Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future

Guest: Ruth Milligan

Your expertise may earn you a seat at the table, but it doesn’t guarantee anyone will remember what you say.

Executive communication coach and TEDx pioneer Ruth Milligan joins Maureen Metcalf to explain why accomplished leaders struggle to influence a room, especially when their command of the subject tempts them to share too much. The audience rarely needs everything you know. It needs one consequential...

Guests: Jim Ritchie-Dunham, Annabel Membrillo & Ana Claudia Goncalves

Why do organizations hire capable people, then squeeze them into systems that prevent them from contributing their best?

Jim Ritchie-Dunham, Ana Claudia Goncalves, and Anabel Membrillo join Maureen Metcalf to examine the invisible agreements that shape organizational culture, employee engagement, and business performance.

Drawing on a multiyear transformation...

Guest: Paul Gibbons 

Why do intelligent leaders approve sound change initiatives, then struggle to turn them into action? 

In this episode, host Maureen Metcalf speaks with Paul Gibbons, organizational change expert and author of The Science of Successful Organizational Change. Drawing on behavioral science, philosophy, and decades of business experience, Paul explains why facts and rational arguments ...

Guest: Manfred Kets de Vries

Every executive has experienced it.

A strategy looked sound. The data was convincing. The leadership team agreed. Yet the outcome still fell short.

Why?

According to renowned leadership scholar Manfred Kets de Vries, the answer isn't in the strategy itself, but in the psychology of the people making decisions.

In this thought-provoking episode, Maureen Metcalf sits down with one of the world's foremost ...

Guest: Cindy Wigglesworth

Can leaders continue to grow after mastering emotional intelligence?

For years, leadership development has emphasized IQ and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) as essential capabilities. But there is another dimension that separates good leaders from truly exceptional ones.

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf welcomes Cindy Wigglesworth, founder of Deep Change and creator of the groundbreaking SQ21® Spiritual Intel...

What if your organization's leadership shortage isn't a talent problem, but a leadership job design problem?

Many organizations are investing heavily in leadership development while watching their leadership pipelines grow weaker. Why? According to Gallagher's latest research, talented employees are looking at leadership roles and deciding they don't want them.

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with Steve Dion, National Manag...

Guests: Dave DuBose & Will O’Brien

What if your labor shortage isn't really a hiring problem?

When workers are scarce, the conventional responses are predictable: raise wages, offer bonuses, hire earlier, add temporary labor, and hope you make it through the next peak. But what if those tactics are treating the symptoms while leaving the real problem untouched?

Supply chain leaders Will O'Brien and Dave DuBose join Mauree...

Guests: Greg Moran & Christopher Washington

What if your organization's biggest competitive disadvantage isn't your strategy; it's how long it takes to turn insight into action?

Many leadership teams are filled with smart, experienced people, yet they still struggle to respond quickly to problems. The issue is rarely the quality of their leaders. It's the system those leaders are working within.

In this episode, Dr. Christopher...

Guests: Scott Dresser & Sandy Gordon, Amazon VPs

As organizations race to adopt AI and automation, many leaders are asking the wrong question. The challenge isn't how to deploy better technology. It's how to build human-centered systems that allow people and technology to thrive together.

In this special episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with two Amazon executives responsible for making one of the world's most complex organizatio...

Guest: Mats Alvesson

If your organization is full of smart people, why does it keep making bad decisions?

In this thought-provoking episode, Maureen Metcalf and Christopher Washington are joined by Professor Mats Alvesson, one of the world's leading organizational scholars and author of The Stupidity Paradox.

Alvesson introduces the concept of “functional stupidity”—the tendency for intelligent individuals and org...

Guests: Brian Ahearn Chief Influence Officer

Many leaders believe their job is to deliver results, not to be liked. But what if that assumption is limiting their effectiveness?

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf welcomes back Brian Ahearn to explore the leadership power of liking and reciprocity. Drawing on decades of research in influence, Brian explains why people are more willing to support leaders they trust, how small acts of ...

Guest: Holly Sullivan, Amazon VP of Worldwide Economic Development

What happens when leadership decisions affect not just an organization, but entire communities?

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with Holly Sullivan, Vice President of Worldwide Economic Development at Amazon. Holly oversees initiatives that influence billions of dollars in investment, workforce development, infrastructure, and community partnerships across t...

Guests: Christopher & Sheila Cooke

Today's leaders face a paradox: the problems confronting organizations are increasingly complex, yet the leadership approaches we've relied on for decades are producing diminishing returns.

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf is joined by Christopher and Sheila Cooke, founders of Five Deep and pioneers in the study of human emergence, developmental leadership, and systems awareness. Together, the...

Guest: Howard Hochhauser, CEO, Ancestry

Many organizations are rushing to embrace AI, launch new initiatives, and pursue growth. But in the process, they’re losing sight of the very things that made them successful in the first place: their mission, their customers, and their identity.

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf sits down with Howard Hochhauser, CEO of Ancestry, to explore how he helped return the company to growth by r...

Guest: Brian Ahearn, Chief Influence Officer

Most leaders assume their biggest challenge is strategy. In reality, the greater challenge is getting people to willingly move with you.

In this episode, Maureen Metcalf speaks with persuasion expert Brian Ahearn about the psychology of persuasion and why ethical influence has become one of the defining leadership capabilities of our time.

Drawing on the work of Dr. Robert Cialdini, Bria...

Guest: James Taylor, Supercreativity author

In this thought-provoking episode, we sit down with global creativity and innovation expert James Taylor to explore one of the defining leadership questions of our time:

As AI automates more routine work, what becomes uniquely human — and uniquely valuable?

James introduces the concept of “super creativity”: the amplification of human creativity through collaboration wit...

Guest: William Smoyer, MD

Healthcare is approaching a breaking point: costs are rising faster than inflation, outcomes remain inconsistent, and the current model is no longer sustainable.

In this episode, Dr. William Smoyer, Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, shares a breakthrough approach called “Learn from Every Patient.” Instead of separating research from...

Guest: Maria Angel Ferrero, CEO, Makia Labs

Most organizations are investing heavily in AI, but very few are seeing meaningful results

In this episode, Maria Angel Ferrero challenges one of the most dangerous assumptions leaders are making today: that adopting AI tools is enough to drive transformation. It isn’t.

As Maria makes clear, tools don’t change organizations; systems driven by people do. We explore why compan...

Guest: Mike Morrow-Fox, PhD

What if avoiding conflict is the very thing holding your team back?

Most leaders believe great teams minimize workplace conflict. But the reality is far more uncomfortable…and far more powerful.

In this episode, returning guest Mike Morrow-Fox breaks down why one negative team member can reduce productivity by up to 40%, why “bad apple” behavior spreads faster than positive influence...