The Lead Up Podcast

The best of the best leaders are always the most relational. Leaders who are able to clearly articulate their goals, values, and urgency are able to create sustainable, healthy cultures. 

Being able to see from the perspective of individuals in your team and empathize is important to build trust and strong relationships throughout your organization. 

In this episode of the Lead Up Podcast, Mike and guest Beth Walker talk through some of the keys to becoming a more relational leader. The strategies they share, if implemented, will improve your leadership greatly, and will positively impact the culture of your organization. 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a 5-star review on your streaming platform of choice. Mike encourages you to reach out to him through: [email protected], to let him know your thoughts on this episode & to share some topics you would like him to speak on in future episodes.

In this episode, Mike speaks on the importance of clear values within organizations. Many leaders prioritize job perks as a recruiting and retention strategy rather than seeking out employees who align with the values of the organization. 

When the values of a company don’t align with the values of the individuals within the company, there becomes tension and increased risk of conflict and employee turnover.

The Quit Losing Talent framework that Mike references in this episode is designed to help companies win, keep, & inspire great employees. 

The first step in top talent retention is clarity of values. This not only means articulating your values, but truly living them out as an example to those around you. The goal isn’t to just have values hanging on the walls but to have your values walking down the halls. 

If you enjoyed his episode of the Lead Up Podcast, make sure you leave a 5-star review on your streaming platform of choice. Mike encourages you to reach out to him through [email protected], to let him know your thoughts on this episode & to share some topics you would like to hear in future episodes. 

Great leadership is the result of great self-development. Leaders who are solely focused on the improvement of their team/ organization often never achieve sustainable success. The world's best leaders are those who are intentional about leading themselves and programming their own minds for better performance and leadership. 

In this episode, Mike shares the SOAR method that he uses and teaches to create momentum toward better leadership. 

The SOAR acronym stands for:

S- Start on Purpose

O- Own your attitude

A- Act like a Leader

R- Really, Really care about your mission, values, and people

When we as leaders take time to follow the 4 strategies of the SOAR method, we are sure to see positive progress in our own performance and leadership capability. 

If you enjoyed this episode of Mike sharing how to incorporate the SOAR method into your routine, be sure to leave a 5-star review on your streaming platform of choice. Mike encourages you to reach out to him through: [email protected], to let him know your thoughts on this episode & to share some topics you would like him to speak about in future episodes!

Leadership isn’t just about leading others, it’s about leading yourself. If we aren’t making an effort to improve ourselves and lead ourselves in the right direction, then what good are we doing to lead others effectively? 

In this episode, Mike talks about the voices in our heads that we must destroy. The doubt, the fear, and all the other nonsense that we too often listen to. 

Mike reminds us that the leadership killer is complacency and that we must be willing to surround ourselves with people who challenge us. People who push us out of our comfort zone and encourage us to expand our knowledge and performance. 

To reach our full potential as leaders, we must destroy the voices of doubt, fear, frustration, gossip, and complacency and replace them with hope, vision, humility, faith, and dreams. 

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a 5-star review on your streaming platform of choice. Mike encourages you to reach out to him through: [email protected], to let him know your thoughts on this episode & to share some topics you would like him to speak about in future episodes!

On this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, Mike is joined by Amy K. Hutchens.

Amy is the author of The Secrets Leaders Keep, and a former teacher turned trainer and coach. Amy shares her journey and the inspiration behind her book, focusing on the challenges leaders face. Mike and Amy talk about how her book aims to let leaders know they are not alone and provides practical guidance to make leadership easier.

Throughout the episode, they discuss the importance of acknowledging the difficulties of leadership and finding support. Amy encourages leaders to embrace the challenges, knowing they are not alone, and provides valuable insights for navigating the complexities of leadership.

They discuss the importance of truth-telling in leadership. Amy tells us that true leaders don’t play the comparison game and remind us that success and achievement can look different for everybody. Amy also encourages leaders like you, to confront their fears and trust in their inner strength to navigate the consequences.

Make sure to check out Amy’s incredibly insightful book here. 

If you enjoyed this episode, let Mike know by leaving a review on your preferred streaming platform. You can also reach out to Mike: [email protected], to tell him what you enjoyed/ let him know what future topics you would like him to discuss.

