The Leadership Project Podcast
Subscribed: 27Played: 1,550
Subscribe
© 2026 The Leadership Project
Description
The Leadership Project with Mick Spiers is a podcast dedicated to advancing thought on inspirational leadership in the modern world. We cover key issues and controversial topics that are needed to redefine inspirational leadership.
How do young and aspiring leaders transition from individual contributors to inspirational leaders or from manager to leader to make a positive impact on the world?
How do experienced leaders adapt their leadership styles and practices in a modern and digital world?
How do address the lack of diversity in leadership in many organisations today?
Guest speakers will be invited for confronting conversations in their areas of expertise with the view to provide leaders with all of the skills and tools they need to become inspirational leaders.
The vision of The Leadership Project is to inspire all leaders to challenge the status quo. We empower modern leaders through knowledge and emotional intelligence to create meaningful impact Join us each week as we dive deep into key issues and controversial topics for inspirational leaders.
313 Episodes
Reverse
Want more than buzzwords and brainstorms? Mick Spiers sits down with innovation authority Bruce Vojak to explore how real breakthroughs actually happen. His message is clear: innovation is a human act first. It comes from curious people who challenge assumptions and reframe problems. From the evolution of the carrot peeler to a billion-dollar innovation at Procter & Gamble, this conversation shows how deep user understanding drives real change. Bruce also shares a practical playbook for l...
Feeling busy yet strangely stuck? We pull together a month of conversations to reveal a clearer path: lead with conscious influence, not control. Across three standout themes—self-leadership, emotional fitness, and meeting design—we show how small, intentional choices create outsized cultural ripple effects. We start by reframing where leadership lives: not in titles or dashboards, but in behavior and micro moments. Tracy Clark’s lens on self-awareness challenges us to look for where we unin...
What if your calendar isn’t a badge of honor but a map of wasted potential? We sit down with Rebecca Hinds, PhD and author of Your Best Meeting Ever, to challenge the idea that more meetings mean more value—and to rebuild meeting culture from the ground up. Rebecca unpacks the visibility bias that equates busyness with status, explains why meetings multiply when clarity disappears, and shows leaders how to design time together like a product with purpose, users, and measurable outcomes. We d...
Disconnection doesn’t usually explode—it leaks in through a thousand tiny moments until voices go quiet and energy fades. We sat down with leadership futurist and change strategist Melinda McCormack to chart a path back: a practical, human way to lead with empathy that drives performance without sacrificing people. Melinda shares her personal journey through loss alongside high-stakes corporate change, revealing how trauma and bias can make even the strongest leaders feel small and unseen. F...
Ever feel like your team has more to give—and you can’t quite unlock it? We dig into the uncomfortable truth that many leaders become bottlenecks without meaning to, then map a path to becoming a catalyst who unlocks energy, ownership, and momentum. With award-winning leadership and high performance coach Tracy Clark, we examine why strategy and skills (the “trunk”) only go so far, and how deeper work in mindset, self-awareness, and identity (the “roots”) drives real, sustained results. Trac...
Think you had a busy month but didn’t move the needle? We unpack why progress often feels invisible and how to make it tangible by changing small behaviors that create big ripples. This solo cast stitches together January’s standout insights on culture, pressure, change, influence, and feedback—then turns them into simple moves you can apply within 24 hours. We start with a hard truth from Bill Benjamin: your culture is revealed under pressure. When stress spikes, untrained emotional intelli...
What we often call “communication problems” are really clarity problems. Leadership communication coach Salvatore Manzi breaks down why smart ideas stall, why meetings favor fast talkers, and how leaders can make messages land, be remembered, and drive action. From start to finish, this episode focuses on practical moves you can try today. We explore hidden biases that shape conversations: delay bias that sidelines reflective thinkers, the spotlight effect that inflates self-judgment, and the...
Change rarely fails because people don’t care; it fails because we misunderstand what drives behavior. With author and change leadership expert Huw Thomas, we dig into the real forces underneath stalled transformations: loss aversion, identity threats, and the quiet stories we tell ourselves that keep us clinging to the status quo. From childhood curiosity to adult routines, we unpack how our wiring prioritizes safety, why we catastrophize the unlikely, and how a few practical shifts can rest...
When tension spikes, leaders don’t rise to the occasion; they fall to their default. Today we dig into those defaults with Bill Benjamin, co-author of The Last 8%, and unpack why smart, well-intentioned people either blow up or go quiet when it matters most—and how to do better without losing your edge. We start by naming the two patterns that quietly define culture under pressure: the messmaker who reacts with heat and the avoider who retreats to keep the peace. Bill explains the brain scie...
