At the Podium with Patrick Huey

Send us a text“To Every Mother Whose Child Only Knows Half the Story.”New York Times bestselling author Attica Locke's newest novel Guide Me Home is the final installment in the trilogy of books that have followed the life and career of our hero Darren Mathews. A black Texas Ranger committed to bringing the guilty to justice no matter how high they may sit, whose world is an entanglement defined by strong family traditions and an alcoholic mother who has sold him out to his enemies.With this story of unexpected turns, surprising unholy alliances, and a race to find a missing black girl who may already be dead, Attica shines a light on the mysteries and shrouded nature of motherhood. With the waning days of the Trump administration as its backdrop, Attica excavates where the secrets lie, what stories have been told and left untold between Darren and Bell, and asks a profound question – do our mothers deserve grace and maybe love even in the fractures of the unknown?As Attica herself says, this is a story that she could only have written now because of where she is in her own life today. In the in between place. Sending her own daughter off to college this year and all the emotions that come with this process. Also, having a deeper understanding and grace for her own mom – once seen through a glass darkly, now known.    Attica's final destination is suggested in the dedication of the book. For every mother whose child knows only half the story.    At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.The Forsaken.Quentin Vennie, Co-Founder of Equitea Co., wrote a searing memoir, Strong in the Broken Places. A raw story of his life growing up in the inner city of Baltimore, MD where he faced food deserts, a complicated relationship with his father who was in and out of jail, and his own addiction and multiple suicide attempts. His unexpected path out of the darkness of his life through yoga, meditation, juicing and his mom's support is a blueprint for us all as we face the mountains and the valleys that are part of living. Since our first interview three years ago, Quentin has had to face any parent's worst nightmare - the death of his 17 year old son Christian from accidentally ingesting fentanyl. In real time, Quentin is facing questions about the changeable nature of grief, anger and forgiveness. And his biggest question - Why didn't God intervene to save his son's life?At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.Who are You Underneath it All?Yogi Aaron has lived the life of a disruptor and a warrior. From starting a nude yoga movement that was underground sensation in New York and Los angles, to surviving an accident on the Himalayan mountains that left him with a femur broken in two, to today challenging our firmly held beliefs about stretching and drawing our attention to the hazards he believes it can cause to our bodies (his own story around how stretching impacted his body is harrowing) – Aaron is constantly asking us to pause and question our beliefs about what we think we know. And to strip away the convenient stories we tell ourselves so that we can get to get to the heart of who we truly are. Controversial? Absolutely. Funny? He's known for his laugh. Underneath it all is his ask that we learn to confront ourselves. Because when we can do that, we have to start dealing with the person we find once the layers are stripped away.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.Love the Flaws and Uncertainties of Life.There is theme that quickly emerges from my conversation with Seana Kofoed. If you want something in your life, you can't sit around waiting for someone to recognize your worth. Go out and create it for yourself. And in the pursuit of creating that something that can sometimes be elusive, you can't be afraid of failure. Because the failure is the byproduct of actually doing the work; sometimes you fall. Now you start to understand why a little girl who wasn't always encouraged to be an actor has starred in two Broadway shows alongside Matthew Broderick (Night Must Fall) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (Proof). Been nominated for the prestigious Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a play, starred in multiple television series - including her latest role as Commander Chase on NCIS Hawaii – and started her own production company Film Camp Productions, that has produced the two feature films 30 Miles From Nowhere and Clearmind. And if a thriving career wasn't enough, Seana says that raising her two kids is the most important role she has. Looking at the broadness of her life today, Seana says “I've reached a point where I've learned to love the flaws and the uncertainties of life. I've been surprised by not needing to cling so tightly to what I thought I wanted for myself and my trajectory.”At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.Art is Beautiful Even When it Depicts Ugliness and Strife.Kim Watson is an artist, photographer and an author. He views his work as having the potential to be a catalyst for change. In his newly released book and forthcoming documentary Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love and Understanding, Kim gives us an intimate view of what life is like for the homeless people living on the streets of Los Angeles. The stories are sometimes brutal. People are not always rescued from their bleak circumstances.  With his stunning photography and precise storytelling, Kim helps us see the full humanity of people we often want to turn away from on the streets of our cities. He tells us the story of a young girl who lives in a car with her parents as they move from that car to motels rooms and back to the car again. He tells the story of a once famous jazz musician who has found himself on the streets, but the music still burns within his soul. He tells the story of a disabled, wheelchair-bound young woman who does crystal meth to stay up at night so she will not be attacked when she sleeps. And she is pregnant.  Somehow with his lens and his pen, he elevates these people in such a way that we can see our own humanity through their sufferings, their triumphs, their memories. Admittedly, with complication, Trespass is beautiful. And that is as Kim intended it to be. He says that one of the things about doing the book, is that he wanted it to be beautiful because he wanted us to see the beauty in the art. Because that leads us to see the beauty in the person.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.Nick Prefontaine survived the unthinkable. A snowboarding accident at the age of 14 where he landed on his head, with only a pair of thick goggles protecting his skull as a he was flung down the mountain. In a coma for almost a month, even the doctors said the prognosis was grim. When he finally awoke, he had to learn to walk, talk, and even swallow again. How he survived and rebuilt his life one small step at a time, is miraculous. What he did with his life after that, is a testament to the power of the human spirit, and what a person can do with the support of his family, and the inner spirit and strength to overcome all the obstacles life puts on his path.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.Never Let a Closed Door Keep You Out.Kate Miller has had a prolific career as an actress – from starring on Broadway with Carol Burnett in Moon Over Buffalo, to working the soap opera scene in New York on One Life to Live, to working opposite Tom Selleck in CBS's Blue Bloods, to her latest role as Amanda Shaw in Hightown, Kate has done it all. Not bad for a woman I met in her 20's playing a rambunctious Tatiana in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with a theater company performing on the streets of New York City. In an industry that is known for discarding women after a certain age, Kate did the impossible and reinvented herself and her career in her 40s – in Los Angeles! Despite the doors being closed to her. As she says no one in Hollywood was interested in her when she showed up to begin her television career in Hollywood Land. But she persisted and those doors eventually opened to her. Today, Kate is sanguine about those times she was wandering in the wilderness of an industry that worships at the altar of youth. Kate used those hard times and the down times that she faced, as a catalyst for huge growth and personal changes that she says were necessary. She got married. She bought a house. Made a posthumous peace with a mother with whom she had a complex relationship. All the stuff that grown people hopefully do – settle into their life. Learn a few lessons. Live. At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Send us a Text Message.Live the Life You Want to Have. Be the Person You Want to Be.Robyn Vie-Carpenter-Brisco has a big name and has built a big life of many different existences. Author. Crystals and semi-precious stones expert. President of the Board of the History Museum in Baton Rouge. Self-proclaimed Goddess of Joy. Today, she is the founder of The Confidence Conference. A nonprofit organization that she is building to address the decline in young girls' confidence and belief in themselves (the numbers are worrisome). She says that this advocacy and passion is the one that will be with her for the rest of her life. More poetically she states that in her work today she is “making space for women and girls to understand that they are magnificent.” Robyn has lived an expansive and unexpected life, and she has lived it on her terms, because as she views it the life you are experiencing is the life you've decided to experience. Hers has been a life defined by love, gratitude and joy. She reminds us that if you are getting the gift of another day, you have the opportunity to create something new. You have the opportunity to live the life you want and be the person that you want to be. You can decide to love yourself in a way that is meaningful.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

The Future of Wellness is Ugly.With the founding of Sanctum, Luuk Melisse has started a sound, dance and movement phenomenon that is being called a Nomadic Movement. At the core of the Sanctum experience is Luuk's mission to help his followers (and himself) face head on those things that hinder our fullest expression of who we are: limiting self-doubt, the need for perfectionism, always having to look cool and be in control, and not wanting to face the parts of ourselves that may be unpretty. As Luuk says with potentially some controversy “the future of wellness is ugly.” It's messy. It isn't about getting it “right.” In the Sanctum experience which Luuk conceived because of the profound loneliness that people were experiencing during the pandemic, there are tears, there is laughter, there are people maybe even looking silly. People are coming together. There is freedom! What isn't there is competition. There is no electronic board posting how many calories you are burning or how you are performing against the other people in the class with you. Luuk creates a safe and nurturing atmosphere for people to break free by pushing their bodies to almost physical exhaustion through what Luuk describes as a “holistic movement sequence rooted in kundalini yoga, martial arts, animalistic flow, breath work and primal fitness.” They can no longer resist but give in to the letting go.Enriching this journey for Luuk, is the fact that he is building this global movement alongside Gabriel, the man he calls his partner in life, crime, and business. With a dark, candlit space and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, Luuk, Gabriel and their vibing followers are bouncing to a beat underpinned by music from the electronic music scene in Amsterdam to give themselves the space to move through the physical discomfort of intense physical movement into what Luuk describes as more peace and more headspace.At the Podium Website At the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Getting Engaged in Your Life.Delia McLinden (founder of the lifesaving Archangel Animal Network and Vice President of the global skincare and body care brand Farmhouse Fresh) poses a profound question for us – “When you take away your coping mechanisms. What then?” Her answer – “You realize there are a whole lot of other things [you have] to address.”For Delia it was consciously changing her relationship to alcohol. As she describes it, drinking had become a thought consuming and physically impacting crutch for her. Though she seemed to have it all together from outward appearances (she has not one, but two thriving careers, has a husband whom she works with, and is parenting a teenage son who just started driving!), inside, she wasn't well. Something had to change. That something was her drinking. We talk about her process of how she broke the cycle of drinking, her perspective on AA and the labels she chooses to apply to herself. We also tackle the big idea that if there is something in your life, in your world, in your neighborhood that you think needs to be fixed or changed or done over, then get off your duff and take action! No matter how small, you must do something, because engagement is the price of admission to this thing called life.For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

