You can have a compelling mission and a sharp strategy, but if your culture is unhealthy or unclear, your team will stay stuck.

In this episode, Alan sits down with culture coach and author Jenni Catron to unpack why culture matters more than we think and how clarity becomes the foundation for trust, engagement, and healthy growth.

Jenni shares her own journey from the music industry into executive church leadership, and the jarring contrast between a life-giving culture and a toxic one. She explains why leaders can’t just “hope” for a great environment – they need a plan to build it with intention.

They talk about the signs your culture is drifting, why people often go quiet long before they quit, how to invite honest feedback without losing your voice as a leader, and why patience and persistence are essential when you start changing long-standing patterns on your team.

If you lead a staff, a volunteer team, or you’re trying to rebuild a culture you inherited, this conversation will give you language, practical steps, and hope.

Why great culture is really about clarity of who you are and how you work together

How the environment leaders create can make or break team engagement

The subtle warning signs your team has stopped believing their voice matters

How to ask for feedback when some decisions aren’t actually up for debate

Why culture change takes 6–12 months of patience and persistence

Simple rhythms (meetings, one-on-ones, shout-outs) that reinforce a healthy culture over time

Healthy and high-impact leadership doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in cultures that are clear, honest, and aligned around the mission. This episode will help you take your next step in building that kind of environment.

Jenni is the author of several books including Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence and The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership. She loves a fabulous cup of tea, great books, learning the game of tennis and hiking with her husband. Jenni can be found on social media at @jennicatron and at www.get4sight.com.

Grab a copy of Culture Matters

For more tools, coaching, and resources to help you become a healthy and high-impact leader, visit www.h2leadership.com.

And if this episode was helpful, please like, rate, review, and subscribe to the H2 Leadership Podcast. Every review helps other leaders discover the show.

Most leaders expect failure to be hard — but no one warns us how disorienting success can be. In today’s episode, Alan Briggs takes us inside a live leadership session and unpacks the real, often hidden challenges that come with growth: fulfillment gaps, maturity barriers, identity drift, disorientation, burnout, and the pressure of everyone wanting a piece of your time.

But this conversation isn’t about fear. It’s about forming the kind of roots that can sustain real fruit.

Alan shares practical insights on:

Why success often feels emptier than we expect

The surprising truth that what got you here won’t get you there

How success multiplies options, noise, and expectations

Why leaders lose honest feedback when they gain influence

The difference between external fruit and internal roots

The identity dreams every healthy leader should define

How to build a life that matches the person you’re becoming

What it takes to grow without losing yourself, your family, or your soul

If you’re leading a team, building a company, or navigating a season of rapid growth, this episode gives you a framework to name what’s happening beneath the surface — and an invitation to design a healthier, more intentional way to live and lead.

Success reveals weaknesses success created.

Leaders need pre-made filters to protect their time and energy.

Roots = identity, health, and formation. Fruits = visible impact.

Without strong roots, success will topple you like a pine tree in a storm.

Identity dreams > traditional goals.

Investment always feels like loss before it feels like growth.

Healthy leaders design their lives on purpose — not in reaction.

Include these in your notes for authority + click-through:

Learn more about H2 Coaching: https://www.h2leadership.com

Get Alan’s book “Anti-Burnout”: https://a.co/d/9Xzn5mJ

Follow the H2 Leadership Podcast: https://www.h2leadershippodcast.com

If this episode resonated, share it with a leader who needs it — and leave a quick rating or review so more leaders can discover the show.

Great leaders don’t just give answers. They ask better questions. J.R. Briggs joins Alan to unpack how curiosity, coaching questions, and practical reflection rhythms build trust, unlock growth, and transform teams.

Episode Summary:

You’ll Learn:

Key Quote:

Giveaway:

Most leaders don’t fail because of a lack of ideas... they fail because those ideas never leave their heads.

In this episode, Alan Briggs helps leaders make the crucial shift from intuitive to intentional, showing how to build systems and filters that multiply impact and prevent burnout. If your team constantly depends on you for decisions, it’s time to get what’s in your head into theirs — so your organization can grow beyond your personal capacity.

Alan unpacks insights from the middle of his book, Anti-Burnout: A Lighter Way to Live and Lead in a Heavy World, and breaks down a practical process that will help you lead more effectively without carrying it all alone.

