120: Katie Quesada — Master Storytelling with Story Expert to Fortune 500 Companies

March 11, 2025 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership, Servant Leadership

The views expressed on this podcast and page are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position, or endorsement of the US Army, DoD, or the US Government.

In this conversation, storytelling expert Katie Quesada discusses the profound impact of storytelling on personal and professional lives. She emphasizes the importance of storytelling in leadership, how it can create emotional connections, and the science behind why stories resonate with us.

Katie shares her journey into storytelling consulting, practical frameworks for effective storytelling, and the significance of personal and family narratives. The discussion also highlights the difference between macro and micro storytelling, encouraging leaders to weave stories into everyday interactions to foster connection and engagement. In this conversation, the speakers delve into the intricacies of storytelling, emphasizing its importance in leadership and personal relationships.

They discuss the three essential components of a story: context, conflict, and conclusion, and how to effectively balance these elements to engage an audience. The conversation also touches on the significance of vulnerability in leadership, the process of restoring meaning to personal experiences, and the value of storytelling in everyday interactions, particularly within families. The speakers encourage listeners to embrace their unique stories and share them in ways that resonate with others, ultimately highlighting storytelling as a powerful tool for connection and influence.

Katie is an acclaimed speaker and consultant who is deeply passionate about the art of storytelling. Katie has recently worked with top brands like Zillow, United Healthcare, American Eagle Outfitters (and more!) to ignite their story for more effective communication, high trust within teams, and immediate ROI. Katie and her husband Danny live with their two daughters in Orange, CA. They spent two years living in a 180 sq ft tiny home and believe that stories are better than stuff.

If you’re interested in discovering your core values and becoming a more self-aware and emotionally intelligent leader, I’ve built the perfect course to help you get there. Check out my Discover Your Core Values Mini Course, where I coach you through 3 exercises of guided reflection and help you uncover your core values in a way that you can apply them right away.

119: Rich Diviney — Navy SEAL Secrets to Master Stress with Retired Navy SEAL Commander

February 23, 2025 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Courageous Leadership, Leadership, Servant Leadership

In this conversation, retired Navy SEAL Commander Rich Diviney shares insights on leadership, stress management, and the importance of attributes in high-performance environments. He discusses the significance of humility, the distinction between being a leader and being in charge, and the challenges faced during BUD/S training.

Rich emphasizes the critical role of compartmentalization and attributes in determining success, particularly in high-stress situations like those encountered in military training and operations. In this conversation, the speaker delves into the importance of understanding personal attributes and skills, emphasizing the role of self-awareness in effective leadership.

They discuss how stress and fear can be harnessed for positive action, the significance of focusing on controllable factors, and the science behind motivation through dopamine. The conversation also explores the impact of identity on behavior, particularly in uncertain situations, and how recognizing and prioritizing identities can shape our responses and actions.

Rich Diviney developed his expertise in human performance during his over twenty-year career in the US Military, during which he completed more than thirteen deployments overseas and held multiple leadership positions.

While serving as the officer in charge of selection, assessment, and training for a specialized Navy SEAL command, Diviney was intimately involved in an extremely elite SEAL selection process, which required pairing down a group of exceptional candidates to a small cadre of the most elite optimal performers.

He also spearheaded the creation of a mental performance directorate that focused a strong emphasis on physical, mental, and emotional discipline to optimize individual and team performance, allowing operators to perform faster, longer, and more effectively in all environments—especially high-stress ones.

Listeners of this show can get 15% off the Attributes Assessment by using the coupon code INTENTIONALLEADER15 at checkout.

The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance

By Diviney, Rich

Masters of Uncertainty: The Navy SEAL Way to Turn Stress into Success for You and Your Team

By Rich Diviney

118: Alison Wood Brooks — Make Great Conversations Easy with Proven Strategies from Harvard Expert

February 16, 2025 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership

In this engaging conversation, Alison Wood Brooks, a Harvard Business School professor, shares insights from her research on the art and science of conversation. She discusses the importance of effective communication, the unique perspective gained from being an identical twin, and the value of teaching conversation skills to leaders.

