Leadership & Success with Coach BZ

S5:E185🎙️ Live with Laura Byrd
The Right Talent, Right Now: Building Winning Teams at the Speed of Business 🚀
Mark your calendars!
The Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ Season 5:Episode 185 goes LIVE with my friend Laura Byrd, Principal-Owner of Elite Sales Search!
📅 Date: Friday, September 4, 2026 ⏰ Time: 9 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 11 AM CT (Austin, TX) | 12 PM ET (Washington, D.C.) 📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
🌟 Meet My Guest: Laura Byrd
What if one of the greatest barriers standing between your organization and its next stage of growth isn't your strategy, technology, or capital—but having the right people to execute the mission?
Laura Byrd has spent more than 25 years finding those people.
Laura is the Principal-Owner of Elite Sales Search, a woman-owned placement and HR consulting firm specializing in finding best-in-class talent from entry level through the C-suite across cybersecurity, software, cloud, SaaS, AI, sales, engineering, operations, finance, and other critical disciplines.
Her philosophy is powerful:
“Acquiring the right talent is the most important driver for growth. Do it right the first time.”
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Laura built an extraordinary career recruiting and developing talent across companies including BMC Software, EMC, Intel Security/McAfee, Blue Coat Systems, and Symantec. Her experience includes executive recruiting, enterprise sales organizations, Sales Engineers, Professional Services, Federal teams, and highly cleared talent. 
And Laura and I discovered an interesting connection: we both spent part of our careers inside the EMC ecosystem. She worked for EMC, while I later worked for Pivotal Software, part of the EMC Federation.
Tomorrow, we are going to compare notes! 😊
🎯 What You Will Learn…
✨ Why talent is a business strategy. What separates an A-player from someone who merely interviews well?
✨ How to recognize the “right talent.” After 25+ years evaluating candidates and watching careers unfold, what has Laura learned about character, potential, performance, and leadership?
✨ How Laura finds hard-to-reach talent FAST. We'll unpack the relationships, processes, industry knowledge, and network that allow Elite Sales Search to move at the speed of business.
✨ A masterclass for OEMs and Federal contractors. Laura specifically wants to share how she supports these organizations from a placement-services perspective—including reaching specialized consultants, engineers, sales professionals, and other difficult-to-find talent quickly. 
✨ Lessons from EMC, McAfee, Blue Coat & Symantec. What did some of technology's legendary high-performance organizations teach Laura about recruiting, sales, culture, and winning teams?
✨ The entrepreneur's journey. What happens when someone who spent decades building teams for major corporations decides to bet on herself and build her own company?
✨ AI and the future of talent. As AI transforms how organizations work, which capabilities become less important—and which uniquely human qualities become even MORE valuable?
✨ What leaders get wrong about hiring. Laura has spent a career watching leaders make talent decisions. What does she wish every CEO, CRO, CHRO, hiring manager, and candidate understood?
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, recruiting, career, cybersecurity talent, Federal contracting, AI, or building-winning-teams question for Laura? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a CEO, CRO, CHRO, hiring manager, entrepreneur, Federal contractor, technology leader, colleague, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #LauraByrd
 

S5:E185🎙️ Live with Laura Byrd
The Right Talent, Right Now: Building Winning Teams at the Speed of Business 🚀
Mark your calendars!
The Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ Season 5:Episode 185 goes LIVE with my friend Laura Byrd, Principal-Owner of Elite Sales Search!
📅 Date: Friday, September 4, 2026 ⏰ Time: 9 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 11 AM CT (Austin, TX) | 12 PM ET (Washington, D.C.) 📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
🌟 Meet My Guest: Laura Byrd
What if one of the greatest barriers standing between your organization and its next stage of growth isn't your strategy, technology, or capital—but having the right people to execute the mission?
Laura Byrd has spent more than 25 years finding those people.
Laura is the Principal-Owner of Elite Sales Search, a woman-owned placement and HR consulting firm specializing in finding best-in-class talent from entry level through the C-suite across cybersecurity, software, cloud, SaaS, AI, sales, engineering, operations, finance, and other critical disciplines.
Her philosophy is powerful:
“Acquiring the right talent is the most important driver for growth. Do it right the first time.”
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Laura built an extraordinary career recruiting and developing talent across companies including BMC Software, EMC, Intel Security/McAfee, Blue Coat Systems, and Symantec. Her experience includes executive recruiting, enterprise sales organizations, Sales Engineers, Professional Services, Federal teams, and highly cleared talent. 
And Laura and I discovered an interesting connection: we both spent part of our careers inside the EMC ecosystem. She worked for EMC, while I later worked for Pivotal Software, part of the EMC Federation.
Tomorrow, we are going to compare notes! 😊
🎯 What You Will Learn…
✨ Why talent is a business strategy. What separates an A-player from someone who merely interviews well?
✨ How to recognize the “right talent.” After 25+ years evaluating candidates and watching careers unfold, what has Laura learned about character, potential, performance, and leadership?
✨ How Laura finds hard-to-reach talent FAST. We'll unpack the relationships, processes, industry knowledge, and network that allow Elite Sales Search to move at the speed of business.
✨ A masterclass for OEMs and Federal contractors. Laura specifically wants to share how she supports these organizations from a placement-services perspective—including reaching specialized consultants, engineers, sales professionals, and other difficult-to-find talent quickly. 
✨ Lessons from EMC, McAfee, Blue Coat & Symantec. What did some of technology's legendary high-performance organizations teach Laura about recruiting, sales, culture, and winning teams?
✨ The entrepreneur's journey. What happens when someone who spent decades building teams for major corporations decides to bet on herself and build her own company?
✨ AI and the future of talent. As AI transforms how organizations work, which capabilities become less important—and which uniquely human qualities become even MORE valuable?
✨ What leaders get wrong about hiring. Laura has spent a career watching leaders make talent decisions. What does she wish every CEO, CRO, CHRO, hiring manager, and candidate understood?
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, recruiting, career, cybersecurity talent, Federal contracting, AI, or building-winning-teams question for Laura? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a CEO, CRO, CHRO, hiring manager, entrepreneur, Federal contractor, technology leader, colleague, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #LauraByrd
 

S5:E184🎙️ LIVE with SGT DeMario M. McIlwain, L.H.D. (h.c.), USA (Vet.)LIVE: Train the Human, Deploy the AI — Leading with Humanity in the Age of AI 🤖🇺🇸Mark your calendars!Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5:Episode 184 
📅 Thursday, September 3, 2026⏰ 1:00 PM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 4:00 PM ET (Fort Mill, SC)📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
What happens to leadership when our machines become smarter?I believe the answer is not that humans become less important. We become MORE important.That is why I am excited to welcome SGT DeMario M. McIlwain, L.H.D. (h.c.), USA (Vet.) to the Leadership & Success Podcast for a conversation I am calling:🔥 “Train the Human, Deploy the AI: Leading with Humanity in the Age of AI”
🪖 From Sergeant to AI StrategistDeMario spent 10 years serving in the United States Army, where he learned to lead people, manage logistics, solve complex problems, and build systems that had to perform when the consequences were real.Today, he is an AI strategist, entrepreneur, educator, author, and CEO & Co-Founder of Skilldora®, helping leaders and organizations understand something critically important:AI is the tool. Humanity remains the advantage.He is also the author of TRAIN THE HUMAN, DEPLOY THE AI: A Human-First Guide to Mastering the Age of AI—a timely challenge to organizations racing to deploy increasingly powerful technology:Are we investing as much in preparing our PEOPLE as we are in acquiring the TECHNOLOGY?
🧠 What You Will Learn…✨ How 10 years of Army leadership shaped DeMario’s approach to technology, systems, entrepreneurship, and execution.✨ Why organizations should train the human before deploying the AI.✨ How leaders can use AI to augment human intelligence instead of outsourcing human judgment.✨ Why judgment, ethics, empathy, creativity, accountability, and leadership may become more valuable—not less—as AI advances.✨ How leaders can determine what should be automated, augmented, or remain fundamentally human.✨ Why DeMario believes the future belongs not simply to organizations with the best technology—but to those with the best-prepared PEOPLE.And I am going to ask him a question that I believe every leader should be considering:If AI becomes exponentially more intelligent, what must we deliberately preserve and develop so that our leaders become MORE human—not less?That is a conversation worth having. ❤️🙏🏾
💬 Join the Conversation!🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?💬 Got a leadership, AI, entrepreneurship, or future-of-work question for DeMario? Post it below—we will answer as many as possible LIVE!⸻👇 Your Turn:➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?➡️ What is one leadership insight you're applying this week?➡️ Tag a colleague, veteran, entrepreneur, technologist, junior officer, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾Before we build smarter machines, we must develop wiser humans.Mission FIRST. People ALWAYS. 🇺🇸
#Leadership #LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #DeMarioMcIlwain #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AILeadership #HumanCenteredAI #TrainTheHumanDeployTheAI #FutureOfWork #Skilldora #ArmyVeteran #MilitaryLeadership #VeteranLeadership #Entrepreneurship #LeadershipDevelopment #Humanity #FITS

