

Peak Performance Leadership
Scott McCarthy, 20 year serving Military Commander
As the world continues to accelerate in complexity and ambiguity, leaders cannot afford to settle for mediocrity. You need to be at your best, your team does, as well as your organization. Thus, you need to be peak performers. The Peak Performance Leadership Podcast is here for you to achieve just that.
This weekly podcast will help you find new ways to become the best leader than you can be. I take the lessons learned from my 20+ years of leadership experience coupled with the world's best guests in all areas of leadership to give you a leading edge.
This show focuses on the three domains of leadership:
Leading Yourself - learn how to perform at your peak, to ensure that you have the mindset of a leader, set and crush your goals.Leading Your Team - learn how to inspire and motivate your team. Build a cohesive team through trust and mutual goals.Leading Your organization - efficiency and effectiveness are what drives bottom line. You as the leader must harness these aspects along with culture and so much more!
In the end you'll become a LEADER and not "BOSS". Are you ready for more? Access all of our resources at: https://leaddontboss.com
This weekly podcast will help you find new ways to become the best leader than you can be. I take the lessons learned from my 20+ years of leadership experience coupled with the world's best guests in all areas of leadership to give you a leading edge.
This show focuses on the three domains of leadership:
Leading Yourself - learn how to perform at your peak, to ensure that you have the mindset of a leader, set and crush your goals.Leading Your Team - learn how to inspire and motivate your team. Build a cohesive team through trust and mutual goals.Leading Your organization - efficiency and effectiveness are what drives bottom line. You as the leader must harness these aspects along with culture and so much more!
In the end you'll become a LEADER and not "BOSS". Are you ready for more? Access all of our resources at: https://leaddontboss.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 6, 2022 • 42min
Becoming a Trusted Advisor | Bill Coletti
Bill Coletti is a reputation management, crisis communications, and professional development expert. Additionally, he is a keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance panelist, and best-selling author of Critical Moments, The New Mindset of Reputation Management. He has more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises, issues management, and media relations challenges for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns. Bill has provided senior counsel in crisis management, corporate communications, and reputation defense to numerous clients including AT&T, Target Corporation, American Airlines, The Home Depot, Xerox, Nuclear Energy Institute, Cargill, as well as major universities and global NGOs. Previously, Bill served in the Republic of Bulgaria as Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, and the Labor Minister. He was the first Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria.
Topics
During this interview Bill and I discuss the following topics:
What a trusted advisor isWhat qualities a trusted advisor should possessThree different leader typesHow to balance the use of a trusted advisorHow a leader of a smaller organization can use a trusted advisorHow to ask better and bolder questions
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/226

Jun 29, 2022 • 17min
Leadership is a Journey and NOT a Destination
Recently I saw an add that someone said that they would turn you from a follower to a leader in 90 days or less! I was absolutely floored, irate, and embarrassed as a coach! This ideology means that leadership is a destination. That it has a start and end point. Which, yes I will agree that at some point you started leading and at some point you'll stop leading, but that was not the meaning of this message. Rather that within a specific period of time you can become a leader and say that's all folks! I've made it so I can stop trying now. THIS IS WRONG!
Through this episode, I get a little ranty, a bit fired up. It's likely different than anything you've heard from me to date. But I am passionate to say that leadership is a journey. We must continue to develop, evolve, learn and grow as leaders to remain effective. That is why, leadership is a journey and not a destination. Enjoy!
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/225

