The Leadership That Shines Podcast

Osad

• Immigrant Entrepreneur to Private Equity Leader: John Azar on Self-Discovery, Resilience, and Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Vision 22.07.2026 52min

  Immigrant entrepreneur leadership is built differently. When you arrive with no language, no money, and no roadmap, the only option is to build the skill set that no setback can take from you.John Azar arrived in the United States from Syria at 16 years old without speaking English. His family had lost nearly everything. What he brought with him was a mentality his father had embedded early: as long as you have the right education, the right experience, and the right spirit, no one can take anything from you. Decades later, John is the founder of Peak 15 Capital, a private equity platform operating in commercial real estate, president of the board of directors for the college that gave him his first academic foothold, and a leadership coach who works with entrepreneurs, executives, and business leaders across industries.In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis sits down with John for a conversation that moves between personal story and practical framework with the ease of someone who has spent years translating lived experience into usable leadership tools. John does not sugarcoat. He does not deal in five-year plans that measure success in dollar figures. He asks a different question entirely: who are you becoming, and what are you doing right now to show up as that version of yourself?In This Episode:Why John's first coaching question is never about revenue or business size, and what he asks instead to get to the answer that actually changes someone's trajectoryThe reverse engineering framework that helps entrepreneurs and executives start showing up as their future selves today, before the business catches up to the visionWhat the liminal space between finishing one chapter and launching the next actually requires of a leader, and how to stay anchored inside the uncertaintyWhy self-discovery is the only real prerequisite for growth, and what it means to be open to finding out parts of yourself you do not likeHow John went from losing everything in the 2008 financial crisis to building a multi-billion dollar private equity portfolio, and what that rebuild taught him about resilience, timing, and knowing which road to take when it shows itselfJohn Azar also shares why some of the biggest opportunities in business show up not despite downturns but because of them, what he means when he says he wants to lead through inspiration rather than perspiration, and why the best network you could build right now is one you have no reason to think you deserve yet.The Leadership That Shines Podcast exists to bring you real conversations with leaders who have done the hard work, not just the visible work. This episode is a masterclass in what it looks like to lead yourself first so you have something worth offering the people around you.Connect with John Azar:Company: Peak 15 CapitalConnect with John for coaching, mentorship, and private equity inquiries through his professional networkConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.*Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.
• Embracing Doubt and Building Authentic Leadership with Martin Watts 15.07.2026 1t 8min

  Discover how doubt can be a powerful signal for growth and leadership transformation. In this episode, Martin Watts shares his inspiring journey from instability to building multiple successful businesses, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, core values, and cultivating a positive culture in leadership.In this episode:Martin Watts’ story of overcoming childhood trauma and embracing his entrepreneurial spiritThe role of doubt as an intelligent emotion signaling instability and guiding decision-makingHow to distinguish between lag and lead indicators of doubtPractical ways to measure and shape organizational culture through everyday actionsThe importance of authentic leadership rooted in core values and personal integrityStrategies for building healthy teams and fostering a culture of safety and trustThe impact of humility, celebrating wins, and intentionality in leadershipHow to leave a legacy as a leader who listens and confirms the potential within othersConnect with Natalie Davis:  themagic@leadershipthatshines.com  Leadership That Shines InstagramFacebookSubstack
• Organizational Culture: Maladaptive Patterns Leaders Cannot See 08.07.2026 57min

