Today’s guest is a Certified Virtual Event Professional who clears the tech headache from virtual events so his clients can deliver an engaging message.

As the founder of Calm Clear Communications, he produces virtual events for professional organizations. He has over 25 years of experience supporting business communication and technology strategy and has worked with corporate executives, compliance officers, and small businesses. He excels at engagingly conveying complex concepts.

He is involved in TEDxDetroit and Toastmasters, and hosts “Calm Clear Conversations” a LinkedIn Live interview show. To round out his modern Renaissance man talents, he is also a professional voice actor.

Please join me in welcoming Christopher G. Johnson.

In this episode we discuss:

• his thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is the ability to teach, engage, nurture, and help others to grow.”
• how being engaged changes the way he shows up.
• why he selected Architecture as his focus of study in high school and how that led to finding his passion in technology.
• his throughline of helping people with technology issues and how that is the cornerstone of his leadership style.
• his start in a local radio station and how that sparked a journey into learning about sports.
• when the pandemic shuttered his IT auditing business.
• how having a deep understanding of technology helped to build his confidence when starting his own business.
• realizing that supporting his clients is not the only part of running a business - he had to be the CEO.
• why he chose to sign up for Robbie’s Wake Up Your Network Mastermind.
• the difference between yes, no, and nuance when asking questions.
• why continued learning is his favorite part of being an entrepreneur.
• how he nurtures and sustains the outer layers of his network.

Today’s guest is on a big mission to change the academic culture from negativity and chronic stress to one where people express their unique brilliance and live a joyful, happy life.

She grew up in Berlin, Germany, and completed a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in Munich before relocating to the US to pursue her passion for brain research. She is an Associate Professor at an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center in the US. She is also the founder and head coach at Team Leadership In Research, a business that delivers leadership and management training programs for academic research teams.

She became a personal development and leadership nerd during her postdoctoral training, initially to increase her competitiveness for faculty appointments. She discovered she could use these strategies to create a happier, balanced life, AND increase her chances of success. That led her to train as a life coach to help other academics to achieve similar results.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Stefanie Robel.

In this episode we discuss:

• her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership means having a vision and taking responsibility to get there. Leadership starts with leading yourself.”
• when she discovered her leadership capabilities during riding lessons in her teens.
• the importance of communication in entrepreneurial relationships.
• how her parents influenced her studies in the sciences.
• how she found her people - entrepreneurs and business owners - after moving to the US.
• her finding out that the overwhelm she felt was completely within her control to change once she learned to change her mindset.
• the joy she gets from empowering others.
• how she learned to sell, which helped her build her confidence and her business.
• the mastermind that helped her build relationships outside of academia and in entrepreneurship.
• how she turned contacts into thriving relationships and connections.
• why she loves having and is always on the lookout for new mentors.
• her personal policy of helping someone before she needs to ask for help.
• how she nurtures and sustains the outer levels of her network.

Today’s guest specializes in small business and entrepreneurship.

She’s an independent journalist and author who has contributed to publications such as Fortune (where she has written the David vs. Goliath column), Money, CNBC, Inc., Forbes, AARP Life Reimagined, Crain’s New York Business, Dr. Oz, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, and a variety of other outlets on the topics of entrepreneurship and careers. She is also a ghostwriter and collaborative editor.

She was twice nominated for the National Magazine Award for her features and edited the magazine’s website, building its traffic from 2 million to 5 million page views per month. She is co-founder of the $200KFreelancer blog, a site to help independent professionals earn a good living, and of the editing service EmergencyEditor. She is the author of “Tiny Business, Big Money,” and “The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business.”

Please join me in welcoming Elaine Pofeldt.

In this episode we discuss:

• her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is being able to put the good of the group above all else. It’s also being open to what others’ gifts are.”
• the importance of trust in the growth process.
• being a freelancer and having to build our own communities through networking.
• mastering the business side of creative entrepreneurship.
• how her career has evolved over the years and the big break of working with Fortune Small Business.
• her thoughts on the idea of being an “overnight success”.
  the difference between freelancing and entrepreneurship.
• how she “accidentally,” wrote her first book by writing profiles on small business owners.
• publishing her first book with Random House after being denied by 19 other publishers.
• the pain points of freelancing and growing to the point of having to take on a team.
• the importance of finding the best way to communicate with your teams. There is a lot of wiggle room to curate your own life.
• tips on how to nurture and sustain the outer levels of her network.

Today’s guest is inspired by seeing others harness what makes them extraordinary as human beings.

He teaches people how to navigate the challenge of leadership. He draws on his 25-year career in the Royal Air Force and over 14 years of partnering with businesses around the world. He has worked in a wide range of sectors including aviation, oil & gas, construction, mining, banking, television, film, and media.

Today he is a keynote speaker and facilitator presenting around the world and virtually. He co-authored his first book “Find Your Why” with Simon Sinek and David Mead. Published in September 2017, it has been translated into more than 25 languages and has sold over 420,000 copies. He was a founding Igniter at Simon Sinek Inc. working with Simon for over seven years.

His latest book, “Leading From The Jumpseat: How to Create Extraordinary Opportunities by Handing Over Control,” delivers the message that leadership is about lifting people up and giving them the space they need so that, when the time is right, they can take the lead.

Please join me in welcoming Peter Docker.

In this episode we discuss:

• his thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is the ability to lift up others so when the time is right, they can take the lead.”
• being selected as an officer in the Royal Air Force.
• specific examples of times leaders need to give up control.
• the difference between leading from a place of love rather than a place of fear.
• the people in his early life that helped to shape him to be the man he is today.
• his initial plans to go to university prior to joining the Royal Air Force.
• the values he holds deeply important in his life.
• how he began working with Simon Sinek.
• the importance of having trust in others.
• how he supports and nurtures the outer levels of his networks.
• the relationship between feeling a sense of belonging and innovation.

Today’s guest helps people be better humans.

She is an accidental marketer, ex-corporate executive, and multi-potentialite with a smart mouth and a willingness to shout what most will only quietly think. She spent much of the last two decades working in marketing for startups and large organizations, and left that world in a blaze of glory, on a mission to get the business world to focus on the humanity of their teams and put people over profits.

She works with new leaders and visionary experienced execs who want to transform their workplaces into humancentric powerhouses by implementing lucid leadership and people-first practices and policies.

She is loud, proud, heavily caffeinated, and usually not safe for work, although she will try to be for this interview.

Please join me in welcoming Anne Bono.

In this episode we discuss:

• her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is creating simplicity while managing complexity.”
• how being thrust into a leadership role helped her develop her leadership skills.
• her desperate desire to be kind to others.
• how she’s always been pulled into situations to lead and support others.
• her experience attending Yale and feeling like an underachiever.
• how she accidentally set herself up into being a CMO.
• how her first agency helped authors market their book launches
• the pressure of perfection when one is a marketer.
• her transition from corporate to coaching and consulting.
• how getting fired set her on a path to open her current company.
• who her dream clients are.
• how she nurtures and sustains the outer levels of her network.
• her passionate answer of where she sees herself in one year.