizations. 

When not consulting or speaking, Dr. Peacock spends time with his wife, two children, and two dogs. Most weekends are spent in youth sports or arts, with the occasional fishing trip when time allows.

A Quote From This Episode

• "I think there's a little bit of a disconnect between what you learn in the books and what you get to apply in the job space...when you learn about these things, what you don't learn are the real world constraints that organizations have to deal with...it's all well and good to try to do a job analysis by the book, it's extremely difficult to do it in practice."

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Book: The Reacher Series by Lee Child 

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Dr. Toby Newstead is a respected leadership scholar and practitioner at the University of Tasmania, located in lutruwita on the lands of the palawa and pakana people. With a background in corporate change, leadership development, and professional communications, she brings practical expertise to her academic, coaching, and consulting work.

An internationally recognized researcher, Dr. Newstead specializes in virtues-based leadership development, leadership ethics, and leadership in the volunteer sector. Her research appears in top journals. In 2023, she published a book titled Leadership and Virtues: Understanding and Practicing Good Leadership.

Dr. Newstead is an established executive leadership coach and deeply engaged with industry and community. She regularly delivers impactful workshops, keynotes, and facilitation sessions. Dr Newstead’s research, teaching, coaching and facilitation has local and international impact, shaping the leaders of today and tomorrow.

A Quote From This Episode

• “If we can insert virtues between stimulus and response, we can be more intentional about who we are and how we show up as leaders.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Book: Lessons in Chemistry
• Book: The Dreaming Path

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Dr. Brigitte Biehl is a Professor at SRH University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and a visiting researcher at FernUniversity in Hagen, Germany, where she worked as a guest professor for Gender and Queer Studies in Leadership and where she was awarded a Venia Legendi in 2024. Biehl serves on the editorial boards of "Management Learning," "Leadership," and "Organizational Aesthetics." Among her publications are books on “Leadership in Games of Thrones,” and “Leadership Lessons from the Kardashians.” She researches leadership development, art and leadership, and gender issues.

A Few (Awesome) Quotes From This Episode

• “Leadership really is everywhere.”
• “Let yourself be affected, go on a journey with the characters. Be seduced by the film experience, distance yourself from it, and then draw your conclusions.”
• “Film can help us become better leaders and better followers.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Book: Leadership Lessons from the Kardashians
• Book: Leadership in Games of Thrones
• Documentary: Crip Camp
• Film: CODA

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Alexander Negrow, Ph.D., is a theologian and leadership researcher with over thirty years of teaching and leadership experience. As the founder and President of Hodos Institute, he leads efforts to impact leadership practices in the United States and his country of birth, Ukraine. He is deeply passionate about advancing spiritual, ethical, and effective leadership, as well as spiritual coaching and guidance. Dr. Negrov integrates all these practices into his broader leadership philosophy. 

Ronald E. Riggio, Ph. D., is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology and former director of the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College. He is the author of more than a dozen books and more than 100 research articles and book chapters on leadership, assessment centers, organizational psychology, and social psychology. He's served on the editorial boards of The Leadership Quarterly, Leadership, Group Dynamics, and Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.

A Few Quotes From This Episode

• “Peace is like air; when it's there, you don't notice it. When it's absent, you suffocate."
• "Partnership, not competition, became a key theme and practice of Ukrainian leadership during this wartime."
• "Leadership begins and ends with presence—being there, next to people when they're hurt."

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Leadership in Ukraine: Studies During Wartime 
• Hodos Leadership 

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Jim Vaselopulos is a C-level business advisor and executive coach with a proven record as a leader, strategist, rainmaker, and expert in new business development. With his principled leadership, visionary approach, and effective execution, Jim has successfully established new companies and transformed underperforming organizations. 

As the founder of Rafti Advisors, Jim assists early-stage businesses in launching successfully, growth-stage enterprises in accelerating their progress, and established organizations in navigating complex challenges and strategic shifts. 

Jim teaches sales and professional development and frequently speaks on the subjects of leadership and innovation. He also volunteers regularly with business incubators and veterans groups. 

Jim is also the author of Clarity: Business Wisdom to Work Less and Achieve More and the co-host of The Leadership Podcast.

He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and earned his MBA at Marquette University. Jim is a dedicated husband and father of two wonderful children with his wife, Dana.

