111 –  Customer-Centric Leadership with Nate Robinson (Inspire, Invest, Innovate)

by Julia Felton | May 26, 2026

Customer experience is never just about the customer.

That might sound odd when we are talking about hospitality, retail, quick service restaurants or any other customer-facing business, but it is the truth that too many leaders still miss.

The customer may be the person paying the bill, walking through the door, placing the order or leaving the review, but the real experience begins much earlier, in the way your team feels when they come to work.

Because a team that feels unseen, unsupported or unclear about what is expected of them will struggle to deliver the kind of experience that makes customers want to come back.

And that is exactly where my conversation with Nate Robinson began.

Nate is a senior retail veteran with experience across customer-facing environments, including quick service restaurants and sales. In this episode of Impactful Teamwork, we explored what it really takes to create a customer-centric culture, particularly when you are leading frontline teams who are often under pressure, underpaid, and expected to deliver brilliant service in fast-moving environments.

Customer-centric leadership starts with people

Nate describes himself as a people pleaser by nature, and it is clear that his passion for customer service comes from understanding one simple commercial reality: customers drive the bottom line.

However, the route to better customer experience is not simply telling people to smile more, move faster or “care more”. That old approach belongs in the leadership scrapyard.

The real work is helping team members understand why their role matters, what great looks like, and how their individual contribution impacts the whole business.

In hospitality and retail, things move quickly. Problems appear in real time. Guests complain. Orders go wrong. People have to make decisions on the hoof, often without the luxury of time, a perfect script or a senior manager standing beside them.

That is why these environments can be such powerful training grounds for leadership, accountability and problem-solving.

When leaders get it right, frontline team members do not just serve customers, they learn how to take ownership, think quickly, communicate clearly and recover when things do not go to plan.

The Three I Framework: Inspire, Invest and Innovate

One of the most practical parts of our conversation was Nate’s Three I Framework: Inspire, Invest and Innovate.

Inspire is about understanding what makes people show up, what they want from the role, and what they are trying to move towards. Not everyone wants to stay in a frontline role forever, and great leaders do not pretend otherwise. Instead, they help people grow, whether that means supporting them into management or helping them build skills for whatever comes next.

Invest is about making sure team members feel part of the team, not just part of the rota. Nate made the point that people work harder when they feel invested in, and I think that is such an important distinction because investment does not always mean expensive training programmes. Sometimes it means attention, encouragement, clarity, feedback and the sense that someone actually cares about your development.

Innovate is about finding different ways to train, engage and develop people, rather than assuming one approach works for everyone. Nate shared a great example of using a game to help a team member understand urgency, and this really resonated with me because leadership is so often an experiment.

What works for one person may fall flat with another.

The old way says, “Here is the playbook, follow it.”

The new way asks, “What does this person need, in this moment, to understand, grow and contribute?”

Why new managers need boundaries, not micromanagement

We also talked about one of the biggest traps new managers fall into, getting dragged back into the work they used to do because that is where they feel comfortable.

This happens all the time.

Someone gets promoted because they are good at the job, then suddenly they are expected to lead the people doing the job, but no one has helped them make that identity shift. So they dive back into the weeds, interfere with the team, over-function, micromanage, and then wonder why everyone feels frustrated.

Nate’s advice was beautifully simple: set boundaries and define your non-negotiables.

For him, non-negotiables are the clear expectations that everyone understands and works within, such as being on time, asking questions, wearing the correct uniform or following specific standards that matter to the business.

And this is where I think leaders often underestimate the power of stating the obvious.

Your team cannot play the game well if they do not know the rules of the game. Whether you are on a football pitch or a rugby pitch, the rules shape the behaviour, and it is exactly the same in business.

Clarity is not control.

Clarity is kindness.

Purpose, culture and the squeezed middle manager

Another thread that ran through this conversation was the pressure on today’s managers, especially middle managers who are being squeezed from both sides.

From above, they are dealing with performance metrics, KPIs, commercial targets and decisions they may not always fully control. From below, their teams want more support, more coaching, more nurturing and more clarity.

That is a lot for one person to carry.

And yet, developing people is no longer something that can be outsourced to HR. It is part of modern management, and this is where many managers need more support, because they are being asked to hold performance, wellbeing, culture and customer experience all at once.

No wonder so many feel exhausted.

Authenticity is no longer optional

Towards the end of the conversation, Nate and I talked about authenticity, and why it matters so much in today’s workplace.

People can sense when something is off.

They can sense when a manager is hiding behind a role, following a script or pretending to care. In a world where so much content, communication and leadership noise is becoming polished, automated and AI-generated, genuine human connection matters more than ever.

That is one of the reasons I love these podcast conversations. They are unscripted, real and sometimes gloriously off-piste, because that is where the insight lives.

Leadership is not meant to be robotic.

It is meant to be human.

Listen to the full episode

This episode is a brilliant listen for leaders, managers and business owners who want to create better customer experiences by building stronger, more engaged and more confident teams.

You will hear Nate and I explore:

• How to motivate frontline teams in fast-paced environments
• Why customer experience starts with team experience
• How to use the Three I Framework: Inspire, Invest and Innovate
• Why non-negotiables create clarity rather than control
• The pressure facing middle managers today
• Why authenticity is becoming one of the most important leadership skills

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Impactful Teamwork with Nate Robinson and consider this question: what three words would you want your team to use to describe your leadership?