  Structural burnout is about diagnosing the problem at the right level. Therapist, former arts executive, and founder of Meaning in Practice Ashley Gibson joins Natalie Davis on the Leadership That Shines Podcast to introduce the clinical framework she has built to help organizations finally understand what is actually driving burnout and what leaders are perpetuating without realizing it. What You Will Learn In This Episode: Why wellness spending is up 400% and burnout is still rising, and what that tells us about where we are diagnosing the problem The Maladaptive Organizational Copy Process: what it is, where it comes from, and why it explains patterns that individual interventions cannot touch The two axes of Ashley's framework: affiliation and interdependence, and why the "we're all a family here" culture often scores hostile on both How the nervous system shapes organizational culture , and why leaders model more than they know Why patterns, not one-offs, are what every leader needs to be examining in their team culture right now The questions Ashley's free ten-minute assessment asks, and what the answers reveal about where structural burnout is hiding in your organization Timestamps: 00:00 — Welcome and introduction to Ashley Gibson 01:15 — Hamilton, arts management, and the first lesson in intent vs. impact 05:16 — Why the people who care the most burn out the fastest 08:21 — The career pivot: from executive to therapist and why it made perfect sense 11:01 — You cannot outgrow a broken system — what that statement means and where it came from 15:30 — Pattern-level assessment: what your org says it rewards vs. what it actually rewards 17:21 — The connection between organizational culture and structural burnout 18:19 — Nervous system science and how co-regulation shows up in team culture 23:35 — The Maladaptive Organizational Copy Process explained: affiliation, interdependence, and introject 25:19 — The "we're all a family here" trap and why it scores low on both axes 34:31 — Why the leader sets the behavioral pattern — even when they do not mean to 44:39 — Pattern recognition: when is it a bad day vs. a structural problem? 49:17 — Closing reflection and what leaders can actually do from where they stand 51:10 — How Ashley wants to be remembered as a leader Connect with Ashley Gibson:  Substack: Meaning in Practice, Ashley C. Gibson  Free assessmentConnect with Natalie Davis:  themagic@leadershipthatshines.com  Leadership That Shines InstagramFacebookSubstack Subscribe so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. 
• Natural Authority in Leadership: Natalie Bouchard on Returning to Center 01.07.2026 55min

  Leading from your center is not a mindset shift. It is a nervous system skill most leaders never learn, and the cost of skipping it shows up everywhere from the boardroom to the home.In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Natalie Bouchard, mindset coach and former Bob Proctor consultant, for a conversation about what happens when a high-achieving leader's external life collapses and what becomes possible on the other side of that collapse. After three decades of personal development work, twelve healing designations, and a thriving consulting practice, Natalie Bouchard lost a long-term relationship, hundreds of thousands of dollars in a business scam, and her health, all within the same season. What she discovered underneath the wreckage became the foundation of the work she does now.Natalie Bouchard's central distinction is the difference between knowledge and participation. You can study leadership, regulation, and personal development for years and still be fundamentally disconnected from your own internal authority. This episode unpacks what that disconnection looks like, why it shows up disproportionately in high-performing women, and what it actually takes to return to center under real pressure.In This Episode:• Why holding space without making the moment a problem is the skill that separates leaders who stay grounded under pressure from leaders who fragment• The difference between knowledge and participation, and why decades of personal development work did not protect Natalie Bouchard from disconnection• What fragmentation looks like in a leader, where it shows up first, and why it often goes undetected for years• How Natalie Davis's own event was hacked mid-session and the real-time example of holding space versus reacting from fragmentation• Why transparency with the people you lead, including your own children, is one of the most powerful tools for breaking inherited patternsThis conversation moves between the personal and the practical, and listeners walk away with language for something many high-performing leaders feel but have never been able to name.Connect with Natalie Bouchard here.Free resource: Be Unfuckwithable, a free three-day experienceConnect with Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.*Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.
• Community-Driven Leadership with Harrison Beecher 24.06.2026 48min

  Community-driven leadership is not a tagline for Harrison Beecher, it is the operating system behind everything he does. From co-founding Coalition Properties Group, which has served over 2,000 families and surpassed one billion dollars in sales across seven years, to serving as President of the DC Association of Realtors and Vice Chair of the NAR Young Professionals Network, Harrison has built a career on one core belief: nothing bad happens when you make your road bigger.In this episode, Harrison sits down with Natalie Davis to talk about what it actually takes to lead across multiple arenas simultaneously, a growing brokerage with three equal partners, 37 agents, and five full-time staff; a deeply engaged local community in Washington DC; and a national stage inside organized real estate. He does not make it sound easy. He makes it sound worth it.The conversation covers the origins of Coalition Properties Group, the nine-month process of vetting a three-partner structure before signing, and what happened when the 2022 and 2023 markets forced a hard reset. Harrison shares the daily huddle cadence he resisted before he saw it working, the blind copy system that brings his entire team along on real client conversations, and the framing skill he calls his leadership superpower.In This Episode:● Why Harrison calls community a "hack" for accomplishing more, and how to reduce the friction that keeps people from building it● The origin story of Coalition Properties Group: how a Georgetown friendship, a chance meeting at a bar, and a nine-month vetting process became a billion-dollar team● What three equal partners actually looks like in practice: the strengths, the challenges, and how they make decisions when two of three say it's time to move● The daily huddle Harrison resisted and now credits with changing the trajectory of his newer agents● How blind-copying his entire sales team on real client emails has transformed how he trains without adding time to his schedule● What he means when he says his leadership superpower is framing and contextualizing; and where he is still working to get better● How Harrison wants to be remembered as a leaderAbout Harrison BeacherConnect with Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.*Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.
• Belonging in Leadership: Chrysta Bairre on Authenticity, Curiosity, and Showing Up Whole 18.06.2026 55min

