Emily Sander
312 episodes listed below
Practical leadership for the room behind the room.
Leveraging Leadership is a business leadership show centered on the real daily pressures of Chiefs of Staff and executive partners. Emily Sander mixes tactical solo lessons with focused guest conversations on feedback, culture, communication, coaching, and staying steady when work gets messy.
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Leveraging Leadership focuses on the practical middle of leadership, where influence often matters more than formal authority. Emily Sander frames Chief of Staff work as a discipline of service, judgment, communication, and timing. The show is especially attentive to the moments that do not fit neatly into a management textbook. A team needs healthier feedback. A principal needs clearer messaging. A leader has a low-energy day but still has obligations. A company faces uncertainty and has to speak before outside forces define the story. The episodes turn those moments into usable leadership practice. Solo installments are direct and tactical, with concrete prompts around feedback culture, appreciation, resilience, and the difference between the blahs and burnout. Guest conversations widen the lens without losing the operator’s view. Audley Stevenson brings a language of boldness and small wins. Jeff Evans connects Chief of Staff experience with crisis communication and the value of knowing an organization’s core story before pressure hits. Rachel Goldfarb talks through the real Chief of Staff role, principal partnerships, and leadership experience around high-profile institutions. Brian Miller explains coaching as protected thinking time and a way to help people move from where they are to where they want to go. Matt Pearson brings culture, strategy, M&A, alignment, and the Square Management System into the discussion. The show’s rhythm is conversational but not loose. It often starts with an everyday leadership tension, names the uncomfortable part, and then works toward an action that can fit inside a real calendar. Its best moments are small and memorable: write down a win, say the direct thing kindly, notice the leader worth learning from, prepare the message before the crisis. Leveraging Leadership is not grandstanding about leadership. It is a steady craft show for people who have to make leadership useful in meetings, relationships, and imperfect workdays.
Made for: Designed for Chiefs of Staff, executives, business professionals, and leaders who need clearer language for influence, feedback, culture, and communication. It also suits leaders who want tactical reflection without a heavy academic tone.
What sets it apart: The show stays close to the lived work of Chief of Staff roles while drawing from coaching, politics, crisis communication, culture-building, and executive work. Its strength is turning broad leadership ideas into small, usable behaviors.
Are you ready to up your leadership game? Tune in to Leveraging Leadership, where Chiefs of Staff, executives, and business professionals find the tools, strategies, and insights they need to excel. Hosted by Emily Sander, a C-suite executive turned leadership coach, this podcast delivers practical and tactical takeaways every week.Whether you're tackling tough conversations, fine-tuning your KPIs, or mastering delegation, this show offers new perspectives and actionable advice to help you feel confident and thrive in your role.Each Monday, enjoy interviews with leaders from diverse fields—primarily business, but also from military, politics, and higher education. Every Wednesday, ca...
Emily Sander turns leadership nerves into drills you can use before the room gets awkward.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady leadership conversation about confidence, small wins, and moving forward one hill at a time.
Leveraging Leadership stays focused on business leadership, self-belief, and the habit of noticing small wins. Emily Sander and Audley Stevenson keep the discussion practical, and the bike-ride story gives it a clear shape as it moves through resilience and confidence.
Crisis communication as a chief-of-staff skill, with a focus on clarity before pressure hits.
Jeff Evans and Emily Sander treat crisis communication as a plain chief-of-staff job: know the spine of the organization, tell the story before pressure hits, and stay clear when plans fall apart. The point is not polish for its own sake.
Brian Miller and Emily Sander frame coaching as protected thinking time with real leadership value.
Brian Miller and Emily Sander treat coaching as part of leadership work, not a perk reserved for a few. The episode defines it plainly: helping people move from where they are to where they want to go.
Leadership balance before burnout takes over.
A midweek reset for school leaders.
Audley Stevenson says audacity is "the engine in our car" and every leader already has it.
Emily Sander discusses tactical ways to build a culture of feedback in teams, using the concept of Radical Candor.
Jeff Evans, a former California legislative Chief of Staff, gives Emily Sander a crisis-communication framework built around three words: clarity, precision, and narrative.
Emily Sander discusses how to handle a 'case of the blahs' at work, distinguishing it from burnout and offering strategies to work through low-motivation days.
Host Emily Sander interviews Rachel Goldfarb about the real Chief of Staff role, its differences from an executive assistant, and its impact on women in leadership.
Brian Miller says coaching changes leaders by opening the “aperture” and shifting focus from the problem to the person.
Host Emily Sander interviews Matt Pearson about his Square Management System for creating high-trust, high-performance organizations and the role of Chiefs of Staff.
This episode explores how improv techniques from theater and comedy can be applied to improve meeting efficiency, team dynamics, and leadership in business settings.
Host Emily Sander interviews Jared Stein about his unconventional path from Wall Street to Chief of Staff, exploring career transitions and leadership lessons.
Host Emily Sander interviews Nicholas Richard Thompson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Aurora, IL, about his career trajectory and insights into municipal governance and leadership.
Host Emily Sander interviews Nesheed Braswell about his journey from personal assistant to Chief of Staff and his work with agency Maison for Chiefs of Staff.
Host Emily Sander interviews Sophia Michelonis about self-leadership, managing time and energy, and overcoming burnout.
Host Emily Sander interviews conflict resolution expert Alex Yarrow about his background and insights on navigating conflict in leadership.
Host Emily Sander interviews angel investor Erika Aquino and her Chief of Staff Patricia DeLeon about leadership and investing in purpose-driven startups.
Host Emily Sander interviews Michael Patino and Tracy Van Graak about the roles of chief of staff and chief communications officer in organizations.