Show Notes

00:52 Meet Nate Robinson

01:54 Customer Service Roots

02:46 Quick Service Explained

03:27 Motivating Frontline Teams

08:20 Three I Framework Origin

10:28 Inspire Invest Innovate

11:46 Generations Pay Training

14:47 New Manager Boundaries

16:54 Non Negotiables Standards

21:36 Purpose Engagement Culture

26:46 Three Words Authenticity

30:36 Middle Manager Squeeze

You can connect with Nate on LinkedIn here.

102 – Lessons from Leading a Volunteer Based Charity with Simon Errington

by Julia Felton | Mar 17, 2026

Every now and again a conversation reminds me that leadership is not just about profit, strategy, or growth.

Sometimes it is simply about people.

This week’s episode of the Impactful Teamwork podcast was recorded as part of Podcasthon Week, a global initiative where more than 1,500 podcasters across 40 countries shine a spotlight on charities and the incredible work they do.

And my guest for this special episode was Simon Errington, CEO of the charity Children in Distress.

What unfolded in our conversation was not just a story about charity work. It was a masterclass in reinvention, community, and the power of purpose-led leadership.

Because when you lead an organisation powered by volunteers, limited resources, and deep human need, the leadership lessons become incredibly real.

Let me share some of the insights that stood out.

From Crisis Response to Reinvention

Children in Distress began over 35 years ago in response to a humanitarian crisis.

When the communist regime in Romania collapsed, thousands of children were left vulnerable. Orphanages were closing, systems were collapsing, and many children were simply abandoned.

The charity stepped in to help. Over the decades they built orphanages, provided care, and supported vulnerable children across the country. But something interesting happened. Romania changed. The country evolved. Infrastructure improved. Conditions became better. Which meant the charity faced a profound leadership question:

What do we do when the world we were built to serve no longer exists in the same way?

Instead of clinging to the past, Simon and the team chose reinvention.

Today the charity still supports legacy projects in Romania, including Casa Maria, a family-style home caring for children with neurological and physical disabilities.

But they are also pivoting their strategy to support grassroots community projects in the UK.

It is a perfect example of something I talk about often on the podcast:

Leadership today is not about maintaining the status quo.

It is about reading the environment and adapting the system.

Just like a healthy herd does in nature.

Grassroots Impact: Supporting Communities Where They Are

One of the things I loved hearing about was the shift toward supporting local community leaders who are already making a difference. Instead of building new programmes from scratch, Children in Distress now focuses on funding and supporting grassroots initiatives.

One example is a project in Hull that brings Romanian families together through a weekly cooking club. Thirty children gather each week to cook traditional Romanian food, share meals, and spend time together as a community.

The aim is simple but powerful. Helping young people maintain their heritage, strengthen identity, and build confidence through shared experience. Alongside the cooking sessions there is also a Sunday school where children learn Romanian language and culture so they can stay connected to their roots.

What struck me about this project is that it goes far beyond food. It creates:

• Belonging
• Cultural identity
• Community connection
• Life skills
• Confidence

And all of these are essential ingredients for young people navigating a complex world.

The Three Pillars Supporting Young People

When I asked Simon about the charity’s priorities, three key themes emerged.

These pillars guide the projects they choose to support.

1. Wellbeing

Young people today face huge pressures. Technology, social media, isolation, and the lingering effects of COVID have all impacted their emotional resilience.

Many of the programmes funded by Children in Distress create spaces where young people can simply connect with others, interact, and build relationships.

Sometimes the most powerful intervention is simply helping children spend time together away from screens.

2. Education and Life Skills

Education doesn’t only happen in classrooms. Learning to cook. Working as a team. Communicating with others. These life skills build independence and confidence. Through practical activities children gain capabilities that will serve them throughout their lives.

3. Confidence and Community

Confidence grows when people feel they belong. The community aspect of these projects is vital. Parents attend sessions, families participate, and the wider community becomes part of the experience. This creates what I often describe as an ecosystem of support. When the system is healthy, individuals flourish.

The Leadership Challenge of Running a Charity

One part of our conversation fascinated me. Running a charity, in many ways, can be more complex than running a commercial business.

Why?

Because most of the people involved are volunteers. They are not tied to the organisation through a salary. They show up because they believe in the mission. And that completely changes how leadership works.

Simon explained it beautifully.

When you lead volunteers, you cannot simply tell people what to do.

You must:

• Build relationships
• Communicate the vision
• Nurture trust
• Keep people connected to the purpose

People volunteer because they care. But they stay because they feel valued.

This is a perfect example of what I describe in my Unbridled Teamship Roadmap, where trust, contribution, and adaptability create momentum inside teams.

Whether in a charity or a corporate boardroom, the principles are exactly the same.

Trust fuels contribution. Contribution creates momentum.

The Power of Community

Another powerful thread in our conversation was the role of community. Simon described volunteers who have spent decades knitting hats for shoebox gifts, year after year. Groups of people gathering to pack boxes filled with gifts for children who otherwise might receive nothing at Christmas. Each year the charity sends around 5,000 shoeboxes to Romania. Think about that for a moment. Thousands of people, across communities, quietly contributing their time and care.

No headlines. No applause. Just consistent acts of generosity.

In many ways this is what healthy systems look like. Small actions, repeated consistently, creating huge ripple effects.

The Big Challenge: Engaging the Next Generation

Like many charities, Children in Distress faces a growing challenge. How do you engage younger supporters?

Many long-standing volunteers have supported the organisation for decades. But the future depends on attracting a new generation of donors and volunteers. Simon believes the key lies in communicating impact clearly.

People today want to understand:

• What difference their contribution makes
• How they benefit personally
• What outcomes their time or money creates

In other words, purpose must be visible. And collaboration is essential. Charities cannot operate alone. They must partner with communities, organisations, and networks to expand their reach.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Here are the biggest lessons I took away from this conversation.