  Belonging in leadership is not a policy, it is a practice. And Chrysta Bairre has spent over a decade building the evidence for that, first through her own story as a late-diagnosed autistic, disabled, queer woman who grew up in poverty, and now as the founder of She Goes High, a speaker, and an author working to help women and non-binary leaders show up fully in every room they enter.In this conversation, Chrysta and Natalie go deep on what authentic leadership actually requires, not as a buzzword, but as a daily, sometimes uncomfortable commitment. Chrysta shares what it cost her to mask for years in professional spaces, what changed when her body made masking no longer possible, and what she now knows about the cognitive and human toll of hiding parts of yourself in order to be accepted.This episode is for any leader who has ever left a piece of themselves at the door before walking into a room and for anyone in a leadership role who wants to understand what it truly takes to create an environment where others do not have to.In This Episode:● Why masking and code-switching drain cognitive resources that belong to your growth and your work● The two qualities, vulnerability and curiosity, that every leader needs to build genuine psychological safety on their team● How a leadership fail with a high-performing employee taught Chrysta that curiosity is always the first move, never assumption● Why imposter syndrome and burnout are predictable outcomes of performative leadership and how to interrupt that pattern● Chrysta's challenge to every listener: identify the part of yourself you have been hiding, and find one room this week to let it be presentConnect with Chrysta Bairre: She Goes High Community Live Love WorkConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.*Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.
• Career Growth in Leadership: Courtney Intersimone on Curiosity, Courage, and Seeing Your People 10.06.2026 1t 5min

  Career growth in leadership does not begin with a title or a plan. For Courtney Intersimone, it began with saying yes to things she was not sure she could do and discovering that figuring it out was the skill all along.Courtney spent 26 years in financial services, ultimately leading a global HR team of 200 people at a 50,000-person organization. She never planned to stay that long. She never planned to lead that many people. And for years, she actively avoided managing others, calling herself, with full self-awareness, a reluctant leader. What changed was not ambition. It was a mentor who refused to let her play small, and a series of assignments that forced her to lead before she felt ready.In this conversation, Courtney shares what it truly takes to lead people well at scale from the non-negotiable practice of the one-on-one meeting to the art of having honest career conversations with people whose aspirations may not match the current moment. She talks about what she learned watching senior executives up close early in her career, why getting curious about human behavior will do more for your leadership than any MBA, and what it cost her to stay out of her own way long enough to finally start her own firm.Four and a half years into running her executive coaching and consulting practice, Courtney works with leaders who have achieved the title, landed the role, and are now asking, now what? She meets them in that exact moment and helps them figure out what comes next.In This Episode:● Why making yourself available in a one-on-one is not optional and what "present" actually means in that room● How to have honest career conversations with ambitious people even when you do not have the answer they want to hear● What Courtney's mentor did that she credits for unlocking her best leadership years and how to apply it to the people you lead right now● The mindset shift that made leaving a 26-year career not just possible but necessary● Why the only real security available to any of us is the belief that we can figure things outConnect with Courtney IntersimoneConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.*Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.
• Stop Trying to Feel Like a Better Leader: Matt Johnson on Systems, Structure, and the Autopilot Principle That Builds Teams That Run Without You 03.06.2026 49min

