Leading Visionaries Podcast

What separates a leader who gives orders from one who inspires others to lead? The answer lies in vision and the willingness to grow beyond yourself. In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with TJ Baird, a retired U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major with more than 32 years of experience leading intelligence, special operations, and global mission teams. Now an author, speaker, and co-founder of Warrior Dad Stories, TJ shares how his leadership journey evolved from direct command to delegation, strategic decision-making, and developing the next generation of leaders.Through stories of fatherhood, perseverance, and finding a new direction after retirement, TJ reminds us that meaningful leadership is about more than achieving success.What You Will Learn:How leadership evolves from giving direction to delegating, resourcing teams, and making strategic decisions.Why great leaders must first learn how to be great followers.How trust, coaching, and mentorship help leaders develop stronger teams.Why data-driven decisions can protect organizations from costly emotional reactions.How to prioritize competing ideas, manage resources, and keep a vision moving forward.What TJ's four life principles teach us about discipline, well-being, purpose, and enjoying life.How personal experiences and challenges can become the foundation for a meaningful business.Why building the next generation of leaders is essential to creating a lasting legacy.How to seek guidance, build supportive relationships, and avoid trying to build a business alone.How to turn life lessons into stories that inspire reflection, personal growth, and action.FAQ:How does leadership change as someone advances in their career?Leadership often evolves from directly guiding individuals and teams to delegating responsibilities, providing resources, overseeing operations, and making strategic decisions. Why is data-driven decision-making important in leadership?Data-driven decision-making helps leaders evaluate situations objectively, allocate resources effectively, and make choices that support organizational goals. Why is being a good follower important to becoming a great leader?Great leaders understand how to follow others, learn from experience, and work within a shared mission. Connect with TJ BairdWarrior Dad StoriesLeading Visionaries PodcastJoin the Leading Visionaries CommunityMake a Donation to Support the ShowCreative Age Consulting Group

What if your business could do more than generate profit? What if it could help create a better future? In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Isabelle Grosmaitre, founder and CEO of Goodness & Co., to explore how courageous leaders can turn business purpose into meaningful action. Isabelle also opens up about the realities of entrepreneurship, including financial uncertainty and learning to reinvent your business model. Discover how leaders can build future-ready organizations by making purpose part of strategic decisions and creating collaborative governance that moves meaningful change forward.What You Will Learn:How a defining life experience can shape your vision and sense of purpose.Why business can be a powerful force for positive change.How to listen to your inner voice and build confidence in your leadership.Why choosing to collaborate with pioneering organizations can create greater impact than fighting against established systems.What entrepreneurs can expect when navigating financial uncertainty and risk.Why business owners should avoid limiting themselves when pricing and monetizing their expertise.How regularly reinventing your business model can support entrepreneurial growth.How to move beyond purpose statements and integrate purpose into strategic business decisions.Why collaborative governance and stakeholder engagement are essential to organizational transformation.How boards, executives, employees, and partners can work together to create lasting change.FAQ:What does it mean for a business to be a force for good?A business becomes a force for good when it uses its influence, resources, and decisions to create positive change while remaining financially successful. This means integrating purpose into business strategy, empowering stakeholders, and finding ways to contribute to a better future.How can a company turn its purpose into action?A company can turn purpose into action by making it part of its strategic decisions, business model, innovation efforts, and relationships with stakeholders. Purpose should guide how the organization operates rather than exist only as a mission statement or slogan.What is purpose-driven leadership?Purpose-driven leadership means guiding an organization with a clear commitment to making a meaningful contribution beyond financial performance alone. It involves aligning business decisions with a broader vision, empowering others, and working collaboratively to create lasting impact.Connect with Isabelle GrosmaitreGoodness & Co.Leading Visionaries PodcastJoin the Leading Visionaries CommunityMake a Donation to Support the ShowCreative Age Consulting Group