1. Reinvention is essential

Organisations must adapt as the world changes. Holding onto old models prevents future impact.

2. Small organisations can create massive impact

You don’t need scale to make a difference. Focused action at the grassroots level can transform lives.

3. Trust is the foundation of volunteer leadership

People follow leaders they trust, especially when they are giving their time freely.

4. Community creates resilience

When people gather around a shared purpose, momentum builds naturally.

5. Purpose drives contribution

Volunteers show up because they believe in something bigger than themselves.

How You Can Help

If this conversation resonates with you, there are many ways you can support charities like Children in Distress.

You could:

• Make a small donation
• Volunteer your time
• Support their shoebox campaign
• Share their story with others

Even a single pound, multiplied across a community, can make a huge difference.

You can learn more at: childrenindistress.org

Final Reflection

One thing became clear during this conversation. Whether we are leading businesses, charities, or communities, the fundamentals remain the same. People want to contribute. They want to belong. They want to feel that their efforts matter. And when leaders create environments where trust, connection, and purpose thrive, extraordinary things become possible. Just like in a herd, when the system is aligned, movement happens naturally.

Show Notes

00:00 Why Teamwork Wins

00:46 Podcastathon Week Intro

01:10 Meet Simon Arrington

01:59 Charity Origins in Romania

03:19 Casa Maria and Shoeboxes

04:09 Pivoting to the UK

05:55 UK Projects in Hull

09:48 Key Pillars for Youth

11:59 Why Simon Volunteers

14:42 Leading Volunteers as CEO

18:43 Shoebox Campaign Community

21:52 Engaging Younger Supporters

25:16 Small Charity Big Impact

28:04 How to Donate and Volunteer

29:57 Wrap Up and Subscribe

You can contact Simon and learn more about Children in Distress at www.childrenindistress.org

100 – My Leadership Journey from Corporate Success to Nature-Inspired Teamship

by Julia Felton | Mar 3, 2026

Recording Episode 100 of Impactful Teamwork caught me off guard. I expected to feel proud, maybe a little reflective, but I didn’t expect to feel emotional. Reaching a hundred episodes landed as proof of something I don’t always give myself credit for, the ability to stay with a rhythm long enough for it to become meaningful.

This episode is a behind-the-scenes view of what’s been happening in my world, why I’ve built the podcast the way I have, and the experiences that shaped the work I do today. It’s less “here are my lessons” and more “here’s how I got here”, with plenty of honesty along the way.

Why Episode 100 matters more than the milestone

A hundred episodes is a number, yes, but it’s also a marker of consistency, identity, and evolution. When I started the podcast, I didn’t have a grand plan for what it would become. What I did have was a commitment to keep exploring what makes teams work, what breaks trust, and why so many smart leaders still feel like everything lands on them.

Over time, the podcast became something I didn’t fully anticipate, a weekly learning lab that keeps me grounded. Each episode asks me to stay curious, notice patterns, and translate what I’m seeing in real teams into language that helps leaders move, not just think.

The way I record is deliberate, not casual

One of the things I pull back the curtain on in this episode is the way I have conversations with guests. I don’t send a rigid list of questions in advance, and I don’t want interviews that feel like a transaction. I want the conversation to be alive, and I want it to sound like two human beings in the same room, listening and responding in real time.

Part of that is a personal stance. I’m not anti-AI, I use it, I respect it, and I think it can be incredibly useful. What I refuse to do is outsource humanity. I’m watching more content become slicker and emptier, more automated and less felt, and I believe leaders and teams are craving the opposite, they want real presence, real honesty, and real connection.

The thread that runs through everything I teach

I also share more about the foundations of my work, and why it looks different from traditional leadership development.

My work is inspired by wisdom from nature, and in particular, the horses. I’m trained in equine-assisted leadership development, and I’ve seen again and again that horses reveal the reality of our leadership presence faster than any meeting ever will. They respond to energy, intention, congruence, and trust, not job titles or polished words.

That’s why the Unbridled Teamship Roadmap sits at the centre of what I do. It’s designed to help teams create performance that doesn’t rely on pressure, heroic effort, or one exhausted leader holding everything together.

From corporate certainty to trust collapse (and what that taught me)

Before Business HorsePower, I spent two decades in corporate life, first at Arthur Andersen and then Deloitte. I had the privilege of building a specialist data analytics division within the firm, growing it from an idea into a global service with an international team and significant revenue.

From the outside it looked like momentum, travel, influence, big stages, industry recognition. From the inside, it also carried a cost that I didn’t fully name at the time.

One of the defining moments in that chapter was the Enron scandal, and the way it rippled through Arthur Andersen. Watching a global firm unravel showed me something I’ve never forgotten, once trust is broken, the consequences are fast and brutal. Clients leave, people panic, systems strain, and uncertainty becomes the air everyone breathes. It was an early, lived lesson in why trust is not soft, it’s structural.

Toby, the moment my horse told me the truth

This episode also includes one of the stories that always makes me smile now, even though it didn’t feel funny at the time.

I bought my first horse, Toby, during that period of corporate upheaval. Then I had a whole summer where I couldn’t catch him. No matter what I tried, no matter what treats I brought, he’d simply run away.

With hindsight, it was painfully obvious what was happening. I was turning up with directive energy, a “let’s get this done” intensity, and Toby made a clean decision that he didn’t want any part of it. He didn’t argue. He didn’t explain. He just voted with his feet.

At the same time, members of my team were feeding back that I could be intimidating, overly focused, hard to approach when I was in execution mode. Horses don’t deliver feedback gently, but they do deliver it accurately, and that summer with Toby was one of the first times I began to see my leadership presence with new eyes.

