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In this inaugural episode of the Mission First People Always: Great Leaders. Great Teams. podcast, Dr. Mike Patterson introduces himself, describes the purpose of the podcast, and sets the stage for all the episodes that will follow.

White House Communications Agency Hall of Famer, Darrell Williams, shares leadership insights gathered while working in the White House during the George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations.

Dr. Mike interviews documentary filmmaker and television personality, Dr. Angela Sadler Williamson, who is a cousin of civil rights icon, Rosa Parks. Through family interactions with "Cousin Rosie" and her deep research in support of her award-winning documentary, Angela offers reflections and insights on Rosa Parks as a leader, supporter of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a member of the broader team of civil rights workers.

Dr. Mike reconnects with a former team member, Ernie Cason, to discover powerful lessons about creating a healthy marriage even in the face of the most extreme challenges. After meeting on a blind date and quickly becoming engaged, Ernie's heart was pierced...not by Cupid's arrow, but by a serrated steak knife wielded by his fiance, Ronna's, enraged ex-boyfriend after he attacked her.

Today, Dr. Mike interviews Dr. Jenn Guignard about the benefits and practices of mindful leadership. During the course of our conversation, Jenn reveals the three key aspects of mindful leadership.

Dr. Mike interviews Jodi Orgill Brown about what it takes to build an antifragile team. "Antifragile" is a term coined by mathematical statistician Nissim Taleb whose work is focused on dealing with randomness, probability, and uncertainty. It suggests a property of systems that increase their capability to thrive amidst stressors, attacks, mistakes, and volatility--something we've all experienced in sometimes overwhelming degrees in the past 2-years.

Dr. Mike here, today I talk with speaker and executive coach, Art Jackson. Join us as we discuss the reason why we have lousy leaders in organizations and what we should do about it when we get one.

On today’s episode, we invite you to carefully consider an important personal and professional question: Do I need a coach? Your answer could change the trajectory of your career and greatly benefit those around you

What's the right time to become intentional about developing the relational skills of young people? Today, we discuss how one psychology professor has become very intentional about building interpersonal skills with his students.

Today, we gain a new perspective on organizational change from change expert, Karen Simmons! Karen Simmons is CEO and founder of The Change Executive, an organizational development agency, based out of Sydney, Australia. She is a complex change specialist (and enthusiast!) working across the UK, Europe, USA, Asia Pacific, and Australia for the past 30 years leading and supporting high-impact social and business transformations, including service, programs, operations, and financial performance shifts, organizational restructures, and culture change.

Over 100 years ago, Henry Ford was reputed to have said, "You can have a car painted any color you want--as long as it's black." It was the beginning of mass production and the assembly line, and "once-size-fits-all" was necessary to make it all work. For many years, we have treated employees pretty much the same way. We hired people for their hands and their ability to perform certain tasks with consistency, but that is rapidly changing in the knowledge era.

Today’s episode is all about teamwork. Teamwork is a term we initially hear at a very early age. It usually happens at 5-, 6-, or 7-years old, or whenever you step onto a sports field or court for your first attempt at sports.

They are entrepreneurs who are taking an old, stale, stuffy industry and turning it onto its head by creating a people-centered culture for their clients and for their employees.

How do you define kindness? Selfless acts that make someone else's life better would probably be part of your definition. You might even offer examples of kind behavior like compassion, generosity, or genuine concern for others. In today's episode, we hear from a kindness ambassador who not only defines kindness in a very precise way, but teaches organizations how to build kindness into their culture.

Today’s guests are two guys who are doing it RIGHT!

One of the goals of this podcast is to inspire you with stories of people who overcame adversity, worked hard, played fair, made good decisions, learned from bad decisions, and found a way to succeed. I’m confident that today’s guest will do just that–inspire you to keep pushing forward even when it seems impossible.