Jun 22, 2022 • 46min
Developing a Social Purpose in Your Organization | Carolyn Butler-Madden | Episode 224
Social purpose in business has become increasingly important for employee engagement and customer retention, yet many leaders still struggle to understand what it means for their business. So, how can defining your purpose help you grow a profitable business that people love? Sharing inspiration from organizations such as Intrepid Travel, Patagonia, Unilever and PayPal, Butler-Madden explores the intrinsic connection between the two things that drive successful purpose-led businesses: Love (of people, planet and humanity – the raw emotion behind purpose) and Money (profit and commercial success). When purpose drives profit, it offers the ability to be ambitious in the change you seek to create over the long term. Meanwhile you build a meaningful business for everyone involved; you attract invested employees, customers, and investors; and you build trust, the currency of a valued business.
Carolyn Butler-Madden is inspired by a future where business is a force for good and brands drive profit through purpose. Her mission is to make social purpose a vital part of business in Australia and beyond. She does this through speaking, writing and consulting, and advising small, medium and large organizations. Her first book, Path To Purpose, was Australia’s first on cause marketing. Carolyn’s 30-year international marketing career includes 18 years as an agency owner, working with some of the world’s best brands.
Topics
During this interview Carolyn and I discuss the following topics:
What social purpose is and how relates to organizationsWhat the Ediman Trust BarometerWhy businesses need social purposeHow trust is so crucial in businessHow to develop an organizational identityHow as a leader you can develop a social purposeHow small to medium businesses can establish a social purposeHow middle leaders can help develop social purpose in their organizations
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/224

Jun 15, 2022 • 39min
Creating a Powerful Strategy in Uncertain Times | Rosie Yeo | Episode 223
Good leaders know that strategy is vital when it comes to organizational longevity, but it’s not always easy to come up with fresh ideas needed for success, let alone bring them to life. Uncertainty about the future, the pressure of competition and risk aversion saps confidence and enthusiasm and produces timid templates for maintaining the status quo. There’s a better way.
Rosie Yeo is known as a strategy alchemist because of her skill in helping leaders and teams collectively imagine and achieve a better future. Her experience as a public affairs strategist, board director and corporate adviser provides unique insights into how organizations design and implement their big plans. Rosie designs and facilitates strategic planning in boardrooms and executive offsites, and injects energy and focus into larger meetings and complex stakeholder consultations.
Topics
During this interview Rosie and I discuss the following topics:
Her thoughts on the saying “culture eats strategy for breakfast”How to create a powerful strategyHow to create a great strategy sessionThe 5 steps to creating a powerful strategyHow small actions can lead large strategic winsHow to empower strategic conversations with our team members
For the complete show notes check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/223

Jun 8, 2022 • 41min
Creating a Culture of Opportunity | Mark Monchek | Episode 222
Mark Monchek is the Founder and Chief Opportunity Officer of Opportunity Lab, a strategy consulting firm focused on helping businesses thrive through disruption. He is the author of the Amazon nonfiction bestseller "Culture of Opportunity: How to Grow Your Business in an Age of Disruption". Mark has worked with leaders from Google, Apple, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Adorama, TerraCycle, Feltsberg, The New York Times, Wharton School of Business, New York University, Columbia University, NBC, Time Warner, and the United Nations. Mark has a passion for empowering conscious leaders to build great companies that make a difference in the world. Through his strategy, he discovers and develops opportunities that merge profitability with sustainable growth, creating organizations that are more conscious, making life better for their customers, employees and communities.
Topics
During this interview Mark and I discuss the following topics:
What a culture of opportunity isHow to keep your team inspired to look opportunities during people periods of disruptionWhy disruptions are neither good nor bad they just are realityHow to make remote work, workHow to develop a culture of opportunity with teams across multiple continents How meetings kill a culture of opportunityHow to generate loyalty through meetingsHow to create a culture of opportunity in an organization
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/222

Jun 1, 2022 • 52min
Show up, Speak up, and Inspire Action | Heather Hansen | Episode 221
Heather is an outspoken advocate for global voices. She raises awareness around microinequities related to language and accent in international teams and helps companies build UNMUTED communication cultures where every voice is heard. Her 2018 TEDx talk titled 2 Billion Voices: How to speak bad English perfectly has had over 150,000 views and is used by university professors and English language specialists throughout the world in their own teachings.
Heather’s views on global communication have been featured in national media outlets across the globe: National Public Radio (NPR) in the USA, ABC Radio National in Australia, and multiple print and radio outlets in Singapore, including The Straits Times and CNA 938 (93.8 FM). She often appears on global podcasts and webinars
Topics
During this interview Heather and I discuss the following topics:
Why we have difficulties communicating with different cultures and groupsHow we can communicate effectively with different cultures in the workplaceHow counter the linguistic bias How to go about establishing a sense of psychological safety of cultural differencesHow to establish a culture that celebrates diversityHow to onboard new employees from diverse culturesHow leaders can inspire action
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/221

