TLP487: Three Ways to Motivate Teams and Align Strategy
The Leadership Podcast
Hans Lagerweij is the author of The Why Whisperer: How to Motivate and Align Teams That Get Your Strategy Done. In this episode, Hans shares that he wrote the book after watching great strategies fail during execution. He saw a gap between understanding the importance of purpose and actually implementing it. Hans explains that you can't shout your way to purpose. Whispering requires getting close to your team and having two-way conversations. He emphasizes that leaders need to listen to personal motivations and ideas from team members. Hans presents three options when there's...
info_outline
TLP486: Unruly: Deconstruct the Rules, Defy the Norms, and Define Your Success
The Leadership Podcast
Lauren Wittenberg Weiner is a speaker, business therapist, and bestselling author of Unruly: Deconstruct the Rules, Defy the Norms, and Define Your Success. In this episode, Lauren shares the pivotal moment that crystallized her unruly philosophy. When told she couldn't do something, she learned to transform that doubt into motivation rather than letting it paralyze her. She explains how reframing negative feedback as challenge fuel drives her leadership. Lauren explains the difference between gatekeepers who clone themselves and gateways who open doors. She tackles the transactional...
info_outline
TLP485: Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
The Leadership Podcast
Hal Elrod is the bestselling author of “The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM).” The book offers a practical morning routine that has transformed the lives of over 3 million people. In this episode, Hal describes discovering the six practices that became the SAVERS method (Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Scribing) during the 2008 financial crisis when he needed to rebuild his life and income. He shares how implementing these practices every morning doubled his income within two months and became the...
info_outline
TLP484: Balancing Innovation with Human Connection
The Leadership Podcast
Brandon Sawalich is the President and CEO of Starkey, leading 6,000 employees across 29 countries in the hearing healthcare industry. In this episode, Brandon addresses how healthcare leaders balance innovation with human connection. He explains that hearing health requires both cutting-edge AI technology and personalized care from healthcare professionals. He shares leadership lessons from guiding Starkey's transformation into a global brand while preserving its family culture. Brandon discusses how to maintain core values while under pressure to prioritize patient outcomes...
info_outline
TLP483: People Must Feel Valued Before They Can Add Value
The Leadership Podcast
Zach Mercurio is a researcher, and optimist instructor who specializes in purposeful leadership and meaningful work. He is the author of "The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance," that reveals the psychological foundation that drives human energy and performance in organizations. Zach addresses why 60% of employees don't feel cared for at work and how this creates a mattering deficit leading to quiet quitting or toxic behaviors. He discusses the Optimism course he created with Simon Sinek, which focuses on developing human skills that show people their...
info_outline
TLP482: The 100 Best Books for Work and Life
The Leadership Podcast
Todd Sattersten brings over 20 years of experience in nonfiction book publishing, and is the author of "The 100 Best Books for Work and Life." He's also the publisher at Bard Press and has dedicated his career to helping leaders navigate the overwhelming world of business literature. In this episode, Todd reveals how he curated 100 essential books into 25 problem-focused chapters, moving beyond traditional business categories to address both professional and personal challenges leaders face. He explains why growth comes from believing change is possible and how daily effort accumulates into...
info_outline
TLP481: The New Language of Leadership with Michael Ventura
The Leadership Podcast
Michael Ventura is an entrepreneur, author of “Applied Empathy: The New Language of Leadership”, and advisor to leaders at organizations including the ACLU, Google, Nike, and the UN. He has taught emotionally intelligent leadership at Princeton, West Point, and Esalen. In this episode, Michael explores why our natural childhood empathy fades as adults due to life complexity, cultural conditioning, and survival mechanisms that suppress this innate behavior. He explains how organizational design can create systems where empathy thrives through measurement, rewards, and leadership modeling...
info_outline
TLP480: Number One Factor for Changing Team Behaviors with Tamara Myles
The Leadership Podcast
Tamara Myles is a speaker, professor, and co-author of "Meaningful Work: How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee." She specializes in the science of human flourishing at work and serves as faculty at Boston College and the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode, Tamara challenges the biggest misconception leaders hold about purpose and productivity. She explains how leaders often view these as opposing forces, when research shows they actually create a virtuous cycle that drives engagement, performance, and innovation. Tamara emphasizes that self-awareness...
info_outline
TLP479: Make Work Fair with Siri Chilazi
The Leadership Podcast
Siri Chilazi is a senior researcher at the Women in Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School, and co-author of "Make Work Fair: Data-Driven Design for Real Results." She helps organizations bridge the gap between research and practice using evidence-based approaches to workplace fairness. In this episode, Siri explains why workplace fairness requires redesigning systems rather than changing people, demonstrating how structured processes like predetermined interview questions produce less biased results than open-ended conversations. She argues that organizations must analyze workforce...
info_outline
TLP478: The Consequences of Inaction with Nick Cooney
The Leadership Podcast
Nick Cooney is the founder and managing partner of Lever VC, an early stage fund focused on food and ag tech innovation. He also founded the Lever Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing a humane and sustainable food system, and authored "What We Don't Do: Inaction in the Face of Suffering and the Drive to Do More." In this episode, Nick tackles the Malthusian Trap debate and explains why more people face starvation today in raw numbers than ever before, despite technological advances in food production. He argues that capitalism alone cannot solve global food insecurity because it...
info_outlineKevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert with decades of experience and author of “Flexible Leadership: Navigate Uncertainty and Lead with Confidence”.
