One Conversation Away: Podcast Marketing with Tom Schwab

What if the leaders who land the best roles aren’t the most accomplished on paper, but the most intentional about how they show up? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Kelly O. Kay, partner at Heidrick & Struggles and co-author of Show Up to Win: How to Land the Leadership Role You Want. With more than two decades in executive search, Kelly pulls back the curtain on how CEO and go-to-market searches actually work, why a résumé only gets you in the door, and what companies are getting right — and wrong — as they hire for the AI moment. His most practical advice may be his simplest: treat an AI chatbot as your interview coach, and build a board of advisors who know the gap between where you are and where you want to go — not the peers who will only tell you you’re great. Tune in to episode 268 to hear why “it’s not a race,” how Kelly can tell in seconds when a leader isn’t being honest about wanting the top job, and the surprise that has senior executives buying the book for their kids. AndrewTemte.com

What if joy isn’t something you feel but something you practice — and burnout is what happens when you stop? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Brent Freeman, serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author of the just-released The Alchemy of Joy: The Life-Changing Method to Beat Burnout, Retrain Your Brain, and Build a Life You Love. Brent spent two decades building companies and chasing every metric success was supposed to deliver — until a Tuesday morning in San Francisco, a first sunset in years, and a handwritten list of joy changed the direction of his life. He walks Andy through the method he built from that moment: why willpower snaps back like a thermostat, how the subconscious mind runs the show, and what a Joyful Operating System looks like on an ordinary Tuesday — then takes two mentorship moments, one for the founder who has everything and feels none of it, and one for the leader who has to sell “joy” to the CFO. Tune in to episode 267 to hear the childhood loss that became Brent’s rocket booster, the three elements of a joyful company culture, and why joy isn’t the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. AndrewTemte.com

What if the moment your company announces layoffs is exactly the moment to spend more on training, not less? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Steve Nolan, CEO of The Ariel Group — the leadership and communication development firm founded by performing artists — and a certified MBTI practitioner with more than thirty years of executive leadership. Steve has spent his career in and around corporate training, and he is blunt about its biggest problem: in 2026, too many companies still treat it as a cost center and cut it first when AI spending squeezes the budget. He and Andy dig into where assessments like MBTI still earn their keep, why leadership alignment is the thing CEOs and boards are begging for without having a word for it, and how Steve balances a mission-driven firm against a private equity partner — by refusing to live on Hope Island. Tune in to episode 266 to hear how twelve Fortune 500 CEOs built Steve’s go-to-market strategy for him, what he would tell a head of L&D with AI landing on her from every direction, and the budgeting trick that keeps a line item from getting crossed out. AndrewTemte.com

What does a pork chop sent back to the kitchen three times have to do with hiring your next CEO? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Rodney Morris, Executive Vice President at The Elliot Group and a former president of the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers, who has spent his whole career in the people business — twenty-five years on the human capital side of hospitality and twelve leading retained executive search. Rodney sees what companies say they want in a leader and what they actually put on the table, and he names the gap: transformation expectations without the compensation or the authority to match. He and Andy dig into how the best companies teach people to think with AI rather than operate it, what to do with the five hours a week AI gives back, and the one word that separates leaders who take care of their frontline from the ones who don’t. Tune in to episode 265 to hear the pork chop rule, what Rodney would tell a chief people officer asked to bring in AI and hold headcount flat, and why the hardest audience for diversity of thought isn’t the one you’d expect. AndrewTemte.com

What if burnout isn’t something that happens to you — and what if the leadership skill you’re missing lives in your body, not your head? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Marcel Daane, author of Headstrong Performance, Five Energies of Horrible Bosses and How Not To Become One, and the forthcoming Leadership Tai-Chi: The Art of Leading with Clarity, Wisdom, and Humanness in the Age of AI. Marcel teaches tai chi to senior leaders -- the more relaxed the body, the sharper the mind. He and Andy dig into what a martial art teaches a leader that a leadership book can’t, why AI behaves like an intern that feeds your biases, and the question Marcel asks every CEO who complains about being surrounded by incompetent people. Tune in to episode 264 to hear the moment in a Gold’s Gym that sent Marcel back to school, why busyness doesn’t happen to you, and what he would say to every version of himself that got fired. AndrewTemte.com