A farm kid who showed sheep for 4-H doesn’t usually end up leading community engagement for Microsoft, but that’s exactly why this conversation hits. We sit down with Taya Spelhaug, Fargo site director and TechSpark engagement leader, to unpack how a non-linear career can become a leadership advantage when it’s guided by values, curiosity, and the willingness to start before everything is clear. Along the way, we talk about the unglamorous skills that actually compound: controlling the controllables, staying steady in change, and building trust without positional authority.

We get specific about rural innovation and economic development, including what TechSpark set out to do after the 2016 election and what it takes to build partnerships in places that don’t look like Seattle. Taya also shares the reality behind ag tech and digital transformation in agriculture through Grand Farm, why a big early investment was worth the risk, and how to keep momentum when progress takes years instead of weeks.

From there, we go inside the human side of big tech: employee culture work, morale after layoffs, and why “business decisions” don’t have to erase care for people. We also dig into responsible AI using the “tools vs weapons” frame, plus one of the wildest examples of applied AI today: the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library experience, where you can literally ask questions and hear TR respond.

If you care about leadership, authenticity, networking vs real relationships, rural broadband and tech equity, AI ethics, or energy management that actually lasts, you’ll walk away with practical ideas and a lot to think about. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Some of the most important leadership lessons don’t come from a playbook. They come from the people you build with, the hard conversations you don’t avoid, and the quiet decision to care without losing standards. I sat down with my longtime friend and former colleague, Jocelyn Johnson, to talk about the moments that shaped her into the kind of sales leader people trust with both results and real life.

We start with Jocelyn’s roots in Argusville, North Dakota, where hard work was modeled daily by a traveling-sales dad and a teacher mom, and where adoption was normalized early enough that it became strength instead of a question mark. From there we trace the messy middle: college pivots, a mental health reset, career experiments from criminal justice to financial advising, and the gut-level clarity that eventually pulled her into a sales path she once resisted.

Then we go deep on the craft of modern sales leadership: moving from a fear mindset to a growth mindset, not taking “no” personally, and using the buffalo principle to run toward the storm so you spend less time stuck in it. Jocelyn breaks down how she handles crucial conversations, how she leads people who used to be peers, and why “live in discovery” means asking better questions in negotiations, coaching, and relationships. We also talk emotional intelligence, empathy without carrying everyone’s weight, and the one habit she sees in high performers that has nothing to do with sales: healthy boundaries.

If you want clearer communication, stronger revenue alignment, and leadership that feels human without getting soft, this conversation will give you language and tools you can use immediately. Subscribe, share this with a leader you trust, and leave a review with the hardest conversation you’ve been putting off.

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Most people feel exhausted not because they do too much, but because they absorb too much emotional noise from work, relationships, and the world. We break down how to notice negative energy without owning it, and how that one skill changes leadership, stress, and home life.

• redefining energy as emotional, mental, relational, and physical force
• recognizing how unmanaged stimuli create emotional exhaustion
• learning the difference between awareness and absorption
• a leadership story about filtering tension without denying reality
• using stimulus, recognition, regulation, and response to stay grounded
• understanding how stress transfers into teams and families
• practicing the rule that not every stimulus deserves emotional residency

If this resonates with you, I'd love to hear from you.

Nick@timeandenergy.co

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