I met John Adams in 1996 through one of my closest friends Toby Poser (Season 1, Episode 12 ATP) who would soon become his wife. John, at that time, was an ex-model, and a punk rocker fronting his band called Banana Fish that performed in bars around Manhattan with John sporting a white g-string (pun definitely intended) – talk about a man unafraid of risks! He was also a cancer survivor. Prior to his diagnosis, he was one of the chosen few men who sat at the apex of the modeling world working with geniuses like John Varvatos, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani. Naomi, Linda, Christy and Cindy were “fun and great to work with” as he recalls today. But when that lump appeared on his neck, and the doctors had to cut it out of him to biopsy it, he had to wait from that Thursday to Monday to find out whether he had a chance to live, or whether he was going to die. Today, he describes that waiting game as the hardest part. As he says, “Those days from the day they cut your tumor out 'til they day they tell you what you got, those days are the most terrifying of all. That's where you really gotta dig deep down into your heart and get through every second.” John survived the diagnosis and the devastating lows of chemotherapy. It ended his career. More than the physical havoc cancer visited on his body, it made him realize he wanted more from his life. And more he would get. A wife. Two beautiful kids. A spiraling drug addiction that almost upended everything, and a rising from the ashes that will inspire your soul.At the Podium Website At the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Find Your Voice, Own Your Joy, Live in Balance.Belgin Aksoy has started a global movement for the health and wellness of the world. As a way to show gratitude for her own health and recovery journey, she founded Global Wellness Day in 2012 after her diagnosis and treatment for thyroid cancer. Since that time of her healing and the launch of Global Wellness Day, over one billion people in 170 countries have participated in Global Wellness Day activities. Her premise is quite simple: wellness is a human right - no matter your financial status or where you live. And it is also a responsibility - you have to do the things that allow yourself to be well. Among them are drink more water, take time to eat a meal with your family (whoever that may be), get exercise and perform acts of service for other people, and get rest. Very few things in this world can bring one billion people together in peace and harmony, but from her cancer diagnosis to her expression of gratitude for her healing, Belgin is living proof that it can be so. We can all come together for the good, and we can change our lives and our world by searching for spiritual , mental and emotional balance, finding and owning our voices, and finding and owning our joy. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Grappling with My Biracial Identity.In this two-part episode of “At the Podium,” I sit down with LeRoy McClain. An award-winning actor who has distinguished himself On and Off Broadway, and in television shows such as And Just Like That (in the role of Andre Rashad Wallace) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (in the role of Shy Baldwin) and the feature film Respect (in the role of Cecil Franklin).In Part II Grappling with My Biracial Identity we examine LeRoy's origin story and the man beneath the success. LeRoy and I look back at his time at our shared alma mater Yale Drama School which he refers to as one of the roughest, yet most important times of his life. We learn how he had to navigate the complexities of growing up a biracial child in England and Hawaii. And how the murder of George Floyd brought into LeRoy's family life the contentious dialogue about race, responsibility and representation that was being fought for out on the streets of America in 2020. These questions of race and racial identity were inevitable, because, As LeRoy says, growing up he didn't get to choose despite having a white, English mother because “As society views me… I am a black man.”In the midst of it all, LeRoy is still able to acknowledge how lucky and blessed his life has been. He graciously gives flowers to the people in his life and career who not only believed in him along the way but gave him the opportunities to be who is and to work (gifts from God to any actor or artist).For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

The Career that Almost Wasn't.In this two-part episode of “At the Podium,” I sit down with LeRoy McClain. An award-winning actor who has distinguished himself On and Off Broadway, and in television shows such as the Sex and the City reboot  And Just Like That (in the role of Andre Rashad Wallace) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (in the role of Shy Baldwin) and the feature film Respect (in the role of Cecil Franklin).In Part I The Career that Almost Wasn't we delve into the journey of his career and how he transitioned from his love of a life in the theater where he played such iconic roles as Hamlet in Hamlet, Cassius in The Public's Othello with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jessica Chastain, and Walker Lee Jr. in A Raisin in the Sun to his burgeoning career in front of the camera. LeRoy also gives us a personal and touching view of his relationships with three major leading ladies in his career: Jennifer Hudson (Respect), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Karen Pittman (And Just Like That) – and what he learned from working with these three powerhouse artists. We also explore how the untimely death of his father made him consider giving up his acting career but was also the event in his life that freed him to experience some of the biggest successes in his career to date in television and film. And how one flippant comment impacted his view of himself and the trajectory of his career.During it all, LeRoy is still able to acknowledge how lucky and blessed his life has been. He graciously gives flowers to the people in his life and career who not only believed in him along the way but gave him the opportunities to be who is and to work (the real gift for any actor or artist).At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Charles Chen is a man on mission to bring wellness, healing, and clarity to the world. His platforms have been broad and far reaching – Dr. Oz Show and Good Morning America. His prayer is simple: “Use me. Use me wisely.” His life of service and transformation began with what he calls his surrender moment. When he was 15 years old and began to free himself from the mental and emotional prison of his childhood growing up as an immigrant in America. To face the shame of his emerging sexuality, and the unacknowledged and unreceived pain of the sexual trauma he experienced as a young boy, that lead him to becoming mute. To stopconsuming mounds of junk food and French fries that led him to suffer from obesity.  The surrender moment. When he hit rock bottom, and that pain became the catalyst that sparked change within him. When he moved from a life of numbness and standing stuck at closed doors – unaware of the opportunities to live that he simply could not see – to his life today where he can proclaim, “Don't be scared. Live fully and be in the present.” Today, Charles boldly professes that we are all divine vessels, here to be used in service to other people by showing up as the highest versions of ourselves. Looking back, he does not regret his journey, because he says that for the divine to come through us and to use us, we must first be broken. Broken to be transformed.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Marsha-Ann Donaldson is an advocate and mentor helping women find the courage to take up space in their lives and live with purpose and unspeakable joy. Her perspective, however, is not one shaped by a need for perfection. She says that we are all beautifully chipped and broken mosaic tiles, and those fractures are a part of life to be expected and indeed cherished. Through the fractures and brokenness, the muscles of our souls are strengthened and refined. It's that brokenness and those fractures that spark the need for radical transformation in our lives. Not next week, not next month, not next year, but now! Today. Yet how do we take that leap of faith to begin the process of change? A lot of prayer and mindfulness. She says, “You have to reclaim your soul. You have to reclaim your life. It's time to look internally and clean up the messes of our minds and our hearts.” And Marsha-Ann gives us resoundingly clear steps to start this spring cleaning of our beings. We have to take back the power of our voices that we have given away to other people and speak truth over our lives. We have to look at our lives through the lens of lessons learned and not regrets to be mourned over, because even the missteps are a part of the DNA of our lived experiences. And most importantly, if there are people, situations, behaviors in our lives that no longer serve us, we must let them go! How we accomplish these steps, and much more, is at the core of our conversation this week.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Kristy Whitford has worked in spa and wellness for two decades, running some of the top spas in the world, including the Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows. Not bad for a woman who has faced homelessness, the lack of guidance from her parents in her life and had to fight for all she has achieved. In our conversation, Kristy (now the founder of the thriving hospitality and lifestyle brand The Hotel Club) and I pull back the curtain to give you a peak into the financial complexities, the social power, and the reach of the modern spa industry. A multibillion-dollar industry that is driven by strong personal relationships, and the desire of those who work in this space to give each person coming through our doors a safe place to land. Along the way, Kristy reveals why she took a 1200-mile journey to Coeur d'Alene, ID, and how that car ride and the encounter she had there changed her life… forever.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

You Have to Know the Power and Emotionality of Your Own Voice.“You cannot please everyone. So you just have to be your own self and believe in your journey and learn about yourself the most. You have to be strong," says internationally acclaimed operatic countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski. His singing career is ascendant. His performances have been heralded at the great opera houses of the world – including The Metropolitan Opera in New York, The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, and The Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in Paris. His recitals from Chile to Poland, Germany to the United States are sold out. And his lyrical and emotionally impactful alto voice has earned Jakub the praise of the public AND the critics who have called him “angelic,” and a singer who is making the opera relatable and sexy. Behind the applause, he is a committed artist who recounts initially being rejected by top music programs globally, rejected for summer internships, and losing first round in competitive vocal competitions. He recalls of his beginnings, “There was constantly a fight for a place. Constantly.” What got him through those rough times and sustains him today in the unrelenting scrutiny of fame and success is focusing on the quality of the art he is making, believing in his journey, and owning and knowing his voice.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