Namibia, presence, and the moment everything shifted

Years later, I reached a point where corporate success no longer felt like enough, and I took a sabbatical. That decision led me to a horse rescue in Colorado, and then into Africa, including time on an elephant conservation project in Namibia.

There was a campfire conversation in Namibia that changed my life. Someone asked me what swimming with dolphins had felt like, and I realised I couldn’t remember. I’d done the thing, ticked the box, lived the story, and yet I wasn’t actually present for it.

That moment exposed a truth I didn’t want to admit: I was achieving a lot, but I wasn’t always living it.

So I stepped further out of my comfort zone and trained as a safari guide, living in the bush and learning the kind of lessons that can’t be intellectualised. In nature, awareness matters. Presence matters. Energy matters. Everything is interconnected, and nothing is wasted.

When I came back to the UK, I realised my horses had been teaching me those same lessons all along.

Why Teamship, not heroic leadership, is the future

This behind-the-scenes episode isn’t here to glorify hustle or portray reinvention as some neat, cinematic pivot. It’s an honest reflection on what happens when you outgrow your old operating system, and you decide to build something more aligned with who you are and how healthy systems actually work.

It’s also a quiet challenge to leaders who feel the weight of everything, because the answer isn’t more control, more pressure, or more lone-wolf effort. The answer is trust, contribution, and shared ownership. It’s teamship, a way of working that replaces silos with synergy and turns execution into a rhythm rather than a constant firefight.

If you’re feeling the stretch, this episode will meet you there

If you’re leading a smart team but progress feels heavier than it should, if you’re noticing decision drag, avoidance, politics, or a subtle erosion of trust, this episode will land. Not because it offers a checklist, but because it speaks to what’s really happening under the surface.

Listen to Episode 100 of Impactful Teamwork, and as you do, notice what it stirs.

Where are you being asked to lead with more presence?
Where are you relying on force when connection would create more momentum?
What might become possible if your team stopped waiting for you to carry it all?

If you want to share what resonated, message me. I read them, and I’m always up for a real conversation.all right now, and what would it look like to climb anyway?

Show Notes

00:45 100th Episode Celebration

02:05 Why This Podcast Matters

03:50 Authenticity Over AI

05:26 Who Is Julia Felton

07:27 Corporate Success Story

09:28 Enron Trust Collapse

15:13 First Horse Toby

17:45 Sabbatical And Africa

22:43 Bush Lessons In Nature

24:32 Horses Teach Leadership

27:29 Reinventing Leadership Work

29:35 Teamship And Reinvention

32:26 Retreats With Rescued Horses

33:53 Invitation And Farewell

99 – Self-Sabotage: The Hidden Leadership Challenge

by Julia Felton | Feb 24, 2026

Most entrepreneurs will show you the highlight reel.

Revenue months. Team photos. The “we made it” moment.

Very few will tell you about the five days off in a whole year, and three of those because the building was literally closed.

That’s why my conversation with Steve Frazier hit differently.

Steve is a serial entrepreneur and a self-sabotage coach, and he pulled back the curtain on what it really takes to build something that survives, not just something that looks good on LinkedIn.

And if you’re leading a team right now, scaling, hiring, or trying to grow without burning out, this episode is a wake-up call wrapped in practicality.

Let’s break down the biggest lessons.

1) Passion is not a poster, it’s a power source

Steve’s entrepreneurial journey started early, paper route at 11, restaurant owner by 28, building and operating multiple businesses across decades.

But the part I want you to sit with is this:

When he took over that first restaurant, it was failing, losing serious money, and everyone knew it. He worked relentlessly to turn it around. Five days off in year one. Two genuine days off.

Now, I’m not glorifying grind. I’m not here for martyrdom-as-marketing.

I am here for the truth.

Because passion isn’t an aesthetic. It’s what fuels you when the “new business energy” wears off and the real work begins.

If you’re building something without that inner fire, the first hard season will take you out.

Ask yourself:

• Do I actually care about the problem I’m solving?
• Would I still do this if nobody clapped?
• If it gets hard (and it will), what pulls me over the wall?

2) Your business will mirror your blind spots

Steve shared something brutally honest: he built a solid coaching programme, something genuinely valuable… and it failed.

Not because the offer was rubbish.

Because nobody knew about it.

He didn’t know how to reach his target market, spent money on coaching, and still never booked a call.

This is where self-sabotage gets sneaky.

Sometimes it’s not “fear of success” in a dramatic sense.

It’s the quiet avoidance of the uncomfortable basics:

• Marketing that actually reaches humans
• Testing messages in the wild
• Asking directly for the conversation
• Repeating what works instead of reinventing every week

In horse terms, this is the moment you think you’re leading, but your energy is inconsistent, and the herd does not follow. Not because they’re difficult, but because they’re honest.

Your business will do the same.

Spot the pattern:

• Great ideas, poor follow-through
• Constant rebrands instead of consistent delivery
• Paying for advice, then not implementing it
• Waiting to feel ready before you act

3) The “one basket” problem: build more than one leg to stand on

A powerful strategy Steve shared was about revenue streams.

His earlier business depended on one stream. When it didn’t land, the whole thing wobbled.

With his newer venture, “Release the Coffee Cuffs”, he built multiple streams:

• A book to build credibility and deepen expertise
• Coaching for support and accountability
• Speaking as a scalable visibility channel

Whether you love his topic or not, this is a leadership lesson.

Single points of failure create fragility.

Teams do this too.

One leader becomes the bottleneck.
One department holds all the knowledge.
One person carries the culture.

