The Art of the Ask: How To Negotiate & Feel Good About It
Release Date: 03/18/2025
Leadership Isn't About Confidence. It's About Regulation. ft. Hacia Atherton
Uncommon Leadership
Your team doesn't just respond to your decisions. They respond to your state. I've seen it over and over again in my work with leaders. When we're stressed, overwhelmed, or operating from survival mode, it changes how we show up. We hold on tighter. We delegate less. We avoid difficult conversations. We react instead of respond. In this episode, I'm joined by leadership strategist, global speaker, and bestselling author Hacia Atherton for a conversation about something I believe every leader needs to understand: You can't lead others well until you learn to lead yourself....
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Why The Most Successful Leaders Feel The Most Empty ft. Hanna Bauer
Uncommon Leadership
She was hitting every goal. Winning every award. But falling apart on the inside. In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, Michael Hunter sits down with Hannah Bauer — a leader with nearly three decades inside organizations, not outside them. She has served as CEO, Board Chair, and Executive Director through growth, crisis, and recovery. She is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, a Baldrige Excellence Examiner, and one of a small group of faculty trusted by John Maxwell to develop leaders globally. And she almost lost everything chasing the wrong version of herself....
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The Inner Work Most Leaders Refuse To Do ft. Christy Pretzinger
Uncommon Leadership
Can you do the one thing most leaders refuse to do? Welcome back to the Uncommon Leadership Podcast. Today, I sit down with Christy Pretzinger, the CEO of WG Content and founder of the Better Leader Project, for one of the most honest leadership conversations you'll hear this year. Christy has spent over 30 years building organizations where people thrive. But behind the success was an inner critic that told her she'd never be good enough. Several difficult RIF conversations taught her how to stop avoiding hard decisions. And one lifelong commitment to doing the one thing...
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Leadership Isn't Supposed to Feel Like This
Uncommon Leadership
Why does leadership feel so exhausting? Why do so many smart, responsible leaders feel like they have to hold everything together? In this episode of Leadership Rewired, Michael Hunter from Uncommon Teams explores one of the biggest traps leaders eventually fall into: the belief that if they just try harder, plan better, or control more, they can guarantee the outcomes they want. But what if that's exactly what's making leadership harder? Drawing on systems thinking, decades of experience working with engineering leaders and founders, and lessons from navigating uncertainty,...
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How To Build Habits That Don't Break Under Pressure ft. CHRISTOPH merrill
Uncommon Leadership
Do your daily routines dissolve the moment pressure hits? If so, you aren't failing. And you definitely aren't broken. You just haven't had the chance to test your habits under duress. In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I sit down with CHRISTOPH merrill, The Habit Freak, to dismantle mainstream advice on habit formation. CHRISTOPH shares his take on why habits formed in perfect conditions often act more like hobbies, and why a leader’s true responsibility is to apply just enough pressure to build their team’s resilience without breaking their spirit. ...
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How to Lead When Your Brain Wants to Go Into Survival Mode? ft. Mitch Weisburgh
Uncommon Leadership
Most leaders believe they are being rational. But when you only see two options, that is not a choice — it is a paradox. And it is one of the clearest signs your survival brain has taken over. In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I sit down with Mitch Weisburgh, author of MindShifting: Stop Your Brain from Sabotaging Your Happiness and Success, to unpack why even experienced leaders keep getting stuck in reactive patterns — and what it actually takes to shift out of them. We get into the neuroscience behind the five limbic mode reactions, how to...
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Military Leadership Skills Every CEO Needs Today ft. Chris Hallberg
Uncommon Leadership
Leadership doesn't have to be confusing, but it does need to be precise. If you’ve heard of EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) but aren't sure how to make it work in the real world, this episode is exactly what you need. On today's episode, I'm joined by Chris Hallberg, better known as the Business Sergeant. From the high-pressure environments of the military and law enforcement to the boardroom, Chris’s journey is anything but traditional. In his signature style, Chris explores how the very principles that keep people safe in the field serve as the ultimate keys...
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Why Did He Leave Hollywood After Die Hard 5? ft. Steven Puri
Uncommon Leadership
Why would a senior Hollywood executive walk away from massive franchises like Die Hard, Wolverine, and Transformers to help leaders and executives unlock their flow states? In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, join me, Michael Hunter, as we unpack the fascinating career pivot of Steven Puri. As a former 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks executive turned tech founder, Steven takes us inside the exact moment everything shifted—and why he decided to walk away from creating global blockbusters to study the neuroscience of the flow state. His story brings light...
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AI Won’t Replace You...But It Will Change You. ft. Ross Smith
Uncommon Leadership
What happens when AI starts doing the things we once believed made us valuable? In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I, Michael Hunter of Uncommon Teams, sit down with Ross Smith from Microsoft to explore a question most conversations about AI miss entirely: What does it mean to stay human in this unpredictable age of AI? Tune in to find out: How to use AI as a strategic sparring partner to debug your own ideas/arguments? Why authenticity, emotional intelligence, and human judgment matter more than ever when building an innovative team... Why your job title should...
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Debugging the Leader: A Framework for Internal Alignment ft. Jon Bach
Uncommon Leadership
You’ve spent your career mastering the technical. You know how to debug a system, optimize a workflow, and drive efficiency with data. But as you move higher into leadership, you realize your most reliable tools, logic and evidence, often fail when applied to the most complex system of all: the human one. In this milestone 100th episode of Uncommon Leadership, Michael Hunter and Jon Bach step away from standard people management advice to investigate the person behind the leader. Together they explore: What happens when you start paying attention—not just to systems, but...
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