As we launch this third season of At the Podium, I am humbled and excited to share with you our new theme: Legacy. Thank you for joining me as we explore the tangible and intangible impacts we make in the spaces we occupy- our lives, our careers, our relationships, our loves, and our dreams.The guests in this season are spectacular, dynamic humans, each facing the successes and struggles of their lives to find a space where their talents and passions can shine, where their impact can be felt. I am honored to share this journey with them, and I am sure you will find their words, laughter, and humanity as uplifting as I have.Among and between these storytellers, scribes and superheroes is a serendipitous weaving of narratives and lessons learned.Live without judgment, and only seek the lessons and the blessings of life.If you want more from your life, it is found in the discomfort of risk taking; comfortability is not part of the recipe of a life well lived.Ask the hard questions, because you can survive the hard answers.As you create a way for yourself, remember those upon whose broad shoulders you stand, and create a path for others to come along and beside you.Representation matters. Our faces must be seen. Our voices must be heard.You owe no one an explanation for the choices you make.When life breaks you, it is creating a space for the light to come through and for the healing to begin.Today, we launch this new season with Regina Bain. If you are new to At the Podium, it has become a tradition to start each season with her wise words and friendship. For the many of you who have been with me on this exploration of humanity from the beginning, Regina once again brings the fullness of herself and her experiences to the ATP microphone. She does not disappoint! Since we last met with Regina, her work as the Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum and its support of the U.S. Department of State's Art in Embassies Program have taken her to Bahrain and Germany. Globally, she is spreading the legacy of Armstrong and his music as a function of his genius artistry and activism, but also as a function of diplomacy and statecraft. She is also contemplating the spaces she wants to create where her own artistic life can re-flourish. As she has built buildings and concepts and held space for others' artistic expressions, she will now build and hold space for herself. Regina comes to us today with contemplative wisdom derived from intentional living and soul exploration. And she comes with provocative questions that she is asking us and herself. Is your life worthy of being remembered? Is your story worth being told? Are you ready to feel the bumps of life, press up against them and learn from them? Are you ready to search, to ask the questions, to find the answers?For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Kristen McGuiness is a successful author of books such as her memoir 51/50: The Magical Adventures of the Single Life and her debut novel, Live Through This. She has also founded her own publishing company called Rise Books where her mission is to publish what she describes as “radical works of inspiration.” Kristen is also the daughter of Dan McGuiness – one of the largest and most consequential marijuana smugglers of the 1970s and 1980s. She describes him as “one of the architects of the modern drug trade.” His story and their relationship she detailed in an article for Rolling Stone Magazine called, Learjets, Mistresses, and Bales of Weed: My Dad's Life as Drug Kingpin. While TV and films often glamourize this existence, Kristen's life was one of missing a father who existed for her solely in weekend phone calls from the prisons that tried to keep him under lock and key for decades – Dan escaped three times – and the letters he would send home. Her relationship to his story and to his business and how it impacted her life is complex. There are no heroic apologies from Dan to Kristen. He expresses no real remorse for the lives that might have been negatively impacted by his drug smuggling. Kristen herself at times speaks poignantly about how much her dad had her deep love and devotion, and the other times, she labels him a sociopath. There exists a hard truth that comes through in our conversation and in her writings of what it was like to love her dad so much, even as he loved equally, if not more, the rush he got from being addicted to crime - "the juice" as she describes it. Her views of her life and who Dan McGuniess was are both heartbreaking and provocative; there is not the neat and easy good guy/bad guy trope that we usually expect from this type of story. Mostly, we find ourselves at the tip of the needle, dancing on a point that pricks our feet while we stay as upright as we can, clinging to dear life. At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

The Mind of an Athlete. Show Up and Do the Grunt Work.  Here we are in February. How are those New Year's Resolutions going for you? Fortune.com tells us that by the second Friday of January, most people have already missed the mark on their resolutions. It even has a name – “Quitter's Day.” Dr. Darian Parker, the 2023 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year Recipient, is a multihyphenate entrepreneur, athlete, and a man of faith. And he is breaking open myths. On what it takes to be a Division-1 Student Athlete competing at elite levels (he was a sprinter at James Madison University). On the interior work he has to do to be a good father (as he says, “I'm always working on the inner me, so that I can help develop a better inner person for another person.”). On the reality that life is lived at its best and realest without guarantees or known outcomes but is founded on authentic love for our fellow human beings (as a professed man of faith, he is looking to love people authentically). And a question that I have pondered often – do we have to love our jobs, or is something different going on in respect to what we do versus who we are in our souls? Through his work with clients over the last two decades, Darian has learned that all we can rely on is our ability to build true relationships with one another and to make a commitment to show up every day even when the outcomes are unknown or don't go our way. In his work as a personal trainer, he won't promise his clients that they will get that long sought after six-pack or hit that number they are looking for on the scale. Oftentimes, those type of results are based on circumstances that only the client can control – the quality of their sleep, what they are actually eating, how are their personal relationships impacting their lives? Darian will guarantee that he will show up every day and be ready to face the challenge of working out alongside them. The bigger factor in the equation is will they show up for themselves. In a time when so many seek quick results and instant fame, IG likes and the social media viral moments, Darian believes that one's life doesn't bloom under the bright lights of fame, accolades, or ego. Instead, it is a nuanced dance performed in the powerful spaces of the admission “I don't know.” It is facing, even removing what he calls the Friction Points in our lives. For Dr. Parker, the real champions show up daily and do the monotonous grunt work that is a major and essential part of what we call living.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

In season two of At the Podium, the power of speaking and owning your truth came up in all the interviews of the show. As I asked each remarkable guest about their journeys to finding their own voices and what they wanted to say with the immense platforms they had, they all expressed the need to use their voices to help others, but also to speak truth over their own lives and lived experiences. Perhaps because we live in a time when the truth, when facts, when basic humanity are under threat, the ability to speak and own your truth becomes the ultimate commodity. What a privilege it is for us to speak our truths as a function of our humanity. It is a gift more precious than gold, because for so many of my guests, speaking the truth was the light that led the way to healing the broken places of their lives. And as they spoke their truths, the chains of shame, guilt, regrets fell away. When those stumbling blocks fall, reconciliation can begin. Acceptance can begin. Grace and forgiveness find a home. What a humbling and affirming experience it was for me to sit in fellowship with the incredible people who honored me, honored us with their time, their hearts, and their wisdom.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Breaking  Bread Together, Building Human Connections & Honoring the Ancestors.Nina Curtis is a world-renowned Vegan Chef. Her dishes have been savored on the palates of presidents and prime ministers, foreign dignitaries and political powerbrokers, and first grade students. Most recently she made history by becoming the first chef to prepare and serve an all plant-based meal at the White House's State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When we talk about what led her to a life and a career built on veganism, her somewhat improbable journeys merged on the Venice Beach bodybuilding scene. Where eating a plant-based diet helped her performance and recovery in competitions. But the seeds for her love of food, ingredients and the process of curating and preparing a meal were planted within her by her parents. Her father is a technically trained French Chef, and her mom (whom Nina describes as the best cook she knows), is a formidable cook in her own right.  Chef Curtis' ethos today in the kitchen isn't ego-driven or based upon her celebrity chef status. Instead, her guiding forces are the examples of her father and her mother. And her ancestors. Those black men and women who came before her who did not have the platform, the access nor the reach that she enjoys today, but who took the worst of ingredients they had to make tremendous food for their survival. And more importantly, they used the ingredients of life and food to build a culture.  It's the ever-present voices of her parents and the legacies of her ancestors of whom she says, “I'm always working to be quiet enough to hear their whispers and their guidance.” And their whispers tell her to humbly do your work, keep your head down and use food to build ally-hood and brotherhood and sisterhood among people, among governments, among nations. And to remember that the seeds she plants today, will have reverberations for centuries to come. At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Black Boys Painting with All the Colors of the Rainbow. The New York Times called George M. Johnson's memoir and manifesto All Boys Aren't Blue “An exuberant, unapologetic memoir infused with a deep but clear-eyed love for its subjects. Johnson lays bare the darkest moments of his life with wit and unflinching vulnerability.” It's also a book that has been banned in 8 states and 29 school districts for being what its vocal critics call sexually explicit, pornographic and inappropriate for kids. It is a shocking story in many ways. George doesn't shy away from the rough and unimaginable moments of their life: being molested by a family member at 12 years old and how that colored their views of trust and intimacy throughout their life. What it felt like to get their two front teeth knocked out in a street fight coming home from school and how that thwarted their ability to want to smile growing up. And what it was like to have their first consensual sexual encounters without the knowledge or preparation for what that meant physically and emotionally. So, the book is uncomfortable and unexpected for the reader at times. Does it cross over into pornography and inappropriateness? Definitely not. If people are so disturbed by the account of George's life, imagine what George felt living through it. The book is a beautiful and a necessary story, because as George says in our conversation, “All boys aren't blue because we're not a monolith. None of us have the same spirit. We all have different struggles we will go through. We all have a different journey. We all have a different path. And trying to force us to all be the same, trying to force us to be blue impedes the path and impedes the purpose of a person's life.” George paints different, nuanced possibilities for black boys, pulling us from the obscurity of self-erasure into a declarative existence. What does it look like if you get to define for yourself who you are? What if you have a family unit that values love for you above all else? What if you find love and brotherhood and companionship with other black men, as opposed to just fearing one another? What if you get to paint with all the colors of the rainbow, not just blue?At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Author Nora Zelevansky and I have a nuanced conversation about Roll Red Roll: Rape, Power, and Football in the American Heartland. A book that she and Nancy Schwartzman wrote based on Schwartzman's documentary film about a tragic rape that happened in 2012 in Steubenville, OH. The crime gained national attention because it was the first assault broadcast on social media and changed our understanding of what going viral meant in the age of the internet 2.0. It blew the lid off what has been the country's inability to grapple with our own complicity in creating a culture where young men casually assume the role of predator, and many young women are left to fend for themselves in harms' way as friends, institutions and supposed trusted systems fail them. Nora and I delve into the intricate circumstances of the case: the concept of the perfect victim not being the perfect victim, how rigid gender roles contributed to the crime, and the phenomenon of slut-shaming. We ask the question is there a role for restorative justice in these cases and determined that if anyone's child is to be safe, all children must be safe. And lastly, how do we break open the destructive “boys will be boys” mentality in our society that oftentimes rewards or excuses the idea that real manhood is rooted in dominating other people. It wasn't an easy conversation, but a necessary one where we sought answers and understanding, not blame. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Zak Sandler and I have a deeply personal and contemplative conversation about the struggles he has faced with his mental health and how he has managed to organize his life with a brain that functions in a different way. From his original diagnosis as bipolar while an undergraduate student at Yale University, to becoming a highly creative Broadway pianist for such shows as Wicked and The Color Purple, Zak has traveled the road from despair to acceptance and now to allowing his creativity to guide his response to his diagnosis. Zak will tell you that he does not have a mental illness or a disorder. For him that language implies there's something about him that needs to be fixed. He chooses the phrase mental condition, because it indicates that his bipolar diagnosis is simply part of who he is. At core he is not broken. This distinction is how we move from shame to understanding and hopefully acceptance. That our differences, no matter how acute, are simply that - differences not deficiencies.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Work. Where Church and State Collide. “Should we attempt to foster meaningful, human connections and engagement in the workplace?” This is the core question of my conversation with author, keynote speaker and workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky. Whatever our individual thoughts are on this question, the facts that Smiley lays out in his latest book Friendship in the Age of Loneliness and his Harvard Business Review article Gen Z Employees are Feeling Disconnected. Here's How Employers Can Help. are quite startling and convincing. Our church and state views of work and home may not serve the emotional needs of not only the emerging workforce, but also those of us like myself, who have been a laborer for now three decades. Simply put - no one (or rather very few) are satisfied in the workplace. If you drill down into the numbers, 70% of workers are disengaged at work. And if they aren't resigning and job hopping (the great resignation), they just show up and do as little as possible to get a paycheck (quiet quitting). The number I found even more alarming was that 20% of those who are disengaged at work are actively working to sabotage the business from within. The negative financial impacts of the state of the modern worker range into the multiples of billions on the modern economy. If you throw in the epidemic rates of loneliness that all generations are experiencing (61% of all adults in the US according to CIGNA), we have created the perfect storm for human burnout and emotional distress. The reality is that we spend a third of our lives at work and that is on the conservative side. As one moves up the corporate ladder, that percentage only increases. As the lines continue to blur between work and life, the dramas of our lives will continue to impact how we behave and what we do at work, and what we expect work to provide for us. The other unique feature of the modern workplace is that work is one of the few places where we still regularly interact with people who may not share our beliefs or values. We can thank technology, social media, and our highly separated and individualized social and political spheres for this phenomenon. If we aren't making work a place where meaningful connections between people can happen, it does not bode well for the future of sharing within the great arena and marketplace of ideas outside of work. My conversation with Smiley in many ways isn't about work, or the devastating financial implications of the epidemic disengagement of the workforce today. At core, our conversation is about what type of world do we want to live in; do we want a world of connection and engagement, or do we not? It's a binary choice and it is that simple. Your perspective and views on this question impact everything in our society, from work to play, from church to school, from whom we choose to value to whom we choose to forget. It is the animating question of our time and our ongoing question about what good citizenship is. What good humanity is. The answers will either bring us closer together or further stoke the flames of division and misunderstanding. On a basic, fundamental level it comes back to the "house divided" principle: we stand together, or we fall together.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Renowned historian and author Carl Sferrazza Anthony has done the impossible. In his new book Camera Girl, The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy, he has told the usually forgotten and misunderstood origin story of a woman, who accurately described herself as the art director of the 20th Century. Indeed, much of the latter half of the 1900s saw a world obsessed with First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and intrigued by her as she became Jackie Onassis. Even 60 years after she left the White House as a widow, when I walked the Hapsburg's Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, her name still hung in the air – like communion wine on the lips of the faithful. There, in the grand, baroque receiving room at the center of what was once one of Europe's greatest palaces built to rival Versailles, the guide mentioned that we gawking tourists were standing in the same room where the Austrian government officials once received Mrs. Kennedy. But beyond the mythic images of her blood-stained pink suit from that day in Dallas in 1963, or the dark sunglasses that would become her signature look in the 1970s, was a woman who grew up and was fashioned the ultimate outside insider. A nation, and a world hung their dreams on a woman that did not exist. At least not in total. As Sferrazza Anthony uncovers in his latest work on this iconoclastic figure, she was the survivor of an abusive mother and an emotionally needy father. She was an eccentric soul who dreamed of writing bylines and headlines, not grabbing them for herself. She had a relentless, almost pathological drive to be her authentic self – individualistic. Though from the very beginning of her life, others tried corseting her into roles that she found sometimes useful, but hardly determinative or even all that interesting. In his latest book, Sferrazza Anthony dramatically captures her subversiveness, her incisive and self-deprecating wit, and her passion for the power of language and words that was sparked by her time studying at the Sorbonne in Paris and traveling throughout Europe. More than John Kennedy's widow or being Jackie O., Sferrazza Anthony paints a portrait of woman who, like we the reader, was a multidimensional chameleon, and an ever-evolving human being. At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

