Seasons Leadership Podcast

In this insightful and practical episode, Susan and Debbie explore what it really means to lead with a quality mindset. Quality isn’t just a department, a checklist, or the QA team’s job—it’s a cultural commitment that starts at the top. Drawing on years of leadership experience, they share how a focus on quality influences everything from customer trust to team morale and why it must be built in from the beginning—not corrected at the end. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how to define, model, and reinforce quality in your leadership practice—and how to avoid t...

In this energizing and practical episode, Susan and Debbie introduce a powerful leadership tool they call the Leadership and Management System (LMS)—a deceptively simple, highly effective way to create clarity, momentum, and alignment across any organization. From high-stakes Boeing projects to startup chaos, they share how this system brings people together, drives results, and fosters a culture where excellence isn’t left to chance—it’s designed and lived. Whether you're a seasoned executive or just starting your leadership journey, this episode will leave you inspired—and equipped—to build your own leadership and management system.

⏰ Episo...

What if a simple cup of coffee could transform your team’s performance? In this episode, Susan and Debbie dive deep into the often-overlooked secret to sustainable business success—relationships. Discover why strong, intentional connections are more than “nice-to-haves”—they are essential, strategic advantages. Learn about the Swedish tradition of Fika, how it fosters trust, communication, innovation, and what it looks like in action—from startups to global teams. Whether you lead a team of 5 or 5,000, this conversation will inspire you to pause, connect, and lead with purpose.

⏰ Episode Breakdown & Key Highlights:

00:03 – Susan sets the tone: Can...

In this engaging episode of the Seasons Leadership Podcast, Debbie Collard and Susan Ireland delve into the essential leadership practice of setting meaningful intentions. Unlike typical goal-setting, intentions provide clarity and purpose, grounding leaders in their vision, mission, and values—especially during uncertain times. Debbie and Susan share personal stories, explore the AIM SMART framework, and offer practical accountability strategies to help leaders turn their intentions into impactful progress.

⏰ Episode Breakdown & Key Highlights:

We dive deeper into the Foundational Leadership Triad that defines your mission, vision and values and focus on mission or your “why.” Join us and learn the importance of finding your why and how through this practice of self-awareness you can feel more fulfilled and prepared to lead boldly and naturally.

Show notes:

(0:56) Leadership is the ability to inspire and motivate people to action. Excellent leadership is understanding yourself. We are how we lead. We briefly explain the Foundational Leadership Triad and how mission or your “why” is connected to your actions.

(5:01) Leaders that are...

Welcome to season 6 of the Seasons Leadership Podcast. Listeners have asked us to go deeper on leadership topics so we will bring you this renewed focus throughout season 6. We start with a deep discussion on foundational leadership knowledge which includes four areas of knowledge: industry, organization, stakeholders and business model or operations. We encourage you to approach your leadership journey as an ongoing process of reinvention, adaptation and renewal. As you listen to this episode, think about what you could implement in your own leadership immediately that will increase your level of excellence as a leader.

Show...

Join us as we once again explore the transition of the seasons. With winter starting in the Northern Hemisphere, we explore the metaphor of the season of winter. Regardless of the physical season you are in, you may be experiencing winter. Learn more about these cycles of change at: seasonsleadership.com.

Show Notes:

We examine the cyclical nature of seasons and reflect on the importance of making the most of this change.

We share what’s new for us as we head into winter. Feeling pulled in a new direction and feeling ungrounded. We...

We are excited to share the outcome of our 2025 Strategic Planning session. This is an annual practice we recommend for all leaders, to review your mission, vision and values and make any necessary updates or adjustments to achieve the goals of your business or organization.

Through this process we affirmed our vision to make excellent leadership the worldwide standard as our guiding light. As we approach 2025, we have decided it’s time to go deeper into what it means to be an excellent leader. This means we will be moving to a monthly podcast that will bring yo...

Join me, Susan Ireland, as I talk with Seasoned Leader and previous podcast guest Kimberly Adams about gratitude, positivity and community in this special Thanksgiving episode. Kimberly, an artist, author, art instructor, business owner and executive leader shares her leadership perspective on the importance of shifting your energy to positivity. You will be inspired by our discussion to lead with gratitude.

Show Notes:

(1:23) We start with thoughts on gratefulness. Kimberly shares her recovery mindset and how being grateful needs to be a consistent practice.

(6:11) Skillsets – Kimberly shares the wisdom of recognizing the skills yo...

Join me, Susan Ireland, as I catch up again with Beth Schryer, global corporate business leader, who has been a featured guest on both our Women in Leadership Podcast and the Seasons Leadership Podcast. Beth shares her recent experience transitioning to a new company and how it has influenced how she measures success. We talk about daily leadership practices, what it means to be trustworthy and a good listener and self-care. This discussion highlights many of our core leadership values through personal stories of leadership.