Kevin explores what it takes to lead effectively in a constantly changing environment. He shares why being a “remarkable” leader isn’t about charisma or titles. It’s about intentional actions, self-awareness, and the ability to influence in complex and fast-changing environments.
He challenges a common leadership trap: mistaking consistency for rigidity and explains how great leaders remain anchored in values while staying flexible in approach.
He explores why so many leaders fail to delegate, how trust and influence suffer in remote settings, and the frequent mistake of promoting technical experts into people leadership roles without preparing them for the shift.
He also explains that leadership hasn’t changed at its core, but the growing diversity of values has shifted the context dramatically.
Kevin explains the confidence-competence loop and why the right leadership response often lies in managing tensions, not finding balance. He encourages leaders to slow down, reflect with purpose, and make conscious choices that align with the moment’s needs and not just their preferences.
If you’ve ever wondered how to lead when the ground keeps shifting beneath you, this episode is one to listen to more than once.
You can find episode 467 wherever you get your podcasts!
Watch this Episode on YouTube | Kevin Eikenberry on Navigate Uncertainty
Key Takeaways
[02:39] Kevin shared that he collects antique tractors and matching toy replicas. Growing up on a farm and being involved in his family’s agriculture business gave him real responsibility at a young age. That early exposure shaped how he sees leadership today: through the lens of contribution, accountability, and impact.
[05:33] Kevin believes being remarkable starts with recognizing each person's ability to make a difference. It’s about instilling confidence without arrogance and acting intentionally. Great leaders help others believe they are capable and valuable, especially in environments filled with change.
[09:40] Kevin challenges the false choice between being consistent or being flexible. He uses the image of a mature tree—rooted but able to bend—as a model for leadership today. Flexibility means changing your approach without compromising core values, especially as the context around you evolves.
[13:39] Jim asked how the growing diversity of values affects leadership today. Kevin explained that while human behavior and leadership fundamentals haven’t changed, the context around them has shifted dramatically.
[17:35] Many leaders want to delegate but get caught in the mindset that it’s quicker to do things themselves. Kevin frames delegation as an investment, not a transaction. Building trust and capability in others takes time up front, but it's essential—especially in distributed and hybrid work settings.
[21:02] Kevin points out that organizations often promote top performers in technical roles without preparing them for leadership. He draws a parallel to sports that great players rarely make great coaches.
[23:33] Kevin shares that to be intentional, leaders must slow down and reflect. Whether it’s quiet time during a commute or a simple end-of-day check-in, asking what went well and what could improve helps leaders stay grounded. Kevin stresses that reflection isn’t about ruminating, it’s about learning and adjusting.
[29:02] Kevin notes that progress often comes after setbacks. When leaders own what’s theirs and shift focus to outcomes and others. Getting stuck in guilt or blame prevents forward movement. The key is to learn the right lessons and redirect energy to what matters next.
[35:13] Kevin leaves us with a challenge: if you're still leading the same way you were before the pandemic, it's time to reassess. The world has changed. Flexible leaders recognize what the situation requires and adjust their approach—not based on habit, but on what will serve their people and outcomes best.
[36:52] And remember...“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” - Bruce Lee
Quotable Quotes
“Being a flexible leader is about being willing to change my approach based on the context of the situation.”
“Delegation has to be an investment.”
“To be a truly flexible leader is a really hard task, because I'm suggesting that you have to go past your autoresponder.”
“Reflection that informs maybe where the discipline should be.”
“The confidence, competence cycle. Right. As we become more confident, it helps our competence, and as we become more competent, we become more confident.”
“We think about leadership as being about three O's: outcomes, others and ourselves.”
“What we need to do is manage the tension between things more than trying to find a perfect answer.”
“If you haven't, if you've been consistent as a leader from then until now, do you think that all of those changes have conspired to make your approach to leading more effective? I'm not taking that bet.”
This is the book mentioned in this book
Resources Mentioned
-
The Leadership Podcast | theleadershippodcast.com
-
Sponsored by | www.darley.com
-
Rafti Advisors. LLC | www.raftiadvisors.com
-
Self-Reliant Leadership. LLC | selfreliantleadership.com
-
Kevin Eikenberry Website | https://kevineikenberry.com
-
Kevin Eikenberry You tube channel - www.youtube.com/user/KevinEikenberryGroup
-
Kevin Eikenberry The Remarkable Leadership podcast - https://kevineikenberry.com/podcasts/
-
Kevin Eikenberry X | @kevineikenberry
-
Kevin Eikenberry Facebook | www.facebook.com/kevineikenberryfanpage
-
Kevin Eikenberry LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry
-
Kevin Eikenberry Instagram | @kevineikenberry