At the Edges of Jimmy's Heart Jimmy T. Martin lost his first wife Linmarie to cancer. She was only 29 when she died, leaving him heartbroken, lost and his childhood faith and belief in God in shambles. What did remain was his commitment to the dream of a business called Brrrn. She said of his entrepreneurial endeavor as it was unfolding in the last months of her life that it was the proudest thing that he created that she wouldn't live to see. And not soon after that statement, she was gone. It was with the help of his family, his friends, therapy, and his wry sense of humor, that Jimmy was slowly able to rebuild a life for himself, and with his business partner Johnny Adammic find a way to bring Brrrn to life, not once, but twice. As Covid-19 gripped the world, Jimmy and Johnny had to shutter their Brrrn Fitness Studio located in the Flatiron District in Manhattan. Another death for Jimmy to endure.  This story, however, does have a happy ending. He finds new love with Rachel – his and Linmarie's friend from their college years who eventually becomes his wife. He and Johnny transform their once in person studio into a thriving online fitness offering with the Brrrn Slide Board at its core. And there is even a son. Miles. A living, breathing embodiment of a life and a love that had to travel many distances to be found. Even his lost faith has been re-found as a belief in a higher power that calls him and Rachel to serve other people and believe in themselves. But there, at the edges of Jimmy's heart, is also the wisdom of experience and loss that filters through his life that you cannot help but see, hear, and feel. It is there when he remembers Linmarie. It is there at the mention of the 23,000 people who will no longer walk through the doors of his and Johnny's fitness studio.  More than giving up and feeling sorry for himself, Jimmy leaves us with a compelling question that underpins our conversation and his life: What happens when you show up and start living your truth and navigate all that life is? Jimmy's answers are quite profound. When you show up in truth you choose to be made better by the painful experiences, not to be consumed by them. When you navigate all that life is and will be, “You really find out who you are by the obstacles that you're facing.”At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Blurring the Lines Hugh Huffaker is serial entrepreneur who follows the passions within him to guide his choices in business, and as you will hear, in his life. He is the Founder of Cause+Medic a consciously crafted CBD luxury wellness product line that he created to help relieve his mother's legs spasms that she was experiencing from Multiple Sclerosis. And he co-founded Clean Republic, an EPA certified disinfectant that harnesses the power of nature and technology into cleaning products. That's in addition to owning his own spa in Bueno Vista, CO, his pursuits as a jazz guitarist, and at one point – working as an accountant.  A true Renaissance Man who defies easy labels, Hugh's life and career journey have been a series of taking risks, listening to his unique internal voice as an entrepreneur, and not being afraid to fail. His success, according to Hugh, is based upon his ability to keep an open heart; say yes and seize the unplanned and unexpected events that always appear in our lives; and be humble enough to ask people for help for guidance. As for that failure thing, Hugh believes we shouldn't fear it because it is inevitable in business (and in life). And more than a source of embarrassment or regret, he views failure as a tool for learning. He says, “Everybody questions everything when you start a business. You're going to get questioned and you're going to fail. But the failure's good because you're going to keep learning.” The lines between his life and his career blur and inform one another. And that authentic integration has led to his seemingly quick accomplishments in crowded and competitive industries like the spa industry, pesticides and now disinfectants. How has managed to carve out this unique and potentially surprising space for himself? Hugh says, “I think people appreciate when they can tell that you're being genuine, putting yourself out there even if it's not the status quo.”At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGClean Republic on IGCause+Medic on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