  Systems-based leadership is not a shortcut. It is the only way a team can keep moving when you are not in the room and Matt Johnson has spent over a decade building the proof for that inside his own agency.Matt is the founder of Get Micro Famous, a done-for-you production and strategy firm that helps coaches, speakers, and thought leaders launch and sustain flagship video shows. He runs a remote creative team of 12 to 15 people and leads the entire operation in less than four hours a week. That number is not a flex. It is the result of a decade of systems-building, habit installation, and the willingness to remove himself from every decision that did not require him.In this conversation, Matt brings a genuinely unconventional lens to leadership, one shaped by growing up a preacher's kid, spending his life as a musician, and building a business while managing undiagnosed narcolepsy for 25 years. The result is a framework for leadership that has nothing to do with motivation or recommitment cycles, and everything to do with structure, stability, and showing up the same way every single time.This episode is for every entrepreneur who is still the center of every decision, every communication, and every fire and who knows, deep down, that the business cannot scale from there.In This Episode:● Why good systems matter more than hiring rock stars and what that means for every B and C player on your team● The "I do it, we do it, you do it" model that builds both competence and buy-in without throwing people into the deep end● How Matt dismantled the guilt-recommitment cycle that keeps most leaders stuck on an emotional loop● The musician's mindset that redefined how Matt thinks about leadership: pros practice until they cannot get it wrong● One practical step any leader can take this week to start building systems using the tools already available to themConnect with Matt Johnson at getmicrofamous.comConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠and ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.
• Calling, Culture, and Running Your Own Race with Dana Gentry Roach 27.05.2026 55min

  In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Dana Gentry Roach, USA Today bestselling author, 20-year real estate veteran, multi-market center owner and operator, and Senior Culture Advisor for Keller Williams Realty. Dana's story is one of the most honest leadership journeys you will hear: from spray tanning strangers at the University of Kentucky to becoming one of the most trusted voices on culture, calling, and what it actually takes to build a life that compounds.Dana did not set out to lead. She set out to sell. What changed everything was a moment at a microphone in a room full of 500 Keller Williams agents when a mentor she had never met asked her one question that exposed the ceiling she had been building for herself. From that moment forward, Dana has been in the business of staying in rooms that stretch her, following the Four Cs model before she knew it had a name, and leading from a place of realness over rightness.In This Episode:Dan Sullivan's Four Cs model: why commitment comes before credentials, capabilities, and confidence, and why every leader who has ever jumped before they were ready has been living this modelThe power of proximity and why getting into the right rooms, and staying in them, has compounded Dana's leadership, wealth, and relationships over two decadesWhy companies with strong cultures raise their bottom line by 756% according to the most recent Harvard study, and what that means for every leader building a team right nowThe one question that transformed Dana and her husband Adam's marriage and applies directly to how leaders show up for their teams: do you want me to fix it or feel it?How Dana went from winging everything to hitting number 14 on the USA Today bestseller list with her debut book, Restore: 90 Days of Intentional LivingDana also shares what it means to be the person who figured out how to stay in the rooms, why people leave leaders before they leave companies, and what Craig Groeschel's line, people would rather follow a leader that's real than a leader that's right, has meant to how she leads every day.Connect with Dana Gentry Roach:Book: Restore: 90 Days of Intentional LivingConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠Substack ⁠and ⁠LinkedIn⁠Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.
• Losing It All and Leading From Brokenness with Nicole Rueth 23.05.2026 57min

  Faith-led leadership is not a softer way to lead. For Nicole Rueth, it is the only thing that rebuilt her after losing everything.In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Nicole Rueth, top mortgage lender, real estate investor with 60 doors and two commercial buildings, and one of the most honest voices on what it takes to lead through total collapse and come out with more clarity than you had before.Nicole built her career from the ground up. Raised by a single mom who modeled grit as survival, Nicole climbed from bookkeeping to producing 400 million dollars in mortgage volume. Then, in one of the most turbulent periods in real estate history, she got fired twice in one week, lost her team, lost her brother in a freak accident, and had to face the question every high-performing leader eventually has to answer: if my worth is not in my volume, then who am I?What she found on the other side of that question is the foundation of everything she now teaches.In This Episode:Why tying your self-worth to your production volume is the most dangerous thing a leader can do, and what Nicole rebuilt her identity on after losing bothThe three-step leadership framework Nicole now runs her team, her business, and her life through: mindset, action, and give backHow the emotional economy is shifting and why leaders who lead with empathy and connection are outperforming leaders who still lead with data and volumeThe morning routine Nicole runs starting at 3 a.m. that sets the foundation for every decision she makes as a leader and a lenderWhy saying no to more things is how Nicole went from grinding at 400 million in volume to building something she actually wants to leadNicole also shares the quote inside her Bible that drives everything, why she wants to leave it all on the field, and what that phrase means now compared to what it meant when she was sprinting.Connect with Nicole RuethConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠Email: ⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠Newsletter: Flamingo Files on Substack and LinkedInListen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.
• Service, Accountability, and Showing Up as Who You Are 13.05.2026 45min