S5:E184🎙️ LIVE with SGT DeMario M. McIlwain, L.H.D. (h.c.), USA (Vet.)LIVE: Train the Human, Deploy the AI — Leading with Humanity in the Age of AI 🤖🇺🇸Mark your calendars!Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5:Episode 184 
📅 Thursday, September 3, 2026⏰ 1:00 PM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 4:00 PM ET (Fort Mill, SC)📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
What happens to leadership when our machines become smarter?I believe the answer is not that humans become less important. We become MORE important.That is why I am excited to welcome SGT DeMario M. McIlwain, L.H.D. (h.c.), USA (Vet.) to the Leadership & Success Podcast for a conversation I am calling:🔥 “Train the Human, Deploy the AI: Leading with Humanity in the Age of AI”
🪖 From Sergeant to AI StrategistDeMario spent 10 years serving in the United States Army, where he learned to lead people, manage logistics, solve complex problems, and build systems that had to perform when the consequences were real.Today, he is an AI strategist, entrepreneur, educator, author, and CEO & Co-Founder of Skilldora®, helping leaders and organizations understand something critically important:AI is the tool. Humanity remains the advantage.He is also the author of TRAIN THE HUMAN, DEPLOY THE AI: A Human-First Guide to Mastering the Age of AI—a timely challenge to organizations racing to deploy increasingly powerful technology:Are we investing as much in preparing our PEOPLE as we are in acquiring the TECHNOLOGY?
🧠 What You Will Learn…✨ How 10 years of Army leadership shaped DeMario’s approach to technology, systems, entrepreneurship, and execution.✨ Why organizations should train the human before deploying the AI.✨ How leaders can use AI to augment human intelligence instead of outsourcing human judgment.✨ Why judgment, ethics, empathy, creativity, accountability, and leadership may become more valuable—not less—as AI advances.✨ How leaders can determine what should be automated, augmented, or remain fundamentally human.✨ Why DeMario believes the future belongs not simply to organizations with the best technology—but to those with the best-prepared PEOPLE.And I am going to ask him a question that I believe every leader should be considering:If AI becomes exponentially more intelligent, what must we deliberately preserve and develop so that our leaders become MORE human—not less?That is a conversation worth having. ❤️🙏🏾
💬 Join the Conversation!🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?💬 Got a leadership, AI, entrepreneurship, or future-of-work question for DeMario? Post it below—we will answer as many as possible LIVE!⸻👇 Your Turn:➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?➡️ What is one leadership insight you're applying this week?➡️ Tag a colleague, veteran, entrepreneur, technologist, junior officer, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾Before we build smarter machines, we must develop wiser humans.Mission FIRST. People ALWAYS. 🇺🇸
#Leadership #LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #DeMarioMcIlwain #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AILeadership #HumanCenteredAI #TrainTheHumanDeployTheAI #FutureOfWork #Skilldora #ArmyVeteran #MilitaryLeadership #VeteranLeadership #Entrepreneurship #LeadershipDevelopment #Humanity #FITS

S5:E183🎙️ LIVE with Coach Tarek Taha
🏔️ Choose Your Mountain: From Success to Significance
 
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 183
 
What happens when you’ve climbed the ladder, earned the title, achieved the success…and begin wondering whether you’ve been climbing the right mountain?
Join me LIVE for a powerful leadership conversation with fellow Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach Coach Tarek Taha.
 
📅 Wednesday, September 2, 2026
⏰ 6:30 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 8:30 AM CT (Greater Fayetteville, AR) | 9:30 AM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
Tarek spent 31 years climbing the corporate ladder, including more than two decades at J.B. Hunt, where he ultimately served as Senior Director of Engineering & Technology. Along the way, he led teams, solved complex problems, and helped approximately 130 engineers launch and develop their careers.
Then, in 2018, everything changed.
An infection affecting his brain led to emergency brain surgery and a confrontation with mortality that no promotion, title, or résumé could answer.
That experience forced Tarek to wrestle with a deeper question:
Who am I underneath the title?
He didn't immediately walk away from corporate America. Instead, he began a deliberate journey of faith, growth, leadership, and purpose. At the end of 2025, he stepped away from his Fortune 500 career and into his next chapter as a full-time leadership coach. Today, he helps high achievers build a runway toward what's next—without gambling everything they've spent decades building.
 
🏔️ What You Will Learn…
Tarek uses a brilliant metaphor:
“You were handed a ladder at 22 and told to climb. Nobody asked which mountain was yours.”
During our conversation, we'll explore:
✨ How to move from success to significance
✨ Why your title is not your identity
✨ What 31 years in corporate leadership taught Tarek about people, influence, and purpose
✨ How his 2018 near-death experience transformed the way he thinks about faith, time, health, leadership, and legacy
✨ Why successful leaders can become trapped by the very success they worked so hard to achieve
✨ How to recognize when you've outgrown your current chapter
✨ Why asking better questions may be one of a leader's greatest superpowers
✨ What fellow Maxwell Leadership coaches have learned about adding value to people and living a life of significance
🎓 SPECIAL SEGMENT: “DON’T QUIT YOUR JOB (YET)”
We'll also unpack Tarek's masterclass, “Don't Quit Your Job (Yet)”—created for accomplished professionals caught between:
“I can't leave…”
and
“I can't keep doing this.”
This isn't about recklessly quitting your job.
It's about refusing to let fear make the decision for you.
We'll explore Tarek's four-part journey:
✨ The Pack: Is it really about the money?
✨ The Ladder: Who are you without the title?
✨ The Rope: Who's on your rope?
✨ The Mountain: What were you made for?
Perhaps the most important question isn't:
“How high can I climb?”
Maybe it's:
“Am I climbing the mountain that is actually mine?”
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, purpose, career transition, or networking question for Tarek? Post it below—we'll answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Are you climbing the ladder—or have you chosen your mountain? 🏔️
➡️ Tag a colleague, leader, junior officer, or teammate who needs this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ
🎙️ S5:E183 — “Choose Your Mountain: From Success to Significance”
 
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #TarekTaha #ChooseYourMountain #Leadership #MaxwellLeadership #SuccessToSignificance #Purpose #AuthenticLeadership #ExecutiveCoaching #CareerTransition

S5:E183🎙️ LIVE with Coach Tarek Taha
🏔️ Choose Your Mountain: From Success to Significance
 
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 183
 
What happens when you’ve climbed the ladder, earned the title, achieved the success…and begin wondering whether you’ve been climbing the right mountain?
Join me LIVE for a powerful leadership conversation with fellow Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach Coach Tarek Taha.
 