To Be Heard, To Be Seen, To MatterShaunda McDill is the newly appointed Managing Director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater. She is a rare type of new leader coming of age in the modern American Theater – black women who are ascending to top roles in major theatrical institutions across the country. She joins the ranks of theatrical trailblazers like Nataki Garrett, Artistic Director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Dominique Morisseau, Executive Artistic Producer at Detroit Public Theater; Patricia McGregor, Artistic Director at New York Theater Workshop; and Hana Sharif, the Augustin Family Artistic Director at Repertory Theater of St. Louis. All wrestling with that question of how do we create space within the canon of the theater to make as much room as possible for a multitude of voices, perspectives, and stories to emerge that are as diverse and as expansive as is the landscape of the country today. Because in the final analysis, it comes down to Representation. And whose stories get to be heard, to be seen and to matter.For Shaunda, her answer to that question has its roots in her nontraditional journey to the Pittsburgh Public Theater. As a young girl her life as an artist began by performing in skits at the local Red Cross to highlight HIV/AIDS for kids, and reciting Bible verses in the Easter Pageants at her church. Along the way, she was mentored by such theater and literary luminaries as Ntozake Shange and August Wilson, and influenced by the words of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. She formed her own theater company called Demaskus – that unapologetically creates space for the underserved and underrepresented people in the theater to have the artistic license to succeed and fail, and to explore freely their artistry on their own terms. For as Shaunda says, “It is necessary for us to tell our own stories if they are going to be told. We must bear witness to what happens and what has transpired in our lives.” She has built a life buttressed by her strong, unshakeable faith and her belief that her approach to creativity isn't about struggling to convince others of her humanity, but rather a struggle to produce work and art that reflects her vision of the world. Her life and her career are not exercises in looking outward, rather they are the result of Shaunda looking inward into her innermost soul.At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Persistence in the Face of StruggleYou know we are living in cynical times when close to half our politicians and arbiters of the social and political debate tout conspiracy theories and polarizing dialogue for what can only be seen as financial gain, fame, and power. As we have democratized our information platforms, we have opened the door to the rampant irresponsibility and untruths that permeate the ether of our current social context. We know this to be true as good reporting, thorough investigations and extensive court trials reveal the extent to which some in the media and in the government have, for example, deliberately spread mistruths about the 2020 election being stolen or the mass shooting at Sandy Hook not being a real event. They engage in this dangerous posturing for ratings and quite frankly survival, but we are all paying a price for their profound negligence.  Juxtapose the Machiavellian maneuverings of those above to what I can only describe as the heroic efforts of Connor Schoen, who has founded an organization with his colleague Tony Hsu called Breaktime. At Breaktime, Connor and Tony, and the team of stalwarts they lead, battle with what can only be called an epidemic of homelessness in the youth population in Boston, MA. While the statistics and numbers of homeless youth are startling in Boston, those impacted most by youth homelessness are not unfamiliar to us. They are LGBTQ+ youth. And if you are a black, gay male your chances increase significantly of experiencing homelessness. They are the mentally ill. They are BIPOC and their families. They are youth emancipated from the Foster Care System. Those folks who often exists on the margins. When I speak with Connor about this epidemic impacting so many lives, he has had a passion for this type of work his whole life. That passion only increased when, during his process of coming out as a pansexual person while he was a student at Harvard University, he was working with a shelter that serviced homeless youth, most of whom were kicked out of their homes because they were LGBTQ+. Connor saw the irony of his own situation, that there but for the grace of having parents, brothers and a support system sustaining him through his process of embracing his identity, that homeless youth could have been him. It was a turning point that brought into focus for Connor what he should be doing with his life. And he boldly walked in the direction of that calling and co-founded Breaktime. And while Generation Z takes a bad rap for being entitled and consumed with Snapchat, Connor and his team of GenZers are fighting for legislative and social solutions to a real problem that if you walk down any street in most cities you cannot help but see – our homeless populations are increasing as are the numbers of young people experiencing homelessness at some point in their lives. And once they get into the cycle of homelessness, it is increasingly difficulty to break that cycle. So, while our leaders wrangle over who they can kick off which committees in Washington DC and subpoena power, the PEOPLE (we who are on the ground here in real life) need real support, and real solutions to real problems.It's people like Connor who are teaching us what inspirational and transformative leadership is. What the good fight looks like, even in the quicksand-like maze of legislative agendas. As he says, “Persistence in the face of struggle to create change is so important. It's so important to remain committed to something that you know is right even if it feels like nothing is moving.”At the Podium WebsiteFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Jumping Into the Unknown - Happily Nigel Franklyn is one of the founders of Moss Wellness Consulting. He is also the once writer and journalist, now painter and self-described Spa Whisperer who was recently featured on "The Tamron Hall Show" discussing his unprecedented career in the spa industry.  But a more accurate description of Nigel beyond his job titles is a person who lives a life of artistry and takes leaps of faith into the unknown.  As he says, “I jump off cliffs now and I don't worry because I really believe fully from my direct experiences that either I will find something soft to land on, or someone will teach me how to fly.” His global career as a spa and wellness aficionado began in Atlanta, GA when his life was impacted by a spa therapist who in one service gave him such an overwhelming feeling of nurture, safety, and surrender, that it changed the trajectory of his career and life. He had gone to that spa on assignment as a writer and journalist but left knowing from that moment his life would be devoted to bringing that sense of nurture and wellbeing to people all over the world. It was a bold, unexpected move, but it was a leap of faith that was characteristic of his life – lived stepping into the unknown and trusting that he would land safely.  His paintings too, like his work in the spa and wellness worlds, are bold and brash, yet they tell a very personal story. A story of a man who lost his parents as a teenager. A man who stepped into the essence of his identity at six years old when he declared he wanted to marry Superman. A man who believes that to receive the benefits from something or learn something, you must surrender to the process. Because in the spaces of surrender we find faith, belief, and hope. Or as Nigel says, “In order to nurture something, you have to get it to a space of surrender.  Because that surrender is where we get to really do our best work. When we're not engaged in the battle with self, or the battle with other people.”At the Podium WebsiteAt the Podium on IGPatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Your Word is Your BondAsk Chris Hetherington what learned from his 11 years in the NFL playing fullback for teams like the Cincinnati Bengals, the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers and he will tell you he learned to be a pro, be accountable, to keep his word, and the importance of getting a good education. After smashing wedges on the gridiron, he took those lessons learned and then went on to have a career as a CEO in financial services and now today he is the Founder & CEO of Peels CBD, which is on the road to becoming a major disruptive force in the CBD product market. The line is formulated from orange peels and has no traces of hemp, cannabis, or THC and can attract consumers who may have negative associations with traditional CBD products and marijuana. (How it all works he will explain in our conversation.) Along his unpredictable path, he discovered the Stoics, yoga and meditation. And now this elite athlete who once crushed it on the football field is now meditating twice a day and learning to breathe through life as opposed to making things happen through brute force. The through line in Chris' remarkable life is his devotion to family - he calls his mom his hero, has profound respect for his father and looks up to his older brother. Today, he loves his two sons unabashedly, and along with his wife is setting the foundation for them to have a life filled with options, responsibility and love.Chris lives his life with physical and mental discipline, a commitment to team, and being a man of his word. All lessons he learned as a professional athlete that can be summed up in one phrase - If you say you're going to do, then do it. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Love is Doing the Impossible Travis Suit did the impossible. He paddled boarded 80 miles from Bimini to South Florida to raise money for his daughter. He describes that grueling time in the ocean as crossing a Blue Desert. As he says with tears lovingly filling his eyes, “I can't help but see how beautiful adversity can be for transforming the perception of life into just a moment-by-moment miracle. I never knew the greatest gift in my life was going to be my daughter and this disease.” His daughter's name is Piper. Her disease is Cystic Fibrosis. A condition which leaves those who suffer with it, fighting to simply breathe. Her life and his were forever transformed by her diagnosis when she was just four years old. At that young age, Piper had to physically and emotionally face the significant ups and downs of her health struggles which at one point led to her doctors installing a feeding tube in her stomach. Travis had to figure out how to keep his daughter alive and keep himself clear about supporting her through a disease that is described as terminal. He accomplished both by being honest with Piper about the seriousness of her situation. By learning to be bold in the face of fear. By embracing the need for surrender in his own life and believing that something greater would come from Piper's diagnosis. That something greater Travis hoped for was his establishing of a nonprofit called Piper's Angels Foundationthat is helping Piper and the thousands of other people like her, live fuller and hopefully longer lives with Cystic Fibrosis. An organization that “transforms pain into light, grief into beauty and breath into song.” But what comes through in our conversation is that the transformational hope that Travis talks about with such depth of emotion did not come effortlessly or quickly. He spent years searching for the solutions that were going to help him find his way to the unbound peace that he feels when he discusses Piper's diagnosis today. It isn't an easy peace that he describes. It is a peace he had to find through watching his daughter suffer in pain in hospitals. It is a peace that had to come with his acceptance. Acceptance of all the suffering and those who suffer in the world. Acceptance that as he looks for more answers, he will surely find more questions – “What if I fail?”  It is ultimately a peace that comes from the big lesson that Piper taught him that married the mission with the man. As Travis says, “She showed up here to teach so many people what community and love is.” And to see God in everyone and everything. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Your Difference is Your PowerSusan Chapman-Hughes is a powerhouse of a woman, mother, and businessperson. She has sat in the top executive level of companies like American Express and Citigroup and on major corporate boards across the country. And like the action Shirley Chisholm took on her rise to power in the Democratic party to become the first woman and black person to run for a major party's presidential nomination, Susan didn't wait for the invitation to the table. She pulled up her folding chair (and in Susan's case wearing chic and hip eyeglasses) and got to work. That tenacity and belief in herself and her abilities came from the love and support of her two parents who were staunchly in Susan's corner. Her mother in particular taught her life lessons as a child that have become foundational to her world view today. Her mother gave her unconditional love and permission to try things even if she failed. She instilled in Susan a sense of self-confidence and the belief that she always belonged. That who she was, was good enough, and that she had a right to inhabit any space that she chose to occupy in her life. Lessons that Susan is passing onto her daughter today.She is also using those childhood teachings to mentor young people, women, and people of color in the business world whose names still today are not usually found on the masthead of companies in the USA. She has reached down to lift people who she has had unswerving belief in, even when other executives on her teams doubted their abilities. And once those she has helped have achieved their greatness, her expectations are that they not only keep those doors opened for others to walk through, but they actively seek others to help as well. And once you get the opportunity to sit at the table or be in the C-Suite, you speak up and let people know you're there. Her approach to life and business is straightforward and hopefully replicable. Your difference is your power, and you have a lot more power than you know. To meet big moments in life, you must do so with empathy. And people are always going to judge you, so navigate life in a way that works best for you.Susan on LinkedInAt the Podium WebsitePatrick on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

