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Where does faith belong in executive coaching—if anywhere? 

In this special edition of the Leadership Buzz, retired Air Force Colonel and ICF-credentialed coach Buzz Buzzell presents his NYU Executive Coaching Capstone Futures Project: a faith-informed, values-based, and client-led approach to executive coaching. 

Most leaders are trained to diagnose quickly, decide quickly, and fix quickly. That instinct can be a leadership strength—but it can also short-circuit growth when someone needs space to think, develop awareness, and discover an answer of their own. 

Buzz explains how faith can shape a coach’s preparation, humility, compassion, and service without introducing a religious agenda, assuming shared beliefs, or using faith language unless the client chooses to include it. 

He also explores the influence of Marcia Reynolds’ book, Coach the Person, Not the Problem, and how reflective inquiry moves coaching beyond a series of “smart questions.” It requires deeper listening for emotions, values, assumptions, identity, metaphors, and subtle shifts that may reveal what matters most to the client. 

This episode introduces a practical coaching framework for executive coaching, leadership development, and workplace conversations: 

TIME establishes the topic, importance, measure, and exploration. 

ALIGN supports the flexible middle of discovery. 

LAND closes the conversation while protecting client ownership. 

Buzz also shares practical coaching tools, including WAIT, metaphor, silence, scaling, perspective shifting, Backbone and Heart, and a Values Lens. 

Finally, discover how an Air Force-inspired coaching debrief can turn every session into professional learning—and how AI could help identify developmental patterns while the coach retains responsibility for professional judgment. 

If you are an executive coach, leadership coach, senior leader, or emerging coach seeking a more reflective, ethical, and human approach, this conversation is for you. 

BOOK FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE 

Coach the Person, Not the Problem: A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry by Marcia Reynolds 

Reynolds explains how coaches can move beyond searching for the perfect question and use reflective inquiry to help clients examine their emotions, assumptions, beliefs, and patterns from a new perspective. 

Subscribe to the Leadership Buzz, share this episode with a leader who may be solving too quickly, and leave a rating or review to help others discover the show. 

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact. 

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team. 

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources. 

Work hard. Tell the truth. 

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

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When should a leader provide the answer—and when does that answer prevent someone else from learning how to think?

In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, Buzz Buzzell explores The Advice Trap by Michael Bungay Stanier through the lens of nearly 40 years of military leadership, nuclear operations, and command-center decision-making.

Some situations require decisive direction. Safety, compliance, and mission-critical standards are not optional. But not every problem needs the leader to step in and take over.

Buzz examines how the “advice reflex” becomes wired into experienced leaders, why it can be difficult to recognize in ourselves, and how quickly helping can turn into taking ownership of someone else’s problem. He also shares what military leadership and executive coaching have taught him about the difference between providing necessary direction and creating space for someone else to think.

You’ll leave with three practical coaching tools:

• Notice the urge to immediately solve the problem.
• Use WAIT—“Why Am I Talking?”—to slow yourself down.
• Ask one more question before offering advice.

The episode also explores why silence can be a powerful leadership skill and how listening helps people feel seen, heard, and understood.

Finally, Buzz offers three coaching questions to help leaders practice curiosity, develop better judgment in others, and create ownership instead of dependence.

Subscribe to The Leadership Buzz, share this episode with a leader who always feels responsible for fixing things, and leave a rating or review so more leaders can discover the show.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

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Teams That Work: How Great Teams Keep Getting Better | Part 3

Great teams don’t improve simply because they stay busy. They improve because they intentionally learn from both success and failure.

In Part 3 of our series on Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, Buzz explores how coach-like leadership helps teams think independently, speak honestly, adapt under pressure, and take greater ownership—rather than waiting for the leader to provide every answer.

This episode explores:

•  The difference between movement and meaningful improvement 
•  Coaching as a leadership function, not merely a job title 
•  Seven essential team leadership functions: clarity, accountability, support, emotional management, psychological safety, empowerment, and learning 
•  How to prevent a team from becoming overly dependent on its leader 
•  Transformational, servant, and shared leadership—and how to recognize what your team needs now 
•  An Air Force leadership story about listening under pressure and publicly changing course 
•  Three coaching questions to encourage ownership, reflection, and better thinking 

The strongest leaders don’t need to have every answer. They create the conditions for better answers to emerge from the team.

If you found this episode helpful, subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations about leadership, executive coaching, team effectiveness, psychological safety, and organizational performance.

If these leadership questions resonate with you and you’d like to explore them more deeply, feel free to reach out. Coaching conversations often begin with exactly this kind of reflection.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

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“My door is always open” is one of the most repeated phrases in leadership. But does your team actually trust you enough to disagree, deliver bad news, or tell you something you don't want to hear?

