Do Something Different: A Leadership Podcast
Do Something Different is a podcast for high-achievers who want to grow their impact. Each week, former Apple executive Rusty Gaillard helps you build the skillset and mindset to break free from the conventional corporate leadership model and create meaningful, lasting impact for your company, your team, and your career. Come away empowered and inspired to put these simple, practical leadership tools to use: share your honest opinion, give candid feedback, delegate effectively while maintaining high standards, and take back control of your schedule.
Episodes
What if the fastest way to advance your career isn’t about working harder, but thinking differently? In this episode, discover the mindset shift that elevates your leadership skills, strengthens your executive presence, and accelerates your income and impact. Learn how embracing mistakes and leaning into discomfort creates the foundation for self improvement and sustained personal development.
This mindset unlocks the ...
There’s one deceptively simple question that most people never stop to ask, but it holds the key to clarity, confidence, and success. Whether you're facing a career crossroads, navigating workplace conflict, or stepping into a new opportunity, this question can shift your entire approach.
This episode breaks down how three professionals—each facing wildly different challenges—found their way forward by starting wi...
Executive presence is stubbornly difficult to define. This episode breaks down the critical connection between communication style and executive presence, and challenges the common belief that being smart is enough to lead effectively.
Whether you're naturally collaborative, soft-spoken, or conflict-averse, your style may be holding you back more than you realize. The key? Evolve how you communicate without losing...
When leaders build teams they can trust, they unlock not only organizational impact—but personal freedom. In this powerful episode, Eric Bensley, Head of Global Product Marketing at Asana, breaks down what it truly takes to lead a high-performing team you can count on, even during critical launches and high-stakes moments.
This conversation goes beyond theory. It’s a practical, honest look at the tension between contro...
High performers often double down on results—but that mindset alone ultimately leads to failure. Sustainable leadership requires more than performance.
In this episode, discover why prioritizing personal and professional growth is not optional—it’s essential for long-term success. The difference between those who thrive and those who plateau comes down to one thing: growth.
Key takeaways:
- Why delivering results isn...
Smart, successful professionals often assume that career growth is about learning new skills. But the real unlock isn’t about your skillset—it’s about your mindset. In this episode, discover why redefining how you see yourself can be the most powerful move you make in your professional life.
Key Takeaways:
- The most common mistake ambitious people make in career development—and how to avoid it.
- Why asking “What do I w...
Your quality of life as a leader is directly tied to how well you leverage your team.
Two real client stories illustrate this concept, one of which demonstrates the Success Trifecta—being more successful at work, working less, and actually enjoying your job.
But how do you get there? This episode dives deep into the essential skillset and mindset needed to delegate effectively, empower your team, and create sustainable...
Is it possible to be too nice as a leader? We examine this question using the tension between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively as a real-world lens into leadership challenges. Explore how excessive niceness can become a barrier to strength, clarity, and effectiveness in leadership.
Listen to learn four key truths about leadership and the pitfalls of prioritizing likability over strength:
- Being nice is not the same a...
In this episode of Do Something Different, Rusty Gaillard sits down with Erin Mantz, VP of Marketing at Zeno Group and founder of Gen X Girls Grow Up. They dive into the importance of your first boss, how generational traits shape leadership styles, and what Gen X can learn from Gen Z in today’s workplace.
From latchkey resilience to mentoring the next generation, this conversation is packed with insights on navigatin...
Ever feel like your corporate experience is just a little too similar to dystopian fiction?
From emotional avoidance to culture as control, Severance hits uncomfortably close to the reality of corporate life—and offers a blueprint for leading with more authenticity, presence, and connection.
Learn to stop operating like “outies”—detached, numb, and running from discomfort—and start showing up like “innies”—fully engaged...
Leaders often find themselves with competing decision-making frameworks: impact vs. optics, managing risk vs. capturing potential, what you want vs. what you should do. This is a recipe for bad decisions.
There's also a fundamental problem with analytical decision-making. Even the most rigorous frameworks can be manipulated to justify the outcome you secretly want. Meanwhile, some of the greatest business breakthr...
There's a big gap between how most managers lead their teams and how the best CEOs drive organizational success. A good CEO builds a team that makes strategic decisions, executes independently, and continuously improves. Many mid-level leaders remain trapped in cycles of micromanagement, approval-seeking, and task-oriented direction.
This episode explores why managing like you're the smartest person in the ro...
At a senior level, jobs aren't posted... they're whispered. Join CEO of Whispered Andy Mowat for this conversation on how to run a successful job search.
You'll learn:
- Why clarity and specificity are critical to an effective executive job search
- The counterintuitive reason why narrowing your focus actually creates more opportunities
- How to take control of interviews and stand out as a candidate
- Networki...
Most professionals claim they want to be respected as leaders, but they act like they want to be liked. This disconnect prevents many talented individuals from achieving their full leadership potential and earning the respect they desire. Discover why the behaviors that feel most comfortable may be the very ones limiting your effectiveness as a leader.
You'll learn:
- The five critical questions to assess whether...
Despite best intentions, many high achievers make suboptimal decisions in the workplace. The combination of stress, information overload, social pressure, and authority figures creates an environment where even the smartest professionals fall into predictable decision-making traps. These patterns—often the very same behaviors that brought early career success—become the invisible barriers preventing advancement to hig...
Influence is about changing how others think and act, not simply directing them what to do. Discover why transformational influence—the kind that creates lasting change and builds strong relationships—requires a completely different approach than the transactional tactics many resort to.
You'll learn:
- The difference between authority and influence
- Why common influence "hacks" often backfire
- The Triangle...
Many accomplished professionals hit a ceiling not because they lack skills, but because they overuse "pleaser" behaviors that undermine their executive presence.
This episode exposes how an over-reliance on being likeable and getting along - qualities that may have served you well early in your career - can actually diminish your leadership impact.
Through real coaching scenarios, learn why expanding your beh...
What is executive presence, and why do so many talented leaders struggle to develop it? That is the theme of this conversation with Cindy Skalicky.
Through practical examples and proven frameworks, this episode reveals why focusing solely on technical expertise and data can actually undermine leadership effectiveness, and how authentic storytelling and human connection create lasting impact.
Key themes:
- Why technical...
This episode tackles the counterintuitive truth about high achievement: doing more isn't always the path to greater success. Learn why many successful professionals get trapped in patterns of overwork and discover the CALM framework for breaking free from this cycle.
Through real-world examples of executives who transformed their approach to work, the episode reveals how strategically working less can lead to bett...
The ingrained belief that "my work speaks for itself" - while admirable - is not true. It may be a major factor keeping you from reaching your full potential and gaining the recognition your contributions deserve. Learn why "the work speaks for itself" doesn't work, and how to authentically speak up about your accomplishments.
Key themes:
- Why letting work "speak for itself" becomes...
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