She was In the Room Where it HappenedIn 2020, not long after graduating from Emory University, with her Poly Sci degree in hand, and after studying at the School for International Training in Geneva, Switzerland, Yissel Guerrero found herself not only with a courtside side seat to history, but she became a significant player in the epic drama that was unfolding on her home turf in Boston, MA. The city, one of America's oldest, like all the other American cities faced the greatest health crisis of a century with Covid-19 and then the staggering social unrest that gripped the country following the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor murders. Serving in Mayor Marty Walsh's administration she covered from Beacon Hill and Back Bay to Mission Hill and Fenway and would later serve as the administration's Liaison to the State Government of Massachusetts at the height of the pandemic. As she says, she was there when the realization came to the State of Massachusetts of just how bad Covid-19 would be, “Hold on! Everything has shifted.” And she was there every day showing up to work as a virulent pandemic gripped the city and claimed the lives of thousands of Bostonians. Not sure if she would contract the virus, she bore the risk of infection because she felt a calling to serve. She was there until the end, when Mayor Marty Walsh was tapped by President-Elect Joe Biden to serve in his administration as the Secretary of Labor.When I ask her about the unusual perspective she has had on history and the historic turns her life has taken and continues to do so today before she is even 30 years old, her response is humble, yet clear and pointed, “We exist in excellence, so it shouldn't be surprising to see our level of achievement.” That “we” she is referring to are the other first-generation immigrants who make up a significant portion of the population of Boston. Kids whose parents came to America for a dream of opportunity and a belief in a better way of life, and then passed those ideals on to their children. And now those same kids are running with the baton to build a city, indeed a world, of inclusion that makes space for all their dreams, and all the dreams their parents couldn't dream.Yissel describes her entry into the political world as Jesus bamboozling her. She credits her church, her faith, and her mom with opening the doors that led to her unusual life. It was her pastor who told her that she was born for a time such as this. And she took him at his word. What will she do next? You mean after her MBA in Social Impact is complete this year? Like many of her generation (and Drake) will tell you – We'll see what's about to happen next.Patrick's WebsiteAt the Podium on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Designer. Creator. Trend-Setter. Leader.“We over-complicate things,” Noel Asmar of Noel Asmar Group of Companies says with a genuine smile during our conversation, “and it's sometimes… just have some respect for people.” We were discussing her eponymously named design and clothing company leading the charge in creating work uniforms for non-binary people working in the spa industry. Something quite extraordinary in the hospitality business, given that the industry is admittedly disinclined to taking controversial stances or eagerly tackling tough societal issues. But as we went deeper into Noel's story, it became evident that her commonsense brand of fearlessness and straightforwardness has always been present, adheres to no overt political philosophies and is anchored in respect for all people. Like when she picked up her life at 20 years of age and moved from Canada to Beirut to open a 5 Star hotel. It was here she made her first foray into the clothing business when she designed the uniforms for the hotel's housekeeping team. She was only supposed to be in Lebanon for one year but stayed for 10, drawn to the city by its culture, its melting pot of people and its food. Like being evacuated on a Huber craft out of Lebanon to Cypress during the war in the 1990s. Like starting her design and fashion company by just fearlessly, getting it done – no over-complicated explanations, only grit and hustle. A company which would subsequently design the uniforms for the Canadian Olympic Equestrian team in 2016. Her perspective and approach are both bombast-free. Her take on business success and life success is intermingled with the guiding principle of authenticity. A word that is used often today, but in Noel's worldview she ties that authenticity to one's ability to drown out the chatter of the world so you can hear your own voice and then do that thing which is calling to you.Above all she believes in a respect and dignity for humanity that she learned from her global travels and brushing up against the humble and the high. She says in her sincere manner, “How can you not respect people for their beliefs… Cultural exposure gives you a different lens. More tolerant. Sit back and realize you're not the only one with a view in the room. This is important in every room. Everybody has a view… Respecting somebody's view is important, as you wish to be respected yourself.”Noel AsmarNoel on IGPatrick's WebsiteAt the Podium on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

What Are You Really Looking For?Joe Hudson has lived the life of a modern-day Jack Kerouac, embracing a spontaneous life and ethos that mirrors the improvisational intricacies of Thelonious Monk. Coltrane. Or Miles Davis. Hudson lived in 26 places by the time he was 28 years old. Meditated in his room for 7 years. Lived in a van for a year. Studied religion and became a Hollywood director, a venture capitalist, and a philanthropist. Today, his executive coaching company The Art of Accomplishment is quietly stoking a revolution of emotions in Austin, TX, and Silicon Valley's CEOs. His philosophy of leadership can be found in his articulated perspectives –  “If you can show up in love for somebody who is in hate for you, that's where change happens. That's where the progress occurs.” -or- “To fully love someone, you have to have clear boundaries… That boundary is actually a facilitator of love, it's not a diminishment of love.” -or- “I am not going to create any kind of true shift unless I am able to love you as I love myself… and see [the other] without judgment.” Not the philosophies you would think could ignite change in a top C-Suite Executive of a tech company in the rolling hills of Northern California or the heat of Austin, TX. But as Hudson observes – people show up for his tutelage looking for one thing, and quickly realize that what that need and what they have come to receive are totally different than what they thought they were coming for initially – I want to run a successful business! Young Sensei, you must live an emotionally connected life first.  In our conversation I kept asking him – “Is this what the Art of Accomplishment is? Is that what the Art of Accomplishment is?” His answer was always, “Yes, and…” highlighting his foundational view that even as we strive for an intellectual understanding of all things, it is the emotional quarrying of our souls and experiences that really tell us what we are looking for. As Joe Hudson says, “Great decisions are based on your ability to be ok with all your emotional experiences, so you make clear decisions emotionally.”The Art of Accomplishment Website Patrick's WebsiteAt the Podium on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

A Golden Voice“The ineffable gift that is gold” is how a colleague and critic once described Marnye Young's voice and talent behind the microphone. High praise for Marnye who has grown her own narration company starting from scratch in 2018 to where she sits today having recorded well over 200 audio books, employing a team of nine and picking up fans and awards along the way. She is the Audio Sorceress indeed. But her real wizardry isn't only her work in the recording studio. It comes from what she has learned from becoming a businesswoman and a mother (they are linked as you will hear in our conversation). She had to answer the question many of face when we step into the unknown as Marnye did when her high-risk pregnancy with twins made her pivot from a solely-focused acting career to the world of audiobooks and narration – “What if I fail?” In the midst of her angst, Marnye turned the question around for herself and asked, “What if I succeed?” What Marnye discovered along the way, is that both questions don't get it quite right. Her journey hasn't been a zero-sum game, it has been an exploration of life's lessons and the interiors of her soul that have led her to the awareness that, “I realize there's more to me. There's just more there.” As she honestly reveals to us, this process of growing into a business owner showed her just how much she doubted her own strengths and gifts, and at the same time afforded her the opportunity to step into her own greatness. As she eloquently and almost heartbreakingly says, “I've come into my own.” She had to push open the doors to make people listen to her and see all that she has to offer. And it became abundantly clear to Marnye that she has a self-contained power which is now expressed in her work, her life, and her mothering.  She's lived a lesson of strength and kindness that she passes on to her twin girls. Here, she embraces the calling of student and teacher for her kids. As she guides and nurtures them through their developmental challenges, they have taught her valuable lessons – we must live with compassion for all people and that there are no deficits in people, only differences.  Marnye has literally dropped the mic on a big and unexpected life. Her parting thought? I don't know how helpful the word success is. I want to do my thing and be the best at it I can be: Mother. Wife. Audio Sorceress.  “The ineffable gift that is gold” is how a colleague and critic once described Marnye Young's voice and talent behind the microphone. Known as the Audio Sorceress, she has leant her voice to narrating over 200 audiobooks and become the owner of a well-established and respected audio publishing company. But her real wizardry isn't only her work in the recording studio. It comes from what she has learned from becoming a businesswoman, wife, and a mother of beautiful twin girls: owning her greatness, living with compassion and kindness for those who are different from her, and pushing open the doors so people can see and hear her.Audio Sorceress WebsiteMarnye  on IGPatrick's WebsiteAt the Podium on IGFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Ghosts and Wedding Dresses.Miss Havisham is one of Charles Dickens most complex and unforgettable characters in all of literature. When we meet her in his novel Great Expectations, she has literally become mummified in her tattered wedding dress and in her love for the man who left her jilted at the marriage altar. The clocks in her decaying mansion stopped to the exact moment when she received the news of her groom-to-be's betrayal. The wedding cake still on the table, uneaten, no doubt decaying with rot like her skin, which has not felt the warmth of the sun in many years. Her suffering is operatic. It is one of the anchors of the book's angst-filled love story between Pip and Estella. Miss Havisham is both ghoul and tragic angel, heroine and antagonist, ultimately consumed in the flames of her lost love. It's the New Year. And we are all being inundated with memes, quotes, and advice on how we are supposed to step into 2023 with a new mojo. How we are supposed to embrace a new perspective on how we are supposed to live old lives. How this year is going to be different from all the other new years past. How our best lives are ahead of us if only we could… What? Step out of the past hurts and disappointments (I wanted to say failures, but they are making a comeback as things we should experience)? Forgive that person who we've been harboring a grudge against for years (a missing father, a cheating lover, an untrue friend)? Chase the dreams we've sacrificed for convenience and comfort sakes (write that novel, leave that soul-numbing corporate job, take salsa dancing lessons)? Marsha-Ann Donaldson-Brown breaks it down in this one phrase. “At the end of the day, know this, all you have is this one life. And you are deserving of living it fully, with intention, with peace, love, and joy unspeakable. And nothing or no one is worth it for you to be dragging through life broken.” She gives us two stark choices. We can either have a life of joy unspeakable (which somehow feels more potent than unspeakable joy when she says it), or we can drag through life broken, like Miss Havisham, our wedding finery turned into widows' weeds.  And we better make a choice because it isn't about living our best lives. What we are walking through, either asleep or awake, is our only life, and time unmercifully marches on. Marsha-Ann's call is not a placid, genteel nudge into mindfulness and self-acceptance. She disruptively advocates for acts of radical self-interest, radical self-love, and radical self-awareness. The alternative she paints is too difficult to contemplate. “If we're not careful, we'll live life in a time-capsule, trapped in the dogma of what society says, or what has been said to us. I'm on a mission now to embrace that within this season we occupy that we're living it fully.”Ultimately, Marsha-Ann invites us to a life of liberation and a different kind of “wokeness.” Where we shed the imprisoning decay of expectations, self-doubt, and things past that hold us back. Deliverance. Freedom. So that we can soar like an eagle with the delicacy of a butterfly. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Now I Lay Me Down to SleepMillions of little children have said this prayer on their knees at bedtime. Eyes closed. Fingers and palms gently intertwined under their chins. Parents lovingly watching from a slight distance. Perhaps allowing the child her first taste of intellectual and spiritual freedom. A melancholic freedom. A lamentation, because you are talking to the Lord about your death and the care of your soul, after all.  But what is death? In Hamlet, Shakespeare describes it as a prison house with tales that freeze the blood and can make your hair stand on end. An undiscovered country filled with will-puzzling terrors from which no traveler returns. The Psalmists in Psalms 23 describe it as the journey through a valley in the Judean Desert Wilderness on the road to Jericho. The Valley of the Shadow of Death. Metaphorically walking through a troubled and dark time, but having no fear because God is with you, fighting the slings and arrows that come your way. Carl Jung's view of death is that of a destination for the second half of life; an instinctual, inevitable goal, not a state to be feared or denied. Oceana Swayer has a unique and highly developed view of what death and dying is. As she says of her role as an End-of-Life Doula and author of the unexpected book Life, Death, Grief & the Possibility of Pleasure, “The work I do… is essentially a role that is associated with the person who is actually dying, no one else, just the person who's dying. And the job in that role is to make sure that they are having the kind of death that they want to have and that's it. That's all there is… and that's a lot.” Having been witness to so many souls at they transition from life into death, her view of death isn't tied up in the culture wars of religion or the haggling of heirs over who gets what China sets. Missing from her work are platitudes and uncomfortable sympathies. She talks in surprising terms about the sensuality and the pleasure of death as the portal opens, time suspends, and the dying becomes the dead.In her final analysis, death is a moment for the dying to be seen. It is their moment of truth. A truth that allows for the generation of more creativity and yes life. For how we live is a harbinger of how we will surely die. What is on the other side of that remains the domain of the poets and the saints.  For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