  Authentic leadership does not come from a title, a certificate, or a checklist. It comes from knowing who you are, owning that fully, and showing up in service of others without shrinking. In this episode, Natalie Davis sits down with Jodi Wright — U.S. Navy veteran, case manager, community advocate, author, and MPH candidate at UNC Gillings — for an honest conversation about what it means to lead from your core, no post-nominals required. Jodi has spent her life giving back. From military service to probationary case management to a Safe Roads, Safer Communities initiative launching in Pennants Lane, Virginia, her leadership is not theoretical. It is lived, daily, in the spaces most people overlook. She is also releasing her debut book, Belle Haven — a deeply personal work about awakening, healing, and stepping into who you are meant to be. What makes this conversation stand out is Jodi's unflinching clarity on accountability. In her work with individuals navigating real consequences, she holds a judgment-free space and asks a simple, direct question: who are you, and how do you plan to move forward? That same standard applies to every leader listening. In This Episode: ● Why Jodi believes you do not need post-nominals to lead and the hill she will die on ● What Belle Haven is about, who it is for, and why Jodi pulled it back from publication before it was ready ● The accountability conversation that Jodi facilitates in her classes and why it is always the first step ● How she manages a full life across military service, graduate school, community work, authorship, and motherhood — held together, in her words, with duct tape ● How Jodi wants to be remembered as a leader — and the lane she is creating for others to follow Jodi closes with a message every leader needs to hear: the table is not a four-by-four. It is endless. Grab your chair, fold it out, and take a seat. New episodes every Wednesday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.Connect with Leadership That Shines:Website: l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠
• Leadership Legacy: The One Thread That Connected Every Guest 06.05.2026 26min

  Leadership legacy is not built from titles, products, or platforms. The leaders who have walked through the doors of the Leadership That Shines Podcast so far have made that undeniably clear.In this solo reflection episode, host Natalie Davis pauses to celebrate a milestone, over 5,000 downloads from the first few episodes, and does something more important: she pulls back to examine what the guests have actually been teaching us. Across four conversations with Jim Carlough, Savio P. Clemente, Justin Knoll, and Nicole Johnston, the same qualities and themes keep surfacing. Not because the guests coordinated. Because great leadership runs on the same foundation regardless of the industry, the title, or the story.Natalie walks through the themes she has identified, shares her own honest reflections on self-sabotage, solitude, and showing up, and reveals the one question she now asks every guest at the close of every episode, and the answer that keeps stopping her cold.In This Episode:The difference between builders and operators, and why knowing which one you are changes everything about how you leadWhy your old operating system will not carry you into the next version of your leadership, and what Savio P. Clemente's 29 days in a hospital room taught us about rebuildingHow Nicole Johnston's framework for self-sabotage made Natalie identify the exact moments she has gotten in her own wayThe one thread that connected all four legacy answers, and why not a single guest mentioned what they built, their title, or what they left behindWhat impact, influence, and growth actually look like when they are lived out by real leaders in real circumstancesThis episode is for every leader who has been paying attention and wants to know what it all means.Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: leadershipthatshines.comEmail: themagic@leadershipthatshines.comNewsletter: Flamingo Files on Substack and LinkedInListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday.
• Leadership Visibility: How Women Stop Being Overlooked and Start Getting Promoted 29.04.2026 52min

