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"What is your favorite movie?" Hile and I pose this question to each other and do our best to find the lessons in our top ten movies. Hile's list includes Tootsie, The Godfather and Field of Dreams. Doug talks about Rogue One, Talladega Nights and Miracle, to name a few. We found courage, transformation, humility, vision and emotional intelligence in our favorite characters. Please join us for a lively conversation, a few surprises and some tips for being a better leader.

What are the most critical aspects of being a great leader? While there are literally thousands of books on this subject, Capt. Mark Brouker takes a stab at this in his new book, "Lessons From the Navy: How to Earn Trust, Lead Teams, and Achieve Organizational Excellence." In this week's episode of Looking for AND, we talk about the "six critical behaviors" that Brouker has identified and we dig into each one. This is probably one of the more practical shows we have had in a while. Please join us as we discuss respect, listening, Colin Powell, culture and (my favorite) humility.

Hile Rutledge is back for another great conversation about leadership! This week, we ponder the question, "Who is your favorite non-fiction leader?" As expected, the answers we both give to this question take us down a couple of different paths. We talk about having a vision, the role of empathy, how execution is critical and the role of growth and learning. We also get into the downside of optimism and how humility just might be in short supply. Please join us for another lively conversation as we explore the AND of leadership. Be sure to check out www.OKA-online.com to check out a new assessment that helps explain what drives us and what drains us. Please also check out www.DRHleadership.com for a wide variety of leadership courses and services.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov wanted to be an explorer when he was a kid. His vision was to investigate this beautiful planet to solve it's greatest mysteries. As Oleg matured and paid attention to his surroundings, he decided to explore something we know less about...people. In his latest book, "The Vision Code - How To Create And Execute A Compelling Vision For Your Business," Oleg writes about the need for a positive, compelling vision, how to develop this vision, what mistakes to avoid and why it will help you, your company and even your family navigate this complex, every-changing world.

Welcome back (and forward!) to Hile Rutledge, President and Principal Consultant of OKA! Hile joined us way back in lucky episode #13 to talk all things emotional intelligence. Since then, Hile and Doug have had a number of conversations that got Doug thinking, "What if we recorded more of these discussions?" So, Hile and Doug put their heads together and decided to just talk and hit the Record button. (Unfortunately, that means Doug gets more time to talk...) Moving forward, Hile and Doug will talk about numerous topics, all related to "leadership." Hile will join Doug every other episode and we are excited to have him!

What is the key to making better decisions? Dan Markovitz, author of "The Conclusion Trap - Four Steps to Better Decisions" argues that one of the biggest mistakes we all make is the idea that we do not understand the issue at hand as well as we could. We often rush into our decisions without having a clear, complete idea of what is in front of us. As a "lean thinking" expert with years of experience helping non-profits, government agencies and corporations, Markovitz leads us through the four steps and gives us practical advice for just about any decision or problem we may encounter. A great book...an excellent interview!

Do we REALLY need another leadership book? If you are talking about "The Four Fields of Leadership - How People and Organizations Can Thrive In A Hyperconnected World," then the answer is a resounding, "YES!" Author, coach and consultant Tom Goodell brings a simple framework to the leadership field that took over 20 years to morph into this important book. We talk about emotional intelligence, how his enterprise architecture background influenced his thinking and the four unifying principles that make this a must-read for leaders at any level.

What do Volkswagen, Wells Fargo and NASA have in common? At one point, each of these organizations with storied histories experienced a major, public failure that was a result of "catastrophic leadership." My guest, Chris Lewis, and I talk about how it's time to put an entirely new lens on leadership. His new book, "The Infinite Leader - Balancing the Demands of Modern Business Leadership" encourages us to consider both long and short term ways of thinking. In addition, he tells us to embrace imagination, empathy, humility, humor and (above all else) courage. We talk about the usefulness of the "Zero Model" and how DaVinci's Vitruvian Man sketch can be used to help leaders at all levels strive for balance.

Clint has nearly 25 years experience developing and directing organizations’ recruiting and sales strategies, as well as coaching and mentoring "C-level" executives. In this episode, he and I talk about the art of business negotiation and his new book, "Negotiating from the Inside Out: A Playbook for Business Success." This book is entirely focused on the business negotiator and can help you avoid the most common mistakes, learn how your personality may affect how your negotiate and give you a simple process to improve your outcomes.

Alan Robinson, PhD, argues that most creativity comes from the bottom up. That is, frontline employees are the source of the most and best ideas that will make your company more effective. And, he has the research to back it up. On this week's episode, we talk about an oldie AND a goodie..."Corporate Creativity - How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen." It was published in 1997 and is still one of my favorite books. Dr. Robinson shares some insights on why it's important for leaders to demonstrate humility, why power gets in the way of good ideas and how Toyota processes over five million ideas a year!

