Valuing people does not mean avoiding difficult conversations with them.

In Episode 815 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores why one of the least responsible things a leader can do is allow discomfort today to become somebody else’s problem tomorrow.

Leaders often disguise avoidance as patience, empathy, grace, or simply waiting for the “right time.” But problems rarely disappear while we wait. A performance problem can become a consistency problem. A consistency problem can become an accountability problem. And eventually, an accountability problem can become a culture and credibility problem.

Brian discusses the important difference between giving someone grace and withholding information they need in order to improve. He also explains how S.M.A.R.T. expectations—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely—can help leaders replace vague criticism with clarity, accountability, and an opportunity for growth.

Positive influence isn’t simply about making people feel good. Sometimes responsible influence means caring enough to have the conversation neither person particularly wants to have.

What conversation are you avoiding—and what might that avoidance cost tomorrow?

Find your influence. Be the influence. Build your influence.

What happens when leaders intentionally create opportunities for others to be seen, heard, and empowered?

On this episode of Daily Influence, host Gregg-Brooke Koleno sits down with Dr. Laura McGowan-Robinson, Founder and CEO of the Diversity in Leadership Institute, to explore how representation, resilience, self-reflection, and responsible leadership can create meaningful change in schools, organizations, and communities.

Laura shares how the influence of her mother and grandmother helped shape her commitment to education and why seeing leaders who reflected her own identity made such a profound difference in her life. She also discusses how that experience eventually inspired her work developing racially diverse and culturally competent school leaders throughout California.

Throughout the conversation, Laura offers practical lessons for anyone who wants to become a more intentional leader. She explains why effective leadership begins with self-reflection, recognizing the strengths others already possess, and using your own relationships, knowledge, and influence to create opportunities for the next generation of leaders.

Laura also shares the story of launching a school during an economic crisis, facing severe under-enrollment and financial uncertainty, and choosing to persevere when the odds suggested the school might not survive. Today, that school serves more than 1,000 students in grades K–12—a powerful example of what can happen when purpose, community, and persistence come together.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why representation in leadership can have a ripple effect across students, families, and future leaders

• How self-reflection helps leaders recognize where they need to grow

• Why identifying and developing the strengths of others is a critical leadership responsibility

• How leading through inquiry can empower teams to think, contribute, and solve problems

• What perseverance looks like when circumstances make success seem unlikely

• Why meaningful change often requires leaders to pace themselves for the long term

• How small, intentional actions can create lasting positive influence

Laura’s message is a reminder that leadership is not simply about holding a position. It is about creating space for others to grow, using your influence responsibly, and leaving the world better than you found it.

Connect with Dr. Laura McGowan-Robinson and the Diversity in Leadership Institute:

https://www.diversityinleadership.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/school/diversity-in-leadership-institute/

https://www.instagram.com/dil_institute/

https://www.facebook.com/DILInstitute/

Sign up to receive our S.M.A.R.T. Advantage Newsletter: https://www.smartadvantagenewsletter.com/ 

The workplace is changing quickly. Artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs, automation is transforming processes, organizations are searching for greater efficiency, and employees are being asked to adapt and accomplish more with the resources they have.

But as the nature of work changes, are we making a dangerous mistake by confusing the value of the work with the value of the person doing it?

In this special Labor Day episode of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores the responsibility leaders have to develop people alongside technology—not simply use technology to extract more productivity from them.

From judgment, accountability, and empathy to curiosity, critical thinking, and responsible influence, there are distinctly human contributions that technology cannot replace.

Labor Day is ultimately a celebration of people: the people who build our businesses, serve our customers, solve problems, challenge assumptions, and influence what our organizations become.

Technology will change. Jobs will change. The way we work will change.

The value of work is changing. The value of people shouldn’t.

In this revisit to episode 212 of Daily Influence we explore the transformative power of Servant Leadership. Learn how to provide positive, responsible influence by becoming a servant leader, and discover how this approach can grow your team's influence and success. Tune in to gain practical insights on fostering a supportive and empowering environment that elevates both individual and collective performance. Perfect for leaders looking to inspire and drive their teams to new heights.