  Episode 8Leadership visibility is one of the most misunderstood skills in a woman's career, and Nicole Johnston has spent 30 years figuring out exactly why.Nicole Johnston is a women's excellence and leadership speaker, TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Taboo Topics, and a certified coach who spent three decades in consumer products at companies like Procter and Gamble, Kimberly Clark, and Hershey Foods. She was often the only female sales leader in the room. What she saw there shaped everything she now teaches.In this episode, Natalie Davis and Nicole Johnston go deep on the real reasons women get passed over for promotions, underpaid without knowing it, and burned out before they ever get the recognition they have earned. This is not a surface-level conversation. It is a direct, data-backed, and actionable look at the patterns holding women back and what to do about them.In This Episode:Why promotions are based on the perception of leadership potential, not task completion, and why that distinction changes everything about how you show up at work.The 720 hours per year of invisible, non-promotable work women carry at home and in the office, and why it is directly connected to burnout and career stagnation.How to identify your self-sabotaging behaviors and use role play, journaling, and audio recording to build the muscle memory for difficult conversations before you ever have them in real life.The difference between a coach, a mentor, and a sponsor, and why women who do not build sponsorship relationships are consistently left out of the rooms where decisions get made.Executive communication skills that shift how leadership sees you, including what clear, concise, and compelling looks like in practice and why women are socialized to communicate as doers, not leaders.Nicole Johnston's book, Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About But Don't, is available now. Each chapter addresses a real workplace challenge with practical next steps, including email templates for asking for a raise and tools for identifying the mental load you carry.Connect with Nicole Johnston:Instagram: @nicolejohnstonspeaksLinkedIn: Nicole JohnstonConnect with Leadership That Shines:Website: ⁠www.l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠
• Integrity in Leadership: Jim Carlough on the Six Pillars That Build Unshakeable Teams 22.04.2026 1t 3min

  Integrity in leadership is the center pillar. Without it, everything else collapses. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Jim Carlough, leadership identity archetype, author, mentor, and speaker, for a direct, practical conversation about the six pillars that define how great leaders build loyal, high-performing teams.Jim has spent over four decades in healthcare and leadership. He has mentored professionals for 25 years. His book, a 164-page, no-theory leadership roadmap built entirely from lived experience, is earning near-perfect ratings on Goodreads and Amazon from readers in countries across six continents. His workshops are helping accidental managers, founders, and executives reduce voluntary attrition and build the kind of psychological safety that makes people want to stay.In This Episode:Why most organizations create accidental managers, and what that costs them within 18 to 24 monthsThe six non-negotiable leadership pillars: integrity, compassion, empathy, stability, focus, and humorThe question Jim has asked himself every night since 1983, and why it has kept his voluntary attrition rate below 5%How to tell the difference between compassion and empathy, and why a leader has to know when to use eachWhy humor is not a soft skill but a strategic tool that humanizes leaders and builds psychological safetyJim's framework is not theory. Every story in this episode is real, every principle is tested, and every one of the six pillars is something a leader can start applying within 14 days.Connect with Jim Carlough:Website: jimcarlough.comBook: The Six Pillars Of Effective Leadership: A Roadmap to Success
• Adaptive Resilience in Leadership: Savio P. Clemente on What Comes After the Crisis 15.04.2026 51min

  Episode 6Adaptive resilience in leadership is not about surviving the crisis. The real test begins the moment the crisis ends, and your old operating system no longer works.In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, board-certified wellness coach, and two-time cancer survivor, for a conversation about what it means to lead through adversity, reclaim your identity on the other side, and build the kind of resilience that goes beyond recovery.Savio has interviewed over 2,500 thought leaders, executives, and changemakers in the fields of human behavior, resilience, and leadership. His work sits at the intersection of lived experience and research-backed frameworks. After 29 days in the hospital following a relapse of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2024, Savio emerged with a deeper understanding of self-regulation, metacognition, and what it means to lead when everything around you has changed.In This Episode:Why most leaders lose ground after a crisis, not during it, and what to do about itThe difference between resilience and adaptive resilience, and why the distinction changes how you leadSavio's Aloha Reboot framework, a seven-minute practice for reconnecting with yourself under pressureHow metacognition, the thinking of your thinking, gives leaders a psychological edge in high-stakes situationsWhy silence and stillness are not soft skills; they are performance tools for leaders at every levelThis conversation is for leaders who have made it through something hard and are still figuring out who they are on the other side. Savio brings both the research and the receipts.Connect with Savio P. ClementeThe Human Resolve Substack NewsletterWebsiteTEDx Talk: Seven Minutes to Wellness, How to Love Your Inner StrangerNew episodes every Wednesday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.Connect with Natalie & The Leadership That Shines Team:Website: ⁠www.l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠
• Leading With Impact: Justin Knoll on Trust, Building Great Teams, and Knowing When to Walk Away 08.04.2026 50min