Why your best ideas and decisions shouldn’t stay in your head

The three essentials for moving from intuitive to intentional: process, courage, and trust

How to clarify your vision, mission, and values so your team can act without hesitation

The four H filters every leader needs (humble, hungry, honest, high-capacity)

How to reduce decision fatigue and build simple, repeatable decision-making filters

Why slowing down, documenting, and delegating is an investment, not a setback

How releasing control can actually expand your influence and create new space for creativity

“Filters are pre-made decisions that make decision-making in the moment simple.”

Book: Anti-Burnout: A Lighter Way to Live and Lead in a Heavy World by Alan Briggs

Learn more about H2 Leadership: www.h2leadership.com

Schedule a Breakthrough Coaching Session: h2leadership.com/#breakthrough

If this episode helped you rethink how you lead, leave a review or share it with a leader who’s carrying too much alone.

Follow the H2 Leadership Podcast for more practical, human conversations that help you live and lead Healthy + High Impact.

Every leader has that project...The one that’s been sitting on your list for months (or years) because you don’t know where to start. In today’s episode, Alan breaks down a simple but powerful 3-step framework to help you get unstuck and finally take action on the work that matters most.

Whether you’re writing a book, launching a new initiative, creating a new offering, or trying to push a big idea across the finish line, this episode gives you a proven path forward rooted in clarity, momentum, and healthy leadership practices.

This teaching comes directly from the H2 coaching process and aligns with the principles in Alan’s book Anti-Burnout: A Lighter Way to Live and Lead in a Heavy World.

Why feeling stuck is not a leadership flaw—it’s a signal

The first mindset shift required to create movement

The exact 3 questions you must ask to break through resistance

How healthy leaders use who and how to move faster—with less stress

A practical way to break down overwhelming projects into actionable next steps

Who can help me?

How can I do this more lightly (not harder)?

What smaller chunks can I break this into?

Anti-Burnout: A Lighter Way to Live and Lead in a Heavy World by Alan Briggs

Coaching with H2 Leadership – Learn more at H2Leadership.com

If this episode helped you get clarity, share it with a leader who needs momentum. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review—it helps more leaders discover tools for health and high impact.

00:00 – Why every leader gets stuck

02:40 – The difference between feeling stuck and being stuck

04:15 – Step 1: Naming the project

05:30 – Question #1: Who can help me?

07:45 – Question #2: How can I do this more lightly?

09:50 – Question #3: Break it into chunks

12:00 – Final leadership challenge & call to action

Legacy isn’t what you leave—it’s what you set in motion.

Together they unpack how to think beyond success and retirement to build something that outlives you—faith, family, and purpose that multiplies through generations.

What inspired Legacy Life and why legacy is a system, not a season

The key difference between legacy and generosity

Why retirement isn’t the finish line for leaders of faith

How to clarify your identity, calling, and assignment

The practical process to write your family vision, mission, and values

Why storytelling is vital for passing down faith and wisdom

A simple model for repairing conflict and celebrating progress

The mindset of a 100-year leader and how to start now

01:06 – The story behind Legacy Life

David Green — Founder & CEO, Hobby Lobby

📘 Legacy Life — [https://a.co/d/1vS943R]

Legacy Stone — https://www.legacystone.com/about

Hobby Lobby — [hobbylobby.com]

Learn more at [h2leadership.com]

If this episode challenged or encouraged you, share it with one person you respect—and take 20 minutes this week to write down your family’s top five values. Legacy begins there.

Misalignment sneaks up slowly—and it’s expensive. When your life, work, or team drifts out of alignment, you start feeling it: fatigue, frustration, disconnection, and eventually burnout. In this episode, Alan unpacks how to spot misalignment early and realign your wiring, your purpose, and your team before things break down.

You’ll hear:

The story of a coaching client who ignored the “alignment rumble” too long

Why wiring, purpose, and team are the three biggest alignment zones

How to use the Working Genius Assessment to clarify your design

The Drains & Fills exercise to reclaim energy and focus

A simple Pacing Check to make sure your speed matches your team’s capacity

Two reflection questions to realign your work this week

“You will hit potholes. You will need realignment. It’s not if—it’s when.”

