
Intentional Leader with Cal Walters
Let's be honest. The hardest person you will ever have to lead is the person you look at in the mirror everyday.
Self-leadership is the most important thing we do as leaders, but it's hard.
And it hasn't gotten any easier in a world of smart phone addiction, social media comparison, global pandemics, and information overload (just to name a few obstacles).
That's why Intentional Leader exists.
We help leaders take the guesswork out of self-leadership, fight a reactionary lifestyle, accelerate their personal growth, and achieve their God-given potential at home, at work, and in their communities.
This is why we get out of bed each morning. We love helping leaders on their personal growth journey! Because we know when the leader gets better everyone benefits. Organizations, communities, and families all thrive when the leader is thriving.
We are a team of ordinary people with an extraordinary passion for personal growth and helping leaders thrive.
Join this community to pursue personal growth and leadership excellence, to inspire others, and make a lasting impact on the world. Life is short, so let's make it count by living an intentional life.
On this podcast, Cal Walters — a follower of Jesus, a husband, father, West Point graduate, former Infantry Officer, Army Ranger, combat veteran, lawyer, and Army JAG — passionately explores ways to live intentionally, make each day count, and lead with greater influence and impact.
Cal firmly believes leadership matters, and this podcast will help you lead yourself and inspire others. Cal believes we each have a unique contribution to make to the world, and he wants to help you make yours!
For show notes, visit https://www.calwalters.me/
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this podcast are those of the author and guests and do not reflect the official policy, position, or endorsement of the US Army JAG Corps, US Army, DoD, or the US Government.
Latest episodes

Jul 29, 2024 • 45min
112: Dr. Steven Stein — How to Gain Emotional Intelligence and Build Hardiness as a Leader
Quick Gain Clarity with my Discover Your Core Values Mini Course: https://calwalters.me/course Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@intentionalleader_calwalters Learn more about Dr. Stein's work: https://stevenstein.com/ Dr. Steven Stein is a world-renowned clinical psychologist, international best-selling author and sought-after speaker, and founder and Executive Chair of Multi-Health Systems (MHS), a publisher of scientifically validated assessments for over 40 years, which has been named a three-time winner of Profit 100 (fastest growing companies in Canada), one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies since 2013, and Canada's 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures (2016, Waterstone). A leading expert on psychological assessment and emotional intelligence, he has consulted with military and government agencies, including the Canadian Forces, U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, special units of the Pentagon, FBI Academy, as well as corporate organizations, including American Express, Air Canada, Canyon Ranch, Coca-Cola (Mexico), and professional sports teams. Dr. Stein consults with numerous reality TV shows, including Big Brother Canada, The Amazing Race Canada, MasterChef Canada, Bachelor Canada, Real Housewives of Toronto, Bachelor in Paradise, Blown Away, and many others, providing psychological expertise and candidate selection assessments. Dr. Stein co-authored Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals and is the author of The EQ Leader and Emotional Intelligence for Dummies. He also co-authored the international best-seller The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success and wrote Make Your Workplace Great: The 7 Keys to an Emotionally Intelligent Organization. He has appeared on more than 100 TV and radio shows, including CNBC’s Squawk Box, Canada AM, Breakfast Television, The Fifth Estate, and Fox Business Report. He has also been quoted in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Fast Company, Inc., Fortune, Huffington Post, The National Post, Globe and Mail, and Toronto Star. Dr. Stein has presented on emotional intelligence and hardiness to audiences throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Dr. Stein currently teaches at the Directors College, an Executive Program from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, Canada. He is a past Chairperson of the Psychology Foundation of Canada. He is a former assistant professor in the psychiatry department at the University of Toronto and a former adjunct professor of psychology at York University in Toronto. He is a past President of the Ontario Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association.

Jul 11, 2024 • 54min
111: Charlie Watkins (Pt. 2) — Worth the Wait: Selling Business for 11X More | Throw No Rocks: A Man's Guide to Success through Partnership with God
Save Time and Avoid Regrets with my Discover Your Core Values Mini Course: https://calwalters.me/course Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1ki9gIkx54g Purchase Throw No Rocks: A Man's Guide to Success Through Partnership with God: https://thrownorocks.com Charlie Watkins is a Christian husband, father, grandfather and leader. He came to Jesus in 1980 while serving as a nuclear trained officer aboard a US Navy Cruiser, where he was led to the Lord by the ship's doctor. After leaving the Navy in 1982 he has held senior leadership positions in several businesses. God has rescued, healed and mentored him through many trials, including cancer, open heart surgery, business failures and successes, transitions and many household moves. His heart’s desire is to impart the most important truths to men so that they can find true success as God's husbands, fathers and leaders, and change the trajectories of their lives, marriages, families and the nations. Charlie has led men's groups, home groups and spoken in churches. He currently leads a men’s group at his local church, The Point, in Charlottesville, Virginia. He's been married to Blythe, the love of his life, since June of 1977. Blythe and Charlie have two grown Christian children. They love the people their children married and count their children as their closest friends. They have five terrific grandsons, all mighty men of God in the making. For most of the past 25 years, Charlie has mentored and worked with leaders. Since October of 2018 he has been serving as President and CEO of Landmark Media Enterprises and Dominion Enterprises, a private conglomerate of data and software businesses. Charlie is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and holds a master's in business from William & Mary. He also serves on the board of ICM, “The Global Church Developer,” a ministry that partners with indigenous people in the poorest regions of the world to build churches and disciple people.

