Aligned › Engaged › Fulfilled
Why do smart, capable, good people still feel misaligned with the work they do? That's the question Clarence Maur has been exploring across every conversation on Aligned > Engaged > Fulfilled—with compensation experts, leadership professors, brand strategists, career coaches, and executives who've been on both sides of the table. This isn't a podcast about careers or business. It's about the human forces underneath both—and what it actually takes to move from just showing up, to truly thriving. If you've ever felt the gap between the work you do and the life you want, you're in the right place.
Episodes
Summary
All season, we explored what it actually takes for a human being to engage with their work. For the Season 2 finale, Clarence goes solo—no guest, just the data and the alignment lens. He breaks down Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace Report and connects its most important findings to everything Season 2 has been building toward. The result is a perspective the report itself doesn't offer: a clear, honest argument fo...
Summary
What if the reason most organizations struggle with equity isn't because it's too complicated but because they've been treating it as the wrong kind of problem?
Not a compliance problem. Not a political problem. Not a special initiative to be managed by a dedicated team and measured in a quarterly report. A leadership problem. A management problem. A foundational organizational design problem that determines whether the peopl...
Summary
What does it actually mean to build a people-centric and purpose-driven culture worth fighting for?
Not the version that ends up in the employee handbook. Not the mission statement on the wall. The real, daily, sometimes uncomfortable work of building something that holds together under pressure.
In this episode, Clarence sits down with Jodi Scott, co-founder and CEO of Green Goo, a plant-based first aid and herbal wellness co...
What happens when the people who built the broken system decide to fix it?
In this episode, Clarence sits down with career strategist, fractional HR consultant, and Emppowered co-founder Caty Toro for a candid, unflinching look at what's actually broken in today's hiring process and what it's going to take to build something better.
Caty was a guest in Season 1, where she and Clarence had a two-part conversation about career change t...
Summary
The conversation everyone is having about generational conflict in the workplace is pointed at the wrong problem. Blame has been leveled at Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z in equal measure—but Clarence and returning guest Lynda Harvey make the case that the real crisis isn't the people. It's the systems we've built around them, and specifically, the manager sitting at the center of all of it.
Drawing on the freshly released 2...
Summary
When we are completely burned out, the idea of having to "rewire our mindset" feels like an exhausting chore. We often blame toxic cultures and broken systems for our disengagement—but what if the exact words we are using to describe our reality are the very things draining our capacity to engage?
In this episode of Aligned > Engaged > Fulfilled, Clarence sits down with Stephanie Garcia, an award-winning digital marketi...
Summary
Are we trying to fix our people when we should actually be fixing our systems?
In today’s workplace, massive invisible forces—market disruption, AI anxiety, and the shift to remote work—are actively pulling our teams apart. The result is a collective burnout that traditional leadership playbooks simply cannot solve.
In this episode of Aligned > Engaged > Fulfilled, Clarence sits down with Matt Poepsel, PhD, Vice Presiden...
Summary
In this episode, Brandon Fortino, founder of Fortino Studios, shares insights on remote leadership, building borderless teams, and transforming work culture through systems, trust, and storytelling. Discover how to lead effectively across time zones, foster engagement without micromanagement, and challenge traditional beliefs about work.
Takeaways
- How to define culture as a set of shared systems and trust rather than a phy...
Summary
In the final installment of a trilogy on employee experience, host Clarence Maur shifts the focus from culture and architecture to the "plumbing" of a business: the backend infrastructure. Guest Kasey Devine, a veteran of industry giants ADP and Trinet, pulls back the curtain on why the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) shopping process is "broken on purpose" to profit off business owners' confusion.
The conve...
Summary
In this conversation, Clarence and Natalie discuss the architecture of the employee journey, the impact of brand activation on the employee journey, the silos and fragmentation of the employee journey, the infrastructure of the employee journey, the candidate experience, and the transactional and dehumanized candidate experience.
They emphasize the importance of the employee journey as brand activation and highlight the signi...
