The Leadership Project Podcast

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• 325. Leadership Is Cultivation: Creating the Conditions for Greatness with Mick Spiers 03.06.2026 12Min.

  What if the real job of a leader isn’t to get people to do what you want, but to create the conditions where people can do their best work? I’m reflecting on the biggest leadership lessons from this month’s conversations and pulling the common thread that ties them together: stop chasing control and start designing an environment where clarity, trust, and ownership can actually grow. We start with communication and culture, because every culture begins with what people hear, understand, and ...
• 324. Brave Together: Leading Through Curiosity and Co-Creation with Chris Deaver 27.05.2026 1Std. 9Min.

  If your leadership strategy still depends on being the smartest person in the room, AI is about to make that a painful game to play. We sit down with Chris Deaver, culture shaper, leadership coach, former HR leader with experience at Apple, Disney, and Pixar, and co-founder of Brave Core, to talk about what actually scales now: bravery, co-creation, and the skill of leading with questions. We unpack why fear is normal in a fast-changing world and how the “loss equation” fuels resistanc...
• 323. Neurodiversity at Work: Unlocking Hidden Strengths with Wainwright Yu 20.05.2026 50Min.

  What if the person you’re frustrated with at work isn’t lazy, careless, or “not leadership material,” but simply stuck in an environment that works against how their brain operates? That question sits at the center of my conversation with Wainwright Yu, a senior technology executive and leadership coach who specializes in neurodiversity and cognitive diversity. We get personal quickly, starting with the moment an employee disclosed ADHD during a performance conversation, and the gut-punch of ...
• 322. Communication as a Verb: Building Trust and Culture with Alejandra Ramirez 13.05.2026 48Min.

  If you have ever walked out of a town hall thinking “we were crystal clear” only to hear your team say “we still don’t get it,” you’re not dealing with a motivation problem. You’re dealing with a communication and trust problem. Mick Spiers sits down with Alejandra Ramirez, internal communication strategist and founder of Ready Cultures, to show why leadership communication shapes organizational culture, and why culture is not a noun you describe but a verb you practice. We dig into what mak...
• 321. Beyond Strategy: Why Leadership Is A Human Challenge with Mick Spiers 06.05.2026 15Min.

  The hardest leadership problems rarely announce themselves as “leadership problems.” They show up as weight you carry in silence, conversations you keep postponing, success that still feels empty, and a loud inner voice that says you’re not ready. I step back and connect the biggest lessons from this month of The Leadership Project into one practical thread: leadership is human before it is tactical. We talk about the pressure that builds quietly over time and how strength is not carrying ev...
• 320. The Surprising Gift of Doubt: Leadership Lessons with Marc A. Pitman 29.04.2026 1Std. 9Min.

  That quiet voice saying “I’m not good enough” shows up for almost every leader, even the ones who look the most confident from the outside. Mick Spiers sits down with world-renowned leadership coach Marc A. Pitman, author of The Surprising Gift of Doubt, to unpack why self-doubt and imposter syndrome are so persistent and how they can actually point you toward growth, alignment, and better leadership decisions. We dig into the stories we tell ourselves and how confirmation bias turns those s...
• 319. Stop Chasing Happiness: Leadership, Love, and the Myth of Success with Anthony Silard 22.04.2026 1Std. 19Min.

  What if the promotion, the praise, and the “big win” you’re chasing isn’t actually the thing you’re looking for? We sit down with Anthony (a professor and leadership researcher focused on relationships, loneliness, and sustainable leadership) to challenge a stubborn assumption in modern work culture: that success and outcomes are the path to happiness. We dig into why leaders get trapped by results, even though results live outside our control. Anthony offers a practical shift: focus on the ...
• 318. The Last 8% Culture Map: High Care, High Accountability with Bill Benjamin 15.04.2026 55Min.

  Your culture isn’t what you say in calm moments. It’s what your team experiences when tension rises, deadlines slip, and someone has to tell the truth. We sit down with returning guest Bill Benjamin, co-author of The Last 8%, to move from individual stress behaviors to the bigger question leaders wrestle with: what happens to your culture when things get hard? Bill shares a simple, powerful way to diagnose any team culture using two dimensions that decide everything people do under pressure:...
• 317. The Weight of Leadership: Presence, Perspective, and the Power of Reframing with Hank Minor 08.04.2026 1Std. 4Min.

  Leadership has a hidden cost we do not talk about enough: the quiet pressure of being the person everyone leans on while you wonder who you can lean on. Hank Minor joins me for a deeper conversation about the inner world of leadership, the emotional load leaders carry, and the moment the role starts consuming the person. Hank brings a rare mix of experience as a former counseling psychologist, a longtime CEO in a multigenerational manufacturing business, and a leadership mentor who now works ...
• 316. The Invisible Barriers Holding Your Team Back with Mick Spiers 01.04.2026 19Min.

