Episode #51: Why We Lead: A Story of Purpose, Compassion, and Making a Difference Together
Release Date: 06/05/2025
Episode #69: What Holds Teams Together When Things Don’t Go as Planned
Missing Conversations
What shows up when you show up, especially when things don’t go as planned? When you walk into the room, do your teams experience steadiness, appreciation, a sense that something more is still possible? In this final episode of 2025, Altus executive coaches Heather Neely, Dan Winter, Don DeVito, and Amy Vodarek gather to reflect on these questions through the lens of abundance as a lived leadership practice. They explore how gratitude steadied a CEO during organizational chaos, why appreciation expands what teams can see in the midst of challenge, and how leaders learn to hold two realities...
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Episode #68: The Leadership Shifts Behind Every Crisis-Ready Team
Missing Conversations
The first leader Den Jones ever worked for broke his trust. Good thing—because that moment made Den a leader with a deep, lifelong commitment to serving his people. In this episode, Altus executive coaches Lynette Winter and Dan Winter talk with Den—founder of 909Cyber, former Adobe and Cisco leader, and a storyteller whose Scottish wit cuts through complexity with honesty, humor, and practical insight. You’ll hear Den talk plainly about leading in a world of AI and fake profiles, shifting from “defensible moat” thinking to zero trust, repairing trust after a breach, setting...
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Episode #67: Leading Through Chaos: The Secret to Keeping Your Team Aligned and High-Performing When Demand Is High
Missing Conversations
When your business is hit by a pandemic, a capacity crunch, or clients who treat your work like a commodity, how do you protect your people, your standards, and your own sanity? In this episode of Missing Conversations, hosts Dan Winter and Heather Neely talk with Jeff Weinberg, owner of JW Catering, who has spent 25 years in Silicon Valley “controlling chaos” as he and his team serve events from 5 to 5,000 people. Jeff shares how a chance complaint at a concert turned into a decades-long partnership, how he and his team pivoted in just five weeks to ghost kitchens and a pop-up Jewish deli...
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Episode #66: Facing Uncertainty? Here’s The One Thing Your Team Needs Most From You Today
Missing Conversations
When your organization is moving fast and uncertainty spikes, your leadership presence becomes the difference between a team that breaks and one that moves forward together. In this episode of Missing Conversations, hosts Lynette Winter and Ellen Burton sit down with Amy Riley, an internationally respected leadership coach, speaker, and author who has spent over two decades helping leaders bring out the best in their teams. Amy shares insights from rooms where jobs were on the line, strategies were rewritten overnight, and leaders had to align vision and reality in real time—VPs steadying...
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Episode #65: How to Create Psychological Safety at Work: Small Leadership Practices That Build Trust, Respect, and Performance
Missing Conversations
$2.7 billion a day. That’s what U.S. workplaces lose in productivity when people don’t feel emotionally or psychologically safe. Psychological safety isn’t a policy. It’s the everyday experience of being able to speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, challenge assumptions, and be fully ourselves at work. In this conversation, Altus Growth Partners executive coaches Steven Jones, Ellen Burton, and Lara Guille explore how leaders build that safety through small, intentional practices: curiosity before correction, deep listening, open-ended and consent-based questions, and the...
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Episode #64: Inside Reytek: How CEO Ed Kuyper Grows People, Strengthens Community, and Redefines Success
Missing Conversations
Some leaders step into new roles; others step into new ways of leading. In this episode of Missing Conversations, Altus Growth Partners executive coaches Dan Winter and Lynette Winter talk with Ed Kuyper, CEO of Reytek Equipment, a New Mexico–based manufacturer serving the semiconductor, aerospace, and biotech industries. Ed shares the inner work and practical choices behind his transition from corporate executive to small-business CEO, and what it really means to lead with trust, humility, and care. His story reflects a leader’s deepest responsibility: to grow people, strengthen...
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Episode #63: Anticipating Tomorrow: Leadership Aligned, Financial Impact Clear, and the AI Edge Defined
Missing Conversations
David Coulombe began his career as a mechanical engineer, but it was his restless curiosity that reshaped his path. He wanted to know why organizations miss what matters most, and how they could do better. That drive led him into internal auditing and risk management, where he challenged the old model of combing through past mistakes. Instead, he redefined audit as a forward-looking partner: one that tests readiness, strengthens trust, and raises capability across the enterprise. Now, David is pioneering how artificial intelligence can transform his field, and the organizations it serves. In...
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Episode #62: Redesigning Your Calendar, Expectations, and Leadership to Build Workplaces Where You and Your Team Thrive
Missing Conversations
Do you want to be part of a workplace that drains you—or one that gives you energy, clarity, and joy? In this episode of Missing Conversations, hosts Steven Jones and Ellen Burton talk with Shani Harmon, Founder and CEO of Stop Meeting Like This, who, for over 20 years, has consulted with Fortune 500 companies and is known for unraveling the complex problems that keep leaders and teams from doing meaningful work. Shani’s care began in her hometown in West Virginia, watching her father come home from long days of physical labor, and deepened when she entered the corporate world and saw how...
