Leading Outward

Are you holding meetings where no one speaks up? Dealing with employees who don’t take ownership?

This company was too until they flipped their fear-based culture into a high-trust, high-performance workplace. And in 5 years, they’ve grown revenue by 56%.

Come onsite with us as we take you inside OC Tanner—a global leader in lean manufacturing and workplace culture—where Executive Vice President Gary Peterson shares exactly...

Have you ever started a new role only to feel like none of your past experience is recognized? Like no one sees the value you bring, no matter how much you’ve accomplished?

In this raw coaching episode, Jeremy—a senior leader in a construction and engineering company with 24 years of military experience—unpacks that exact challenge with his Arbinger coach. Together, they dig into the mindset and behaviors that are keeping Jeremy...

We’ve all felt it: the tension between being real and being in charge. But as inner-city middle school teacher Carla and retired Air Force commander Naomi reveal, that’s a false choice. Connection isn’t a distraction from leadership—it’s the doorway into it.

This episode explores what happens when leaders stop hiding behind roles and start showing up as people. The result? Teams that listen, trust, and rise to meet the moment, n...

How do you build a team that doesn’t sit around waiting for instructions? What if your people knew exactly what to do, even when the plan changed and you weren’t in the room to explain it?

This episode explores the tension between roles that demand split-second precision and those where ambiguity is the norm. McKinlay Otterson talks with Carey Jones, former Flying Training Wing Vice Commander at Laughlin Air Force Base and retir...

Are your efforts to be helpful actually helpful? And when you step in, is it because your team needs your help or because you need to feel needed? If you’ve ever used the word helpful to describe yourself, this episode is for you.

Because in this raw coaching session, Janette—a former teacher turned HR director—works with her Arbinger coach, Mitch Warner, to confront how her well-intended desire to support her principals is prev...

Can we let people—especially the ones we care about most—chart their own path? What about when we think they're making a mistake?

In this part 2 episode, Janette returns to examine how the same leadership patterns she’s untangling in her role at work are playing out at home—with her son, her daughter-in-law, and her husband. What starts as a family conflict becomes a raw reckoning with expectations, identity, and the cost of cli...

Ever resented someone you were supposed to help? Or felt too exhausted to care, even when you knew you should?

Our guests have. Daren Forbes has dedicated his life to funeral service, and Dr. Steve Jackson serves people as a physician. They know what it’s like to feel called to meaningful, people-centered work—and still feel resentful, drained, or disconnected from the very people they’re trying to serve. They share their messy ...

Feel like you're just being thorough? Focused on quality? Clear about your expectations? You might call it leadership, but to your team, it might feel like control. So what happens when your high standards start getting in the way of growth?

In this raw coaching episode—part one of a two-part series—Daniel, a high school principal with deep experience across every level of school leadership, wrestles with that exact tension. Wit...

What was it all for?

You've shared the vision, trained the team, and gave them everything they needed to succeed.

And they still aren't following through.

In part two of this raw coaching series, Daniel—a high school principal—continues to wrestle with this leadership challenge. What starts as a reflection on stalled execution becomes a deep reckoning with busyness, control, and the fear of leading in a way that might cos...

When was the last time you vented about someone? And why didn’t you just talk to them instead? 

In this season finale, we hear from three listeners whose lives shifted because of the show: a mom who saw her son differently, a leader who publicly owned his coaching experience, and a son who finally had an honest conversation with his parents. These are stories of ownership, agency, and the space where real change starts.&nbs...

Are you one of our new listeners? Welcome! We’re giving away a free Leading Outward sweatshirt to any U.S. listener who hasn’t yet left a written review. Just upload a screenshot at leadingoutward.com and we’ll send one your way!

In season 2, we'll be taking you into the exact moments leaders realize they’re the problem.

You’ll hear raw, unscripted coaching sessions with leaders navigating high-stakes decisions and the impact...

Are you overlooking the potential in “hard” people? What if the most difficult students or employees hold untapped greatness? And what happens when you help people see their progress when they feel stuck or broken?  

We’re starting season 2 of Leading Outward by sitting down with Ivan Cornea, a beloved high school art teacher whose classroom became a place where struggling and rejected students grew into confident lead...

What if our strengths, values, and even our success are the blind spots that keep us stuck? 

In this episode, Gill Campbell—seasoned executive coach and co-leader of Arbinger UK—shares her personal journey and how she helps senior leaders uncover what’s really blocking their growth. From the hidden fear of being exposed to the subtle ways we self-sabotage, Gill unpacks the surprising truths that coaching reveals and how lea...

What if the pressure to cut costs could actually unlock innovation?  

In this episode, former Fortune 500 division president Louise Francesconi and Arbinger consultants Mike Merchant and Duane Boyce share how two organizations on opposite ends of the globe faced the impossible mandate of cutting $100 million. Instead of collapsing under pressure, their leaders discovered how an outward mindset transformed fear, resista...