Coaching for Leaders

Will Guidara: Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide

Will Guidara is the former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which under his leadership received four stars from the New York Times, three Michelin stars, and in 2017 was named #1 on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect and now his newest book, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide (Amazon, Bookshop).

Every leader is called to serve people. How we serve people matters. And the way people feel when we are serving matters a lot. In this conversation, Will Guidara shows us how to lead with unreasonable hospitality.

Key Points

• Sometimes magic is just being willing to invest more energy into an idea than anyone else would deem reasonable.
• Service is what you do for people. Hospitality is how you make them feel.
• First impressions matter. Leaders have a key role in setting the standard for this.
• Find a meaningful way to make magical the part of an experience that is normally neglected.
• Identify persistent pain points and address them generously instead of reductively.
• People remember both the peak and final moments of an experience. Stick the landing.

Resources Mentioned

• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide by Will Guidara (Amazon, Bookshop)*
• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Related Episodes

• The Power of Leadership Through Hospitality, with Will Guidara (episode 688)
• How to Bring Out the Best in People, with Donna Hicks (episode 724)
• The Way to Notice People Better, with Zach Mercurio (episode 733)

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Bill Flynn: The Hero Trap

Bill is CEO of Catalyst Growth Advisors and a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches Agency, a global community of the world’s top executive coaches. His writing appears in Harvard Business Review, Training Magazine, and ATD. He is the author of The Hero Trap: The Leader’s Shift from Doing to Designing (Amazon, Bookshop).

As their teams get larger and their titles get bigger, a lot of leaders work longer and harder. If you think about that for a moment, that’s obviously not sustainable. In this conversation, Bill and I explore how leaders recognize – and get out of – the hero trap.

Key Points

• If you keep working harder as your team grows, you may be a victim of the hero trap.
• Leaders fall into the hero trap because they care too much to let things break.
• A key inflection point every leader hits: scale yourself or scale your systems.
• Getting out of the hero trap is about shifting your identity.
• Controllers solve problems. Builders show others how to solve problems. Architects design systems that solve problems.
• Controllers thrive on recognition, urgency, and control. Builders find satisfaction in teaching. Architects find fulfillment in creating systems that outlast them.

Get out of the hero trap through:

• The 10-minute prevention reflex. For new issues, ask, “What’s your first step?” and explain as you solve. For recurring issues, ask, “What would prevent this from happening again?”
• The Netflix test. Test what happens when you take off an hour, a day, or an entire week. Notice what breaks and address the systems to prevent future problems.
• The thinking partnership. Instead of a command and control mindset, invite others to think through problems with you.

Resources Mentioned

• The Hero Trap: The Leader’s Shift from Doing to Designing by Bill Flynn (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• How to Ask Better Questions, with David Marquet (episode 454)
• The Habits That Hold Leaders Back, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 696)
• Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems, with Elizabeth Lotardo (episode 764)

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Leanne Dzubinski: Glass Walls

Leanne Dzubinski is an expert on naming and eliminating gender bias in organizations. She is the Dean of Faculty Development and Global Education at Westmont College and a sought-after speaker, consultant, and expert witness who shares tools and strategies that enable women to thrive and organizations to improve their practices. She is the coauthor, along with Amy Diehl, of Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Most leaders recognize that bias exists in the workplace for many underrepresented leadership groups, including women. In this conversation, Leanne and I explore how devaluation shows up and how leaders can do a better job at removing it from their teams and organizations.

Key Points

• Six bias barriers show up substantially when researching women in the workplace. One of them is devaluation.
• Office housework is a common way that women’s contributions become devalued. Leaders should be conscious of distributing this work to everyone and/or providing a reward structure for doing it.
• Diminishment includes pet names like “girl” and “young lady” that some use to refer to women. This includes removing titles of women in places where they appear for men. Leaders should consider asking how people want to be addressed.
• Benevolent sexism consists of seemingly chivalrous comments and behavior based on stereotypical assumptions about women. Leaders should let women decide what opportunities they participate in and avoid making decisions for them.
• Salary inequality is well documented in research. Salary transparency helps reduce this inequality, and salary reviews also help correct disparities.
• Leaders calling attention to injustice, even through rephrasing inappropriate language, sets the tone for a more supportive workplace.

