Podcast appearances and mentions of sue heilbronner

Ajay Manglani, an exec in the generative AI space, joins Sue Heilbronner and Leah Pearlman for another episode of live executive coaching. Ajay, who brings a warmth, relatability, and sensitivity to this podcast and, seemingly, his leadership, raises two issues we hear often from company leaders. First, he discusses his effort to strike what he sees as the right balance around how much information (about board meetings, future company decisions, etc.) to share with his direct reports and larger team. He asks Leah and Sue for insights on how to think of that balance in a way that works best for him and for his team, and the coaches provide some thoughts you might find useful if you've wondered about this. Second, he asks how he might create more connected relationships with his colleagues. Leah does a bit of welcoming around his true motivations for wanting both more and less connection at once. As we do more of these episodes, we're grateful for the willingness of our leader guests to share what's really on their minds. We are game to talk to more leaders who are interested in this live coaching experience on the Hey Sue podcast. Find Sue on Linkedin, connect or follow, and send a message. We'll be in touch.

Pull back the curtain on conscious leadership executive coaching with a new leader every episode. In this ep, Yong Kim, CEO of Wonolo, joins Leah Pearlman and Sue Heilbronner for a deep and vulnerable live executive coaching session. Yong, who describes himself as the "Chief Empathy Officer" of Wonolo shares his concerns about a miss on quarterly numbers and opens the door to a wonderful conversation about 100% responsibility, the inner critic, and the many sides of empathy in leadership. This episode offers great insights on leadership pressures at any time, and surely during difficult macroeconomic conditions. It also offers wonderful perspective on optimizing a nurturing, compassionate relationship between CEO, venture investors, and company Boards of Directors.

In the last episode, I recorded an event I held to share what I've learned through my experience working from home for the past 15 years with some of our portfolio companies and some of the members of our fund 81 VC forum. I shared that if I'm honest with myself, I value productivity and efficiency above all else. So it's not surprising, that I focused the agenda on my tips for becoming more productive and efficient while working from home. During the call, two of our MergeLane portfolio company CEOs shared that they actually have the opposite problem. Without that physical barrier between work and home, they have a really hard time shutting off. When I listened to the recording, I realized that I failed to really hear what they were saying because I was so focused on my pre-determined agenda. This is a pattern that I now recognize thanks to studying Conscious Leadership which my colleagues Sue Heilbronner and Leah Pearlman turned me onto. You can learn more about that at Leadership.Camp. I wanted to record this follow up episode to apologize to Bo and Allie and to share some answers to the questions I glossed over.

Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman – co-founders of the coaching and consulting business Conscious Leadership Group – are working to shift the mindset and level of self-awareness in global companies and organizations. Jim and Diana have been at the forefront of this movement, launching their bestselling book 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership in 2015 with Kaley Klemp. In this episode of the Real Leaders podcast, Sue Heilbronner leads an intimate interview with her long-time friends and fellow Conscious Leadership advocates Jim and Diana about why, how, and when they co-founded CLG. Combining their individual experience, skills, and resources, Jim and Diana decided to join forces to increase their impact. Jim’s passion for continued growth in consciousness and Diana’s practical approach to communication are what enable them to make change happen for their clients and coaches-in-training. CLG now comprises a talented group of coaches, trainers, and consultants who work with thousands of leaders and companies interested in bringing more conscious practices to their companies. Learn more about how Jim and Diana have built a rapidly growing international business through a mindset of abundance, transparency, and personal alignment on this engaging episode of the Real Leaders Podcast. Visit www.conscious.is to find upcoming events and more information about the Conscious Leadership Group. Real Leaders is brought to you by www.Leadership.Camp, a home for open Conscious Leadership coaching, events, and forums.

Chapter 2 in our series Conscious Leadership AMA ("Ask Me Anything") with Sue Heilbronner, CEO of MergeLane Fund and Leadership Camp. Conscious Leadership AMAs are open to alumni of MergeLane programs and camps at Leadership.camp. Leaders ask about their challenges and opportunities in implementing conscious leadership into their daily work and life. This episode features a heavy focus on unconscious commitments, including how to spot clearly the patterns that we are using in our leadership and how those patterns can make us more and less effective. Raw, real and revealed inquiries and live executive coaching from Conscious Leadership Coach Sue Heilbronner on the Real Leaders Podcast.

