Leadership: The Secret Sauce

Dave Lipsky and Matt Dodson
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Biweekly

Welcome to Leadership: The Secret Sauce with Coaches Dave Lipsky and Matt Dodson, where leadership meets coaching in an insightful blend of expertise and inspiration. Join us as we dive into the minds of successful leaders, uncovering their unique strategies, and asking the question: “What is your secret sauce?” Tune in for powerful conversations that unravel the essence of effective leadership and coaching, revealing the ingredients that make each guest’s journey truly exceptional. Get ready to elevate your leadership game and discover the keys to unlocking success.

  1. 6h ago

    What Leaders Really Want From Coaches: Part Three with Shawn Minard

    What do people really need to thrive at work? Shawn Minard, Chief People Officer at Frazier & Deeter, shares three fundamental needs that have shaped his approach to leadership: feeling valued, being understood, and making an impact. In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Shawn discusses how these principles influence employee engagement, people development, and culture—especially during periods of rapid growth and organizational change. We explore what leaders should look for in a coach, how to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit through acquisitions, why leaders need trusted relationships of their own, and what happens when the people responsible for supporting everyone else stop feeling supported. This conversation is a reminder that effective leadership isn't just about managing performance. It's about understanding people, helping them grow, and creating an environment where their work matters. 🎧 Listen in for practical insights on building a people-first culture and helping employees thrive. #Leadership #EmployeeEngagement #LeadershipDevelopment #WorkplaceCulture #PeopleAndCulture #ExecutiveLeadership #LeadershipPodcast

    What Leaders Really Want From Coaches: Part Three with Shawn Minard

  2. Oct 26

    Season 6, Episode 8: Peak Coach? How AI Is Changing the Coaching Industry

    What do clients really want from a coach—and what will make human coaches stand out as AI changes the industry? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, hosts Dave Lipsky and Matt Dodson sit down with Jonathan Passmore, psychologist, coaching expert, author, and co-founder of several coaching initiatives, to explore the future of coaching and the human value behind it. Jonathan shares a candid perspective on the coaching industry, including why he believes we've reached “peak coach,” how AI could reshape the market, and why coaches need to think carefully about how they differentiate themselves. But the conversation goes beyond AI and competition. Jonathan explains why clients may care less about coaching credentials than coaches expect—and why understanding a client's world, bringing relevant experience, and articulating your value can make a real difference. In this episode, we explore: • Why Jonathan believes the coaching market has reached “peak coach” • What AI means for the future of human coaching • Why coaching qualifications may not be what clients ask about • How lived experience and career experience help coaches stand out • Why outdoor coaching and complementary skills may create new opportunities • How coaching conversations can build autonomy, self-control, and joy • Why coaching is about bringing your humanity—not just your competencies Jonathan offers a practical challenge for coaches: “Don't tell me what you've got certificates for. Tell me what you're going to do for me.” The question for coaches and leaders: What value do you bring that goes beyond the qualification? 🎧 Listen to the full conversation and share it with a coach, leader, or organization exploring the future of coaching. 📌 Follow Jonathan Passmore on LinkedIn to connect with him and explore his work. 📚 Jonathan recommends The Coaches Handbook and Becoming a Coach: The Essential ICF Guide for listeners interested in evidence-based coaching and coach credentialing. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Leadership: The Secret Sauce, share it with another coach or leader, and explore the other conversations in the series. #Leadership #Coaching #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #ArtificialIntelligence #HumanLeadership