Resources Mentioned

• Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work by Leanne Dzubinski and Amy Diehl (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• How to Support Women of Color, with Minda Harts (episode 506)
• The Power in Empowering Differences, with Ashley Brundage (episode 548)
• How to Address Bad Behavior, with Nilofer Merchant (episode 779)

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Caroline Webb: Leadership Intelligence

Caroline Webb is a leadership coach, economist, and author of How to Have a Good Day, which has been published in over sixty countries. She has been named one of the top 50 executive coaches in the world by Thinkers50 and is Senior Advisor on leadership to McKinsey & Company, where she was previously a Partner. She is the author of Leadership Intelligence: Science-Backed Strategies for Mastering 21 Everyday Management Challenges (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Leaders are often called on to repair relationships for the benefit of everybody. When that relationship is a key stakeholder, it’s especially important to approach that process intentionally. In this conversation, Caroline and I detail the most important steps to help that repair go better.

Key Points

• Many of us have power, even if it doesn’t feel like it. People with power find it hard to imagine others seeing things differently.
• Perspective-taking helps us open up the doors of possibility to collaborate better, even when our assumptions are wrong.
• A suspension bridge is a powerful analogy for a stakeholder relationship. Both sides must be strong and connected intentionally for the relationship to work.
• The first tower of the suspension bridge is the other party. What could be going on for them that would make their behavior make sense, without assuming bad intent?
• The second tower is you. Label what you’re feeling and get as specific as possible with your emotions.
• Strengthen the connection with cables through appreciation, involvement, and elevation.

To meet in the middle (the deck), these five steps will help in an interaction:

• Intention: share your goal for the relationship.
• Observation: describe what you factually observed without assumption of judgement.
• Implication: explain why you care and what’s concerning you.
• Invitation: ask their side of the story without making assumptions.
• Collaboration: mutually problem-solve how to improve the situation.

Resources Mentioned

• Leadership Intelligence: Science-Backed Strategies for Mastering 21 Everyday Management Challenges by Caroline Webb (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• How to Involve Stakeholders in Decisions, with Eric Pliner (episode 586)
• The Way to Get Noticed by Key Stakeholders, with Daphne E. Jones (episode 614)
• How to Start Better With Peers, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 635)

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Robyn Davis: Exhibit Smarter

Robyn Davis has been advising exhibitors across industries and around the world on the strategies that work at trade shows since 2009. As an award-winning speaker, trainer, and consultant, Robyn is known for her fresh perspective and process-driven approach to exhibitor success. She is the author of Exhibit Smarter: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trade Show Success (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Almost every professional has been to a trade show. A lot of us have represented our organizations at conferences and shows. And many leaders have trade shows somewhere in their portfolios. In this conversation, Robyn and I explore how to help your team engage the right people at these events to ensure the investment you’ve made is worth it.

Key Points

• Prioritize strategic value over vanity metrics and activities. Tactics that get people into your booth aren’t necessarily the ones that line up with the needs of your organization.
• The decisions that organizations make about trade show activities are often heavily influenced by what’s been done in the past.

Use five steps to lead interactions inside your booth:

• Welcome visitors with a targeted question that quickly identifies if a conversation is useful for both parties.
• Create and use a qualification rubric for your team to quickly triage interactions.
• Ensure smooth handoffs to the right party by making a personal introduction and relying on relevant details of whatever conversation has already taken place.
• If the next step is an on-site meeting, make it concise (5-10 minutes) and follow up with a longer interaction later. If demoing a product or service, involve the visitor in the demonstration.
• Close with a thank you, business card, brief review of the notes, next steps, and gracefully saying goodbye.

Resources Mentioned

• Exhibit Smarter: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trade Show Success by Robyn Davis (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• Serve Others Through Marketing, with Seth Godin (episode 381)
• The Reason People Make Buying Decisions, with Marcus Collins (episode 664)
• How High Performers Land New Business, with Matt Dixon (episode 736)

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Priya Parker: The Art of Fighting

Priya Parker is a facilitator, strategic advisor, bestselling author of The Art of Gathering, and executive producer and host of the New York Times podcast, Together Apart. Trained in the field of conflict resolution, she has spent 20 years guiding leaders and groups through complicated conversations about community, identity, and vision at moments of transition. She is the author of the new book, The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Often we assume that good leaders and good teams don’t fight. In this conversation, Priya tells us that, “Fighting is not the death of community. It is its lifeblood.” We explore how to turn conflict into progress.