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Episode #61: From Mountains to Boardrooms: How adventure and experiential learning help leaders build trust, embrace conflict, and elevate teams
Missing Conversations
“It’s not about the intensity of what you do, it’s about the intention.” That guiding belief runs through Ryan Soares’ life, from backcountry skiing to hang-gliding launches to building global practice fields where leaders experiment, stumble safely, and discover what elevates their people. In this episode of Missing Conversations, hosts Heather Neely and Amy Vodarek sit down with Ryan, founder of Soares Consulting, to explore how an adventurous spirit, deep empathy, and hands-on learning help leaders design psychological safety, embrace conflict as fuel, and turn missing...
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Episode #60: Six Practices for How to Lead From What You Care About Most
Missing Conversations
To lead others well, we must first return to what we care about most. In this Missing Conversations episode, hosts Amy Vodarek and Ellen Burton talk with their Altus colleague Lara Guille, who blends her background as a clinical psychologist, executive coach, and generative leadership practitioner to help leaders do just that. Lara shares six practices for how to lead from your cares, elevating you as a leader and your team: “Zoom out” to see what’s really driving the moment Name competing cares so you can choose with intention Use self-awareness to stay grounded amid...
info_outlineXavier and Maegan Figueroa’s journey reminds us that sometimes life’s hardest moments become the spark that ignites our deepest purpose. After the loss of Xavier’s brother, Gabriel, in Iraq, and Maegan’s life-altering liver transplant, they were determined to build something meaningful with the time and opportunities they’d been given. That led them to build LA Trash Junkers and The Hodgepodge LA, a business driven by mission and heart, and rooted in empathy, gratitude, and unwavering support for each other. In this conversation with Heather Neely and Dan Winter, Xavier and Maegan share how they’ve carried their personal journeys into their businesses to lift up families during life transitions and create a culture of deep care and shared purpose among their team.
Key Moments You’ll Want to Hear:
01:56: The worst day of Xavier’s life became the catalyst for his greatest journey.
03:31: Maegan reveals the powerful lesson that shifted her from stuck to unstoppable.
09:49: This one goal ignited unwavering commitment, both as individuals and as a team.
10:23: Start with Why: The book—and the breakthrough—that shaped their mission.
11:52: The single most powerful action to build amazing teams and exceed client expectations.
15:00: Empathy in action: Tapping into personal experience to lead with deep compassion.
17:11: How to build a team with shared purpose.
20:23: Creating a culture where responsibility is a core value from day one.
22:18: The everyday actions that show your team—and your customers—they matter.
24:08: When trust breaks: How to rebuild it and come back stronger.
27:04: Why relationships are the key to building a thriving business.
32:10: From profit to purpose: How Maegan extended the business to create community impact.
36:06: Why energy in leadership starts with doing work that aligns with your cares.
39:07: A transformative mindset shift: From “I’ll be happy when…” to “I’m happy while…”
41:17: The conversation we should all be having to care for those we love.
“From the very beginning, we always thought: how can we use this business to help other people?” Maegan Figueroa
🎧 If you’re ready to align your actions with what matters most—and inspire your team to do the same—this conversation is for you.
About Maegan Figueroa
Maegan Figueroa, a liver transplant recipient, has been vital in the success of LA Trash Junkers. Now, she’s building The Hodge Podge LA, a nonprofit antique/thrift store dedicated to helping families navigate the transplant process, providing support, resources, and community through curated vintage finds.
You can find her on Instagram at: @thehodgepodgela
About Xavier Figueroa
Xavier, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former F-18 aircraft mechanic, founded LA Trash Junkers to help families and professionals with estate cleanouts. With a deep commitment to service, he specializes in clearing properties with care, ensuring valuables are preserved while creating clean, manageable spaces for clients.
You can find him on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xavier-figueroa-75637b234/
And Instagram at: @latrashjunkers/
About the Book
Growing Groups Into Teams: How do you turn a group of individuals into a highly effective, productive team? Growing Groups Into Teams is an unusually useful book written by a team of generative consultants and coaches who have helped thousands of groups become effective teams.
Through real-life stories combined with pragmatic advice, this book strengthens your ability to see what’s needed and take effective action:
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What two promises turn a group into a team.
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How to engage people to make those promises.
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How to invite responsibility and accountability.
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How to include and inspire people across differences.
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How to build and rebuild trust, and more!
Regardless of how productive your teams are today, the insights in this book will help you grow to the next level to drive your business or organization forward. Order your copy today!
Order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Groups-into-Teams-Real-life-ebook/dp/B0CJLC23VS
Order directly:
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?l8SxF4Aexn9gq08iz7jFBbwutleujrftoZ2wAOFzCVH
If you're looking to expand your leadership influence, shift your results, and develop a highly engaged, accountable team, we’d love to talk to you. Schedule a conversation with an Altus Team Member here: https://calendly.com/prollin-altusgrowth/zoom-video-30-min
Follow us on social media:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/altus-growth-partners
https://www.facebook.com/AltusGrowth
https://www.instagram.com/altusgrowthpartners/
Keywords:
#Leadership #TeamBuilding #Entrepreneurship #Networking #MissionDriven