The Evolved Leader

Real, human stories with practical tips for leaders who want to evolve themselves and their teams, creating an evolved culture. Dr. Laura Gallaher is an organizational psychologist who has been hired by Disney and also NASA to help transform culture. Her company, Gallaher Edge, has helped multiple small businesses grow to successful acquisition.

The Power of Self-Acceptance 03/07/2022

The Power of Self-Acceptance Dr. Stephanie Lopez joins us to discuss everything SELF; self-improvement, self-awareness, self-accountability and most importantly, SELF-ACCEPTANCE. She shares her personal struggles with a never-ending desire for self-improvement - always trying to accomplish the next thing and never taking time to acknowledge and celebrate achievements along the way. We hear about how she overcame insecurities surrounding the practice of self-acceptance and how it is the antidote to so many of life’s challenges. Tune in to find out how to spot signs that you are struggling with accepting yourself exactly as you are, right now, and ways to practice self-acceptance to truly harness the power of it. Listen TODAY on your favorite podcast platform! /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/22363793

Why Performance Reviews Suck 01/18/2022

Why Performance Reviews Suck In this episode I speak with Barbara Stankowski, former President and CEO of AMTIS, Inc, about how she refused to implement a performance review process, yet focused and invested heavily in helping employees improve performance. Listen now to learn not just about her approach, but tangible examples of how she made this work while AMTIS nearly doubled revenue in two years and received so many awards, I don’t have the space to list them here. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/7274297

Roy: From Trouble Maker to Rain Maker 11/23/2021

Roy: From Trouble Maker to Rain Maker In part two of this special 2-part series, I speak with Roy Johnson, former VP of Strategic Accounts at UniKey Technologies. Roy was a self-described “troublemaker,” using Slack to do “the devil’s work,” but eventually became an invaluable asset to UniKey. Join me to hear Roy – and former COO at UniKey, Lee Oddess – describe his journey and transformation. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/5666098

How Your Self-deception Can Kill Your Company 10/26/2021

How Your Self-deception Can Kill Your Company In this episode, I talk with Lee Odess, former VP at UniKey Technologies about their bold decision to invest heavily in their leadership development, culture, and team cohesion. Odess describes what drove their decision to overcome the fear associated with self-improvement and self-awareness, their commitment to defend the investment to their board, and the impact it has had on him personally, as well as the team. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/5617388

When Success Leads to Failure: Lessons from NASA, Part Two 08/31/2021

When Success Leads to Failure: Lessons from NASA, Part Two In part 2, we explore our Missing Link Culture Model through the lens of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, so you can take valuable lessons from NASA and apply them to your own organization. This episode features former NASA Deputy Chief Engineer, Chris Singer, former Director of Engineering at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Dr. Patrick Simpkins, and former Kennedy Space Center Change Manager and co-author of our new book, The Missing Links: Launching a High Performing Company Culture, Dr. Phillip Meade. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/20308409

When Success Leads to Failure: Lessons From NASA, Part One 08/03/2021

When Success Leads to Failure: Lessons From NASA, Part One Join me to take a behind-the-scenes look at the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident and how it shaped our ideas about culture. I interview Chris Singer, former NASA Deputy Chief Engineer, Dr. Patrick Simpkins, Director of Engineering at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and Dr. Phillip Meade, who led the culture change initiative at Kennedy following the accident. If improving your company culture and developing your team’s communication and collaboration is important to you, then this series is for you! /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/20008553

How Radical Collaboration Can Strengthen Your Organization AND Your Relationships 07/06/2021

How Radical Collaboration Can Strengthen Your Organization AND Your Relationships In this episode, Jim Tamm joins me to discuss what inspired him to co-create Radical Collaboration – a powerful program with incredible results, centered around building successful relationships, both professionally and personally. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/19718219

Why Openness Is Essential For Any Startup or Fast-Growing Company 06/07/2021

Why Openness Is Essential For Any Startup or Fast-Growing Company Serial entrepreneur, Jonathan Taylor, has started seven companies, acquired 18 and sold three, for an undisclosed amount surpassing a quarter of a billion dollars. And yet he still was open to learning more effective ways to run businesses when he did the work of The Human Element. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/19384811