Key Points

• Even experts who handle group conflict often find it challenging, fearful, and unsettling.
• Becoming a durable, sustainable group does not happen without a fight.
• One of the biggest myths that hold leaders back is that “good” people and “good” groups don’t fight.
• There’s a seniority caveat to conflict. Leaders often confuse what needs to be felt with what needs to be said.
• It’s a lie to believe that “if only” one thing hadn’t happened that conflict would not have occurred. If it wasn’t that, it would have been something else.
• Milestones, transitions, schedule changes, and celebrations are often triggering events for conflict. Instead of thinking, “This is the worst timing,” expect conflict at these times.

Resources Mentioned

• The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict by Priya Parker (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• How to Create Meaningful Gatherings, with Priya Parker (episode 395)
• The Way Out of Major Conflict, with Amanda Ripley (episode 529)
• How to Help Difficult Conversations Go Better, with Sheila Heen (episode 655)

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Sebastian Wernicke: Data Inspired

For over 20 years, Sebastian Wernicke has guided organizations around the world to harness the power of data and AI to achieve breakthrough transformation. His three acclaimed TED Talks have reached over 5 million viewers. He is the author of Data Inspired: Building an Organizational Culture of Inquiry for Lasting Transformation (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

We all have more access to data than ever. That means we should be making better decisions than we ever have before, yes? If only it were that simple. In this conversation, Sebastian and I explore how you can actually use all that data to make better decisions.

Key Points

• Data initiatives don’t necessarily fail, but often do something worse: make your organization stay the same.
• Better data does not automatically result in better decisions. An organization also needs the cultural maturity to be swayed by the data.
• Nobody makes decisions that look like the logical decision-making processes we see in books. In addition, the emotions we put into decisions are actually critically helpful.
• During uncertainty, more data tends to make us more uncertain. Once we’ve decided something, we tend to discount contrary data.
• Decisions are rarely made entirely by one person and heavily influenced by the team or organization’s culture.
• Leaders can help integrate helpful data by saying things like, “I’m looking for data to tell me where I am wrong.”
• Bringing in structure such as written notes or memos before or at the start of meetings can help data be considered before we discount it.

Resources Mentioned

• Data Inspired: Building an Organizational Culture of Inquiry for Lasting Transformation (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• How to Involve Stakeholders in Decisions, with Eric Pliner (episode 586)
• How to Change People’s Minds, with Michael McQueen (episode 676) – contradictory data not swaying people
• How to Lead Engaging Meetings, with Jess Britt (episode 721)

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Stephanie Evergreen: Build a Data Culture

Stephanie Evergreen is a data visualization and design expert. She has trained future data nerds worldwide through keynotes and workshops, for Fortune 500 clients like MasterCard and Facebook and mission-aligned clients like the United Nations, the Boys and Girls Club, AARP, and The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. She has three books and a popular blog on data visualization.

Data: we’ve all got tons of access to it these days. But perhaps almost too much – how do we actually make sense of it and then communicate clearly with it? In this conversation, Stephanie and I explore how a leader can best use data to make their message land.

Key Points

• Many of us are overwhelmed by access to data, but lots of leaders find that much of the data isn’t actionable for increasing performance.
• Because dashboards attempt to answer many questions, they often result in doing a poor job of highlighting a key message or insight.
• Instead of showing every data point you’ve ever collected, use smart formatting to highlight the single thing your team needs to know.
• Decide in advance what the key message of a slide, chart, or presentation should be. Then, design for that clear message.
• Answer the burning question that your audience is likely asking.
• Leaders set the tone for transparency with data that isn’t good news. Encourage and reward hearing the honest story to establish a culture where truth is shared and addressed.

Resources Mentioned

• Build a Data Culture by Stephanie Evergreen
• Why Data-Packed Meetings Miss the Mark (And What to Do About It) by Stephanie Evergreen

Related Episodes

• Performance Measurement That Gets Results, with Stacey Barr (episode 419)
• The Way to Influence Executives, with Nancy Duarte (episode 450)
• How to Respond When You Don’t Have Resources, with Laura West (episode 699)

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Today is the FINAL day to apply for the Coaching for Leaders Academy.