What does servant leadership really look like when kindness alone isn’t enough?

In this episode of Daily Influence, host Gregg-Brooke Koleno sits down with Scott Doggett, Founder and Chief Servant Leader of the National Academy of Leadership Development, to explore how people-first leadership can strengthen employee engagement, workplace culture, and organizational performance.

Drawing on more than 30 years of leadership, learning, and organizational development experience, Scott explains why effective servant leadership isn’t about being soft, agreeable, or doing everything for your team. It’s about creating the conditions people need to succeed—removing unnecessary barriers, providing the right support and development, and taking the time to understand each person as an individual.

Scott shares how his experience inside a servant-led nonprofit transformed his perspective on workplace culture, why the labels leaders place on employees can profoundly influence performance and confidence, and how seemingly small interactions can create a ripple effect that lasts for decades.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why people-first leadership can drive stronger engagement, retention, and organizational results

• How the labels leaders place on employees shape their behavior, opportunities, and confidence

• Why workplace culture is defined by an employee’s everyday experience—not the values posted on the wall

• How leaders can balance support, accountability, coaching, and performance expectations

• A practical starting point for creating a more people-centered culture

• Why AI creates an opportunity for leaders to reinvest time in human connection, coaching, and development

• One simple action any leader can take to help another person feel seen, valued, and equipped to succeed

Scott also challenges leaders to remember that influence happens in everyday interactions. A conversation, reaction, opportunity, or moment of recognition can shape how someone sees themselves long after the interaction is over.

Learn more about Scott Doggett and the National Academy of Leadership Development:

https://nationalald.com/

If you want to create stronger teams, improve employee engagement, and become a more intentional and responsible leader, this conversation offers practical ideas you can begin applying immediately.

What does your organization know only because one person knows it?

In this episode of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores an often-overlooked business risk: institutional knowledge that lives exclusively in the minds of key employees.

Every organization has people everyone turns to—the person who remembers why a decision was made, knows the history of an important customer, understands the workaround nobody documented, or knows exactly who to call when something goes wrong. Their experience is enormously valuable. But when critical organizational knowledge exists only with one individual, that value also creates risk.

Brian explains the important distinction between individual experience and institutional knowledge, and why responsible leaders must intentionally make critical knowledge transferable.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why key-person dependency creates organizational risk

• The difference between an individual's experience and institutional knowledge

• Why being indispensable isn't necessarily the highest form of positive influence

• How cross-training, SOPs, Position Guides, and documentation can protect critical knowledge

• Why organizations should capture the "why" behind decisions—not simply the "how"

• How sharing knowledge expands an individual's influence rather than diminishing their value

The goal isn't to make great people replaceable. It's to make the knowledge they've created transferable.

Ask yourself one question today:

What does my organization know only because one person knows it?

Find one example and start transferring that knowledge.

Because when individual expertise becomes organizational knowledge, individual influence becomes organizational strength.

What happens after you survive the thing you thought would break you?

On this episode of Daily Influence, host Gregg-Brooke Koleno sits down with Andrew Minuto, author of Fatally Resilient, for a candid conversation about addiction, grief, cancer, fatherhood, identity, accountability, and what it really means to rebuild your life after everything changes.

Andrew’s journey has included losing both parents to cancer just 79 days apart, multiple battles with addiction, divorce, career disruption, fighting to reclaim his role as a father, and surviving Stage III metastatic cancer twice. But Andrew challenges the idea that simply surviving adversity should be the goal.

He shares why real resilience requires more than endurance. It requires recognizing when you cannot do it alone, confronting guilt and shame before they take control, setting boundaries, asking for support, and learning to separate who you are from the worst decisions you have made.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why resilience should be about rebuilding, not simply surviving

• How asking for help became a critical turning point in Andrew’s recovery

• The difference between personal accountability and defining yourself by past mistakes

• Practical habits and support systems that help create lasting change

• How trauma can turn resilience into isolation, avoidance, or constant anticipation of the next crisis

• Why self-awareness, boundaries, and self-advocacy are essential to rebuilding your identity

• How letting go of the life you expected can create space for a life you intentionally choose

• One powerful mindset shift for anyone facing addiction, loss, illness, divorce, career change, or another major life transition

Andrew offers a powerful reminder: a better life is always available—but rebuilding it requires intentional action.