📅 Wednesday, September 2, 2026
⏰ 6:30 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 8:30 AM CT (Greater Fayetteville, AR) | 9:30 AM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
Tarek spent 31 years climbing the corporate ladder, including more than two decades at J.B. Hunt, where he ultimately served as Senior Director of Engineering & Technology. Along the way, he led teams, solved complex problems, and helped approximately 130 engineers launch and develop their careers.
Then, in 2018, everything changed.
An infection affecting his brain led to emergency brain surgery and a confrontation with mortality that no promotion, title, or résumé could answer.
That experience forced Tarek to wrestle with a deeper question:
Who am I underneath the title?
He didn't immediately walk away from corporate America. Instead, he began a deliberate journey of faith, growth, leadership, and purpose. At the end of 2025, he stepped away from his Fortune 500 career and into his next chapter as a full-time leadership coach. Today, he helps high achievers build a runway toward what's next—without gambling everything they've spent decades building.
 
🏔️ What You Will Learn…
Tarek uses a brilliant metaphor:
“You were handed a ladder at 22 and told to climb. Nobody asked which mountain was yours.”
During our conversation, we'll explore:
✨ How to move from success to significance
✨ Why your title is not your identity
✨ What 31 years in corporate leadership taught Tarek about people, influence, and purpose
✨ How his 2018 near-death experience transformed the way he thinks about faith, time, health, leadership, and legacy
✨ Why successful leaders can become trapped by the very success they worked so hard to achieve
✨ How to recognize when you've outgrown your current chapter
✨ Why asking better questions may be one of a leader's greatest superpowers
✨ What fellow Maxwell Leadership coaches have learned about adding value to people and living a life of significance
🎓 SPECIAL SEGMENT: “DON’T QUIT YOUR JOB (YET)”
We'll also unpack Tarek's masterclass, “Don't Quit Your Job (Yet)”—created for accomplished professionals caught between:
“I can't leave…”
and
“I can't keep doing this.”
This isn't about recklessly quitting your job.
It's about refusing to let fear make the decision for you.
We'll explore Tarek's four-part journey:
✨ The Pack: Is it really about the money?
✨ The Ladder: Who are you without the title?
✨ The Rope: Who's on your rope?
✨ The Mountain: What were you made for?
Perhaps the most important question isn't:
“How high can I climb?”
Maybe it's:
“Am I climbing the mountain that is actually mine?”
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, purpose, career transition, or networking question for Tarek? Post it below—we'll answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Are you climbing the ladder—or have you chosen your mountain? 🏔️
➡️ Tag a colleague, leader, junior officer, or teammate who needs this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ
🎙️ S5:E183 — “Choose Your Mountain: From Success to Significance”
 
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #TarekTaha #ChooseYourMountain #Leadership #MaxwellLeadership #SuccessToSignificance #Purpose #AuthenticLeadership #ExecutiveCoaching #CareerTransition

S5:E182🎙️ LIVE with Keith R. Wyche
 
LEADERSHIP ISN’T ASSIGNED. IT’S DEMONSTRATED.
 
What happens when integrity, trust, and people-centered leadership become competitive advantages—not just values on a wall?
 
Join me for the next episode of the Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ, Season 5, Episode 182, LIVE with bestselling author and Fortune 500 executive leader Keith R. Wyche.
 
📅 Tuesday, September 1, 2026
⏰ 8:30 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 11:30 AM ET (Tampa, FL)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
 
🌟 MEET MY GUEST
Keith R. Wyche brings more than four decades of leadership experience spanning some of America's most recognized organizations, including AT&T, IBM, Pitney Bowes, CUB Foods/ACME Markets, and Walmart.
His journey has taken him from sales and operational leadership to running billion-dollar businesses, leading major organizational transformations, and having responsibility for 30,000+ associates. Today, Keith continues his leadership impact as an author, keynote speaker, leadership thought leader, and corporate board director.
And he has turned those decades of lessons into an extraordinary leadership library, including Good Is Not Enough, Corner Office Rules, Diversity Is Not Enough, Swag Is Not Enough, and his latest bestselling book:
📘 Uncommon Leadership: A Blueprint for Restoring Integrity, Trust, and People-Centered Leadership
 
🔥 WHAT YOU WILL LEARN…
Keith's newest book asks an urgent question:
At a time when trust in leaders and institutions is being tested, what does it take to become an UNCOMMON leader?
✨ Why integrity is the foundation upon which leadership credibility is built.
✨ Why exceptional performance alone is not enough to advance your career—and why exposure, perception, relationships, mentors, and sponsors matter.
✨ How leaders can transform people AND performance at the same time rather than sacrificing one for the other.
✨ Why uncommon leaders treat authority as stewardship—not privilege.
✨ How the discipline of listening becomes a genuine leadership advantage.
✨ Why people follow leaders, not instructions—and how leaders earn commitment rather than mere compliance.
✨ How leaders can maintain trust during disruption and organizational change.
✨ Why leadership isn't assigned—it's demonstrated long before the title arrives.
✨ How to “serve from a full cup” and rethink self-care as a leadership discipline.
✨ How leaders can embrace AI, technology, and disruption without losing the human element of leadership.
✨ Why our greatest leadership legacy may be found in “planting trees you'll never sit under.”
Keith's message is powerful: Uncommon Leadership is ultimately about transforming people and performance simultaneously—creating organizations where high standards and humanity can coexist.
 
❤️ LEADERSHIP IS STEWARDSHIP
One of the ideas I am most excited to explore with Keith is the difference between self-serving leadership and servant leadership.
Titles give us authority.
Positions give us influence.
But character determines whether people can trust us with either.
Keith challenges leaders to think beyond what they accomplish and consider something much more enduring:
Who became better because you led them?
That is a conversation worth having. ❤️🙏🏾
 
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, career, change-management, or networking question for Keith? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 YOUR TURN:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, emerging leader, executive, junior officer, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Leadership isn't about the title you hold. It's about the trust you earn, the people you develop, and the legacy you leave behind.
 
#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment

S5:E182🎙️ LIVE with Keith R. Wyche
 
LEADERSHIP ISN’T ASSIGNED. IT’S DEMONSTRATED.
 
What happens when integrity, trust, and people-centered leadership become competitive advantages—not just values on a wall?
 
Join me for the next episode of the Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ, Season 5, Episode 182, LIVE with bestselling author and Fortune 500 executive leader Keith R. Wyche.
 
📅 Tuesday, September 1, 2026
⏰ 8:30 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 11:30 AM ET (Tampa, FL)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
 
🌟 MEET MY GUEST
Keith R. Wyche brings more than four decades of leadership experience spanning some of America's most recognized organizations, including AT&T, IBM, Pitney Bowes, CUB Foods/ACME Markets, and Walmart.
His journey has taken him from sales and operational leadership to running billion-dollar businesses, leading major organizational transformations, and having responsibility for 30,000+ associates. Today, Keith continues his leadership impact as an author, keynote speaker, leadership thought leader, and corporate board director.
And he has turned those decades of lessons into an extraordinary leadership library, including Good Is Not Enough, Corner Office Rules, Diversity Is Not Enough, Swag Is Not Enough, and his latest bestselling book:
📘 Uncommon Leadership: A Blueprint for Restoring Integrity, Trust, and People-Centered Leadership
 
🔥 WHAT YOU WILL LEARN…
Keith's newest book asks an urgent question:
At a time when trust in leaders and institutions is being tested, what does it take to become an UNCOMMON leader?
✨ Why integrity is the foundation upon which leadership credibility is built.
✨ Why exceptional performance alone is not enough to advance your career—and why exposure, perception, relationships, mentors, and sponsors matter.
✨ How leaders can transform people AND performance at the same time rather than sacrificing one for the other.
✨ Why uncommon leaders treat authority as stewardship—not privilege.
✨ How the discipline of listening becomes a genuine leadership advantage.
✨ Why people follow leaders, not instructions—and how leaders earn commitment rather than mere compliance.
✨ How leaders can maintain trust during disruption and organizational change.
✨ Why leadership isn't assigned—it's demonstrated long before the title arrives.
✨ How to “serve from a full cup” and rethink self-care as a leadership discipline.
✨ How leaders can embrace AI, technology, and disruption without losing the human element of leadership.
✨ Why our greatest leadership legacy may be found in “planting trees you'll never sit under.”
Keith's message is powerful: Uncommon Leadership is ultimately about transforming people and performance simultaneously—creating organizations where high standards and humanity can coexist.
 