Are you at an inflection point? Apply to the Academy by the of the day today, Friday, September 11th.

Dave shares four words that detail what’s different about leaders who consistently get better – and even THRIVE – and those who don’t.

Are you at an inflection point? Apply to the Coaching for Leaders Academy by Friday, September 11th.

Aiko Bethea: Anchored, Aligned, Accountable

Aiko Bethea is the Founder and CEO of RARE Coaching & Consulting, a leadership development firm that partners with Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, and global organizations to build accountable, values-driven cultures. She is listed as #3 on the list of Top Executive Coaches of 2026 by the Industry Leader and has spent over a decade coaching C-suite leaders across industries, and served previously as deputy director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She is the author of Anchored, Aligned, Accountable: A Framework for Transcending BS and Transforming Our Lives and Work (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

I have seen so many activities over the years to help leaders clarify their values. I have built some of them myself. And most of them, including the ones I’ve built, miss a big question: what do those values actually mean? In this conversation, Aiko and I explore that question in detail to help us all do a better job of staying grounded.

Key Points

• In an era of information everywhere, it’s more challenging than ever to engage our inner awareness.
• An anchor keeps a ship in place during the storm. Our values do the same for us as leaders.
• Values aren’t just decorative. Simply naming a value doesn’t tell us much about what it means.
• Explore the behaviors that come out of labels we use for values. Those behaviors help us better align with others – and ourselves.
• A value label may mean one thing to one person and something entirely different to someone else. Curiosity will help you uncover what really matters to people.
• Beware naming values that are simply aspirational. Instead, zero in on what is actually true for you.

Resources Mentioned

• Anchored, Aligned, Accountable: A Framework for Transcending BS and Transforming Our Lives and Work by Aiko Bethea (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• Leadership in the Midst of Chaos, with Jim Mattis (episode 440)
• How to Discover What Others Value, with Joe Hart (episode 616)
• The Way to Build Collective Power, with Ruchika T. Malhotra (episode 759)

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Academy alum Jen Quammen joins Dave to share how she prioritized showing up at her best when taking on a major leadership role.

Are you at an inflection point? Apply to the Coaching for Leaders Academy by Friday, September 11th.

Pam Manfredo Curtis: The Origin of a Leader

Pam Manfredo Curtis is an executive coach and Founder and President of Manfredo Curtis Associates. Her coaching approach involves mining the hearts and souls and childhoods of her CEO clients so they can reach their full potential—to lead authentically, to achieve extraordinary results, and to forge deep, emotional connections, both professionally and personally. She hosted SiriusXM’s Corner Office Confidential and is the author of The Origin of a Leader: Transforming Family Patterns into Leadership Power (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

All of us get blocked, and when we do, our tendency is to set aside or sometimes to run away from our emotions. Today’s guest invites us to do the exact opposite so we can actually tap into our leadership power. In this conversation, Pam and I explore how to learn more about yourself and to use that insight for good.

Key Points

• A significant predictor of how you show up as a leader is your childhood.
• As you learn about yourself, you realize that everyone else already knows these things about you.
• Create an emotional timeline by drawing a line from birth to today and highlighting the highs and lows of your life’s events.
• It’s significant what shows up on your timeline – and also how the length of the highs and lows relate to each other.
• When you understand how childhood impacts your leadership and who you are as a human being, you see how it affects an essential need as a leader: power.
• By creating a timeline, you will be motivated to change in positive ways, see connections you’ve never seen before, and have more empathy for yourself and others.

Resources Mentioned

• The Origin of a Leader: Transforming Family Patterns into Leadership Power by Pam Manfredo Curtis (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• The Way to Be More Self-Aware, with Tasha Eurich (episode 442)
• Discover Who You Are, with Hortense le Gentil (episode 459)
• How to Discover Self-Awareness Through Enneagram, with Ian Morgan Cron (episode 605)

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Olivia Fox Cabane: The Charisma Myth
Olivia Fox Cabane is one of the world’s leading authorities on the science of charisma and the bestselling author of The Charisma Myth, which has been translated into 27 languages. Previously Director of Innovative Leadership for Stanford StartX, Olivia has lectured on charisma, leadership, and innovation at Harvard, Yale, MIT, the Marine War College and the United Nations. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal and has recently released the revised version of The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Charisma. We all notice leaders who’ve got it. Many of us wish we had more of it. Good news though – like so many leadership skills we talk about on this podcast, you can get better at it. In this conversation, Olivia and I explore how almost anyone can improve their charisma.
Key Points

