Management Muse

Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin
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Management Muse is a leadership and management podcast for professionals who want to improve communication, increase employee engagement, and build high-performing teams. Hosts Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin draw from organizational science, management research, and decades of experience to deliver actionable insights that improve workplace performance. Topics include leadership development, team dynamics, performance management, workplace culture, change leadership, and strategic communication. Whether you’re leading a team or working within one, Management Muse helps you strengthen your skills and drive meaningful results.

  1. 16h ago

    Ep 124 - Working Hard Won’t Get You Promoted: How to Move Your Career Forward w/ Maya Grossman

    Work hard, follow the rules, hope to be promoted.  It sounds straightforward, but it’s rarely the reality. Organizations have limited roles, competing priorities, and complicated promotion systems that don’t always reflect merit. If you want to grow, you may have to do more than perform well. You also have to understand where you can create value and sometimes build the opportunity you want instead of waiting for it to appear. Maya Grossman learned this the hard way. From creating her own entry into marketing, to reshaping her role at Microsoft, to leaving to reach the VP level faster, and eventually walking away from the title she had spent nearly 20 years pursuing, Maya knows what it looks like to intentionally design your career.  In this episode, she joins Cindi Baldi to discuss how to create opportunities that don't officially exist, when to stay versus when you've stayed too long, and how identity can hold you back from career advancement, and how to think several moves ahead instead of simply chasing the next promotion. Episode Highlights: Why hard work alone doesn’t guarantee career advancement How to create opportunities and roles that don’t officially exist What to consider to strategically plan your next career move How to tell strategic patience from staying too long What managers can do to unlock talent beyond the job description Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jhAbcLuq4Ms About Maya Grossman: Maya Grossman is an executive career coach, two-time VP of Marketing, LinkedIn Top Voice, and author of the best-selling book Invaluable. She built her career at global companies like Microsoft and Google—but it wasn’t a straight climb. After 17 rejections in a row, she cracked the code to breaking into senior leadership, landing two VP roles in her 30s. Now, she helps ambitious professionals in tech do the same - getting unstuck, stepping into bigger roles, and building the influence that gets them noticed and promoted. *Get Maya’s free masterclass to becoming a VP. Connect with Maya: Linkedin | Website | Instagram Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Waldinger, Robert, and Marc Schulz. The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, Simon & Schuster, Jan. 2023, https://a.co/d/05bMWU8h  Ferriss, Timothy. The 4-Hour Workweek, Harmony, Dec. 2009, https://a.co/d/03B0jijK  Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

  2. Aug 25

    Ep 123 - The Problem With Volunteering: When Unpaid Labor Goes Too Far

    We have a controversial opinion: we don’t believe in volunteering. At least, not the kind that allows organizations to avoid paying people for work they genuinely depend on. In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin challenge the assumption that volunteer labor is always a win-win. We discuss how underpaying mission-driven employees can create long-term staffing problems, why critical work is difficult to build around people who aren’t formally accountable for it, and how organizations can unintentionally take advantage of the very people most committed to the mission. If your organization depends on people giving more than they’re formally paid or accountable for, don’t miss this episode. It’s a useful challenge to the idea that goodwill can substitute for compensation, structure, and accountability. Episode Highlights: When volunteering crosses the line into unpaid labor The hidden organizational cost of relying on volunteers What inflation exposes about organizations built on below-market wages What to watch out for with mission-driven employees Why “free” changes the expectations and accountability on both sides The rare case where a volunteer becomes indispensable Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pPCD3iggEgI Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Pallotta, Dan. Uncharitable, Brandeis University Press, Oct. 2022, https://a.co/d/03CkgwMe Ton, Zeynep. The Good Jobs Strategy, New Harvest, Jan. 2014, https://a.co/d/0iLwWUEz Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

  3. Aug 18

    Ep 122 - Why Organizations Break at the Intersections: The Problem of 2 Right Answers (w/ Dr. Timothy Tiryaki)