That’s not “high performance”. That’s a stress fracture waiting to happen.

Action to take this week:

• Identify your “single point of failure”, in your business or your team
• Build one additional support structure around it (process, training, shared ownership, documentation, delegation)

4) The wall exists for a reason

Steve referenced a concept I love because it’s so painfully accurate: the wall.

The wall is the point where most people stop.

Not because they can’t go further, but because they’re not willing to pay the price.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: the price isn’t always money.

Sometimes the price is:

• discomfort
• ego bruising
• time sacrifice
• being misunderstood
• learning a new skill instead of hiding in your strengths
• letting go of the herd’s approval

Steve gave the example of someone who wanted a business dream but realised she wasn’t willing to sacrifice time with her children right now, and chose to pause.

That is not failure.

That is aligned leadership.

Because part of leading yourself is knowing what season you are in.

Winter is not the time to demand spring results.

5) Self-sabotage is often physical before it’s mental

This surprised some listeners, and I’m glad it came up.

Steve talked about physical self-sabotage, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, lack of sleep, overeating, and the way these habits quietly drive our performance.

In business, we like to pretend we’re brains on sticks.

But teams are living systems. Leaders are living systems.

Energy always tells the truth.

If you’re running on stimulants, stress, and adrenaline, you might look productive, but you’re borrowing from tomorrow.

And that debt always gets collected.

Reflection:

• What habit am I using to override fatigue?
• What would change in my leadership if I protected my energy like a scarce resource?

6) The simplest anti-sabotage tool: daily wins, written down

One of the most practical takeaways was Steve’s “WINS for the day” habit.

At night, he writes:

• three wins from the day (business or personal)
• what he will do tomorrow

It’s simple, and that’s why it works.

It stops your brain spinning.
It builds evidence that you’re moving.
It creates direction without drama.

Try it for 7 days:

• 3 wins
• 3 priorities for tomorrow
• 1 gratitude note before sleep

Watch what happens to your clarity.

7) You do not need the herd’s approval

This line landed hard.

Steve talked about how people get uncomfortable when you change, when you opt out, when you stop doing what the herd does.

Whether it’s decaf, no alcohol, less TV, more ambition, or a new direction.

In horse herds, there is coherence, not conformity. The herd moves together because it’s safe, not because they all want the same thing.

Human herds are different.

They often punish divergence.

So if you’re building something bold, you need to build a spine strong enough to be disliked by people who benefit from you staying small.

Want the full conversation?

If you’ve been feeling stuck, scattered, or secretly sabotaging your next level, this episode will meet you where you are, and then lovingly push you forward.

Listen to my interview with Steve Frazier on Impactful Teamwork and tell me this:

Where are you hitting the wall right now, and what would it look like to climb anyway?

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction to Impactful Teamwork

00:53 Meet Steve Frazier: Serial Entrepreneur and Self-Sabotage Coach

02:12 Steve’s Entrepreneurial Journey: From Paperboy to Restaurateur

03:39 Lessons from Business Failures and Pivots

05:26 The Birth of ‘Release the Coffee Cuffs’

17:28 Strategies to Overcome Self-Sabotage in Business

20:40 The Importance of Mindset and Motivation

27:35 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

You can connect with Steve Frasier here

97 – Leadership Essentials for Performance Under Pressure

by Julia Felton | Feb 10, 2026

There’s a moment in this episode where Victor drops a line that lands like a boot on the ground.

“Excuses never build excellence.”

And honestly, I felt my whole nervous system go, yes. Because whether you’re leading a platoon or a product team, excuses are the first weeds that creep into the field when trust, clarity, and ownership start slipping.

In this conversation with Victor Martinez, President and Founder of Elite Life Coaching, we explored what it takes to build teams that perform under pressure, create trust that holds, and ditch the “I don’t have time” story that keeps people stuck.

This one is packed with sharp truth, and a few uncomfortable mirrors. Let’s get into the key learnings and takeaways, with actions you can apply immediately.

Key Lesson 1: The most common excuse is a lie we’ve normalised

Victor says the number one excuse he hears from clients is:

“I don’t have time.”

And he’s not wrong.

It’s the socially acceptable way to say:

• I’m overwhelmed
• I’m avoiding discomfort
• I’m not prioritising this
• I don’t believe it will work
• I’m scared I’ll fail

Victor’s lived experience makes this hit harder. He talks about being blown up in Iraq, and how it rewired his relationship with time.

Time isn’t money. You can’t earn it back.

That’s not motivational poster stuff. That’s reality.

Takeaway for leaders

If your team keeps saying “no time”, you’re not dealing with a scheduling problem.

You’re dealing with a priorities and energy problem.

Actions to apply this week

• Ask your team: “What are we pretending is urgent that isn’t?”
• Create a “stop doing” list (yes, literally write it down)
• Replace “I don’t have time” with: “It’s not a priority right now because…”

That one sentence will clean up a lot of self-deception.

Key Lesson 2: The military is a “team of teams” (and so is your business)

Victor describes the military as a system of teams nested inside other teams.

Platoon. Company. Battalion. Brigade. Division.

Everything works when the teams know their role, know how they connect, and move toward a shared mission.

This is where I wanted to stand up and cheer, because business leaders forget this all the time.

They optimise individual departments, then wonder why the whole organism is limping.

Takeaway for leaders

A high-performing business isn’t a collection of high-performing individuals.

It’s a connected ecosystem with clear handovers, shared purpose, and mutual reliance.