Charisma is a skill that you can learn and practice.
While some people have natural strengths for charisma more so than others, people are not simply born charismatic. Many just start young.
You don’t have to be naturally outgoing. You can be a very charismatic introvert.
Presence + Power + Warmth = Charisma
Power is the “Can you move mountains for me?” question. Warmth is the “Would you want to move them for me?” question. Presence is the “Are you aware of which mountains I need moved?” question.
A small amount of improvement can make a big difference on how you are perceived.

Three quick tips to improve your charisma:

Lower the intonation of your voice at the end of your sentences.
Reduce how quickly and how often you nod.
Pause for two full seconds before you speak.

Resources Mentioned

The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes

Six Ways to Recover From a Bad First Impression, with John Corcoran (episode 169)
The Way to Make Sense to Others, with Tom Henschel (episode 518)
How to Make a Better Impression on Camera, with Mark Bowden (episode 643)

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Academy alum Dev Baldwin joins Dave to share how he leveraged the power of learning from peers.

Are you at an inflection point? Apply to the Coaching for Leaders Academy by Friday, September 11th.

Simone Stolzoff: How to Not Know
Simone Stolzoff is an author and journalist who explores big questions about work, meaning, and identity. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, his work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on the TED stage. He is the author of How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

I’m not sure about you, but I very much dislike uncertainty. And yet, basically the job of leadership is to not only deal with it but to help others thrive in the midst of it. In this conversation, Simone and I explore how to build your tolerance for uncertainty so you can lead much more effectively.
Key Points

We love certainty and our tolerance for uncertainty is decreasing due to the internet, smartphones, and AI access.
Organizations with higher uncertainty tolerance tend to be more innovative and adaptable.
We assume unwavering confidence breeds credibility, when in fact, research shows that those who admit what they don’t know are perceived as more credible.
Professional athletes have the same threshold for pain but a higher pain tolerance. We can develop a similar tolerance for uncertainty.
Find your anchor points. By knowing the key boulders you can hang onto in a storm, you are vastly better able to weather uncertain times.
Build to learn. Progress depends on uncertainty.
Row through the fog. Maintain faith that you will discover the next step by continuing to row.
Sometimes what we feel is most uncertain is actually more certain than we realize.

Resources Mentioned

How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers by Simone Stolzoff (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes

How to Lead Better Through Complexity, with Jennifer Garvey Berger (episode 613)
Notice Disruption and Innovate Through It, with Steve Blank (episode 761)
The Counterintuitive Secret to Creativity and Focus, with David Epstein (episode 789)

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Neal Schore: The 25th Hour
Neal Schore is the founder and CEO of 25th Hour Group, an executive coaching and leadership events firm. Previously, he served as the founder, president, and CEO of Triton Digital, a global technology, data, and services leader in the digital audio and podcast industry. He is the author of The 25th Hour: How to Thrive (And Gain Ridiculous
Amounts of Time) By Getting Out of Your Own Way (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

No productivity approach can negotiate with physics. How we manage time is really how we manage ourselves. In this conversation, Neal and I explore a key question to help us shift from ordinary to exceptional.
Key Points

Swirling shows up for all of us when we ruminate on an interaction in a way that’s not helpful.
Most people don’t think to ask about others’ intent.
The key question to shift our thinking: “What’s the intent?”
Ordinary thinking goes with the flow. Exceptional thinking pauses and allows us to consider the intent behind the interaction.
To free time each day, pause before responding in a complex situation and ask yourself, “What’s the intent?”
This question becomes powerful when you can ask and answer yourself without needing to say it out loud.