Did you know? According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), about 60% of employees are asked to take an assessment of some sort, with 22% of employers using assessments to screen job applicants. It’s no surprise then to learn that the growing assessment market is now estimated to represent $500 million in annual sales with strong–as much as 10% per year–growth in recent years. In short, it’s big business.

Resilience is the capacity to deal with difficulty, adapt, and come back stronger. It's something today's guest argues is critically important for teams--especially if there is going to be meaningful development and learning. But this requires an intentional approach that engages all of the key components of resilience.

David is considered one of the top business thought-leaders in the world by Thinkers50, is a sought after keynote speaker with a Ted Talk that's been viewed over 2 million times, and is an active consultant who has a track record with some of the world's top organizations. He's the author of several highly acclaimed books, and today, we dig into this latest book, Leading from Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams.

We are back again with Dr. David Burkus for part two of our conversation about remote teams and remote leadership. Before you hit play, be sure to catch last week's episode for part one so you are caught up to speed. If you are a leader who has found yourself "working from anywhere," these two episodes are a game changer!

Grief is both a very individual experience as well as a universal reality. At some point in our lives, we will all lose something or someone that we hold dear to us. It will make a significant impact on who we are, how we understand the world, and how we do our work, but the thing to know about grief is that, while painful, it can ultimately lead to a deeper appreciation for life and living.

Everyone wants to be treated with dignity and feel safe. Unfortunately, some workplace paradigms--and individual leaders--do a poor job of promoting this kind of peace…

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states: “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.” On this episode, we’re going to build some windmills! Innovation has been called the survival skill of our time. If we don’t innovate, we don’t survive.

On today’s episode, we’re talking about what it takes to lead yourself well into retirement–and how to make that season of life filled with meaning and purpose. We’ve also included several great resources to consider here in the show notes, so take a look!

You have likely been on some really good teams where everyone enjoyed working together and together, you accomplished some pretty exciting things. And…you had fun doing it. And on the rough days, you picked each other up and addressed the challenges together. Like me, you’ve probably also been on some teams where everyone seemed to be pulling in opposite directions, where no one seemed to want to be there, and where results were mediocre at best. It wasn’t a good experience, so you’re in no hurry to go back. You might even be on that kind of team now. Since both scenarios are common, how do we intentionally build great teams?

You’ve heard it a thousand times: “I hate all of the politics at work.” You may have even said it a few times or at least carried the sentiment.

According to the 2020 census, there are 62.1 million Hispanics in the United States or 18.7 percent of the population. It’s also the fastest growing ethnic group in the country. Yet even with the strength in numbers these data may suggest, many young Hispanics are still struggling to find success in higher education and the workplace.

According to Diversity Wins, the third in a series of reports from famed management consulting firm, McKinsey and Company, the business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is stronger than ever.

Many years ago, I had a professor in grad school who often said, “Your success will almost always be based on the people you know and the stories they tell about you.” I have found his assessment to be absolutely true as I progressed through my career and now serve clients as a speaker, consultant, and coach. In fact, virtually all of my recent client engagements have resulted from a previous student, colleague, or client who knew and respected me, and recognized that I could add value to their current organization. In short, it really is all about relationships.

The transition from being a doer to a leader can be a difficult one for many people. Doers are outstanding individual contributors who, based on their performance in their current role, are promoted with the assumption that they will also be a good manager. In reality, some doers never become leaders. Instead, they become “super-doers” who micromanage the work of their team members with a running commentary on how they would perform particular tasks.

What’s it like for a native of Tennessee to build a successful in learning, leadership development, and organizational development in Europe and the Middle East? Today, we find out because we’re talking to Berry Lumpkins. Berry has followed a very non-traditional career path that took him from the home of country music to exotic, far away places in Europe and the Middle East.

To unpack the value of emotional intelligence, our guest today is Phil Johnson. Phil is an author and the creator of the Master of Business Leadership program which focuses on emotional intelligence. For the past 22 years, Phil has been an executive coach assisting executives and organizations to bet on themselves by developing better leaders and stronger teams with EQ. What You’ll Learn On today’s episode, we talk about What exactly is Emotional Intelligence?

