The Leadership That Shines Podcast

Natalie Davis

The Leadership That Shines Podcast exists for the leaders who are done waiting to feel ready. Every week, Natalie Davis delivers leadership training built around three core values: impact, influence, and growth. The leaders who change their organizations, their businesses, and their communities are the ones who commit to growing themselves first. From professionals managing complex teams to solopreneurs building something from the ground up, this is where clarity becomes action and action becomes legacy.

  1. 3 days ago

    Listening to Understand vs. Reacting: A Leadership Lesson

    Most hard conversations do not fail because of what was said. They fail because one person was reacting instead of listening. In this episode of Leadership That Shines, host Natalie Davis talks with Dustin Shepherd, a nearly thirty-year military veteran turned leadership coach, about the difference between listening to understand and listening to react. Dustin explains why reacting carries an emotional charge while responding carries cognitive judgment, and why most communication breakdowns on a team start the moment a leader stops listening for the signal and starts waiting for their turn to talk. The conversation also covers what it means to shape an environment instead of controlling every decision, how to tell a real crisis apart from an everyday problem, and a personal story about a roadside breakdown that became a lasting lesson for Dustin's son. He closes with a reflection on moving from survival to recovery, and how he wants to be remembered as a leader. Listen if you lead a team, manage difficult conversations, or want practical language for the moment someone brings you a problem you were not expecting. In this episode: Why reacting and responding are not the same thing, and how to tell which one you are doingWhat gets missed when a leader is only waiting for someone to finish talkingHow shaping the environment around a decision beats making every decision yourselfA simple pressure test for telling a real crisis apart from an everyday problemWhy psychological safety is about willingness to be vulnerable, not the absence of discomfortThe story behind "fifteen extra steps" and what it taught Dustin's son about handling setbacks Guest: Dustin Shepherd CONNECT WITH DUSTIN SHEPHERD Polaris Leadership Academy:https://4pla.org/ If this conversation gives you language for a hard conversation you have been avoiding, share it with a leader who needs it, and follow Leadership That Shines so you do not miss the next episode. Join Natalie Live at the Reignite Live 2027 Event in Loveland, CO on January 22, 2027

    Listening to Understand vs. Reacting: A Leadership Lesson

  2. 2 Sept

    Leadership Development: Chris Majer on Team Cohesion, Organizational Transformation, and Nearly 50 Years of Disruptive Leadership Training

    Leadership development does not happen through remedial programs, compliance checklists, or business school frameworks borrowed from people who have never led anyone into anything that actually mattered. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, one of the top rated leadership business podcasts for professionals, entrepreneurs, and executives, host Natalie Davis sits down with Chris Majer, speaker, author of The Power to Transform, and nearly 50-year veteran of human performance, leadership training, and organizational development. Chris Majer coined the phrase team cohesion in 1982. He has applied his holistic leadership development framework with Olympic teams, the United States Army, AT&T, Nike, Microsoft, Cargill, and hundreds of organizations across industries. He has been on the Today Show, in Esquire, in People Magazine, and in boardrooms where he was the most disruptive presence in the room by design. Chris Majer's career began in rugby at the University of Washington, took a sharp turn through a copy of The Ultimate Athlete found in an airport bookstore at 30 years old, and has never followed a straight line since. That is the point. His leadership training philosophy is built on a single belief: the problems organizations think they have are almost always manifestations of one underlying breakdown, and the leaders who solve each symptom separately never fix the actual thing. The Leadership That Shines Podcast brings real leadership development conversations to professionals, founders, executives, and aspiring leaders every Wednesday. This episode is one of the most data-rich leadership training conversations the show has produced. In This Episode: Why the Army was trying to manage soldiers instead of lead them, and how Chris Majer told a room full of officers that their entire leadership approach was the problemThe team cohesion framework Chris Majer built in 1982 that produced a 20% production increase at a Boeing subcontractor statisticians said was already at maximum output, a direct application of leadership training principles to measurable business resultsHow a division of AT&T that was losing 200 million dollars generated a cumulative 3 billion dollars in profit over four years using Chris Majer's organizational transformation and leadership development methodologyWhy the holistic approach to leadership training outperforms symptom-by-symptom remedial programs every time, and what the woven cloth analogy means for every leader building culture and driving performanceHow Chris Majer rebuilt his entire leadership development delivery model after COVID eliminated live programming, and why the fundamental problem every organization faces right now comes down to coordination, not communication toolsChris Majer has been shaking up leadership training and organizational development for five decades. This episode is for every leader who has asked why do we do it that way, received the answer because that is how we always do it, and known immediately that answer was not going to be enough. About Chris Majer:Chris Majer is not just a speaker; he is a catalyst for transformation, a disruptor of conventional thinking, and a guide to unlocking the extraordinary potential within individuals and organizations. As an Amazon best-selling author and founder of the Human Potential Project (HP2), Chris brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success.The Power to Transform https://humanpotentialproject.com/ Join Natalie live at the ⁠Reignite Live 2027: Redefine Success. Plan Your Whole Year. Event in Loveland, CO on January 22, 2027