    Most leadership problems are framed too narrowly. A culture problem gets handed to HR. AI becomes a technology initiative. Operations get optimized in a vacuum of spreadsheets. But organizations don’t experience strategy, culture, technology, or people separately…and that may be exactly why so many well-intended transformations fail. This week, Cindi Baldi talks with Dr. Timothy Tiryaki, systems leadership expert and author of Leading with Strategy, about what changes when leaders stop treating organizational challenges as isolated problems and start leading the tensions between them. They explore why the hardest leadership challenges are often dilemmas rather than problems, why organizations need stability management alongside change management, and why AI adoption becomes dangerous when it is treated as a headcount exercise. If you’re trying to lead through disruption without destabilizing your team, culture, or strategy in the process, this episode is for you. Episode Highlights: Why the hardest leadership problems often exist between sectors How to recognize when you are facing a dilemma instead of a problem Why change management fails when leaders ignore the equally important work of stability management Why purpose statements are losing meaning with employees and what to focus on instead How authenticity, inclusion, and empathy can become liabilities when leaders use them without judgment Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/B7v8oKoX_kk About Timothy Tiryaki: Dr. Timothy Tiryaki is a venture-building entrepreneur, author, and executive advisor helping leaders think strategically about AI, culture, and transformation. As founder of Maslow Research Center and co-founder of Strategy.Inc, he developed research-backed frameworks including the Big 5 of Strategy assessment to elevate strategic clarity across organizations.  He is the author of Leading with Strategy and Leading with Culture, bridging rigorous research with practical leadership tools. Drawing on experience across Fortune 500 companies, government institutions, and entrepreneurial ventures, Dr. Tim equips executive teams to align strategy, culture, and technology, moving from complexity to clarity in the AI era.   Connect with Dr. Tim: Linkedin | Website Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Free Press, 2004, https://a.co/d/0j9eJWoA  Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

  4. Aug 11

    Ep 121 - Can a Team Be Too Close? The Risk of Too Much Harmony at Work

    A team finally clicks. People trust each other. Communication flows. Performance increases. So why can that same team eventually start getting worse? In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin unpack the surprising downside of team stability. One mechanism behind this is group polarization: the tendency for a group's distinctive characteristics and beliefs to become more extreme over time. What begins as a constructive team identity can eventually become an "us versus them" worldview that makes newcomers harder to integrate, collaboration harder to sustain, and contrary information easier to dismiss. Drawing on examples from fire departments, elite military units, office design, and consulting engagements, Cindi and Geoff illustrate why longevity doesn’t automatically produce better teamwork. Tune in to learn how organizational silos form, and what leaders should do to stop separate teams from becoming separate realities. Episode Highlights: The surprising point where team stability can stop helping performance and start working against it The high-performing “go-to” team that became so protective of its reputation that its members stopped catching each other’s mistakes Why the characteristics that make a team distinctive can become more extreme over time The overlooked role of office layout and proximity in creating organizational silos What elite military units and fire departments reveal about organizational tribalism The question leaders need to ask themselves to stop the “us vs. them” mindset in its tracks Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/h2EPEVPBlTA Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: General Stanley McChrystal et al. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, Portfolio, May 2015, https://a.co/d/0fJrwKxG Wise, Sean. “Can a team have too much cohesion? The dark side to network density,” European Management Journal, 32 (5), Oct. 2014, pp. 703-711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2013.12.005 Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

  5. Aug 4

    Ep 120 - How to Sound as Smart as You Are and Build Confidence on Stage w/ Nausheen Chen

