Leadership Lab with Dr. Patrick Leddin

John Ingram joins Patrick this week in the Leadership Lab to discuss how life and leadership are team sports. John should know. As co-founder of Nashville Soccer Club and Chairman of Ingram Industries Inc, John works to surround himself with strong team players who set big goals and execute with excellence. John joined Ingram Industries Inc. in 1986, serving early in his career as the Assistant Treasurer and also as President of Tennessee Book Company (which became part of Ingram Content Group in 2009). He later served as President of Ingram Book Company, Vice President of Purchasing for Ingram Micro Europe, and Director of Purchasing for Ingram Micro Inc. He has been a member of the Ingram Micro Inc. Board of Directors since 1996. John is active as a volunteer in a number of educational and charitable organizations. He is the chairman of the board of Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center. He is a member of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. He currently serves on the boards of Montgomery Bell Academy and The Harpeth Hall School in Nashville. He is Chair of the Western Governors University Tennessee Advisory Board.

Y-Vonne Hutchinson is the CEO & Founder of Ready Set and the author of How to Talk to Your Boss About Race: Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down. Y-Vonne believes in tackling big problems and that doing so requires big toolkits. Her company focuses on diversity and inclusion training to help companies to speak up productively about racism and turn talk into action. Prior to launching ReadySet, she worked as an international labor and human rights lawyer for nearly a decade. She has worked with foreign national governments, the US Department of State, and the UN. She is a member of Harvard Law’s Institute for Global Law and Policy network and an expert on labor relations and diversity in the workplace. Y-Vonne and Patrick discuss challenging issues including conflict, racism, crisis, personal trauma, and more. The topics are heavy (and so is the conversation at times), but you will finish listening and be energized to learn and do more.  Find out more about Y-Vonne’s work at https://www.thereadyset.co

Jessica Kaplan and Zoe Antell, are passionate about the fashion industry and female empowerment. As Vanderbilt University students, they launched Ready Dress Go to address an unmet need in the market. “We discovered there is a significant gap in the retail market for college-aged women in need of business attire that is appropriate for networking, interviewing, and working while also being stylish and highlighting the uniqueness of each individual.” Jessica, Zoe, and Patrick discuss understanding customers' needs, putting together a solution to address gaps in the market, and working with others to build something worth building.

Ken Natori is the President of The Natori Company, a designer fashion brand with collections ranging from ready-to-wear, lingerie, and sleepwear, to home textiles, fine jewelry, accessories, bath, and fine jewelry. Patrick and Ken discuss career decisions, transitions, and working in a family business. Learn from Ken’s experience in launching The Natori Company’s e-commerce and licensing business; overseeing finance, public relations, and marketing departments; and leading the business through the COVID pandemic. Prior to Natori, Ken worked as both a TV and Radio Reporter for Bloomberg and in International Equities at Lehman Brothers. Ken holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Amherst College.

David Allen joins Patrick to discuss the Getting Things Done (GTD) method and how we can use it to reduce ambient anxiety and appropriately engage in our work. David says that the key is to empty our minds and begin to see problems as projects. For over 35 years, David has helped leaders to increase their productivity, reduce stress, and win the game of business and life. Learn more about David’s work at www.gettingthingsdone.com.

While attending Vanderbilt University, Teddy Raskin started Lights on the Lawn (LOTL), an on-campus concert series in Nashville, TN. Initially created to raise funds to support the needs of an injured friend, LOTL grew to other university campuses and has raised over $630,000 for local charities. When COVID hit and health-related restrictions put concerts on the back burner, Teddy co-founded KOACORE, a full-scale safety management firm. KOACORE has delivered millions of safety products to clients throughout the U.S., contributed directly to the needs of those in worn-torn Ukraine, and launched an effort to return concert attendees and performers to venues worldwide. In the episode, Teddy shares with Patrick the five lessons he's learned about leading in adversity and encourages us to step up and make a difference.

Learn to better observe, communicate, and problem-solve with lawyer and art historian Amy Herman. Amy joins Patrick in the Leadership Lab to explore how looking closely at painting, sculpture, and photography can help you hone your visual intelligence. They explore how to recognize the most pertinent and useful information as well as recognize biases that impede decision-making. Over 20 years ago, Amy developed her Art of Perception seminar to improve medical students' observation and communication skills with their patients when she was the Head of Education at The Frick Collection in New York City. She subsequently adapted the program for a wide range of professionals and leads sessions internationally for the New York City Police Department, the FBI, the French National Police, the Department of Defense, Interpol, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, first responders, the military, and the intelligence community. Her new book Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem-Solving will challenge you to think and act in new ways.

Dave McKeown is the author of The Self-Evolved Leader: Elevate Your Focus and Develop Your People in a World That Refuses to Slow Down. He is also the host of the podcast Lead Like You Give a Damn.   Patrick and Dave discuss how to lead in ways that set you and your team up for success. With a wealth of experience connecting individual and team performance to improved business results, Dave explains how leaders in fast-growing, complex organizations can focus on what matters most.  Learn more about Dave’s work at www.davemckeown.com

Leading others is tough. We’ve got your back. Every week, we produce leadership content to help you to succeed. Sometimes you are so busy tackling all that is going on in your world that you miss what we are sharing. How dare you 😊  In this episode, Patrick recaps the 14 lessons we’ve shared in the first three months of 2022. These lessons include: how to disrupt yourself and your team, ways to better know your people, a framework for setting priorities, and much more. Each lesson consists of an article, video, and tool for you to read, watch, and use. You can find these lessons and all of our content at https://www.LeddinGroup.com

Feeling overwhelmed? Looking to get the essential items done? This episode is a must-listen. Explore how to get a grip on your week, your year, and your life. Rick’s book Grip helps people to better manage their time and get done what truly matters most. His work became a wildfire success in his home country of Holland. It has spread throughout Europe, the U.S. and is gaining traction worldwide.  If you want to live according to proven time management principles, you want to listen to this podcast episode and grab his book Grip: The Art of Working Smart and Getting to What Matters Most.