The Path To Leadership
Leadership should not feel like a lecture. It should feel like a conversation you actually want to be part of.
Welcome to The Path to Leadership, where Dr. Katie Ervin and creative strategist Rhonda Jolyean Hale team up to bring you real talk, real tools, and real transformation. Think of it as your weekly coffee date where leadership development meets creativity, brain science, humor, and the beauty found in both breakthroughs and breakdowns.
Dr. Katie brings the research, the practicality, and her signature no-fluff honesty. Rhonda Jolyean brings the creativity, the reinvention energy, and a fresh perspective on how your brain, your story, and your environment shape who you are as a leader. Together, they explore what it takes to grow, adapt, inspire, and stay human in a world that never slows down.
If you are leading people, leading projects, leading at home, or simply leading your own next chapter, this podcast gives you the mindset and momentum to do it with clarity, courage, and joy.
Because leadership is not about being perfect. It is about showing up, getting curious, and choosing who you want to be today.
Connect with the hosts:
Dr. Katie Ervin
www.katieervin.com
www.linkedin.com/in/katieervin/
Rhonda Jolyean Hale
www.jolyean.com
www.linkedin.com/in/rhondajhale/
Episodes
106 episodes
How To Lead Like A Human In An AI Workplace
AI can write your performance reviews, summarize your meetings, and draft your agenda in seconds. But when you walk into a room and your top performer has gone quiet, two teammates are tense, and everyone is bracing for bad news, no algorithm c...
AI Proof Leadership Skills
AI can draft the email, summarize the meeting, and even mimic a friendly voice. What it cannot do is make your team trust you, feel safe, or do brave work when the pressure is on. That’s where leadership gets real, and where the “AI-proof skill...
Stop Stereotyping And Lead Multigenerational Teams Well
Generational conflict at work gets blamed on “kids these days” or “out of touch leaders,” but that story is way too small. We sit down to untangle what’s actually happening inside multigenerational teams and why the stereotypes about baby boome...
You Can Build Better Leadership Habits One Week At A Time
A lot of leadership advice sounds great and then disappears the moment your calendar gets chaotic. We wanted something sturdier than motivation, so we’re sharing the story behind Dr. Katie Urban’s newest release: 52 Weeks of Leadership, a guide...
Showing Up Anyway: What Leadership Looks Like When You're Running on Empty
Some days you sit down to lead and the “right” message just won’t come out, because your body knows it would be a performance. Rhonda records a first-ever solo conversation and makes a real-time pivot into the thing many leaders never name: how...
100 Episodes Of Leadership Lessons
The leadership journey most of us expect is clean, linear, and predictable. The one we actually live is full of detours, wrong turns, awkward lessons, and surprising resets and that’s exactly where the growth happens. For this special 100th epi...
How Giving A Damn Builds Better Companies with Justin Ricklefs
What if the real performance hack is deceptively simple: give a damn. We sit down with Justin, author of Give a Damn, to unpack a leadership framework that trades fear-based pressure for human-centered excellence—and proves that care and commer...
Change Isn’t the Problem. How We Lead It Is.
Change doesn’t fail because people are stubborn; it fails because uncertainty flips the brain into threat mode and leaders often respond with more slides instead of more humanity. We dive into the real reasons transformations stall and unpack p...
No Crown, Still Bossing: Why Vibes, Plants, And Walkabouts Beat PowerPoints
What if leadership wasn’t something granted by a title but something you practice in small, consistent ways that people can feel? We dive into the difference between authority and influence and share concrete moves that build trust, safety, and...
Leaders Can Admit Uncertainty And Still Lead
Tired of the same old takes about Gen Z, AI, and “resistance to change”? We open the inbox and tackle the questions leaders whisper about but rarely answer out loud—how to lead when you don’t have all the answers, how to keep teams from turning...
Beauty and the Brain: How Neuroaesthetics Shapes Leadership, Change, and Resilience
What if the fastest way to raise engagement isn’t another dashboard, but a better-feeling room? We explore the powerful, practical intersection of neuroscience, beauty, and creativity—showing how light, color, sound, space, and story shape trus...
Profit Follows People: Build Belonging, Competence, And Autonomy
Pressure keeps rising while teams feel less heard, less equipped, and less trusted. We tackle that gap head‑on by breaking down why “leadership development” can’t be a checkbox and how real behavior change, measured over months, transforms cult...
Assessments Without The Labels
Ever wondered why a test that “describes you perfectly” can still box you in? We take a candid, practical tour through assessments—what they illuminate, where they mislead, and how to use them to build healthier teams and careers. From CliftonS...
What We Wish We Knew And What We’re Glad We Learned
If you’ve ever looked at your winding path and wondered whether it “counts,” this conversation is your green light. We trade birthday cake for straight talk about nonlinear careers, hard-won leadership lessons, and the boundaries that keep purp...
What You Practice In Stress Becomes Your Leadership Style
Growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it happens on messy days, under tight deadlines, and in the middle of real emotion. We’re unpacking growth, fixed, and neutral mindsets with honest stories about fear, feedback, and the quiet work of choosing ...
Stop Letting Your Brain Be Your Drama Queen
Start 2026 with a steadier compass, not a louder calendar. When the world feels heavy and noisy, we dig into how leaders can stay grounded by pairing a real growth mindset with practical, intentional choices that cut through uncertainty. Instea...
Celebrate The Pause
Ever feel like celebration is something you’ll “get to” after the next deadline? We flip that script and show how pausing to celebrate is a leadership competency that fuels momentum, creativity, and culture. Katie and Rhonda break down why so m...
Leadership Briefs: Building A Personal Values Playbook
Clarity gets easier when you can name what you stand for. We’re launching our Leader Briefs with a fast, practical guide to defining three to five personal values and turning them into simple behaviors you can practice when stakes are high and ...
Tools To Flourish: Play, Values, And Leadership
Burnout doesn’t fade because we work harder; it eases when we design our lives around values, play, and small, compounding wins. We unpack a realistic blueprint for thriving that starts with identity: not “What should I do this year?” but “Who ...
Define Success On Your Terms
Success isn’t a finish line you cross; it’s a practice you live. We dig into what it really means to create your own path—beyond titles, paychecks, and other people’s expectations—and share the tools that make it doable day after day. Katie and...
Lead Smarter With AI, Not Harder
Ever feel like your inbox is a novel and your day is a string of tiny decisions that drain the joy out of leading? We dig into a practical way forward: using AI to cut noise, spark ideas, and protect your judgment. Not to replace your voice—onl...
Introducing A New Co‑Host And A New Chapter
A messy, beautiful October turned into a bigger move: adding Rhonda as our new co‑host and doubling down on leadership that feels human, not performative. We open the door to our coffee-table conversations and invite you into a space where crea...
Quarter Four as the Bridge to Quarter One: Momentum, Boundaries, and Better Leadership
The way we finish the year decides how we start the next. Instead of coasting through December and losing a month of momentum, we walk through a clear, practical strategy for treating quarter four as the bridge to a stronger quarter one. We sha...
Leading with Intention with Mark Stewart
Ever wonder what happens when a leader intentionally designs workplace culture instead of letting it evolve by chance? Mark Stewart, President and CEO of Agriculture Future of America (AFA), reveals the transformative power of "culture by desig...
Empty Nests and New Beginnings
Welcome back to Season 3 of the Path to Leadership! After an extended summer break filled with family transitions, academic pursuits, and professional growth, we're excited to dive into new leadership insights.• Moving into the "wonderf...