Spark Leadership

In this episode, Navid Nazemian and host Matti Niebelschuetz take a deep dive into how executives can master transitions. Navid is a multiple award-winning executive coach and a bestselling author. He helps executives successfully transition by maximizing their leadership impact, build high performing teams and create admired organizations. His book Mastering Executive Transitions: The Definitive Guide is a #1 new release and international bestselling book on Amazon. Navid has been recognized as HR’s Most Influential Practitioner by the HR Magazine, #1 Coach of the Year by CEO Today, named as 101 Most Iconic Coaching Leaders Global by ET World & CHRO Asia, and has received the Outstanding Leadership Award from Education 2.0.

In this episode, Liz Wiseman and host Lisa Tomlin address how leaders can avoid being an "accidental diminisher" and ways coaching can help people at all levels of the organization become "impact players."Liz Wiseman is a researcher and executive advisor who teaches leadership to executives around the world. She is the author of New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter and is the CEO of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Some of her recent clients include: Apple, AT&T, Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Salesforce, Tesla, and Twitter. Liz has been consistently listed on the Thinkers50 ranking from 2013 to 2021, and in 2019 received the top achievement award for leadership from Thinkers50. She has conducted significant research in the field of leadership and talent management and writes for Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and a variety of other business and leadership journals. She is a frequent guest lecturer at BYU and Stanford University and is a former executive at Oracle Corporation, where she worked as the Vice President of Oracle University and as the global leader for Human Resource Development.You can find Liz’s books, including Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, on Amazon.

In this episode, La Juana Chambers Lawson and host Matti Niebelschuetz discuss the role of organizational leadership in talent development and bringing corporate DEI&B visions to life.La Juana “The PMO CEO” Chambers Lawson, MPA, PMP, LSSGB is the Founder and CEO at Tacit Growth Strategies, a leading project management office (PMO) and management consulting firm that specializes in government contracting, grant and proposal writing, impact investment strategy, and comprehensive international business development consulting. In addition to running Tacit Growth Strategies, La Juana is a REALTOR® and certified Military Relocation Professional (MRP) with Phyllis Browning Company. La Juana has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Marquis Who’s Who in America (Texas Business Owners), is a San Antonio Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree (2022), and was a Finalist for the National Association of Women Business Owners San Antonio Chapter’s Women Business Owner Awards (2023). She is the international best-selling author of “Master Grant Writing: A Project Manager’s Guide” published by River Walk Publishing, a comprehensive guide from the perspective of a grant writing and project management expert that demonstrates how to build and maintain a successful nonprofit or for-profit impact business. La Juana serves as Vice President of the Bexar County/City of San Antonio U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Continuum of Care the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless, Community Advisory Board Member of the River City Federal Credit Union, Director-General of the Global Alliance for Angel Investor and Venture Capital Networks by the esteemed Global Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Mentor for Trinity University’s MIT Venture Mentoring Program.You can find La Juana's book, Master Grant Writing: A Project Manager's Guide, on Amazon and be sure to check out her podcast, “Real Management Talk with LJ and Jocelyn."

In this episode, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal and host Rosie Evans explore top resilience practices that can benefit business leaders. They also take a look at the role of resilience in talent retention and succession planning. Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal is the founder of the Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI). She previously served as the Head of Executive Leadership Development & Talent Strategy at Nike, and Head of Global Leadership Development at Cigna. Dr. Taryn Marie earned her doctoral degree from the University of Maryland and completed pre- and postdoctoral fellowships in neuropsychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center. She is a Marshall Goldsmith Top 100 Coach Globally (MG100), and her TEDx talk entitled “How Resilience Breaks Us Out of Our Vulnerability Cage” has already surpassed 1 million views. Her sons Samson and Sawyer are always teaching her how to be more resilient.You can find Taryn’s book, The Five Practices of Highly Reslient People, on Amazon and other book sellers. 

In this episode, Jerry Colonna and host Yannis Niebelschuetz take a deep dive into the top challenges that executives face in today’s volatile global marketplace and explore the concept of "radical self-inquiy" through coaching.Founder and CEO of Reboot.io, Jerry Colonna is a certified professional coach. He draws on his wide variety of experiences to help clients design a more conscious life and make needed changes to their career to improve their performance and satisfaction. He established his coaching practice in 2007. Prior to this work, Colonna was a venture capitalist focused on investing in early-stage technology-related startups.You can find Jerry’s book Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up on Amazon, Apple books, and other retailers.

In this episode, Maria Guimaraes and host Lisa Tomlin discuss how to empower high performers in organizations as well as ways that coaching can support cultural organizational transformations.Maria Guimaraes is a purpose-driven leadership coach who supports extraordinary visionaries to lead with purpose, build thriving businesses, and ignite action that positively impacts people and planet. Over the past 18 years, she has worked with some of the biggest advocates of change worldwide, such as UNICEF, UN Women, and others to mobilize leaders, CEOs and entrepreneurs to lead with purpose, heart and authenticity. She grew up in Mozambique, and has lived and worked in numerous countries - including China, Thailand, South Africa, the Netherlands and USA - where she partnered with visionaries and entrepreneurs to catalyze real transformation and change. Maria is currently based in Panama, where she is heading the United Nations World Food Programme's Partnerships division in Latin America and the Caribbean. She leads a team of inspiring change-makers to galvanize governments, the private sector, philanthropists, foundations and the public at large to end hunger, further gender equality and address the root causes of poverty.

In this episode, Fergus Connolly, PhD. and host Yannis Niebelschuetz discuss what top business executives can learn from leaders in sports and the military, and explore how coaching can take "the best to better."Dr. Fergus Connolly is one of the world’s foremost human performance thought leaders and influencers, and has applied performance science with leading sports, military, and business teams. He is the only coach to have full times roles in every major sport. Fergus has served as Director of Elite Performance for the San Francisco 49ers, Sports Science Director with the Welsh Rugby Union, and Performance Director for University of Michigan Football. He has guided coaches, support staff and players in the NBA, Australian Rules Football and international cricket. Fergus has also trained world boxing champions and advises elite military units and companies across the globe.You can find Fergus’ books including 59 Lessons: Working with the World's Elite Coaches, Athletes and Special Forces and The Process Level III: The Methodology, Philosophy & Principles of Coaching Winning Teams on Amazon.

Hi everyone, I'm your host Windy Tshepiso Maledu. As we head off to the holidays and wrap up the year, I personally would like to thank each and every one of you for listening to the *Spark Leadership Podcast. I hope that you found these last two seasons insightful, inspiring and empowering in your career path as I have. *Spark Leadership will be returning with a brand new season and new host in 2023 after a winter break. We are very excited to introduce you to the new host next year as we bring new guests discussing key business issues that HR and L&D Leaders face today. It's been my greatest pleasure and privilege to have been your host this year and to share thought provoking, insightful conversations with coaching thought leaders, authors and business pioneers. Let's continue to cultivate the knowledge we learned. As the African proverb says, "Knowledge is like a garden. If it's not cultivated, it cannot be harvested."Wishing you all the best for the new year. Happiness!