In this episode, Amy calls up a mentor, personal friend, and a fierce woman in leadership, Sue Heilbronner. She’s a speaker, a startup CEO, an investor, a professor at CU Boulder, a conscious leadership coach, and the co-creator of both Leadership Camp, as well as MergeLane, an accelerator for startups that have at least one female in leadership. Sue also mentors startups through the Techstars accelerator program in Boulder. She also teaches Conscious Leadership Camp, which you’ll learn more about in this episode. Over the years, Amy has learned firsthand that Sue is deeply committed to showing up authentically, practicing conscious leadership, and taking 100% responsibility for who she is, what she says, and how she shows up for people. Listen on to find out about Sue’s poker-playing mom in Vegas, what it means to really walk the talk, what it means to have “random time” set aside in your calendar for people, and the conscious leadership fundamentals, including taking 100% responsibility — no more no less — and how we can really own our parts at all times with people. As humans, we crave real, intimate conversations and connections. It starts with authentic relating, showing up, and always owning your part. A true coach, this interview with Sue Heilbronner will teach you a thing or two about self-awareness, the personas we all carry, and what we can do to truly connect with the people we care about.

First episode in our series Conscious Leadership AMA ("Ask Me Anything") with Sue Heilbronner, CEO of MergeLane Fund and Leadership Camp. Hear from MergeLane portfolio fund CEOs and previous attendees of Leadership.camp about their challenges and opportunities in implementing conscious leadership into their daily work and life. Part of a new, occasional series from the Real Leaders Podcast

Mat Vogels is an extremely zestful CEO. And it's no surprise that he's founded a high-momentum startup called Zestful -- which is setting the standard for the next generation of employee perks -- with the tagline "live full." Because Mat Vogels lives fully. And behind his extraordinary attitude, full-time smile, and easy way of being stands a tenacious startup founder committed to making his company a winner. In this episode of the Real Leaders podcast with Sue Heilbronner, Mat shares his two-year journey in great detail -- the big wins like a berth in Y-combinator and funding from Bessemer -- and the long and arid valleys in between. He also opens up about how his personality traits make him the best and the worst CEO of a growth company and how he is managing that self-awareness to create the best version of himself and his company. Learn about the real story behind a fast-moving startup and its all-in founder in this telling episode of Real Leaders.

This is the third and final episode (so far) of our series on living kidney donation. Here seasoned donor coordinator Neshiyqah Nash tells you everything you need to know to consider being a non-directed donor or a donor to any of the 100,000 Americans (and plenty in your country if you're not American) awaiting a donor kidney right now. Learn about the process, the donor requirements, the timelines and your next steps to become a living kidney donor in this episode of the Real Leaders Podcast with Sue Heilbronner. If you like this episode, go back to hear episode 36 with Patty Graham, a successful altruistic donor who kicked off a huge chain of donations, and episode 35 with Mike Heilbronner, the recipient of a living kidney donation.

There are only slightly more than a hundred of people each year that make a "non-directed donor" kidney donation. Patty Graham is one of them. This means that Patty voluntarily donated a kidney not knowing who would receive it, and with her decision, she sparked a chain of kidney recipients getting their life-saving organ. Hear what motivated Patty and how her sister laid the groundwork when years ago she donated a kidney to their stepfather. Patty is an inspiring force of altruism in the world. Hear her story and all the wonderful things that have flowed from her decision to donate on this episode of the Real Leaders Podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

This is the first in a 3-part Real Leaders series on living organ donation. Our focus is on living kidney donation and the 100,000 people in the United States alone who are waiting for a life-saving kidney donation. In this episode, 50-year-old Mike Heilbronner talks about his need for a new kidney in his late forties and how he navigated the questions around asking for a living donor to step forward. He also discusses the process by which he ultimately decided to do a "marketing campaign" for a new organ and how an altruistic donor whom he didn't know stepped forward to fill his need. Learn about voluntary, in-life donation and how it affects recipients in this unique episode of the Real Leaders podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

Robyn Knowlan joined her two best friends from elementary school to start a business. Instead of trying their hands at a scalable tech business and targeting a high-multiple exit, they chose a cold-pressed juice retail operation that counts thousands of techies as its biggest fans in Boulder, Colorado. Wonder Press Juice is a business built with and from love, and as well as anyone I've met, Robyn explains how heart (and a massive amount of work) can create a fast-growing, values-aligned company bent on enhancing its customers' health. Hear about the journey of Robyn as a founder, then a CEO, and about Wonder Press, both the highs and the lows in this episode of the Real Leaders Podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

Perhaps you've heard of the mission-critical first 100 days in a new role. If you're looking at a new position and wanting to ensure your success -- or if you are making a key hire and want to ensure the same for that person -- Dennis Adsit of Adsum Insights has some great insights. Dennis has been coaching through his First 100 Days program, optimizing that key stage for new hires starting from before Day 1 in a new role. Hear his thoughts on this episode of the Real Leaders Podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

Conscious Leadership has been a game-changer for our partnership and our investing. For this Fund81 podcast interview, I invited my business partner at the MergeLane venture fund for high-potential startups with at least one woman in leadership, Sue Heilbronner, to talk about Conscious Leadership.

