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Strategies for Business Leaders

Practical, actionable, with a hint of inspiration. Every week in your inbox.

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Ascending

Steep but not impossible.  Even for a novice like me.  The trail was well-marked but rocky, sometimes wet.  And the weather was perfect.  The cool…

Spectacularly Successful

As I eyed the sweater on the rack, I thought, “Warm.  Casual, but well-tailored.  Great with jeans.” A decent, if not special, addition to my…

Breaking Waves

Vacationing at one of my favorite beaches last week, I was soaking up the sun, reading fiction, and enjoying perfect temperatures. (For tips on returning…

Leadership from the Cockpit

I’m back from Chicago where I was speaking at an executive conference on The Making Magnificence Project™.  My flight to the Windy City should have…

Reading Now

The following titles are on my nightstand or crammed into my bag for reading on the plane. Some will later appear on the customized reading…

Three Factors For Success

At the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Center for Public Leadership this March, I spoke about key factors that have emerged from my interviews for…

Glen Tullman

CEO of Livongo Health Managing Partner, 7 Wire Ventures
Glen has led companies both large and start-up, and in our conversation, he talks about the perseverance it takes to be CEO and that a large part of leadership is inspiring others.
“Everybody isn’t lucky enough to be working in healthcare or education… the one other place that I love to see progress is in the growth of people…”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Alan Weiss

President, Summit Consulting Group and best-selling author of Million Dollar Consulting
In our conversation, Alan talks about growing up poor, getting fired, and adopting an abundance mentality on the road to success.
“It’s all a question of your mindset… we all have to have the courage of our talent." [sc_embed_player fileurl="https://sarah-levitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/MMP-Alan-Weiss-EV.mp3"] or Download File
All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Dana Born

Brigadier General, USAF Ret. Lecturer in Public Policy Center for Public Leadership Harvard Kennedy School of Government
After 30 years in the military, Dana embarked on a new path.  In our conversation, she talks about re-centering during transition, the resolve that each of us has, and her work in leadership at Harvard.
“…those that snowboard…where they go up high… are not always successful in terms of what they do at the top… their success is about how they transition through the lowest points in order to get the height…”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Ben Fountain

Writer
Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, was featured in this Malcolm Gladwell article on creative genius, and won the Hemingway/PEN award. But success was not overnight. “I turned 40 and I had very little to show for ten years of writing…” In our conversation, Ben talks about going on the quest to write, being in “a kind of psychological, societal, and maybe even spiritual limbo” before the recognition came, and getting to a place where the work in itself was enough.
“Looking back on it, I can’t say I have a problem with how it all unfolded.”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

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Laura Schoppe

Founder and President of Fuentek
After beginning her career as an aerospace engineer and working in the defense industry, Laura navigated several career transitions before taking the leap to becoming an entrepreneur. Here she shares her story of going from employee to employer, creating one of the first virtual companies, and finding that “different can be good.”
“I quit on a Friday… and I lost about ten pounds… My entire career had been working for big companies and climbing that ladder; so that’s what I knew, that’s what I was comfortable with, and that’s what I expected I was going to do the rest of my life…”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Sharon Shelton

Founder of Listen to Your Life Coaching and an ICF Certified Coach
Sharon was a successful senior banking executive when alcoholism began overtaking her life. Here, she shares her fight for recovery, the journey to sobriety, and the one question that changed her life. When asked about the best advice she never got, Sharon says,
“…I’m reminded of a Jack Kornfield quote that I always love…, ‘as surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home…’ “
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Terry Real

Nationally recognized family therapist, best-selling author, and founder of The Relational Life Institute in Boston, MA
Terry is known for his ground-breaking work on men and male psychology and for helping couples in marital crisis. His work has been featured in The New York Times, 20/20, The Today Show, and The Wall Street Journal. In our conversation, Terry talks about building resilience within a marriage, what it takes to keep passion alive, and how, at its best, marriage can be healing for both partners.
“Everybody walks in to couple’s therapy with exactly the same complaint…their partners… It turns out – I call this the mysticism of marriage -- that we all wind up with partners…who are exquisitely designed to stick the burning spear into our eyeball… The issue is not how to avoid these buttons… the issue is what do we do when we get there.”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Tom O’Keefe

Actor, Bedlam Theater Company
Tom graduated magna cum laude from Boston University law school, became a high-powered attorney in Boston, and then gave it all up to move to LA to pursue acting. And then he discovered that he really wanted to be on stage performing Shakespeare. So he started over -- again -- in NYC. And now he’s being featured in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times for his performances.
Here, Tom talks about his journey from successful lawyer to critically acclaimed actor as, “gradual with stutter steps and lots of tripping…“
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

"Sarah helped me identify key insights in the barrage of daily meetings, calls, and emails that focused on my keys to success. Over our six month engagement I became a more strategic thinker and confident leader which has paid off well for my boss, organization, career, and family.  I was also able to increase the impact of my coaching investment by taking what a learned from Sarah and applying her approach with my own team." Steve Santana SVP & North America CTO Global Education Company

Ted Zoller

Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Associate Professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School
As a serial entrepreneur and a teacher of entrepreneurship, Ted has seen companies go from start-up to success. In our conversation, he talks about the stages of transition that successful entrepreneurs navigate and their resilience.
“The first stage is being comfortable with the unknown… Entrepreneurship is not for everyone; it’s not for the meek of heart. It’s for individuals who have convinced themselves that they’re willing to operate in an arena of ambiguity… The arena of opportunity is represented by the arena of the unknown.”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Jeff Polish

Founder and Executive Director of The Monti
Jeff knew that he loved the power of storytelling from the time he was a little kid. Professionally, he earned a doctorate in genetics and taught high school science for many years. Here, Jeff tells his story of founding The Monti, a community storytelling organization.
“There was always this thing at my core and that thing was the telling of stories and listening to stories…it was the way to close the distance between me and anyone that I was conversing with.”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

Tim Toterhi

Founder, Plotline Leadership
Growing up in a tough neighborhood limited his horizon of possibility, until Tim wandered in to a martial arts class and everything changed.
“The challenge I faced at the time was that I could only see one path… One of the lessons I learned was… to embrace your circumstances… find a work around, and then get really methodical about moving to the next step.”
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All podcasts are Copyright 2014, Sarah Levitt.

The Next Moment

In late September of this year, after attending the always-delicious Harvard coaching conference, I entered a café in Boston,

Are you elevating your leadership as your business grows?