Coaching for Leaders

Dave Stachowiak

Discover leadership wisdom through insightful conversations

  • 21 minutes 32 seconds
    Getting More and Better Insights, with Irma Tragesser

    Dave speaks with Irma Tragesser, an alum of the Coaching for Leaders Academy, on how she shifted her approach to get more and better insights from her team.

    Applications to the Coaching for Leaders Academy open on March 7, 2025. Visit the Academy page to receive an invitation to apply.

    14 February 2025, 8:01 am
  • 37 minutes 56 seconds
    719: How to Better Manage Your Emotions, with Ethan Kross

    Ethan Kross: Shift

    Ethan Kross is the author of the national bestseller Chatter and one of the world’s leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top-ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he is the Director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. He’s the author of the new book, Shift: Managing Your Emotions–So They Don’t Manage You*.

    Being a leader means that our emotions get triggered, often many times a day. While none of us can avoid those triggers, how we respond to them can make all the difference. In this conversation, Ethan and I explore his research on how to better manage our emotions.

    Key Points

    • We often assume that approaching emotions is universally good and avoiding emotions is universally bad. Reality is much more nuanced.
    • We can strategically use our senses to modulate our feelings.
    • Music is a simple and powerful way to manage emotions proactively. Use playlists that align with the mood you wish to create.
    • Using distancing language when talking to yourself (i.e. saying “you” instead of “I”) can help you regulate.
    • Time shifting may help regulate your emotions. Ask yourself, how will I feel about this in a week? A month? A year?
    • Different tools work for different people at different times. Experiment to help you determine what works best for you.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    10 February 2025, 4:00 am
  • 38 minutes 54 seconds
    718: How Leaders Can Use the Algorithms for Good, with Sandra Matz

    Sandra Matz: Mindmasters

    Sandra Matz is a Columbia Business School professor, computational social scientist, and pioneering expert in psychological targeting. Her research uncovers the hidden relationships between our digital lives and our psychology with the goal of helping businesses and individuals make better decisions. She is the author of Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior*.

    Algorithms are becoming more influential with each passing day. That’s why leaders must understand their power and then decide how their organizations engage. In this conversation, Sandra and I discuss where psychological targeting is at, where it’s going, and the opportunity you have to make the world a bit better.

    Key Points

    • Everyone knows everything in a small town (for better or worse). In the same way, psychological targeting can be used for both evil and good.
    • Psychological targeting already is successful at identifying wealth, personality, income level, and sexual orientation – and keeps improving.
    • None of this is going away. Understanding how the game of targeting is played can help you make it work to your advantage.
    • Leaders and organizations who use targeting responsibly can do tremendous good, including helping people save money and flag early interventions for health crises.
    • Be transparent with what data you’re collecting and how you’re using it. Consider newer practices like federated learning that protect privacy and provide permission-based access.
    • Design systems and practices that anticipate the reality of future leaders with different values.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    3 February 2025, 4:00 am
  • 38 minutes 51 seconds
    717: A Key Tactic for Way Better Conversations, with Alison Wood Brooks

    Alison Wood Brooks: Talk

    Alison Wood Brooks is the O’Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School, where she created and teaches a course called TALK. As a behavioral scientist, she is a leading expert on the science of conversation and her research was referenced in two of the top ten most-viewed TED talks and depicted in Pixar’s Inside Out 2. She is the author of Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves*.

    Conversations are the venues where leaders do so much of their work. We all know someone who always can keep a conversation interesting and relevant. In this episode, Alison and I discuss how a key tactic can help you towards more meaningful conversations.

    Key Points

    • Healthy relationships are critical for success, and relationships are about talking.
    • Good conversation is both instinct and deliberate effort. Preparing topics in advance improves conversation immensely.
    • Topics for conversation can be sourced from almost anywhere and help even if we don’t use those topics.
    • Good topic management is more important than the right topic. The best conversationalists know when to shift.
    • Small talk in an essential exploration ground for getting to bigger, more meaningful conversation.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    27 January 2025, 4:00 am
  • 34 minutes 37 seconds
    716: How to Share an Inspiring Vision, with Adam Galinsky

    Adam Galinsky: Inspire

    Adam Galinsky is the Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics at the Columbia Business School. He co-authored the book Friend & Foe and his TED talk, How to Speak Up for Yourself, is one of the most popular of all time with over 7 million views. He’s the author of Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others.