This conversation challenges listeners to consider where they may be enduring rather than rebuilding and what specific step they can take today to move forward with greater responsibility, clarity, and positive influence.

Contact Andrew at: andrew.minuto@gmail.com

Subscribe to SMART Advantage newsletter: https://www.smartadvantagenewsletter.com/

Leaders often say, “I wish my people would take more ownership.”

They want employees to take initiative, solve problems, make decisions, and accept accountability. But there's another question leaders need to ask:

Have we actually given people something they can own?

In Episode 808 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores the relationship between responsibility, authority, clarity, and genuine employee ownership.

Assigning responsibility while retaining control over every meaningful decision doesn't create ownership—it creates dependency. And when employees are repeatedly required to seek approval, criticized for taking a different approach, or punished whenever a mistake occurs, leaders may unintentionally train them to stop taking initiative altogether.

Drawing from SMART Management and The I in Team Series, Brian discusses why autonomy requires greater clarity, not less management, and why leaders must learn to distinguish between achieving the right outcome and simply doing something the leader's preferred way.

If you want accountable, confident decision-makers on your team, you have to create the conditions that allow them to become exactly that.

You can't demand ownership without being willing to give it. 

On Episode 807 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith sits down with Barry Moline, author of Connect: How to Quickly Collaborate for Success in Business and Life, longtime CEO, speaker, and Cialdini Licensed Trainer, for a conversation about what really creates strong teams and meaningful influence.

Barry challenges the idea that great teamwork begins with a leader orchestrating every interaction. Instead, leaders can create stronger teams by helping people genuinely get to know one another, build trust, and develop the relationships that make collaboration possible.

Brian and Barry also explore the difference between ethical influence and manipulation, how principles such as liking, unity, authority, social proof, and scarcity affect our decisions, and why becoming aware of the influence around us can help us become more responsible influencers ourselves.

Finally, they turn to AI and the changing workplace. As technology makes organizations more efficient, leaders face an increasingly important responsibility: making sure efficiency doesn't come at the expense of human connection.

In this episode:

Why strong teams begin with relationships, not forced teamwork

How leaders can create opportunities for authentic connection

The difference between ethical influence and manipulation

How influence and persuasion show up in everyday business

Why AI should support human judgment rather than replace it

How leaders can protect relationships as technology changes the workplace

Why meaningful change often starts by simply taking action

Barry leaves listeners with a straightforward challenge: pay attention to the influence happening around you—and then take charge of the influence you choose to create.

https://barrymoline.com/

barry@barrymoline.com

What happens when an entrepreneur stops chasing ideas and starts paying closer attention to the problems people face every day?

On this episode of Daily Influence, host Gregg-Brooke Koleno sits down with Samuel Ayo Oyedemi, founder of SCAP, a technology platform helping consumers better understand the ingredients, allergens, additives, and other information found in food and personal care products.

Samuel shares his journey from Nigeria to Canada and the United States, including nearly two years of testing ideas, navigating setbacks, and questioning his path as an entrepreneur. What began as a mobile self-checkout concept eventually evolved into a platform focused on food intelligence, product transparency, and informed consumer decision-making.

Samuel explains why successful innovation requires more than a good idea. It requires listening to customers, challenging assumptions, recognizing when timing is wrong, and being willing to pivot without abandoning the larger purpose.

In this conversation, Gregg and Samuel explore:

• Why Samuel believes leadership is rooted in responsibility, accountability, and compassion

• How SCAP evolved from frictionless checkout technology into a food and product intelligence platform

• How entrepreneurs can determine when a pivot represents progress rather than failure

• The responsibility technology companies have when influencing health and purchasing decisions

• Why keeping the customer at the center creates better products and better business decisions

• How Samuel uses the “law of process” to remain patient when growth takes longer than expected

• Why learning to fail faster, adapt, and move forward can make entrepreneurship more sustainable

• How paying attention to everyday problems can become the starting point for positive, responsible influence

Samuel also challenges listeners to identify a problem they genuinely care about, understand why solving it matters, and take one intentional step toward creating meaningful change.

