The Global Leadership Podcast

Paula Faris joins the podcast today to talk about the different ways leaders can “lead with heart.” Paula is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, podcast host and the founder of CARRY Media, and she sat down for this conversation with Global Leadership Network President and CEO David Ashcraft. Together they explore the roles that intuition and passion have had in Paula’s life, how leaders can protect themselves while practicing openness and authenticity and how leading with heart informs and shapes Paula’s leadership today.

This month’s theme at the Global Leadership Network is “leading with heart,” and in this episode of the Global Leadership Podcast, Whitney Putnam sits down with GLN president and CEO David Ashcraft. Together, they explore what it means to lead with heart and examine practical ways that leaders can begin to lead with openness and authenticity. David and Whitney also discuss how to avoid some potential pitfalls that can occur as leaders begin to open up to those around them.

As leaders, we understand that purpose and calling play critical roles in achieving our goals. This week’s guest highlights the potential pitfall of focusing solely on achievement. In this episode, former top sports agent Molly Fletcher shares how long-term joy and happiness come not from achievement but from daily improvement and fulfillment. At the 2024 Global Leadership Summit, she discussed key concepts from her book, Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success, in a live interview with Jason Jaggard.

One aspect of purpose and calling is being willing to live it out with freedom and joy. But what do you do if your purpose is highly visible and involves frequent accolades and applause? In this episode, author and speaker Megan Fate Marshman sits down with Jason Jaggard to share about how private disciplines help balance her public call. Together they explore the importance of slowing down, the importance of grounding your identity in Christ and how emotions like anger and anxiety can be signposts for us as leaders. If you’ve ever wondered how to stay rooted while maintaining a public ministry, this is a great episode to check out!

“Vision leaks” is a well-known leadership axiom, and to kick off January’s theme of being a “purposeful leader,” Whitney Putnam sits down with GLN President and CEO David Ashcraft. In this conversation, they explore the role purpose and mission has in David’s life and leadership. We’ll also hear about some common pitfalls that leaders can face regarding purpose, and how he has learned to guard against them.     

Our topic for December is “conflict,” and GLN President and CEO gets us started with this conversation with Whitney Putnam. We invite you to listen as David shares how his approach to conflict has evolved and some of the practical lessons he’s learned over time. Conflict is inevitable, but it does not have to result in negative consequences; it can actually improve our relationships and our work together.

It’s difficult to keep our cool when disagreements and tension crop up in our relationships. Yet, this is the moment when we most need to be calm and curious. Is there a way that we can start to move beyond reacting impulsively and start to become curious about what is truly going on behind the conflict we are experiencing? Comedic thought leader, author and actor Michael Jr. sat down with Craig Groeschel at the 2024 Global Leadership Summit and shared what we often get wrong about conflict.  He unpacked how becoming internally curious is a key tool to unlock the true gift that disagreements can bring to our lives. This episode is for anyone who is looking for practical ways to reframe conflict in any area of your life.

How do you react when you fail? Have you ever wished that you could learn more quickly from your failures and move on? In this episode, GLS Executive Producer Lori Hermann sits down with CEO, executive coach and best-selling author Ryan Leak to hear how he learned more from his failures than he ever did from his successes. In their conversation, they discuss his documentary, “Chasing Failure,” and how failure became the best teacher throughout his life. 

Are you a leader who wants to help your team learn to risk more and fail well? In this episode, Harvard Business School professor Amy C. Edmondson sits down with our Jason Jaggard to unpack her research behind her latest book, The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well. Their conversation includes the difference between a mistake and a failure, the 3 categories of failures, and how to encourage a team to experiment and learn quickly.