A new year doesn’t need a louder pep talk; it needs a clearer compass. We start 2026 by trading resolutions for direction and building a plan around identity, not intensity. Through honest reflection on 2025—what made us proud and what quietly drained us—we sketch a practical framework to design a year you’ll be proud to live, not just survive. We walk through four anchors that hold everything in place: health and energy, leadership and impact, craft and learning, and family and life. For he...
Forget the “new year, new you” slogans. We trade hype for honesty and design a year that actually fits your values and energy. We start by reframing 2025 with a pride audit: the tough moments you handled with more grace, the people you helped, and the places you chose integrity over convenience. That grounding matters because leaders often spot gaps faster than growth, and without pride, we keep chasing the next milestone without ever arriving. From there, we run a clean truth audit—no shame...
Audacity isn’t about being wild; it’s about taking bold risks that are worth it for the season you’re in. We sit down with three‑time Emmy Award‑winning sports broadcaster and author Anne‑Marie Anderson to unpack how leaders can move from second‑guessing to decisive action without ignoring reality. Anne‑Marie shares the simple test she uses to separate worth‑it risks from reckless moves, and why the outcomes you fear are almost never at the extremes your brain imagines. We get practical abou...
Strategy isn’t supposed to live in a slide deck. It should breathe in daily choices, team rituals, and the way people talk about their work. We sit down with Hans Lagerweij, author of The Why Whisperer, to unpack why 95 percent of employees can’t state their company’s strategy—and what leaders can do to fix it without adding more meetings or more slides. Hans introduces the Six C’s of execution—clear communication, consistent reinforcement, cultural alignment, continuous improvement, collabo...
Leadership lives in the moments people spend with you—every check-in, every decision explained, every hard conversation you choose to have. To celebrate 300 episodes, we pull together the clearest patterns from hundreds of leaders, psychologists, authors, and operators and turn them into practical moves you can use tomorrow. We start with meaning. People don’t just want a job; they want to know why their work matters and who benefits. You’ll hear how to connect the macro why of your team’s p...
What kind of leader are you becoming: one who earns trust or one who enforces compliance? We take a clear-eyed look at leadership through four lenses—service, courage, resilience, and inclusion—drawing on highlights from Steve Fortunato, Jim Fielding, Kijuan Amey, and Stephanie Chung to turn big ideas into practical actions you can use this week. Steve’s insights on service and storytelling show why facts inform but stories transform, helping teams reconnect to purpose and feel seen. Jim’s j...
What if the most powerful thing you did as a leader was to stop talking? Stephanie Chung—trailblazing aviation executive and author of Ally Leadership—joins us to show how silence, better questions, and intentional design turn diversity into decisions people own. We start with the hard truth: diverse teams win, but only when every voice is heard. Stephanie shares how she navigated a male-dominated industry and distilled what works into the EARN system: establish psychological safety, assure ...
What would you do if you woke up and the world was dark? Kijuan Amey, an Air Force in‑flight refueling specialist with a promising path to the cockpit, opened his eyes after a crash to find he’d lost his sight. The story that follows isn’t about platitudes—it’s about rebuilding a life through faith, gratitude, and the unglamorous work of learning every step again. We dig into the pivotal shift from “why me” to “why not me,” and how that mindset turned blame into agency. Kijuan walks us throu...
Feeling the pressure to have all the answers? You’re not alone. Mick Spiers sits down with Jim Fielding—former senior executive at Disney, Fox, and DreamWorks, and author of All Pride No Ego—to explore why modern leadership rewards curiosity over certainty. Together, they unpack how to build teams that think bravely, speak freely, and perform under pressure. Jim takes us inside his pandemic pivot from corporate operator to coach and storyteller, revealing the ten leadership lessons he wishes ...
What if the fastest way to unlock performance isn’t to lead louder, but to host better? We sit down with best-selling author Steve Fortunato to rethink leadership through the lens of hospitality—not the restaurant kind, the human kind. Steve reveals why so much “look at me” leadership creates a vicious cycle of entitlement, and how the host mindset flips the script to “look at you,” building trust, engagement, and shared ownership. We dig into three practical principles you can apply today. ...
What if the hardest leadership skills are the most human ones? We pull together a month of conversations and share a playbook for leading with presence, purpose, and care—so people don’t just survive at work, they come alive. From micro moments that create mattering, to authentic leadership that fits like your own skin, to change communication that removes uncertainty, to feedback that is firm and compassionate, the thread is clear: people follow care, not titles. We start with the power of ...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States