This episode is a practical conversation about resilience, entrepreneurship, responsible leadership, innovation, and turning setbacks into information that helps you build something better.

Connect with Samuel:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelayooyedemi/

https://www.instagram.com/useskaap/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/useskaap/home/

SMART Advantage newsletter: https://www.smartadvantagenewsletter.com/

Businesses are under constant pressure to do more with less—automate more, reduce costs, increase productivity, adopt AI, and move faster.

But what happens when efficiency starts working against the organization?

In this episode of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores the critical difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Drawing from his experience as a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, the principles of SMART Management, and The I in Team Series, Brian challenges leaders to look beyond speed, cost reduction, and productivity metrics and ask a more important question:

Are we actually making the organization more effective?

Brian examines how seemingly efficient decisions can create unintended consequences for employees, communication, institutional knowledge, creativity, and ultimately the customer experience. He also explores the danger of managing metrics instead of managing the business—and why critical thinking and clarity must come before optimization.

The takeaway is simple:

Efficiency is a tool. Effectiveness is the objective.

Before making something faster, cheaper, or more automated, make sure it's something worth optimizing in the first place.

What if the fastest way to create meaningful change is to slow down and have the right conversations first?

In this episode of Daily Influence, Gregg-Brooke Koleno speaks with Adam Braus, professor, author, entrepreneur, founder of Elton University, and author of Leading Change at Work. Adam introduces Nemawashi, a Japanese approach to organizational change that he describes as “piecemeal consensus” developing an idea through individual conversations before asking a group to make a formal decision.

Adam explains how leaders and employees at every level can use Nemawashi to overcome “permission paralysis,” gather honest input, improve ideas, and build genuine support without manipulating people into accepting a predetermined outcome. Rather than relying on top-down announcements, the process allows change to spread through an organization through trust, collaboration, and shared ownership.

The conversation also explores Adam’s work with Elton University, a nonprofit institution designed around personalized, one-on-one education. He explains how its evidence-based, student-directed MBA and PhD programs challenge the traditional factory model of higher education by building each student’s curriculum around their specific goals.

Listeners will learn:

• How Nemawashi can reduce resistance to organizational change

• Why consensus building is different from seeking permission

• How leaders can unlock the collective intelligence of their teams

• Why ego can undermine otherwise promising change initiatives

• How personalized education can connect learning to real-world goals

• Why emotional honesty strengthens professional and personal relationships

• One conversation to initiate before advocating for your next idea

This episode offers a practical framework for leading change with greater patience, humility, responsibility, and respect for the people affected by the decision.

Connect with Adam Braus:

Website: elton.university

Email: adam.braus@elton.university

Podcast: Solutions from the Multiverse

The interview focuses on Nemawashi, collaborative change leadership, personalized higher education, professional credibility, and the value of honest communication.

Sign up to receive our S.M.A.R.T. Advantage Newsletter: https://www.smartadvantagenewsletter.com/ 

What happens when you achieve the goal you thought would change everything—and discover it doesn't?

On Episode 803 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith sits down with Paralympic world-record holder Mikael Avatar for a conversation about achievement, identity, happiness, presence, and the small changes that can transform how we lead and live.

Born with cerebral palsy and surrounded by assumptions about what he would never be able to do, Mikael developed an extraordinary determination to pursue what others believed was impossible. That journey eventually took him to the Paralympic Games and a world record in the long jump.

But achieving the goal didn't create the fulfillment Mikael expected.

He shares what that experience taught him about looking inward rather than continually chasing the next external accomplishment. Brian and Mikael explore how the same pattern appears in business, where leaders can become consumed by the next revenue target, acquisition, promotion, or milestone without ever asking what fulfillment and excellence actually mean to them.

