Partnering Leadership
Partnering Leadership is a top global podcast designed to help CEOs and senior leaders navigate the complexities of leadership, strategy, culture, and innovation. Hosted by Mahan Tavakoli—a seasoned leadership advisor with over 25 years of experience and recognized as a top thought leader in management—the podcast brings you real-world insights and practical advice to drive meaningful results. Mahan’s experience as a trusted advisor shapes each discussion, driving deeper insights that challenge conventional thinking and uncover innovative approaches. Drawing from his extensive advisory background, Mahan dives into candid conversations with purpose-driven CEOs and global thought leaders, exploring how they overcame their biggest challenges and achieved transformative success. Each episode provides actionable strategies, real-world examples, and proven approaches to help you navigate change, align teams, and drive lasting impact. Hear directly from top experts such as Ram Charan, Ken Blanchard, John Kotter, Stephen M.R. Covey, Hal Elrod, Carmine Gallo, Daniel Burrus, Garry Ridge, Jacob Morgan, Emily Field, Jonah Berger, Barbara Kellerman, Rich Diviney, Andrea Sampson, Ajay Agrawal, Dave Ulrich, Jerry Colonna, Renee Cummings, Brian Johnson, Warren Berger, Gustavo Razzetti, Azeem Azhar, David McRaney, Tim Clark, Jim Detert, Gary Bolles, Greg Satell, Robert Wolcott, Alden Mills, Minter Dial, Greg Wooldridge, Pete Steinberg, Joseph Fuller, Paul Roetzer, Whitney Johnson, Ron Adner, Bob Johansen, Leidy Klotz, Paul Smith, Louis Rosenberg, Rob Sadow, Dan Turchin, Steve Robinson, Park Howell, Mark Crowley, Maz Jobrani, LaTonya Wilkins, Rob Cross, Aiden McCullen, Eduardo Briceno, Jan Rutherford, Stephen Wunker, Charlene Li, Jon Levy, Anu Gupta, John Rossman, David Marquet, Tamsen Webster, Jack Phillips, Vanessa Bohns, Patrick McGinnis, Hakeem Oluseyi, Ed Hess, and Carolyn Dewar as well as renowned leaders like David Rubenstein, Jean Case, Tony Pierce, Linda Rabbitt, Paul Daugherty, Richard Bynum, John Veihmeyer, Howard Ross, Bill Novelli, Tien Wong, Stephanie Linnartz, Chuck Robb, Doug Dennerline, Charlene Drew Jarvis, Robert Rosenberg, Diane Hoskins, Deidre Paknad, David Gardner, and Marty Rodgers, and many more! Their insights, paired with Mahan's expertise, equip you to tackle complex challenges, foster a high-performance culture, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving world. Listen today to gain the tools, perspectives, and proven strategies that can transform your leadership journey. Available on all major podcast platforms or visit https://partneringleadership.com.
Episodes
In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli is joined by Benjamin Tasker, an AI learning strategist who has applied artificial intelligence to solve real-world challenges in healthcare and education. From predicting cancer risks in rural communities to improving student success rates through early intervention, Tasker has firsthand experience showing leaders how to harness AI for measurable impact.
In their conversation...
What happens when the playbook for leadership no longer applies? In this thought-provoking conversation, Mahan Tavakoli is joined by futurist Steve Fisher and behavioral scientist Ja-Nae Duane, co-authors of Super Shifts: Transforming How We Live, Learn, and Work in the Age of Intelligence. With decades of experience in executive foresight, systems thinking, and organizational transformation, the duo brings clarity and urgency to w...
Most executives still chase superstar hires, assuming great individuals will automatically form great teams. In this Partnering Leadership conversation, Dr. Vanessa Druskat brings research depth and field-tested experience to make a different case. She is the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest and a leading voice on how team norms drive performance. Her central claim i...
What makes a great CEO today won’t be enough tomorrow. In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with Carolyn Dewar, McKinsey Senior Partner and coauthor of A CEO for All Seasons—a practical, research-backed roadmap for leaders navigating the full arc of CEO leadership. Building on her global work advising top executives and the success of her previous bestseller CEO Excellence, Carolyn offers a candid, timely...
What separates truly exceptional leaders from the rest? According to Kurt Strovink, it’s not just strategy, execution, or decision-making—it’s the ability to lead from within. As a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and a global advisor to CEOs, Kurt has spent decades studying the patterns of the most successful executives. In his latest book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out, he reveals w...
In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with David Gardner—legendary investor, co-founder of The Motley Fool, and author of Rule Breaker Investing. Over the past three decades, David has not only beaten the market—he’s reshaped how long-term investing is understood and practiced.
David’s track record is extraordinary:
- He recommended Amazon in 1997 (up 86,000% since)
- Tesla in 2012 (up 80,000%)
- ...
In this compelling episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli is joined by one of the most sought-after advisors to Fortune 100 CEOs and boards—Ram Charan. Named “the most influential consultant alive” by Fortune, Charan draws on decades of boardroom experience and over 30 books—Execution, What the CEO Wants You to Know, The Amazon Management System, and more—to offer a timely and provocative leadership lens.
As the global env...
In this thought-provoking conversation, former nuclear submarine commander and bestselling author David Marquet returns to the Partnering Leadership podcast to discuss the core ideas behind his new book: Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions. Known globally for Turn the Ship Around, Marquet once again challenges traditional leadership assumptions—this time taking aim at a problem many leaders don’t realize ...
What if the “panic habits” leaders default to are the very things burning out their best people? In this Partnering Leadership episode, Mita Mallick—author of The Devil Emails at Midnight—joins Mahan to unpack practical ways senior leaders can replace performative urgency with clear operating rules that people can trust. You will hear why bad bosses are made, not born, and how pressure from markets, role models, and personal crises...
In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with Ann Hiatt, Leadership Strategist & Consultant and Author of the book Bet on Yourself. Ann Hiatt shared the many lessons she learned while working alongside the world's top tech CEOs—Google's Eric Schmidt, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Yahoo's Marissa Meyer. In addition to the story of her reinvention, Ann Hiatt shared common practices and approaches...
In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with Justin Evans, a seasoned executive and author of The Little Book of Data. With a career spanning leadership roles at major media and tech firms including Microsoft, NBCUniversal, and Paramount, Evans brings a rare combination of commercial acumen and data fluency to the conversation. His insights offer a refreshing—and deeply practical—framework for how senior lea...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
Welcome to the Best Of series on Partnering Leadership.
While many of us take a bit of a breather in July and August, we’re revisiting standout episodes—conversations that are worth hearing again, especially as leadership challenges shift and new moments call for fresh thinking.
I’ve also pulled together 12 of the leadership books I recommend most often—each linked below to my conversation with the author.
Whether it’s your first list...
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