The Leadership Project Podcast

Mick Spiers

The Leadership Project with Mick Spiers is a podcast dedicated to advancing thought on inspirational leadership in the modern world. We cover key issues and controversial topics that are needed to redefine inspirational leadership. How do young and aspiring leaders transition from individual contributors to inspirational leaders or from manager to leader to make a positive impact on the world? How do experienced leaders adapt their leadership styles and practices in a modern and digital world? How do address the lack of diversity in leadership in many organisations today? Guest speakers will be invited for confronting conversations in their areas of expertise with the view to provide leaders with all of the skills and tools they need to become inspirational leaders. The vision of The Leadership Project is to inspire all leaders to challenge the status quo. We empower modern leaders through knowledge and emotional intelligence to create meaningful impact Join us each week as we dive deep into key issues and controversial topics for inspirational leaders.

  1. 311. Your Best Meeting Ever: How to Fix Broken Meetings with Rebecca Hinds

    4D AGO

    311. Your Best Meeting Ever: How to Fix Broken Meetings with Rebecca Hinds

    What if your calendar isn’t a badge of honor but a map of wasted potential? We sit down with Rebecca Hinds, PhD and author of Your Best Meeting Ever, to challenge the idea that more meetings mean more value—and to rebuild meeting culture from the ground up. Rebecca unpacks the visibility bias that equates busyness with status, explains why meetings multiply when clarity disappears, and shows leaders how to design time together like a product with purpose, users, and measurable outcomes. We dive into the 4D rule—only meet to decide, debate, discuss, or develop—and how that single filter slashes status updates and nudges real work back to async. You’ll learn why eight is a magic ceiling for decision meetings, how to include voices without overinviting through pre-reads and transparent notes, and the art of closing the loop so people feel heard even when their idea isn’t acted on yet. Rebecca shares counterintuitive time design: odd-start meetings to beat Parkinson’s Law, strategic buffers to prevent “meeting hangovers,” and the cultural signal sent when you end early because the purpose is done. Ready for a reset? This episode explores “meeting doomsday,” a 48-hour calendar cleanse where every meeting must earn its place. The biggest gains come from small redesigns like shorter meetings and fewer attendees. You’ll also learn how to use ROTI feedback, clearer agendas, and technology the right way to improve focus and decision-making.  If you’re tired of back-to-back Zooms and wondering when real work happens, this conversation gives you a practical blueprint. You’ll gain clear norms, language to protect your team’s time, and leadership moves that turn meetings into a competitive advantage. Subscribe, s Send a text Make your podcast work for your business - Listen to Podcasting AmplifiedPractical strategies to turn your podcast into a business growth engine.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    1h 8m
  2. 310. Pulse: Empathy as Your Leadership Edge with Melinda McCormack

    FEB 17

    310. Pulse: Empathy as Your Leadership Edge with Melinda McCormack

    Disconnection doesn’t usually explode—it leaks in through a thousand tiny moments until voices go quiet and energy fades. We sat down with leadership futurist and change strategist Melinda McCormack to chart a path back: a practical, human way to lead with empathy that drives performance without sacrificing people. Melinda shares her personal journey through loss alongside high-stakes corporate change, revealing how trauma and bias can make even the strongest leaders feel small and unseen. From those lived lessons comes PULSE, a five-step framework that turns empathy into action: clarify Purpose aligned to values, Unlock your emotional code to shift from reaction to response, Learn tools like vulnerability and humility, Shift with daily habits that stick, and Embrace change by balancing the heart that feels with the mind that leads. We dive into why emotional fitness is a trainable skill, how mirror neurons make culture contagious, and what leaders can do to create psychological safety so teams feel seen, heard, and valued. Expect clear, usable tactics you can try today. You’ll hear how a single ten-second pause can flip a heated exchange, how to spot slow-burn disengagement before it becomes quiet quitting, and why “listening is the quiet art of influence.” We unpack triggers, cognitive biases, and the subtle ways meetings spiral into aggression and defensiveness—and we show how to bring them back to focus, trust, and useful outcomes. If you’ve ever wondered how to make empathy a competitive edge, this conversation gives you the map and the mindset to start. 🌐 Connect with Melinda: • Website: https://cms.melindamccormack.com/ • LinkedIn: Send a text Make your podcast work for your business - Listen to Podcasting AmplifiedPractical strategies to turn your podcast into a business growth engine.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    51 min
  3. 309. From Bottleneck to Catalyst: Unlocking Leadership Potential with Tracy Clark