    Leadership Development: Chris Majer on Team Cohesion, Organizational Transformation, and Nearly 50 Years of Disruptive Leadership Training

  3. 20 Aug

    Leading Self in Leadership with Parker Gates

    Leading self comes before leading anyone else, and executive coach Parker Gates spends this episode of Leadership That Shines proving exactly how. Parker walks host Natalie Davis through a leadership journey that started by accident, running a deli kitchen at nineteen, moved through two decades in corporate IT, and landed in a coaching practice built around three daily practices: journaling, meditation, and movement. Parker traces the moment that changed everything, a week at Stanford's design school where he encountered a level of psychological safety and belonging he had never experienced in corporate America. That week led him to quit his job, build a company around design thinking, and eventually start teaching senior leadership teams why smart people in a room don't automatically make a good team. In This Episode: ● Why personal development and professional development are the same work ● How psychological safety became the missing ingredient on every team Parker built ● The three daily practices Parker uses with C-suite clients: journaling, meditation, movement ● How a recovery concept called "taking inventory" became a leadership tool ● Why "never skip day two" matters more than any single day of discipline Parker also opens up about twenty-four years of recovery, the friend he lost to cancer that led to his first real meditation practice, and the repair work he now teaches leaders to do when they fall short with their teams. This conversation moves through self-awareness, humility, and the practical steps behind showing up as a better leader every day. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe to the Flamingo Files newsletter on LinkedIn for a deeper dive into this conversation, published every Monday. Contact: themagic@leadershipthatshines.com | leadershipthatshines.com Guest: Parker Gates, executive coach | parkergates.com | Free practices video: parkergates.com/watch

  4. 12 Aug

    Purpose-Driven Leadership: Blake Cooper Griffin on Resilience, Identity, and Building a Life Worth Telling

    Purpose-driven leadership does not come from a clean story. For Blake Cooper Griffin, it came from bullying in South Carolina, conversion therapy at 16, an agency that told him to hide who he was, and a moment at 22 years old with no money, no representation, and a decision to make about who he was going to be on the other side of all of it.  In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis sits down with Blake Cooper Griffin, actor, author, activist, and founder of Brainworks Team, an educational mentorship consultancy helping students build academic growth, confidence, and purpose through service-based learning. Blake's career spans television, film, writing, entrepreneurship, and nearly two decades of advocacy work. His book, The Story of You: A Life Rewritten, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, is a framework for anyone who has ever needed to rewrite the narrative they inherited and build one worth living instead.  This conversation moves between the deeply personal and the practically applicable. Blake talks about the moment his representation called him in and told him to stop bringing his partner to industry events, the decision he made in that crushing moment to reframe the mountain he had already climbed, and how that single shift in perspective became the foundation of every leadership and business principle he now teaches.  In This Episode:  Why purpose larger than personal success is the only thing that sustains a leader through the seasons when nothing is working and the dark moments feel permanent  How Blake reframes rejection and setback as evidence of mountains already climbed, and why that reframe removes the defeat of feeling like you are starting from zero  The three-step passion project framework Blake uses with students at Brainworks Team: educate yourself on the real need, make practical impact, then multiply it by educating your community  Why Blake's mother's saying, everybody's somebody and everybody counts, became the lens through which he approaches every room, every role, every relationship, and every business decision  What it means to write the story of you intentionally, and why the creative capacity every human being carries is not limited to one career, one identity, or one chapter  Blake Cooper Griffin has been navigating the intersection of identity, purpose, and leadership for decades. This episode is for every leader who has ever been told to make themselves smaller to fit someone else's comfort, and who is still deciding whether to believe it.  Connect with Blake Cooper Griffin: Book: The Story of You: A Life Rewritten, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble Company: Brainworks Team, educational mentorship and consultancy Connect with Blake directly through his professional platforms  Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines: Email: themagic@leadershipthatshines.com Website: https://leadershipthatshines.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadershipthatshines?igsh=Z3JkNGZsbTU5bnIy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1J9yZRGaiW/?mibextid=wwXIfr Substack: https://lovejoyandnatalie.substack.com/ Subscribe so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

