Where there is no vision, the people perish." Sounds like an important skill for leaders! In this episode, Lee demystifies the critical leadership competency of Vision by breaking it down into specific behaviors and skills. He emphasizes the two aspects of being able to SEE and SHARE a compelling vision for the future, especially in a rapidly changing world. He introduces three practical tools for helping leaders do this. In part 1, he focuses on helping your team SEE the trends coming your way. He points out the limitation of traditional tools like SWOT analysis. Lee offers a more practical environmental scan method with logistical tips and facilitation tricks for leaders to engage their teams in meaningful discussions about the future.

Additional Resources:

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

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Key Takeaways:

• Specific tool for facilitating part 1 of a vision session with your team.
• Visionary leadership includes the ability to SEE and SHARE. Both matter.
• It's not the strongest who thrive; it is the most adaptive.
• Traditional SWOT analysis have several limitations.
• Alternative environmental scanning tools can provide a broader and more practical perspective.

Next episodes:

Part 2 - Creating or updating a Mission/Vision/Purpose statement - quickly and powerfully.

Part 3 - Bridging from here to there with focused Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

Part 4 - Story telling to keep the vision vibrant and relevant.

Rob Catalano, Chief Engagement Officer at WorkTango, shares insights on how leaders can enhance employee engagement through simple, regular micro-doses of recognition and feedback. He discusses his career transition from what he thought was his dream job (customer experience marketing) and how that translated into his actual dream job (engaging employee experiences). Why is it that so many employees at recognizable brands are miserable? He recognized the need for leaders to create environments where employees can be raving fans just as we seek our customers to be raving fans. Rob offers practical tips for how to recognize employee contributions and deliver constructive feedback in a way that unleashes talent and uplifts workplace culture for overall organizational success. The discussion also highlights generational differences in feedback expectations, particularly with Gen Z employees. Catalano advocates for a culture of curiosity over blame, encouraging leaders to engage in meaningful conversations that foster growth and development.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn

Learn more about WorkTango

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

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Key Takeaways:

• Positive employee sentiment is crucial for organizational success.
• Recognition is best when it is SMT - Specific, Meaningful, and Timely.
• Feedback doesn't have to take a lot of time, but you must make some time for it.
• Feedback is better in smaller, more frequent micro-doses.
• Focus recognition more on employee's contributions and competencies and less on longevity.

Ken Rusk, bestselling author of Blue-Collar Cash and founder of Rusk Industries, joins Lee to bust three major myths about scaling blue-collar businesses. First, he challenges the outdated view that trades aren’t a fulfilling career path. Next, he explores how both blue- and white-collar leaders often limit themselves by tying identity to individual skills, blocking the potential to scale. Finally, Ken flips the script on “motivating” employees—sharing how to inspire intrapreneurs and redefine goals as “timed paths to success.”

This episode is packed with practical insight and mindset shifts for people-first leaders!

Additional Resources:

Check out Ken's impactful course: The Path to a Successful Life

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

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Key Takeaways:

• There are many paths to abundance and fulfillment.
• Blue-collar work is often stigmatized but is highly valuable.
• Self-limiting beliefs can hinder entrepreneurial growth.
• True entrepreneurs create scalable systems and delegate tasks.
• Understanding your identity is crucial for growth.

In this conversation, Alain Hunkins discusses the integration of empathy and accountability in leadership. He emphasizes that leadership is a performing art, where behavior and connection are crucial. The discussion covers the importance of being present, the role of feedback, and how to navigate emotional responses in the workplace. Hunkins shares practical skills for demonstrating empathy and the significance of creating a culture of accountability. The conversation concludes with insights on the outcomes of effective leadership and the importance of reframing feedback as a sign of care.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Alain on LinkedIn

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

Follow Unleashing Leaders on Facebook

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Key Takeaways:

• Leadership is a performing art that requires self-awareness.
• Empathy and accountability must be integrated, not balanced.
• Feedback is essential for growth and should be seen as a sign of care.
• Engaged employees lead to better business outcomes.
• Listening with purpose is a key skill for leaders.
• Creating a culture of accountability starts with clear expectations.
• Discomfort is a natural part of the learning process.
• Empathy requires time and presence in conversations.
• Feedback should be framed as a collaborative process.
• Leaders must help employees understand their role in the bigger picture.

In this episode of the Unleashing Leaders podcast, Lee and Erin Cox discuss the complexities of decision-making in leadership roles. Erin shares her career journey, the challenges she faced while navigating multiple job offers, and the decision-making process she utilized, known as the OOC EMR model. The conversation emphasizes the importance of clarity, confidence, and authenticity in making impactful career choices, as well as the significance of having supportive colleagues and a positive work environment.

Additional Resources:

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

Follow Unleashing Leaders on Facebook

Follow Unleashing Leaders on Instagram

Key Takeaways:

• Leaders often face complex decisions that require careful consideration.
• The OOC EMR model helps in structuring decision-making processes.
• It's essential to identify desired outcomes before evaluating options.
• Mitigating risks can lead to more favorable decision outcomes.
• Authenticity in leadership fosters diversity and better problem-solving.
• Having supportive colleagues enhances job satisfaction and performance.
• Decision-making can be overwhelming, but clarity brings peace.
• Negotiating offers can lead to better outcomes in career decisions.
• Work-life balance is crucial for personal fulfillment.
• Reflecting on past experiences can guide future decisions.