On this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, Mike explores strategies for cultivating independent leadership. He highlights the importance of prioritizing progress over perfection and introduces the 1% rule for continuous improvement. He explains how by focusing on incremental growth, leaders can create an environment that encourages individual development and contribution to the team's success.

One key aspect Mike emphasizes is the significance of trust in leadership. Leaders should empower their team members by delegating tasks and granting them the autonomy to make independent decisions. He shares how this not only fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility but also allows individuals to develop their skills and contribute their unique perspectives to the team's objectives.

Mike shares 5 key ways you can create Freedom, Excellence & Independence within your team:

1). Empower your team - Develop trust and encourage your team to make decisions on their own

2). Encourage Learning and Growth – Encourage your team to pursue personal and professional development to achieve success

3). Foster creativity and innovation – Give your team the freedom to express their ideas creatively and encourage experiment without fear of failure

4). Lead by example – Show your team how independence and responsible decision-making can lead to success. Let your team see you fail & succeed.

5). Provide support – Provide resources for your team to be successful as you enable independence

Mike emphasizes how by adopting these strategies, leaders can empower their teams to thrive and achieve remarkable outcomes while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and success.

Thank you for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a 5-star review on your streaming platform of choice. Mike encourages you to reach out to him through: [email protected], to let him know your thoughts on this episode & to share some topics you would like him to speak about in future episodes!

On this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, Mike is joined by guest, Quint Studer, a respected figure in healthcare leadership.

Mike and Quint discuss the importance of training, coaching, and development in the healthcare industry as well as Quint’s accomplishments as a hospital executive, founder of the ST group, and owner of minor league baseball teams. They talk about Quint's recent venture, the Healthcare Plus Solutions Group. You can read more about Quint’s amazing study here.

They discuss the importance of personalized leadership development and setting achievable goals and utilizing the ’Magic of Doable!’. Quint tells us about his experiences on how training and coaching have played a crucial role in his professional journey and offers some practical applications leaders can begin implementing in their work to help improve their teams today.

Quint provides us with an insight into his upcoming book: "Sundays with Quint," a compilation of his leadership columns, and "The Human Margin," co-authored with Catherine Meese on employee engagement in healthcare. You can pre-order here.  

For more information or to get in contact with Quint visit his website: www.quintstuder.com. Thanks for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, let us know! You can rate and review The Lead Up Podcast on your streaming platform of choice.

On this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, Mike shares the top 5 ways in which successful leaders think. Mike speaks about the importance of training ourselves as leaders to think before reacting and not allowing our subconscious reactions to be our main form of communication.

Mike describes the following as being the top 5 ways successful leaders think:

Thank you for listening! If you found value in this episode make sure to share it with a friend or colleague and give the podcast a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!

On this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, Mike is joined by healthcare HR expert and author, Tresha Moreland!

Tresha has over 30 years of experience and joins the Lead Up Podcast to provide insight on navigating healthcare workforce challenges, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Tresha emphasizes the importance of effective processes and systems and offers practical solutions from her book, ‘Navigating the Healthcare Workforce Shortage: How to Safeguard Your Organization’s Most Important Asset’, which covers workforce trends, remote work embracing change and innovative approaches such as gig work that appeals to the new generation of healthcare workers.

Mike and Tresha discuss employee engagement and the future workforce, emphasizing cross-training, adaptive training, and engaging the next generation with shorter attention spans. Tresha highlights the importance of involving employees in decision-making and continuous improvement in engaging healthcare employees. They also discuss the current significance of purpose over perks and connecting employees to the organization's mission.

If you enjoyed this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, make sure to leave a 5-star review and subscribe to the podcast on your streaming platform of choice!

For more information and access to Tresha's book visit: Navigating the Healthcare Workforce Shortage

Contact Tresha through email: [email protected]

On this episode of The Lead Up Podcast, Mike shares his experience conquering his biggest goal – The Grand Canyon! He reflects on the physical, mental, and spiritual challenges he faced during the 14-day trip, where he hiked nearly 100 miles, and explains how the lessons he learned from this trip can be applied to everyday leadership.

Mike provides 5 steps you as a leader need to take to go from dreaming to goal achieving and to accomplish things in your life like the top 1% do:

If you enjoyed this episode make sure to subscribe to the LeadUp Podcast and leave us a 5-star review! Also, reach out to [email protected] and let him know what you liked about this episode/ what topics you would like him to discuss in future episodes.