Organizationally Speaking

Nicole Capehart
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  • Management

Making work, leadership, and human behavior make sense.

  1. 22h ago

    Leadership Ep 2: Born to Lead?

    Are leaders born or made? It's one of the oldest questions in leadership research, and the answer, as with most things, is more complicated than either side of the debate wants to admit. In this episode, Nicole walks through the two foundational approaches to understanding what makes someone an effective leader: the trait approach and the skills approach. We cover the Great Man theories, what decades of research actually say about which traits matter most, and why being too smart for the room is a real phenomenon. Plus the Big Five personality factors ranked by their connection to leadership, Nicole's confession about being a big-time introvert, and why the toolbox metaphor matters more than the fixed-trait one. Then we shift to skills — what the three-skill model says about technical, human, and conceptual abilities, why human skills show up as essential at every level of every organization, and what Mumford's Capability Model adds to the picture. The bottom line: you don't need to be a born leader to become an effective one. You need self-awareness and a plan.

  2. 4d ago

    Leadership Ep1: You're Already a Leader

    What is leadership, really? Not the title, not the corner office, the actual process. In this first episode of the Leadership series, Nicole starts where every good leadership conversation should: with the argument that you're already leading whether you realize it or not. We work through a research-grounded definition, trace how leadership theory has evolved from command-and-control to something far more relational and ethical, and introduce the difference between assigned leadership, the title, and emergent leadership, the influence you actually build. Plus the six bases of power, why charisma without integrity is a risk, and whether bad leadership still counts as leadership.

  3. 4d ago

    Business and Society Ep.2: Mind the Gap

    What is a public issue, and why does it matter to your organization? In this episode of the Business and Society series, Nicole unpacks the difference between public issues and social issues, introduces the performance expectation gap, and walks through how organizations identify, prioritize, and respond to the issues that affect them. We cover environmental intelligence, stakeholder materiality, the issue management process, and the four stages of stakeholder engagement — from inactive to interactive. If episode one was about who stakeholders are, this episode is about how organizations actually deal with what they want.

  4. 4d ago

    Business & Society Ep.1: It's Never Just Business

    What does it actually mean for a business to operate in society? In this first episode of the Business and Society series, Nicole lays the foundation for everything that follows: why businesses don't operate in a vacuum, the difference between shareholder theory and stakeholder theory, and why broadening our view of who a company is responsible to changes everything. We cover who stakeholders actually are, the difference between market and non-market stakeholders, how to do a stakeholder analysis, the five types of stakeholder power, and why underestimating smaller stakeholder groups is one of the most common and costly mistakes organizations make.

  5. Jul 5

    Making Conflict a Win-Win Scenario

    Conflict isn't a sign something has gone wrong, it's a sign people care. In this episode, Nicole unpacks the difference between functional and dysfunctional conflict, the three types of conflict and what the research actually says about each, and a five-stage model for understanding how conflict escalates. Plus the five conflict handling intentions and when to use them, how to tell the difference between distributive and integrative bargaining, what the research says about salary negotiation, and why your reputation matters as much as your tactics.

  6. Jul 5

    Making the Dream Work with Team Work

    Everyone groans when they hear the word "teams," and honestly, the research backs up some of that frustration. In this episode, Nicole cuts through the idealism to give a clear-eyed look at when teams actually work, why they so often don't, and what separates a team that produces something genuinely better from a group of people just sharing a label. We cover the difference between work groups and work teams, the five types of teams you'll encounter, and the three categories of what the research says makes teams effective: context, composition, and process. Plus social loafing, mental models, task vs. relationship conflict, and why trust is where teams most often succeed or fall apart.

  7. Jun 17

    Power, Politics, and the Rules Nobody Tells You

    Power and politics make people uncomfortable, but understanding them makes you more effective, more protected, and better equipped to do meaningful work. In this episode, Nicole breaks down the five bases of power, why personal power outlasts positional power, and how dependence is the real engine underneath it all. Plus the nine influence tactics and which ones actually work, why power can corrupt even good people, how to navigate organizational politics without losing your integrity, and why staying out of the game entirely isn't the neutral move you think it is.

  8. Jun 17

    Why Some People Lead (and Others Don’t)

    Leadership isn't a title, it's influence. And the research says it can be developed, not just discovered. In this episode, Nicole walks through the major leadership theories, from trait and behavioral theories to contingency models, LMX, and transformational leadership's four I's. Plus the dark side of charisma, why laissez-faire leadership is more damaging than it sounds, what virtual leadership actually requires, and why trust, once broken through deception, may never fully come back.

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About

Making work, leadership, and human behavior make sense.

Information

  • Creator
    Nicole Capehart
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Organizationally Speaking