    Leaders can delegate many things, but vision is not one of them. Most every leader needs to be able to articulate the future. In this conversation, Adam and I explore the building blocks to get better at inspiring others.

    Key Points

    • Every leader has the potential to be inspiring. We can choose to get better.
    • Whatever a leader says, either positive or negative, will be amplified.
    • When values are brought front and center, they inspire behavior that creates a better future.
    • Inspiring leaders offer a big picture, optimistic view of the future.
    • Make visions simple and vivid. Simplicity is the key to inception. Use strong imagery that brings details to life.
    • Repetition is essential for a vision to take hold. The more often we hear something, the more likely it becomes our own truth.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    20 January 2025, 4:00 am
  • 36 minutes 9 seconds
    715: How to Stand Up for Yourself, with Sunita Sah

    Sunita Sah: Defy

    Sunita Sah is an award-winning professor at Cornell University and an expert in organizational psychology, leading groundbreaking research on influence, authority, compliance, and defiance. A trained physician, her research and analyses have been widely published in leading academic journals and media entities including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, and Scientific American. She is the author of Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes*.

    We often think of defiance as a snap judgement. Yet, it’s so much more nuanced and purposeful than it often appears. In this conversation, Sunita and I explore the common patterns of defiance and how we can all do a better job of standing up for ourselves.

    Key Points

    • We follow bad advice – even when we know it is obviously bad – to avoid appearing unhelpful.
    • Defiance means acting in accordance with your true values when there is pressure to do otherwise.
    • True defiance is not a snap judgement; it’s a process.
    • Acts of defiance are preceded by many moments of conscious compliance, when defiance is deferred.
    • Five stages of defiance often emerge: (1) Tension, (2) Acknowledgement (to ourselves), (3) Escalation (vocalize to others), (4) Threat of non-compliance, and (5) Act of defiance.
    • Vocalizing our concern to someone else is a key pivot point on the journey to ultimately saying no.
    • Respond explicitly to these questions: (1) Who am I? (2) What type of situation is this? and (3) What does a person like me do in a situation such as this?

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    13 January 2025, 4:00 am
  • 39 minutes 52 seconds
    714: Team Collaboration and Communication, with Bonni Stachowiak

    Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed

    Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

    Listener Questions

    • Josh asked about helpful practices for setting chat groups in the workplace, especially for remote workers.
    • Lily was curious about the best way to structure a first session of a new innovation group and also how to help people engage.
    • Nicole wondered how she might navigate a situation with a particular donor who is asking for more support than is typical.

    Resources Mentioned

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    6 January 2025, 4:00 am
  • 36 minutes 23 seconds
    713: How to Grow From Feedback, with Jennifer Garvey Berger

    Jennifer Garvey Berger: Changing on the Job

    Jennifer Garvey Berger is cofounder and CEO of Cultivating Leadership, a consultancy that serves executives and teams in the private, non-profit, and government sectors. Her clients include Google, Microsoft, Novartis, Wikipedia, and Oxfam International. She is the author of four leadership books, including now in it’s second edition, Changing on the Job: How Leaders Become Courageous, Wise, and Steady in an Anxious World*.

    We often think about feedback as something we give to someone else. What if, in addition to that, feedback is an opportunity for both parties to learn and grow. In this conversation, Jennifer and I explore how this can open a door to some of the best leadership work we do.

    Key Points

    • If we view feedback as only giving our truth to someone else, we’ve missed a huge opportunity for growth.
    • Start by separating what happened from the interpretation of what happened.
    • Get curious about your own response: what made you react so strongly?
    • Talk it out. You have to welcome someone else into your thinking if you’re going to really learn.
    • Invite in how the other person sees the situation. Consider saying, “I’m really interested in what this looked like from your perspective.”
    • The process of unwinding what you hear is the good work of leadership and some the best work you can do.
    • Build a solution together.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Production Credit

    Coaching for Leaders is edited by Andrew Kroeger. Production support is provided by Sierra Priest.

