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The Flourishing Leaders Podcast
Character. Leadership. Human Flourishing.
Join Dr. Scott Parsons—retired Army officer, character development leader, and founder of The Flourishing Leaders Academy—for inspiring weekly conversations with influential thinkers, leaders, and changemakers psychology, philosophy, sports, business, and the arts—united by one goal: exploring how we can all lead with character and live flourishing lives.
Each episode explores how to lead with character, make ethical decisions, build antifragile teams, and live a flourishing life. Guests share actionable insights on leadership development, emotional intelligence, growth mindset, moral courage, and practical wisdom—essential traits for today’s purpose-driven professionals.
Join us as we dive into timeless wisdom and cutting-edge science to uncover strategies for ethical leadership, virtue cultivation, and living with purpose.
Guests include Brian Johnson, Tal Ben-Shahar, Sean Casey, Caroline Adams Miller, Kristján Kristjánsson, and many more.
Perfect for coaches, educators, executives, healthcare leaders, and lifelong learners, The Flourishing Leaders Podcast is your go-to resource for cultivating strong values, navigating complexity, and unlocking human potential.
Listen every week to grow as a leader—and help others flourish too.
#Leadership #LeaderDevelopment #CharacterDevelopment #CharacterEducation #PositivePsychology #Flourishing #VirtueEthics #Virtue #Areté #Arete #Phronesis #PracticalWisdom #Wisdom #Coaching #EthicalLeadership #EmotionalIntelligence #Heroic #Antifragile #Antifragility #Purpose #GrowthMindset #WellBeing #Well-Being
49 Episodes
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In this special episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar honor the life and legacy of Bob Chapman, longtime Barry-Wehmiller CEO and Chairman, whose vision of caring leadership transformed countless lives. Rather than a traditional interview, this episode is a reflection on Bob Chapman as a human being, a leader, and a global voice for a more deeply human way of working and living. Joining Scott and Jason are two guests who knew Bob closely and worked direc...
What if flourishing begins when we stop dividing life into compartments—and start seeing people as whole human beings? In this heartfelt episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar are joined by Francine Apy—founder of FrancineApy.com and SoulFilling, adoption advocate, HR leader, speaker, coach, and MAPP candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. Francine brings together decades of leadership in human resources with more than 30 years of lived experience i...
What if flourishing isn’t about feeling better—but about living better? In Episode #46 of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Dr. Tayyab Rashid—clinical psychologist, co-developer of Positive Psychotherapy, and President-Elect of the International Positive Psychology Association—for a profound conversation on the true meaning of flourishing. Drawing on decades of clinical work, global research, and cross-cultural insight, Tayyab challenges the most...
What if one of the most powerful leadership tools available to us isn’t a strategy, a metric, or a management framework — but the stories we tell ourselves and others? In this energizing and deeply human episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Capella Fahoome — culture engineer, award-winning film producer, executive coach, educator, and PhD student in Positive Organizational Psychology — for a rich conversation about storytelling, connectio...
What if one of the greatest leadership challenges of our time is not strategy, scale, or speed—but the loss of relationship? In this powerful episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Mike Erwin—Army officer, social entrepreneur, positive psychology practitioner, co-author of Lead Yourself First and Leadership Is a Relationship, and founder or co-founder of Team Red, White & Blue, The Positivity Project, The Character & Leadership Cent...
What does it mean to become stronger through what nearly broke you? In Episode #43 of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with David Berez — retired police officer, Master Resiliency Trainer, and positive psychology practitioner — for a moving conversation on trauma, healing, antifragility, and the power of story. David shares experiences from decades in emergency services, including his decision to respond to Ground Zero after 9/11, the hidden cu...
What if the future of healthcare depends less on doing more — and more on becoming wiser? In this powerful episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Margaret “Peggy” Plews-Ogan, MD MS — physician, educator, and wisdom researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine — to explore what it means to lead with practical wisdom (phronesis) in a field that is often pressured to “widgetize” what is fundamentally relational. Peggy shar...
What if leadership isn’t about control, status, or “winning”—but about protecting dignity and promoting well-being? In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Professor Michael Pirson, a global voice in humanistic management and humanistic leadership. Michael is the James F. Stoner Endowed Chair in Global Sustainability at Fordham University, Editor-in-Chief of the Humanistic Management Journal, and a leader in global efforts to transfo...
