Ron talks to Kevin Ellis, the CEO of Upstate Niagara Cooperative, a dairy cooperative headquartered in Lancaster, NY, just outside of Buffalo. Kevin talks about the importance of leaders constantly growing and improving, and discusses some of the actions they have taken at Upstate Niagara to help nurture a culture focused on Purpose, Vision, and Values. Kevin can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-ellis-8055586/. For more info about Upstate Niagara, go to www.upstateniagara.com.

The "Natural Leader" has been dormant for a while, due to a variety of situations and influences. In this episode, Ron discusses bringing it back to life, and plans for future episodes and emphasis. While continuing to feature interviews with leaders, future episodes will also focus on general leadership imperatives, resource reviews (e.g. leadership books, good videos, etc.), and inspiration/encouragement for leaders.

Welcome back to the Natural Leader!!

Ron interviews Dave Maione, co-founder of The Night Shift cleaning company, and Vice President of Core America, a national cleaning-consulting company headquartered in Vestal, New York.  Dave and his brother started the night shift in 1978, and have successfully led the company through decades worth of challenges and successes. Dave and Ron discuss the importance of building a culture that appreciates people, and the jobs they do.

You can find Dave and his bio information on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-maione-530b438/.

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Jeanette Armbrust, Founder of Greenlight Leadership Consulting Group.  Jeanette had a highly successful career of building and expanding businesses, before venturing into her current focus of coaching and developing leaders. Jeanette shares her perspectives on the priorities and responsibilities of the leader in building empowering and sustainable cultures, through good times and bad.  

You can find Jeanette and her bio information on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanettearmbrust/. 

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Dan Lloyd, founder of Minority Millennials, an organization that has since 2017 helped hundreds of minority millennials and gen-zer’s access jobs, build wealth, and become civically engaged. Ron and Dan discuss the vision and aspirations of the organization, as well as the unique challenges and opportunities related to leading a movement to empower a portion of society. 

You can find Dan on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-lloyd-a7081022/. Minority Millennials can be found at: https://minoritymillennials.org/

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Tyrone Muse, President & CEO of Visions Federal Credit Union.  Ty is a highly energetic and enthusiastic leader of an organization going through significant growth and transformation.  Ron and Ty discuss the challenges and rewards of leading a cultural transformation focused on servant leadership, empowerment, and authenticity.  Ty shares his perspectives on the priorities and responsibilities of leading cultural change. 

You can find Ty on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyrone-muse-30197527/. The article referenced by Ron can be found at https://www.visionsfcu.org/a-new-ceo-a-new-vision-for-a-new-york-credit-union.  

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Francis Battisti, Ph.D., a noted educator, speaker, consultant, and author.  Together with his wife, nutritionist Dr. Helen Battisti, they publish a blog as The ParaDocs called "The Zone", which you can access here: https://www.paradocshub.com/. 

Ron and Francis discuss the importance of leader self-care, and how to build resiliency both individually, and in the teams we lead. Francis shares some valuable insights from his experience as a psychotherapist and leader in academia, and specifically highlights priorities for individuals and organizations looking to build resiliency.

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews MaryBeth Hyland, the Founder and Chief Visionary of SparkVision, and author of “Permission to Be Human: The Conscious Leader’s Guide to Creating Values-Driven Culture”. 

Ron and MaryBeth discuss the importance of building and leading a values-driven culture, and how to grant everyone the permission to be human. MaryBeth discusses practical approaches for individuals and organizations to identify their values, and how to build on those values to create an inclusive and authentic environment.  

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Amy Shaw, the current Chief Operating Officer for the Greater Binghamton NY Chamber of Commerce. 

Ron and Amy discuss the unique challenges of dedicating a career to support of non-profit and community focused causes, as well as the unique leadership challenges for leaders in these organizations.  

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Michael Vacirca, who currently works for Google as a Senior Engineering Manager for Google Cloud, and was a former employee of Ron's at Lockheed Martin.  Mike is also a prominent leader within the LGBT community in Orlando, Florida.  Ron and Mike discuss Mike's journey to being his authentic self, and the corresponding development of his leadership abilities and impact, both at work and in his community.  Mike discusses the challenges of working and leading as a gay man in the Defense industry, how he has seen his leadership impact expand into community activism and advocacy, and the profound impacts caused by the Pulse nightclub tragedy. 

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Dr. Dinesh Verma, Professor of Systems Engineering and Executive Director, Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), and Jeff Wilcox, Retired Vice President of Digital Transformation for Lockheed Martin.  In this episode, they discuss their paper published in the National Academy of Engineering entitled Leadership for a Complex Enterprise (https://www.nae.edu/244701/Leadership-for-a-Complex-Enterprise).  They discuss key Leadership tenets to enable a leader of a complex system to be more of a gardener, and less of a chess master. 

Ron interviews Devan Tracy, Smart Buildings Lead at Lockheed Martin.  Devan is a highly successful leader who has carved out non-traditional roles for herself in a large organization by understanding and pursuing her passion.  Ron and Devan discuss the importance of discovering your passion, some of the key tenets of how to pursue that passion successfully, and how to get past some of the struggles and naysayers.  

You can find Devan on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/devan-tracy/. You can watch her TedX talk on the Extinction of Sustainability, here: https://www.ted.com/talks/devan_tracy_the_extinction_of_sustainability. You can find the book "Ted Talks", by Chris Anderson, here: https://www.amazon.com/TED-Talks-Official-Public-Speaking/dp/1328710289/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=ted+talk&qid=1617669370&sr=8-2  You can find the book "What Color is your Parachute", by Richard Bolles, here: https://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2021/dp/198485786X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=what+color+is+your+parachute&qid=1617669343&sr=8-1 

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Dr. Charles Johnson-Bey, Senior Vice President for Booz Allen Hamilton (https://www.boozallen.com/our-people/leadership/charles-johnson-bey.html).  Charles is a highly successful and innovative technical leader who consistently insures a culture of inclusion on the teams he leads. Ron and Charles discuss the importance of leveraging diversity through inclusion, empathy, and mentor/mentee relationships. 

You can find Charles on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjbey/. For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org.

Ron interviews Bruce Barse, President and Founder of LeaderQuest Inc. (leader-quest.com).  Bruce is a passionate leader dedicated to helping others be their best selves. He has over 35 years of professional leadership experience, and is a highly credentialed teacher and speaker.  Ron and Bruce discuss the importance of empathy and vulnerability to a leader in the development of high performance teams and trust based cultures.

For more information about Ron Crawford and Unleashed Potential Consulting, visit unleashed-potential.org. 

In this episode, Ron talks with Paul Mittan, the Director of the Engineering Leadership Development program at Penn State University.  Paul discusses some of the priorities and approaches of the Penn State program, as well as the importance of some of the key tenets of Leadership Development. For more info regarding the PSU ELD program, go to https://www.sedtapp.psu.edu/eld/index.aspx .

In this episode, Ron interviews Erin Peterson, a teacher in the public school system, and a partner in Unleashed Potential.  They discuss the current state of education in general, as the system struggles to respond to the challenges brought about by COVID-19, as well as some of the opportunities for change and improvement that could come out of the present hardship.   

In this first episode of The Natural Leader podcast, host Ron Crawford gives some insight to what is meant by the term Natural Leader, and what some of the key leadership attributes contribute to making someone an authentic, natural leader.