Show Notes:

(2:25)  Choosing the type of leader you want to b...

Join us as we talk to Kristen Bruner a chief human resources officer with more than 25 years of experience. We talk about executive presence, hacks for self-care and leadership, what it means to be mission driven and how self-awareness can be the most important aspect of your leadership approach. Our episode highlights the collaborative role of HR professionals and leaders in creating cultures that align with company values, driving both engagement and accountability. With actionable insights into performance management, employee relations and organizational design, Kristen's advice is timeless for leaders looking to enhance the employee experience.

Show...

Join us for our passion-filled discussion with Dr. Pam Johnson as we explore the lessons the animal world has to teach us about leadership. Pam shares her experience as a veterinarian and how this calling shaped her career trajectory. Her compassionate and effective approach to leadership will inspire you to look to your own passions for inspiration in your leadership.

Show Notes:
(2:45) Pam shares her origin story of becoming a leader and eventually a veterinarian. From losing her mother at an early age, to earning a second degree to follow her passions to the right career...

Join us as we reflect on four years of fall reflections. At Seasons Leadership we use the seasons as a powerful tool for understanding transitions and cycles in leadership, offering you actionable insights to navigate these changes. Fall is a time of integration and reflection. Get inspired to dig into your own journey this fall and reflect on what is serving you and what is no longer serving you. We share our own fall transitions and more exciting news about our Elemental Leadership course.   

Show Notes:

(3:25) Evolution: How is the fourth podcast on fall different fo...

Join us as we talk to Frances Chang, chief operating officer at Andovar, a language services company. Frances opens up about the core values that keep her grounded, the power of searching for your passions and the significance of building a robust support network. Discover how leadership is not just about managing others but is a journey of self-improvement and fostering genuine connections.

Show Notes:

(1:30) Frances shares her background, including being an alum of the Seasons Leadership Program and a current student of our new Elemental Leadership Course. She talks about her multinational experience and...

Join me, Debbie Collard, for this inspirational conversation with Barb Wilson, chief financial administrative officer at Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri. Listen to Barb's journey, deeply rooted in family values, which has shaped her extensive career across both for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Discover how Barb's leadership style, honed from her early days at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing, emphasizes respect, inclusion, and community engagement. Learn about her significant role at the Girl Scouts, where she oversees a substantial budget and various departments, ensuring the mission to empower the next generation of women leaders is well-funded and effective.

Show Notes:<...

This episode of the Seasons Leadership Podcast dives into the importance of investing in yourself for long-term success and growth. We share personal stories that illustrate how minor, everyday choices can accumulate into substantial rewards on your leadership journey.

Show Notes:
(1:25) Everyone agrees with it, but they just don't do it. We break down why people choose not to invest in themselves. 

(4:46) We share what it means to invest in yourself through gaining knowledge incrementally. How seemingly small investments amount to large pay offs in the long run. 

(7:40) We observe that the mo...

Join me, Susan Ireland, for my mind-shifting discussion with Sile Walsh about helping leaders enhance their inclusion practices in the workplace. Sile throws away the blame game when it comes to inclusivity and instead encourages a model of thinking that inclusivity helps everyone do their jobs better. She roots her practical advice in real-world solutions, challenging us to pursue the best thing we can do with our reality versus chasing golden solutions. She brings a new approach to inclusivity in leadership and the workplace that will change how you approach your own leadership. 

Show Notes
(2:52) Sile s...

Join us as we respond to listener questions and recount our unique journeys— how Susan's passion for Program Management and Business Operations catapulted her into executive roles, while Debbie’s early leadership duties in the military set a foundation she hadn't anticipated. This episode we dive deep and share more of our stories delivering on our promise to the Seasons Leadership community we made at the beginning of the year. Lots of our answers are connected to why we started Seasons Leadership to help you proactively steer your career to make a meaningful impact. 

Questions
(0:55) How did y...

Join us for our high energy discussion of the season of summer and get inspired to make the most of the season. We talk about the cyclical nature of the seasons, define summer and encourage you to ride the ebb and flow. We dive into how summer vibes bring a sense of flourishing and fun. Summer is a great time for discovery and cultivating new ideas and inspiration. Need more inspiration? Listen to our summer playlist and send us your additions - we would love to include your favorite songs of the season. We also preview what is coming...

Join us for part two of our discussion with Celeste Ford, board chair and founder of Stellar Solutions, and Janet Grondin, CEO of Stellar Solutions, where we focus on how to navigate leadership transitions successfully. Together, they reveal a playbook for how to complete a leadership transition which includes continuous coaching, clear communication, and thoughtful planning.

Show Notes:
(1:00) Succession planning: Celeste talks about how she followed her gut and knew when it was time to transition from CEO to something new. 

(4:20) The role of coaching: Janet talks about deviating from your plan and the r...