  5. 5 Aug

    Hilary Momberger Powers on Healing Trauma, Finding Joy, and Leading From the Inside Out

    Resilience in Leadership: Hilary Momberger Powers on Healing Trauma, Finding Joy, and Leading From the Inside Out Resilience in leadership does not start with a strategy. For Hilary Momberger Powers, it started at the bottom of everything, and the climb back up became the curriculum she now teaches. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis sits down with Hilary Momberger Powers, coach, keynote speaker, trauma recovery advocate, and 40-year sobriety veteran, for one of the most honest conversations the show has ever aired. Hilary grew up as a child actress in Los Angeles, voiced cartoon characters, appeared in over 150 commercials, and performed inside a household defined by alcoholism, abuse, and a mother whose ego was never satisfied. By 21, she had hit every wall available. What happened next is the foundation of every coaching conversation she has had since. Hilary has worked in the film industry for decades with over 300 movie credits as a continuity supervisor. She is now a full-time coach and speaker whose work sits at the intersection of trauma recovery, spiritual identity, and the specific kind of resilience that does not come from grit but from genuinely learning to lead yourself from the inside out. This is not a conversation about tactics. It is a conversation about what happens when a human being finally stops performing wellness and starts living it. In This Episode: Why the three trauma responses most people cycle through, people pleasing, isolation, and control, are not character flaws but survival strategies, and what it takes to stop needing themThe difference between happiness and joy, why happiness is fleeting and joy is the permanent hard drive already inside every leader, and how to stop chasing the wrong oneHow Hilary's moment of forgiveness on a beach below Pacific Coast Highway cracked open a perception shift that changed every area of her life including her incomeWhy leading from the outside in always ends in emptiness, and what it looks like to finally flip the direction from the inside outThe body, mind, spirit framework Hilary uses with every coaching client and why skipping the spirit piece is the reason most personal development work does not holdHilary Momberger Powers does not deliver a polished redemption arc. She delivers the real one, with all the detours, the mess, and the moments that only make sense in hindsight. This episode is for any leader who has been performing fine for long enough that they have started to believe it. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe now so every episode lands directly in your feed. About Hilary: Hilary Momberger PowersConnect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: leadershipthatshines.comEmail: themagic@leadershipthatshines.comNewsletter: The Flamingo Files, published weekly on LinkedIn

    Hilary Momberger Powers on Healing Trauma, Finding Joy, and Leading From the Inside Out

  6. 29 Jul

    Building a $700M Beehive Team, Setting Boundaries, and Showing Up as Your Best Self with Adam Touni

    Real estate team leadership looks completely different when you stop building for production numbers and start building for the person you are becoming.  In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis welcomes someone she has known and coached for over six years: Adam Touni, Silicon Valley real estate leader, attorney-turned-agent, and co-founder of a beehive team structure that has produced over 700 million dollars in sales in one of the most competitive real estate markets in the country. This is not a conversation about tactics. It is a conversation about what it actually costs to build something at that level, and what it costs even more to build yourself alongside it.  Adam's story spans 16 years in real estate, a law school background that sharpened his ability to issue-spot and anticipate, a business partnership built entirely on complementary strengths, and a personal journey through burnout that finally forced him to put himself first. What came out of that journey, sobriety, daily meditation, a non-negotiable morning routine, and the practice of saying no, became the foundation his business could actually stand on.  Natalie and Adam have the kind of conversation that only six years of real coaching relationship makes possible. Direct, specific, and deeply honest about where the gaps were and what it took to close them.  In This Episode:  The beehive team model: why Adam and his business partner Kat Carroll built a team where every person has a specific role rather than a pool of generalists, and why that structure outperforms traditional team setups  Why knowing where your strengths end is as important as knowing where they begin, and how Adam's decision to stay out of operations freed him to do the work only he can do  The burnout that finally broke the pattern, and how building a daily non-negotiable morning practice changed everything about how Adam shows up for his team, his clients, and his family  Why the ability to say no is a muscle and how to build it starting today, even if the first few reps feel like they are going to cost you everything  What it means to be nimble as a leader, why Adam sought out leaders who moved quickly and stayed open to change, and why that same quality is the one most leaders lose the moment they start succeeding  Adam also shares what meditation actually is when you strip away the ritual, why he is more proud of his personal growth than any production milestone, and what he tells every agent asking how to retain their value in a market that keeps shifting: start by asking whether you love yourself, because the answer tells you everything about whether you are ready to ask for what you are worth.  The Leadership That Shines Podcast brings you real conversations about the whole leader, not just the professional one. This episode is for any leader who has been building the business and quietly losing themselves inside it.  Connect with Adam Touni:  Real estate team based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area, California  Searchable across professional platforms  Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday. *Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.