We all admire at the courage, commitment, and success of the US Navy SEAL Teams. These warriors are often thought of as supermen, but in reality, they are just highly trained professionals who work very effectively as a team--even in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments. This does not happen by accident. It is part of their training and their culture--and something other teams can learn from and aspire to become.

The world is in dire need of better, more productive conversations. To support that assertion, all you have to do is turn on the news to witness people talking at each other, making accusations, and interacting in ways that, in some cases, are disrespectful and in no way honor the human dignity of the people involved. My guest today contends that we would all be better off if we had better dialogue–a statement with which most of us would agree.

Coaching is an approach to learning and personal and professional growth that creates self--awareness, drives transformational change, and provides much needed support and an appropriate level of challenge. Some executives have the opportunity to engage professional coaches who are outside of their organization and chain-of-command, and have no loyalties beyond their professional commitment to their clients.

Have you ever wondered how learning leaders think about delivering leadership and employee development across a large enterprise? On this episode we climb inside the brain of the Head of Learning and Development for an iconic American company and the world’s largest beer company, Anheuser-Busch.

On this episode, you’ll meet Pete Baker, a senior leader in Human Resources for a variety of organizations, who has worked in nine countries of the course of his 30-year career. During that time, he has learned a great deal about what makes teams successful and the kind of interaction that ignites innovation and energized collaboration. He shares some of what he has learned from his journey in a fun, upbeat conversation.

My guests on this episode believe that they have cracked the code on improved collaboration and creating healthy organizational culture. It’s an issue that most companies need to address--especially since a recent Salesforce Survey found that 85% of respondents said that the primary reason for failed projects and workplace failures is “poor communication and an overall lack of collaboration.” Few people would disagree; however, most people don’t know how to fix it. Our guests believe the answer is authentic collaboration.

On this special two-part episode, you’ll hear from two seasoned leadership consulting professionals who come from very different backgrounds, but work incredibly well together. One is a retired US Army Infantry Officer who has served in and prepared others to serve in combat zones for a number of years, while his colleague is an expert on the practice of mindfulness techniques; brain-mind-body-optimization, and self-regulation techniques for for greater wellbeing and improved performance.

On this Episode On this special two-part episode, you’ll hear from two seasoned leadership consulting professionals who come from very different backgrounds, but work incredibly well together. One is a retired US Army Infantry Officer who has served in and prepared others to serve in combat zones for a number of years, while his colleague is an expert on the practice of mindfulness techniques; brain-mind-body-optimization, and self-regulation techniques for for greater wellbeing and improved performance. It’s a wide ranging conversation about leadership and teamwork, and how to do both in incredibly challenging situations.

Emotional Intelligence could be the reason you’re getting ahead in your career or could explain why you’re stuck. If you have it in abundance, there’s a good chance that you are finding fulfillment in your work and relationships, you’re able to communicate and collaborate with a wide array of people, and you’re getting stuff done. If you find yourself unable to understand or explain what you’re feeling, you find it difficult to connect with coworkers, and your team’s engagement is tanking, then you would almost certainly benefit from boosting your EQ score. But how?

Many people will quickly say that they want to avoid conflict in the workplace. That’s not surprising because anyone who has experienced conflict know that it is usually very unpleasant. It usually throws us off our game, becomes an enormous waste of time, and has the potential to create long-lasting strife if not handled well. In some cases, it causes us to lose sleep, perhaps feel ill, and elevates stress levels far beyond what we normally experience. Needless to say, conflict is no fun. But guest will make the case for more productive and meaningful conflicts through the creation of conflict competent workplaces. She takes a systems approach to conflict management and offers online training to develop skills that are immediately useful in the workplace. If you want to make conflict more productive, please listen.