What happens when the vision you have for your life is bigger than what the people around you believe is possible? In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Steve Gutzler, leadership expert, speaker, coach, and the president of Leadership Quest.Steve shares how lessons from his family's pancake house shaped his approach to leading people, why attitude sets the tone for an entire organization, and how a clear vision can create the passion needed to keep moving forward when life does not go according to plan.Get ready to discover how to keep getting better forever while leading with vision, emotional intelligence, and purpose.What You Will Learn:Why a compelling vision can create passion and motivation in the present.How a leader's attitude can influence the people and culture around them.Why leaders manage things but lead people.How to maintain perspective and navigate emotions when life goes sideways.Why entrepreneurial and leadership journeys rarely move in a straight line.How lifelong learning can help leaders continue growing and evolving.Why emotional intelligence is a critical leadership skill, not simply a soft skill.How emotionally intelligent leaders create trust, connection, and a sense of value in others.Why your inner circle can either strengthen or diminish your biggest vision.How anchoring yourself in your core values can help you navigate challenging seasons.FAQ:What is the relationship between vision and leadership?Vision gives leaders a clear picture of the future and creates the passion needed to move toward it. A strong vision can help people understand where they are going, why it matters, and what they need to do in the present to make that future possible.How does emotional intelligence improve leadership?Emotional intelligence helps leaders understand and navigate their own emotions while recognizing and responding to the emotions of others. This creates stronger relationships, greater trust, and a leadership environment where people feel valued, appreciated, and empowered.Why is emotional intelligence important for entrepreneurs?Entrepreneurs are constantly communicating ideas, building relationships, making decisions, and influencing others. Emotional intelligence helps entrepreneurs connect with people beyond simply exchanging information, making it easier to build trust and move people toward a shared vision.Connect with Steve GutzlerWebsiteLeading Visionaries PodcastJoin the Leading Visionaries CommunityMake a Donation to Support the ShowCreative Age Consulting Group

What happens when you stop looking at people as a business expense and start seeing them as the force that creates value? In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Rohit Bassi, the founder of People Quotient and the creator of PQ, a framework that defines an organization’s capability through its people.Rohit shares how his childhood vision for global impact shaped his leadership journey, what he learned from working with more than 100 businesses, and why translating a big vision into something tangible is essential for creating real-world impact. He also explains his five-year vision for bringing PQ to businesses around the world.What You Will Learn:Why having a big vision requires both imagination and practical structure.How to connect what you are solving for with the value you want to create.Why people are fundamental to turning a vision into measurable business value.What People Quotient, or PQ, means and how it applies to leadership, organization, and talent.Why businesses benefit from thinking about their people proactively instead of only reacting to employee issues.Why bringing a vision to life requires other people, not just the person who created the vision.How a big idea can become a tangible framework that other people can understand, use, and apply.FAQ:What is People Quotient?People Quotient, or PQ, is a framework for thinking about an organization’s people through three areas.Why are people important to business success?People are responsible for carrying out the work that creates value within an organization.How is People Quotient different from IQ and EQ?Rohit describes IQ and EQ as familiar ways of thinking about individuals, while PQ focuses on the people and organizational side of a business. Connect with Rohit BassiWebsiteLeading Visionaries PodcastJoin the Leading Visionaries CommunityMake a Donation to Support the ShowCreative Age Consulting Group

What happens when you spend years learning how to lead, knock on 9,000 doors, and discover that the conversations happening face-to-face are dramatically different from the conversations happening online? In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Christopher Rivers, former Army Officer and author of You Shouldn’t Have to Kill to Get Ahead.Christopher shares what he learned from knocking on thousands of doors, why he believes meaningful change starts with everyday conversations, and how his book became the foundation for a larger mission to make complicated policy and political conversations more approachable.You'll also hear how Christopher is turning his ideas into multiple formats, including an audiobook and digital experiences, while building a mission-driven business.What You Will Learn:How having a clear vision differs from being able to see the path to achieving it.Why your vision may develop through experience rather than appearing fully formed.How a 1% improvement mindset can help develop leadership over time.Why leadership is built through consistent personal growth rather than a single workshop or title.What Christopher learned from knocking on 9,000 doors during his political campaigns.How information overload can make it harder to find the information needed to make good decisions.Why face-to-face conversations can help people navigate disagreement and different perspectives.Two questions that can create more productive conversations around difficult issues.How a book can become the foundation for a larger mission-driven business.Why entrepreneurs need to meet people where they are and create multiple ways for people to engage with their ideas.How speaking, books, digital products, and educational tools can become revenue streams for a mission-driven organization.FAQ:How does the 1% mindset help develop leadership?The 1% mindset focuses on becoming a slightly better version of yourself each day. Christopher Rivers believes that consistently improving yourself over time can develop the discipline, experience, and personal growth required for leadership.What can knocking on 9,000 doors teach you about leadership?Knocking on 9,000 doors created an opportunity to speak directly with people across different political perspectives. Those conversations showed Christopher that many people's personal concerns and conversations were different from the broader conversations happening through media and online platforms.How can people have better conversations when they disagree?Two questions can help create more productive conversations: "What would you have to see to change your mind?" and "How would you feel if it happened to you?" These questions encourage people to consider whether they are genuinely open to new information and how an issue might affect them personally.Connect with Christopher RiversWebsiteLeading Visionaries PodcastJoin the Leading Visionaries CommunityMake a Donation to Support the ShowCreative Age Consulting Group