In Part 2 of our Teams That Work series, based on the work of Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, we explore team trust, psychological safety, healthy conflict, and high-performing teams. Why do some teams speak honestly while others avoid difficult conversations? And what is the cost when a team can't tell itself the truth?

We look at four forms of cooperation that shape effective teams: trust, psychological safety, collective efficacy, and cohesion. We also explore why strong team cohesion can sometimes make honesty harder—and why leaders must separate what a team believes about itself from the performance standard the mission requires.

You'll also hear a practical leadership story about learning to understand an opposing viewpoint before trying to change it, along with three coaching questions designed to help you examine trust, conflict, and the conversations you may be avoiding.

How are you defining “great”? What evidence do you have? And what is the cost if the conversation that needs to happen never happens?

Key Takeaway: Great teams don't just believe they're great. They trust each other enough to tell the truth, examine the evidence, and measure themselves against the standard the mission requires.

Subscribe to The Leadership Buzz Podcast, share this episode with a leader or team, and leave a rating or review.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

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How do great teams stay aligned when the stakes are high?

In Part 1 of this three-part series on Teams That Work: How to Build High-Performing Teams by Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, Buzz explores one of the book's most practical concepts: team cognition—the shared understanding that allows teams to move in the same direction.

Most teams don't struggle because people don't care. They struggle because people leave meetings with different interpretations of the same conversation. In this episode, Buzz explains why communication alone isn't enough and why leaders must intentionally create clarity around purpose, priorities, roles, expertise, contingencies, and situation awareness.

Drawing on more than four decades of leadership experience in the U.S. Air Force and years of executive coaching, Buzz shares practical examples, leadership insights, and simple questions every leader can use to determine whether their team is truly aligned—or simply assuming they are.

If you've ever walked out of a meeting thinking everyone understood the plan, only to discover later that they didn't, this episode is for you.

Featured Book: Teams That Work: How to Build High-Performing Teams by Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas.

Key Takeaway: Communication sends the message. Shared understanding creates alignment.

Subscribe for the rest of the series, share this with a leader who’s tired of preventable confusion, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show. What’s the clearest sign your team is aligned, and what’s the first sign you’re not?

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

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Your title cannot bend reality. Your confidence cannot change the facts. Great leadership starts when we stop protecting our image and start pursuing the truth.

In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore Richard Feynman’s book What Do You Care What Other People Think? and the leadership lessons behind the Nobel Prize-winning physicist’s lifelong commitment to curiosity, humility, and scientific integrity.

Feynman reminds us that knowing the name of something is not the same as understanding it. That lesson applies directly to modern leadership. We use words like trust, accountability, culture, transparency, and empowerment — but do our actions prove we truly understand them?

We explore questions every leader should consider:

•  Does your open door actually get used? 
•  What happens when someone challenges your thinking? 
•  Do people tell you the truth before problems become crises? 

We also examine Feynman’s role in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster investigation and his famous O-ring demonstration, a powerful reminder that reality cannot be ignored. Challenger provides lasting lessons about organizational culture, communication breakdowns, decision-making pressure, and the importance of listening to the people closest to the work.

Whether you lead a company, a military unit, a small team, or yourself, this conversation challenges you to build a culture where honesty wins over appearances and curiosity beats certainty.

Because the best leaders are not focused on proving they are right — they are committed to discovering what is right.

Topics include:
• Richard Feynman’s leadership lessons
• What Do You Care What Other People Think?
• Challenger disaster and organizational learning
• Psychological safety and speaking up
• Leadership humility and curiosity
• Why truth matters in high-performing teams
• Moving from certainty to discovery

If this conversation challenges you, subscribe to The Leadership Buzz, share it with a leader who values truth, and leave a review to help others discover the show.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

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o Mess, No Magic: Why Fearless Teams Tell the Truth

Every leader says they want honesty. But the real question is — have we created a culture where people feel safe enough to give it?

In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore Amy Edmondson’s The Fearless Organization and the power of psychological safety. Fearless teams are not teams without mistakes, conflict, or hard conversations. They are teams that trust each other enough to step into the mess — because that is where learning happens.

No mess. No magic.

We discuss:
• why psychological safety is not about comfort or lowering standards
• the difference between silence and true agreement
• how small leadership reactions can create either curiosity or fear
• why the words “my door is always open” may not be enough
• aviation, Crew Resource Management, and the importance of speaking up
• the Miracle on the Hudson and how trust is built before the crisis
• practical questions leaders can ask to invite honesty and uncover hidden risks

The best teams do not avoid the truth. They build enough trust to face it.

