In this episode of Qonversations, Brian Gorman sits down with leadership author and advisor David Liddell and President of Liddell Consulting explore what happens when leadership shifts from managing effort to cultivating meaning, alignment, and energy. Through stories from manufacturing, healthcare supply chains, and leadership practice, the conversation surfaces a tension many organizations feel but struggle to name: people are busy, capable, and well-intentioned, yet disconnected from purpose, clarity, and shared outcomes.
Rather than treating this as an engagement problem to fix, Brian and David frame it as a wisdom challenge: helping people understand why their work matters, how success is defined, and where their energy is best applied. They explore moving beyond activity metrics to meaningful outcomes, the role of sense-making and unlearning in leadership, and why people commit differently when the human impact of their work becomes visible.
As organizations move beyond Industrial-Age assumptions about control and productivity, this episode offers a grounded look at leadership guided by wisdom, not just intelligence, for those who sense that work is changing, even if the language for what’s emerging is still taking shape.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
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.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.