What can Star Wars teach us about modern day leadership? How is a 50+ year old concept (servant leadership) more important than ever? Why do some managers engage in toxic behaviors? Please join Omar Harris and I as we try to answer these questions and discuss his new book, "The Servant Leader's Manifesto." We also discuss some of the top toxic behaviors, how to let go of micromanaging and the importance of humility. And, as a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Omar shares why Head Coach Mike Tomlin is a great example for us all.

Josh Weiss is back! He's got a new book ("The Book of Real-World Negotiations: Successful Strategies From Business, Government, and Daily Life") that helps all of us create more "AND-like" situations when we negotiate. On this week's episode we dive head first into the myths of negotiation, what is the best way to plan, why information is the "currency of negotiation" and how to help the other person form a collaborative mindset. Josh and I also discuss the role of emotional intelligence, why it's important to create a "possiblist" frame when negotiating and a question that opens the door to generating more options (one of the most important parts of a sticky negotiation).

What do you think when you see the title of a book being "It's All Possible - How to lead an epic life and unleash the high performance hero within you?" I'm a big believer in the positive role of optimism, hope and positive emotions AND I'm kind of a skeptic by nature. Well Rob Hartnett, set me straight...he's no skeptic and he does not believe in being overly optimistic. Rob has been studying successful people for decades and now he's sharing his secrets. Join us when we talk about being realistically optimistic, when you are really in control and five questions Rob asks himself just about every day.

When was the last time you thought of developing your own character? How would you feel if you knew there were multiple stages to character development that directly impacted your ability to be effective at work and find peace in your professional life? Terri Jacke, executive coach and author of "Is This A Lousy Job Or Is It Me? A Real-Life Guide For Achieving Success At Work" takes us through these stages and helps us understand how to learn from each stage and move to the next. Some great advice that you will not want to miss!

Shannon Polly, MAPP, PCC, joins us this week to talk about one of my favorite topics...strengths! Shannon is super qualified to do this as a graduate of the Master's in Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. And, she co-authored Character Strengths Matter - How To Live A Full Life - an excellent source of tips, research and tools for putting your strengths to work. In this episode, we talk about applying our strengths in these difficult times, what they mean for parents and which strengths we may want to target, right now.

Did you know that a recent survey revealed that only 23% of employees think their leaders are doing well? Alain Hunkins, author of Cracking The Leadership Code - Three Secrets to Building Strong Leaders, has made it his mission to increase that number. On the podcast, we talk about how yesterday's leaders have passed down some bad habits, why empathy is so important, why it's critical to be present, how being authentic makes us more effective and what chimpanzees can teach us during a pandemic.

In these difficult times I thought it would be helpful and uplifting to bring Roger Firestien back to the podcast. The Godfather of creativity and I talk about how we can be more creative in these difficult times. We spend some time talking about how people are already being more creative. We talk about Nutella brownies and how creativity gives us hope! Roger talks about his latest article regarding being creative while working from home and he shares 5 concrete tips: 1 - Find your creative space 2 - Identifying your creative time of day 3 - Why taking breaks & naps are so important 4 - How incubation can surface your best ideas 5 - How to 'force' connections to come up with new ideas Roger's most recent book, Create In A Flash - A Leader's Recipe For Breakthrough Innovation, is available at Amazon.com.

Bob Kulhand, CEO of Business Improv is back! This week's episode is a second look at how using improv techniques can help us at home and work. We explore the roots of "Yes, AND..." while applying them to being resilient and adaptable. We also explore some of the misconceptions of "Yes, AND..." and when "Yes, but..." might be appropriate. Bob puts me on the spot to teach an improv activity we can all use at the dinner table and offers a host of resources to help you bring "Yes, AND..." into your life!

We liked Ryan Niemiec, PhD (author of "The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality") so much that we decided to bring him back for another interview. This time, we're focused on what the science tells us about being resilient and using our strengths. So, this time around we talk about why it might be best to start with what's going right before you jump into fixing a problem, how painful emotions are more powerful than the comfortable ones (like joy, hope, awe, gratitude, etc), how an under-use of our strengths can negatively affect our physical health and a 3-step process for applying our strengths to an adversity.

What happens when the CEO of a company embraces the power of AND? You get Treehouse - A company dedicated to teaching people how to design & code online. And, what's so great about that? CEO and co-founder Ryan Carson was driven to build this company because he felt that a career in coding should not require an expensive college degree. Ryan leads by a number of core values and a dream to making a lucrative career in coding accessible to the masses, not just the privileged. We talk about trust, accountability, living a balanced life, false dichotomies and the movie he watches a little too often...The Matrix!