Summary
In this episode, Clarence Bongalos sits down with John Formica ("The Ex-Disney Guy"), to explore tensions in the modern workplace, the crisis of employee loyalty, and the relationship between employee experience and customer experience as exemplified by Disney's magical culture.
The conversation explores the importance of defining purpose, the impact of performance and disdain for a paycheck, creating a great company to work ...
Summary
In this episode, Clarence Bongalos interviews John Elbing, a growth story architect, about the power of story building in marketing and organizational culture.
They explore how shifting from storytelling to story building can enhance engagement, authenticity, and alignment within companies and careers.
Key Topics
- Difference between storytelling and story building
- The importance of customer perspective in marketing
- Aligning in...
Summary
In this episode, Clarence Bongalos and Kevin Hubschmann explore how humor, improv, and social intelligence can transform leadership, boost engagement, and create a psychologically safe workplace.
Kevin Hubschmann, founder of Laugh.Events, shares practical insights on integrating laughter into corporate culture to enhance productivity and well-being.
Key Topics
- Humor as a leadership tool
- Improv and active listening in teams
- P...
Summary
In this episode, Clarence Bongalos and guest co-host Caty Toro engage with compensation expert Vicki Shepard, CCP, SPHR, MHRLR, to explore the complexities of compensation strategies in the workplace.
They discuss the stark disparities in pay between executives and employees, the importance of pay transparency, and the need for a solid compensation philosophy that aligns with company values.
The conversation delves into the ...
Summary
In this first episode of Season 2 of the Aligned › Engaged › Fulfilled podcast, host Clarence Bongalos welcomes Drs. Lisa and John Gates to discuss the evolving landscape of leadership. They explore the shift from alignment to engagement, the challenges leaders face in a complex world, the need to redefine "leadership" to fit the demands of the current times, and the growing gap between theory and practice.
The conversation d...
Summary
In this episode, Clarence Bongalos reflects on the journey of his podcast's first season, sharing personal stories and insights about leadership, workplace culture, and the importance of alignment in achieving fulfillment.
He discusses the challenges of modern work environments, the crisis of misalignment, and the birth of his consulting firm, The Maur Company, aimed at helping individuals and organizations find their purpos...
Summary
In our penultimate episode, Clarence Bongalos and Christy Pretzinger explore the intersection of people, culture, kindness, alignment, and leadership, summarizing the key themes that have emerged as we explored the foundations of a new world of work in this first season of the show.
Christy emphasizes the importance of aligning people with purpose and measuring culture with the same rigor as financials. They discuss the Bett...
Summary
In this episode, Clarence Bongalos engages with Julius Alejandro, an ecosystem strategist, to explore the evolving landscape of workplace culture, strategy, and entrepreneurship. They discuss the importance of viewing businesses and careers as organic systems, the distinction between true strategy and mere tactical planning, and the necessity of integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the core of business str...
Summary
In this conversation, Clarence Bongalos and Marcus Combs explore the intersection of leadership, self-awareness, and spiritual intelligence. They discuss Marcus's journey from a successful corporate career to founding numbrU, a system that combines numerology with modern strategies to help individuals find alignment, purpose, and fulfillment.
The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding one's identity, the role o...
Summary
In this conversation, Anna Bleers shares her journey from a successful career in brand strategy at Energy BBDO to founding her own consultancy, Fearless Strategic Marketing. She discusses the importance of a positive corporate culture, the power of fearlessness in personal and professional growth, and actionable steps for leaders to energize their teams.
Anna emphasizes the significance of empathy, understanding, and the impa...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Building on the belief that a deeper understanding of the natural world enriches all of our lives, host Steven Rinella brings an in-depth and relevant look at all outdoor topics including hunting, fishing, nature, conservation, and wild foods. Filled with humor, irreverence, and things that will surprise the hell out of you, each episode welcomes a diverse group of guests who add their own expertise to the vast world of the outdoors. Part of The MeatEater Podcast Network.
Where the world and America meet, with episodes each weekday. The world is changing. Decisions made in the US and by the second Trump administration are accelerating that change. But they are also a symptom of it. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. Come and join us our live event. You can register for Castfest tickets here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/castfest-2026