If you are stressed out, feel like you always have too much to do and too little time to do it, find yourself to be irritable and tired, and you feel a bit disconnected from your work and the people around you, this episode is for you! Today, we hear from a medical doctor who trains her patients–and organizational leaders–on mindfulness practices and compassion skills. We’re going to talk about being more human and compassionate in the workplace, and introduce the powerful practices of mindfulness. This episode could be the wake-up call you need to make some changes–changes that you can learn and practice in as little as 5-minutes per day. Listen, learn, calm down, and become a better leader.

Have you ever wanted to have an intimate conversation with someone who has played in a Rose Ball and coached in the National Football League with the likes of Marv Lewis and Steve Spurrier –and hear what it takes to be successful–as a leader–with some of the most elite athletes and largest humans on the planet? If that’s you, then you’re going to love this episode and my conversation with Dechon Burns. Of course, it’s fun to hear the stories about the big games and the big names in football, but the real reason I wanted to have Coach Burns on the show is because I thought that some of the lessons he learned on the football field were transferable to the conference room, the shop floor, or wherever you need to accomplish your mission. And I was right. Here’s the bottom line: You have to take care of your people off the field if you want to win on the field. In other words, people and performance go hand in hand. But you’re going to want to listen to the entire conversation. It’s just too good to miss.

Have you ever dreamed about what it would be like to be your own boss? To become an entrepreneur with the freedom to choose how and when you’re going to work? Perhaps at the end of a bad day or bad week, you’ve wanted to say, like the old country song, “Take this job and shove…I ain’t working here no more.” But then you think about all of those great benefits from your corporate job–the health, dental, and vision insurance, the 401K match, and guaranteed paycheck every 2-weeks that comes in rain-or-shine…and you say to yourself, I’m going to suck it up and keep plodding along. My guest today actually broke free of the corporate handcuffs and transitioned away from a great job into what she would describe as a great, entrepreneurial business that gives her the freedom to live the life she wants to live.

If you like the origin stories of great business ideas--especially great ideas that involve financial technology--that promise to do good in the world, then this episode is for you. We talking to Michael Van Erdewyk, a serial entrepreneur who has started a number of new technology based businesses, about how he is creating opportunity for influencers and non-profits to communicate with their audiences through a new app and make money for their causes in the process.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “life happens.” It suggests the idea that despite our enthusiastic, gung-ho plans and best efforts, certain life events distract us and attempt to pull us off course. In some cases, these so-called distractions are positive life events like the birth of a child or a tremendous professional opportunity for one’s spouse that requires relocation, but there are also hard things in life that make it difficult to focus on work or maintain the same routines.

In this episode we explore three D’s of leadership: delegation, decision making, and dreaming. Two of the three are often top-of-mind for managers, but dreaming with your team is a new idea that gets everyone thinking bigger. We dig into these topics with a coach who works with leaders in the trenches every day.

Have you run into people who seem just a bit too nice? They are so accommodating and non-confrontational that you’re not sure exactly what they think? There’s a lot of smiling and nodding, but little healthy opposition, so there isn’t much in the way of innovation and meaningful improvements. Nobody wants to rock the boat, so it becomes a go-along-to-get-along situation. There really aren’t any moments of excitement or exhilaration in these nice, plain vanilla worlds. Some organizations have a nice culture–and my guest today is going to argue that nice is unhealthy and weak. Instead, he calls for leaders to build teams that are cohesive, courageous, and kind.

Have you ever wondered why some people tend to climb the career ladder effortlessly, while others get stuck a few rungs from the bottom? How do successful people harness power and authority for their purposes, while others seem to be crushed under the weight of others' power and authority? Whether it’s business, government, or nonprofits, some leaders simply do better? Is there an explanation for the success of some and the mediocrity of others?

Introduction In this episode we focus on how to retain and engage Gen Z and younger Millennials, while also discussing general practices for working better with all of the generational cohorts actively in the workplace. Our guest is an expert on generational differences and how to overcome the sticking points that work to tear us apart. Guest’s Bio Haydn Shaw has researched and helped clients regarding generational differences for over twenty years.