The Leadership Toolkit

In this powerful episode of The Leadership Toolkit, Mike Phillips sits down with Australian employment lawyer, HR strategist, and leadership coach Karen Ansen, founder of Ignite HR and Ignite Your Purpose.

Karen is widely known as the person organizations call when the situation is at its toughest. From guiding boards through high-stakes CEO exits to navigating workplace conflict with compassion and clarity, she blends legal precisi...

From food stamps to keynote stages, Hailey Evans has lived the kind of story most leaders are afraid to tell. In this powerful episode of The Leadership Toolkit, Mike Phillips sits down with Hailey, an award winning storyteller, marketing strategist, and creator of the EPIC Communication Framework and EPIC Storytelling App.

Hailey opens up about becoming a mom at 17, walking through bankruptcy, infidelity, missions work, her ex ...

In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, Mike Phillips sits down with award-winning author, keynote speaker, and Deep Listening podcast host Oscar Trimboli to explore what it really means to listen as a leader. Oscar shares the pivotal boardroom moment at Microsoft that sparked his quest to “code” how the world’s best listeners operate and explains why the difference between hearing and listening is always found in the action you...

Are you ready to take charge of your career, earn what you’re worth, and lead with confidence? In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Nate Dinet, digital entrepreneur, product leader, and founder of The Step Manager, a platform that’s helped more than 56,000 professionals worldwide achieve promotions, negotiate raises, and build leadership confidence that lasts.

Nate shares his journey from ...

In this episode, Mike Phillips sits down with Doug Gray, PhD, CEO of Action Learning Associates, to unpack practical, outcome based leadership and family-business succession that actually works. Doug reframes SWOT so leaders focus on what they can control, explains why the least structure necessary accelerates execution, and walks through his simple rubric for succession: pace, space, grace. You will also hear when to use closed LL...

Leadership inspires. Management delivers. In this high energy conversation, Dr. James Chitwood joins host Mike Phillips to show why organizations must stop over indexing on “leadership” and start training managers in the nuts and bolts of performance. You will learn a simple weekly one on one format that blends humanity with accountability, how to quantify work so you can actually manage it, and Dr. Chitwood’s TRAC model that unifi...

What defines real leadership? Not the stage, the title, or the metrics, it’s the choices you make when nobody’s looking. In this powerhouse panel, host Mike Phillips is joined by returning friends of the show Mike Ashie (Leadership with Mike) and Jim Burgoon (Lead with Jim / The Unshakable Life Podcast) for an honest conversation about the unseen side of leadership: character in the dark, daily discipline, tough truth-telling, and ...

This week on The Leadership Toolkit, Mike Phillips welcomes Lena M. Wilson, Transition Coach, 3x author, and CEO of Real Inspiration LLC. With 25 years in corporate HR, Lena helps people and organizations navigate change with clarity and confidence.

Together, they explore how to lead through transitions, create psychological safety, and reframe uncertainty into opportunity. Lena also shares her six-pillar framework, The Transition B...

What does it take to step away from the corporate grind and build a thriving agency on your own terms?

In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Kym Insana — multi-million dollar business owner, digital marketing expert, and founder of AlwaysOn Digital. With more than 20 years of experience in advertising, Kym shares her inspiring journey from the demanding pace of NYC agency life to creating a...

In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Ann McNeill, widely known as The Master Wealth Builder. Ann is the founder of MCO Construction and Services, Inc. and the first African American woman general contractor in Florida. With over 40 years of experience building structures, businesses, and leaders, Ann shares how a single book (Think and Grow Rich) sparked a mindset shift that transformed her l...

Are you busy, or are you truly focused? In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with internationally recognized speaker, trainer, and author Jones Loflin, who has spent more than 32 years helping leaders and organizations cut through overload and distractions.

Jones shares why you can’t actually manage time but you can manage choices — and how aligning daily actions with meaningful outcomes transforms...

In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Kute Blackson — transformational teacher, global speaker, and best-selling author of You.Are.The.One. and The Magic of Surrender.

Kute shares his extraordinary journey from being ordained as a minister at 14 to walking away from expectation and following the deeper calling of his soul. Known as “The Mindfulness Guru Billionaires Go To For Advice” by Inc. ma...

In this episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Karl Pister, founder and president of The Coaching Group Inc., to unpack more than three decades of leadership wisdom.

Karl brings a powerful blend of experience—two master’s degrees in behavioral sciences, 10 years in a Fortune 100 company, and 30+ years as an entrepreneur and leadership coach. His work has impacted leaders across industries by focusing on...

In this powerful episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Christian F Johnson best-selling author, speaker, and Presence-Centered Leadership Coach, to uncover how leaders can eliminate distractions, reconnect with their authentic voice, and lead from their IT, that divine inner tugging that aligns purpose and action.

Christian shares the life-changing feedback that shifted his leadership forever, brea...

In this powerful episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with Amy Pechacek. She is a keynote speaker, leadership expert, and founder of Alpstra & Co. They have a raw and transformative conversation on authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, and leading a life aligned with purpose.

Amy shares her journey from the classroom to corporate boardrooms and reveals how a life-altering tragedy became the...

In this insightful episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips welcomes leadership expert and executive coach Jeff Oak. With over 35 years of experience leading business turnarounds, mergers, and growth strategies, Jeff shares the real-life struggles leaders face... and... how to overcome them.

From feelings of isolation and imposter syndrome to managing personal “slippage,” Jeff outlines four core challenges that lead...

In this powerful episode of The Leadership Toolkit, host Mike Phillips sits down with John Donnelly, Executive Director at Service First Mortgage Company (SFMC) and a high-performance sales leader known for building elite mortgage teams with clarity, trust, and consistent execution.

John shares his incredible leadership journey — from weathering economic headwinds in the mortgage industry to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as a perso...

Welcome to The Leadership Toolkit with Mike Phillips, where this week’s guest is Nikolai Nielsen, founder of Potential Academy. Join us as we explore leadership growth, the importance of bringing others along in your journey, and Nikolai's fascinating background in consulting and personal development. With insights drawn from his experience across the globe, Nikolai shares his philosophy on education, inspiration, and the essen...

Welcome to another powerful episode of the Leadership Toolkit! In today's show, Mike unpacks five actionable practices that can elevate your leadership skills immediately. Drawing from over 100 interviews with successful leaders across various industries, this episode is packed with insights to help you lead with intentionality, build trust through empathy, and create a supportive environment for your team. Whether you're a seasone...