  Have you ever looked at a team that’s working hard and still thought, “Why are we not moving?” That gap rarely comes down to talent. I’m reflecting on the biggest leadership lessons I heard across three very different conversations this March and the pattern is blunt: what holds people back is usually interference. Fear. Hesitation. Labels that shrink what someone thinks they’re allowed to try. Assumptions nobody has challenged in years. I connect the dots between innovation, cognitive scien...
• 315. Leading Through the Heat: Leadership Lessons with Fire Captain Mark Andrew 25.03.2026 52Min.

  When leadership gets real, titles stop mattering and habits take over. Fire Captain Mark Andrew joins me to share what he’s learned leading in the fire service, where trust, communication, and decision making aren’t abstract leadership ideas. They are the difference between a smooth operation and a dangerous one. We dig into why so many people are promoted without real leadership training, then fall back on outdated models they inherited from the leaders before them. Mark walks me through a ...
• 314. Innovation Hesitation: Why Smart People Hold Back with Rich Braden and Tessa Forshaw 18.03.2026 56Min.

  Most innovation programs don’t fail because people lack talent. They fail because people hesitate. That hesitation is subtle: the moment someone decides they’re “not creative,” the moment a team rushes to certainty, the moment a leader rewards only the safe answer and accidentally trains everyone to stop trying. I’m joined by Rich Braden and Dr. Tessa Forshaw, co-authors of Innovation-Ish, to break down why everyday creativity gets trapped behind limiting beliefs, social fear, and a handful ...
• 313. Rethinking Innovation: A Human-Centric Approach with Bruce Vojak 11.03.2026 58Min.

  Want more than buzzwords and brainstorms? Mick Spiers sits down with innovation authority Bruce Vojak to explore how real breakthroughs actually happen. His message is clear: innovation is a human act first. It comes from curious people who challenge assumptions and reframe problems. From the evolution of the carrot peeler to a billion-dollar innovation at Procter & Gamble, this conversation shows how deep user understanding drives real change. Bruce also shares a practical playbook for l...
• 312. Less Control, More Conscious Influence: The Leadership Shift We Need Now with Mick Spiers 04.03.2026 15Min.

  Feeling busy yet strangely stuck? We pull together a month of conversations to reveal a clearer path: lead with conscious influence, not control. Across three standout themes—self-leadership, emotional fitness, and meeting design—we show how small, intentional choices create outsized cultural ripple effects. We start by reframing where leadership lives: not in titles or dashboards, but in behavior and micro moments. Tracy Clark’s lens on self-awareness challenges us to look for where we unin...
• 311. Your Best Meeting Ever: How to Fix Broken Meetings with Rebecca Hinds 25.02.2026 1Std. 6Min.

  What if your calendar isn’t a badge of honor but a map of wasted potential? We sit down with Rebecca Hinds, PhD and author of Your Best Meeting Ever, to challenge the idea that more meetings mean more value—and to rebuild meeting culture from the ground up. Rebecca unpacks the visibility bias that equates busyness with status, explains why meetings multiply when clarity disappears, and shows leaders how to design time together like a product with purpose, users, and measurable outcomes. We d...
• 310. Pulse: Empathy as Your Leadership Edge with Melinda McCormack 18.02.2026 49Min.

  Disconnection doesn’t usually explode—it leaks in through a thousand tiny moments until voices go quiet and energy fades. We sat down with leadership futurist and change strategist Melinda McCormack to chart a path back: a practical, human way to lead with empathy that drives performance without sacrificing people. Melinda shares her personal journey through loss alongside high-stakes corporate change, revealing how trauma and bias can make even the strongest leaders feel small and unseen. F...
• 309. From Bottleneck to Catalyst: Unlocking Leadership Potential with Tracy Clark 11.02.2026 52Min.

  Ever feel like your team has more to give—and you can’t quite unlock it? We dig into the uncomfortable truth that many leaders become bottlenecks without meaning to, then map a path to becoming a catalyst who unlocks energy, ownership, and momentum. With award-winning leadership and high performance coach Tracy Clark, we examine why strategy and skills (the “trunk”) only go so far, and how deeper work in mindset, self-awareness, and identity (the “roots”) drives real, sustained results. Trac...
• 308. From Good Intentions to Real Impact in Leadership with Mick Spiers 04.02.2026 17Min.

  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 revealed under pressure. When stress spikes, untrained emotional intelli...
• 307. Finding Your Voice: Overcoming Communication Fears with Salvatore Manzi 28.01.2026 57Min.

  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 thinkers, the spotlight effect that inflates self-judgment, and the...
• 306. The Change Playbook: Adapting and Thriving with Huw Thomas 21.01.2026 49Min.

  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 catastrophize the unlikely, and how a few practical shifts can rest...