Personal and Leadership Development

The top leaders are continual learners, always seeking to improve their capabilities and develop themselves in order to achieve winning results. These guests want to help you keep growing and learning.

Episode #48: Leader, Lead Thyself with Jack Groppel

Self-care is absolutely essential for everyone, and top leaders tend to be the most likely to let recovery time slip away in their demanding lives. Jack Groppel, author of The Corporate Athlete and professor at Judson University, explains why leaders set the tone for the whole culture by prioritizing their own needs. From co-founding the human performance institute at Johnson & Johnson to summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro with his 12-year-old son, Jack shares from his deep knowledge about how leaders can inspire their people by meeting their own needs first.

Episode #46: Practical ways to grow as a leader with Kevin Wilde

There are many resources out there to help leaders grow and develop, but it turns out that most significant growth occurs through challenges. In this episode, executive leadership expert Kevin Wilde offers tools to help us recognize growth opportunities, reflect on what we learn, and be intentional about carrying new lessons forward.

Episode #45: How your purpose guides your life with Peggy Sealfon

Defining your purpose—that feeling of fire in your belly—is deeply connected with your overall health and wellness. In episode 45, we welcome back health and wellness coach Peggy Sealfon to discuss how to create a purpose, or vision statement, and hear about how to connect to your purpose every day. As she did in episode 21, Peggy shares a wealth of resources and tips to help all of us keep the most important things at the forefront of our lives.

Episode 44: Be More Strategic in Business with Diana Thomas and Stacey Boyle

In all the disruption of 2020, certain basic principles of strategic leadership have become even more critical to surviving and thriving. In episode 44, guest host Mary McNevin interviews Diana Thomas and Stacey Boyle about their book, Be More Strategic in Business: How to win through stronger leadership and better decisions. They discuss the gamut of issues facing leaders in the talent space today, including the importance of driving business results, how to connect with people remotely, investing in your own career, and what the next year will hold.

Episode 42: Leveraging LinkedIn with Bianca Jackson

LinkedIn has gone from being a job-hunting platform to a multi-faceted social network for professionals, but many people still struggle with how to use it to their advantage. In this episode, LinkedIn expert and career coach Bianca Jackson talks with Diana about the many ways LinkedIn can support your goals. Regardless of where you are in your career, if you’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to jump into LinkedIn, this is the episode for you.

Episode 41: Leadership and letting go with David Veech

As a leader, your primary responsibility is developing and equipping your people to do their jobs, anticipate problems, and create a better future. Learning how to let go of day-to-day control over workload is a significant, challenging process for many leaders. David Veech shares insights to help leaders empower their teams, stay connected, and pursue sustainable growth.

Episode 39: Stop trusting your gut with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

Following your gut reaction worked well for our ancestors living on the savannah; unfortunately, it’s not well-adapted to modern life in a complex, global business environment. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky helps us understand how to overcome our cognitive biases, make better decisions, and brace ourselves for the changes the coronavirus pandemic will continue to bring our way.

Episode 37: Communicating your value with Bob Sherlock

Just as companies value their products and services, you have skills and expertise that are valuable to your employer or clients. Bob Sherlock helps us understand how basic marketing principles apply to communicating our value as individuals when seeking new opportunities.

Episode 34: Pursuing big career goals with Martha Soehren

As Chief Talent Development Officer at Comcast, Martha Soehren’s career story is filled with fascinating decisions, risks, and not taking no for an answer. In this episode, she shares career advice and inspiration to help you establish and pursue your career dreams.

Episode 29: How to fill your confidence bucket with Judy Braun

Projecting confidence is a timeless and critical success factor for leaders in just about any position. Your skills, abilities, and intelligence can all be diminished in the eyes of others if you don't show your ability to lead teams and projects, as well as handle challenging conversations and clients. In episode 29, Diana talks with Judy Braun, author of Show Up Confidently, about how talent champions can gain confidence and inspire it in others.

Episode 28: How to build the career of your dreams with Janice Ellig

From executive recruiting and coaching to advocating for women and minorities to gain leadership roles, Janice Ellig has spent her career helping others craft their own success. In episode 28, Janice shares the big decisions and daily actions that can help you pursue your professional dreams.

Episode 25: Building a multipliers culture with Liz Wiseman

Some leaders bring out the best in their teams; others accidentally diminish the efforts of the people around them. Diana talks with best-selling author Liz Wiseman about how to build a multipliers culture, what she learned from building and running a tech giant's corporate university, and how to find the best resources to support your leadership journey.