Jul 11, 2024 • 50min
110: Charlie Watkins (Pt. 1) — How Forgiveness Breeds Success | Throw No Rocks: A Man's Guide to Success through Partnership with God
Save Time and Avoid Regrets with my Discover Your Core Values Mini Course: https://calwalters.me/course Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1ki9gIkx54g Purchase Throw No Rocks: A Man's Guide to Success Through Partnership with God: https://thrownorocks.com Charlie Watkins is a Christian husband, father, grandfather and leader. He came to Jesus in 1980 while serving as a nuclear trained officer aboard a US Navy Cruiser, where he was led to the Lord by the ship's doctor. After leaving the Navy in 1982 he has held senior leadership positions in several businesses. God has rescued, healed and mentored him through many trials, including cancer, open heart surgery, business failures and successes, transitions and many household moves. His heart’s desire is to impart the most important truths to men so that they can find true success as God's husbands, fathers and leaders, and change the trajectories of their lives, marriages, families and the nations. Charlie has led men's groups, home groups and spoken in churches. He currently leads a men’s group at his local church, The Point, in Charlottesville, Virginia. He's been married to Blythe, the love of his life, since June of 1977. Blythe and Charlie have two grown Christian children. They love the people their children married and count their children as their closest friends. They have five terrific grandsons, all mighty men of God in the making. For most of the past 25 years, Charlie has mentored and worked with leaders. Since October of 2018 he has been serving as President and CEO of Landmark Media Enterprises and Dominion Enterprises, a private conglomerate of data and software businesses. Charlie is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and holds a master's in business from William & Mary. He also serves on the board of ICM, “The Global Church Developer,” a ministry that partners with indigenous people in the poorest regions of the world to build churches and disciple people.

Jun 27, 2024 • 50min
109: Julian Treasure — Top TED Speaker and Speaking Expert on How to Speak So People Want to Listen
Follow me at: https://calwalters.me/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@intentionalleader_calwalters Make Decision Making Easier with my Core Values Mini Course: https://courses.calwalters.me/offers/DmXNju9f/checkout Julian Treasure is a top-rated international speaker on sound and the critical communication skills of listening and speaking. Collectively, Julian’s five TED Talks have been viewed over 150 million times. How to speak so that people want to listen is the sixth most-viewed TED talk of all time. In live or virtual keynotes, or in bite-sized appearances via ThinkersOne, Julian delivers engaging, entertaining and transformational content, and is equally potent and effective with live or virtual delivery. His talks enhance business effectiveness, particularly for those in sales or leadership roles, as well as enriching relationships at work and at home. His presenting skills and innovative use of sound make his talks visceral and potent experiences that are always highly rated by delegates.In addition to keynote speeches, Julian can also arrange structured training or workshops for your company. Follow Julian Treasure: https://www.juliantreasure.com/

Jun 14, 2024 • 1h 29min
108: Jamie Winship — How to Avoid an Identity Crisis and Discover Your True Calling
Jamie Winship, co-founder of Identity Exchange, brings decades of experience in resolving conflicts and fostering identity transformation. The conversation dives into the dangers of relying on external validation and how it can lead to identity crises, particularly in athletes. Jamie emphasizes the importance of community support for authentic self-recognition and discusses the shift from scarcity to abundance mentality. He shares powerful stories, including a gripping police experience that highlights intuition in crises, and advocates for embracing true self for personal growth and courage in leadership.