Resources Mentioned

The 25th Hour: How to Thrive (And Gain Ridiculous Amounts of Time) By Getting Out of Your Own Way by Neal Schore (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes

How to Genuinely Show Up for Others, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 590)
How to Help Difficult Conversations Go Better, with Sheila Heen (episode 655)
How to Take Back Your Evenings, with Guy Winch (episode 783)

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Jia Jiang: Easy Discipline
Jia Jiang is an award-winning speaker, entrepreneur, and the bestselling author of Rejection Proof. His TED Talk is among the top 1% most viewed of all time, and he has spoken to over 400,000 people worldwide. He is also the creator of Rejection Therapy, a platform designed to help people overcome fear and build resilience, and is the author of Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

No pain, no gain. We’ve all heard that before – and it’s true that one way to achieve is through a lot of pain. Good news: there are other ways, too. In this conversation, Jia and I explore how to harness the ambition you already have through easy discipline.
Key Points

Pain tolerance is admired and celebrated. When greatness comes through pain, our society cheers it. When greatness comes through loving work, we are suspicious.
Hard discipline and easy discipline both produce results, but easy discipline does so with more joy and sustainability.
Ambitious people often suffer from High Eyes, Low Hands Disease. Higher ambitions create higher expectations that make a gap seem harder to transcend.
In the game of Catan, it’s not the lucky players that win; it’s the most active players. Professional learning follows the same pattern.
The momentum loop is the practice of early action generating greater fuel for later action. Even wrong movements are almost always superior to standing still.

Resources Mentioned

Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things by Jia Jiang (Amazon, Bookshop)*
Jia Jiang’s speaking

Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes

How to Change Your Behavior, with BJ Fogg (episode 507)
How to Get Out of a Rut, with Anne-Laure Le Cunff (episode 747)
How to Help People Flourish, with Marcus Buckingham (episode 778)

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Chris Bailey: Intentional
Chris Bailey is an author and lecturer who explores the science behind living a more productive and intentional life. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject and is the bestselling author of The Productivity Project, Hyperfocus, and How to Calm Your Mind. His newest book is Intentional: How to Finish What You Start (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Starting is often a lot easier than finishing. Our mindsets and our tactics can make a big difference in how far we really go. In this conversation, Chris and I discuss the best ways to finish what we begin.
Key Points

Procrastination is triggered by six characteristics of aversion: boring, unpleasant, frustrating, far off in the future, unstructured, and/or meaningless.
The more we activate the logical centers in our brain, the less aversion we run into.
Almost everything can be more fun if we put the right structure around it. Gamification, countdown timers, and artificial deadlines can drive our behaviors in substantial ways.
Make goals about others. Rather than simply “reading 10 pages,” shift to “reading ten pages to be a better mentor.”
Most of us have a preference for either performance goals or learning goals. Identify which works better for you and for the people you lead.
Define a target pace and map your progress against it. We often do this with organizational projects, but rarely for our own goals.
Pair joyful tasks together with the ones that don’t bring joy as a means to keep you moving.

Resources Mentioned

Intentional: How to Finish What You Start by Chris Bailey (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes

How to Become the Person You Want to Be, with James Clear (episode 376)
How to Change Your Behavior, with BJ Fogg (episode 507)
Make Your Task List Work for You, with Liane Davey (episode 785)

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Ludmila Praslova: The Canary Code
Ludmila Praslova is a Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Vanguard University of Southern California and regularly writes for Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Psychology Today, and Forbes. She’s the recipient of the 2025 Talent Award from Thinker50 and has been named a LinkedIn Top Voice. She is the author of The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

We’ve all seen career paths that sound like this: analyst 1, analyst 2, senior analyst, lead analyst, manager of analysts, etc. Those paths to leadership work for some people, but they don’t work for others. In this conversation, Ludmila and I explore how to create leadership paths that work for everyone.
Key Points

Canaries were used in coal mines because they were more sensitive to early indicators of problems – in a way that helped everyone. The same is often true for neurodivergent leaders in organizations.
The “ideal leader” is a myth. If we are honest, no individual fits the ideal profile.
Having different paths to leadership makes more sense in a complex world. Many of the best leaders are specialists in something.
Instead of looking for “culture fit,” challenge yourself and your organization to do a “culture add.” Neurodiverse leaders can be less susceptible to bias and have higher levels of divergent thinking – huge benefits strengths for many organizations.
In addition to people management, consider paths for leadership that focus strength and skill on system and process, strategy, expertise, though leadership, global leadership, and creative ideation.
Making the workplace more accessible and equitable for one population almost always makes it better for everyone.

Resources Mentioned

The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work by Ludmilla Praslova (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.