    You can be excellent at your job and still be overlooked if you cannot communicate your ideas when it matters. Speaking skills affect far more than stages and TED Talks. They shape who gets heard in meetings, trusted with responsibility, remembered by decision-makers, and considered for the next opportunity. In this episode, former Procter & Gamble communications trainer and filmmaker turned public speaking coach Nausheen Chen joins Cindi Baldi to explore what helps people communicate clearly and confidently under pressure. Together, they break powerful communication into three separate skills: confidence, messaging, and delivery, and discuss why learning to communicate under pressure can change the trajectory of a career. Nausheen shares the speaking techniques she uses with overthinkers and perfectionists, how to pull a distracted audience back, and the Stanford research that explains why some people build confidence faster than others after the exact same experience. Whether you are leading a meeting, presenting to executives, appearing on camera, or stepping onto a stage, this episode offers practical tools to help you sound as capable and credible as you already are. Episode Highlights: Why confidence and speaking skill must be built separately How improv helps perfectionists stop overthinking What to do when you realize you have lost the audience What body language reveals and the first steps to mastering it The one question every speaker should ask themselves about the audience How to turn past speaking experiences into future confidence About Nausheen Chen: Nausheen I. Chen is a 3-time TEDx speaker, a Public Speaking instructor for the Executive MBA program at Central European University and Wesleyan and a content creator with 500,000+ followers across LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. Nausheen coaches leaders at Google, Amazon, NASA and the UN as well as startup founders to speak fearlessly. Her clients have raised more than $115 million through winning investor pitches and successful exits. Connect with Nausheen: Website | Linkedin Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gK7racEvoW0 Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Monarth, Harrison. "The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool." Harvard Business Review, March 2014. https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-irresistible-power-of-storytelling-as-a-strategic-business-tool Stephens, Greg J., Lauren J. Silbert, and Uri Hasson. "Speaker-Listener Neural Coupling Underlies Successful Communication." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 107, no. 32, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1008662107 Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

  6. Jul 28

    Ep 119 - Why Motivational Speakers Are a Warning Sign (Your Team Needs Strategy, Not Hype)

    Leaders often confuse three different things: a goal, a strategy, and motivation. A goal describes the result. A strategy explains how the organization will achieve it. Motivation may help people execute the plan…but it cannot replace one. In this episode, Cindi and Geoff examine why ambitious targets, pep talks, and motivational speakers can backfire when employees are not given a credible path forward. They discuss how leaders can connect strategy to employees’ daily decisions, reduce uncertainty, and create genuine motivation through clarity and useful ideas. They then turn to individual career strategy and the limitations of the advice to “follow your passion.” Passion can support persistence, but competitive dreams also require a real advantage and a parallel plan. The conversation offers a practical test for organizations and individuals alike: Do you have an advantage and a plan, or are you hoping enthusiasm will carry you? Episode Highlights: The mistake leaders make when setting growth targets Why bringing in a motivational speaker may signal a deeper leadership problem How to tell whether inspiration is creating real value or just a temporary high What “follow your passion” leaves out of the career equation How leaders can make strategy feel relevant to an employee’s everyday work The advantage successful organizations and individuals have that motivation alone cannot produce Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cFY9iwIiPA Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Rumelt, Richard. Good Strategy Bad Strategy, Crown Currency, 19 Jul. 2011, https://a.co/d/013vvcgF  Ordóñez, Lisa et al. “Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting,” Academy of Management Perspectives, Jan. 2009, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1332071  Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

  7. Jul 21

    Ep 118 - The Skills That Make You a Great Founder Can Make You a Bad Boss (w/ Steve Strauss)