    FEB 10

    309. From Bottleneck to Catalyst: Unlocking Leadership Potential with Tracy Clark

    Ever feel like your team has more to give—and you can’t quite unlock it? We dig into the uncomfortable truth that many leaders become bottlenecks without meaning to, then map a path to becoming a catalyst who unlocks energy, ownership, and momentum. With award-winning leadership and high performance coach Tracy Clark, we examine why strategy and skills (the “trunk”) only go so far, and how deeper work in mindset, self-awareness, and identity (the “roots”) drives real, sustained results. Tracy shows how to close the gap between intention and impact by starting in the mirror. We get tactical about identity—moving from “think differently” to “be differently”—through immersive play, a one-line identity anchor like “I am a determined catalyst,” and a simple pre-meeting reset that shifts your state on demand. We also unpack her three-part definition of play as intense curiosity, radical open-mindedness, and proactive experimentation. Expect practical moves: rule-flipping core assumptions, designing low-risk tests, and letting silence do the work so your team steps up. The conversation goes beyond personal change to collective momentum. We explore how to create a “team of catalysts” with shared behaviors that make independent thinking normal: surfacing tensions early, challenging assumptions weekly, shipping small experiments fast, and measuring learning alongside results. Along the way we connect empathy and deep listening to performance, drawing on ideas popularized by Chris Voss and the enduring truth that people remember how you make them feel. If you’re ready to trade control for trust, certainty for curiosity, and busyness for leverage, this one’s for you. Listen, choose your one-word identity for Send a text Make your podcast work for your business - Listen to Podcasting AmplifiedPractical strategies to turn your podcast into a business growth engine.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    53 min
  4. 308. From Good Intentions to Real Impact in Leadership with Mick Spiers

    FEB 3

    308. From Good Intentions to Real Impact in Leadership with Mick Spiers

    Think you had a busy month but didn’t move the needle? We unpack why progress often feels invisible and how to make it tangible by changing small behaviors that create big ripples. This solo cast stitches together January’s standout insights on culture, pressure, change, influence, and feedback—then turns them into simple moves you can apply within 24 hours. We start with a hard truth from Bill Benjamin: your culture is revealed under pressure. When stress spikes, untrained emotional intelligence drops, shortcuts sneak in, and safety evaporates. We walk through practical ways to slow your cadence, protect standards, and keep access to reality. From there, Hugh Thomas reframes change as identity work, not a project plan. People grieve loss—of familiarity, status, and confidence—so leaders must acknowledge loss before asking for alignment. Expect clear prompts you can use to surface the real obstacles and rebuild commitment through honesty rather than false certainty. Next, Salvatore Manzi brings a candid reminder: good intent does not equal good impact. Influence lives in how you’re received. We break down presence, pacing, and listening as the levers that lower threat and help your message land. Then we move into the Lead Better series on YouTube, where we de-risk feedback with brain-based insights and practical tools. You’ll learn the micro yes to gain permission, the calibrate reality step to align perceptions, the SPI model to deliver clarity without judgment, and the close-the-loop move to lock agreements. Structure beats good intentions when trust is on the line. We close by turning reflection into action: give one real piece of feedback you’ve been avoiding, run one alignment conversation about “what good looks like,” or remove one piece of interference holding your team back. Leaders who win the year don’t do more; they do what matters, more consistently. If these ideas hit home, subscribe, share with a leader who’s ready to level up, and leave a quick review telling us which action you’ll take today. Send a text Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    17 min
  5. 307. Finding Your Voice: Overcoming Communication Fears with Salvatore Manzi

