The Balancing Act with Andrew Temte, PhD, CFA

What if change fatigue isn’t a weakness to push through, but a signal worth listening to? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Cassandra Worthy, founder and CEO of Change Enthusiasm Global and author of Change Enthusiasm: How to Harness the Power of Emotion for Leadership and Success. A chemical engineer who spent nearly fifteen years at Procter & Gamble and led organizations through two multi-billion-dollar acquisitions, Cassandra makes the case that traditional change management was built for a world that no longer exists — one where change had a beginning, a middle, and an end — and that the emotions leaders are told to check at the door are the most useful data they have. Tune in to episode 262 to hear the mentor’s line that redirected her entire career, the three-step framework she built out of fear, frustration, anger, anxiety, and grief, and her advice to a leader whose integration plan is solid, whose town halls are done, and whose best people are checking out anyway. AndrewTemte.com

What kind of company do you need to become when intelligence itself is no longer scarce? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Brian Solis, head of global innovation at ServiceNow and co-author of Infinite: How Visionary Leaders Transform Today’s Businesses into AI-Forward Companies. A digital anthropologist and nine-time bestselling author, Brian has spent three decades in Silicon Valley mapping each major wave of technological change — and his warning here is that AI is quietly repeating the central failure of digital transformation. Companies digitized without ever transforming. Now they are automating without reimagining, and the gap between those two choices is going to decide which of them still matters in ten years. Tune in to episode 261 to hear why the org chart is giving way to what Brian calls a work chart, what an AI-native company already looks like in Silicon Valley today, the name he gives to what happens to your thinking when you hand it to a machine, and his answer for the capable, experienced leader who is quietly afraid of becoming obsolete. AndrewTemte.com

What if the real risk of AI isn’t that it takes your job — but that your company only ever uses it to cut costs? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Dave Wright, Chief Innovation Officer at ServiceNow and co-author of Infinite: How Visionary Leaders Transform Today’s Businesses into AI-Forward Companies. Dave started out as a mainframe operator in the 1980s and has spent the last fifteen years helping enterprises rebuild how work actually gets done. His argument is that most AI implementations stall for a reason that has nothing to do with the technology — leaders reach for AI to automate the past rather than to create room to invent the future. Tune in to episode 260 to hear why the handoffs between departments are where AI efficiency goes to die, what separates the companies getting real transformation from the ones that just get busier, and Dave’s advice to the VP sitting on six months of pilots with nothing to show for them. AndrewTemte.com

What are you pretending not to know about your own leadership — and what is it costing you? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Mike Staver, executive coach, Speaker Hall of Fame inductee, and author of Leadership Isn’t for Cowards and the just-released Navigating Crazy. For more than thirty years, Mike has helped leaders close the gap between their good intentions and their actual results. His case here is that most of the stress we carry doesn’t come from our circumstances at all — it comes from the distance between what we expected and what actually is, and from the things we know to be true but keep living as though we don’t. Tune in to episode 259 to hear the high school choice that cost Mike two brutal weeks and set his work ethic for life, why acceptance and approval are not the same thing and why confusing them keeps capable leaders stuck, and the coaching conversation Mike would have with the person who looks successful from the outside and is quietly running on empty. AndrewTemte.com

What if the problem isn’t that you’re distracted, but that nobody ever trained you in the one thing you can actually control? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Dr. Justin Anderson, founder and CEO of Premier Sport Psychology and author of Intentional Attention: The Science and Practice of Focus Under Pressure, a licensed psychologist and certified mental performance consultant who has spent more than twenty years with NFL quarterbacks, Olympians, and executives. His case is that attention is more controllable than confidence or emotion — a trainable skill rather than a fixed trait — and that for people who never really stop, the question is no longer how to find work-life balance but how to recharge while running. Tune in to episode 258 to hear the job Justin didn’t get that redirected his entire career, what context switching is quietly costing you on a day spent bouncing between projects and new tools, and why a book about training focus ends with renewal — and what that actually looks like for someone who can’t simply take more time off. AndrewTemte.com

