Guest: Aang Lakey: Speaker, coach and advocate Aang Lakey (they/them) is an internationally recognized speaker, coach, and advocate specializing in the integration of leadership, equity, and consciousness to advance social change. With a background in social work, violence prevention, and organizational development, Aang equips leaders with tools to navigate challenges and foster equitable, collaborative environments. Aang brings a unique blend of lived experience and professional expertise to their work and advocates for integrating consciousness practices—such as reflexivity, intentionality, and congruence—into leadership to create equitable, human-centered workplaces. Many organizations talk about diversity and inclusion, but when engagement strategies aren’t built on equity, employees from marginalized groups often face invisible barriers to participation, contribution, and leadership. Leaders must go beyond policy-based DEI efforts and focus on everyday practices that foster a culture of inclusion. This includes recognizing the intersectionality of employee experiences and how factors like race, gender, neurodiversity, and socioeconomic background shape engagement. When leaders become conscious of these dynamics, they can create more adaptive and supportive environments where employees feel seen and valued. Join us as we discuss how factors like race, gender, neurodiversity and socioeconomic background shape engagement. Host: Jo Moffatt

Guest: Kelly Meerbott: TEDx Speaker and Author of From Burnout to Bliss Kelly Meerbott is an acclaimed TEDx and keynote speaker, author, podcast host, and award-winning certified leadership expert. With a unique trauma-informed approach and PTSD training, Kelly has transformed the leadership landscape for hundreds of C-suite and senior executives, and more than 400 high-ranking military officers. Her proven strategies help 90% of her clients overcome burnout, become more resilient, and achieve their goals. She holds multiple coaching certifications in Human & Organizational Transformation, Unconscious Bias, Leadership, cognitive therapy, and communications. Kelly’s insights on burnout are featured in her bestselling book From Burnout to Bliss and her latest release Meerbott’s Fables. In this episode, we will be exploring the importance of employee psychological safety in an organization and its impact on the bottom line – employee attrition is a key area of impact. High attrition levels can be costly for organizations, and psychological safety is pivotal in reducing turnover rates. We will explore why psychological safety is crucial for the success of any organization, how it affects attrition, and how fostering it can lead to tangible, positive business results. Join us as we discuss why psychological safety is crucial for the success of any organization. Host: Andy Goram

Guests: Jason Anthoine: Strategic Consultant Jason Anthoine is a globally recognized leader in internal communications, employee experience and culture change. With over 35 years of experience, he understands how to reach employees where they already are by communicating with them the way they want. His passion for reaching hard-working, blue collar employees was inspired by his father, who worked as an assembly line foreman in a school bus factory and embodied the values Jason teaches today. Jason has worked with hundreds of companies with hundreds of thousands of employees, guiding them to reimagine their internal communications strategies to shape and shine their workplace cultures. By listening to and acting on the voice of employees, Jason’s work improves both workplace culture and marketplace results. Your employees’ work life is his life’s work. And he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to see it done right. Join us as we discuss how to identify and work with your company’s untapped internal influencers, the ones everyone goes to for the “meeting after the meeting Host: Jo Moffatt

Guests: Roger Gerard: Owner of Sloan & Gerard Consulting and Author Dr. Roger A. Gerard is the owner of Sloan & Gerard Consulting, a private consulting practice serving executives and boards in strategic planning, operational planning, executive coaching, and management development. He also specializes in process improvement, and the use of lean methodologies in bringing about significant and measurable organizational improvement. He is the former Chief Learning Officer for ThedaCare, an integrated healthcare delivery system, retiring from that position in 2014 after 23 years in that role. Dr. Gerard has a 52-year career history leading executive and management development initiatives, in both large and small organizational environments. His work has been primarily within the healthcare industry, but he has also spent a quarter of his career consulting in manufacturing and service industries nationwide. In addition, he is a creative photographer, and provides help to his wife Debra in her fine art business. Previously, Dr. Gerard served as Vice President of Northern Michigan Hospitals and as theDirector of Organizational Development. Before joining NMH, he was Creative Manager for Quality Systems for Sandy Corporation where he consulted with major clients (Burroughs, IBM, General Motors, Hyatt, etc.) on systemic leadership development and quality improvement projects. Dr. Gerard is the author of Owning the Room: Leading with Mind, Heart and Spirit to Make Extraordinary Choices in a Demanding World and the forthcoming title, Lead With Purpose: Reignite Passion and Engagement For Professionals in Crisis. He also co-authored On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry. Dr. Gerard has presented at numerous national conferences and locally throughout Wisconsin and Michigan on leadership and lean in the healthcare industry. He earned his Ph.D. in Management and Applied Decision Sciences from Walden University in 2001. Join us as we discuss how leaders can cull the cynics, apathetics and naysayers Host: Andy Goram