    Season 6, Episode 8: Peak Coach? How AI Is Changing the Coaching Industry

  3. Oct 19

    Season 6, Episode 7: A Full Calendar Doesn’t Mean You’re Making Progress

    What happens when you leave a successful corporate career and have to build something of your own? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Dave Lipsky and Matt Dodson speak with David Fung about the mindset shifts required to move from corporate leadership into entrepreneurship and coaching. After 23 years in tech, including 15 years at Salesforce, David learned that the skills that make you successful in a large organization don’t automatically translate into running your own business. Together, they explore: • Busy vs. productive: Why a full calendar doesn’t necessarily mean you’re moving forward. • Building a coaching business: The importance of financial preparation, relationships, prospecting, and getting out into the world. • Reframing rejection: How treating sales as a long-term game can help you build resilience and keep going. • Authenticity and growth: Why being true to yourself shouldn’t become an excuse to avoid becoming someone new. • Learning through change: How curiosity, openness, and experimentation help leaders adapt to new technologies, including AI. • Making space for creativity: Why leaving time unscheduled can help you develop your next idea. David’s central message is that building a business—and becoming a better leader or coach—is a process of continuous learning. You need to keep experimenting, accept that some things won’t work, and focus on the activities that matter. About Leadership: The Secret Sauce Hosted by Dave Lipski and Matt Dodson, Leadership: The Secret Sauce explores the experiences, mindsets, and personal qualities that help coaches and leaders make a meaningful impact. If you enjoyed the conversation, like, subscribe, and share it with a coach or leader who might benefit. #Leadership #Coaching #Entrepreneurship #LeadershipDevelopment #AI

    Season 6, Episode 7: A Full Calendar Doesn’t Mean You’re Making Progress

  4. Oct 12

    Season 6, Episode 6: Stop Perfecting, Start Selling

    What does it take to lead from a place of wholeness rather than fear, proving, and constant achievement? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, Loretta Monareng joins Dave Lipski and Matt Dodson for a candid conversation about burnout, inner alignment, leadership presence, and the realities of building a business. Loretta reflects on how years as the high performer who could carry everything left her feeling fragmented — and how coaching helped her shift from seeking self-worth through achievement and pleasing others to a more grounded sense of wholeness. She shares why stillness is one of the hardest leadership practices to develop, how leaders can create the conditions for greater clarity and creativity, and why softness and strength are not opposites. The conversation also gets practical. Looking back on her entrepreneurial journey, Loretta explains why she'd have spent less time perfecting her offering and started selling sooner. A timely reminder for leaders, coaches, and entrepreneurs: you don't need everything to be perfect before you start creating value. In this episode: - Moving from burnout to wholeness - Developing stillness in an action-oriented culture - Leading with softness, strength, and authenticity - Creating safety and alignment within teams - Navigating uncertainty as an entrepreneur - Starting before everything feels polished 🎧 Follow Leadership: The Secret Sauce for more honest conversations about what makes extraordinary coaches and leaders exceptional.

    Season 6, Episode 6: Stop Perfecting, Start Selling

  5. Sep 7

    Season 6, Episode 5: Stay Curious A Little Bit Longer with Michael Bungay Stanier

    What happens when the person being coached is exceptionally good at avoiding what actually matters? In this episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Michael Bungay Stanier, bestselling author of The Coaching Habit, for a candid conversation about coaching, leadership, organizational change, curiosity, and the messy reality of helping people move forward. Michael shares the unexpected experiences that shaped his approach—from crisis counseling and innovation consulting to coaching, writing, and building a mission around making possibility contagious. He also gets remarkably honest about his own experience as a coaching client, admitting that he can use speed, intelligence, and persuasion to redirect a coaching conversation and avoid doing the hard things. We explore why great coaching isn't about having all the answers, why leaders need to resist the urge to become the “Advice Monster,” and why a simple, practical question can sometimes be more powerful than an elaborate framework. Michael also challenges conventional approaches to organizational change, questions the role of dedicated change teams, and explains why he believes coaches need to get much clearer about who they serve and the problems they actually solve. “I can do misdirection around coaching calls so that I get the coach colluding with me to avoid actually doing the hard things.” A conversation about what happens beneath the surface of leadership—and what it takes to create genuine progress rather than simply having a good conversation. 🎧 Listen to the full episode of Leadership: The Secret Sauce and follow the show for more conversations with extraordinary coaches and leaders.