Join us as we talk to Celeste Ford, board chair and founder of Stellar Solutions, and Janet Grondin, CEO of Stellar Solutions, about leadership transitions, aerospace, connecting the dots and creating dream jobs.

Show Notes:
(7:30) After the leaders introduce their stories, we talk about creating a long-time vision. Janet and Celeste share Stellar Solutions’ vision to satisfy customer critical needs while realizing your dream job, and they break down what that means to them. Janet and Celeste share how the landscape in aerospace has changed – that the money is no longer all from government and how that...

Join us as we talk about our popular blog post “Embrace leading from the middle.” We share more insight into how this idea developed and the challenge we all have to lead from wherever we are.

Show Notes:
(1:00) What does it mean to be middle? We talk about what that means to us and how it sparked the idea for Debbie to write the blog and now to produce this podcast episode.

(5:30) You may be "middle," but it shouldn't be an excuse to not lead or put yourself out there authentically. We share examples of h...

Join us as we talk to Executive Director of the Bellevue College Foundation Melissa Johnson about her unconventional higher education journey and how that led to success and leadership opportunities. Melissa shares her passion for helping others along their own educational journeys and will inspire you to continue moving forward despite fear and doubt. 

Show Notes:

(0:35) Melissa talks about her educational journey including getting expelled from high school and enrolling at Bellevue College at 37 years old and how that now has transformed into her role at the Bellevue College Foundation.

(6:06) We discuss personal l...

Patty Beach, CEO of Leadership Smarts and author of "The Art of Alignment: A Practical Guide to Inclusive Leadership," joins us for this inspiring episode about inclusive leadership. She gives practical, actionable advice on how you can be more inclusive in your leadership and how to get your ideas heard.

Show notes: 
(1:00) Patty shares her background and her passion to be both an evangelist and evolutionist of inclusive leadership. The leaders discuss the difference between the two and why they are both important. 

(5:00) Patty talks about her book “The Art of Alignment,” and about how to...

Join me, Susan Ireland, as I talk with the remarkable Dr. Jen Self, whose life work weaves the threads of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into their leadership. Dr. Self's journey from the University of Washington's Q Center to the consultancy powerhouse BRIC-13 demonstrates a devotion to social change that's as inspiring as it is impactful. We talk about how leaders must push past the discomfort and get to work challenging systemic power imbalances and creating space and room for other people’s genius to show up.

Show Notes:

(6:00) We talk about creating access and sp...

Join us for an incredible discussion with Alan Mulally, one of the greatest leaders of the 21st century, on the Seasons Leadership Podcast. Our conversation takes you behind the scenes of Alan’s tenure at Boeing and Ford, where his 'Working Together' principles propelled both companies to new heights. From the engineering marvel of Boeing’s 777 development to the boardroom of Ford, we explore how love, humility, and service are essential ingredients in crafting a culture of excellence. Sarah McArthur, editor in chief of the Apex Award-winning Leader to Leader journal, also joins us for this enriching discussion where you...

Join us as we talk to Nicole Greer, successful speaker, trainer, facilitator, executive and business coach anchored in transformational change leadership coaching & training programs, on the Seasons Leadership Podcast. Nicole shares her passion for positive leaders and actionable advice including a four-step process for how to hold your team accountable and powerful questions you should be asking yourself as a leader today.

Show Notes:

(1:32) Get LIT – Nicole opens the discussion talking about what it means to build a vibrant culture which include: Lead with clarity, Integrate integrity and Transform the ordinary. The leaders discuss the im...

Join us as we talk to Stan Gibson, an author, leadership consultant and sought-after speaker for his passion for well-being, on the Seasons Leadership Podcast.
 
Show Notes:
(6:09) The leaders discuss feeling pressure as a leader to perform but also allow people to make mistakes. Stan shares how leaders must carve out time to take care of themselves using neuroscience to inform their decisions.

(8:36) Stan shares why he wrote his book “Living a Rich and Intentional Life,” and how neuroscience influences how he blocks day for intentionality. Stan gives an example of his own schedule to in...

Join us for this special Valentine’s Day edition of the Seasons Leadership Podcast. We share inspiring stories of love and leadership and leave you with actionable advice to help spread the love.
 
 Show notes:

In this episode we:

·       answer the question what does love got to do with leadership?

·       define love as a value of leadership.

·       share stories about how coming from a place of love can transform lives and team members.

·       give actionable advice on how to lead from a position of love.

We wish you lots of love...

Join us for the inaugural episode of season 5 of the Seasons Leadership Podcast. We discuss the transformational season of leadership we know metaphorically as winter. The energy of winter is different, things slow down, we are more self-oriented and self-reflective. Discover how this period, though outwardly quiet, under the surface provides the opportunity for us to transform not only ourselves but our leadership.
 
Show notes:

In this episode we talk about:

· Honoring the time and space to transform and the importance of feeling our feelings.