May 23, 2024 • 1h
107: Dr. Anna Lembke — Find Joy and Focus in a Dopamine-Overloaded World
Discover Your Core Values with my Mini-Course: https://courses.calwalters.me/offers/DmXNju9f/ Checkout Get Dr. Lemke's great book, Dopamine Nation: https://www.amazon.com/Dopamine-Nation-Finding-Balance-Indulgence/dp/152474672X Preorder the Official Dopamine Nation Workbook: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593476212?tag=randohouseinc7986-20 Dr. Anna Lembke is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice. In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop, which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic. Dr. Lembke also appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, an instant New York Times Bestseller, explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world. Dr. Lembke explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain. Most important, she tells readers how to find the delicate balance between the two. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. 00:00: Introduction 05:30: The Paradox of Modern Life 10:00: The Role of Dopamine in Addiction 12:27: The Downside of Pleasure-Seeking 14:43: Addiction and Susceptibility 17:44: The Rise of Digital Addictions 20:25: Identifying Addiction and Seeking Help 30:36: Observing Our Thoughts and Behaviors 32:22: The Difference Between Shame and Guilt 33:22: Setting Boundaries with Digital Devices 34:04: Differentiating Shame and Guilt 34:41: The Role of Community in Addressing Shame 38:08: The Impact of Dopamine-Inducing Behaviors on Enjoyment of Simple Pleasures 39:13: Embracing Boredom and the Default Mode Network 41:45: The Benefits of Dopamine Fasting 43:31: Rediscovering the Joy of Simple Things 45:23: Navigating Boredom and Finding Meaning 49:10: The Recommended Duration of Dopamine Fasting 52:15: Commonalities in Successful Recovery 55:17: Parenting in the Modern World

Apr 16, 2024 • 42min
106: Dr. Michael Norton — The Ritual Effect
Take Dr. Norton's Ritual Quiz Michael Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has studied human behavior as it relates to love and inequality, time and money, and happiness and grief. He is the author of The Ritual Effect and the coauthor—with Elizabeth Dunn—of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. In 2012, he was selected by Wired magazine as one of “50 People Who Will Change the World.” His TEDx talk, How to Buy Happiness, has been viewed nearly 5 million times. He is a frequent contributor to such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Scientific American, and has made numerous television, radio, and podcast appearances. In The Ritual Effect, Dr. Norton demonstrates the power of small acts—and how a subtle turning of habits into rituals can add purpose and pleasure to life. Compelling, insightful, and practical, The Ritual Effect reminds us of the intention-filled acts that drive human behavior and create surprising satisfaction and enjoyment. Learn from me: Check out my Discover Your Core Values Mini Course

Mar 29, 2024 • 1h 1min
105: Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps — The Score That Matters
Get instant access to my new Discover Your Core Values Mini Course People love to keep score. Managers keep score of a range of business metrics: market share, revenue, profit margin, growth rate. In our personal lives, social media has us keeping score by likes and followers. These external scores are outcome-driven and serve as proof of our success—money, fame, material possessions, wins—but this constant chase for more validation often leaves us feeling exhausted and empty. In their new book, The Score That Matters, Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps show that the internal score is what matters most—it reveals whether we are living in alignment with our purpose and values. It also measures how we are leading ourselves and others, prompting us to: Differentiate between the two scoreboards that run our life Use our fear as fuel Avoid the poison of comparison Embrace the mundanity of excellence Regulate our emotional thermostat Create a mentality for attacking adversity Follow Ryan Hawk's work at LearningLeader.com Follow Brook Cupp's work at Blue Collar Grit

Feb 22, 2024 • 45min
104: Dr. Amy Edmondson — The Science of Failing Well
We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. After decades of award-winning research, Amy Edmondson is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us. In Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. This is the key to pursuing smart risks and preventing avoidable harm. With vivid, real-life stories from business, pop culture, history, and more, Edmondson gives us specifically tailored practices, skills, and mindsets to help us replace shame and blame with curiosity, vulnerability, and personal growth. You’ll never look at failure the same way again. Connect with Amy Edmondson: https://amycedmondson.com/ Follow Amy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/ Learn more about Intentional Leader: https://calwalters.me/ Watch Intentional Leader on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@intentionalleader_calwalters Support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/calwalters

Jan 18, 2024 • 42min
103: Clay Scroggins — How You Can Lead When You're Not in Charge
Subscribe to Intentional Leader on YouTube! Link is here: https://youtube.com/@intentionalleader_calwalters?si=NgU1Ui98hTofWc2I On this episode of Intentional Leader, we learn from speaker, author, and pastor Clay Scroggins on how to lead when we're not in charge. The reality is that most of us have a boss or supervisor, so how do we lead through influence when we lack authority? Clay is the author of the best-selling books How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge, How to Lead in a World of Distraction, and The Aspiring Leader’s Guide to the Future. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech as well as a Master’s degree and Doctorate with an emphasis in Online Church from Dallas Theological Seminary. For almost 20 years, Clay Scroggins served in many pastoral roles at North Point Ministries, a multisite church started in Alpharetta, Georgia led by Andy Stanley. Most recently, Clay served as the lead pastor of Buckhead Church, one of North Point’s largest campuses. Clay is a sought after speaker (that’s what he tells his parents) having worked with organizations ranging from the Dallas Cowboys or the staff at the White House all the way to Taco Bell or the Alabama Association of Tax Assessors. Clay lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Jenny, and their five children.
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