  7. 22 Jul

    Immigrant Entrepreneur to Private Equity Leader: John Azar on Self-Discovery, Resilience, and Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Vision

    Immigrant entrepreneur leadership is built differently. When you arrive with no language, no money, and no roadmap, the only option is to build the skill set that no setback can take from you. John Azar arrived in the United States from Syria at 16 years old without speaking English. His family had lost nearly everything. What he brought with him was a mentality his father had embedded early: as long as you have the right education, the right experience, and the right spirit, no one can take anything from you. Decades later, John is the founder of Peak 15 Capital, a private equity platform operating in commercial real estate, president of the board of directors for the college that gave him his first academic foothold, and a leadership coach who works with entrepreneurs, executives, and business leaders across industries. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, host Natalie Davis sits down with John for a conversation that moves between personal story and practical framework with the ease of someone who has spent years translating lived experience into usable leadership tools. John does not sugarcoat. He does not deal in five-year plans that measure success in dollar figures. He asks a different question entirely: who are you becoming, and what are you doing right now to show up as that version of yourself? In This Episode: Why John's first coaching question is never about revenue or business size, and what he asks instead to get to the answer that actually changes someone's trajectoryThe reverse engineering framework that helps entrepreneurs and executives start showing up as their future selves today, before the business catches up to the visionWhat the liminal space between finishing one chapter and launching the next actually requires of a leader, and how to stay anchored inside the uncertaintyWhy self-discovery is the only real prerequisite for growth, and what it means to be open to finding out parts of yourself you do not likeHow John went from losing everything in the 2008 financial crisis to building a multi-billion dollar private equity portfolio, and what that rebuild taught him about resilience, timing, and knowing which road to take when it shows itselfJohn Azar also shares why some of the biggest opportunities in business show up not despite downturns but because of them, what he means when he says he wants to lead through inspiration rather than perspiration, and why the best network you could build right now is one you have no reason to think you deserve yet. The Leadership That Shines Podcast exists to bring you real conversations with leaders who have done the hard work, not just the visible work. This episode is a masterclass in what it looks like to lead yourself first so you have something worth offering the people around you. Connect with John Azar:Company: Peak 15 CapitalConnect with John for coaching, mentorship, and private equity inquiries through his professional network Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. New episodes every Wednesday. *Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.

    Immigrant Entrepreneur to Private Equity Leader: John Azar on Self-Discovery, Resilience, and Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Vision

  8. 15 Jul

    Embracing Doubt and Building Authentic Leadership with Martin Watts

    Discover how doubt can be a powerful signal for growth and leadership transformation. In this episode, Martin Watts shares his inspiring journey from instability to building multiple successful businesses, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, core values, and cultivating a positive culture in leadership.In this episode: Martin Watts’ story of overcoming childhood trauma and embracing his entrepreneurial spiritThe role of doubt as an intelligent emotion signaling instability and guiding decision-makingHow to distinguish between lag and lead indicators of doubtPractical ways to measure and shape organizational culture through everyday actionsThe importance of authentic leadership rooted in core values and personal integrityStrategies for building healthy teams and fostering a culture of safety and trustThe impact of humility, celebrating wins, and intentionality in leadershipHow to leave a legacy as a leader who listens and confirms the potential within others Connect with Natalie Davis:   themagic@leadershipthatshines.com   Leadership That Shines Instagram Facebook Substack

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The Leadership That Shines Podcast exists for the leaders who are done waiting to feel ready. Every week, Natalie Davis delivers leadership training built around three core values: impact, influence, and growth. The leaders who change their organizations, their businesses, and their communities are the ones who commit to growing themselves first. From professionals managing complex teams to solopreneurs building something from the ground up, this is where clarity becomes action and action becomes legacy.

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