· How you know when you are exp...

You are invited to join us in early 2024 for all new episodes of the Seasons Leadership Podcast! We will start Season 5 with reflections on the season of winter followed by a lineup of excellent leaders. We also are committing to sharing more of our own personal leadership stories and experiences in 2024 so season 5 will feature some special episodes with just the two of us.

Until then, we are taking a short break to rest and recharge during this season of winter. In the meantime, revisit some of our most popular episodes of the Seasons Leadership Podcast from...

Join us for this special episode all about gratitude. We are profoundly grateful for every single listener, subscriber, patron podcast guest and partner. You have all contributed to our mission to spread leadership excellence to the world. Thank you!

Show notes:
- We thank those in our community (all of you!) who have helped us with our Seasons Leadership mission.
- We talk about all the benefits that come with being grateful.
- We share actionable advice about gratitude practices you can implement today.

Join us as we talk about how gratitude...

Join us, Seasons Leadership Co-Founder Susan Ireland and Communications and Marketing Leader Lauren Penning, as we talk to Founder of Consciousleadership.org Marika Messager. She's an inspiring leader who transitioned from the world of finance into helping others achieve a mission-driven approach to leadership.
 
Show notes:
First Marika discusses how she champions three types of leadership: self-leadership, thought leadership, and team leadership. She openly shares her unique perspective on fostering an environment that encourages independent solution-finding and offers insights from her experience in managing a team.
 
Next, we dive into how to fight toxicity in...

Join us - Seasons Leadership Co-Founder Susan Ireland and Communications and Marketing Leader for Seasons Leadership Lauren Penning - for this inspiring discussion with Andreea Niculescu and Laura Swapp of one and three (and our 50th episode!).
 
Show notes:
Get ready to challenge the status quo and bring a dose of joy to your world as the dynamic duo behind one and three talk about the last 18 months since they were featured on Season 3 of the Seasons Leadership Podcast. Our conversation traverses through the seasons of life, embracing the cyclical nature and inherent changes that come w...

Join us as we talk to Lisa L. Levy, a disruption and innovation catalyst on the Seasons Leadership Podcast.
 
Show Notes:
Lisa shares our mission to make positive leadership the norm rather than the exception by leading by example. She shares how she knew how to be a good leader by following the mantra: “be the leader you want to be led by.”

A self-described control freak, Lisa shares how she learned to let go and foster a team culture where everyone could work together to get the job done. She reflects on her lesso...

Join us for this special discussion on customer service and leadership. 

Show Notes:
We talk about how excellent leaders care about their customers. We share examples of exceptional customer service, and not so exceptional. Breaking down what sets these examples apart, we challenge leaders to really consider who is your customer? Next, we talk about loyalty and how the cast of a leader’s shadow can affect how the organization treats their customers – either positively or negatively. Our discussion concludes with a call to action: Look at your organization through the eyes of your customer.

Res...

What if the chaos and uncertainty of autumn could be harnessed as a metaphor for transformation, providing a fresh perspective on managing anxiety? Constance Scharff, PhD, joins us on the Seasons Leadership podcast to unravel this intriguing idea. 

We delve into a rich discussion on the root causes of anxiety, especially in the modern world and Constance sheds light on ways we can discern real anxieties and offers actionable steps to make our workplaces and our lives safer. Leadership and its far-reaching influence is an integral part of our conversation. We underscore the essence of effective communication i...

Join us as we explore what the season of fall can teach us about leadership. We'll talk about the closure the season offers and the anticipation of something new on the horizon.
 
 Fall (as we are about to experience it in the Northern Hemisphere) is a time of year when we are inspired by the natural beauty of the fall colors. We'll discuss the super blue moon that graced our skies on Aug. 30 and how its occurrence aligns with the theme of closure and anticipation. We're also excited to share our Spotify fall playlist, curated to enhance yo...

Have you ever considered the impact of your personal style on your professional growth? Prepare to look at your wardrobe differently as we chat with Bruce and Pamela from Michael Bruce Image Consulting, who'll guide us on how to express ourselves more authentically and communicate more effectively. 
 
 We dive into the enriching world of personal style, discussing how it can be a catalyst for change in how we show up. Our guests illustrate this by sharing Season Leadership Co-Founder Susan’s wardrobe transformation, highlighting how the changes she made helped her show up more as her authentic self...

Join me, Susan Ireland, as I talk to Andy Erickson, a senior consultant who works with clients throughout North America to develop leaders, coach teams and transform organizational cultures.

Show Notes:
Have you ever considered how your perception forms your reality? During my conversation (outside!) with Andy Erickson, a seasoned consultant with an impressive track record in the construction and manufacturing sectors, we talk about the power of perception and how it can significantly influence our personal and professional lives. Andy touches on the critical role of language and how our reactions shape our experiences.