What's really holding leaders back from their greatest impact? In this episode, Bryan Buckley sits down with Dr. Garland Vance and his wife and co-author Dorothy Vance for a candid, high-energy conversation about the seven leadership issues that keep even the most talented professionals stuck. Drawing from 25 years of research and their book Unleashed Leadership, Garland and Dorothy bring both depth and practicality to a conversation that's as much about people skills as it is about leadership development. Whether you're in leadership right now or aspiring to get there, this one is for you. Here's what they unpack:

• The Seven C's
• From Individual Contributor to Leader
• The Four Questions Every Team Is Asking
• Building Community That Lasts
• The Connect, Don't Sell Culture
• Decide, Discern, Deliver

Episode Timestamps

0:26 - Show Welcome And Host Promise

1:13 - Guests And Unleashed Leadership Overview

5:54 - A Clear Definition Of Leadership

7:25 - The Seven C’s Framework Explained

10:24 - Character In Sales Leadership

14:45 - Competence After Promotion To Manager

17:16 - Capacity And Modeling Healthy Boundaries

20:05 - Clarity Through Four Team Questions

23:51 - Community Built In Small Moments

28:01 - Culture As Values Lived Out

34:50 - Decide Discern Deliver To Get Unleashed

39:53 - Rapid Fire On Communication Habits

49:26 - Closing Message And Subscribe Prompt

Featured Guests: Dr. Garland Vance & Dorothy Vance website

Featured Book: Unleashed Leadership

Download Free Cheat Sheet: https://bryanpaulbuckley.systeme.io/episode-026-cheat-sheet.

Resources to Use:

The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names

If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free.

👉 Grab it here:

30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations

This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes.

👉 Grab it here:

Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book:

• 1st 5 Minutes Book

Follow Me on Social Media:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

You're not losing deals in the pitch. You're losing them in the first five minutes.

In this episode, we break down the 10 specific, identifiable, and fixable mistakes business professionals make before a conversation ever gains traction and why most people don't even realize they're making them.

We unpack two critical categories:

• Setup Failures — skipping pre-meeting research, defaulting to generic small talk, ignoring room cues, centering yourself over the other person, and missing their name entirely
• Engagement Failures — asking surface-level questions, dominating the conversation, leaving meetings having learned nothing, assuming you already know the pain point, and flipping into hard-sell mode

"They care about whether you care about their story." That one shift — from performing to discovering — is what separates elite connectors from everyone else in the room.

0:00 - The cost of a bad first five minutes

1:10 - Who this episode is for

2:30 - The two categories: Setup Failures & Engagement Failures

2:59 - Mistake #1: Skipping the Five Before the Five

6:00 - Mistake #2: Wasting your opening on useless small talk

8:59 - Mistake #3: Not reading the room

11:35 - Mistake #4: Making it about you, not them

14:40 - Mistake #5: Not concentrating on the other person's name

17:23 - Free cheat sheet resource

18:43 - Mistakes #6–10: The Engagement Failures

18:48 - Mistake #6: Asking little to no questions

22:01 - Mistake #7: Talking more than listening

25:12 - Mistake #8: Failing to learn anything from the conversation

28:02 - Mistake #9: Assuming you know the customer's pain point

30:58 - Mistake #10: Turning into a cold hard seller

34:09 - Full recap of all 10 mistakes

35:24 - 3 action items to apply immediately

36:39 - Closing thoughts

37:34 - Sneak peek: Episode 26 with Dr. Garland Vance

38:04 - Subscribe, share & connect

39:03 - Sign off

Download Free Cheat Sheet

https://bryanpaulbuckley.systeme.io/episode-025-cheat-sheet

Resources to Use:

The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names

If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free.

👉 Grab it here:

30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations

This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes.

👉 Grab it here:

Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book:

• 1st 5 Minutes Book

Follow Me on Social Media:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

What happens after the 1st 5 Minutes — after you finish the last minute in the framework? How do you handle the very first minute of that next conversation?

I found the answer in a great book that unpacks this exact issue. I reached out to the author, asked him to break it down, and he agreed to my master evil demands. Lucky you — because he's today's guest.

Chris Fenning helps professionals master communication at work — experts talking to non-experts, teams presenting to executives, or simply starting any message clearly. His methods are used at Google, JP Morgan, and NATO, and have been featured in the Harvard Business Review. He's the author of multiple award-winning books with over 125,000 copies sold.

0:59 - Meet Chris Fenning

2:47 - First Five Minutes Meets First Minute

6:20 - Framing With Topic Intent Point

13:18 - Examples That Prevent Instant Confusion

14:42 - Structured Summary Using Goal Problem Solution

17:03 - Listening Styles And The Analyst Trap

19:51 - A Cautionary Tale About Bad Framing

22:00 - Time Check And The Minute Myth

26:53 - Validation Checkpoint Ability / Availability

31:41 - How To Stop Ramblers With Questions

35:21 - Rapid Fire Questions / Final Takeaways

38:01 - Where To Find Chris And His Books

Chris' Website here

Chris Fenning Books:

The First Minute - How to Start Conversations That Get Results

Effective Emails - The Secret to Straightforward Communication at Work

Effective Meetings - Great Results. Less Pain

Resources to Use:

The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names

If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free.

👉 Grab it here:

30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations

This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes.

👉 Grab it here:

Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book:

• 1st 5 Minutes Book

Follow Me on Social Media:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube