99 Humans

AI! It's everywhere, but how do you position yourself to take advantage of career opportunities?

Enrico Santus has worked on, or advised for, AI work at companies like Bloomberg, Bayer, Hospitals, and the Women's Brain Project. So to say that his career is "having a moment" is an understatement. Enrico shares his story from a small Italian town to journalism to advising household names on the future of...

Do you give trust up, down, and sideways in your organization? What about to yourself?

Kathrin Holzfurtner has been a Director of Talent Acquisition for companies like iDeals and Microsoft, making a career out of her ability to find, hire, and support high performance teams by leading them herself. Every high performance team wants to drive impact and to innovate, and Kathrin tells a powerful story about the role of trust ...

What's the last decision you made to drive your own career?

Nils Vinje is the Founder of Leadership MBA, which helps people get promoted faster, save time, and build stronger teams. Before Nils could help others he first had to help himself, and that's the story he shares in this episode.

From StengthsFiner to being the CEO of your own career, Nils shares what it was like to go from the "passenger s...

Ever been laid off? Led a team through layoffs? This episode reveals the raw emotions and tough decisions behind those moments and how to make them less devastating.

Natasha Davidson, currently CMO at Group GTI, has an incredible background of executive leadership positions. Among amazing career highlights, Natasha shares an incredibly challenging moment managing reorganizations that lead to layoffs.

Hear how Nata...

What motivates you?

Alfonso De Gaetano has succeeded in leadership positions at Consulting firms, at Google, and as a Founder of CRURATED. He credits this success to learning along the way... how to work hard; how to lead; and how to create. Alfonso shares how he creates a vision for where his life (and company) are going -- not necessarily how to get there.

With a resume many strive to achieve, Alfonso opens up a...

After learning that she hated law, Julie Saxon started her illustrious career as a temp Secretary at an Ad Agency. Since then, she's been the CRO at The Weather Company, VP at Verizon, and most recently followed her own advice to be Head of Consumer Sales at X where she is working with a mentor and people she loves.

What you see is what you get, a mantra for authenticity tested by Julie's husband's cancer di...

Covid + School Districts = Complexity. How does human leadership help?

Harold S. Henry, Jr. is the Chief of Schools at Baltimore Curriculum Project and spent six years as a principal in Baltimore City Public Schools. He's experienced the brunt of misperceptions about what leadership in school districts, and shares a powerful story of leadership through Covid to exemplify how empathy and human leadership made all the d...

What do you really want? You won't get it if you don't spend time prioritizing your authentic goals.

Paola thrives in difficult environments -- from influencing the Italian economy as one of few women in the space, to executive leadership in Big Tech. How? Resilience - having and focusing on the bigger picture, the bigger goal. 

Paola shares how human leadership principles/platitudes like "knowing ...

You've heard of a non-profit, but what about a Zero Funds organization?

Enter Neel Ghose, the kind of "human leader" who takes the challenge of leading in the philanthropic world to a new level. Neel created Robin Hood Army, a Zero Funds organization connecting what would be "food waste" to those in need, a fully volunteer led effort that has grown to 237,197 "Robins" (volunteers), 403 ci...

What is leadership without language?  What about leadership in language?

Milena Koralczyk is founder and CEO of the language school, "L'Ecole Parisienne de Langues," a premiere language school based in Paris teaching French to executives and ex-patriots seeking to find their place in French culture. Milena shares why language is important but also what made it important to her.

From AI's impact...

What would it take to reinvent yourself? What things would you need to lose in order to gain?

Craig Siegel spent thirteen years as a gladiator in the wrong arena, pouring his energy and time into Wall Street before finally cutting the cord and becoming an entrepreneur. It was then that his passion for reinvention caught fire , he founded Cultivate Lasting Symphony (CLS) and inspired millions through his bestselling book, p...

Do you cringe thinking about name tags and awkward conversations at “networking” events?

Kurt Schmidt, Author and President of The Foundry, one of Inc Magazine’s fastest growing companies, shares how walking in ill prepared for one of his employee’s performance reviews sent him on a journey to sharpen his leadership toolset. Hear how he practices confidence in the face of natural uncertainty, by building an intentional net...

Ever heard that GenZ doesn't want to work?

Celine Chai busts that myth, sharing the story behind her co-founding of NightyEight and becoming a GenZ entrepreneur.

Hear how Celine struggled through challenge to now embrace the mantra, "You can't plan life." Celine exemplifies human leadership as she works hard to lead a successful business without losing her passion for dance and a rich balanced ...

"We hire women, don't we. We hired you!" How would you respond in the moment?

Diana Agu is a strategist, business leader and entrepreneur who studied Law & Criminology in the United Kingdom but climbed the corporate ladder working in Project & Business management.  From Morgan Stanley to Capgemini to CEO of her own startup, Diana has proven herself in high pressure  corporate settings, but it's ...

"When I went on mental health leave..." Can you imagine saying that?

Newton Cheng is the Director of Health and Performance at Google, and he said those words when he mustered the courage to prioritize himself. So long as mental health conversations are stigmatized, it's hard for leaders to do right for themselves, their family, and their teams. Newton is looking for new ways to approach the topic, better su...

Back-to-back meetings, pregnant, and contractions in the office.

Ashley Patel shares a harrowing story when the demands of entrepreneurship collided with the birth of her child, highlighting the importance of making intentional choices with your life and career. Co-Founder of CurbWaste, Ashley is building a company on the forefront of waste management software, while growing her life and family alongside.

In a co...

Happy 50th episode!

On this special edition, Nadia and Jeff reflect on their 99 Humans journey: what we've learned from the incredible guests and from the journey of creating the show.

How does a coaching background help and hurt being a podcast host? How do you create a podcast with no prior experience? How do you get the podcast out into the world, and what does it feel like to have mixed success?

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Leadership isn't life and death, right?

Pierre Monice is President of MacNeal Hospital, and shares how important it is to listen to experts, in this case medical professionals working in the hospital, when making decisions. He sees his core role as a relationship builder, where everyone is a stakeholder. In the operations realm, Pierre has seen major capital improvement projects, managed costs and oversee HR operation...

Being on a non-profit board is often thought of as a late-stage move, once you've mastered your career, arranged your life, and can finally give back. But what if it could be used to accelerate your career and life?

Ann Piccirillo is an accomplished and data-driven People Operations and Strategy Leader, acting as Senior VP  of People Strategy & Operations at JDA.  Sharing a personal story of hardship which interru...