What if human flourishing isn’t a “nice-to-have,” but a strategic asset—one leaders must intentionally build, measure, and reinvest in? In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Dr. Jelena Nikolic—labor economist, researcher, and educator—to explore the deep connection between economic performance and human flourishing. Jelena argues that many organizations measure what’s visible—wages, productivity, profit, and GDP—while ignoring the ...
What if flourishing leadership isn’t found in doing more—but in aligning your values, wellbeing, and relationships during times of change? Change can shake us—or shape us. In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Ilene Schaffer, CEO of Silicon Valley Change, executive leadership coach, speaker, and host of the What’s Possible podcast. Ilene shares a refreshingly human take on flourishing leadership: it’s not “work life vs....
What does it mean to be a flourishing leader when the world feels chaotic—and leadership often defaults to fear, scarcity, and burnout? In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Niels Gott, executive coach, positive psychology practitioner, and founder of Awesomer Coaching & Consulting—where his official title is Chief Awesome Officer (yes, really… and it’s as meaningful as it is playful). Niels brings 22 years of military leadersh...
What does it mean to be a flourishing leader in a world marked by stress, division, and moral complexity? In this powerful episode, Dr. Scott Parsons sits down with Professor Nancy Sherman—Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and acclaimed author of Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, Stoic Warriors, The Untold War, and Afterwar. Nancy offers a grounded, human vision of leadership—rooted in character, collaboration, and what she memo...
What does it mean to flourish when life includes trauma, moral injury, and hard-earned recovery? In Episode #36 of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with LTC (Ret.) Mike Kenny — West Point Class of 1993, U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, and Executive Director of Warriors’ Ascent, a nonprofit dedicated to helping military veterans and first responders heal from post-traumatic stress and moral injury. Mike shares a powerful vision of flourishing that i...
What if leadership isn’t first a skillset — but a way of being? In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar are joined by Professor Verónica Fernández of Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV) in Madrid — an educator, scholar, and leader in Europe’s growing character and virtue education movement. Verónica is also deeply involved with the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA), a network advancing research, training, and collaboration so char...
What does it mean to lead as a flourishing leader in a world of burnout, bureaucracy, and moral complexity — especially in healthcare? In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar are joined by Dr. Sabena Jameel — professor of medical professionalism, character education scholar, physician, inner-city Birmingham GP, and co-founder of the Practical Wisdom Network. Sabena shares a deeply human vision for leadership rooted in service, values, and communit...
What if the greatest leadership challenge of our time isn’t a lack of information — but a lack of wisdom? In this rich and wide-ranging episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Donald Robertson — philosopher, former cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and one of the world’s leading interpreters of Stoic philosophy — to explore how ancient wisdom and modern psychology converge to support resilient, ethical, and flourishing leadership. Drawi...
What does it actually look like to be a flourishing leader in a turbulent world? In this episode, Dr. Scott Parsons and co-host Jason Viyar sit down with Michael Balchan — CEO and Head Coach at Heroic Public Benefit Corporation — for a rich, practical, and deeply human conversation on how to operationalize flourishing in everyday life and leadership. A Harvard-trained behavioral economist and psychologist, former options trader, and top 10% Ironman finisher, Michael has spent the last decade ...
What happens when leaders see character not as a buzzword, but as the invisible architecture of how they show up every day? In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and co-host Jason Viyar sit down with Dr. Jillian Coppley, President and Chief Products, Programs, and Services Officer at the VIA Institute on Character. Drawing on her experience leading the reinvention of Mayerson Academy, spearheading VIA’s Workplaces at Their Best initiative, and learning fr...
Exploring how science, sport, and virtue unite to help leaders strengthen character and flourish through daily, deliberate practice. What if building character was as deliberate as building muscle? In this energizing conversation, Dr. Scott Parsons sits down with Dr. Corey Crossan Stevens, Research and Teaching Fellow at the Oxford Character Project and co-founder of Virtuosity — a mobile app that turns virtue development into daily practice. Drawing from her background in exercise science an...
What if our current ways of measuring “well-being” are quietly undermining the very idea of human flourishing? In this thought-provoking episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons sits down with Dr. Eri Mountbatten-O’Malley — Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University and author of Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Analysis — to explore what flourishing really means, why it has a moral core, and how misunderstandings of this powerful concept can lead to serious ethic...
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