Most people think leadership begins at work.

Mylena Sutton believes it begins long before you step into the office.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Fortune sits down with leadership consultant, speaker, and host of The Leadership Drives to explore why leadership isn't a title, a promotion, or a corner office. It's a reflection of who you already are.

From driving across 24 states interviewing leaders from every walk of life to coaching professionals through difficult conversations, Mylena has discovered a simple truth: the person you are at work is the same person you are at home. The only difference is what you're willing to tolerate.

Together, they unpack integrity, courage, accountability, resentment, and the conversations we keep postponing, while exploring what life at both its beginning and its end can teach us about what really matters.

In this episode:

- Why "all leadership is personal"

- The hard conversations leaders avoid and why they matter

- What 24 states of interviews revealed about leadership

- Why integrity means consistency across every area of life

- How resentment grows when boundaries disappear

- Lessons from working with people at the beginning and end of life

Connect with Mylena Sutton:

🌐 Website: https://mylenasutton.com/invitations

If this conversation challenged the way you think about leadership, subscribe to The Honest Mic and share this episode with someone who leads others, or wants to lead themselves better.

#TheHonestMic #Leadership #MylenaSutton #PersonalGrowth #LeadershipDevelopment #Integrity #Communication #SelfLeadership #Accountability #Mindset

What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't your circumstances... but the story you've been telling yourself?

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Fortune sits down with transformational coach and author Lynda Leonce to explore how our beliefs, emotional patterns, and sense of identity quietly shape every decision we make.

Lynda shares her own journey from searching for something she couldn't quite name to helping women around the world reconnect with who they truly are beneath expectations, fear, and limiting beliefs.

This conversation isn't about chasing perfection or becoming someone new. It's about uncovering what's already there and asking whether the stories you've carried for years are actually true.

In this episode:

• How limiting beliefs are formed

• What authenticity really looks like in everyday life

• Why external success doesn't always lead to fulfillment

• The hidden patterns that keep people stuck

• Lessons from years of personal growth and coaching

• Why self-awareness is one of the most practical skills you can develop

Connect with Lynda Leonce:

🌐 Website: https://livefromyourtruth.com

If this conversation challenged the way you think about yourself, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who needs to hear it.

#TheHonestMic #LyndaLeonce #SelfAwareness #PersonalGrowth #Mindset #Authenticity #SelfDiscovery #Coaching #MentalWellbeing #Transformation

You can look successful from the outside and feel completely wrong on the inside. The title, the money, the respect — it's all there. And somehow, something is still off.

Chris Woods knows that feeling intimately. He rose from a tough upbringing in Boston to become a four-time global C-suite executive and former Google sales leader. From the outside, everything looked like success. Then, at 40 years old, he flatlined in a hospital bed.

That moment didn't just change his health. It forced him to confront how he was defining success and what fears had been driving his choices. Today, he's a Certified Professional Coach and the author of a book called Balls & Brains — a framework for living your best life by overcoming fears and maximizing strengths.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Chris talks about what was off internally even when everything looked right externally, the two most common things that hold people back, how high-pressure roles taught him about fear, and the first small shift someone can make when they're grinding and exhausted.

If you're tired of playing small and ready to lead with courage and clarity, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Chris:

· Website: chriswoodscoach.com

· Book: Balls & Brains

You can be doing everything right and still not land the way you think you are. You can work harder than everyone else. You can have the skills. And somehow, the promotions don't come, the trust isn't there, and you can't figure out why.

Leslie Ferry hit that wall at the top of her career. She was leading a function. Excited. Eager. And then she found herself driving home one night thinking, "I've lost my ability to communicate." She hadn't changed. She was working as hard as ever. But her team was wired differently than she was, and what felt clear to her was arriving as something else entirely.

That moment sent her on a years-long pursuit to answer a question she couldn't let go of: why do some professionals keep growing while others plateau?

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Leslie — founder of Zandra and host of The Career Edge podcast — introduces two frameworks that will change how you think about career growth. The Wiring Gap names the invisible distance between who you intend to be at work and who others actually experience. The Performance Loop gives you the engine to close that gap over time.

If you have ever felt like you're saying the right things but nobody is hearing them, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Leslie:

· Career Growth Partner: zandra.app (free seven-day trial)

· Podcast: The Career Edge

Most people think writing a book is about becoming an author.

Danielle Hutchinson argues it's about becoming an authority.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, bestselling ghostwriter and editor Danielle shares what she's learned after helping more than 1,100 entrepreneurs turn their ideas into published books that create opportunities far beyond Amazon.

We talk about why so many people never finish writing, how busy entrepreneurs can make consistent progress, whether AI is helping or hurting authors, and what separates a book that gathers dust from one that attracts clients, speaking engagements, and credibility.

If you've ever thought, "I'll write my book someday," this conversation might be the push you need to stop waiting.

In this episode:

• The biggest mistake first-time authors make

• How to write a book when life is already busy

• Why authority matters more than followers

• Should you use AI to write a book?

