It’s an historic day over at The Leadership Growth Podcast as Daniel and Peter conduct their first podcast interview!

Daniel and Peter interview Ed Evarts, founder and president of Excellius Leadership Development and author of the forthcoming book, The Bravery Trick: Four Easy Ways to Say Hard Things.

In this interview, Ed shares some observations, tips, and suggestions for how to be braver in conversations with bosses, colleagues, and direct reports–while preserving psychological safety and remaining respectful.

Tune in to learn:

• What bravery is and why it matters in the workplace
• The importance of curiosity in being brave
• The one tip every conflict averse person should practice to become braver

Join Daniel, Peter, and Ed as they discuss why it’s so hard to be brave at work, how to become braver, and how to foster bravery on your team and in the workplace.

In this episode:

1:33 – Introduction: Ed Evarts

2:51 – Insight of the Week: What is Bravery?

6:55 – How to Be Braver at Work

17:20 – On the Other Side of Bravery

23:00 – Creating a Brave Workplace

31:30 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Excellius Leadership Development

The Bravery Trick: Four Easy Ways to Say Hard Things page (release date: May 14, 2024)

Ed Evarts’ Amazon Author Page

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• The Three Levels of Managerial Courage
• 4 Suggestions for Giving Brain-Friendly Feedback
• 4 Ways to Prime Your Brain to Receive Feedback
• 6 Tips for Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Do you know the most important skill for a leader?

A conversation with an old friend from high school led Daniel to think carefully about this question, and his answer?

Coaching.

In this episode of The Leadership Growth Podcast, Daniel and Peter discuss the five most important steps to effectively coaching someone on your team.

Tune in to learn:

• The most important foundational skill to becoming a great coach
• How and when to use assessments
• The one thing you should not do as a coach

Plus, why sleep is so important to our overall function as leaders (and people), and a brief peek into what trivia nights were like in the Stewart household (hint: fingers were sprained).

In this episode:

1:57 – Insight of the Week

8:12 – Memory Lane: Lesson from a Choir Teacher

14:15 – Topic: The Five Steps of Great Coaching

35:53 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• The Five Steps of Great Coaching
• Eight Skills of Great Coaching Managers
• 7 Ways Leaders Develop Themselves and Others
• 6 Tips for Improving Your Active Listening Skills
• Big Ears are a Must
• 4 Reasons FAST Goals Beat SMART Goals

“Discovering the Brain’s Nightly Rinse Cycle,” NIH Director’s Blog, Mar 5, 2020

“Sleep Loss Encourages Spread of Toxic Alzheimer’s Protein,” NIH Director’s Blog, Feb 5, 2019

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

What is your Personal Philosophy of Leadership?

If you can’t answer that question, this episode of The Leadership Growth Podcast is for you!

Join Daniel and Peter as they coach you through a powerful exercise in self-reflection that can help you develop your own core philosophy.

Tune in to learn:

• The five core questions you need to answer to develop your Personal Philosophy of Leadership
• The most helpful piece of advice you need to complete your philosophy
• The bonus sixth question that can refine your philosophy even more

Plus, the importance of letting go, a few “poorly chosen words from the past,” and some insight into the Stewarts’ personalities as they share their pet peeves (hint: one of them hates this common office supply!)

In this episode:

1:37 – Insight of the Week

7:41 – Memory Lane: “A Few Poorly Chosen Words From the Past”

11:20 – Topic: The Personal Philosophy of Leadership

34:22 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• How to Delegate Like a Pro
• 7 Ways Leaders Develop Themselves and Others
• The Value of an Iterative Process
• How to Leverage the Six Leadership Styles in Today’s Environment
• Internal vs. External Processing: What is Your Thinking Style?
• 6 Ways to Become Aware of Your Leadership Blind Spots

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

“What’s the value-add for each and every interaction?”

According to Daniel, this is a critical question every leader should ask about interactions with customers.

But it doesn’t just apply to customers. Leaders have four critical relationships to manage, and each one has different needs, concerns, and desired outcomes.

Managing these four relationships can make leaders feel stretched in multiple directions at once. As Peter points out, a leader who is focused on addressing the boss’ needs will still feel pulled toward direct reports, peers, and customers.

It is possible to successfully navigate the different needs of each relationship–without being pulled apart in the process!

Tune in to learn:

• What each relationship needs most from a leader
• Why taking the time to address peer needs and peer learning is so critical to collaboration
• The biggest trap you can fall into if you don’t treat each relationship uniquely

Plus, insight into why we don’t remember everything, and memories about epic Koosh Ball battles.