    JAN 27

    307. Finding Your Voice: Overcoming Communication Fears with Salvatore Manzi

    What we often call “communication problems” are really clarity problems. Leadership communication coach Salvatore Manzi breaks down why smart ideas stall, why meetings favor fast talkers, and how leaders can make messages land, be remembered, and drive action. From start to finish, this episode focuses on practical moves you can try today. We explore hidden biases that shape conversations: delay bias that sidelines reflective thinkers, the spotlight effect that inflates self-judgment, and the curse of knowledge that turns expertise into confusion. Salvatore reframes Q&A as a relationship check, showing how to buy thinking time, reflect questions back, and structure discussions so both quick responders and slower processors contribute. Feeling nervous before speaking is normal. The episode covers reframing fear as excitement, using posture, breath, and focus to project confidence, and leveraging afformations to prime performance. You’ll also learn to craft an emotional journey with cadence, pause, and tone, turn complex data into memorable metaphors, give specific feedback, and use context checks to keep your audience engaged. 🌐 Connect with Salvatore: • Website: https://www.salvatoremanzi.com/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvatorejmanzi/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salvatoremanzi 📚 You can purchase Salvatore's book on Amazon: • Clear and Compelling: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQJ6M6B7 Send a text Make your podcast work for your business - Listen to Podcasting AmplifiedPractical strategies to turn your podcast into a business growth engine.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    58 min
  6. 306. The Change Playbook: Adapting and Thriving with Huw Thomas

    JAN 20

    306. The Change Playbook: Adapting and Thriving with Huw Thomas

    Change rarely fails because people don’t care; it fails because we misunderstand what drives behavior. With author and change leadership expert Huw Thomas, we dig into the real forces underneath stalled transformations: loss aversion, identity threats, and the quiet stories we tell ourselves that keep us clinging to the status quo. From childhood curiosity to adult routines, we unpack how our wiring prioritizes safety, why we catastrophize the unlikely, and how a few practical shifts can restore agency and momentum. Huw shares a candid look at navigating personal and professional change—moving countries, facing a health crisis, and reframing setbacks as stepping stones. We explore the messy middle of change and the identity tension it creates, including the classic “expert with the legendary spreadsheet” who resists a new system because it threatens who they are at work. Instead of erasing the old self, we talk about upgrading to version 2.0: preserving dignity, building new capability, and making the future identity feel real through micro-wins, visibility, and support. You’ll learn concrete tools: pattern interrupts to test assumptions, emotional labeling to reduce intensity, future-self framing to re-anchor perspective, and success mapping that pairs a vivid destination with the true cost of inaction. We also preview why organizational change is so hard—scale, diversity, influence networks—and why technology and processes don’t create value until humans believe they can, want to, and know how to use them. If you’re ready to stop focusing on barriers and start steering toward the gaps, this conversation offers a clear, humane roadmap. If this sparked an insight, share it with one person who need Send a text Make your podcast work for your business - Listen to Podcasting AmplifiedPractical strategies to turn your podcast into a business growth engine.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    50 min
  7. 305. Mastering the Tough Conversations: The Last 8% Rule with Bill Benjamin

