Is Kindness A Sign of Weakness? Kindness  has been a recurring topic of many a leadership book and article these  days. It's no wonder, with a worldwide pandemic shaking us loose from  all of the assumptions that we thought we knew about the world. That  said, many leaders struggle with the notion -- thinking that a show of  kindness is a sign of weakness. But, is it? Who better than Jenny Landgren to explore this question with me on this episode of The Indispensable Conversation? Jenny  is an author and Behavioral Science Expert, who counsels CEOs,  manag ..read more

Does human creativity matter when data analytics dictates our every  move?     This is the question featured on this episode of The Indispensable  Conversation with my guest Chris Jones.     Chris Jones is a former writer-at-large for Esquire magazine, has won  two National Magazine Awards. He is the author of Out of Orbit and  Falling Hard: A Rookie’s Year in Boxing. His work has also appeared in  The Best American Magazine Writing and The Best American Sports Writing  anthologies.      That said, it is Chris' lat ..read more

How do you summon the courage to lead when lives are on the line?   With the Russian military attack of Ukraine on the tops of our minds, this question has never been more relevant.    It is the question that I pose to my guest, James Hotaling, MSL, on this special edition of The Indispensable Conversation.   Jim serves as Head of Leadership Development & Assessment at N2Growth.  But, it is Jim's 20+ years of experience within U.S. Special Forces that makes him the perfect guest for this episode of The Indispensable Conversation.   Join us for this specia ..read more

World famous keynote speaker and business coach Rishad Ahmed joins me for next episode of The Indispensable Conversation. Rishad works to ignite transformation through holistic thinking and wisdom-driven leadership. He wants to help you to empower your organization for an inspired future. This all makes him the "right guest, at the right time" to delve into this question with me: Do you need to develop a keen intuition to be an exceptional leader ..read more

Should we always believe what we see?   This is the question on this episode of The Indispensable Conversation with my guest Todd Cherches.   Todd is the CEO at BigBlueGumball, a member of the MG100 and author of “VisuaLeadership.”   His focus on adding the visual to leadership makes him the perfect guest to explore this important question with me.   Listen now ..read more

Monte Pedersen joins Jim Kerr on the 50th episode of The Indispensable Conversation podcast. If you're unfamiliar with Monte, he heads up The CDA Group LLC an independent leadership training firm specializing in strategy execution. The focus of his thought leadership centers around how to get results. It's this focus that makes him the perfect guest to tackle this question with me: "Do you have to stay hungry to be outstanding ..read more

This episode of The Indispensable Conversation features award winning CEO, combat veteran, and author Joseph Polanin. Listen in as we tackle the question: Is it on leaders to make their people happy? Listen in! You just might be surprised where we go on this one ..read more

Today my guest is the world famous thrill seeker and creative motivator Tyler Schmoker. Tyler is a retired army veteran, mountain climber, cross country skier, and all around good guy. His posts on LinkedIn are distinctive because they typically feature him in some sort of “day in the life” motif. Indeed, death defying cycling vids are inter-meshed with views from the State Fair or his vegetable garden and all come with a message that inspires. In our opinion, this makes Tyler the ideal guest to tackle this question with me: "Is it possible to navigate between staying true to oneself and adapt ..read more

That's just 10 years from now!  This question is about the future of work. It's a question about the professional work settings that today's 6th Grade Middle School students will face when they graduate from college? If innovation and technology continues to rule how work is done, are we heading towards a business world with few rules, one where an budding market of specialists and niche players emerge and rule the day? Do we expect that large corporations, thirsty for highly productive human assets,  push past the limits of human ability by investing in augmentation technology, medi ..read more

Ebony Travis Tichenor is the Director, Global Well-being & HR Employee Policies at Boston Scientific. She has more than 25 years of hands-on experience directing all aspects of workforce development, including diversity, equity, outreach, inclusion training, and internal policy and practice review for efficiency and equity. However, it’s Ebony’s vast experience in talent acquisition and retention that makes her the ideal guest to explore the following question with me on this episode of The Indispensable Conversation: How should employee satisfaction be measured in a hybrid work world ..read more