How to Actually Change Your Company Culture 11/13/2017

How to Actually Change Your Company Culture Tom Cannon is the CEO of National Carts. He talks about the process of creating a common vision when stepping into somebody else’s company, as well as the process of realizing that nothing about the culture was aligned with that future vision. He describes his investment in changing the culture, including taking everybody through Radical Collaboration®, which focuses on self-awareness. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/5941202

How To Create One Team With One Dream 10/05/2017

How To Create One Team With One Dream I talk to Suneera Madhani, the founder and CEO of Stax by Fattmerchant. My purpose in life is to help teams increase their cohesion and effectiveness, ultimately driving organizational performance, and a lot of that involves growing individual self-awareness to create more self-accountable team members who then communicate and collaborate more effectively. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to grow a company, or a leader who wants to create a kick ass culture, you don’t want to miss this conversation. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/5810860

The Power of Self-Acceptance 03/09/2021

The Power of Self-Acceptance Dr. Stephanie Lopez joins us to discuss everything SELF. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/18253991

Tayo Rockson on Racism and Communicating Across Cultures, with Impact. 02/01/2021

Tayo Rockson on Racism and Communicating Across Cultures, with Impact. Cultural translator, storyteller and activist, Tayo Rockson, gets real with us about racism. He discusses the importance of seeing it as a whole and not simply looking at it through our own individual lens. Push outside your comfort zone as we talk about self-reflection, tone policing and approaching differing opinions, the power of choice, and more! /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/17742353

What is Defensiveness, Anyway? 01/06/2021

What is Defensiveness, Anyway? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Stephanie Lopez about the first time she experienced The Human Element®. She shares stories and examples with us about her journey of self-awareness. She describes the process of discovering that it was her own insecurity that would sometimes trigger behaviors she wanted to change, like being unknowingly passive-aggressive or thinking critical thoughts about others. Her courage and vulnerability are admirable – listen now to hear for yourself! /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/5551997

Key Insights for Self-Awareness with Dr. Tasha Eurich 09/22/2020

Key Insights for Self-Awareness with Dr. Tasha Eurich Dr. Eurich’s research focuses on self-awareness, and what I love about her is how she takes her research and makes it pragmatic and accessible for those of you who want to understand yourselves better. We talk about some of the powerful take-aways from her book, Insight, which I highly recommend, how to introspect more effectively, what daily practices you can do to create real transformation, and we also talk about whether we really can make the unconscious conscious. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/16096421

Personality Isn’t Permanent 06/18/2020

Personality Isn’t Permanent On this episode, I interview Dr. Benjamin Hardy about his book, Personality Isn’t Permanent. We talk about the importance of letting go of who you think you are, and focusing instead on who you want to be. We talk about how you can work through trauma and break through whatever barriers hold you back today. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/14878547

How Racism Lives in the Subconscious of The United States 06/04/2020

How Racism Lives in the Subconscious of The United States On this episode, Kayla Wonisch and I talk about the history of the United States and how racism has become part of the subconscious of The United States. When we, as humans, can combine psychology, human behavior, and history we can better understand how systemic racism has come to be. Understanding why frees us up to have the conversations that matter. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/14702645

Evolve Your Practice from the Inside Out with Dr. Radley Griffin 04/22/2020

Evolve Your Practice from the Inside Out with Dr. Radley Griffin On this episode, I interview Dr. Radley Griffin, CEO of Griffin Concierge Medical in Tampa, FL. Originally, Dr. Griffin was looking for leadership training. But he discovered that to really create an amazing culture, it all starts from the Inside Out. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/14104256

Why You Shouldn’t Shoot for the Stars 10/08/2018

Why You Shouldn’t Shoot for the Stars In this episode, I speak with Matt Johnson, Founder and CEO of Pursuing Results. We talk about what self-awareness means to him, and specifically, we get in to why it’s best to look at goals as minimums and not maximums. He explains a method for productivity, accountability, and self-awareness reflection that gave me pause, even though conceptually, I’ve heard it before. He also described how this method of setting goals creates more freedom in his life, while still driving productivity. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/7142566

Life after a Failure Goes Viral 08/27/2018

Life after a Failure Goes Viral On this episode, I speak with William Hung, who you all probably know as the guy who sang “She Bangs” for his American Idol audition back in 2004. Today William is focused on helping others feel like and become champions by choice. He talks about his own attitude towards “failure” and looking at the bright side of life. Truly an inspiration and somebody who knows how to make lemons out of lemonade! /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6973211

