Human Capital Leadership

In this podcast interview, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Samantha Baltadonis about her book, The Quantum Blueprint: Align Your Energy. Unlock Your Power. Lead With Purpose. Samantha Baltadonis is an Organization Development practitioner, transformation coach, and systems strategist who bridges personal transformation with leadership and organizational excellence. Her signature system, Quantum Strategy, empowers human-centered leadership and business practices. With more than a decade of experience leading transformational change in one of the top Fortune 500 companies, Samantha specializes in blending energy, strategy, and execution to create regenerative change. Her work contributes to the next evolution of leadership, blending systems thinking, energetics, and strategy to redefine how influence is understood and applied in a dynamic world. She is also the best-selling author of The Quantum Blueprint.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Kristina Wright about being more human in the hiring process.

Kristina Wright is a senior leader in higher education and career development, dedicated to ensuring every student has an accessible path to a fulfilling career. As the Director of Career & Professional Development at the Gies College of Business, she leads an integrated team focused on implementing the Career Ecosystem Framework—a structured model that moves beyond "career everywhere" as a concept by embedding career readiness across curriculum, student experiences, and employer partnerships. Under her leadership, classroom integration has expanded by 60%, curriculum has been aligned with labor market insights, and equitable access to career education has been scaled to serve all 3,900 students. With a data-informed, innovative approach that leverages AI resources, competency-based learning, and deep corporate engagement, Kristina is reshaping how institutions prepare students for the evolving world of work.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Cheryl Yuran about the intersection of internal culture and external mission shape how you lead.

Cheryl Yuran is a community builder. That's to say, she's long mastered the skill of ensuring every voice in the room is heard and considered without losing sight of the bigger picture. It's a skill that serves her well in her current role as Chief Human Resources Officer for Absorb Software. Before joining Absorb Software, Cheryl served as CHRO at Plex Systems, falling in love with the software industry while leading the cloud-based manufacturing solution provider's HR and people strategy. Prior to Plex Systems, Cheryl held senior HR roles across multiple industries and disciplines. The common thread among her roles has been a close tie to business operations and enabling success. Cheryl loves to unwind spending time with friends and family, going to new restaurants, concerts and cheering on the Michigan State Spartans at nearly any sporting event. Cheryl holds a Bachelor of Arts in employee relations and psychology from Michigan State University.

In this podcast episode, I talk with Guy Berger about new data that suggests that immigration policy is slowing the jobs market. See Homebase's Main Street Health Report here: https://www.joinhomebase.com/data/september-2026-main-street-health-report

Guy Berger is a macroeconomist with expertise in US labor markets. Aside from his role as Chief Economist at Homebase, he is currently Senior Advisor on Labor Markets at Access/Macro. He was previously the Principal Economist at LinkedIn, and has also worked as an economist at Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Scotland. His work includes the creation of novel economic indicators, the development of models linking the macroeconomy to business performance, and the design of economic reports. His commentary has been featured frequently in the media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Marketplace, CNBC, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, and Axios. Guy holds a doctorate in economics from Yale University.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Bradley Hamner about moving from from rainmaker to architect of your business.

Bradley is the founder and CEO of BlueprintOS, creator of The S.C.A.L.E. Assessment, author of S.C.A.L.E, and host of the Above The Business Podcast. He guides small business owners doing between $300K to $3M in annual revenue to transition from being the Rainmaker – where everything depends on them – to becoming the Architect of a scalable, self-sustaining, and profitable business. The ultimate outcome? Business owners have a successful business that creates the freedom and flexibility they desired from the start.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Lea Greene about her book, "Don't React, Act: Business Crisis Communication Made Simple."

Lea Greene spent her Air Force career telling the truth on deadline. As a broadcast journalist for American Forces Network, she reported from Korea, Germany, Bosnia, and Iraq. She later served seven years as a base spokesperson with final release authority over worldwide RQ-4 Global Hawk operations. Today she helps business leaders stay human, think clearly, and build trust in an AI-driven world. She owns Top Ten Communication and she teaches AI to business owners, chambers, and public information officers. Her message to leaders is short. Every hard moment is a communication moment. The tools keep changing. The trust problem does not.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Leslie Holman about unlocking innovation in your organization.