They also discuss the power of being fully present, why seemingly insignificant changes can create powerful chain reactions, and how interrupting an automatic behavior can fundamentally change the way a leader responds under pressure.

This conversation is a reminder that achievement matters—but it does not define us. Lasting influence is built through self-awareness, intentional choices, consistent behaviors, and how we show up every day.

Learn more about Mikael Avatar and his work at mikaelavatar.com.

In a world of instant information, AI, real-time dashboards, and constant communication, leaders face growing pressure to have an answer—and to have it immediately.

But access to information isn't the same as good judgment.

In Episode 802 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores why responsible leadership sometimes requires the confidence to say, “I don't know,” “I need more information,” or “I haven't considered that.”

Brian examines the difference between confidence and certainty, why ego can cause leaders to defend decisions long after the facts have changed, and how credibility can actually grow when a leader is honest about what they don't know.

Because people aren't only watching you after you've figured everything out. They're watching how you listen, who you involve, whether you remain curious, and how you behave while you're figuring it out.

Responsible influence isn't about always having the answer. It's about being responsible for how you lead when you don't.

What becomes possible when people feel safe enough to speak honestly?

In this episode of *Daily Influence*, Gregg-Brooke Koleno speaks with Rhonda Liebig a vitality coach, speaker, media host, and founder of Fresh Talks Global Vision and the #SpeakerLockingArms movement.

Rhonda shares how learning to use her voice transformed her health, confidence, relationships, leadership, and ability to serve others. She explains why emotional safety and personal accountability are not competing ideas, but essential parts of authentic communication and responsible influence.

Listeners will learn how to recognize the patterns that keep them silent, regulate emotional reactions, communicate difficult truths constructively, and create environments where people feel seen, heard, and respected. Rhonda also discusses the importance of journaling, self-awareness, nervous-system regulation, intentional leadership, and building relationships with people who genuinely support personal growth.

This conversation offers practical guidance for anyone who wants to stop blaming and shaming, strengthen their voice, and use their influence to create healthier families, workplaces, businesses, and communities.

Connect with Rhonda:

Website: rhondaliebig.com/tree 

Facebook Group: Fresh Talks Global Vision

The episode centers on finding one’s voice, reducing blame and shame, creating emotionally safe conversations, and balancing vulnerability with accountability.

 Sign up to receive our S.M.A.R.T. Advantage Newsletter: https://www.smartadvantagenewsletter.com/ 

Eight hundred episodes. Eight hundred conversations about leadership, business, culture, communication, responsibility, resilience, and the choices we make every day.

For this milestone episode of Daily Influence, Brian Smith looks forward rather than backward and returns to the idea at the heart of The I in Team Series: You are the influence.

Influence isn't something we turn on and off. What we say matters. What we don't say matters. Our actions, inaction, and even indifference influence the people and environments around us.

Brian explores why intentional influence begins with self-awareness, why responsibility is where influence becomes leadership, and why good intentions must ultimately be supported by consistent action and follow-through.

As technology and artificial intelligence continue to accelerate the way we work and make decisions, human judgment and responsible influence become even more important. The challenge for leaders is no longer simply to understand influence, but to build organizations, cultures, systems, and habits that reinforce the behaviors they say they value.

After 800 episodes, the message isn't more complicated. It's clearer:

Find your influence. Be your influence. Build your influence.

Because in the end, you are the influence.

What if one small act of kindness could inspire hundreds or even millions of others?

On this episode of Daily Influence, Gregg-Brooke Koleno welcomes back film producer, philanthropist, author, and social entrepreneur Peter Samuelson to explore how kindness can become intentional, measurable, and contagious.

Peter introduces ROKindness.org, the world’s first public ledger of good—a free platform designed to help people record Random Opportunities for Kindness, encourage others to pay those actions forward, and track how a single thoughtful decision can ripple through communities around the world.