The discussion covers various aspects of conversation, including the significance of preparation, understanding conversational goals, and the framework for successful interactions. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own conversational practices and consider how they can improve their communication skills. In this conversation, the speakers delve into the intricacies of effective communication, emphasizing the cognitive load involved in conversations, the importance of preparation, and the power of follow-up questions.

They discuss strategies for topic switching and ending conversations gracefully, the significance of asking questions, and the art of active listening. The conversation also highlights the role of levity in maintaining engagement and the need for self-compassion in navigating social interactions.

Alison Wood Brooks is the O’Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School. She teaches an award-winning course in the MBA curriculum called “TALK.” Recently named a Best 40-Under-40 Business School Professor by Poets & Quants, her book TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves will be published by Crown (Penguin Random House) in January 2025.

Her research on the science of conversation has been published in prestigious academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Psychological Science, as well as in popular media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The New York Times, Scientific American, and Harvard Business Review. Professor Brooks holds a Ph.D. in Decision Processes from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Finance from Princeton University.

Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

By Alison Wood Brooks

117: Charles Feltman — A Simple Framework for Building (and Rebuilding) Trust Every Leader Needs

January 29, 2025 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Courageous Leadership, Leadership, Servant Leadership

Cal and Charles Feltman delve into the intricate nature of trust, exploring its biological underpinnings and the personal experiences that shape our propensity to trust or distrust others. They discuss the importance of sincerity, reliability, competence, and care as key assessments of trustworthiness, and how leaders can foster a trusting environment by extending trust to their teams.

Charles Feltman has over 25 years of professional experience coaching, facilitating, consulting to, and training people who lead others. An overarching goal in all of his work is that his clients experience both success and wellbeing at work and in all areas of their lives. Prior to starting his coaching and consulting business he spent a decade in leadership roles in technology industry companies.

Charles is the author of The Thin Book® of Trust: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work, based on three decades of experience working with individuals and teams to build, maintain, and when necessary restore trust.

After completing his coach training in 2000 with Newfield Network, one of the premier coach training schools worldwide, Charles served as a mentor coach for Newfield’s programs. In this capacity he taught, mentored and coached others who were learning to become skilled coaches.

Charles holds a BA in psychology from U.C. Santa Cruz and a master's in organization development and communication from the University of Southern California. He has an International Coach Federation credential of Professional Certified Coach (PCC). He is certified in The Leadership Circle Profile, MBTI, DiSC Work of Leaders, and the Triscendance Trust Assessment for Leadership Teams. He is also a certified husband, father and grandfather.

The Thin Book of Trust, Third Edition: An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work

By Feltman, Charles

116: Mark Miller — Chick-fil-A's Secret Sauce for Building Leaders and Creating a Culture of High Performance

January 15, 2025 by Cal Walters in Intentional Living, Leadership, Servant Leadership

Mark Miller’s passion is serving leaders. Whether speaking to global audiences or individual leaders, his message is consistent and pragmatic: Lead Every Day. His career at Chick-fil-A began over 40 years ago as an hourly team member in one of the local restaurants. Shortly after that, he became Chick-filA’s 16th corporate employee. Since that day, he has worked all across the business but recently retired as the Vice President of High-Performance Leadership, where he was a principal architect in building Chick-fil-A’s renowned high-performance leadership culture.

For the last twenty-five years, he focused much of his time on helping the organization grow its leadership capacity. Mark and his team at Chick-fil-A invested a quarter century and tens of millions of dollars searching for and validating ideas that work. Over the years, they focused on numerous topics, including High-Performance Teams, High-Performance Organizations, Employee Engagement, Execution, Personal Leadership Effectiveness, and, most recently, Culture. These projects have each culminated in globally acclaimed books. Today, over one million copies of Mark’s books are available in 25+ translations, including national bestsellers and a Wall Street Journal Bestseller. His approach to writing and speaking has always been to find what is true in principle and apply it to the real world. Because of this, Mark is best known for his ability to unlock the full potential of executives and teams to create High-Performance leaders and organizations.

Uncommon Greatness: Five Fundamentals to Transform Your Leadership

By Miller, Mark

Culture Rules: The Leader's Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage

By Miller, Mark