In this episode:

1:29 – Insight of the Week

8:36 – Memory Lane: Koosh Ball Mayhem

11:50 – Topic: Four Critical Relationships Every Leader Needs to Manage

32:40 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• The Four Critical Relationships All Leaders Must Develop
• 6 Tips for Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace
• 3 Human Needs to Retain Every Employee
• Six Keys to Successfully Working with Your Boss
• 6 Ways to Become Aware of Your Leadership Blind Spots

Koosh Ball, Wikipedia

Brain Facts, Cleveland Clinic

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

“Are you going to be curious, or are you going to be judging?”

This is the question Daniel asks in this conversation about how to create shared meaning through conversations.

As Daniel points out, there’s a time and place for both, but in striving to understand each other in conversation, we need to emphasize curiosity over judgment.

For leaders who want to create shared purpose and meaning with their teams, good conversation skills are vital. In this episode, Daniel and Peter review a number of conversational practices and principles that can improve relationships in the workplace–and in life.

Tune in to learn:

• How to implement the power of the pause
• How to identify your personal triggers and manage your emotional responses better
• What active listening is, and why it’s so important

Plus, lessons on customer experience from a Dutch supermarket, and a trip to Stewarts’ childhood living room.

In this episode:

1:32 – Insight of the Week

6:57 – Memory Lane: The Podium

10:55 – Topic: How to Create Shared Meaning in Conversations

33:29 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• The Key to Acquiring and Keeping Customers for the Long-Term
• 4 Actions for Increasing Customer Focus
• 6 Tips to Improve Your Executive Presence Through Language
• The 2 Levels in Every Conversation
• 6 Ways to Help Regulate Your Emotions for Leadership Effectiveness
• Please, Help Me Communicate Better!

“Dutch supermarket introduces unique slow checkout lane for lonely seniors who want to have a chat,” Aditi Bora, Upworthy

Raspberry Pi

Solipsism, Wikipedia

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

When deadlines loom and a time crunch hits, what's the first thing you or your direct reports reschedule?

Too often, the answer is “one-on-one meetings.”

But as Peter points out in this episode of The Leadership Growth Podcast, “It’s more important to have a one-on-one than to have a perfect one-on-one!”

So what makes a good 1:1 that doesn’t feel like a waste of time?

Daniel and Peter offer a number of tips for creating great 1:1 meetings, including:

• The four key questions to ask in your 1:1 meetings
• The ideal frequency and length of a 1:1 meeting (hint: it depends)
• The most important action you can take after each one-on-one
• Plus, some insights about shifting demographics, tips about using Leadership Gems, and memories of scouting adventures (or misadventures?).

In This Episode:

1:51 – Insight of the Week
5:58 – Memory Lane: Leadership Gems
12:43 – Topic: The Communication in One-on-One Meetings
34:02 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:
Here Come the Zoomers!
6 Tips to Help Build Support for Your Next Change Effort
6 Tips to Make 1:1 Meetings More Effective (Includes link to a free downloadable guide!)
Matching Managerial Oversight to Employee Competence
The 2 Levels in Every Conversation
3 Human Needs to Retain Every Employee
The Two Types of Questions Great Leaders Ask

Stewart Leadership Resources:

52 Leadership Gems: Practical and Quick Insights for Leading Others, by John Parker Stewart

Glassdoor’s 2024 Workplace Trends

“Over 50 countries go to the polls in 2024. The year will test even the most robust democracies,” Jill Lawless, AP

“Five Ways to Make Your One-On-One Meetings More Effective,” MIT Sloan Management Review

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

“Nothing is improved by accident,” says Peter Stewart.

When it comes to leadership development, the need for intentional improvement is greater than ever, according to a recent report from Boston Consulting Group.

In this episode, Peter and Daniel discuss the importance of behavior and emotional intelligence for leaders and warn against “boxology”--shifting organizational boxes and pursuing change for the sake of change.

Daniel also shares his “spectrum of conscientiousness” theory–the observation that leaders have a spectrum of interest in pursuing behavior change.

Tune in to learn:

• The four priorities for leadership development in 2024
• The one thing leaders need to be effective as leaders this year
• The one thing leaders need to be effective - organizational design

Plus, some reflections on the value of reward–even just a peppermint candy!