What if the fastest way to fail at AI is to treat it like a race? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Don Gregori, Chief Operating Officer of First Factory and author of The Emergent Leader: A Guide to Brand Building, Leadership, and Self-Mastery. Don makes the case that leadership starts on the inside and that most AI failures are leadership failures wearing a technology costume — that empathy is operational rather than soft, that bolting AI onto a process you have never questioned is the fastest route to the pile of projects that quietly fail, and that the leader who runs on four hours of sleep is not being tough, just expensive. Tune in to episode 257 to hear the rocket-booster moment Don credits to his wife rather than to any career move, the advice he gives a newly promoted manager who is terrified of breaking the very thing that made them good, and why a book about building durable companies ends with the durability of the leader. AndrewTemte.com

With a wave of accountants heading for retirement and AI reshaping the profession, is accounting still a smart career bet? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Hugh Martin — founder of Procountancy and a CIMA Case Study specialist who prepares finance professionals in more than 45 countries to earn the CGMA designation. Together they get behind the acronyms to management accounting itself — the “business partner” role, why a U.S. CPA might add the CGMA, and the human skills no algorithm can replace. Tune in to episode 256 to hear why Hugh tells a nervous twenty-year-old that accounting is still worth it, how the CGMA builds the business acumen that earns a bigger seat at the table, and the two-euro rounding error he’d tell his younger self to stop losing sleep over. AndrewTemte.com

What does a country actually lose when it makes it harder for the world’s top talent to build a life there? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Vasanthan “Vas” Ramakrishnan — founder and principal consultant of Ascend HSI Advisory Partners, who helps high-skilled scientists, engineers, researchers, and founders navigate the extraordinary-ability pathways into the U.S., and who earned his own green card the same way. Together they draw the line between wage arbitrage and genuine talent mobility — and make the case that a freer flow of skilled expertise tends to make economies stronger, not weaker. Tune in to episode 255 to hear how Vas turned a job lost during COVID into an award-winning global nonprofit, why he tells anxious American workers that keeping talent out won’t protect them, and the reframe at the heart of his work: he doesn’t make his clients extraordinary — they already are. AndrewTemte.com

What if you've been chasing success backwards? What if joy isn't the reward you earn after hitting your goals — but the foundation that makes hitting them inevitable? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Bose Akadiri — motivational keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and founder and CEO of Goal and Grind LLC, where she's known as “The Joy Amplifier.” After a decade leading corporate social responsibility at Boeing, Salesforce, and JPMorgan Chase, she wrote The Stay Joyful Method to make the business case for joy — not as a feel-good perk, but as a strategic advantage that drives retention, sharpens clarity, and moves the numbers leaders actually care about. Tune in to episode 254 to hear why the strongest performers spend time backstage before they take the main stage, how the “joy bubble” becomes a force field when work gets hard, and what it looks like to lead with joy that has a spine — joy that's results-driven and impossible to dismiss as soft. AndrewTemte.com

In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Suzie Bishop, vice president of product development at The Center for Leadership Studies — the global home of the Situational Leadership® Model — and co-author of the newly released Situational Leadership®: The Model for Leading Others, Navigating Change, and Unlocking Performance. A Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coach who has spent more than a decade modernizing the world’s most widely used leadership framework, Suzie makes a deceptively simple case — the best leaders don’t lean on one great style; they read the person in front of them and adapt to what the moment actually requires. Tune in to episode 253 to hear why the well-liked “nice boss” who delegates everything can quietly leave people stranded, the first move for a newly promoted high performer who’s about to fall flat, and the humbling parenting moment that reframed how Suzie thinks about leading people who have already outgrown your instructions. AndrewTemte.com

Why do so many brilliant, accomplished leaders freeze the moment the stakes get highest — losing the room before they’ve said a single word? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Kathryn Janicek — a 3x Emmy Award-winning executive presence strategist, former TV news producer, and founder of Janicek Performance Group, where she coaches Fortune 500 leaders for their highest-stakes moments. Drawing on two decades in live television — including her time as the sole spokesperson during the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis — Kathryn makes the case that how you show up matters every bit as much as what you say, and that presence is a skill any leader can build. Tune in to episode 252 to hear why Kathryn calls fear “a terrible creative director,” what a bridge collapse taught her about leading through a crisis, and why, in the age of AI and deepfakes, your audience can tell in an instant when a leader’s words aren’t truly their own. It’s a practical masterclass in showing up when it counts. AndrewTemte.com