Actions to apply this week

• Map your “team of teams” on one page:
  • Who relies on who?
  • Where do handovers break?
  • Where are you duplicating effort?
• Run a 30-minute cross-team sync:
  • “Here’s what we’re doing”
  • “Here’s what we need”
  • “Here’s what we’re changing”

The goal is coordination, not control.

Key Lesson 3: Know who is on your team, and what they bring to the fight

Victor makes it plain.

You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of the people around you.

On the battlefield, this is survival.

In business, it’s performance, speed, and morale.

When people are in the wrong roles, the cost is massive:

• delays
• friction
• miscommunication
• blame
• burnout

Takeaway for leaders

Stop expecting every person to be brilliant at everything.

Build a team like a herd, each member has a role in the system.

Actions to apply this week

• Ask each team member:
  • “What work gives you energy?”
  • “What drains you?”
  • “Where do you do your best thinking?”
• Reassign one responsibility based on strength (even small shifts matter)
• Watch what happens to energy and ownership

Key Lesson 4: Trust is built by example, not speeches

Victor’s answer to “how do you build trust?” is beautifully simple:

Be the example.

Not lip service.
Not “do as I say”.
Not leadership slogans.

In horse herds, trust is built through congruence. The leader’s body says what their energy says. No mixed signals.

Humans? We can fake words. We can’t fake patterns.

Takeaway for leaders

Your team trusts your behaviour, not your intentions.

Actions to apply this week

• Identify one standard you expect from others (punctuality, communication, accountability)
• Audit yourself first:
  • Are you modelling it consistently?
  • Are you breaking it and excusing it?
• Repair one trust wobble quickly:
  • “I said X”
  • “I did Y”
  • “Here’s what I’ll do differently”

Trust doesn’t collapse in one dramatic moment, it erodes in tiny contradictions.

Key Lesson 5: Rogue team members require courageous conversations

This part was gold because it’s what so many leaders avoid.

Victor calls it out:

Leaders often don’t want to have difficult conversations because they don’t want to “stir the boat” or hurt feelings.

But avoiding it hurts everyone.

And he’s blunt about the military reality:

There’s no room for lone wolves when lives are at stake.

In business, it’s not life-or-death, but it can still destroy momentum and culture.

Takeaway for leaders

Protect the team, not the comfort of avoidance.

Actions to apply this week

• Have the conversation you’ve been dodging
  • private
  • clear
  • anchored in impact on the team and mission
• Use this framework:
  • Behaviour: “Here’s what I’m seeing”
  • Impact: “Here’s what it’s causing”
  • Expectation: “Here’s what needs to change”
  • Support: “Here’s what I’ll provide”
  • Consequence: “If it doesn’t change, here’s what happens next”

Kindness without clarity isn’t kindness, it’s chaos.

Key Lesson 6: Loyalty and camaraderie are performance multipliers

This was a standout theme I don’t hear enough in business.

Victor speaks about loyalty to:

• the mission
• the team
• the organisation
• the brand

And he shares the idea of building a climate where people are proud to belong.

In nature, belonging is safety. Safety creates calm. Calm creates performance.

Takeaway for leaders

People don’t commit to companies, they commit to cultures where they feel proud, safe, and seen.

Actions to apply this week

• Define 3 “pillars” for how your team behaves (not fluffy values, real behaviours)
  • e.g. candour, ownership, collaboration
• Make them visible in team meetings
• Reward what you want repeated:
  • sharing ideas across silos
  • owning mistakes early
  • supporting others under pressure

Key Lesson 7: The fastest path to success is a coach or mentor

Victor was asked on another podcast: what’s the fastest path to success?

His answer:

Get a coach. Get a mentor.

Someone who knows where the potholes are.
Someone who can see your blind spots.
Someone who tells you the truth when you’re bargaining with excuses.

And I couldn’t agree more.

If you want your team to elevate, leaders need to elevate first.

Actions to apply this week

• If you’re a leader without support, ask:
  • “Who challenges me with care?”
  • “Who sees what I can’t see?”
• Build coaching into your leadership rhythm:
  • weekly 1:1s that focus on thinking, not tasks
  • questions that build ownership, not dependence

Final Reflection: Excellence is a choice, then a habit

This episode is a call to stop drifting.

To stop tolerating:

• excuses disguised as busyness
• silos disguised as autonomy
• avoidance disguised as kindness
• mediocrity disguised as realism

The real work is building a team culture that can handle pressure without fracture.

A herd that moves together.

A business ecosystem that doesn’t rely on one exhausted leader pulling the cart uphill.

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction to Impactful Teamwork

00:58 Meet Victor Martines: From Battlefield to Boardroom

01:52 No Excuses: Building Excellence in Business

02:59 Time Management and Energy Management

04:08 Lessons from the Battlefield: Teamwork and Leadership

05:51 Building Trust in Teams

14:59 The Importance of Loyalty in Teams

23:54 The Power of Mentorship and Coaching

25:14 Upcoming Books and Resources

27:38 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

You can connect with Victor Martinez here

95 – Mental Fitness in Leadership: Insights from Brian Vogel

by Julia Felton | Jan 27, 2026

Why my conversation with Brian Vogel matters more than ever

Let me be blunt.

If you’re leading people right now and you’re not coaching them, you’re firefighting.
And sooner or later, you’ll burn out… or they will.

In this week’s episode of Impactful Teamwork, I sat down with Brian Vogel, founder of Sun Dog Coaching and co-founder of Sensible HR.

What unfolded was one of those conversations that quietly rewires how you see leadership.

Not flashy.
Not fluffy.
Deeply practical.
And deeply human.

This is an episode for leaders who feel the weight of responsibility and know the old “manager” playbook no longer cuts it.