    Season 6, Episode 5: Stay Curious A Little Bit Longer with Michael Bungay Stanier

  6. Aug 31

    What Leaders Really Want From Coaches: Part Two with Keith Wargo

    What does a leader actually want from a coach? Keith Wargo, CEO of Autism Speaks, joins us for a candid conversation about coaching across different stages of his career—and what he learned about trust, vulnerability, challenge, and leadership growth along the way. Keith shares why his two coaching experiences were so different, why he values coaches who will challenge his thinking, and why becoming more senior can make honest feedback harder to find. We also explore leadership inflection points, navigating competing stakeholders, the importance of showing up, and how personal purpose can influence the biggest career decisions. “You’ve got to commit yourself and you’ve got to make yourself vulnerable.” If you’re a leader or coach, this episode asks an important question: Are you getting the kind of coaching that makes you feel better—or the kind that helps you grow? Listen to the full episode, and share it with a leader or coach who needs the reminder that meaningful growth isn't always comfortable. #Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #Coaching #LeadershipGrowth #SelfAwareness

    What Leaders Really Want From Coaches: Part Two with Keith Wargo

  7. Aug 28

    What Leaders Really Want From Coaches: Part One with Dave Anderson

    What do leaders really want from coaches? In this episode of What Leaders Really Want From Coaches, presented by Leadership: The Secret Sauce, we sit down with Dave Anderson, an attorney, business leader, and longtime coaching client, to explore what coaching actually looks like from the leader’s side of the relationship. Dave shares an unusually candid five-year perspective on coaching — including what worked, what he would do differently, where coaching can blur into therapy, and what ultimately created the greatest movement in his leadership and business. One of his biggest insights is that the most powerful coaching moments weren't necessarily the most profound conversations. They were the moments that created enough accountability to take a concrete—and sometimes scary—step. “The most powerful stuff has been accountability around taking concrete and scary steps.” Dave goes on to describe the ultimate measure of that progress: “It’s not scary anymore because I did it.” In this conversation, we explore: • What leaders actually look for when choosing a coach • Why “gentle but firm” can be more effective than relentless accountability • How coaching helped Dave move from employee to business owner • The difference between reflection and action • Why clients need to feel safe enough to be challenged • When a coach should push—and when a client simply isn't ready • The importance of being willing to push back on your coach • How self-awareness and accountability interact • Why coaches need the courage to ask the tough question • What leaders can learn from their own experiences rather than simply receiving answers This is a conversation about the messy middle of leadership: the moments when you know what you need to do but aren't quite ready to do it. Watch the full episode and tell us: What is the scary step you already know you need to take? #Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #Coaching #LeadershipPodcast #ICF #ExecutiveLeadership #Accountability

    What Leaders Really Want From Coaches: Part One with Dave Anderson

  8. Aug 24

    Season 6, Episode 4: Stop Telling People How to Lead with Doug Crandall

    What happens when people become too afraid to challenge the leader? Doug Crandall shares a story from a live-fire military exercise when he was a young Army lieutenant. Seconds before he was about to give an order that could have had devastating consequences, a sergeant stopped him. Years later, Doug realized the deeper lesson: “If I'd been a lieutenant colonel instead of a lieutenant, he might have waited two seconds. And if I'd been a general, he never would have said it.” In this conversation, we explore what that moment reveals about power, psychological safety, hierarchy, culture, purpose, and the invisible dynamics that determine whether leaders hear what they actually need to hear. Doug also shares his journey from West Point and military service through Amazon, Walmart, coaching, and leadership development—and why he believes there are no universal formulas for how to lead. We talk about meaning-making, reflection, cultural fit, core values, resilience, coaching, and the difference between building people up and diminishing them. 🎧 Listen to the full episode and ask yourself: Would someone on your team feel safe enough to stop you?

    Season 6, Episode 4: Stop Telling People How to Lead with Doug Crandall
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About

Welcome to Leadership: The Secret Sauce with Coaches Dave Lipsky and Matt Dodson, where leadership meets coaching in an insightful blend of expertise and inspiration. Join us as we dive into the minds of successful leaders, uncovering their unique strategies, and asking the question: “What is your secret sauce?” Tune in for powerful conversations that unravel the essence of effective leadership and coaching, revealing the ingredients that make each guest’s journey truly exceptional. Get ready to elevate your leadership game and discover the keys to unlocking success.

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