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    16 December 2024, 4:00 am
  • 39 minutes 46 seconds
    712: Clarifying Values for a Workplace People Love, with Anne Chow

    Anne Chow: Lead Bigger

    Anne Chow was the CEO of AT&T Business and the first woman of color CEO in AT&T’s 140+ year history, responsible for leading a $35B global operating unit of over 35,000 people. She was named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business twice and today serves on a number of boards, including FranklinCovey, 3M, and CSX. She is the author of Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion.

    We all know the importance of values, but it’s often hard to know where to begin when clarifying them with a team. In this conversation, Anne and I explore how to align on values that support a great culture and move towards a vision.

    Key Points

    • Values and ideologies are distinct. Leading bigger means honoring diverse ideologies while aligning on core values.
    • Bigger leaders have the courage to admit and cite situations where they fall short.
    • When asking people to craft values, invite them to start by individually considering their personal values.
    • When discussing values as a group, highlight both the common agreements and also the outlying ideas.
    • Leaders must ultimately decide which values best embody the culture and vision of their organization.
    • Bring in different stakeholders to do a gut check on whether the values are legitimate.
    • Measure behaviors against values and review and update values and metrics regularly.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    9 December 2024, 4:00 am
  • 37 minutes 26 seconds
    711: Turning Down the Temperature on Outrage, with Karthik Ramanna

    Karthik Ramanna: The Age of Outrage

    Karthik Ramanna is a professor of business and public policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, where he has served as director of one of the world’s most diverse leadership programs. Previously a professor at Harvard Business School, he studies how organizations and leaders build trust with stakeholders. He is the author of The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World.

    In a lot of ways, leadership is better than it was a generation ago. One way that it isn’t better? Figuring out how to lead effectively in an increasingly polarized world. In this conversation, Karthik and I explore what leaders can do to turn down the temperature on outrage.

    Key Points

    • We tend to frame effective leadership as heroic. In times of outrage, the virtue of temperance becomes essential.
    • A leader will never fully address the demands made of them, regardless of how well they act.
    • Even when a leader resolves problems, they will be viewed as part of the problem.
    • Anticipate times of outrage and create spaces that calm people physically and help them connect with each other.
    • Establish rules of engagement outside moments of outrage so that you have a starting point.
    • Create pre-arranged workgroups that can help illuminate a path forward for the larger organization.

    Resources Mentioned

    Interview Notes

    Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

    Related Episodes

    Discover More

    Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

    2 December 2024, 4:00 am
  • 37 minutes 41 seconds
    710: Becoming an AI-Savvy Leader, with David De Cremer
    David De Cremer: The AI-Savvy Leader David De Cremer is the Dunton Family Dean of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business and professor of management and technology at Northeastern University. He's also an affiliated faculty member at the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University and an affiliated researcher at the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT. His newest book is titled The AI-Savvy Leader: Nine Ways to Take Back Control and Make AI Work*. We’ve all heard the warnings that AI is going to take our jobs. That’s certainly a possibility in the long term, but the story emerging, at least for now, is looking a little different. In this episode, David and I discuss how leaders can use AI to augment, not replace, human intelligence. Key Points AI is substantially different than prior digital transformations, and adoption efforts are failing at alarming rates. Instead of leading, too often leaders are being too deferential to data and analytics teams. Your expertise is exactly what your organization needs to deploy AI successfully. Leaders who learn the fundamentals of AI will play an essential role in narrating dialogue between the technology experts and everyone else. Get just enough foundational knowledge with statistics and modeling to communicate with the data and analytics folks better. Resources Mentioned The AI-Savvy Leader: Nine Ways to Take Back Control and Make AI Work* by David De Cremer Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes How to Solve the Toughest Problems, with Wendy Smith (episode 612) How to Begin Leading Through Continuous Change, with David Rogers (episode 649) Principles for Using AI at Work, with Ethan Mollick (episode 674) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
    25 November 2024, 4:00 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App