A Few Quotes From This Episode

• “If you feel like you’re playing Whack-a-Mole, you’re not digging deep enough, you’re not curious enough about what the real root cause is.”
• “When we talk about things that are symptoms, I’m not saying they’re not important…but the underlying condition is deeper.”
• “Balance is not something you get once and keep forever. You need feedback, and you need to keep adjusting.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Author: Peter Zeihan
• Author: Jordan Peterson
• Author: Leslie Zane 

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Jeff Sigel is an author, coach, and consultant who is passionate about creating better work environments and more fulfilling careers for middle managers everywhere. After over 20 years of corporate experience at Nabisco, The Hershey Company, grocery retailer Ahold, and the restaurant company Cracker Barrel, Jeff has shifted his focus to coaching mid-level leaders and supporting companies looking to empower their middle management teams. He is currently a consultant and coach focused on turning strategy into action by developing middle management excellence. His book, "The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers" was published in June 2024.

A Few (Awesome) Quotes From This Episode

• “I spent a lot of years in middle management doing stuff wrong.”
• "These are the hardest skills that we actually have to learn to do our jobs—the so-called ‘soft skills.’"
• "The goal of leadership is to create the conditions where you trust your team to function at a high level even when you are not there.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Book: Leading Yourself

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Scott J. Allen, Ph.D., is an award-winning educator passionate about working with people at all levels and across industries. He serves as an instructor in SMU’s Cox School of Business Executive Education and spent more than 18 years as a professor of management. Allen’s areas of expertise include leader development, the future of work, and executive communication.

Scott has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He’s the co-author of several books and hosts Practical Wisdom for Leaders, ranked among the world's top 2.5% of podcasts. Along with the podcast, he publishes a weekly newsletter.

Scott frequently serves as a keynote speaker. In addition, he consults, facilitates workshops, and leads retreats across industries. Recent engagements include Catholic Charities, Cleveland Leadership Center, Key Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Progressive, Nestle, EY, Siegfried Group, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Sherwin Williams, Whiting-Turner, Builder’s FirstSource, Vocon, CID Design Group, Toyota Motor North America, Lexus, Crestron, NASA-Glenn, Sam’s Club, Elbit America, Oatey, Lubrizol, Enbridge (Dominion), Endeavor Energy Resources, Scout Energy Partners, First Energy, TransAlta, FedEx Custom Critical, Thompson Hine LLP, Nordson, Beacon Oral Specialists, and Cleveland Clinic.

Scott served on the board of the International Leadership Association, Association of Leadership Educators, and Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society. He was named an ILA Fellow by the International Leadership Association in 2021.

Thanks to Martin Gutmann for interviewing! 

A Few Quotes From This Episode

• “If you’d asked me in 2020, I would’ve said I knew a lot about leadership. But now I see just how much I didn’t—and still don’t—know."
• "This podcast has systematized my learning. Every week, I’m talking with someone who knows more than I do."
• "Maybe I’ve reached base camp, but Everest is still ahead."

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.

Send us a text

Dr. Amy Climer is a thought leader in innovation, team development, and experiential learning. She teaches research-based practices, tools, and techniques to forward-thinking organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the University of Wisconsin. 

Amy holds a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. Her research led to the Deliberate Creative Team Scale, designed to measure the three critical dimensions of team creativity. Her TEDx talk, The Power of Deliberate Creative Teams, explains her research and philosophies on innovation, and she is the author of Deliberate Creative Teams: How to Lead for Innovative Results.

Amy is the host of The Deliberate Creative™ Podcast. She is the designer of Climer Cards, a creativity and teambuilding tool used by thousands to deepen conversations and generate ideas. In 2016 she won the Karl Rhonke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education. Amy lives in Asheville, North Carolina in the U.S. 

A Few (Awesome) Quotes From This Episode

• “We’ve known actually since the 1970s that creativity training works. The problem is we rarely bring it into our day-to-day work.”
• “It’s about being deliberate. You can’t just hope for creativity to happen—you have to follow a clear process and cultivate the right environment.”
• “If you want your team to be more creative, spend time clarifying the real problem before jumping into ideation. Even five minutes can change everything.”
• “Creative abrasion is when we can disagree around ideas and still respect each other personally. It’s healthy conflict that leads to better solutions.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode 

• Documentary: Where There Once Was Water 
• Book: Your Creative Power by Alex Osborn
• Book: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About  Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders
• Blog

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can

♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!
⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.
➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
📜 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter featuring four hand-picked articles.
🌎 You can learn more about my work on my Website.