This is our most-listened-to episode for a reason.

Frontline leaders don’t need hype, they need something more eduring. This episode breaks down real hope, not optimism or cheerleading, but the belief that the future can be better and that your actions matter in bringing it to life.

You’ll hear why hope is a practical leadership skill, especially in hard seasons, and how it’s built through trust, agency, and honest conversations, not slogans. We explore how leaders can inspire hope without ignoring reality, and why pairing truth with belief is often the most powerful thing you can offer your team.

If you’re leading tired, stretched people, or feeling that weight yourself, this episode gives you language and a way to help people keep moving forward, including you.

This isn’t feel-good leadership.

It’s hope that actually works.

When you walk into the room, your team expects what your presence brings.

In this episode of Your Preshift, we focus on what it means to be a “here comes help” leader, someone whose presence makes work clearer, steadier, and more doable.

A “help” leader doesn’t rush in to fix or take over. They show up focused on people, not just tasks. They listen before deciding, bring context others don’t have, and use their authority to help bring clarity and insight instead of pressure.

This episode explores how helpful leadership looks in real life: staying present with people, doing the work only a leader can do, and using power in ways that keep responsibility with the team.

How does your team feel when they see you coming? Do they breathe easier, or brace for impact?

This episode takes a look at one of the truths of leadership: your presence arrives before your words do, and your team already has a reputation for you, whether you’ve named it or not.

We explore how your internal view of leadership shapes the way you show up either from the “mechanic” mindset of correcting and tightening to the “gardener” mindset of teaching and growing. Then we break down some patterns that often determine whether leaders get experienced as help or trouble: the Fix-It Reflex, emotional whiplash, and chronic urgency. And yes, we name the infamous “Swoop and Poop”—the habit of flying in, dropping criticism and direction, and disappearing before any help or support can take root.

This episode is about awareness of patterns that aren’t character flaws; simply learned habits. And because they’re learned, they can be unlearned.

In this final episode of the From Buddy to Boss series, we step back and look at the four major shifts every new leader has to navigate: identity, relationships, responsibility, and expectations. And instead of covering everything, we focus on the two ideas in each category that tend to shape a new leader the fastest.

We talk about how imposter syndrome isn’t a flaw but a sign you’re standing between two versions of yourself, and why honoring those internal nudges toward leadership is part of growing into the role. We revisit the “pool” metaphor and unpack how teams naturally push back when your role changes, and why friendships don’t disappear when you become a leader.

Then we get practical about responsibility: why leadership isn’t about doing the work anymore but cultivating the conditions for others to do it well, and why credibility, not perfection, is the real currency. We close with the expectation that's easy to miss but is always there: you’re expected to help things get better. We explore what growth actually means, how to learn the business you’re part of, and why your development becomes growth for your team.

This final episode is honest, encouraging, and a reminder that leadership is built through small choices that add up over time, and that this is how you become a leader.

In this final episode of the From Buddy to Boss series, you explore how stepping into leadership comes with an expectation of growth, not just in results, but in how you think, see, and lead.

You walk through three surprising starting points: growth by subtraction (removing friction, clutter, and outdated habits that weigh your team down), growth by noticing (paying attention to people, patterns, and small signals that reveal where the real opportunities are), and growth by understanding the business (learning which numbers actually matter so your decisions move the needle, not just the paperwork).

This episode gives you simple ways to put this into motion right where you are by asking better questions, clearing one barrier, spotting one overlooked strength, and learning one key metric, so growth becomes less about pressure and more about creating space for your team, and yourself, to move forward together.

In this episode, Ryan moves from awareness to action with a set of practical tools to help leaders take back their time, and their focus. Because managing time isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about leadership.

Building on the last two episodes, Ryan talks about how time slips away through small, well-intentioned moments, a meeting you didn’t need, a “quick favor” that turns into 30 minutes, and how reclaiming it begins with choice. Using the “See it. Own it. Solve it. Do it.” framework from The Oz Principle, he walks through how leaders can recognize where their time’s really going and start making intentional changes.

He also shares three simple, powerful tools for structuring your week:

• Ben Hutton’s Weekly Planning Rhythm — a four-quadrant chart to prioritize what must, should, could, and can wait. (You can check out Ben’s With Purpose podcast here).
• The Eisenhower Matrix (with a twist) — redefining what’s important by asking, “Important to who?”
• The Pomodoro Technique (leadership version) — reclaiming focus through short, present work blocks instead of constant firefighting.

The message: time management isn’t just about doing more, it’s about choosing better.

In this episode, Ryan takes a look at how a leader’s relationship with time shapes team culture. Because how you manage your time isn’t just a personal habit, it’s contagious.

Ryan explores four common patterns that create chaos on teams: constant firefighting, hesitation and delay, overcommitting out of good intentions, and neglecting rest. Each one starts from a well-meaning place like caring, helping, wanting to do good, but when left unchecked, they leave teams reactive, exhausted, and unsure of what really matters.

You’ll learn how to replace urgency with intention, trade hesitation for clarity, say no with kindness, and protect your own rest as an act of leadership.

Because the way you spend your minutes becomes the way your team spends theirs, and that's where culture is created.

In this episode, Ryan talks about one of the biggest struggles for new and seasoned leaders alike: how we use our time.

Most leaders don’t waste time because they’re careless. They waste it because they care. The instinct to help, include, and stay available comes from good intentions, but over time, those same habits start to cost energy, focus, and clarity.

Ryan explores the hidden ways leaders misuse time and how each one, though well-meaning, ends up holding teams back instead of moving them forward. You’ll learn how to step back without disengaging, protect your focus without becoming unavailable, and use your time in ways that actually build capacity in others.