  Episode 5Leadership impact is built in the small, repeated moments. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis sits down with Justin Knoll, fourth generation REALTOR, former brokerage leader, co-founder of a real estate tech startup, and one of the most respected leadership voices in the Colorado real estate industry. What starts as a conversation about real estate quickly becomes one of the most honest leadership training conversations this show has delivered.Justin brings 26 years of leadership experience across corporate and independent brokerage environments, a framework for building trust that helped his organization win top workplace awards five consecutive years, and a deeply personal story about recognizing when the thing you built is no longer the thing that fills you.In this episode you will learn:The three pillars Justin used to build award-winning workplace culture: safety, full potential, and vision, and how to apply them to any team or organization regardless of size or industryWhy "fine" is one of the most telling words a leader can hear from their team and what to do the moment you hear itThe builder versus operator distinction that every leader needs to understand about themselves before they burn out doing the wrong job wellHow Justin coaches leaders through self-sabotage using the most disarming and effective question in leadership: what are you willing to let go ofWhy you cannot want someone's growth more than they want it for themselves and how to lead with that understanding without losing your own energy in the processWhat "fail cheap and fail fast" looks like in a real estate leadership context and why narrow focus is the most underused leadership strategy in business todayHow getting your hands in the dirt, literally, gave Justin the grounding and clarity to find his next chapter and why every leader needs a version of that resetThe legacy question every leader should ask themselves: do the people who know you best respect you the mostThis episode is for professionals, founders, solopreneurs in any industry as well as real estate leaders who are ready to lead with greater clarity, build stronger teams, and make the kind of decisions that align with who they actually are.New episodes every Wednesday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.Connect with Leadership That Shines:Website: www.l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠
• Growing Your Influence: What Ryan Leak's Chasing Failure Teaches Every Leader About Taking the Next Step 01.04.2026 23min

  Leadership growth requires doing the thing you are most afraid to get wrong. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis digs into one of the most honest leadership conversations you will have this week, built around the book Chasing Failure by Ryan Leak and what it reveals about the real reason leaders stay stuck.This episode started taking shape during the Leah Johnson guest conversation, where Natalie began unpacking her own relationship with the fear of success, not the fear of failure itself, but the deeper, quieter fear of who you become and what changes when you actually arrive at the thing you have been working toward. That thread runs through every minute of this episode.Ryan Leak's framework gives leaders a clear look at why failure is a teacher that success will never be, what the difference is between failing and quitting, and why the comfort zone is not a safe place, it is a comfortable prison.In this episode you will learn:Why the fear of failure is rarely about failure itself and almost always about the shame and judgment of others watching you not succeedWhat safe problems are, how leaders create them, and why they feel real even when they are notThe self-awareness question every leader needs to ask: what is it like to be led by me on a hard day, and why the honest answer will change how you show upHow the three ABC hurdles, authority, budget, and comparison, are the most common reasons leaders talk themselves out of the next right stepWhy comparing your internal narrative to someone else's highlight reel is one of the most damaging leadership habits you can carryWhat fail cheap and fail fast means in practice and why it is one of the most strategic decisions a leader can makeHow the ultimate measure of leadership success has nothing to do with title, fame, or fortuneNew episodes every Wednesday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.Connect with Leadership That Shines:Website: l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Email: ⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out the ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠
• Success, Addiction and Authentic Leadership with Leah Johnson 18.03.2026 53min

