The Leadership Project Podcast

Think you had a busy month but didn’t move the needle? We unpack why progress often feels invisible and how to make it tangible by changing small behaviors that create big ripples. This solo cast stitches together January’s standout insights on culture, pressure, change, influence, and feedback—then turns them into simple moves you can apply within 24 hours.

We start with a hard truth from Bill Benjamin: your culture is re...

What we often call “communication problems” are really clarity problems. Leadership communication coach Salvatore Manzi breaks down why smart ideas stall, why meetings favor fast talkers, and how leaders can make messages land, be remembered, and drive action. From start to finish, this episode focuses on practical moves you can try today.

We explore hidden biases that shape conversations: delay bias that sidelines reflective thinke...

Change rarely fails because people don’t care; it fails because we misunderstand what drives behavior. With author and change leadership expert Huw Thomas, we dig into the real forces underneath stalled transformations: loss aversion, identity threats, and the quiet stories we tell ourselves that keep us clinging to the status quo. From childhood curiosity to adult routines, we unpack how our wiring prioritizes safety, why we catas...

When tension spikes, leaders don’t rise to the occasion; they fall to their default. Today we dig into those defaults with Bill Benjamin, co-author of The Last 8%, and unpack why smart, well-intentioned people either blow up or go quiet when it matters most—and how to do better without losing your edge.

We start by naming the two patterns that quietly define culture under pressure: the messmaker who reacts with heat and th...

A new year doesn’t need a louder pep talk; it needs a clearer compass. We start 2026 by trading resolutions for direction and building a plan around identity, not intensity. Through honest reflection on 2025—what made us proud and what quietly drained us—we sketch a practical framework to design a year you’ll be proud to live, not just survive.

We walk through four anchors that hold everything in place: health and energy, ...

Forget the “new year, new you” slogans. We trade hype for honesty and design a year that actually fits your values and energy. We start by reframing 2025 with a pride audit: the tough moments you handled with more grace, the people you helped, and the places you chose integrity over convenience. That grounding matters because leaders often spot gaps faster than growth, and without pride, we keep chasing the next milestone without e...

Audacity isn’t about being wild; it’s about taking bold risks that are worth it for the season you’re in. We sit down with three‑time Emmy Award‑winning sports broadcaster and author Anne‑Marie Anderson to unpack how leaders can move from second‑guessing to decisive action without ignoring reality. Anne‑Marie shares the simple test she uses to separate worth‑it risks from reckless moves, and why the outcomes you fear are almost nev...

Strategy isn’t supposed to live in a slide deck. It should breathe in daily choices, team rituals, and the way people talk about their work. We sit down with Hans Lagerweij, author of The Why Whisperer, to unpack why 95 percent of employees can’t state their company’s strategy—and what leaders can do to fix it without adding more meetings or more slides.

Hans introduces the Six C’s of execution—clear communication, consist...

Leadership lives in the moments people spend with you—every check-in, every decision explained, every hard conversation you choose to have. To celebrate 300 episodes, we pull together the clearest patterns from hundreds of leaders, psychologists, authors, and operators and turn them into practical moves you can use tomorrow.

We start with meaning. People don’t just want a job; they want to know why their work matters and w...

What kind of leader are you becoming: one who earns trust or one who enforces compliance? We take a clear-eyed look at leadership through four lenses—service, courage, resilience, and inclusion—drawing on highlights from Steve Fortunato, Jim Fielding, Kijuan Amey, and Stephanie Chung to turn big ideas into practical actions you can use this week.

Steve’s insights on service and storytelling show why facts inform but storie...

What if the most powerful thing you did as a leader was to stop talking? Stephanie Chung—trailblazing aviation executive and author of Ally Leadership—joins us to show how silence, better questions, and intentional design turn diversity into decisions people own.

We start with the hard truth: diverse teams win, but only when every voice is heard. Stephanie shares how she navigated a male-dominated industry and distilled wh...

What would you do if you woke up and the world was dark? Kijuan Amey, an Air Force in‑flight refueling specialist with a promising path to the cockpit, opened his eyes after a crash to find he’d lost his sight. The story that follows isn’t about platitudes—it’s about rebuilding a life through faith, gratitude, and the unglamorous work of learning every step again.

We dig into the pivotal shift from “why me” to “why not me,...

Feeling the pressure to have all the answers? You’re not alone. Mick Spiers sits down with Jim Fielding—former senior executive at Disney, Fox, and DreamWorks, and author of All Pride No Ego—to explore why modern leadership rewards curiosity over certainty. Together, they unpack how to build teams that think bravely, speak freely, and perform under pressure.

Jim takes us inside his pandemic pivot from corporate operator to coach and...

What if the fastest way to unlock performance isn’t to lead louder, but to host better? We sit down with best-selling author Steve Fortunato to rethink leadership through the lens of hospitality—not the restaurant kind, the human kind. Steve reveals why so much “look at me” leadership creates a vicious cycle of entitlement, and how the host mindset flips the script to “look at you,” building trust, engagement, and shared ownership....

What if the hardest leadership skills are the most human ones? We pull together a month of conversations and share a playbook for leading with presence, purpose, and care—so people don’t just survive at work, they come alive. From micro moments that create mattering, to authentic leadership that fits like your own skin, to change communication that removes uncertainty, to feedback that is firm and compassionate, the thread is clear...

What if the toughest conversation on your calendar is the very thing that unlocks respect, growth, and retention? We sit down with leadership expert and best-selling author Jeff Hancher to demystify feedback and turn a dreaded chore into a repeatable system for building high-trust, high-performance teams.

Jeff shares a clear framework for setting expectations and choosing the right feedback style for the moment: directive ...

Change hits like a wave, and most teams feel it first as fear. We sat down with M&A veteran John Martinka to unpack how to turn that fear into focus when ownership or leadership shifts. Our conversation gets practical fast: reframing uncertainty, rewarding continuity, and communicating with a steady cadence even when legal guardrails limit what you can say.

We walk through the three‑legged stool of trust across employe...

What if leadership isn’t about pushing harder on performance, but about showing up with presence that energizes people and elevates outcomes? We sit down with Dr. Matt Poepsel—psychologist, Boston College professor, host of Lead the People, and author of Expand the Circle—to rewire how we think about leading in a world of AI disruption, remote ambiguity, and rising burnout. Matt shares how he moved from a “rubbish manager” copying ...

What if the key to motivation and well-being isn’t finding your purpose, but first believing you’re worthy of having one? Zach Mercurio returns to The Leadership Project with a powerful insight: “It is almost impossible for anything to matter to someone who doesn’t first believe that they matter.” He explains why many self-help books and engagement programs fall short — because they overlook the human need to matter and feel signif...