May 26, 2022 • 22min
Today's Leadership Challenges | Episode 220
In this week's episode, I go solo again and answer your challenges! I asked a question in our free Facebook Community this week "What is your current leadership struggle?" and the replies were wide ranging and deep. Lots of things to consider and many different themes. Just shows leadership is not a single line process but rather an ever evolving dance. Nonetheless I decided to provide some advice to three different members' problems live online. Here they are.
Topics
During this episode I respond to these three problems:
"Bridging the gap between expectations and performance""Dealing with the leadership above me""Getting my people on the same page or communication barriers"
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/220

May 18, 2022 • 41min
How to Lead with Questions | Bob Tiede | Episode 219
“Leadership is not as much about knowing the right answers as it is about asking the right questions,” is Bob Tiede’s motto. But that wasn’t always the case, according to Bob; he was a “benevolent dictator,” a “serial teller” in his professional life for decades. But that all changed in 2006, when he stumbled upon a book that exhorted readers to “lead with questions” instead of “telling with kindness.” He started a blog on the topic, and after 15 posts, ran out of material. He searched for similar-minded bloggers, and to his delight, the first five he contacted all agreed to let him share their content on his own site. He soon discovered that “a leader who leads with questions will often be ten times more effective than a leader who only leads by telling!”
Bob Tiede has been on the staff of Cru for 48 years. He currently serves on the U.S. Leadership Development Team and is passionate about seeing leaders grow and multiply their effectiveness. He is committed to helping leaders shift their paradigm from the pressure of having to have all the right answers to simply having a few of the right questions. In 2006, while browsing in a bookstore, he came across Leading With Questions by Michael Marquardt. He only had to peruse a few pages before declaring, “This is a keeper.” He then launched Leading With Questions—a blog with a companion ebook, Great Leaders Ask Questions—with the goal of changing forever how he and others look at leadership. Bob and his wife, Sherry, live in Plano, TX, and are blessed with 4 incredible children and 6 remarkable grandchildren.
Topics
During this interview Bob and I discuss the following topics:
How he came to the idea of leading with questionsWhy leading with questions is more effective than leading with the answersHow to ask effective questions to inspire teams membersLeadership lessons from a US Navy Captain
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/219

May 11, 2022 • 43min
Being the Right Leader at the Right Time | Robert Jordan | Episode 218
Robert Jordan leads InterimExecs, providing access between the best interim and project executives in the world and company owners seeking brilliant leadership on demand. Robert has helped launch, grow and ultimately sell a number of fast growing companies. His first company, Online Access, put him on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies. After selling Online Access, the first Internet-coverage magazine in the world, he launched InterimExecs LLC, which works with public and private companies and nonprofit organizations. He is author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America and author of the Nightingale Conant audio production, How They Did It: Real World Advice from Today's Most Successful Entrepreneurs.
Topics
During this interview Robert and I discuss the following topics:
How he came to define the four different leadership stylesWhat a “fixer” is and how to be a great oneWhat a “artist” style is and how to be a great oneWhy having balance is key in leadershipHow to balance a type around these styles
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://leaddontboss.com/218

May 4, 2022 • 15min
Resolving the "You vs Me" Scenario | Episode 217
It's happening again. One of your employees and you are not seeing eye-to-eye. Tension is high, there's disrespect in the air, and results are just not what they should be. You keep pointing the finger at their performance, they keep pointing the finger at your attitude towards them. Congratulations, you found yourself in the "You vs Me" scenario. A scenario where the outcome is almost guaranteed to not yield the results you want.
If this situation sounds familiar, I'm (un)happy to tell you that you are not alone. In fact, it is all too common that supervisor and subordinate don't get along or see eye-to-eye. Yet, in order to achieve peak performance we need to have a respectful work relationship. Thus, this episode is all about repairing that relationship to achieve these results.
Topics
In this episode I cover the following topics:
Why location is so crucial for repairing the relationshipHow humility will set you up for successWhy using Appreciative Inquiry will yield the results you wantWhy the "Blame Game" is one to avoid at all costsHow to map out a plan for success
For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:
https://movingforwardleadership.com/217