The Open Road Sings a LullabyZelda is a woman on the precipice of the next chapter of her life. When we sat down to speak in the twilight of the Summer of 2022 – the summer of student loan forgiveness (kind of), the summer of Mar Lago, the summer of soaring record temperatures in the Unites States – Zelda was in a reflective state as she was preparing to head off to start her freshman year at Columbia University. For Zelda and her parents John and Toby, like so many other thousands of students and their parents, the late summer season is an especially poignant time, marking the passage of life with the start of a new academic year. New clothes are bought. Marks ticked off on doorframes to record growth spurts. New dreams emerge.When I asked Zelda what her parents have given her this far into her life she said, “A great friendship. They treated us like equals. Straight from the beginning, especially in the film making process, they've allowed me and Lulu to have equal input in the storyline and what kind of film we want to make. Which has taught me that my opinion matters. It really sculpted me into the person I am now.” That great friendship with her parents and sister Lulu was forged on the vast system of roads and highways that connect the nation like arteries of a heart; eating in the tasty diners along the open road; and camping along the coastal shores of Oregon. The landscape of America. For the last 12 years of her life, Zelda and her family have explored those highways and byways in an RV, making films along the way. Suspenseful films. Horror Films. Cinematically beautiful and award-winning films that have become cult classics and caught the attention of the New York Times and Vogue, Rotten Tomatoes, and Shudder Films. Hellbender, The Deeper You Dig, and Halfway to Zen to name a few.  Zelda and her family began this unusual journey, when Zelda was six years old. When dreams of creation, agency and plain old fun and adventure led them to those beckoning roads. Her notches on the doorframe are preserved in celluloid where you see a young, tiny child become the person she is now.Who is that person now? She is 18. She is a writer and a critically acclaimed actress. She is a musician. And like so many of her generation, Zelda is keenly aware of the dynamics of social and political change she is inheriting. She is also that woman on the precipice. When I ask her what her biggest leap of faith in a life has been. A life that has been a mixture of saying yes and defying convention and boundaries she says simply, “My biggest leap of faith is right now. I'm about to go off to school in six days and I am feeling excited, nervous, scared. It's a whirlwind of feelings. I think I'm just going through a really big transition right now. Going to school and not making films with my parents anymore and not having their friendship instantly, physically right by my side is going to be really really different. So, it's a big leap right now, and I'm excited for it.”We are too, Zelda. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

His Mother's EyesIn the production notes for his play The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams describes the play as a “memory play… presented with unusual freedom from convention.”  He goes into further detail, “Because of its considerably delicate or tenuous material, atmospheric touches and subtleties of direction play a particularly important part. Expressionism and all other unconventional techniques in drama have only one valid aim, and this is a closer approach to truth. When a play employs unconventional techniques, it is not, or certainly shouldn't be, trying to escape its responsibility of dealing with reality, or interpreting experience, but is actually or should be attempting to find a closer approach, a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are.”July 20, 1998 is the day that three-year-old Kevin's life changed forever. It is the day that his father killed his mother, sister, and brother. Kevin was three at the time, but he remembers the day vividly. The memories are graphic and visceral. His sister's freshly curled hair and the smell of the hairs slightly singed with the curling iron filling his nostrils. His father's ominous words, “I am going to kill you all today.” His mother's terror-filled eyes, as a young Kevin peered through the kitchen door to see his mom before her life was brutally ended. Her body covered in blood. He recalls his dad closing the door to the kitchen so Kevin would not see the final act. Perhaps an incongruous act of mercy? He still has nightmares about his mother's eyes. He remembers they were so piercing. The resulting truth of that day in 1998 for Kevin was that his father's crime left him orphaned. His mother murdered by his own dad who was unresponsive in a prison cell in Texas for years, not replying to Kevin's letters to him. Kevin was set on a course that led him from Texas to Louisiana and back again, and ultimately into the life of an escort. As Kevin describes it himself, “What I was looking for in these men was parts of my dad that I didn't have.” He did what he had to do to survive. And even though he survived that day in 1998, Kevin describes a part of his life as taken away from him like his mom and siblings were, “You know, I don't know if my dad really realizes this, but he shaped me because he taught me how to live without him. And you know, he killed a part of me as well, and there is a part of me missing, that I think I will never have.”When he finally visited his dad in prison, it showed him what he was capable of. How strong he was. He was able to close the door on some of those dark things when he was able to see his dad face-to-face. “Being able to look across the table at somebody and seeing someone that is so like me, it was groundbreaking… When I was able to walk out of that establishment, I felt like the baddest bitch in the world. For overcoming my biggest fear. My biggest fear in life was to see him in person and not know what to do. To let it hurt me.”I know we want there to be a happy ending here. And there is. Kevin is now studying Public Health in college in Texas, he is an advocate for PrEP and HIV education in the gay community and a voice for the rights and safety of sex workers. But Kevin's reality is what it is. Each day he wakes up and draws breath is a triumph of the human soul, and the remembrance of his mother's eyes. For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Pinocchio. The Blue Fairy. And the Yellow MotorcyclePinocchio had only one wish. To be a real boy. And the Blue Fairy who brings him to life will grant him that wish if he can prove to be a brave, truthful, and selfless person. As with all things in life, our goals often come with conditions, and they can easily get entangled in the twists and jumbles of our circumstances and our choices. And thus, the movie of Pinocchio unfolds. The wooden puppet Pinocchio, cobbled together by his father Geppetto, breathed to life by a Blue Fairy, embarks on a complex life of drinking, smoking, and gambling. As circumstances escalate, he narrowly escapes being sold into slavery. It isn't until he is forced to save the life of Geppetto that Pinocchio redeems himself. In saving his father he finally proves that he is brave, truthful, and selfless, all the things that would make him a real boy. But the price for Geppetto's life is Pinocchio's death. Staying true to her word, however, the Blue Fairy reawakens Pinocchio to life as a real boy. The wish is fulfilled.In his book and TV series The Kindness Diaries, Leon Logothetis is granting wishes. Not for large acts of heroism, but for everyday people who have demonstrated simple acts of kindness to a stranger. His well-documented journey around the world on a yellow motorcycle borne on the kindness of strangers wasn't about him getting stuff for himself; it was about him getting entrée to people whose lives he could change. What Leon describes as the kindness of small gestures. The whispers of kindness that can really transform a person. As he says, “How you show up moment to moment is far more important than doing something huge.” The Emperor Shah Jahan of India built the Taj Mahal for his dead love. Leon buys a plan ticket for a man and his wife living in the Midwest of America, to attend their son's wedding in London. The small kindnesses.Leon's story is not that of Willy Wonka or even the Blue Fairy. His journey to kindness was built from his own sense of aloneness and brokenness. Those childhood pains were a springboard to his life today – leading a global kindness revolution.  Unlike Pinocchio, Leon isn't looking for the fast, risky life. Real danger from Leon's perspective is the risk of living a vulnerable life. Of living a life from your heart. And like the story of Pinocchio, Leon reminds us: don't quit before the miracle happens.Leon Logothetis WebsiteLeon on IGPatrick's WebsitePatrick on FacebookPatrick on IGAt the Podium on IGPatrick on LinkedIn For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Change Comes as a Young Girl with Dance in her Heart Gennean Scott is the Chief Diversity Officer for the Broadway League. She is the guardian of and the advocate for ensuring that the people and institutions behind the shimmering lights of Broadway shows are engaged in the same question that presently animates the conversations in our politics, in our schools and in our neighborhoods – how can we make these institutions more reflective of the diversity that is steadily growing within the world today? It is a question that she has been asking her whole life. From starting as a young dancer in Omaha, NE. To leading DE&I efforts at arts institutions in the heartland of America. To owning her own dance company that was committed to exposing underserved and underrepresented children to the beauty, the majesty, and the freedom of dance, Gennean has pushed at the edges of peoples' perceptions to create space for new, more inclusive thoughts to take root and bloom. It's all been a tall order for a young girl with dancing dreams in her heart, wearing mismatched “flesh-colored” tights and untamed hair that didn't neatly slick back into a Balanchine-approved bun.  This tenacity to be an instrument of change has always been present for Gennean. Born to an unwed teen mother, she too would tread that same path of unexpected and single motherhood until she was able to break that cycle with her own children. She talks candidly about her struggle to disrupt the statistics, even as she had to rely on government assistance to support her family as she fought to stand on her own strengths. And she plaintively recounts the stony path to embrace her “blackness” in a world that did not reflect to her the exquisiteness and the resilience of what being black can be.  It would have been easy to give up. Some do. But like the heroines in the shows that she today helps facilitate, she used adversity to reach for the stars and seize the opportunities that came her way that led her out of despair into belief. Calling upon the strengths of her ancestors, the support of her mother, and a certainty that God was not going to let her fail, Gennean has built a life that allows her to say to herself and to us, “Bet on you! Choose you! Because it is good!” Gennean on IG Patrick's WebsitePatrick on FacebookPatrick on IGAt the Podium on IGPatrick on LinkedIn For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

