The Focus Bee Show (345) Stephanie Chung: From Private Jets to BoardRooms, The Art of Leading With Curiosity
(345) Stephanie Chung: From Private Jets to BoardRooms, The Art of Leading With Curiosity
Stephanie Chung, transformational expert, commercial strategist, and leadership coach, shares her insights on how to lead people who are not like you. As the first African American to lead a major private aviation company, Stephanie offers real-world lessons on modern leadership, diversity, and curiosity as the foundation for connection.
We explore why empathy alone isn’t enough, how curiosity drives inclusion, and what it truly takes to create psychologically safe, high-performing teams in today’s fast-changing world.
✨ What’s Inside This Episode:
🤔 01:21 – Why Curiosity Outweighs Empathy in Modern Leadership
🧠 03:19 – Rewiring Our Brains: How to Override Bias and Lead Across Differences
👶 06:30 – Leadership Lessons from Children: Returning to Innocent Curiosity
🛩️ 07:28 – From Private Jets to Boardrooms: Leading People Who Aren’t Like You
🏗️ 08:30 – The E.A.R.N. System: Establish, Align, Rally & Navigate
🧩 12:19 – Psychological Safety in Action: How to Spot (and Fix) Groupthink
💬 15:22 – Meetings That Matter: Fostering Healthy Challenge & Diverse Thinking
📈 17:28 – Why Diverse Teams Are More Profitable and Innovative
🔥 19:34 – Healthy Confrontation: How to Encourage Disagreement for Better Results
💪 21:04 – Inner Work of Leadership: Becoming Secure Enough to Be Challenged
💡 22:21 – The Power of “So What?” – From Sales Pitches to Executive Vision
🛫 25:20 – The Private Jet Story: A $20 Million Lesson in Listening
🌍 29:17 – Practicing Curiosity: How Simple Acts Build Global Mindset
🔮 32:05 – Why Leaders Must Evolve or Be Left Behind
💫 About Stephanie Chung:
Stephanie Chung is a transformational leadership expert, executive coach, and commercial strategist with over two decades of experience leading high-performing teams. She made history as the first African American to lead a major private aviation company and has been recognized among the most influential women in business.
📲 Where to Follow & Connect with Stephanie Chung:
Website: https://www.stephaniechung.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniechung
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniechungofficial
💫 About Katie Stoddart:
Katie is the founder of The Focus Bee, an international high-performance coach, speaker, author, and host of The Focus Bee Show. She supports founders, CEOs, and high achievers to reach and sustain peak performance through focus, leadership, stress management and alignment. Her mission is to create purpose-driven leaders worldwide.
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