Partnering Leadership

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli is joined by Alan Gregerman, innovation advisor and author of The Wisdom of Ignorance: Why Not Knowing Can Be the Key to Innovation in an Uncertain World. Gregerman has spent his career helping organizations rethink what expertise is, how innovation really happens, and why the answers leaders rely on can quietly become their biggest obstacles.

Alan’s core argument is simple bu...

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Selena Rezvani invites leaders to rethink some of the most deeply ingrained assumptions about modern management. Drawing from her new book Quick Leadership and years of work with top-performing organizations, Selena challenges CEOs and senior leaders to examine the hidden forces shaping their teams’ behavior—especially the unspoken power dynamics that still drive command-and-control culture...

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli hosts Andrea Sampson, an expert in strategic storytelling and the co-founder of Talk Boutique. Andrea Sampson talks about the fascinating intersection of brain science and storytelling, emphasizing why humans are hardwired to respond to stories. As an experienced speaker's coach for TEDx Toronto and a thought leader in her own right, Andrea shares her journey from the ad...

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli sits down with Sangeet Paul Choudary, one of the world’s leading thinkers on digital strategy, platforms, and the future of value creation. Sangeet is the author of the acclaimed new book Reshuffle: Who Wins When AI Transforms the Knowledge Economy, a work that reframes how leaders must think about artificial intelligence—not as a tool for faster workflows, but as a force tha...

What if the greatest risk to your organization isn't economic uncertainty, market volatility, or disruptive technology—but the decisions being made in your own boardroom?

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with Didier Cossin, IMD professor and global expert in board governance, whose book High Performance Boards has become a must-read for senior leaders looking to elevate board effectiveness. Drawin...

What if creativity isn’t a gift possessed by a few—but a skill every leader already has? In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli sits down with Tessa Forshaw and Rich Braden, co-authors of Innovation-ish: How Anyone Can Create Breakthrough Solutions to Real Problems in the Real World. Drawing from their work at Stanford and Harvard, they share how innovation is less about genius and more about discipline, collabora...

In this thought-provoking episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli sits down with futurist and strategist Dr. Mark van Rijmenam to explore how leaders can thrive in an era defined by exponential change. Known for his sharp insights into emerging technologies and their impact on society, van Rijmenam shares a grounded yet urgent view of the transformation reshaping every aspect of our world—from business and education to gov...

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli engages in a powerful conversation with Lior Arussy, renowned author, speaker, and expert in organizational transformation and customer experience. Lior is the author of the thought-provoking book Dare to Author: Take Charge of the Narrative of Your Life. In this episode, he brings his compelling insights to life, challenging leaders to rethink how they approach storytelling,...

What if the greatest leadership blind spot isn’t about people at all, but about the space between them?

In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Mahan Tavakoli speaks with Jim Ferrell, renowned leadership thinker and author of You and We: The Relational Rethinking of Work, Life, and Leadership. Known for co-authoring the international bestseller Leadership and Self-Deception, Ferrell’s latest work shifts the lens from managing indi...

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...