FranklinCovey On Leadership

When markets shift and institutions feel shaky, many leaders reach for org charts, restructures, and new slogans—only to discover the real problem runs deeper. In this episode, Jonathan David Lewis—author, brand strategist, and president of McKee Wallwork & Company—joins Jennifer Colosimo to explore why so many “fixes” fail when character, trust, and internal clarity have eroded. Drawing on his book The Rebuilders, Jonathan explains how the world has flipped from outside-in branding to inside-out leadership: your people need to know who they are and what story they’re living before customers ever will. He discusses the “story wars” that play out inside large and small organizations, why indecision and misalignment are often identity problems in disguise, and how a clear, shared narrative can become a hard-edged competitive advantage. Along the way, he offers daily practices leaders can use to catch their own outdated stories, build alignment, and move teams from slow decline to renewed confidence and consistent action. We built an experience that we want you to be a part of. You can find it at https://leaddifferent.ai/. Come ask us the leadership questions that AI can't answer. As a global leadership and organizational performance partner, we give strategy the human edge™. For 40 years, FranklinCovey has helped tens of thousands of leaders, teams, and organizations around the world achieve breakthrough results and transform how they execute strategy at scale.To learn more, email us at [email protected], visit franklincovey.com, or call us at: 1-888-868-1776

Patrick Leddin, leadership author and strategy expert; Victoria Roos Olsson, leadership consultant and team development specialist; Doug Faber, executive coach and team effectiveness practitioner; and Jennifer Colosimo explore the human edge of leadership. They discuss accidental leaders, balancing high expectations with courageous care, coaching through curiosity, purposeful delegation, clarity, feedback, and the daily practices that build trust, engagement, and sustained performance.

Chris Voss, former FBI lead kidnapping negotiator, bestselling author of Never Split the Difference, and Black Swan Group founder, explores leading through uncertainty. He discusses tactical empathy, why understanding matters more than agreement, and how accusations audits can lower resistance. The conversation also covers agency, predictable communication, early collaboration, small steps, and policies that make change stick.

Neil Hoyne, Google’s Chief Strategist and author of Converted, explores the human side of data and AI. He discusses finding real customer stories behind metrics, replacing data-driven selling with disciplined experimentation, and matching rigor to decision speed. He also examines why business strategy must lead AI strategy, how customer lifetime value shapes lasting relationships, and why developing future talent matters in an AI-powered workplace.

Kat Cole, CEO of AG1 and former Cinnabon president, rose from restaurant hostess to lead major consumer brands. She recounts steering businesses through the Great Recession and COVID. She discusses being clear-eyed about problems, taking unpopular but necessary actions, aligning teams with data, building remote culture and values, and daily habits like listening, feedback, and bold action.

Elizabeth Svoboda, award-winning science journalist and author of The Art of Pacing, translates neuroscience into practical tools for lasting performance. She challenges grind culture and its hidden costs. She explains how leaders can model recovery, spot overload signals, align work with energy peaks, and use lulls for low-effort tasks to sustain high performance.

Shawn Vanderhoven, partner at The Wiseman Group and co-author of Pause, shares research on why leaders and teams get stuck in overcommitment. He talks about tapping the brakes to create space for deep work. Short practices covered include exposing hidden tasks, escaping email noise, and tuning in before delegating to boost focus and impact.

Ryannon Frederick, Chief Nursing Officer at Mayo Clinic who leads thousands of nurses, discusses human-centered leadership in healthcare. She talks about pushing beyond incremental change, borrowing ideas from outside the field, and using “imagine a world where…” prompts. She explains Mayo’s for-nurses-by-nurses innovation model, pairing clinicians with nonclinical experts, and daily behaviors that build trust and psychological safety.

Phil Le-Brun, former McDonald’s executive and AWS executive in residence, shares frameworks from The Octopus Organization. He contrasts rigid, 19th-century management with adaptive, learning organizations. He explains distributed decision-making, the pillars of clarity, ownership, and curiosity, and practical ways to run fast experiments and scale continuous, humane change.

What if the biggest barrier to your goals lives inside your own head? In this episode, Dr. Henry Cloud—renowned clinical psychologist, executive coach, bestselling author, and co-founder of a large healthcare organization—joins Jennifer Colosimo to unpack the ideas behind his new book, Your Desired Future: The 5 Essential Steps That Take You Where You Want to Go. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and years working in the “war rooms” with CEOs and executive teams, Henry explains why effort alone rarely closes the gap between vision and execution. He introduces a simple but powerful model, inspired by how the human body moves from “here” to “there,” to help leaders clarify the future they want, recruit the right talent, and design strategies that actually work. Along the way, he explores how self-doubt, unexamined assumptions, and missing structural elements quietly stall progress—and what you can do to consistently create the results you intend.   FranklinCovey’s world-class learning solutions—delivered Live-Online, On Demand, or Live In-Person—are designed to build exceptional leadership skills and enrich your culture at every level of your organization.   To learn more, email us at [email protected], visit franklincovey.com, or call us at: 1-888-868-1776