Leslie Holman believes there is a better way to live, lead, and work—and she’s spent the last 13 years proving it. As the Owner & CEO of Pinnacle Performance Group, she leads a boutique consulting firm that helps organizations turn bold plans into recognized value. Prior to Pinnacle, Leslie spent many years watching companies who had strategies, but no way to execute on them. Enter Pinnacle, where her team partners with executives to ensure strategy becomes tangible, measurable outcomes across the business. Leslie’s deeper purpose took shape when she purchased Pinnacle with a vision to transform it into a living experiment in a more human, sustainable way of working. After years in corporate and consulting environments where excellence often demanded personal sacrifice, she set out to design a model where people could do meaningful, high-impact work without breaking themselves in the process. Today, Pinnacle operates as a whole-person, future-of-work laboratory—demonstrating that exceptional results come from honoring the full humanity of the people doing the work.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Brandon Matthews about creating a culture where people love coming to work!

Brandon Matthews is helping organizations build workplace cultures where people feel valued, inspired, and fully engaged. He has worked with global brands including Apple, Whirlpool, and AT&T, as well as small organizations helping people love the work they do, where they do it, and who they do it with. Brandon is also the host of The Mind Your Business Podcast. He is known for his practical, engaging, and humor-driven delivery style.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Dr. Lee Bowes about the jobs report and slowing hiring.

Dr. Lee Bowes is the Chief Executive Officer of America Works, a private workforce development organization founded in 1984. She joined the company in 1987 and co-developed the "Work First" theory, which emphasizes private-sector employment as the primary path out of poverty. Founded in 1984, America Works is a national workforce development organization committed to delivering real jobs, real support, and real results. With more than 30 million clients serving across 50+ states, America Works helps job seekers overcome employment barriers through rapid placement, individualized support, and employer partnerships. The organization places clients on average in about seven weeks and maintains a retention rate of more than 70%, reflecting its performance-based approach to workforce success. Learn more at https://www.americaworks.com/about.

In this podcast interview, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Ganzorig Ulziibayar about turning strategy into results.

Ganzorig grew up herding on the Mongolian steppe, the same landscape that produced history's most effective strategists. He pursued fifteen years of independent research into the subconscious foundations of strategic judgment. He became a CEO at twenty-seven and has spent two decades building companies and teaching strategy. He is a Founder of the Education Reform Movement, the founding chairman of Mandal Financial Group, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and Founder of the World Financial History Museum, which houses more than one thousand artifacts spanning two millennia.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Eric Saylors about how AI is a "cognitive acid test" for leaders.

Eric Saylors is the author of Quantifying a Negative (2015), Sense Making in Risk Assessments (2022), and The 7-Year Active Shooter Study (2026). He is a Fire Chief with over 30 years of experience and holds a Doctorate in Leadership from the University of Southern California. In addition to serving as Product Lead for HEN Technologies, Eric currently serves as Fire Chief of the El Cerrito–Kensington Fire Department, having previously spent 25 years with the Sacramento City Fire Department. Over the course of his career, he has served in every rank from firefighter/paramedic to Fire Chief, including engineer, captain, battalion chief, and assistant chief. His operational experience includes assignments on ambulances, fire engines, ladder trucks, a Type 1 HazMat team, and a heavy rescue unit. He has responded to and managed a wide range of incidents, including high-rise fires, large commercial fires, wildland-urban interface incidents, basement fires, and balloon-frame construction fires. Prior to joining executive leadership, he served as Battalion Chief 1 in downtown Sacramento, one of the busiest operational areas in the region. In addition to his doctorate, Chief Saylors holds two associate degrees, a bachelor’s degree in finance, and a master’s degree in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. He regularly consults with fire departments nationwide on active shooter response, leadership development, succession planning, and post-incident analysis, and has published more than twenty articles on homeland security and fire service topics.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Larry Durham about his new book, The Judgment Void: How AI Is Dismantling the One Human Capability It Cannot Replace.

Larry Durham is President of St. Charles Consulting Group and a recognized leader in enterprise learning and talent development. Over 30years, he has partnered with large professional services firms and Fortune 500companies to build innovative talent solutions that deliver measurable results. Before founding St. Charles, Larry spent a decade at PwC as Learning Practice Leader within Human Capital Advisory Services. He is also co-author of The Talent-Fueled Enterprise.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Kathi Enderes about The Josh Bersin Company roadmap for the embracing of agentic AI into HR by 2030.

Kathi Enderes is Senior Vice President of Research and a global industry analyst at the human capital advisory firm The Josh Bersin Company, the world's largest community for HR. She has over 20 years global experience in human capital, talent and performance management, and change management from consulting with IBM, PwC and EY and industry, working with companies of various sizes, from Fortune 50 companies to start ups, in multiple industries including technology and healthcare, and leading research on all topics of HR, talent and technology. She is passionate about making work better and more meaningful.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Randy Lyman about why smart leaders keep getting the same results.