    Why do great entrepreneurs sometimes struggle to become great leaders? Entrepreneurs tend to be comfortable with risk. They chase ideas, trust their instincts, and see opportunities other people miss. That is often exactly what it takes to get a company off the ground. But once employees, customers, systems, and growth enter the picture, the job changes.  In this episode, Cindi Baldi talks with best-selling author and small-business expert Steve Strauss about one of the hardest transitions in entrepreneurship: going from founder to leader.  They explore what separates great entrepreneurs from great managers, how a founder’s personality can shape company culture for years, why some startups become unnecessarily chaotic, and why successful founders need people around them who complement their weaknesses. Steve shares stories from entrepreneurs including Tommy Hilfiger, Martha Stewart, and Walt Disney to show how risk, partnerships, and management decisions can determine whether a business grows or stalls. They discuss what good bosses do differently, what leaders should be careful about outsourcing to AI, and why uncertainty may actually make this one of the most exciting times to build something new. Episode Highlights: How a person’s tolerance for risk and uncertainty shapes their career choices Why the skills that make someone a great founder can make leadership harder How a founder’s personality becomes embedded in company culture What the most successful franchise owners do differently as leaders The billboard stunt that helped turn Tommy Hilfiger into a household name Why most family businesses don't survive a third generation, and the one that did What Walt Disney, Martha Stewart, and other iconic entrepreneurs understood about complementary partnerships Why this is the best time to start a new business and resources to help Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NJiNn3MKCo4 About Steve Strauss: Steve Strauss is the country's leading small business expert. A non-practicing attorney and author of 18 books, including the bestselling Small Business Bible, Steve is also an in-demand speaker and brand ambassador.  Connect with Steve: Website | Newsletter: Notes to An Entrepreneur | Latest book *Bonus resource: Find a free mentor: https://www.score.org/ Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Stanford Seed. “It Starts With You: Evolving Your Leadership as Your Company Grows,” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 28 Sep. 2022, https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/it-starts-you-evolving-your-leadership-your-company-grows  Zook, Chris. “Founder-Led Companies Outperform the Rest – Here’s Why,” Harvard Business Review, 24 Mar. 2016, https://hbr.org/2016/03/founder-led-companies-outperform-the-rest-heres-why  Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok

  8. Jul 14

    Ep 117 - Why Your Best Employees Are Often the Biggest Complainers

    Employee complaints are often a sign of organizational health. The more dangerous signal may be when people stop complaining altogether. Complaints often come from people who care deeply about the organization and want it to improve. The challenge for leaders is distinguishing those committed truth-tellers from the person who will remain unhappy no matter what. In this episode, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin introduce two types of complainers: the “heartbroken lover,” who speaks up because they care, and the chronic scrooge who is never satisfied. They explore how a small number of negative employees can disproportionately influence a team, how leaders can respond without promising to fix everything, and a simple management tactic that turns complaints into ownership. Whether you manage people or you’re the employee who keeps raising an issue and hearing nothing back, this episode will change how you think about the next complaint that lands on your desk. Episode Highlights: Why complainers are often your most engaged employees, not your biggest problem How to distinguish a productive complaint from one that will never end What the research reveals about how one unhappy employee can influence 25% of an organization The simple question that can turn a complainer into a problem-solver Why silence may be the real warning sign inside an organization How leaders accidentally train employees to stop speaking up Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VjZTIo4RpiA Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.  → Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off. Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox: → Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook. Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading: Goldsmith, Marshall, and Mark Reiter. What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful. Hyperion, 2007. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/marshall-goldsmith/what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there/9781401301309/ Felps, Will, Terence R. Mitchell, and Eliza Byington. "How, When, and Why Bad Apples Spoil the Barrel: Negative Group Members and Dysfunctional Groups." Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 27, 2006, pp. 175–222. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191308506270059 Join Our Community & Follow Us:  - Youtube Channel  - LinkedIn - Instagram -Facebook -TikTok - Website

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About

Management Muse is a leadership and management podcast for professionals who want to improve communication, increase employee engagement, and build high-performing teams. Hosts Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin draw from organizational science, management research, and decades of experience to deliver actionable insights that improve workplace performance. Topics include leadership development, team dynamics, performance management, workplace culture, change leadership, and strategic communication. Whether you’re leading a team or working within one, Management Muse helps you strengthen your skills and drive meaningful results.

Information

  • Creator
    Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Rebecca Henley
  • Show Website
    Management Muse