What if building a thriving book of business didn’t require working more hours, chasing leads, or scrambling to get yourself out there — but simply getting better at the conversations you’re already having? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Deb Feder — founder of Feder Development and author of the Client Conversation Series, including After Hello and her latest, Might I Suggest. Deb practiced corporate law for more than fifteen years before turning her attention to how lawyers and professionals actually build lasting practices — and her answer has little to do with the perfect elevator pitch and everything to do with intentional, everyday connection. It’s a refreshingly human take on a skill most professionals are never actually taught. Tune in to episode 251 to hear how caring for her grandmother reshaped the way Deb builds a business, why she pushes back hard on the idea that you’re either a “rainmaker” or you’re not, and her case that the strongest careers are still built one five-minute conversation at a time. AndrewTemte.com

After 250 episodes of the Balancing Act podcast, the host becomes the guest. Producer Nick Temte steps out from behind the glass to interview his dad — and usual host — Andy Temte, in a milestone conversation about where the show started, what 250 episodes have taught him, and where it’s all going. Dr. Andrew (Andy) Temte, CFA, is an author, musician, and the former CEO of Kaplan Professional Education. He’s the author of Balancing Act: Teach, Coach, Mentor, Inspire and The Balanced Business, with two more books on the way — The Modern Golden Rule and Stop Standing Still. He founded the Balancing Act in 2019 as a way to have authentic, non-salesy conversations with business leaders, and he closes every episode with the same three words: grace, dignity, and compassion. Andy traces his own career rocket booster to a sunny August day in 1989, when — rejected by every other Big Ten PhD program — he climbed to the sixth floor of Phillips Hall at the University of Iowa to meet finance department chair Carl Schweser. A scheduled 30-minute interview became a two-hour conversation, and a lifelong mentorship that shaped everything that followed. From there, Nick and Andy retrace the origins of the show, the 2008 Great Recession story behind “grace, dignity, and compassion,” and the home studio where their father-son partnership — and their music — began.

What if the metrics you’re chasing — the downloads, the likes, the impressions — are quietly steering your business in the wrong direction? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Tom Schwab — founder and CEO of Interview Valet and author of Podcast Guest Profits. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate and engineer who found his way into marketing, Tom brings a systems mindset to one deceptively simple question — what are you actually optimizing for? — and to the conversations that actually grow a business, from why most podcasts die in their first ten episodes to what it takes for a leader to step out from behind the brand in an AI-driven world. Along the way, Tom makes the case that the more technology we gain, the more human we become — and that we may all be just one conversation away from the relationship that changes everything. Tune in to episode 249 to hear Tom’s two mentorship moments — one for the young engineer worried their degree boxed them in, one for the CEO afraid to build a public voice — and his lightning-round reminder that relationships are the one currency inflation has never touched. AndrewTemte.com

What if the conversations your team isn’t having are costing you more than the ones it is? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Gustavo Razzetti — culture change instigator, CEO of Fearless Culture, and bestselling author of Remote, Not Distant, Stretch for Change, and his new book Forward Talk: The Bold New Method For Getting Teams Unstuck. Gustavo introduces the concept of conversational debt — the compound cost of the conversations teams avoid — and unpacks the three destructive patterns that keep teams trapped: avoidance, blame, and groupthink. He explains why the corporate obsession with psychological safety has become a bandage for deeper issues, and why getting unstuck isn’t about better meetings — it’s about better conversations. Tune in to episode 248 to hear Gustavo’s rocket-booster moment about a CEO who chose to trust his team before taking the client’s side, two mentorship moments — one for the CHRO investing in change capabilities, one for the CEO who just wants his teams to "get along" — and his closing reflection on the pointlessness paradox that quietly drains team performance. Connect with Gustavo's work here: https://gustavorazzetti.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Forward-Talk-Method-Getting-Unstuck/dp/1646872479