In This Episode:

1:38 – Insight of the Week

8:16 – Memory Lane: The “Candy Man”

12:37 – Topic: Business Challenges for 2024

33:57 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• 4 Priorities for Leadership Development in 2024
• What Are the Most Desired Leadership Behaviors?
• The #1 Missing Element When Organizational Change Fails
• The Three Types of Learning You Need to Excel as a Leader
• Five Behaviors to Help Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
• Eight Skills of Great Coaching Managers
• 4 Truths About Being a Compassionate Leader
• Organizational Design Consulting
• LEAD NOW! Model

Creating People Advantage 2023, Boston Consulting Group

Carmen Simon - Memorable Message, BigSpeak Speaker’s Bureau

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Intentionality–it’s an ability that can make or break so many aspects of leadership.

From understanding that leaders are always setting the example to collecting insights and stories to managing time and relationships, all of us can benefit from a more deliberate approach to our lives.

In this episode, Daniel and Peter look at four more of the skill sets new managers need to be successful–and all of them require being intentional and deliberate.

Join them to learn:

• How to effectively delegate as a new manager
• Why ego management is so important for leaders
• The two big mistakes new managers should avoid

In This Episode:

1:05 – Insight of the Week

7:29 – Memory Lane: The Index Card

13:24 – Topic: First Time Managers (Part 2)

32:42 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• 7 Mindset Shifts That Will Make You a Great Manager
• Develop Your Managers by Focusing on These 8 Skillsets
• How Not to Listen to Your Leader
• How to Leverage the 6 Leadership Styles in Today’s Environment
• The One Powerful Leadership Tool You Probably Aren’t Using Enough
• The Ten Tenets of Calendar Management
• How to Prioritize Your Work
• You Do Need an Ego! But How Much?
• The Value of an Iterative Process
• The Four Critical Relationships All Leaders Must Develop
• Manager Development Programs

“Remote workers spend about 13 hours staring at screens each day: survey”, The Hill

“The minutes in between can be pathway to productivity”, by Vanessa Hua, Datebook

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Making the leap from individual contributor to manager can be one of the most significant–and challenging–steps in a career.

It’s so challenging, in fact, that it will take Daniel and Peter two episodes to talk about it.

In part one, Daniel and Peter share some recent insights and reminisce about their grad school experiences before talking about the skillsets new managers need.

Tune in to learn:

• The biggest myth about leadership
• The one piece of advice every new manager needs
• The two pieces of advice for leaders who are leading new managers

Be sure to tune in for Episode 4, where Daniel and Peter share the rest of the skillsets every new manager needs.

1:30 – Insight of the Week

8:17 – Memory Lane: Practical Lessons From Grad School

14:45 – Topic: First Time Managers (Part 1)

31:01 – Lightning Round


Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• 7 Mindset Shifts That Will Make You a Great Manager
• Develop Your Managers by Focusing on These 8 Skillsets
• 7 Ways to Become a People-First Manager
• 6 Ways to Become Aware of Your Leadership Blind Spots 
• The Value of an Iterative Process
• Ask a Coach: How can I avoid being a micromanager?
• Manager Development Programs

“The ROI of Executive Coaching: A Comprehensive Guide,” Forbes.com

2023 ICF Global Coaching Study

What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? Agile Alliance

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

How much of your job satisfaction and engagement depends on your boss?

According to Gallup, it’s a lot–up to 70%, in fact!

In this episode of the Leadership Growth Podcast, Daniel and Peter take a deep dive into what makes a great boss, including:

• The one question that can change your employee/manager relationships forever
• Nine characteristics of an ideal boss
• The most important thing a new manager can do to start out on the right foot

Download and listen for more great tips, along with some new insights and a trip down memory lane.

0:00 – Intro

1:08 – Insight of the Week

7:15 – Memory Lane: The Ideal Boss

16:20 – The Top Characteristics of the Ideal Boss

33:28 – Lightning Round

Resources:

Stewart Leadership Insights:

• Are You an Ideal Boss?
• 7 Ways to Become a People-First Manager
• Eight Skills of Great Coaching Managers
• Leadership: It’s Not About You Anymore
• The Three Most Important Factors in Building Trust with Others
• You Do Need an Ego! But How Much?

It’s the Manager: Moving From Boss to Coach, by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

“What is Employee Engagement and How Do You Improve It?” Gallup

The Storied History of Reader’s Digest, Book Riot

If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or, better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For more great content or to learn about how Stewart Leadership can help you grow your ability to lead effectively, please visit stewartleadership.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.