Reflection Questions

How can you align your work more closely to your wiring?

What change can you make to align more closely with your team?

Tools Mentioned

www.h2leadership.com for more tools and resources.

00:00 – What is an H2 Leader? Health and high impact in harmony

Subscribe and follow the H2 Leadership Podcast for more episodes. Share this episode with another leader who might be feeling “out of alignment.”

We said goodbye to Stay Forth—and hello to H2 Leadership.

From a beach pop-up studio in Delray Beach, we unpack:

Why the name change (clarity over clever): people loved our work but didn’t always “get” the name.

What H2 Leadership means: health (heart, soul, mind, body, relationships) + sustainable impact.

Energy > time: lead by ROE—Return on Energy, not just calendars and hustle.

The core shift: moving from reactive to proactive leadership.

Priorities → elimination: clarity creates riverbanks; a to-don’t list protects what matters.

Who we serve: business, nonprofit, and ministry leaders—any catalyst who wants to lead well.

You’ll learn

A simple way to audit the 5 domains of health

How to tune tension (like a guitar string) between health and impact

Practical steps to reclaim focus and build momentum with your team

What’s changing (brand, clarity, systems) and what’s not (our mission + coaching)

Chapters

Links

Start here: https://www.h2leadership.com

The H2 Leadership Podcast hub: https://www.h2leadership.com/podcast

Stay connected

YouTube: @H2Leadership

Instagram: @h2leaders

LinkedIn: H2 Leadership

Call to Action

Ineffective leaders create dysfunction around them, but grounded, effective leaders create life, clarity, and vitality. Work is meant to bring dignity and meaning—not constant stress and confusion.

In this episode, Jonathan and Alan unpack why grounded leaders are desperately needed right now and how they shape healthier, more focused, and high-impact teams. You’ll hear:

The difference between being efficient with tasks and being effective with people

Why grounded leaders produce both internal fulfillment and external impact

Practical ways to shift from scattered to grounded leadership

The markers of a healthy, focused team versus a stressed, reactive one

How to stop doing in the name of efficiency and start doing in the name of effectiveness

If you’re feeling the weight of distraction, burnout, or constant urgency, this episode will help you re-center on what matters most and lead in a way that protects both your health and your team’s impact.

👉 Don’t miss the other episodes in this leadership series:

The Leadership Shift You Need Right Now

Activity Is Not the Same as Action: The Value of Well-Crafted Work

Pastors and ministry leaders are carrying more than ever—and too many are doing it in silence. Dr. Mark Mayfield (author of The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry, professor, clinician, and former pastor) joins Alan to demystify mental health in the church, unpack the real difference between coaching and counseling, and give you a practical playbook for when struggles walk into your office… or show up on your staff.

This isn’t theory—it’s field-tested, grace-filled, and immediately actionable.

Coaching vs. Counseling (the clean line): when you need tools to move forward vs. when you need to heal backward

How to spot pop-psych “silver bullets” and what trustworthy care actually looks like

A fast diagnostic lens for depression: intensity + duration (and what to do next)

ADHD or overloaded attention? Trauma, screens, and why so many leaders are being mis-labeled

Burnout’s bottom layer: dissociation/avoidance—and how to interrupt the loop

Boundary basics for pastors (why “I don’t know—let me check” is leadership strength)

How to build a staff culture of care (and discuss hard topics without guessing)

00:00 — Why this conversation matters now

02:30 — Coaching vs. counseling: the simplest way to decide

05:25 — The danger of pop psychology & “quick fixes”

08:20 — Inside The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry (how to use it fast)

12:25 — High-performing families & hidden pressure

16:30 — Where churches are actually making progress

19:10 — Staff discussions you should be having (and how)

20:40 — Depression in leaders: signs & next steps

32:30 — ADHD or attention trained by trauma & screens?

36:00 — What sits under burnout—and how to respond

40:50 — A word to lonely leaders: you don’t have to know it all

Book: The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry — Dr. Mark Mayfield (Baker)

Stay Forth: Coaching for healthy + high-impact leadership

Clinician, professor at Colorado Christian University, author, speaker, and former pastor. Mark equips churches to receive and care well for people in mental and emotional struggle—and to keep pastors healthy in the process.