From HR Veteran to Coach at Heart

Brian spent 25 years in HR, across enterprise, scale-ups and start-ups.
He knows the system from the inside.

But what struck me most was how honest he was about getting pulled away from what actually lights him up.

Like so many leaders, Brian became highly skilled at many things…
Without stopping to ask which ones brought him energy.

It took a coach asking one deceptively simple question:

“What do you really love about your work?”

The answer wasn’t compliance.
It wasn’t payroll.
It was coaching.

That moment matters.

Because how many leaders do you know (maybe you) who are brilliant at what they do… yet quietly disconnected from what gives them life?

Coaching, Swimming and the Power of Visible Progress

Before HR, Brian was a competitive swimmer and swim coach.

And this is where the metaphor landed hard for me.

In swimming, results are immediate.
You don’t debate progress.
You see it on the pace clock.

Brian shared how coaching swimmers taught him something leaders often forget:

Performance is the outcome of behaviours, repeated over time.

Not KPIs.
Not dashboards.
Not clever strategies.

Behaviours.

Which brings us to one of my favourite lines from the entire conversation.

Results Are Just Aggregated Behaviours

Let this land.

“Results are nothing more than aggregated behaviours.”

Read that again.

If you’re frustrated with results, the work is not “more pressure”.
The work is noticing, affirming and adjusting behaviours.

That’s leadership.
That’s coaching.

Brian summed up the leader’s role beautifully:

👉 Affirm what’s working
👉 Adjust what’s not

Simple.
Not easy.
But transformational when practiced consistently.

The Most Underrated Leadership Tool: The One-to-One

We went deep on one-to-ones, and I’ll say this plainly:

If your one-to-ones feel like project updates, you’re wasting the most powerful leadership lever you have.

Brian calls it the Manager Trinity:

• One-to-ones
• Coaching
• Feedback

And here’s the reframe many leaders miss:

The one-to-one is not your meeting.
It’s theirs.

His suggested structure is beautifully human:

• 10 minutes for them
• 10 minutes for you
• 10 minutes for their development

And if something has to drop?

It’s your agenda.

That’s how trust is built.
That’s how performance compounds.

Delegation Isn’t About Letting Go, It’s About Growing Others

One of the most honest parts of the conversation was around delegation.

Leaders often say:

“I’ll just do it myself, it’s quicker.”

And in the short term, they’re right.

In the long term?

They create dependency, frustration and boredom.

Brian’s advice to emerging leaders was clear:

👉 Give people more responsibility
👉 Stretch them
👉 Stop protecting them from challenge

Nobody grows when everything stays comfortable.

And here’s the kicker…

Often the tasks you hate are someone else’s zone of genius.

I’ve lived this myself.
Assuming others would hate what I hated… and unintentionally holding them back.

Working Genius and Why Burnout Isn’t About Hours

We touched on the Six Types of Working Genius, developed by Patrick Lencioni, and it landed powerfully.

Just because you’re good at something
Doesn’t mean it gives you energy.

Burnout, as Brian shared, often isn’t about working too many hours.

It’s about working too many hours in your frustration zone.

Read that slowly.

If you’re constantly drained, the question isn’t “How do I do less?”
It’s “What am I doing that costs me energy rather than fuels it?”

Mental Fitness: The Inner Game of Leadership

One of the richest parts of this episode was our conversation about mental fitness.

Brian works with leaders using the Saboteur model from Positive Intelligence.

In simple terms:

• Saboteurs are the fear-based voices in your head
• The Sage is the calm, wise, creative part of you

Here’s the truth many leaders avoid:

You cannot lead others if you can’t lead your own mind.

Energy leaks start internally.
Beliefs ripple outward.

And yes, your team feels it.

Leadership Is Human Work, Not Role Management

One moment that really stayed with me was when Brian talked about knowing your people.

Not superficially.
Humanly.

Knowing their partner’s name.
Knowing if they have children.
Knowing what matters to them.

Not prying.
Caring.

Because people don’t go above and beyond for leaders who treat them like resources.

They show up for leaders who see them.

WIN: What’s Important Now

We closed the conversation with a deceptively simple concept from Lou Holtz.

WIN = What’s Important Now

Not everything.
Not everyone.
Now.

Big momentum is built through small, intentional wins.

The question I’m leaving you with (and the one I left listeners with at the end of the episode) is this:

What’s your win this week?
What’s important now?

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:09 Brian Vogel’s Background and Career Journey

02:08 Transition to Coaching and Founding Sundog Coaching

05:13 The Importance of Coaching in Leadership

07:53 Effective One-on-One Meetings

10:51 Delegation and Team Development

13:51 Understanding Working Genius and Avoiding Burnout

17:21 Mental Fitness and Positive Intelligence

29:44 Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways

You can connect with Brian Vogel here

Request the Saboteurs Assessment by emailing  he***@************ng.com

93 – The Leaders of Today Should Not Be the Leaders of Tomorrow

by Julia Felton | Jan 13, 2026

Why business needs a radical leadership reset – now

What if the leadership style that got us here is the very thing holding us back?

That’s the provocative question at the heart of my latest Impactful Teamwork podcast conversation with Maria Brink, founder and president of Zynergy International.

This episode is not about polishing outdated leadership models.
It’s about fundamentally rethinking how we lead, who we listen to, and what kind of future we are actually designing through our decisions.

If you’re leading a business right now and feeling the tension, the burnout, the complexity, the sense that the old playbook just isn’t working anymore, this conversation will land deep.

Leadership hasn’t evolved for 10,000 years – and business is paying the price

One of Maria’s boldest insights stopped me in my tracks:

Leadership culture has barely evolved in 10,000 years – and it’s now killing business.