Drawing on his experience producing nearly 30 films and founding eight nonprofit organizations, Peter explains how he applied the practical skills of storytelling, project development, and human psychology to build a movement capable of turning isolated acts of kindness into sustained social impact.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How a lost wallet and a stranger’s decision to return it helped inspire a global kindness initiative

• Why kindness must become more visible, structured, and repeatable

• How ROKindness tracks the ripple effect of positive actions without making kindness transactional

• Why kindness can help bridge political, racial, and social divisions

• How volunteering can strengthen leadership skills, expand professional opportunities, and increase personal fulfillment

• Why optimism grows when we step outside our own circumstances and help someone else

• How leaders, organizations, families, and communities can create cultures where kindness becomes a consistent practice

• One simple act you can complete today to begin creating your own ripple

Peter challenges us to stop treating kindness as a passive value and begin treating it as a deliberate action. You do not need money, authority, or a large platform to make a meaningful difference. You only need to recognize an opportunity, act on it, and invite someone else to carry it forward.

Because if negativity and hatred can spread, kindness can too.

Learn more and join the movement at .

Sign up to receive our S.M.A.R.T. Advantage Newsletter: https://www.smartadvantagenewsletter.com/  

Leadership has never been just about numbers. Behind every financial report, strategic initiative, and organizational outcome are people making decisions every day.

In Episode 798 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith welcomes Leon Morales, President of DNA Behavior International, for a thoughtful conversation on the intersection of behavioral science, leadership, organizational psychology, and artificial intelligence.

Drawing from their shared backgrounds in the military, accounting, and organizational development, Brian and Leon explore why understanding human behavior is one of the greatest competitive advantages an organization can develop.

Together they discuss how behavioral awareness strengthens leadership, why psychological safety is essential for high-performing teams, how AI should support—but never replace—human judgment, and why the best organizations combine disciplined management systems with a deep understanding of people.

Whether you're a business owner, executive, manager, or aspiring leader, this episode offers practical insights into building organizations where people thrive and performance follows.

In this episode:

Why people—not numbers—are the foundation of organizational success

How behavioral intelligence improves leadership and team performance

The role of psychological safety in building high-performing organizations

Why AI should enhance human judgment, not replace it

How SMART Management and behavioral science work together to create lasting organizational success

https://dnabehavior.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/leondna

Good intentions matter—but they aren't what other people experience.

In Episode 797 of Daily Influence, Brian Smith explores the gap between intention and action and why responsible influence requires more than simply wanting to do the right thing.

Leaders may intend to communicate better, recognize their people, address difficult issues, or live their organizational values. But influence is ultimately created through behavior. When our words, decisions, and actions consistently align, credibility grows and trust begins to compound.

Brian challenges leaders to consider a simple question: Is the influence I'm creating consistent with the influence I intend to have?

Because self-awareness, feedback, continuous improvement, and values all matter—but without action and follow-through, their impact is limited.

Your influence isn't measured by what you meant to do. It's experienced through what you actually do.

Financial success is not simply about accumulating more it is about making intentional decisions that support your values, relationships, and long-term goals.

In this episode of Daily Influence, host Gregg-Brooke Koleno speaks with Chad Coe, founder and president of Coe Financial Group, about values-based financial leadership, entrepreneurship, trust, and community impact.

Chad shares how early experiences in sales and entrepreneurship shaped his career, why vulnerability and authentic relationships are essential to building trust, and how emotionally driven financial decisions can create serious and unnecessary consequences. He also discusses a failed business venture that cost him significantly but ultimately redirected him toward more meaningful and rewarding work.

Listeners will learn how to slow down when facing high-pressure decisions, separate facts from fear and urgency, and evaluate choices based on their values, goals, and desired future. Chad also explains how consistency, mentorship, community involvement, and intentional scheduling have helped him build a successful life and positively influence others.

This conversation offers practical guidance for anyone seeking greater clarity, accountability, and purpose in their financial, professional, or personal decisions.

Learn more about Chad and download his free book, Your Financial Dream House, at coefinancial.com. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

www.linkedin.com/in/chadcoe

www.youtube.com/@coefinancialgroup

Instagram @chadcoeofficial