If this conversation challenged your thinking, subscribe to The Leadership Buzz and share it with a leader who is working to build a stronger team.

And if these leadership questions resonate with you and you want to explore them more deeply, I’d love to connect.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

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What if the biggest leadership breakthrough is not working harder — but seeing differently?

This week on The Leadership Buzz, we explore William Thorndike’s The Outsiders and the remarkable leadership journey of Bill Anders — Apollo 8 astronaut, creator of the iconic Earthrise photograph, and former CEO of General Dynamics.

On Christmas Eve 1968, Anders helped humanity see Earth from a completely different perspective. Years later, he brought that same ability to challenge assumptions into business leadership.

When Anders took over General Dynamics during a period of major change in the defense industry, he rejected the idea that bigger always meant better. Instead of chasing growth for growth’s sake, he focused the company, reduced complexity, sold businesses that no longer fit the future mission, and created lasting value.

His story challenges every leader to ask:

Are we measuring what truly matters?

We also explore one of the most difficult leadership transitions — moving from individual contributor to leading through others. The skills that create early success are not always the same skills required for the next level.

Leadership requires perspective, humility, and the courage to redefine success.

In this episode:

•  Bill Anders, Apollo 8, and the leadership lesson of Earthrise
•  How General Dynamics transformed by becoming smaller and stronger 
•  Why great leaders practice stewardship, not ownership 
•  The shift from individual contributor to developing others 
•  How coaching helps leaders create space for new perspectives 

One book. One idea. One story. Three coaching questions.

Book referenced in this episode:
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success — William N. Thorndike Jr.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

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Admiral William H. McRaven’s Make Your Bed reminds us of a powerful leadership lesson: small habits create lasting impact.

Leadership is not built in one big moment. The big moment usually reveals the discipline, character, and habits you have been building all along.

In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore how small daily actions shape stronger leaders. Making your bed is not really about the bed — it is about discipline, personal standards, accountability, and becoming someone others can trust.

We discuss servant leadership, military leadership lessons, and the challenge leaders face as they gain rank, titles, and authority. Great leaders do not separate themselves from the work. They step forward, take responsibility, support their teams, and demonstrate the behaviors they expect from others.

Leadership credibility is created through consistency. People notice:
• Who shows up prepared
• Who steps forward when things get difficult
• Who serves instead of waiting to be served
• Who does the right thing when nobody is watching

We also explore values-based leadership and why values written on paper mean little unless they show up in everyday decisions. Integrity, trust, discipline, and character are built through small choices repeated over time.

“Work hard” is not just about working more hours. It is about commitment, responsibility, and keeping promises to yourself and others.

Because small things are never just small things.

Small things become habits.
Habits become character.
Character becomes leadership.

You’ll leave with three coaching questions to reflect on your habits, your values, and the legacy you are building one day at a time.

If this episode helps you, subscribe, share it with another leader, and leave a rating or review so more leaders can find The Leadership Buzz.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

Book reference:
Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World
Admiral William H. McRaven (2017)

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

Work hard. Tell the truth.

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How do great leaders create influence without relying on authority, position, or title?

In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore leadership lessons from Leading Without Authority by Keith Ferrazzi and discuss how praise, encouragement, gratitude, and celebration shape workplace culture, employee engagement, trust, motivation, and leadership effectiveness.

Buzz shares practical leadership insights on using timely and personal recognition, building momentum through small wins, and creating positive energy that spreads throughout teams and organizations. This episode explores emotional intelligence in leadership, understanding how different people prefer to be appreciated, and how leaders unintentionally shape team culture through what they consistently reward and celebrate.

The conversation also looks at:
 • Leadership without authority
 • Praise and encouragement in leadership
 • Building positive workplace culture
 • Employee engagement and team motivation
 • Emotional intelligence and recognition
 • Leadership communication and appreciation
 • Celebrating small wins to build momentum
 • The WD-40 persistence story and leadership resilience
 • Gratitude and appreciation in leadership
 • How recognition drives behavior and performance
 • Coaching questions for leaders and teams
 • Positive leadership and team energy

If you want to become a stronger leader, improve team culture, increase employee engagement, and lead with greater emotional intelligence, this episode provides practical leadership tools you can apply immediately.

If you found this episode valuable, subscribe to The Leadership Buzz, leave a review, and share this episode with another leader.

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Book Reference: Leading Without Authority by Keith Ferrazzi.

The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior with your values and lead with greater clarity, trust, and impact.

If you’re a leader who wants to build stronger teams, improve communication, and create real ownership, subscribe and share this episode with someone on your team.

Connect with Buzz on LinkedIn or visit workhardtellthetruth.com for coaching and leadership development resources.

Work hard. Tell the truth.