Episode 24: Effective interviewing with Arianne Gasser

Whether you’re the interviewer or the candidate, the stakes are high in the recruiting process. Both sides stand to lose valuable time, money, and opportunities if a candidate turns out not to be the right fit for the role, yet even long interview processes offer only a snapshot of the opportunity. In episode 24 of the Talent Champions podcast, Diana talks with communication professor Arianne Gasser about ways to make job interviews more successful for all involved.

Episode 22: Working across cultures with Paula Caligiuri

Cultural agility is the ability to quickly, comfortably, and effectively work in different countries and collaborate successfully with people from different cultures. Diana talks with Paula Caligiuri about how developing cultural agility is a pressing need for leaders in all organizations—not only multinational corporations. Learn how to assess and build a culturally agile team.

Episode 21: Everyday approaches to reducing stress and anxiety with Peggy Sealfon

Stress and anxiety are epidemic in many of our lives. Is it even possible to be productive, successful, and healthy in today's business world? Diana talks with Peggy Sealfon about large and small changes that can help you to feel less overwhelmed and more focused.

Episode 20: Using feedback for good with Jim Moore

Feedback can be a double-edged sword: the giver usually intends to be helpful but often comes across downright crushing. On the other hand, many leaders are locked in a cycle of making the same mistakes over and over while struggling to get anyone to give them the honest feedback they need to improve. In this episode, Diana talks with Marshall Goldsmith’s own coach, Jim Moore, about how givers and receivers can turn feedback into the vital tool for growth it was always meant to be.

Episode 18: Take your executive presence to the next level with Val Williams

A powerful executive presence will make you more effective as a leader, and today’s guest says it doesn’t have to be an elusive trait. Learn how to take your executive presence to the next level with coach and author Val Williams.

Episode 15: From Management Mess to Leadership Success with Scott Miller

There's no one right path to guaranteed leadership success, particularly if the skills needed to lead and inspire don't come naturally. Scott Miller, author of the new book Management Mess to Leadership Success, talks about his journey as a leader and how to assess whether your aspiration to lead is the right fit for you.

Episode 14: Creating your leadership story with Lisa Doyle

A servant leader is genuinely interested in serving others—employees, customers, peers, and colleagues. Servant leaders set the purpose for the team and lead with their values. A compelling leadership story helps others to understand why they lead the way they do. Lisa Doyle, VP of Global Learning at Booz Allen Hamilton, shares her leadership story, along with some guidance for crafting your own story.

Episode 13: Cracking the c-suite code with Cassandra Frangos

Whether you aspire to the c-suite, coach others to help them get there, or are looking to take your next step up the leadership ladder, you’ll learn lots from the ideas and practical advice shared by Cassandra Frangos. After working on the succession plan for one of the biggest CEOs in the tech world, Cassandra published Cracking the C-Suite Code: How successful leaders make it to the top to help others learn how to navigate into the executive level.

Episode 11: Strategic communication with Arianne Gasser

Strategic communication is the practice of being intentional about how we communicate, who we communicate with, which channels we use, and when we communicate. Every point of communication ties back to an overarching vision and strategy. Arianne Gasser, adjunct communication professor at Villanova University and product manager at Energage, talks about how successful leaders communicate and why what you say is just as important as what you don’t say.

Episode 10: Creating an executive presence with Anna Wildermuth

How you present yourself and communicate with your peers is critical to successful leadership and moving up in the ranks. But for many people, a powerful executive presence can be elusive as they struggle to understand what’s holding them back. Anna Wildermuth, Founder and CEO of Personal Images and an award-winning executive image consultant, talks with Diana about some of the most common struggles when it comes to looking and acting the part of an executive leader.

Episode 5: Be more productive with Kory Kogon

We all have many demands on our time. How do you make sure you’re accomplishing the right things and using your allotted hours as efficiently as possible? Kory Kogon, author of The Five Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity and a VP in the FranklinCovey organization, shares tips, tricks, and prioritization methods for surviving in a fast-paced business world.

Episode 4: Building your network with Michael Dulworth

Networking is a critical and underrated success factor for talent champions, which is why we’re devoting another episode to talking about how to build your own strategic and intentional network. Michael Dulworth, a professional networker and CEO at Executive Networks, addresses some of the biggest challenges people associate with networking.

Episode 3: Networking with Mary McNevin

Building a strong, active network is one of the biggest secrets to success for leaders in almost any field, but so many of us struggle to make and nurture authentic connections. Mary McNevin, a long-time successful talent leader and power networker, talks about how to create your own network of powerful connections who can help you when you need it most.