What if the corruption of great companies isn’t an ethics problem at all — but a design problem? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Eric Ries — creator of the Lean Startup methodology, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way. His new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, argues that corporate corruption is not primarily ethical — it is structural — and offers a practical blueprint for organizations that can grow, prosper, and endure without losing their soul. Eric revisits the Lean Startup methodology fifteen years after its publication — what’s changed, what’s been distorted, and how he thinks about the MVP, the pivot, and the build-measure-learn loop today. Tune in to episode 247 to hear Eric’s rocket-booster moment, his mentorship moment for the chief product officer trying to adopt Lean Startup at scale, and his closing reflection on equanimity as one of the most underrated attributes of the entrepreneurial journey. AndrewTemte.com

What if everything you've been told about resilience is wrong? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, host Andy speaks with Jay Abbasi — CEO and founder of The Conscious Professional, former Tesla leader, and international keynote speaker who has coached leaders at Google, Amazon, and Wells Fargo. After his father’s sudden passing in 2014 woke him up to the costs of living on autopilot, Jay rebuilt his life around one question: how do leaders perform at a high level without burning out? Andy and Jay unpack the Three Rs framework — recharge, reframe, reconnect — the myth that resilience means powering through, why the most burnt-out leaders are the ones who built their entire identity on a single pillar, and the research connecting negative thinking to physical illness. It’s a conversation about adaptability, multi-dimensionalism, and what changes when leaders stop being self-absorbed long enough to actually engage with their work. Tune in episode 246 to hear Jay's story and learn how to recharge before you hit zero. AndrewTemte.com

Thoughtload — not workload — is what’s breaking your team. In this conversation, Dr. Liane Davey explains why, and what leaders can actually do about it. Dr. Liane Davey is an organizational psychologist, New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of 3COze Inc., where she advises executive teams at companies like Amazon, Walmart, TD Bank, and Sony PlayStation. Known as the Teamwork Doctor, she has spent 25 years helping cross-functional teams — from Boston to Bangkok — move from dysfunction to high performance. She’s a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review and the author of The Good Fight, You First, and Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work (Page Two Books, May 2026). Liane’s rocket-booster moment came twice: once when she failed first-year calculus and stumbled into organizational psychology, and again when she made the deliberate decision — six years into her first firm — to “repot” herself at a smaller, more strategy-focused practice. That repotting set the trajectory for everything that followed. Whether you’re a senior leader watching your team burn out, a manager trying to make sense of context-switching chaos, or a knowledge worker who can feel the weight of 20 mental tabs open at once, this episode offers a new vocabulary for what’s actually wrong — and a practical path toward lighter, more focused work. AndrewTemte.com

What does cognitive science actually tell us about how adults learn at work — and why are most corporate learning programs still built on myths? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, Andy speaks with Dr. Tessa Forshaw — cognitive scientist, co-founder of the Next Level Lab at Harvard University, and co-author of Innovation-ish: How Anyone Can Create Breakthrough Solutions to Real Problems in the Real World (Wiley, 2025). Tessa and Andy explore why learning takes effort (and why frictionless tools often don’t teach), what “innovation hesitation” is and how leaders can disarm it, why the apprenticeship model still matters, and what’s coming out of Harvard’s new Workforce Learning and Innovation Initiative. Tune in to episode 244 to hear Tessa’s story and learn how to design learning that actually changes the brain — and how to lower the bar to innovation so your team can actually take the first step. Dr. Forshaw is offering a discount for our listeners to Harvard Graduate School of Education's The Future of Workforce Learning and Innovation Certificate Program. Here's the discount code: BAP5 (5% off). The link is here: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/unbound/future-workplace-learning1600 AndrewTemte.com

What if the biggest untapped resource in your organization is the energy your team members are holding back? In this episode of the Balancing Act podcast, host Andy speaks with Dave Garrison—CEO and co-founder of Garrison Growth, Harvard MBA, former CEO of NETCOM On-Line Communication Services (one of the first public internet companies), and author of The Buy-In Advantage: Why Employees Stop Caring and How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Give Their All. Dave draws on 25 years of CEO and board experience—spanning the broadcast, wireless, and internet industries—to explain why traditional engagement metrics miss the mark and what leaders can do instead. The conversation explores the critical difference between compliance and genuine buy-in, practical tools for cascading strategic objectives through every level of an organization, and hard-won lessons from leading companies through hypergrowth. Tune in episode 243 to hear Dave’s story and learn why creating a culture of buy-in doesn’t cost a dime—it just requires leaders willing to invite people in rather than tell them what to do. AndrewTemte.com