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Guests: Emma Bridger Despite 20 plus years of focusing on employee engagement, we have seen little improvement – according to some studies employees are actually less engaged today than they have ever been! Why? Because we need to focus on intentionally designing experiences that deliver engagement, rather than focusing on engagement as an end in its own right. This starts by asking and understanding what a great EX looks and feels like. In this session, Emma Bridger and Lee Smith, share the findings of People Lab research spanning more than 15 years which answers that seemingly simple question, along with a simple, practical, but powerful tool that will enable you to discover what will make the difference in your own organisation Bought to life with real world stories about what makes a great experience at work and informed by robust research and the cutting-edge EX thinking, you’ll leave this session with a clear understanding of the components of great EX and a powerful approach you can deploy to kick-start your organisation’s journey towards it. The world of work has changed – we’re now in the era of EX and we invite you to come along to this session as we share the tools and insights to transform workplaces into vibrant hubs of excellence. Join us as we discuss why engagement levels are still struggling—or even declining Host: Jo Dodds

Guest: Joel Zeff: Author and Speaker Joel Zeff creates energy. His spontaneous humor and vital messages have thrilled audiences for more than 25 years. As a national speaker, work culture expert, author, and humorist, Joel captivates audiences with a unique blend of hilarious improvisational comedy and essential ideas on work and life. He has shared his experience and insight on collaboration, leadership, change, communication, innovation, fun and passion at more than 2,500 events. His book, “Make the Right Choice: Lead with Passion, Elevate Your Team, and Unleash the Fun at Work”, is consistently listed as one of the top work/life balance books on Amazon. He has appeared on CNBC and featured in the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, and many other media outlets. In this episode, he will be talking about his book ‘Make the Right Choice: Lead with Passion, Elevate Your Team, and Unleash the Fun at Work’, in which he delivers a unique, interactive, humorous, and highly entertaining blueprint to create a new approach to work that is inspiring, fun, and infinitely more effective. Filled with self-contained chapters that will make you laugh and nod your head in agreement, this book has everything readers need to increase engagement, communicate more effectively, and create a positive and successful work environment. Join us as we discuss unleashing fun at work. Host: Jo Moffatt

A short show this week as my guest didn’t arrive but I took the opportunity to explain where the other five hundred and seventy odd shows are, if you’re new to us! Go to engageforsuccess.org or you can find us on your podcast app. Host: Jo Dodds

Guest: John Amaechi OBE EFS’s mission is ‘inspiring people and workplaces to thrive’, and John’s work is dedicated to creating high-performance, ethical workplace cultures. We will explore our common ground and the role that values can play in driving the behaviours that create successful organisations, the importance of culture and a people-centric environment as well as what can get in the way of creating a positive working environment. Professor John Amaechi OBE is a respected organisational psychologist, and the Leadership Transformation Expert at APS Intelligence LTD, the consultancy he founded in 2006. Recognised as an influential thinker in HR, John is a Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School in the UK and a Fellow of the Institute of Science and Technology. He’s the author of the New York Times and the Sunday Times bestselling leadership book, The Promises of Giants. John is a non-executive director of a FTSE 250 company, was a 10-year director of the UK’s largest healthcare organisation and a board adviser for several FTSE 100 organisations in the financial, legal and professional services, technology, publishing, engineering and retail sectors. Host: Jo Moffatt

Guest: Victoria Dioh: Founder Victoria Dioh is an African Oracle (an intuit and healer). She helps leaders who have sacrificed their personal fulfilment for professional success, fall in love with life. As a result, they enhance their wellbeing and wealth by up to 750% or more. Before surrendering to her purpose, Victoria managed some of the country’s most high-profile initiatives such as MPs Expenses IT Infrastructure and Olympics 2012 Red Route. She is also an international speaker, gracing the stages from Tony Robbins in Tenerife to stages in Africa. Victoria strongly believes that everyone is born with a purpose (a reason for being on this earth) and that your intuition will help you to embody your purpose, pivoting a life full of clarity, confidence and clarity! Join us as we discuss enhancing your wellbeing AND your wealth. Host: Andy Goram

Guest: Robin Nathaniel: TEDx Speaker | Social Media Leader Robin Nathaniel has a story of resilience, creativity, and reinvention. Beginning his career as a musician, Robin’s artistic roots laid a unique foundation for his journey. This experience in music, with its emphasis on connection and storytelling, naturally paved the way for his transition into the professional world of social media. By day, he advances marketing initiatives for local government while also serving mission-driven organizations through his independent agency. By night, he transforms into a passionate NBA analyst for Bleav Network and previously worked with NBC Sports. A proud husband and two-time dad, Robin’s life has also been shaped by significant loss—the passing of his mother and brother. He reshapes his struggles into pathways of self-discovery, love, and insightful ideas, living by the motto: “Connect. Create. Contribute.” Through this lens, Robin aims to inspire a wave of positive transformation. Join us as we discuss resilience, creativity and reinvention. Host: Jo Moffatt