Why Starting with Why Matters for Every Leader 08/13/2018

Why Starting with Why Matters for Every Leader Matt Dunsmoor is an Igniter at Start with Why – Simon Sinek’s company. He was introduced to Simon’s work while working at Zappo’s, and today he is an Igniter. We talk about the importance of starting with why, Matt’s proudest moment at Zappos and why direction is more important than destination. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6919265

Say Yes To Yourself 06/05/2018

Say Yes To Yourself Say yes, and your life will improve. If you have seen Yes Man with Jim Carrey, you might have garnered this lesson already. But that is only one lesson of dozens that Bob Kodzis drops in this episode. He’s a performer, instructor, facilitator and consultant, or truly – whatever he wants to be. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6669989

You Want Me to Do What? 05/07/2018

You Want Me to Do What? Aaron LeClair values transparency, openness and relationships with people above all else. So what to do, when he finds himself in an organization asking him to go against those values? In this episode, we talk about his experience in this space, what he learned, and we even dive into an example of this misalignment that included yours truly. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6563704

Behind the Curtain 04/16/2018

Behind the Curtain In this episode, I welcome back Gabriela Buich to the show, and we give a peek “behind the curtain” and describe what it is like for the two of us – experts in self-awareness and communication – to work together. We share our own insecurities, and how our loving, trusting relationship enables incredible openness and self-accountability, and I finally share the story I alluded to in the episode with CEO Topcoder Mike Morris. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6484595

What would you do for your company’s culture? 04/02/2018

What would you do for your company’s culture? Gene McCulley’s company was growing without intention, and when the company culture began to fragment, he wanted to invest in making it as strong and positive as possible. When it seemed a harder challenge than he realized, he began to consider selling off part of the business to solve that and other challenges related to growth. Listen now to hear his story! /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6432982

How to Create a Company Culture of Accountability 03/19/2018

How to Create a Company Culture of Accountability In this episode I speak with Jason Polstein about how he applied self-accountability as a concept inside his organization in the face of major loss. He also describes how growth mindset has changed his language and how staying open to possibilities preserves brainpower. We end with discussion of how Star Trek and Neil deGrasse Tyson changed how he thinks about how he communicates. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6380272

The Backfire Effect of "Being Too Nice" 03/05/2018

The Backfire Effect of "Being Too Nice" Kayla participated in our 5-day workshop focused on self-awareness and its impact on leadership, productivity and fulfillment at work. We talk about how being too nice is a defense mechanism that manifests the very fear that drives the behavior, as well as how behaviors are intergenerational and learned and how conscious choices can create meaningful change in how we walk through the world. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6328935

Transforming in a Moment 02/19/2018

Transforming in a Moment Colby Shytle was struggling with dark thoughts and anxiety like he'd never experienced before. He reached out for help, looking for tools to change the way he was walking through the world. And because he was open to it, his experience with The Human Element enabled him to transform in a moment. Just as a ship captain decides to change the course in a moment, a human can transform in a moment, so that every step forward after that moment is in a new direction. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6274024

Do you have the Gallaher Edge? 01/23/2018

Do you have the Gallaher Edge? We’ve rebranded the company which means we’re rebranding the show! Kayla and I chat about why we decided to rebrand our company and what the new name is all about. She also asks me about the origin of the business – why I started the company and why I chose to leave an exciting career at NASA to do my own thing. We talk about the genesis of our core values, Progress over perfection, Uninhibited Teamwork, and Power of Choice, all of which came from the Human Element® and Radical Collaboration programs /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6178164

Authentic Leadership and Self-Acceptance 12/22/2017

Authentic Leadership and Self-Acceptance In this episode, originally recorded back in 2014 (release is early 2018), Laura describes one of her most emotional experiences from early adulthood that shaped her self-concept and was the catalyst for her to look deeper into true authenticity and taught the importance of self-acceptance. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6082989

The Competitive Edge Every Leader Wants 12/11/2017

The Competitive Edge Every Leader Wants In this episode, I speak with Mike Morris, CEO of Topcoder. Topcoder has grown and seen tremendous success, yet Mike knows the team is capable of even more. We talk about creating peer-to-peer accountability on the team, the importance of looking in the mirror, and how critical it is to let go of predispositions about people, and instead – believe in their ability to learn and grow. /episode/index/show/lauragallaher/id/6034037

The Evolved Leader

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