Randy Lyman is a physicist, entrepreneur, and leading expert in emotional intelligence and service-based leadership. He has built and scaled multiple successful companies, including an Inc. 500 firm, and brings decades of proven experience in business growth, innovation, and high-performance team leadership.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Keith Metcalfe about why AI's productivity promise isn't materializing.

Keith Metcalfe, President at Acorn, is a 25-year enterprise software operator with a practical lens on scaling organizations through skill development, not just technology for its own sake. At Acorn, his philosophy centers on tying learning and performance management together, making sure that technology adoption improves capability and backs up top-down promises with measurable, positive outcomes.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Benji Wiedemann and Alex Lampe about driving organizational change from within.

Benji Wiedemann is co-founder and Executive Creative Director at brand and business consultancy Wiedemann Lampe. He brings over two decades of experience to helpbrands and organizations unlock cultural impact at scale. Alongsideco-founder Alex Lampe, Benji created Lemonade, an enterprise-grade digitalplatform designed to enhance collaboration and communication between teams,businesses, and communities throughout the creative process, drivingdeep-rooted and meaningful business transformation.

Alex Lampe is co-founder and Executive Strategy & Innovation Director at brand and business consultancy Wiedemann Lampe. He brings over two decades of experience in building brands, digital ecosystems and tools that help organizations unlock transformation through design thinking, innovation, service design, and experiential design, while crafting and protecting their unique cultural identities.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Rebecca Homkes about why uncertainty is the defining leadership skill of this decade.

Dr. Rebecca Homkes is high-growth strategy specialist and the founder of a boutique consultancy firm, advising CEOs and executive teams focused on growth and success through uncertainty. She is a Faculty at Duke Corporate Executive Education, Lecturer at the London Business School (LBS) Executive Education, Advisor and Faculty at BCGU (Boston Consulting Group), and previous Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE)’s Centre for Economic Performance. Dr. Homkes is also the director of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) global Active Learning Program (ALP); a former partner with GrowthX, a Silicon Valley investment ecosystem and innovation consultancy; and the faculty lead of fintech scaleup accelerators. A global keynote speaker, she is a member of several advisory boards, directed the joint McKinsey & Co and LSE Centre for Economic Performance Global Management Project from 2007-2014 and has regularly been featured in Harvard Business Review, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, and Forbes.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Luis Garcia about personalized adaptive workplace learning and assessment.

Luis Garcia is a seasoned international executive with over 25 years of experience in technology, digital media, and education. He specializes in driving new ventures and products to rapid growth by building effective teams that harness innovation, technology, and creativity to solve complex problems. He is the president of PETE, an Orlando-based tech startup that offers a suite of cost-effective and customizable solutions that enable organizations to deliver personalized workforce learning at scale. The PETE team is dedicated to harnessing the power of AI to help organizations of all sizes optimize their training initiatives, spanning from onboarding to regulatory compliance, product knowledge, technical skills, and more, without hiring additional training resources.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Tom Ulbrich about the intersection between for-profit and non-profit organizations and leadership.

Tom Ulbrich is an entrepreneur, educator, speaker, author, social sector CEO at Goodwill of Western New York, a member of the Forbes Non-Profit Council and Executive in Residence for Entrepreneurship at the University at Buffalo School of Management. He is an entrepreneurial leader with broad-based management experience in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. His passion for social innovation is focused on nurturing strong relationships and building consensus across diverse groups of stakeholders in the academic, for-profit, non-profit and government sectors.

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In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Derrick Mains about returning to the fundamentals of leadership.

Derrick Mains is an Emmy Award-winning content creator, four-time author, operations podcaster with more than 160,000 monthly listeners, and optimization consultant renowned for his pioneering work in process engineering, design, and transformation. Mains work spans more than 20 years and 150 companies across nearly every industry, from early-stage companies on through the Fortune 10. Mains approach melds essentialism with a keen focus on human-centric system design, emphasizing the need for regular audits, reflection, and reinvestment to achieve optimization. Mains believes that all organizational systems share a fundamental purpose: transforming the input of resources into value, through outputs. He highlights how, without active management, systems degrade, leading to inefficiency and value and margin fade. His philosophy underscores the criticality of understanding the interconnectedness of systems and their natural progression towards entropy.

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