❤️ LEADERSHIP IS STEWARDSHIP
One of the ideas I am most excited to explore with Keith is the difference between self-serving leadership and servant leadership.
Titles give us authority.
Positions give us influence.
But character determines whether people can trust us with either.
Keith challenges leaders to think beyond what they accomplish and consider something much more enduring:
Who became better because you led them?
That is a conversation worth having. ❤️🙏🏾
 
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, career, change-management, or networking question for Keith? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 YOUR TURN:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, emerging leader, executive, junior officer, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Leadership isn't about the title you hold. It's about the trust you earn, the people you develop, and the legacy you leave behind.
 
#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment

S5:E181🎙️ LIVE with CDR Swift Sanchez, USN
⚓️ From the Badge to the Silver Oak Leaf: Two Uniforms. One Calling. SERVICE. 🇺🇸
 
I could not be more proud to introduce my next guest—my mentee, CDR (SEL) Swift Sanchez, U.S. Navy! ❤️🙏🏾
Swift has spent more than two decades serving her community and our nation—first across two uniforms, and now preparing for a new chapter as a senior Navy officer.
And she has just been SELECTED FOR PROMOTION TO COMMANDER! ⭐️⚓️🎉
 
📅 Mark Your Calendars!
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 181 🎙️
 
📅 Monday, August 31, 2026
⏰ 3:30 PM PT (San Francisco, CA / Port Angeles, WA) | 6:30 PM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
⚓️ INTRODUCING MY GUEST
Swift's leadership journey is remarkable.
She served 22 years in civilian law enforcement, progressing through positions including patrol officer, detective, sergeant and Deputy Chief before retiring from law enforcement. Her work included felony and homicide investigations, crimes against children, critical incidents, tribal law enforcement and victim-centered, trauma-informed investigations.
Simultaneously, she built an extraordinary Navy career—beginning in the Master-at-Arms community before transitioning into Naval Intelligence and becoming an Information Warfare-qualified Intelligence Officer.
🇦🇫 In Afghanistan, Swift led a multinational team of 24 intelligence analysts supporting more than 140 combat operations.
🌊 At Commander THIRD Fleet, she served as Operations Officer and Interim XO for a 187-member unit and led intelligence planning for nine Fleet-level exercises.
🇺🇸 She has also supported THREE Presidential Inaugurations, most recently serving as Intelligence and Operations Resource Planner for the 60th Presidential Inauguration.
Now the Navy has entrusted her with the next level of leadership:
COMMANDER. ⭐️
 
🎯 What You Will Learn…
✨ What 22 years of policing taught Swift about leadership that the Navy could not—and what the Navy taught her that policing could not.
✨ Leadership lessons from Afghanistan, where incomplete information, uncertainty and consequential decisions were everyday realities.
✨ How detective work, intelligence analysis and trauma-informed policing shaped her approach to judgment, empathy and trust.
✨ What serving at THIRD Fleet taught her about moving from personally accomplishing the mission to enabling entire organizations to succeed.
✨ Lessons from supporting three Presidential Inaugurations about joint leadership, interagency cooperation and service above politics.
✨ How mentorship helped shape her journey—and why successful leaders must eventually become developers of other leaders.
✨ What selection to Commander means to her personally and professionally.
✨ Most importantly: What must change when a Lieutenant Commander becomes a senior Navy officer?
Promotion doesn't mean:
“I have arrived.”
It means:
“I have been entrusted with more—and therefore I must grow more.”
That is the conversation I want to have with Swift. ❤️🙏🏾
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, mentorship, intelligence, military transition, or career question for Swift? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, Sailor, junior officer, law-enforcement professional, veteran, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Two uniforms. One calling. SERVICE.
Congratulations again, CDR (SEL) Swift Sanchez, USN! ⚓️⭐️🇺🇸
The silver oak leaf isn't the destination.
It's an invitation to serve at an even higher level.
Mission FIRST. People ALWAYS. ⚓️❤️🙏🏾
 
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ

S5:E181🎙️ LIVE with CDR Swift Sanchez, USN
⚓️ From the Badge to the Silver Oak Leaf: Two Uniforms. One Calling. SERVICE. 🇺🇸
 
I could not be more proud to introduce my next guest—my mentee, CDR (SEL) Swift Sanchez, U.S. Navy! ❤️🙏🏾
Swift has spent more than two decades serving her community and our nation—first across two uniforms, and now preparing for a new chapter as a senior Navy officer.
And she has just been SELECTED FOR PROMOTION TO COMMANDER! ⭐️⚓️🎉
 
📅 Mark Your Calendars!
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 181 🎙️
 
📅 Monday, August 31, 2026
⏰ 3:30 PM PT (San Francisco, CA / Port Angeles, WA) | 6:30 PM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
⚓️ INTRODUCING MY GUEST
Swift's leadership journey is remarkable.
She served 22 years in civilian law enforcement, progressing through positions including patrol officer, detective, sergeant and Deputy Chief before retiring from law enforcement. Her work included felony and homicide investigations, crimes against children, critical incidents, tribal law enforcement and victim-centered, trauma-informed investigations.
Simultaneously, she built an extraordinary Navy career—beginning in the Master-at-Arms community before transitioning into Naval Intelligence and becoming an Information Warfare-qualified Intelligence Officer.
🇦🇫 In Afghanistan, Swift led a multinational team of 24 intelligence analysts supporting more than 140 combat operations.
🌊 At Commander THIRD Fleet, she served as Operations Officer and Interim XO for a 187-member unit and led intelligence planning for nine Fleet-level exercises.
🇺🇸 She has also supported THREE Presidential Inaugurations, most recently serving as Intelligence and Operations Resource Planner for the 60th Presidential Inauguration.
Now the Navy has entrusted her with the next level of leadership:
COMMANDER. ⭐️
 
🎯 What You Will Learn…
✨ What 22 years of policing taught Swift about leadership that the Navy could not—and what the Navy taught her that policing could not.
✨ Leadership lessons from Afghanistan, where incomplete information, uncertainty and consequential decisions were everyday realities.
✨ How detective work, intelligence analysis and trauma-informed policing shaped her approach to judgment, empathy and trust.
✨ What serving at THIRD Fleet taught her about moving from personally accomplishing the mission to enabling entire organizations to succeed.
✨ Lessons from supporting three Presidential Inaugurations about joint leadership, interagency cooperation and service above politics.
✨ How mentorship helped shape her journey—and why successful leaders must eventually become developers of other leaders.
✨ What selection to Commander means to her personally and professionally.
✨ Most importantly: What must change when a Lieutenant Commander becomes a senior Navy officer?
Promotion doesn't mean:
“I have arrived.”
It means:
“I have been entrusted with more—and therefore I must grow more.”
That is the conversation I want to have with Swift. ❤️🙏🏾
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a leadership, mentorship, intelligence, military transition, or career question for Swift? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, Sailor, junior officer, law-enforcement professional, veteran, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Two uniforms. One calling. SERVICE.
Congratulations again, CDR (SEL) Swift Sanchez, USN! ⚓️⭐️🇺🇸
The silver oak leaf isn't the destination.
It's an invitation to serve at an even higher level.
Mission FIRST. People ALWAYS. ⚓️❤️🙏🏾
 
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ

S5:E180🎙️ LIVE with Dawn-Nicole McIlwain, L.H.D. (h.c.)🌟 YOUR TIME TO SHINE! 🌟Mark your calendars for another powerful conversation on the Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ! Season 5 | Episode 180
📅 Date: Monday, August 31, 2026⏰ Time: 8:00 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 11:00 AM ET (Fort Mill, SC)📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
🌟 Meet My GuestDr. Dawn-Nicole McIlwain is an award-winning CEO, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and founder of ProcuraFind®, a supplier-development and business-connection platform.Her work centers on something every leader eventually confronts: Are you prepared to recognize your value, embrace your purpose, step into the right rooms—and claim the opportunities you've worked so hard to prepare for?Her journey has taken her through seasons of building when the recognition wasn't there, persevering when doors didn't open, and ultimately transforming preparation into visibility and impact.And that journey is at the heart of her latest book:📚 Your Time To Shine: From Confirmation to Claiming What’s YoursDawn-Nicole challenges readers to move through four transformational stages: Dimming → Building → Claiming → Shining. Her message is especially powerful for professionals, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and late bloomers who know they were created for more but may still be waiting for the opportunity, recognition, or results to arrive. One of my favorite ideas from the book says it beautifully:“Shining is not fame. Shining is alignment.” 
💡 What You Will Learn…✨ How to lead when your vision is bigger than your current circumstances✨ Why seasons of invisibility may actually be seasons of PREPARATION✨ How leaders unknowingly dim their own light✨ Why the difficult “lonely middle” is often where leaders are truly built✨ How to stop waiting for external validation and start believing in what you already carry✨ The difference between confirmation and claiming✨ Why sometimes not everyone can go with you into your next season✨ How to stop asking for permission to become the leader you already know you can be✨ Why success, recognition, and visibility are not necessarily the same as SHINING✨ How Dawn-Nicole's journey from being underestimated to becoming an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and CEO can help us navigate our own seasons of growth✨ And we'll explore a question every aspiring leader should consider:What if the title hasn't caught up with who you have already become?
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?💬 Got a leadership, entrepreneurship, purpose, procurement, or networking question for Dawn-Nicole? Post it below — we will answer as many as possible LIVE!⸻👇 YOUR TURN➡️ What are your three biggest takeaways from this episode?➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?➡️ Where in your life or leadership have you been waiting for permission when it may be time to start claiming?➡️ Tag a colleague, entrepreneur, junior officer, emerging leader, or teammate who needs to hear:Your time has not passed.Your preparation has not been wasted.Stop dimming. Keep building. Start claiming.🌟 YOUR TIME TO SHINE IS NOW! 🌟❤️🙏🏾#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #YourTimeToShine #DawnNicoleMcIlwain #Purpose #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #Procurement #PersonalGrowth #ExecutiveLeadership #Mentorship #Success #FITS

S5:E180🎙️ LIVE with Dawn-Nicole McIlwain, L.H.D. (h.c.)🌟 YOUR TIME TO SHINE! 🌟Mark your calendars for another powerful conversation on the Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ! Season 5 | Episode 180
📅 Date: Monday, August 31, 2026⏰ Time: 8:00 AM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 11:00 AM ET (Fort Mill, SC)📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion
🌟 Meet My GuestDr. Dawn-Nicole McIlwain is an award-winning CEO, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and founder of ProcuraFind®, a supplier-development and business-connection platform.Her work centers on something every leader eventually confronts: Are you prepared to recognize your value, embrace your purpose, step into the right rooms—and claim the opportunities you've worked so hard to prepare for?Her journey has taken her through seasons of building when the recognition wasn't there, persevering when doors didn't open, and ultimately transforming preparation into visibility and impact.And that journey is at the heart of her latest book:📚 Your Time To Shine: From Confirmation to Claiming What’s YoursDawn-Nicole challenges readers to move through four transformational stages: Dimming → Building → Claiming → Shining. Her message is especially powerful for professionals, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and late bloomers who know they were created for more but may still be waiting for the opportunity, recognition, or results to arrive. One of my favorite ideas from the book says it beautifully:“Shining is not fame. Shining is alignment.” 
💡 What You Will Learn…✨ How to lead when your vision is bigger than your current circumstances✨ Why seasons of invisibility may actually be seasons of PREPARATION✨ How leaders unknowingly dim their own light✨ Why the difficult “lonely middle” is often where leaders are truly built✨ How to stop waiting for external validation and start believing in what you already carry✨ The difference between confirmation and claiming✨ Why sometimes not everyone can go with you into your next season✨ How to stop asking for permission to become the leader you already know you can be✨ Why success, recognition, and visibility are not necessarily the same as SHINING✨ How Dawn-Nicole's journey from being underestimated to becoming an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and CEO can help us navigate our own seasons of growth✨ And we'll explore a question every aspiring leader should consider:What if the title hasn't caught up with who you have already become?
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?💬 Got a leadership, entrepreneurship, purpose, procurement, or networking question for Dawn-Nicole? Post it below — we will answer as many as possible LIVE!⸻👇 YOUR TURN➡️ What are your three biggest takeaways from this episode?➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?➡️ Where in your life or leadership have you been waiting for permission when it may be time to start claiming?➡️ Tag a colleague, entrepreneur, junior officer, emerging leader, or teammate who needs to hear:Your time has not passed.Your preparation has not been wasted.Stop dimming. Keep building. Start claiming.🌟 YOUR TIME TO SHINE IS NOW! 🌟❤️🙏🏾#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #YourTimeToShine #DawnNicoleMcIlwain #Purpose #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #Procurement #PersonalGrowth #ExecutiveLeadership #Mentorship #Success #FITS

S5:E179🎙️ LIVE with The Honorable Maria Brewer
 
TOMORROW: The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge 🇺🇸🌎
“Yes, we have worked twice as hard to get half as far. We have carried expectations our peers never had to face. But that did not break us. It built us.”
— The Honorable Maria Brewer, The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge
 
Mark your calendars!
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ Season 5:Episode 179
“The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge: Power, Presence, Purpose & Leaving the Door Open”
 
📅 Date: Friday, August 28, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 AM PT (San Francisco) | 10:00 AM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
My friend The Honorable Maria E. Brewer is a retired American diplomat, two-time United States Ambassador, executive leadership coach, speaker, mentor, and now Amazon bestselling author.
 
Across an extraordinary 29-year Foreign Service career, Maria represented our nation around the world, serving in Africa, South Asia, and Washington, D.C. She served as U.S. Ambassador to 🇸🇱Sierra Leone (2017–2021) and U.S. Ambassador to the 🇱🇸Kingdom of Lesotho (2022–2024) before later serving as Acting Director of the Foreign Service Institute.
 
But tomorrow's conversation isn't simply about the extraordinary titles Maria has earned.
It's about what she learned on the journey—and how she is using those lessons to open doors for the leaders coming behind her.
From growing up in Indiana and experiencing what it meant to feel “othered,” to entering the Foreign Service at only 23, navigating imposter syndrome, leading across cultures, representing the United States twice as an Ambassador, and beginning a new mission developing leaders, Maria's journey offers powerful lessons about resilience, influence, authenticity, service, and legacy.
 
📚 INSTANT AMAZON BESTSELLER!
We'll also dive into Maria's new book:
The Ambassador's Leadership Edge: For Latina Leaders Ready to Rise to the Top
Already an Amazon Bestseller—#79 in Biographies & Memoirs of Hispanic & Latino—Maria's book transforms lessons from nearly three decades of diplomacy into a leadership framework centered on:
✨ POWER — Understanding and claiming your agency and influence.
✨ PRESENCE — Walking into consequential rooms authentically without shrinking who you are.
✨ PURPOSE — Using leadership in service of something larger than yourself.
And we'll explore a fourth idea that I believe completes the leadership journey:
🚪 LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN.
Because reaching the top isn't the end of leadership.
Who are you helping rise behind you?
 
🎯 What You Will Learn…
✨ How Maria went from a young woman wondering whether she belonged to representing the United States of America before the world—twice.
✨ How preparation and excellence can become powerful responses to imposter syndrome.
✨ Why great leaders must get out of “transmit mode” and learn to truly listen.
✨ How diplomacy teaches leaders to influence people they cannot command.
✨ Why “Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should” may be one of the most important lessons in developing other leaders.
✨ What Maria means by “Bloom Where Planted.”
✨ How Latina leaders can develop their Power, Presence, and Purpose without sacrificing authenticity.
✨ Why those of us who reach positions of influence have a responsibility to leave the door open behind us.
 
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got leadership, diplomacy, career, or networking questions for Ambassador Brewer? Post them below—we will answer as many as possible LIVE!
⸻
👇 YOUR TURN:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, emerging leader, junior officer, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ

S5:E179🎙️ LIVE with The Honorable Maria Brewer
 
TOMORROW: The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge 🇺🇸🌎
“Yes, we have worked twice as hard to get half as far. We have carried expectations our peers never had to face. But that did not break us. It built us.”
— The Honorable Maria Brewer, The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge
 
Mark your calendars!
Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ Season 5:Episode 179
“The Ambassador’s Leadership Edge: Power, Presence, Purpose & Leaving the Door Open”
 
📅 Date: Friday, August 28, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 AM PT (San Francisco) | 10:00 AM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
My friend The Honorable Maria E. Brewer is a retired American diplomat, two-time United States Ambassador, executive leadership coach, speaker, mentor, and now Amazon bestselling author.
 
Across an extraordinary 29-year Foreign Service career, Maria represented our nation around the world, serving in Africa, South Asia, and Washington, D.C. She served as U.S. Ambassador to 🇸🇱Sierra Leone (2017–2021) and U.S. Ambassador to the 🇱🇸Kingdom of Lesotho (2022–2024) before later serving as Acting Director of the Foreign Service Institute.
 
But tomorrow's conversation isn't simply about the extraordinary titles Maria has earned.
It's about what she learned on the journey—and how she is using those lessons to open doors for the leaders coming behind her.
From growing up in Indiana and experiencing what it meant to feel “othered,” to entering the Foreign Service at only 23, navigating imposter syndrome, leading across cultures, representing the United States twice as an Ambassador, and beginning a new mission developing leaders, Maria's journey offers powerful lessons about resilience, influence, authenticity, service, and legacy.
 
📚 INSTANT AMAZON BESTSELLER!
We'll also dive into Maria's new book:
The Ambassador's Leadership Edge: For Latina Leaders Ready to Rise to the Top
Already an Amazon Bestseller—#79 in Biographies & Memoirs of Hispanic & Latino—Maria's book transforms lessons from nearly three decades of diplomacy into a leadership framework centered on:
✨ POWER — Understanding and claiming your agency and influence.
✨ PRESENCE — Walking into consequential rooms authentically without shrinking who you are.
✨ PURPOSE — Using leadership in service of something larger than yourself.
And we'll explore a fourth idea that I believe completes the leadership journey:
🚪 LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN.
Because reaching the top isn't the end of leadership.
Who are you helping rise behind you?
 
🎯 What You Will Learn…
✨ How Maria went from a young woman wondering whether she belonged to representing the United States of America before the world—twice.
✨ How preparation and excellence can become powerful responses to imposter syndrome.
✨ Why great leaders must get out of “transmit mode” and learn to truly listen.
✨ How diplomacy teaches leaders to influence people they cannot command.
✨ Why “Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should” may be one of the most important lessons in developing other leaders.
✨ What Maria means by “Bloom Where Planted.”
✨ How Latina leaders can develop their Power, Presence, and Purpose without sacrificing authenticity.
✨ Why those of us who reach positions of influence have a responsibility to leave the door open behind us.
 
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got leadership, diplomacy, career, or networking questions for Ambassador Brewer? Post them below—we will answer as many as possible LIVE!
⸻
👇 YOUR TURN:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, emerging leader, junior officer, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ

S5:E178🎙️ LIVE with 1SG Eric “Hooch 7” Brew, U.S. Army (Ret.)!
 
The ROI Is ALWAYS People: Leadership Beyond the Uniform 🪖🇺🇸🙏🏽
Mark your calendars!
Join me for Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 178,
 
📅 Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 12:30 PM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 3:30 PM ET (Columbus, GA)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
What happens when the uniform comes off—but the mission continues?
1SG Eric Brew, USA (Ret.) is a retired First Sergeant, former Marine, veteran advocate, mentor, coach, husband, father, grandfather, and servant leader whose journey demonstrates that some of our greatest opportunities to lead begin after the title changes.
Eric's military journey began in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1996 and continued in the U.S. Army, culminating in nearly 25 years of military service and leadership as a First Sergeant. But Eric's transition from military service challenged him in ways even decades of leadership and resilience training had not fully prepared him for.
Rather than hiding the difficult chapters, Eric turned them into a new mission.
After receiving help from Still Serving Veterans, he eventually began helping other transitioning service members. He later championed mentorship through American Corporate Partners (ACP), carrying a message every transitioning Warrior needs to hear:
“Transition is a team sport.”
Today, Eric serves as Georgia Director for Warriors Set Free, helping Veterans, military personnel, First Responders, and other Warriors pursue faith, healing, freedom, identity, and purpose. His wife, Shequita—herself an Army Veteran—serves alongside him in this mission.
 
And one of Eric's #Brewisms perfectly captures why I wanted him on Leadership & Success:
“The ROI is ALWAYS people.”
 
That sounds a lot like what we believe around here:
Mission FIRST, People ALWAYS. ❤️🙏🏾
 
📚 What You Will Learn…
✨ Leadership Beyond Rank: What nearly 25 years of military service—and becoming a First Sergeant—taught Eric about leading people when the stakes are high.
✨ The ROI Is ALWAYS People: Why Eric believes our real return on investment is found in the people whose lives we influence.
✨ Transition Is a Team Sport: Why leaving military service is more than finding another job—it can require transforming your identity, relationships, community, and sense of purpose.
✨ When the Leader Needs Help: What Eric learned when the First Sergeant and resilience leader who had spent years helping others suddenly needed others to help him.
✨ Build Your Personal Board of Directors: Why leaders need multiple mentors who will encourage them, challenge them, expose blind spots, and help them make better decisions.
✨ From Warrior to Servant Leader: How Eric transformed difficult experiences into a calling to serve Veterans and Warriors navigating their own battles.
✨ Legacy: What Eric hopes his children, grandchildren, fellow Warriors, and those he serves will remember long after the titles are gone.
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a question about leadership, military transition, mentorship, resilience, faith, identity, or finding your next mission for Eric? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Who sits on your personal “board of directors”?
➡️ And here's Eric's question for all of us: What ROI are people receiving from their interactions with you?
➡️ Tag a colleague, service member, Veteran, First Responder, junior officer, NCO, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
 
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #EricBrew

S5:E178🎙️ LIVE with 1SG Eric “Hooch 7” Brew, U.S. Army (Ret.)!
 
The ROI Is ALWAYS People: Leadership Beyond the Uniform 🪖🇺🇸🙏🏽
Mark your calendars!
Join me for Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 178,
 
📅 Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 12:30 PM PT (San Francisco, CA) | 3:30 PM ET (Columbus, GA)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
What happens when the uniform comes off—but the mission continues?
1SG Eric Brew, USA (Ret.) is a retired First Sergeant, former Marine, veteran advocate, mentor, coach, husband, father, grandfather, and servant leader whose journey demonstrates that some of our greatest opportunities to lead begin after the title changes.
Eric's military journey began in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1996 and continued in the U.S. Army, culminating in nearly 25 years of military service and leadership as a First Sergeant. But Eric's transition from military service challenged him in ways even decades of leadership and resilience training had not fully prepared him for.
Rather than hiding the difficult chapters, Eric turned them into a new mission.
After receiving help from Still Serving Veterans, he eventually began helping other transitioning service members. He later championed mentorship through American Corporate Partners (ACP), carrying a message every transitioning Warrior needs to hear:
“Transition is a team sport.”
Today, Eric serves as Georgia Director for Warriors Set Free, helping Veterans, military personnel, First Responders, and other Warriors pursue faith, healing, freedom, identity, and purpose. His wife, Shequita—herself an Army Veteran—serves alongside him in this mission.
 
And one of Eric's #Brewisms perfectly captures why I wanted him on Leadership & Success:
“The ROI is ALWAYS people.”
 
That sounds a lot like what we believe around here:
Mission FIRST, People ALWAYS. ❤️🙏🏾
 
📚 What You Will Learn…
✨ Leadership Beyond Rank: What nearly 25 years of military service—and becoming a First Sergeant—taught Eric about leading people when the stakes are high.
✨ The ROI Is ALWAYS People: Why Eric believes our real return on investment is found in the people whose lives we influence.
✨ Transition Is a Team Sport: Why leaving military service is more than finding another job—it can require transforming your identity, relationships, community, and sense of purpose.
✨ When the Leader Needs Help: What Eric learned when the First Sergeant and resilience leader who had spent years helping others suddenly needed others to help him.
✨ Build Your Personal Board of Directors: Why leaders need multiple mentors who will encourage them, challenge them, expose blind spots, and help them make better decisions.
✨ From Warrior to Servant Leader: How Eric transformed difficult experiences into a calling to serve Veterans and Warriors navigating their own battles.
✨ Legacy: What Eric hopes his children, grandchildren, fellow Warriors, and those he serves will remember long after the titles are gone.
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got a question about leadership, military transition, mentorship, resilience, faith, identity, or finding your next mission for Eric? Post it below—we will answer as many as we can LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Who sits on your personal “board of directors”?
➡️ And here's Eric's question for all of us: What ROI are people receiving from their interactions with you?
➡️ Tag a colleague, service member, Veteran, First Responder, junior officer, NCO, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
 
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #EricBrew

S5:E177🎙️ LIVE with CWO5 David L. Sledge, USN (Ret.)
LIVE TOMORROW: From E-1 to CWO5 — Leadership Forged Through Service, Patience & Purpose ⚓️🇺🇸🫡
Mark your calendars for Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 177
 
After 33 years of distinguished service in the United States Navy, David's remarkable journey took him from an enlisted Sailor working in ordnance and weapons to Chief Warrant Officer 5—the Navy's highest warrant officer paygrade. Along the way, he developed deep expertise in Surface Warfare, weapons, ordnance readiness, logistics, command and control, and the development of Sailors and leaders.
Today, David continues the mission as Founder & CEO of Sledge Collective, executive leadership coach, organizational strategist, keynote speaker, mentor, and author. At the heart of his work is a beautifully simple leadership philosophy:
“Greet One. Meet One. Teach One.” 🤝
 
📅 Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM PT (San Francisco/Chula Vista, CA) | 1:00 PM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion!
📚 THREE BOOKS. ONE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY.
Our conversation will explore three powerful dimensions of David's leadership philosophy through his books:
📘 Leadership Alchemy: Forging Great Leaders
David explores how leaders are forged—not merely born—through experience, character, communication, vision, mentorship, adversity, and ultimately legacy.
🙏🏽 Embrace Blessings: Trusting the Process and Finding Purpose
A deeply personal exploration of faith, gratitude, perseverance, the power of our words, trusting God's process, and discovering purpose through both blessings and adversity.
⏳ Hurry Up and Wait: Embracing Patience in a Fast-Paced World
David transforms a phrase every service member knows into a leadership principle: patience is active, not passive. He applies it to decision-making, marriage, parenting, career advancement, adversity, faith, military transition, and life after retirement.
 
🎯 WHAT YOU WILL LEARN…
✨ How a young man from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, journeyed from E-1 to CWO5 across an extraordinary 33-year Navy career.
✨ Why great leaders aren't simply born—they are forged in the crucible of experience.
✨ How competence, character, integrity, courage, empathy, resilience, and accountability shape credible leaders.
✨ Why David believes listening may be one of leadership's most forgotten skills.
✨ How mentors changed David's trajectory—and why successful leaders have an obligation to develop those coming behind them.
✨ What “Greet One. Meet One. Teach One.” can teach us about networking, mentorship, relationships, and human connection.
✨ How to trust the process when the process doesn't make sense.
✨ Why our words can become either weapons or instruments of encouragement in the lives of the people we lead.
✨ Why patience is a leadership strength—not passivity.
✨ Why leadership eventually moves from success to significance—and from achievement to legacy.
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got leadership, mentorship, military-transition, patience, purpose, or networking questions for David? Post them below — we will answer them LIVE!
⸻
👇 YOUR TURN:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, Sailor, junior officer, veteran, emerging leader, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Because perhaps David's three books collectively remind us of something every leader eventually discovers:
Great leaders are FORGED. 🔥
Purpose requires TRUST. 🙏🏽
Growth requires PATIENCE. ⏳
And leadership ultimately requires SERVICE. ⚓️
Greet One. Meet One. Teach One.
See you LIVE! 🎙️⚓️🇺🇸🫡
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #Leadership #USNavy

S5:E177🎙️ LIVE with CWO5 David L. Sledge, USN (Ret.)
LIVE TOMORROW: From E-1 to CWO5 — Leadership Forged Through Service, Patience & Purpose ⚓️🇺🇸🫡
Mark your calendars for Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 177
 
After 33 years of distinguished service in the United States Navy, David's remarkable journey took him from an enlisted Sailor working in ordnance and weapons to Chief Warrant Officer 5—the Navy's highest warrant officer paygrade. Along the way, he developed deep expertise in Surface Warfare, weapons, ordnance readiness, logistics, command and control, and the development of Sailors and leaders.
Today, David continues the mission as Founder & CEO of Sledge Collective, executive leadership coach, organizational strategist, keynote speaker, mentor, and author. At the heart of his work is a beautifully simple leadership philosophy:
“Greet One. Meet One. Teach One.” 🤝
 
📅 Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM PT (San Francisco/Chula Vista, CA) | 1:00 PM ET (Washington, D.C.)
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → RSVP & Join the Discussion!
📚 THREE BOOKS. ONE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY.
Our conversation will explore three powerful dimensions of David's leadership philosophy through his books:
📘 Leadership Alchemy: Forging Great Leaders
David explores how leaders are forged—not merely born—through experience, character, communication, vision, mentorship, adversity, and ultimately legacy.
🙏🏽 Embrace Blessings: Trusting the Process and Finding Purpose
A deeply personal exploration of faith, gratitude, perseverance, the power of our words, trusting God's process, and discovering purpose through both blessings and adversity.
⏳ Hurry Up and Wait: Embracing Patience in a Fast-Paced World
David transforms a phrase every service member knows into a leadership principle: patience is active, not passive. He applies it to decision-making, marriage, parenting, career advancement, adversity, faith, military transition, and life after retirement.
 
🎯 WHAT YOU WILL LEARN…
✨ How a young man from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, journeyed from E-1 to CWO5 across an extraordinary 33-year Navy career.
✨ Why great leaders aren't simply born—they are forged in the crucible of experience.
✨ How competence, character, integrity, courage, empathy, resilience, and accountability shape credible leaders.
✨ Why David believes listening may be one of leadership's most forgotten skills.
✨ How mentors changed David's trajectory—and why successful leaders have an obligation to develop those coming behind them.
✨ What “Greet One. Meet One. Teach One.” can teach us about networking, mentorship, relationships, and human connection.
✨ How to trust the process when the process doesn't make sense.
✨ Why our words can become either weapons or instruments of encouragement in the lives of the people we lead.
✨ Why patience is a leadership strength—not passivity.
✨ Why leadership eventually moves from success to significance—and from achievement to legacy.
💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got leadership, mentorship, military-transition, patience, purpose, or networking questions for David? Post them below — we will answer them LIVE!
⸻
👇 YOUR TURN:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ Tag a colleague, Sailor, junior officer, veteran, emerging leader, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
Because perhaps David's three books collectively remind us of something every leader eventually discovers:
Great leaders are FORGED. 🔥
Purpose requires TRUST. 🙏🏽
Growth requires PATIENCE. ⏳
And leadership ultimately requires SERVICE. ⚓️
Greet One. Meet One. Teach One.
See you LIVE! 🎙️⚓️🇺🇸🫡
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #Leadership #USNavy

S5:E176🎙️ LIVE with Coach Roy Castleman
 
Thinking Outside Your Brain: AI, Leadership & Building a Life You Actually Want 🤖🧠⏳🌍
 
Mark your calendars!
 
The Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 176 goes LIVE with entrepreneur, author, business transformation coach, and AI strategist Roy Castleman!
 
📅 Tuesday, August 25, 2026
⏰ 7:00 AM PT — San Francisco, CA
⏰ 10:00 AM ET — Washington, D.C.
⏰ 3:00 PM GMT — Great Denham, England, UK 🇬🇧
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
Roy Castleman has spent nearly three decades building businesses, working across more than 30 countries, and learning firsthand that business success and life success are not always the same thing.
After building multimillion-pound businesses, Roy found himself working approximately 90 hours a week, becoming the bottleneck in organizations he had originally built to create freedom. A period of extraordinary business and personal adversity ultimately forced him to rethink not only how he operated his companies—but how he wanted to live.
Today, Roy combines business operating systems, AI, leadership, and human performance to help entrepreneurs build companies that can succeed without consuming their lives.
He is the founder of All The Power, a certified BOS UP coach, Wim Hof Method Level 2 instructor, Oxygen Advantage instructor, record-setting skydiver with more than 2,500 jumps, freediver—and the author of the timely new book:
📘 Thinking Outside Your Brain with AI: How AI Can Help You Think Clearly, Reclaim Your Time, and Get Your Life Back
Explore Roy Castleman's new book
 
🧠 What You Will Learn…
✨ When success becomes a prison — How entrepreneurs and executives can become trapped by the very organizations they created to give themselves freedom.
✨ From 90 hours to 5 — How systems, delegation, and intentional leadership can help build businesses that don't depend on the founder for every decision.
✨ Why leaders must rebuild themselves first — What Roy learned about health, resilience, breathwork, relationships, and remaining calm under extreme pressure.
✨ How to “Think Outside Your Brain” — Why AI should become a partner that helps us think more clearly rather than a substitute for human thinking.
✨ Roy's EVOLVE Method — Empty your head, Voice the problem, Organize thinking partners, Listen critically, Verify the human, and Elevate your edge.
✨ Getting your life back — Perhaps the biggest question of the conversation: If AI and better systems give us our time back, what are we going to do with it?
💡 One Question I Can't Wait to Ask Roy…
“Roy, you once built businesses that gave you financial success but consumed almost every hour of your life. Today you're teaching people to use systems and AI to reclaim their time. So after everything you've experienced—what is time actually for?”
That question gets to the heart of our conversation.
Because this episode isn't simply about AI.
It's about human beings.
It's about leadership.
It's about freedom.
It's about deciding what success actually means.
And it's about using technology to create more room for human judgment, relationships, creativity, health, purpose—and LIFE. ❤️
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got leadership, entrepreneurship, AI, or business transformation questions for Roy? Post them below — we will answer as many as possible LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ How are you using AI to augment your thinking without surrendering your judgment?
➡️ Tag a colleague, entrepreneur, junior officer, executive, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #RoyCastleman

S5:E176🎙️ LIVE with Coach Roy Castleman
 
Thinking Outside Your Brain: AI, Leadership & Building a Life You Actually Want 🤖🧠⏳🌍
 
Mark your calendars!
 
The Leadership & Success Podcast with Coach BZ — Season 5, Episode 176 goes LIVE with entrepreneur, author, business transformation coach, and AI strategist Roy Castleman!
 
📅 Tuesday, August 25, 2026
⏰ 7:00 AM PT — San Francisco, CA
⏰ 10:00 AM ET — Washington, D.C.
⏰ 3:00 PM GMT — Great Denham, England, UK 🇬🇧
📍 LIVE on LinkedIn → [RSVP & Join the Discussion]
 
🌟 Meet My Guest
Roy Castleman has spent nearly three decades building businesses, working across more than 30 countries, and learning firsthand that business success and life success are not always the same thing.
After building multimillion-pound businesses, Roy found himself working approximately 90 hours a week, becoming the bottleneck in organizations he had originally built to create freedom. A period of extraordinary business and personal adversity ultimately forced him to rethink not only how he operated his companies—but how he wanted to live.
Today, Roy combines business operating systems, AI, leadership, and human performance to help entrepreneurs build companies that can succeed without consuming their lives.
He is the founder of All The Power, a certified BOS UP coach, Wim Hof Method Level 2 instructor, Oxygen Advantage instructor, record-setting skydiver with more than 2,500 jumps, freediver—and the author of the timely new book:
📘 Thinking Outside Your Brain with AI: How AI Can Help You Think Clearly, Reclaim Your Time, and Get Your Life Back
Explore Roy Castleman's new book
 
🧠 What You Will Learn…
✨ When success becomes a prison — How entrepreneurs and executives can become trapped by the very organizations they created to give themselves freedom.
✨ From 90 hours to 5 — How systems, delegation, and intentional leadership can help build businesses that don't depend on the founder for every decision.
✨ Why leaders must rebuild themselves first — What Roy learned about health, resilience, breathwork, relationships, and remaining calm under extreme pressure.
✨ How to “Think Outside Your Brain” — Why AI should become a partner that helps us think more clearly rather than a substitute for human thinking.
✨ Roy's EVOLVE Method — Empty your head, Voice the problem, Organize thinking partners, Listen critically, Verify the human, and Elevate your edge.
✨ Getting your life back — Perhaps the biggest question of the conversation: If AI and better systems give us our time back, what are we going to do with it?
💡 One Question I Can't Wait to Ask Roy…
“Roy, you once built businesses that gave you financial success but consumed almost every hour of your life. Today you're teaching people to use systems and AI to reclaim their time. So after everything you've experienced—what is time actually for?”
That question gets to the heart of our conversation.
Because this episode isn't simply about AI.
It's about human beings.
It's about leadership.
It's about freedom.
It's about deciding what success actually means.
And it's about using technology to create more room for human judgment, relationships, creativity, health, purpose—and LIFE. ❤️
 
💬 Join the Conversation!
🗺️ Where are you tuning in from? Drop your city, region, or country in the comments!
🙏🏽 What is one thing you are grateful for today?
💬 Got leadership, entrepreneurship, AI, or business transformation questions for Roy? Post them below — we will answer as many as possible LIVE!
⸻
👇 Your Turn:
➡️ What are your three takeaways from this episode?
➡️ What's one leadership insight you're applying this week?
➡️ How are you using AI to augment your thinking without surrendering your judgment?
➡️ Tag a colleague, entrepreneur, junior officer, executive, or teammate who could benefit from this conversation. ❤️🙏🏾
#LeadershipAndSuccess #CoachBZ #RoyCastleman