In this conversation, Chris Rollins discusses the concept of Ripple Effect Leadership, emphasizing the importance of vulnerability, empathy, and connection in effective leadership. He shares his personal journey and how pivotal moments shaped his understanding of leadership. The discussion covers practical techniques for leaders to shift their mindsets from a siloed approach to a more inclusive and impactful ripple effect mindset. Chris highlights the significance of courage in leadership and provides actionable steps for creating a positive ripple effect within teams and organizations. 

Additional Resources:

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

Follow Unleashing Leaders on Facebook

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Key Takeaways:

• Good leadership is contagious and spreads beyond the individual.
• Vulnerability is essential for creating trust and connection.
• Leaders must recognize their ripple effect on others.
• Shifting from a siloed mindset to a ripple effect mindset is crucial.
• Courage in leadership means being willing to take risks and be vulnerable.
• Creating a safe environment fosters high-performing teams.
• Asking the right questions can lead to deeper understanding and connection.
• Every leader can be a catalyst for change in their organization.
• The impact of a leader's actions can resonate for years to come.
• Being fully self-expressed is key to unleashing one's leadership potential.

Stacie Baird, Chief People Officer at Community Medical Services, offers insights on the intersection of self-care, resilience, and ethical AI to elevate the human experience. She shares her professional journey to discovering her leadership purpose in addressing the opioid epidemic. She also shares the power of adversity in our personal lives to unlock our super powers and focus our contributions where it matter most. Get practical tips for how you can self-regulate or co-regulate anytime, anywhere in the face of adversity. Lastly, explore simple ways you can begin to use AI for your own self-care as well as apply it ethically to enhance your team's resilience and impact.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Stacie Baird on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Stacie's newsletter: HX in an AI World series

Listen to the HX Podcast with Stacie Baird

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

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Key Takeaways:

• Adversity is often the source of our strengths.
• Resilience is navigating the long-term journey; not a quick "bounce-back."
• Your career is a portfolio; curate it wisely.
• Self-care includes pausing, speaking to yourself with love, and asking, "What do I need?"
• Co-regulation with others is what makes us human.

Lee is joined by Andrew Adeniyi, founder of AAA Solutions and author of The Circle of Leadership and The Building Blocks of Belonging, to share how leaders can build psychologically safe teams by aligning personal and company values.

Drawing from his own experiences with both healthy and toxic cultures, Andrew offers practical steps for transforming dysfunctional environments, especially those leaders inherit. His insights highlight the power of self-awareness and value-driven leadership in creating inclusive, high-performing workplaces.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn

Buy a Book or Schedule a Consult with Andrew

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

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Key Takeaways:

• Accessing both shared Company values and unique Personal values are important for creating a positive workplace culture.
• Leaders should be self-aware of their own values and authentic about current organizational realities.
• Changing a dysfunctional culture starts with understanding the purpose and vision of the organization.
• Honesty, vulnerability, and consistency are crucial in aligning actions with stated values.

Managing a distributed team sounds tough—until you hear how Matt Tait turned it into a competitive advantage for his business.

In this episode Lee sits down with Matt, CEO of Decimal—a fast-growing bookkeeping and accounting firm that’s taking “boring” and turning it into brilliance.

Matt’s journey is anything but ordinary: from a failed restaurant tech startup to scaling Decimal from a two-person operation to a team of 80 across four countries, he's learned firsthand how to lead with vulnerability, humility, and a dash of humor.

Learn what it really means to “fail forward,” and how that mindset can help to navigate a remote-first, people-first business.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn

Listen to Matt's Podcast - After the First Million

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

Follow Unleashing Leaders on Facebook

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Key Takeaways:

• Embrace Vulnerability and Failure: Matt highlights the importance of “failing forward” and embracing vulnerability to grow as a leader.
• Building Remote Culture: Creating intentional connection points and valuing transparency is crucial to success in a remote workforce.
• Scaling with a People-First Approach: Matt emphasizes that business success stems from building a team that genuinely cares about each other.

In this episode of Unleashing Leaders, Lee teams up with Skot Waldron, host of the Unlocked podcast, to dive into one of the most significant challenges leaders face: limiting beliefs. These are often partial truths that have helped us succeed in the past but are now holding us back. Lee and Scott explore how these beliefs affect not only us as individual leaders but also the teams we guide. Learn to identify limiting beliefs and how to help team members overcome it. Tune in for practical strategies to illuminate and elevate your leadership impact, and learn how to accelerate positive change by leveraging the talents within your teams.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Skot Waldron on LinkedIn

Listen to the original episode on the Unlocked podcast

Learn more about Skot and his work

Attend Unleashing Leaders University!

Learn more about Unleashing Leaders

Follow Unleashing Leaders on LinkedIn

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

Follow Unleashing Leaders on Facebook

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