Fight the Powers That Be!In my discussion with Dr. Devin Singh, an Associate Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College, we locate our conversation at the epicenter of history, religion, politics, and economics and go for it. More than the nonsensical political debates of today that have become an exercise in the polemics of the absurd, we take a deep dive into the underpinnings of our current systems that are based on religious doctrine and teachings born from the beginnings of Christianity. Much of the tension that we feel today between Church and State, Economics and Religion, Spirituality and Religion can be traced back to the origins of how the founders of the Church decided that we would interact with and practice our belief in God, Jesus, and Faith. And to make sure that the conversation didn't get too heady, we explore Devin's work as executive coach in his business Leadership Kinetics and look at the importance of movies like the Breakfast Club, Grunge Music and the early days of Hip Hop and Rap as cultural signifiers of the angst of what it meant to grow up as Gen Xers. Angst that persists today with what we could term America's Forgotten Generation – those of us who are saying goodbye to our 40's and embracing life into our 50's. The Latch Key Generation. In our joyfully intense back and forth that sometimes felt like a good tennis match and less like a “podcast,” we peel back the layers to reveal Devin the man. Who moved around often as a child. Who witnessed and experienced violence growing up. Who was in search of finding for himself answers to some of the greatest existential questions we all face – Who am I? What is my purpose on the planet? How do I heal the brokenness within me?Two quotes from Devin that sum up the nature of our conversation: “In reality there's always something that is given up in order to choose a certain path.” and “There's beauty to encounter in the world. There's beauty to experience and wanting to experience that and wanting to seek that out.”Devin on IG Patrick's WebsitePatrick on FacebookPatrick on IGAt the Podium on IGPatrick on LinkedIn For more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

A Mosaic of CourageI remember September 11, 2001, like it was yesterday. I remember exactly where I was when I turned on the television to watch the morning news anchors on ABC7 in Manhattan. They were telling us that we were indeed under a terrorist attack and that we should get out of Manhattan if we could. Things were happening so rapidly that even as the news anchors issued those dire words, their instructions became obsolete as all traffic in and out of The City came to a grinding halt. Not knowing what to do, I joined the thousands of workers being evacuated from high rise office buildings all over the city and got swept up into the teeming masses of people flooding the streets of Midtown, Uptown and Downtown. The East Side and the West Side. From Battery Park to Washington Heights. My friend Cheryl Rogers later told me that she had walked from her office in Chelsea all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge and crossed over on foot to get home to her cat Cookie. In the days that followed, we New Yorkers, like the rest of the world remained inside, glued to the television. I watched the local News One a lot those first few days, and ABC7, because they were giving us the local, inside scoop. And we needed practical information – like where to go to get food and water. And where people could go to get information on the missing and the dead. On that day, Liz Brunner sat at the anchor desk at ABC-TV, WCVB NewsCenter 5 in Boston, MA - that city's top-rated newscast. Liz was the voice of reason, calm and a face that Bostonians all knew they could trust to tell them what was happening. The facts. 12 years later, on April 15, 2013, she would assume the seat at the anchor desk again, as this time terror visited the city of Boston directly with the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the chase for the bombers that ensued in the following days. When she talks about both events, her journalistic resolve melts as her eyes soften. The humanity of the person shines through. It was that tangible humanity that drew viewers to her during her 28-year career in front of the camera. It is that humanity that draws people to her today in her role of executive communications coach for people looking to raise their lives and their careers to the next level of success, or is it greatness?To sit in the anchor desk with integrity and hold the emotions and expectations of a city or a nation is not easy work. It is the work of the courageous. Courage is a word that comes up often in my conversation with Liz because it is a guiding principle of her life and the many lives she has lived: reporter and anchor, teacher, professional singer, and now entrepreneur. That courageousness has come to her from her ancestors, some who crossed over on the Mayflower and some who lived on the distant continent of India. Both meet in her, creating a legacy that is both improbable and at the same time wholly American. Her thoughts on the rich mosaic of her life? They are found in her latest book Dare to Own You. Every leap of faith in your life takes tremendous courage. Every new chapter that you write for yourself requires you not to be afraid. Vulnerability is an earned gift that you bestow to others, not something to be frivolously given away. Liz on IG Patrick's WebsitePatrick on FacebookPatrick on IGAt the Podium on IGPatrick on LinkedInFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

For All We KnowSince American Idol premiered in 2002 and crowned Kelly Clarkson its first winner, the show has been an unstoppable juggernaut – Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey's sometimes ridiculous, sometimes hilarious diva battles notwithstanding. Unlike many talent-shows, Idol's contestants and winners have gone on to have major careers beyond the scope of its cameras – Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert, and Chris Daughtry to name a few. The producers struck gold with Simon's acerbic tongue, Paula's idiosyncrasies, and Randy's good cop to Simon's bad cop routine. And the kids could really sing, usually, and we the viewing audience got to pick the winner. All ratings gold. 20 years later, Skyler Maxey-Wert walked into the audition hall in Nashville, TN this past year as the last audition of the day. Imagine his surprise and delight when the now judges, Katy Perry, Lionel Ritchie and Luke Bryan gave him an enthusiastic and genuine standing ovation after his rendition of Donny Hathaway's For All We Know. Like the kids in Willy Wonka, Skyler booked his golden ticket to Hollywood.For All We Know in its own way was the perfect song for Skyler. Just by putting himself out there on social media crooning to us from his home in Dresden, Germany, during the pandemic, he was inviting and entertaining the possibility of something wonderful and unexpected happening in his life. A life that has already been filled with such wonder and magic. If you recall from our conversation in Season One, he left his home in Lancaster, PA to study ballet in New York City at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School the American Ballet Theater. Very heady stuff for a 13-year-old. Now in his mid-twenties he's dancing professionally with the ballet in Dresden and developing himself and his voice as a singer.   In a life defined by such highs and superlatives and exclamation points, Skyler remains quite unaffected by it all. In fact, he's quite contemplative about his life as an artist and creator. He draws profound parallels between his job as dancer and his civilian life as a young man within the context of the multifaceted world we are all living through today. For all he knows? As Skyler will tell you, “You have everything you need.”Skyler on IGPatrick's WebsitePatrick on FacebookPatrick on IGAt the Podium on IGPatrick on LinkedInFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

The World is Filled with LightningIn 2019, The New York Times asked Attica Locke what moved her most in a work of literature. Attica's response came back with one word: Wisdom. The New York Times rightly knew who to go to for this question. Attica is a five-time published, New York Times bestselling author. If you've yet to read one of her crime and suspense filled novels but have watched an episode of Empire or Little Fires Everywhere (or her upcoming Netflix Limited Television Series From Scratch produced and written with her sister Tembi Locke), you have had a glimpse into the worlds that Attica creates through the magic of her imagination and her pen. Her office is filled with awards for her creativity. When Attica writes, Hollywood and New York take notice, because something good is about to happen.But when Attica sits down to write, there are no critics in the corner applauding (this is no waking ritual of a 17th Century monarch). No studio executives rushing in to read and then approve the latest edits. It all begins with Attica showing up to face an empty Microsoft Word Doc, a flashing cursor, and an idea. An idea of what could be. Showing up is a recurring theme in Attica's journey as writer and human. The act of being present, taking up space and trying – even in the face of doubt – are essential ingredients for living. She says, “Your ability to then be additive to the lives of others, starts with you being able to show up for yourself.” Before I can give to others, my cup must first be full. In our conversation, Attica and I both show up and struggle together through the most challenging questions of our times as we contemplate what the world is and what it could be: Will this democracy last? Can black people afford forgiveness? Can we defeat the illusions of scarcity that Attica identifies as the central question of crime in her work? Our conversation is funny, sometimes raw and tear filled, but mostly it is the dialogue between two life-long friends who spend an hour together in fellowship as the world around us is filled with lightning. Attica sums it up in the final moments of our conversation, “The thing I care about on planet earth is kindness. Kindness. Kindness. And recognizing peoples' humanity.”Now that, Attica, is wisdom.Attica InformationAttica on IGPatrick InformationPatrick on IGPatrick on LinkedInFor more information contact Patrick at patrick@patrickhueyleadership.com

From the Jazz Age to Citizen ArtistMusic has been at the forefront of social movements in America. Where politicians dared not go, music often led the way. Its rhythms, melodies and lyrics moving past peoples' eyes and into their hearts. With their eyes people can see race, gender, and even social class. With the sound of music, as the lyric implies, the hills come alive.Jazz is a particularly American artform that suffered from the particularly American social ills born from racism. Even though black artists played to white audiences in grand hotel ballrooms in the North and the South, they were not allowed to stay in the very hotels where they played. Duke Ellington may have reigned as one of the Kings of Jazz, but he couldn't sit at the bar of the Cotton Club that he made famous. Black Jazz artists like all black musicians in the first half of the 20th Century, had their songs often stolen by white artists who got the glory, the recognition, and the money. Artists like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday risked losing their careers, their lives, and their freedom over the social stances they took to support Civil Rights and Human Rights. Today, that lineage of the music has found its way into the creative and artistic life of Timo Vollbrecht. From his roots in Lower Saxony Berlin in Germany (where the music, the improvisations and the saxophone called to him) to New York City (where he expanded his education and pedagogy) to the stages of the world (where he has performed for audiences of 1 to 1,000), Timo is reimagining the place for a citizen artist in a post-Jazz centric world with his tenor saxophone. A music scene once ruled by Jazz and Bebop and Lindy Hoppers, is now the domain of rappers, boy bands, and YouTube stars, but there is still a considerable space for Jazz to make the connections it was famous for a century ago – where the other stops being the other but becomes a part of you. Timo has curated an open music night in Ramallah, where his band teamed up with Palestinian musicians. He organized student concerts at the Hassenfeld Children's Hospital in New York and performed interactive concerts at senior citizen residences and refugee homes. Today, he is bringing his saxophone and considerable musical experience and education to the students at Brown University as the Director of Jazz Studies. As Timo succinctly says, “I want to make music that is for people, that moves people, that might inspire people. You can use it also for social justice, activism, but not just that. The question is how do you use your music? It's the understanding that I'm not just a musician. I am a citizen. And I have responsibilities as a citizen.”