My guest for this episode of the Leadership Bootcamp Podcast is Washington State senator T'wina Nobles. Senator Nobles and I discuss the importance of ethics at work, how to draw professional boundaries, humility and responsibility in leadership, staying grounded when imbued with power, differences between leadership in politics and private enterprise, why the idea of “service” is important and how it’s lost in the current environment of “civil service,” how to generate support from opponents, and how to maintain strong relationships with those harmed by difficult decisions, among other topics.

Jeff speaks with Nile Franklin. Nile is a coach at Strange Strength and Conditioning in North Hollywood, CA and Ganbatte Fitness in Glendale, CA. She’s a 6-time qualifier for the USA Weightlifting Nationals Master-level competition, the 2025 USA Weightlifting Master National champion, and an international Olympic weightlifting gold medalist. Nile is also the star of the upcoming documentary Chasing the Crown, produced and directed by Sarah Keene, debuting in 2026.

We talk about how to motivate yourself and others, including some potent motivational phrases; how to stay resilient and focused in the face of setbacks; self-reflection and self-improvement; how to turn failure into learning and success; and the importance of teamwork; and other topics.

Jeff talks with Jonathan Head, cofounder of WithMemberly, a platform that helps event producers escape the volatility of one-off ticket sales through subscription-based access. Jonathan is also the manager of product support at AEG Presents, who you'll know from their production of iconic live music events like Coachella, Stagecoach, and the New Orleans Jazz Festival. We discuss Jonathan's people-centric leadership strategies for keeping people motivated through difficult organizational change; why employee well-being is crucial to success; how he prioritizes work for himself and his team; the importance of networking and relationships; and much more. This is an episode you won't want to miss!

In this episode, Jeff is interviewed by Matt Lombardo, manager of professional services and tech evangelist at Rippling, a leading human resource management company. Rippling's technology integrates IT, HR, finance, and other company functions into a seamless platform to allow employees to focus on what matters by streamlining processes and procedures to maximize efficiency.

We discuss the importance and balance of process and performance; creating and maintaining high quality relationships; motivating a high-performance team; how to amplify a team's impact; and why consistently giving people more than they expect is a winning strategy.

Steve Heckler is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and leader at companies including IBM, AT&T, and Activision. He's delivered management training at companies that include DirecTV, and is the former president of the Society for Information Management and of the Professional Coaches and Mentors Association, as well as a past executive board member of the Southern California chapter of the ACLU. We discuss Steve's new book, So... You Want To Be A Manager, and cover topics including hiring and terminating; mission and values; the importance of communication; and common pitfalls for new managers.The audio and video in this episode is a bit irregular, but the conversation was wonderful nonetheless. If you find it useful, please consider subscribing and sharing.

In this episode, Jeff talks to author and Harvard Business School professor Dr. Max Bazerman. Dr. Bazerman is the author of such seminal works as Judgment in Managerial Decision Making; The Power of Noticing: What The Best Leaders See; Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop; and his newest book Negotiation: The Game Has Changed. We talk about how COVID and the move to online teaching changed the game of teaching negotiation; ethical negotiations; what still surprises and challenges Dr. Bazerman about negotiations; things you can do now to improve your negotiations; Dr. Bazerman's journey to veganism; the English Premier football league; and other topics.

In this episode, Jeff reflects on 2024 and plans for 2025, and shares some of his favorite habits that help him show up as a better person and leader for others.

Happy new year to you and yours! The best is yet to come!

Jeff talks to Natalie Trzcinski, the Senior Director of Menu Process, Training & Integration at Jack In The Box. Jeff and Natalie talk about the importance of communication and relationships; how to create and deliver training at scale; adaptability and growth mindset; infusing values and personality into corporate training; how to turn a bad experience into a good relationship; the Jack In The Box Foundation; and other topics.