Episodes

In this week's episode, I had the privilege of diving deep into the topic of self-acceptance and overcoming the never-ending pursuit of achievement with the incredible Dr. Mandy Lehto. We explored the journey of an overachiever, the struggles of not feeling enough, and the transformative power of self-compassion. Dr. Lehto shared her personal experiences and insights, shedding light on the importance of pausing to self-regulate, accepting our perceived flaws, and finding joy outside of achieveme...

In today's episode, Mark shares a personal story of being scammed out of $300 and the valuable lessons learned from the experience. Delving into the destructive power of holding onto resentments and the importance of forgiveness in freeing up our energy and focus. Mark offers practical advice on how to let go of grievances and move forward with a clear mindset, ultimately becoming a more effective leader. Tune in to gain insights on how to navigate challenging situations and prioritize your well...

Today, I sat down with Marques Ogden, former NFL player turned inspirational speaker and coach. Marcus shares his powerful journey from success to rock bottom and how he learned the importance of authenticity and teamwork in leadership. With valuable insights and personal anecdotes, Marques reminds us never to take our team for granted and always to listen and learn from others. Get ready to be inspired and motivated by Marques’s story of resilience and growth. Marques Ogden is a former NFL pla...

Sometime around the 1920s or 1930s, Katherine Hepburn and her parents were lining up to go to the circus. In front of them was a family, and when the father didn’t have enough money to buy his family’s tickets, Katherine’s dad gave him $20. Because that $20 was the money they were going to use to buy their own tickets, Katherine and her parents had to go home—but, on the drive home, they were joyful. Making that family happy gave Katherine and her parents much more than they could get from the c...

Geoffrey Roche is the inaugural Director of Workforce Development at Siemens Healthineers and the National Healthcare Practice Executive Advisor at Core Education PBC. A healthcare executive with over 15 years of experience leading cross-functional teams in healthcare operations, Geoffrey speaks on healthcare workforce topics at national conferences such as Becker’s Annual Conference, HIMMS, and ViVE. In recognition of his national-level work, he was nominated to the Forbes Business Council in 2...

I recently read a review of the Rising Leader Podcast and it made me chuckle. The review explained that, although the podcast’s interview episodes are great, the solo episodes tend to be repetitive. And that’s understandable—I do repeat some of the same themes like a broken record, but for good reason. I always talk about leadership, and one reason for this is that most people tend to overcomplicate it. While I believe leadership isn’t easy—it’s really, really hard, to be honest—it’s actually fa...

Dr. Mandy Lehto is an executive coach based in London. She works with leaders and high performers to improve their leadership styles and executive presence to transition into senior roles and lead successful, happy teams. She has worked with several well-established companies such as Oracle, HSBC, Smith & Williamson, and Gotshal & Manges. Dr. Mandy joins me today to share her journey to achieve sustainable success as an ambitious woman. She describes the challenges she overcame in her personal...

You do your best pitching—but you lose a sale. You attempt to communicate your ideas well—but you get shot down in the boardroom. How do you react when you fail? Do you sulk, lick your wounds, or get resentful? Try to find excuses? Or do you acknowledge the feeling of disappointment and try to come back better? Handling disappointment and loss can be as challenging as the tasks that caused them, but our resiliency and capacity to bounce back from failures can be built. In this episode, I discus...

Devon Bandison is an author, coach, and speaker. He is the go-to mind coach of the NBA and one of the most sought-after personal and business coaches in the world. As a coach, Devon works with Fortune 100 Companies and people from all walks of life, from professional athletes and teams, CEOs and executives, salespeople and small business owners to filmmakers, producers, and the world’s leading business and life coaches. He is the author of Fatherhood is Leadership and is a contributing writer fo...

I didn’t think of The Rising Leader—it came to me: it picked me, and I answered the call. When I started pivoting to The Rising Leader, I was having so much fun. And though I was putting my heart and soul into writing the book, rebranding the podcast, and creating a keynote, it felt like everything was flowing—until it didn’t. It started to feel like I was pushing a rock up a hill. What came out of an inspiration became a hustle-and-grind. That’s when I realized that I'd fallen out of receiversh...

You’ve probably seen a video making rounds on the internet recently: a gentleman speaking to an economic forum sharing his rather controversial take on unemployment. The gentleman claims that today’s workers are arrogant and feel like they can get away with anything and their companies owe them; that we need to “put employees in their places” by doubling unemployment and having hard economic times. Autocratic leadership—thinking that you have to beat people into submission to squeeze productivit...

Matt Abrahams is a professor, keynote speaker, and martial artist. He is a leading expert in communication and serves as a lecturer in organizational behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he received the school’s Alumni Teaching Award. Matt teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. Additionally, he teaches public speaking and co-teaches improvisational speaking in the Stanford Continuing Studies Program. Matt is also a sou...

