WiseTalk

In this episode of WiseTalk, Sue Bethanis hosts Shannon Lucas, co-founder and CEO of Catalyst Constellations and co-author of Move Fast. Break Shit. Burn Out.: The Catalyst’s Guide to Working Well. Shannon has more than 20 years of experience in Fortune 500 innovation. She has held executive roles at Ericsson, Cisco, T-Mobile, and Vodafone, where she built the Innovation Champion program into a global, CEO-backed movement.

Sue and Shannon discuss:

About Shannon Lucas:

In this episode of WiseTalk, Mariposa’s monthly podcast on perspectives on leadership, host Sue Bethanis, Ed.D., Founder and CEO of Mariposa Leadership, is joined by Johan Roos, a management scholar, former business school leader, and entrepreneur. He co-invented the globally adopted LEGO® Serious Play® methodology and currently serves as Professor and Senior Strategic Advisor at Luxembourg School of Business, Associate Faculty at Hult Ashridge, and Partner for R&D at Interface. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Global Peter Drucker Forum, where he helped initiate the Next Management initiative on leadership, and previously served as Professor and Chief Academic Officer at Hult International Business School.

Sue and Johan discuss the ideas behind his new book, Human Magic: Leading with Wisdom in an Age of Algorithms, including:

Sue Bethanis hosts Arun Gupta, venture capitalist, co-author of The Mission Generation: Rewrite Success, Reclaim Your Purpose, Rebuild Our Future and the national bestseller Venture Meets Mission, and CEO of the NobleReach Foundation, where he works to rekindle a spirit of national service through innovation and entrepreneurship. After more than two decades investing in companies at the intersection of technology and national security, including at Carlyle and Columbia Capital, Arun teaches at Stanford and Georgetown, where he has received multiple faculty teaching awards. He holds a BS and MS in engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sue and Arun discuss the ideas behind The Mission Generation and what they mean for leaders navigating a rapidly changing workforce.

Resources

Sue Bethanis welcomes back Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, founder and CEO of Decisive and author of four books on decision-making, including her latest, The Human Edge: Smarter Decisions in the Age of AI (May 2026). Cheryl is also a longtime educator at Cornell University and Columbia Business School, and an award-winning investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Barron’s, and Harvard Business Review. She first joined WiseTalk in 2017 to discuss Problem Solved, and returned this month to address one of the most pressing challenges facing senior leaders today: how to use AI as a tool for better decision-making without ceding human judgment in the process.

In this conversation, Sue and Cheryl explored:

 Sue Bethanis hosts Amy Leneker, a leadership consultant with over 25 years of leadership experience including a decade in the C-suite, who has helped over 100,000 leaders and teams through keynotes, coaching, and training. A first-generation college student, Amy earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees while working full-time and raising a family. She has studied leadership at Yale, neuroscience at the NeuroLeadership Institute, and stress resilience at Harvard Medical School. Amy's upcoming book, Cheers to Monday: The Surprisingly Simple Method to Lead and Live with Less Stress and More Joy (Wiley, March 24, 2026), shares a science-backed roadmap to break free from burnout. 

Amy shares findings from her team's recent national study on stress and joy at work, explaining that while four of the five stress types have remained consistent since the 1970s, system stress (inequality, bullying, and unfair workplace cultures) has emerged as a significant modern stressor. She discusses how AI is creating both risks and opportunities for workplace joy, particularly through its impact on momentum and efficiency. The conversation addresses practical approaches for leaders managing their own stress while supporting anxious teams navigating AI adoption, technological disruption, and rapid organizational change. 

Sue Bethanis welcomes Ashley Herd, former Chief People Officer and General Counsel, leadership speaker, and podcast host who has trained over 250,000 managers through LinkedIn Learning and live corporate trainings. Ashley built Manager Method after leading HR and legal teams at McKinsey, Yum! Brands, and Modern Luxury. She is a top LinkedIn Learning instructor and co-host of the HR Besties podcast, a top 10 business podcast. Her book, The Manager Method: A Practical Framework to Lead, Support, and Get Results, was released February 10, 2026.

Sue and Ashley discuss several topics relevant to managers and senior leaders:

The conversation provides practical guidance on leadership fundamentals that are often missing from management training. Ashley shares examples from her career, including how one leader used the Pause-Consider-Act framework to handle a difficult situation with team members who were criticizing him in private messages. Key takeaways include the importance of specific, progress-based feedback, the need for clear communication about AI expectations and guardrails, and the value of understanding how your work impacts others across the organization.

RESOURCES:

Sue Bethanis hosts Merry-Carole Powers, a recognized expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion with over two decades of experience shaping global brands and corporate cultures. As the former Creative Director for Sustainability, Purpose, and DEI at Deloitte and founder of Unicorn Kreative, Powers brings a unique perspective on transcending societal labels to unlock human potential in business.

Topics of Discussion:

The conversation reveals practical approaches for organizations to move beyond checkbox diversity toward developing each person’s unique talents, passions, and capabilities. Powers emphasizes that while AI excels at replication, human originality, strategic thinking, and authentic empathy remain irreplaceable assets that become more valuable as automation advances.

RESOURCES

Sue Bethanis hosts Dr. Joel Salinas, a Harvard-trained behavioral neurologist and Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Isaac Health, a telehealth platform focused on brain health and dementia care. Dr. Salinas serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and previously held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a nationally recognized expert in brain health with over 40 academic publications and contributions to eight books in neurology.

Sue and Joel discuss his latest book Conflict Resilience: Negotiating Disagreement Without Giving Up or Giving In, co-authored with Robert Bordone. Key topics include:

Sue Bethanis hosts Matt Kohut, founding partner of KNP Communications, who has prepared CEOs, elected officials, entrepreneurs, ambassadors, scientists, and best-selling authors for events ranging from television appearances to board meetings to TED Talks. He is the author of Speaking Out: New Rules for Business Leadership Communication and co-author of The Smart Mission: NASA's Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects and Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities that Make Us Influential.

Sue Bethanis hosts Matthew Dixon, a Founding Partner of DCM Insights and leading expert in business development and client experience. Matt is the co-author of the groundbreaking book The Activator Advantage: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently, which reveals why traditional business development approaches are failing in professional services. 

Sue and Matt explore: