What does it look like when a leadership legend actually lives the principles he teaches?

In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Martha Lawrence, author of the new biography "Catch People Doing Things Right", and longtime collaborator with Ken Blanchard—the leadership icon behind "The One Minute Manager". Martha offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of how Blanchard's ideas became timeless, scalable, and globally adoptable.

This is not a "how he got started" story. It's a masterclass in thought leadership that works in the real world. Martha breaks down why Ken's approach—simple, human, and relentlessly practical—still wins in today's noisy, distracted, algorithm-driven world. The message holds because it's built on what never changes: people.

Peter and Martha go deep on what has shifted in publishing and platform-building over the last 40 years. Fewer gatekeepers. More fragmentation. Less time. More pressure on authors to act like CEOs. Podcasting replaces book tours. Brand clarity beats broad exposure. And the book isn't the business—it's the business card for a larger value ecosystem.

They also explore what separates a "famous author" from a durable thought leadership enterprise. The Blanchard organization didn't just depend on Ken as the rock star. It scaled the IP, built culture around it, and created a leadership brand that outlives any single personality. That's rare. And it's instructive.

If you care about creating a thought leadership platform that drives real business outcomes—without losing the humanity—this conversation will give you both strategy and signal. It's a reminder that servant leadership isn't soft. It's scalable. And it's still a competitive advantage.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Simple wins when it's built on real principles. Ken Blanchard's genius wasn't complexity—it was accessibility. The One Minute Manager style made leadership ideas easy to absorb, apply, and share. That "human" voice is now the playbook for today's biggest thought leaders.

• The message is timeless because leadership is still about people. Even with everything changing—technology, AI, publishing—the core truth remains: performance comes from people. The episode reinforces Blanchard's central idea that people matter as much as results, and that the best leadership is servant leadership: serve, don't be served.

• The strongest thought leadership platforms scale beyond the thought leader. Blanchard wasn't built around a "rock star founder." It was built around IP, culture, and systems—so the work lasts even when Ken isn't in the room. That's how you move from "guru business" to a durable enterprise.

If today's conversation with Martha Lawrence resonated—especially the idea that simple leadership principles can scale, stick, and drive results—you'll want to go straight to our episode with Ken Blanchard.

It's the "source code" behind the philosophy. You'll hear Ken unpack what servant leadership really looks like, why it works, and how to build a leadership approach that people actually adopt. No theory. No fluff. Just practical, proven leadership you can use immediately.

Listen to the Ken Blanchard episode next and connect the dots between the story Martha shared and the thinking that built a global leadership platform.

What if "thriving" isn't a soft concept—but a measurable performance advantage?

In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Jon Rosemberg, Founding Partner of Anther and author of "A Guide to Thriving: The Science Behind Breaking Old Patterns, Reclaiming Your Agency, and Finding Meaning", to break down what thriving really is, what it is not, and why leaders should care right now.

Jon draws a sharp line between thriving and "success." Success can be the big house, the title, the milestones. Thriving is different. It's a state where you're calm, connected to others, and able to create. It's when you can access the best of your thinking and show up as yourself—not as a reactive version of yourself.

They explore the practical business implications. Jon frames thriving as the condition that makes proactive leadership possible. Less reactivity. More intentionality. Better decisions. He also positions "flow" as a subset of thriving—useful, but not the whole story.

Then the conversation gets strategic. Jon introduces agency as the lever that moves people from survival mode to thriving: the capacity to make intentional choices. And he connects it directly to strategy. Real strategy is not doing everything. It's making clear choices—and just as importantly, choosing what you will not do.

For leaders building teams, Jon highlights the shift from productive value to relational value. Your job stops being "do the work." Your job becomes "enable others to do their best work." When teams are thriving, performance rises. When organizations treat well-being as a KPI, it becomes a competitive advantage—not a perk.

Finally, Jon reframes thriving as a spiral, not a finish line. Markets change. Crises hit. AI reshapes work. The goal isn't to "arrive" at thriving. The goal is to build the capacity to return to it faster—and lead through uncertainty with more clarity, nuance, and adaptability.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thriving has a precise definition. It's not "success" or status; it's being calm, connected, and creative—able to access better thinking and show up authentically.

• Agency is the lever. Moving from survival mode to thriving starts with the capacity to make intentional choices—and that maps directly to strategy in business.

• Thriving changes performance at the team level. Leaders shift from their own productivity to relational value—enabling others to do their best work—which increases team performance.

If Jon's episode got you focused on thriving through agency, go next to Episode 156 with Linda Henman for the "now what?" Linda is all about making tough, high-stakes decisions—fast and well—so you can turn intentional choice into real strategy. Together, they pair thriving as the mindset with decision-making as the skill that makes it real.

What if the real leadership advantage isn't another tactic—but the way you lead yourself when nobody's watching?

In this episode, Peter talks with executive coach and facilitator Nina Urman about her core framework found in her book: "Lead From Within." She reframes "mindset" as heartset—getting crystal-clear on what you're saying yes to, what you're saying no to, and why that decision discipline matters at the top.

Nina's thought leadership lives where performance meets inner leadership. We unpack failing forward as a repeatable leadership behavior, not a motivational poster—using setbacks as data, then moving again with more precision.

We also explore how leaders can "create from the future" by defining the future-self outcome and reverse-engineering the moves that make it real.

Her work is deeply practical and designed for high-performing rooms. Nina coaches and facilitates for CEOs, executives, leadership teams, entrepreneurs, and family businesses, with a focus on time and energy management and emotional mastery—because execution breaks when energy and emotion are unmanaged.

We also get into how she built demand through trusted communities like YPO (Young Presidents' Organization) and similar peer networks—and why "belonging" and safety are not soft concepts, but performance multipliers. Nina describes her work as creating safe spaces where high-achievers can be fully themselves, which is where the real breakthroughs happen.

Finally, Nina shares a challenge every successful thought leader hits: when your calendar proves the concept, but caps the company. She's been running nearly 50 retreats a year and is now making intentional tradeoffs—saying no to 1:1 and even some retreats—so she can scale what works, especially around family leadership.

She's even developed a "Family Circle in a Box" board-game-style tool to help families moderate the experience themselves, and she's exploring how digital tools (including AI) can help her scale impact without losing the essence of the work.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Lead from "heartset," not just mindset. Clarity comes from aligning decisions to what you truly value—what you're saying yes to, what you're saying no to, and why.

• Make failure a system, not an event. "Failing forward" is a repeatable discipline: treat setbacks as data, adjust fast, and move again with more precision.

• Scale impact without losing the work. Trust-based communities and psychologically safe spaces drive breakthroughs, and scalable formats (tools, repeatable experiences, digital/AI) help move beyond a calendar-capped model.

If Nina's "Lead From Within" idea of heartset and self-leadership resonated, queue up Episode 125 with Claude Silver next. Nina focuses on inner clarity and emotional mastery as a leadership advantage.

Claude complements that by translating the inner game into culture—human-centered leadership, values, and how your emotional posture shapes the workplace.

Together, they move from who you are as a leader to how your leadership lands on others. Go listen to Claude's episode to connect personal alignment to scalable, people-first performance.