Leadership isn’t about position or title. It’s about the decision we make, moment by moment, to show up… with head and heart and be a force for good in the lives of others.  In my conversation with Kirstin, we discuss her new book Head & Heart and how you can be the leader the world needs you to be. We talk about staying self-aware (easier said than done!), being humble, having the courage to say sorry and to bring both your head and heart to making each moment better for others. No small task, but one we’re all called toward in some form.     Buy Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership Take the Head & Heart Leader Scale and self-assess your modern leadership Learn more about Kirstin Ferguson and book her for an event

"Unsafe cultures endanger everyone," says Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor at Harvard Business School. Amy and I unpack why courage and psychological safety are two sides of the same coin, and why fostering psychologically safe workplaces requires people to trust that the pay off for courage is worth the pitfalls. Regardless of your position, making people feel safe to be honest and vulnerable with you – including sharing things you may not enjoy hearing - is vital for any meaningful relationship to flourish, personally or professionally.  Check out Amy’s book, The Fearless Organization

You like to think of yourself as a person with integrity, right? Yet, doing what’s right is easier said than done. In a world where examples of poor character are easy to find, it’s easy to rationalize cutting corners or telling “little white lies". However, we often underestimate the cost of compromising what we know, deep down, is the right thing to do. This episode is a siren call to the highest angels of your nature, guiding you in cleaning up any fractures to your integrity, in your relationships and in your life. If you want to move forward lighter, more rooted to your deepest values and guided by your True North, listen up then lean in to level up how you’re running  your life. Doing so will spare you a considerable amount of mess down the track.

Stanley McChrystal spent his military career navigating the real and deadly risks of combat, finishing a four-star General in Afghanistan overseeing 147,000 soldiers. He has walked the path of courage in ways most of us never will, concluding that the greatest source of risk lays in us - in how we identify, assess, respond and learn from risk. We cover a lot of ground in our conversation – from the need for more moral courage in leaders today to raising resilient kids. If you want to navigate risk better and lead smarter, this episode is for you. EPISODE LINKS: RISK: A User's Guide  The McChrystal Group Watch our full conversation on YouTube

This episode is inspired by chapter one from my book Find Your Courage: The Courage To Take Responsibility  The quality of your life directly correlates to your willingness to own your experience of life and resist the temptation to blame others or pity yourself. We live in a culture that encourages people to feel powerless and operate from a victim mindset. Yet your greatest power lays in taking full and compete ownership for your life. Sure, you cannot always choose your circumstances, but you always get to choose your response.  In this episode, I unpack what it really means to be responsible for your life and challenge you to stop making excuses and justifications for what’s not working. Taking responsibility is not always comfortable, but it’s absolutely essential for living a truly rewarding life.  Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl Find Your Courage: 12 Acts for Becoming Fearless in Work and Life Margie’s other books can be found at www.margiewarrell.com/books  

Let’s face it, if it were easy to be brave with our lives - to lean into our fears, choose ‘courage over comfort’ and lay our pride, ego and vulnerability on the line, more of us would. Truth is, our deep seated fears often keep us from taking the very actions that would help us create more rewarding lives. In this new series, I invite you to step back and consider where and how you’re being called to step up and ‘take courage’ even as that little voice in the back of your head urges you not to.  If you need a little encouragement right now, you’ve landed in the right place! I'll be sharing insights from my first book Find Your Courage (McGraw Hill, 2009) throughout this series. Check out this book and all my books at www.margiewarrell.com/books  Get my newsletter at www.margiewarrell.com  

It’s easy to criticize those in leadership roles for their lack of courage. Yet before we can change the world around us, we must first look at the world within us and reclaim the power we so often give to our fears. So as we close out one year and look toward the next, I invite you to think about where you may be letting your deepest fears keep you from moving toward the bravest vision and honoring your highest values. This podcast invites you to reflect on three key questions. Whatever your answer, I hope that you will move in that direction. Your future is riding on it.  

Every trait you admire in others also resides in you. Yet, it's easy to tell ourselves the lie that we have to first have more resources outside of us before we can become the person we’d most like to be. Not true. Deciding how you will show up for life right now is the most powerful way to become the person you eventually want to be. In this podcast, I invite you to start acting like the person you want to become and look after yourself as the would. There is no more powerful way to live life than by intentionally deciding how we will show up regardless of our situation or our setbacks. If you are feeling anything but fully positive and powerful in how you are showing up, take a listen. Download my Five To Thrive here Order You’ve Got This! audio book

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Every day you make hundreds of decisions. Some large, many small. Yet too often fear – conscious and unconscious – keeps us from making the decisions that would serve us most – in our careers, relationships and lives. Left unchecked, fear of what might go wrong can drive us to make short-sighted, reactive, overcautious decisions that limit our lives in ways we often cannot see in the moment. So whatever challenges you are facing right now, take a listen and then make the best decision you can. One year from now, you will be so glad you did. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: How to be brave TEDX TALK  You’ve Got This! Book How to avoid sweating decisions 

In this podcast, I dive into the dark shadows in which we carry shame that disconnects us from others and keeps us from living our best and bravest lives. As I share one of my most significant experiences with shame, I explain how 'shame stories' are not the truth, yet they warp our perception and shape our reality. Over time, they can keep us stuck in self-sabotaging patterns that disconnect us from all that is lovable in ourselves and good our lives. If you have any area of your life in which you hold secrets or feel “less than”, then this podcast is for you. Read my blog post: Shame Keeps Us Stuck Chapter 19 – Sharing Secrets in my book Brave