Transformational Leader Podcast

On this week’s special episode, the President of the John Maxwell Team, Paul Martinelli sat down with Dr. Bruce Lipton, Author of The Biology of Belief. There are some unbelievable topics that Dr. Lipton covered including: How science, along with “new biology,” can help us transform our lives, the basic requirements for cell survival – our cells are really like miniature “people” and how our genes don’t “cause” things like cancer or Alzheimer’s disease.

On this week’s episode, we had the chance to sit down with James (Jim) Ravella. Father to seven children, writer and speaker, and served over 26 years in the USAF as an F-15E pilot. Jim shares his personal story that is touching and yet relatable, real life scenarios and challenges that people go through every day. Jim was married to his first wife Andrea, whom the family lost to a four-year battle with breast cancer in 2007.

This week we sit down with Julie Wells, the Executive Director of the Glad Adoption Agency and Co-Pastor for the Cathedral in Evansville, Indiana. Graduating with a degree in Psychology, she went on to get her master’s and started her journey as a social worker and working alongside her mother who founded the Glad Adoption Agency. What a beautiful story, serving women in Crisis Pregnancy while offering the option of placing her child in a loving home.

This week, Daniel Floyd joins us, the founding and Senior Pastor of Lifepoint Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. With a vision to raise up the next generation of leaders, Daniel founded Lifepoint College in 2016. He goes on to share how the first time he heard about leadership and the concept was in college, when John Maxwell came to speak at an event at his school. From there, he had the hunger to learn more about leadership and shares his insight on what drove him through his leadership journey.

As one of our Final four candidates for the 2018 John C Maxwell Transformational Leadership Award, Jason Benham joins us today to discuss ATTITUDE. Jason goes on to discuss how he defines attitude and why it is so important as a leader to utilize it, but in the correct way. From Charlotte, North Carolina – this is Jason’s small town dream that came true as 17 years ago he was working in a cubicle for John at Injoy Group.

A native of Chicago’s vibrant music and performing arts scenes, Rhona Bennett has the voice, style, gritty sense of self-determination and lifelong dedication to her craft which has helped her realize her dream and much more. With over 27 years professionally in the Entertainment Industry, Rhona’s talent has graced the studio, stage and screen for all to see and hear. Rhona believes it takes someone who is dedicated, disciplined and authentic to be a transformational leader.

Alex is on a mission to alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. He doesn’t believe leadership comes with age, rather it comes with your understanding of people, having empathy for people and meeting them where they are at in life. He sums up that by living by the Law of Connection. Alex is the CEO of the American Red Cross – Central and South Texas Region. He was also one of the finalists for the 2018 John C. Maxwell Transformational Leadership Award.

The author of international best seller The Circle Maker shares with us how VISION is gets a team through failure so those failures can become the team’s greatest achievements. Mark casts the VISION for his team because he knows that the work they are doing today may get results for another 10 or 20 years. He also knows that vision is one leg of a three-legged stool.

Todd Nesloney is the Principal/Lead Learner at Webb Elementary School in Navasota, Texas. Todd was a classroom teacher for 7 years before taking over a struggling campus as principal, bringing in a completely new staff, and using his creative ideas to transform a campus.  His mission is to ensure that every child is well educated and cared for, knowing that they matter, are valued and hold worth.

As leaders, every one of us wants to perform our best in every facet of our lives. Often, leaders carry the brunt of the burden during high-stress and intense seasons. Dr. Jannell MacAulay is a human performance consultant, combat veteran, Air Force pilot, and TEDx speaker. In this episode, she shares some insights to high performance under stress, which also allows her to cultivate the skills for personal care and recovery. 

Dr. Ivan Misner is the founder and chairman of the business networking organization BNI. When you step into a networking event, you'll notice clusters of two, three, four, or more people. As a stranger, you may feel that if you try to join any of the clusters, it will be intruding. It's an awkward moment, and they may not know quite what to do or where to start. Leaders, the way your people are configured in groups during your events can tell your visitors a lot about how they will be received.

Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question "How do I respond to expectations?" we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively. 

Bonnie St. John became the first African-American ever to win medals in Winter Olympic competition, taking home a silver and two bronze medals at the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Bonnie is also the winner of the 2017 John Maxwell Transformational Leadership Award, and in this interview she talks about the shift she made to seeing herself as a leader, and how that empowered her to start several community initiatives.

The secret for creating “magic” in our careers, organizations, and lives is simple: outstanding leadership — the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results.  No one knows more about this kind of leadership than Lee Cockerell, the man who ran Walt Disney World® Resort operations for over a decade.

Scheduling time for growth is integral for leaders. Today, Rick Morris joins our hosts Paul Gustavson and Mike Harbour to talk a bit about his leadership routine. Rick is a member of the John Maxwell Team and will be an impact player for the podcast moving forward: he will be the lead interviewer for several upcoming episodes of this podcast.