Alex Canter was born with a stainless steel spoon in his mouth, and on that spoon was a really excellent matzoh ball. Alex is among the fourth generation of Canter family members who learned about business early by working at the 87-old deli institution in Los Angeles. Canter's Deli is a Jewish-style restaurant that has been open 24 hours a day for the last 87 years. There is no lock on the door. When Alex began working at the restaurant, he saw that online ordering and food delivery were becoming a major part of the future opportunity for the business. Walk-in customers were down, and Alex wanted Canter's to triumph in this new age. He signed up for nine ordering services and saw the impact of the new revenue stream. He also saw the perils, with separate, non-integrated tablets behind the counter for Seamless, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and more. Orders were being lost, customers were having to wait when they arrived to pick up their food, the staff was confused. In this chaos, Alex Canter saw an opportunity to bring the more than 175 online ordering companies into a single point of sale system that could communicate with the front of house and back of house and fulfill the customer promise of hot food served seamlessly. Ordermark was born, allowing Canter's and thousands of other restaurant partners to manage all online ordering partner companies from a single device. In this episode of the Real Leader's podcast with Sue Heilbronner, hear Alex's story of growing up in an old-school restaurant family and bringing his gifts of vision and technical acumen to the table to create true innovation in the sector. Ordermark has raised in excess of $3 million to date and is part of the Techstars Boulder 2018 class. Learn more about Alex and how to get Ordermark at your restaurant at www.ordermark.com.

Lisa Weinstein had reached a point in her career where she'd covered most of the ground in advertising, from executive positions in global advertising firms to leading a major roll-up in the ad-tech space. After grabbing a number of brass rings in her industry, Lisa made a huge jump to lead a company she had been advising, Curiosity.com. Hear about her move, her ramp in this new role as a startup CEO, and her thoughts on where digital advertising and ad tech are headed on the Real Leaders Podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

When Vlada Bortnik arrived in the United States from the Ukraine at age 10 knowing very little English, her family settled in Kansas. Vlada was immersed in the language and in American culture, but she has never forgotten many of the things many Americans take for granted -- food in the grocery stores and enough money to buy it. From the time she was a kid, the founder of Joya (known best for the widely popular video communication app Marco Polo) has charted an intentional life. She landed at Northwestern University with a meaningful scholarship (which she needed), she majored in art and computer science, she successfully navigated from intern to product manager at Microsoft, and then she went out on her own (alongside her husband and co-founder) and built businesses that addressed market gaps or, with Marco Polo, solved a real problem. Vlada tells her inspiring entrepreneurial journey and her motivation for focusing on Marco Polo to help people feel close. Hear the intimate conversation on the Real Leaders Podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

Luke Saunders broke into entrepreneurship selling plants in elementary and middle school. After college, facing a poor economy and with a less-than-stellar academic record, he took the helm at his family's business, manufacturing and selling grease and lubricant to industrial producers. Luke was a dedicated sales road warrior, and he struggled with getting anything close to healthy food during weeks that he was driving 1000 miles to meet with accounts. How does someone with early exposure in logistics, manufacturing, and bad fast food end up leading a fast-growing, venture-backed, Chicago-based company that sells fresh and healthy meals through vending kiosks? It makes perfect sense as Luke tells the story on this episode of the Real Leaders podcast with Sue Heilbronner.

Seth Levine, partner at Boulder-based venture capital firm Foundry Group, was dismayed to hear the news coming out of Silicon Valley about the sexual harassment and sexual assault claims connected to veritable luminaries in the venture world. Seth and Foundry did what they often do on issues that matter. They moved quickly beyond thought and words to action. Yet this is a complex issue for a firm run by (his words) four middle-aged white guys. They stayed curious, moved carefully, sought extensive input, and continued to ask themselves tough questions about the "right thing" to do. Hear Seth's thoughts in the aftermath of these difficult disclosures and his views on what venture firms must do to not only be fair and decent but also leverage the meaningful investment opportunities with women-led startups. Listen in to an intimate conversation with MergeLane co-founder and CEO Sue Heilbronner on the Real Leaders podcast.

Eric Friedenwald-Fishman was raised in a family of hippies (his words). His upbringing rendered him a change agent and a force for justice, as early as elementary school. In this transparent conversation with Real Leaders host Sue Heilbronner, Eric explains how his core values built and still permeate the mission at his social change communications firm, the Metropolitan Group.