• When to write your own book and when to hire a ghostwriter

• How successful entrepreneurs turn books into business growth

Connect with Danielle Hutchinson:

🌐 Website: https://authorityondemand.com

If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with someone who's been talking about writing a book for years.

#TheHonestMic #DanielleHutchinson #BusinessBooks #Ghostwriting #Entrepreneurship #PersonalBranding #Leadership #Author #Publishing #BusinessGrowth

Most companies treat technology like a cost to manage rather than an advantage to build. They buy software, hire developers, and hope everything works out. When it doesn't, they're often left guessing why.

Rob Broadhead has spent more than three decades helping organizations navigate exactly those problems. As a developer, architect, director, consultant, and founder of RB Consulting, he's seen the same technology mistakes repeat across industries and generations of tools.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Rob explains why those mistakes keep happening, how businesses can spot problems before they become expensive, what a fractional technology executive actually does, and why so many conversations about AI miss the bigger picture.

Whether you're leading a company, managing a team, or simply trying to make better technology decisions, this conversation offers a practical look at what works, what doesn't, and why experience still matters.

Connect with Rob:

• Technology Assessment: rb-sns.com/product.php

• Website: Develpreneur.com

• Podcast: The Develpreneur Podcast

About a year ago, Ryan Drumheller unexpectedly lost a leadership role that had become a huge part of his identity. Not because he was bad at his job. Not because he failed. Just because that's how corporate life works sometimes.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Ryan, an extroverted IT leader, Fractional CIO, and host of the Decline Invite Podcast, gets honest about what that loss felt like in real time. We talk about what he got wrong about networking before it mattered, why communication skills matter more than technical skills for people who want to lead, and how to cut through AI hype when everyone is selling something.

Ryan holds two master's degrees and over 170 certifications. He's led major mergers and acquisitions, cybersecurity programs, and enterprise transformations. He also built a golf simulator in his house and he's not even good at golf. That willingness to be bad at something might be the most underrated leadership trait there is.

If your current role disappeared tomorrow, would people come looking for you? This conversation might change how you think about that question.

Connect with Ryan:

Website: stellarhorn.com

Podcast: Decline Invite (available everywhere)

LinkedIn: Ryan Drumheller

For over a decade, Mitesh Jani wrote constantly. Reflections, observations, philosophies about life and achievement. And he never showed any of it to anyone. Not even his family. It all sat in a folder on his computer called "New Folder."

Then he hit a low point, business, physical health, and mental health all crashing at once. When he finally opened that folder, he was overwhelmed by what he found. The insights he had collected over years grounded him. They sparked an overhaul of his entire life.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Mitesh, a practicing dentist by day, a thinker by night, and author of The Process: Six Mechanics of Achievement, talks about the voice in his head that kept that folder closed for so long, the tension between the precise dentist and the messy writer, and why waiting for perfect conditions is usually just fear wearing a disguise.

Most people never share their voice because they're waiting for permission that never comes. Mitesh stopped waiting. This is what happened when he did.

Connect with Mitesh:

Book: The Process: Six Mechanics of Achievement on Amazon

Website: selfworth.ca

Tom Fox has done two major business pivots since 2010. The first came when he was laid up from a bicycle accident and built an entire international consulting business in anti corruption compliance from his bedroom while on a walker. The second came during the pandemic and led him to create a whole new business model as a podcast network guru.

Today, Tom is the Compliance Evangelist. He's won 33 awards for podcast hosting and producing. He runs two podcast networks, releases between four and six shows every single day, and has written 30 books including a number one best selling children's book called Being a Compliance Officer is Awesome.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Tom gets honest about the courage it takes to walk through an open door when you're scared, why preparation plus opportunity equals luck, and why he believes every business person and entrepreneur needs a podcast, even in a saturated market.

Tom built an international business from his bedroom on a walker. What's your excuse again?

Connect with Tom:

Network: CompliancePodcastNetwork.com

Books: Available on Amazon (search Tom Fox compliance)

Podcasts: Compliance Podcast Network and Texas Hill Country Podcast Network

Most businesses say people matter.

But what happens when profits become the priority and people become an afterthought?

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Fortune sits down with Glenn Bostock, founder of SnapCab and author of A Human Business, to explore why traditional management often fails, what leaders misunderstand about motivation, and how businesses can grow without sacrificing their humanity.

Glenn shares how his early struggles with learning disabilities shaped his leadership philosophy, why he believes the human body provides the perfect model for a healthy organization, and how kindness, usefulness, and clarity can create stronger cultures and better business results.

We discuss:

• Why profit-first thinking eventually hurts profits

• The five principles of a human business

• Why management is often wrong about people

• The connection between leadership and purpose

• What "love" actually means in a workplace

• How to improve employee engagement and retention

• Why companies waste more employee time than they realize

Whether you're a founder, manager, entrepreneur, or simply curious about the future of work, this conversation offers a different way to think about leadership and organizational success.

Learn more about Glenn and his work at glennbostock.com.

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