When you really sit with that, it explains a lot.

• Short-term decision making
• Ego-driven leadership
• Power hoarding
• Burnout cultures
• Disconnection from people, purpose, and planet

Much of modern leadership still rewards dominance, control, speed, and aggression. Traits that may once have helped tribes survive, but now actively undermine our ability to lead complex organisations in a volatile, interconnected world.

The result?
Organisations that look successful on paper, but are quietly eroding from the inside.

The hidden cost of hyper-masculine leadership energy

Let’s be clear, this is not about gender.

Maria and I are talking about leadership energy.

For centuries, leadership has over-indexed on what we might call hyper-masculine traits:

• Decisive at all costs
• Competitive over collaborative
• Status-driven
• Emotionally disconnected
• Short-term wins over long-term stewardship

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

That energy is no longer fit for purpose.

Today’s business challenges are not linear. They are systemic, relational, and deeply human. They require leaders who can:

• Hold complexity
• Think long-term
• Balance courage with care
• Act decisively and inclusively

Without this balance, leaders burn out, teams disengage, and organisations fracture.

The three pillars of future-fit leadership

In the episode, Maria outlines three powerful pillars that define the leadership the future actually needs.

These are not “nice to haves”. They are survival skills.

1. Break the leadership monopoly

For too long, leadership has been dominated by a narrow set of voices.

Future-fit leadership actively brings in:

• Women
• Minority voices
• Indigenous wisdom
• Different cultural perspectives

Why does this matter?

Because diversity of perspective creates resilience.

Indigenous cultures, for example, hold deep wisdom around stewardship, interdependence, and long-term thinking. Wisdom business desperately needs as we face climate, social, and economic instability.

Leadership that excludes voices is leadership that blinds itself.

2. Widen the circle of connection

Traditional leadership often stops at:

• “Me”
• “My team”
• “My organisation”

That’s no longer enough.

Maria invites us to widen the circle to include:

• Communities
• Ecosystems
• Future generations
• The planet itself

This shift moves leadership from ego to eco.

When leaders think systemically, decisions change. Strategy changes. Success is no longer measured purely by quarterly returns, but by sustainable impact and collective wellbeing.

3. Balance masculine and feminine leadership traits

This is where leadership becomes truly powerful.

Future-ready leaders learn to hold paradox:

• Bold and humble
• Decisive and empathetic
• Confident and curious
• Courageous and compassionate

It requires emotional intelligence, adaptability, and the ability to read what the moment actually needs.

Leadership is no longer about wearing one fixed identity.
It’s about having a wide, flexible toolkit and knowing when to use it.

Why AI makes human leadership more important, not less

We also explore the rise of AI and its impact on leadership.

Here’s the irony.

As AI takes over task-based, repetitive, linear work, the very traits we’ve historically undervalued become our greatest advantage:

• Empathy
• Relationship-building
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Emotional intelligence

The leaders who succeed in the AI era won’t be the most aggressive. They’ll be the most human.

But only if we intentionally develop those capabilities, rather than assuming they’ll magically appear.

Unconscious bias – the invisible force shaping leadership decisions

One of the most powerful moments in our conversation is when we unpack unconscious bias.

The challenge with unconscious bias is simple:

You don’t know you have it.

It shapes who we hire.
Who we promote.
Who we listen to.
Who we dismiss.

Until leaders build awareness, they unknowingly recreate cultures full of “mini-me” thinking, which limits innovation, diversity, and growth.

Awareness isn’t about blame. It’s about choice. You can’t change what you can’t see.

The polycrisis – and why leadership must evolve fast

Maria introduces the idea of a polycrisis (sometimes called a meta-crisis).

This is not one isolated problem.
It’s multiple crises happening simultaneously:

• Climate change
• AI and technological ethics
• Global conflict
• Economic instability
• Social inequality

These challenges are deeply interconnected. They cannot be solved with siloed thinking or command-and-control leadership.

They demand leaders who can think holistically, act responsibly, and lead with humility.

Leadership evolution isn’t optional anymore. It’s essential.

What this means for you as a leader

If you’re leading a team, a business, or an organisation right now, this episode invites a powerful reflection:

• Where am I still leading from old conditioning?
• Whose voices am I not hearing?
• Where might control be limiting trust and contribution?
• How am I balancing performance with wellbeing?

Leadership is no longer about having all the answers.

It’s about creating the conditions where people, performance, and purpose can thrive together.

Ready to rethink how you lead?

This episode of Impactful Teamwork is a deep, honest, and challenging conversation for leaders who know the future demands something different.

🎧 Listen now if you want to:

• Future-proof your leadership
• Build resilient, human-centred teams
• Lead with impact, not ego
• Create momentum without burnout

And if this conversation sparks something for you, I’d love to hear your reflections. Leadership evolves through dialogue, not dogma

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:52 The Evolution of Leadership Culture

05:21 Mindset Shifts for Sustainable Leadership

05:45 The Three Pillars of Modern Leadership

08:03 Balancing Masculine and Feminine Traits

11:33 The Role of AI in Future Leadership

17:54 Unconscious Bias in Leadership

21:15 Addressing the Poly Crisis

21:40 The Impact of Monopolised Leadership

22:45 Understanding the Public Crisis

24:02 The Role of AI and Biotechnology

26:34 Leadership Lessons from Nature

30:38 Insights from Indigenous Populations

34:38 The Importance of Belonging and Connection

36:23 Conclusion and Book Information

Please connect with Maria on LinkedIn here

You can purchase Maria’s book – Book The Leadership We Need at all good online book stores