  Episode 2Leah Johnson speaks on Healing, Owning Your Story, and Showing Up as You AreLeadership looks different when you stop performing it.In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natnat sits down with Leah Johnson, former elected official, creative spiritual mentor, author of Finding Fantastic Joy, and founder of the Her Voice Rising community. Leah spent 25 years in politics driven by something she did not fully understand until everything became too heavy to carry: an addiction to success rooted in the belief that love and worthiness had to be earned.What followed was one of the most honest leadership stories you will hear on this show. Leah walked away from a reelection campaign, withdrew from politics publicly, rebuilt herself quietly, and emerged as a leader whose entire mission is giving women permission to show up as exactly who they are.In this episode you will learn:Why leadership ownership is the hardest and most necessary skill any leader can develop, and what it actually looks like when you practice itHow the addiction to success quietly erodes your leadership, your health, and your ability to show up for the people who need you mostWhat Leah learned after 25 years in politics about the difference between performing leadership and practicing itHow burnout, chronic depression, anxiety, and the pressure to prove something are signals that your leadership needs to look different, not disappearWhy authentic leadership requires unlearning the rules society placed on you long before you ever stepped into a leadership roleHow creativity, storytelling, and community become tools for healing and growing as a leaderWhat Leah's Her Voice Rising event is building for women who are ready to reconnect with their voice and lead from a place of genuine alignmentThe one piece of advice Leah carries from her 25 year career that every leader in this audience needs to hearThis episode also opens up a raw and honest moment between Natalie and Leah as the conversation surfaces Natalie's own relationship with the fear of success, what keeps the motor running, and why the most important leadership work happens in the private seasons nobody sees.Connect with Leah Johnson:Website: www.findingtasticjoy.comSocial: @findingtasticjoyHer Voice Rising Event on June 26th 8:30 A.M.-6:30 P.M.Connect with Leadership That Shines:Website: l⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠Email: ⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠Substack ⁠and ⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠YouTube⁠Check out the ⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent in the State of Colorado. Her license is with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC.
• Leadership Training for Leaders, Solopreneurs, and Founders: Welcome to the Leadership That Shines Podcast 08.03.2026 19min

  Episode 1This is episode one of the Leadership That Shines Podcast and host Natalie Davis wastes no time getting into what this show is, who it is for, and why it exists.In this episode you will learn:What Leadership That Shines is and how Natalie built it over 10 years as a speaking, coaching, and consulting company serving professionals, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, executives, and foundersWhy the flamingo is the Leadership That Shines logo and what the specific attributes of the flamingo teach us about leadership development, self-leadership, and consistent growthHow the three core values of Leadership That Shines, impact, influence, and growth, run through every course, every coaching engagement, and every episode of this podcastThe personal story behind why Natalie started Leadership That Shines in 2015 after a defining season of loss, self-discovery, and the decision to build a company around the impact she knew she was meant to createHow the Reignite Resilience Podcast, now over 275 episodes and in its fourth season since launching in 2023, laid the foundation for this next chapterWhat listeners across every level of leadership, from aspiring leaders to C-suite executives, solopreneurs, and household CEOs, will find every Wednesday when a new episode dropsThis episode airs on International Women's Day, March 8th, 2026. That date is not a coincidence. It is a reflection of everything Leadership That Shines stands for.New episodes every Wednesday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.Connect with Leadership That Shines:Website: leadershipthatshines.comEmail: themagic@leadershipthatshines.comNewsletter: The Flamingo Files on Substack and LinkedInInstagramFacebookYouTubeCheck out the Magical Mornings JournalNatalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent in the State of Colorado. Her license is with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC.
• Welcome to the Leadership That Shines Podcast 27.02.2026

  Leadership training. Leadership development. Weekly tools for leaders who are ready to grow. The Leadership That Shines Podcast launches soon, bringing you practical leadership coaching, emotional intelligence strategies, and real execution frameworks designed for professionals, founders, and solopreneurs who want to lead with clarity, grow their influence, and build greater impact every single week.Hosted by Natalie Davis, founder of Leadership That Shines, each episode delivers the kind of leadership development content that moves you from self-awareness into consistent action. Whether you are managing a team, building a business from the ground up, or learning to lead yourself first, this podcast was built for you.Every episode is anchored in three values: impact, influence, and growth.Subscribe now and be the first to know when the Leadership That Shines Podcast goes live.Cheers!