“Am I working too hard?” is a question I get a lot from people—and one I received from the host of a podcast I recently got invited to. My answer to that question is another set of questions: when you’re “working hard,” where does it come from and how does it feel on your body? Depending on how you answer, you’re either working on something you love—and are probably there by choice—or working for the wrong reasons. In this episode, I explore working too much and what you can do when you’re work...

Marcia Zaruba O’Connor is the CEO and founder of The O’Connor Group (TOC), a leading provider of talent acquisition and human resources consulting for life science, healthcare, professional service, information technology, and manufacturing. Prior to founding TOC, Marcia held various senior-level positions at Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting. She also served as the Director of Human Capital Practice for Resources Global Professionals. Passionate about supporting women entrepreneurs, Marci...

Mark B. Murphy is an author, speaker, and business strategist who serves as the CEO of Northeast Private Client Group, a national financial planning and wealth management firm. Driven by his passion for empowering entrepreneurs to achieve multigenerational wealth, Mark is transforming the financial planning and wealth management industry with his innovative and forward-thinking approach. He is the host of The Hero of the Hour, a podcast dedicated to helping listeners learn the concepts, techniqu...

Are you the go-to person for everybody at your workplace? Do people come to you all day, every day, to ask for help in exchange for that tasty dopamine hit from getting praised for a job well done? If yes, then you might be someone like me. As someone with a “Happy Helper” personality type, I’m more than glad to get out of my usual tasks and into “unofficial” jobs to help someone out. But doing unofficial jobs has its downsides—especially if you have a hard time setting boundaries or saying “no”...

Dr. Jeff Spencer is a speaker and a coach to Tiger Woods, Richard Branson, Dave Asprey, and over 40 Olympic, World, National, and Tour de France gold medalists. He has spent over 300,000 hours helping established founders, visionaries, and creatives perform at their full potential at any time, place, and circumstance. Drawing from his experience as an Olympic cyclist, author, hot glass artist, sports scientist, doctor, husband, and father, Jeff has helped some of the most accomplished individual...

As the leader of an organization, communication is almost your entire job: how you show up, what you say in a situation, how much you communicate, and when you communicate are crucial factors to keep in mind as a leader. The better you understand the art of communication, the better leader you’re going to be. But for many of us, when we think about communicating at the workplace, we mostly think about business communication—work agreements, products, who’s responsible for what, and key performan...

I’ve recently been watching the legal drama series Suits on Netflix—to say that I’m totally into it is probably an understatement. Suits is about a high-powered law firm in New York City, where people work themselves to the floor, balls to the wall, and compete until they’ve got nothing left. The associates and new lawyers are treated like garbage and everybody’s overworked—but in crisp, snazzy suits. But while Suits may be an exciting drama series (at least, for me), it makes one wonder: does t...

Larry Quinlan is a technology leader, public board director, and strategic advisor to private equity. He is the former Global Chief Information Officer of Deloitte, one of the world’s largest professional services organizations for over 330,000 people in more than 150 countries and territories. As Deloitte’s Global CIO, Larry led 10,000 IT professionals across the world and drove significant revenue as the lead client partner for several of the company’s global clients. In 2021, after more than ...

Let’s say, on a Monday morning, while scrolling through Instagram, you see a post. It’s your group of friends going golfing over the weekend—and you’re literally out of the picture because you weren’t invited. How would you respond to that? Would you turn it on yourself and decide you’re not likable enough and start sulking about it or would you let your anger go someplace else and trash other people? How do you handle a hurt like that? Now, let’s take this to a business setting. If you were wor...

Let’s say, on a Monday morning, while scrolling through Instagram, you see a post. It’s your group of friends going golfing over the weekend—and you’re literally out of the picture because you weren’t invited. How would you respond to that? Would you turn it on yourself and decide you’re not likable enough and start sulking about it or would you let your anger go someplace else and trash other people? How do you handle a hurt like that? Now, let’s take this to a business setting. If you were wor...

What do Leonardo da Vinci, Jesus, and the Buddha have in common? They all highlight the power of self-mastery, self-discipline, and self-control. I find that their wisdom on self-mastery speaks to me, especially as someone who has severe ADHD. And whenever I do the Mastering Overwhelm workshops, I pepper their axioms throughout the entire session to remind everyone, including myself, about the value of self-mastery. There’s simply no higher good than the discipline of oneself. Discipline is free...

Tom Mendoza is the former President and Vice Chair of NetApp, a hybrid cloud data service and data management company that has ranked in the Fortune 500 list since 2012. After 25 impressive years of service at NetApp, Tom retired from the company to share his wealth of knowledge and experience by guest lecturing on the power of corporate culture to benefit the younger business generation. He also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for mParticle, Varonis, and VAST Data. Tom ho...