    JAN 13

    305. Mastering the Tough Conversations: The Last 8% Rule with Bill Benjamin

    When tension spikes, leaders don’t rise to the occasion; they fall to their default. Today we dig into those defaults with Bill Benjamin, co-author of The Last 8%, and unpack why smart, well-intentioned people either blow up or go quiet when it matters most—and how to do better without losing your edge. We start by naming the two patterns that quietly define culture under pressure: the messmaker who reacts with heat and the avoider who retreats to keep the peace. Bill explains the brain science behind both, from cortisol searing memories to the fear of social judgment that feels like physical pain. That lens changes everything: people remember you in the hard moments, not the easy ones. So we get practical. Bill shares SOS—Stop, Oxygenate, Seek information—as a simple, reliable way to step out of fight-or-flight, regain working memory, and turn certainty into curiosity. Small moves like a sip of water, open palms, or one deep breath can buy the six seconds you need to choose a better response. We then move into preparation for planned hard conversations. Clarify the exact last 8 percent you must say, set a positive intention that signals safety, and ask open questions so the other person talks first. You’ll hear why many people self-diagnose if given space, how to draw out their last 8 percent, and how to model being coachable without giving up standards. We close with tactics to reset a reputation: share your growth edge with genuine vulnerability, invite real-time cues from your team, and follow up to measure progress. The result is a culture where people trade ego for empathy, certainty for curiosity, and silence for shared truth. If this sparked an insight, share it with one person who needs i Send a text Make your podcast work for your business - Listen to Podcasting AmplifiedPractical strategies to turn your podcast into a business growth engine.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    56 min
  8. 304. Designing 2026 with Intention: Leadership, Life, and Alignment with Mick Spiers

    JAN 6

    304. Designing 2026 with Intention: Leadership, Life, and Alignment with Mick Spiers

    A new year doesn’t need a louder pep talk; it needs a clearer compass. We start 2026 by trading resolutions for direction and building a plan around identity, not intensity. Through honest reflection on 2025—what made us proud and what quietly drained us—we sketch a practical framework to design a year you’ll be proud to live, not just survive. We walk through four anchors that hold everything in place: health and energy, leadership and impact, craft and learning, and family and life. For health, we focus on consistency and recovery so progress compounds without burnout. For leadership, we commit to showing up authentically—coaching more than controlling, preparing for meetings with intention, and closing each day with a five-question reflection that checks whether we acted in line with our values. For craft, we go for depth over volume: fewer projects, fully finished, and psychology learning translated into actionable tools. For family, we protect presence with simple rituals and honest capacity, so the people closest to us experience our attention, not our leftovers. Two levers make the whole system work: time and autonomy. Guard them and your habits stick; lose them and everything drifts. We close with a challenge: define your anchors, choose habits that survive low‑motivation days, and decide what you’ll say no to so your yes actually counts. Along the way, we preview upcoming conversations on emotional leadership, behavior change, and clear communication, plus a new Lead Better video series turning practical psychology into tools you can use. If this resonated, subscribe, share it with someone who needs a reset, and tell us your 2026 anchors. What will you build by design this year? Send a text Support the show ✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favourite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week! 📝 Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below. 🔔 Join us in our mission at The Leadership Project and learn more about our organisation here: https://linktr.ee/mickspiers 📕 You can purchase a copy of the Mick Spiers bestselling book "You're a Leader, Now What?" as an eBook or paperback at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZBKK8XV If you would like a signed copy, please reach out to sei@mickspiers.com and we can arrange it for you too. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or upgrading your hosting, Buzzsprout is a great option! This link will give both of us a $20 credit when you upgrade: 👉 https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1701891 Create forms easily with Jotform! Sign up with my link: https://www.jotform.com/?referral=AkWimLxOBz Get extra Dropbox space—sign up with my link: Dropbox Referral Link Wise Referral link: https://wise.com/invite/dic/michaels11434 ...

    17 min
5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

The Leadership Project with Mick Spiers is a podcast dedicated to advancing thought on inspirational leadership in the modern world. We cover key issues and controversial topics that are needed to redefine inspirational leadership. How do young and aspiring leaders transition from individual contributors to inspirational leaders or from manager to leader to make a positive impact on the world? How do experienced leaders adapt their leadership styles and practices in a modern and digital world? How do address the lack of diversity in leadership in many organisations today? Guest speakers will be invited for confronting conversations in their areas of expertise with the view to provide leaders with all of the skills and tools they need to become inspirational leaders. The vision of The Leadership Project is to inspire all leaders to challenge the status quo. We empower modern leaders through knowledge and emotional intelligence to create meaningful impact Join us each week as we dive deep into key issues and controversial topics for inspirational leaders.