This episode of the Real Leaders podcast features Elizabeth Kraus and Sue Heilbronner, co-founders of MergeLane, the investment fund and accelerator targeting companies with at least one female in leadership. Here Elizabeth turns the tables on Real Leaders Host Sue by asking her about her goals and motivations for building MergeLane as well as her approach to working closely with high-potential leaders. This episode gives real insight on the ways in which MergeLane is different, starting with the relationship between its founders. An intimate, revealing conversation.

Bill Flagg has a contrarian suggestion for startups: build and hold your companies. Fund your firms with revenue. Build great, enduring companies. Bill is serious, and he came by his strong views on this topic honestly. He sold his first company in a very lucrative transaction that he came to regret. Now Bill buys a material interest in select companies that are customer-funded, and he takes active roles in those firms -- from Saas businesses to summer camps. It’s almost incredible to think that Bill’s strong views on this are against the grain, as he essentially is just arguing for the definition of business that has been true before the burgeoning of venture funding. His views on this are terrific, and he’s taking a more visible stand on the topic, launching Sovereignty.com as a community, learning base, and support for founders who want to build customer-funded companies. Listen to Bill Flagg share his thoughts on business sovereignty in a candid conversation with Sue Heilbronner on the Real Leaders Podcast.

Erin Carson has worked as a fitness professional at RallySport Health & Fitness in Boulder, Colorado, since the very start of her career. After decades of commitment to this community-centric fitness club -- located in the heart of one of the fittest cities in the world -- Erin had the opportunity to buy the club. Erin did this in partnership with an ownership group who had been acquainted with her through her work at Rally, her successful triathlon career, and her terrific years on the University of Colorado women's basketball team. There are so many notable differences at Rally Sport, and Erin is at the forefront of all of them. Most importantly, Erin has always believed in cultivating personal trainers who are committed to the craft as a career. She grows both the training business at Rally (Rally Sport is at the top of health clubs globally in many business metrics associated with member engagement) and the trainers personally. She has set national benchmarks for retention of trainers and average salaries earned by her trainers. The sense of commitment to excellence comes through both in Rally's numbers and in the role the club plays in the community. In this terrific conversation with Real Leaders' host Sue Heilbronner, Erin speaks openly about her wins and her (very few) misses.

Lee Mayer, CEO of Havenly, joins Sue Heilbronner on the Real Leaders podcast to talk about the rapid growth of this cutting-edge design service. Lee shares reflections on the last two years and the role luck and gratitude has played in getting Havenly to where it is today. What comes through is that Lee has almost no sense of entitlement, and she values diligence and hard work in her staff above all else. Lee says “the hard problems are the profitable problems.” Leaving a cushy, well-paid job in New York to begin a new life and career in Colorado, Lee says she has grown more personally and professionally while developing her company than ever before. Havenly's core value is to "deliver on the delight factor," and Lee is finding savvy ways to turn this esoteric notion into a model that can be used across multiple products and markets for Havenly. Listen in as this founder and CEO discusses her high bar for hiring, her views of looking at the competition, and her sense of what makes for a great day at Havenly.

Founder and CEO of Homie, Johnny Hanna defies the entrepreneurial stereotypes. He is father of six kids under nine, and when his wife calls to remind him to come home from work, he does. Even more contrarian, Johnny Hanna has never been focused on the big exit. Instead, he has created companies "built to run," building cohesive teams and turning away from big-ticket purchase offers. When Johnny's first company, Entrata, reached $100M in recurring revenue, his gut told him it was time to move on in an amicable parting with his co-partners. He saw an opportunity to materially disrupt the real estate market at last. Unlike Zillow or Redfin, Homie is designed for the home seller who wants to cut out the real estate agent, save money and streamline the sale process with "pure automation." With 70% - 80% of home buyers finding their homes online without the assistance of an agent, the vision seems inevitable, and Johnny just may have the tools and tenacity to make that possibility a reality.. When it comes to leadership, Johnny's humble, down to earth attitude is a huge part of what makes him a success. He says,"I'm confident in what I don't know," and he isn't afraid to hire people who (according to him) are smarter than he is to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. Unlike many startups whose company culture is left to evolve organically, Johnny pays close attention to fit when hiring. He looks for loyal and positive-minded candidates. Johnny’s interview on the Real Leaders podcast with Sue Heilbronner offers a glimpse of the character of a founder who doesn't fit the standard mold. He prefers Utah to the Silicon Valley. He relishes the pressure from his board. He wants to solve the problem Homie addresses no matter who invests in it.

Sue Heilbronner is the CEO and Co-Founder of MergeLane, a startup accelerator in Boulder, CO that discovers, accelerates and invests in exceptional women and the companies they run. We talk about MergeLane and why she started an accelerator focused on women, how she re-invented herself in the middle of her career (she’s gone from Federal Prosecutor to CMO to CEO to investor), and what makes a great leader (based on her work with the Conscious Leadership Group).