Your Seat at the Table – Real Conversations on Leadership and Growth
Your Seat at the Table - Real Conversations on Leadership and Growth
Podcast Description
Join hosts Mike Maddock and John Tobin as they delve into authentic stories of leadership, decision-making under pressure, and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. Each episode offers candid conversations with seasoned leaders, exploring the challenges faced, the triumphs celebrated, and the insights gained from real-world experiences. Whether you’re an aspiring leader or a seasoned executive, pull up a chair and find your seat at the table.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into themes including leadership challenges, personal growth, and decision-making under pressure. Episodes feature discussions about navigating corporate environments, cultivating trust, and the significance of core values, with examples such as Darius Mirshahzadeh's exploration of ambition vs. fulfillment and Mike Michalowicz's journey from failure to purpose-driven success.

Join hosts Mike Maddock and John Tobin as they delve into authentic stories of leadership, decision-making under pressure, and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. Each episode offers candid conversations with seasoned leaders, exploring the challenges faced, the triumphs celebrated, and the insights gained from real-world experiences. Whether you’re an aspiring leader or a seasoned executive, pull up a chair and find your seat at the table.
Change is speeding up, and the leaders who thrive aren’t the ones pretending to be certain—they’re the ones staying curious, staying human, and staying grounded in what they value when the plan breaks.
For decision-makers dealing with constant uncertainty—and for any leader who’s ever felt alone in tough calls when the future won’t sit still—we’re joined by Cameron Atlas, leadership speaker, musician, and National Geographic Explorer, to explore what adaptability really looks like in practice. His approach is deeply question-driven: if it all ended today, what haven’t I done yet that I wish I had?
Cameron traces the experiences that shaped this mindset—from growing up on a remote farm in Outback Australia to discovering how early technology expanded his world. That blend of isolation and possibility became the foundation for a leadership style rooted in curiosity, resilience, and continuous improvement—one that enables peer-powered disruption by encouraging teams to think, act, and adapt together rather than wait for perfect direction.
From there, we get practical. We talk about why CEOs feel stuck when the world changes faster than forecasting models, and how clarity often comes not from better predictions, but from stronger alignment to values, mission, and identity. Cameron shares a gripping Colombia river story that becomes a simple resilience playbook you can use immediately: POGO (Perspective, Ownership, Gratitude, Opportunity). It’s a reminder that sometimes the path forward is found when you choose to run toward the roar instead of resisting uncertainty.
We also take on the AI reality head-on: agentic AI, guardrails, critical thinking, and what it means to remain human when tools can do more and more of the work. We explore the growing risks around mental health and loneliness, and why replacing real, friction-filled relationships with AI companionship may solve for convenience while creating deeper leadership blind spots. In a world of accelerating capability, knowing what’s not your problem—and what still deeply is—becomes a defining leadership skill.
For anyone ready to challenge their comfort zone and lead with clarity in an AI-driven world, this episode offers a grounded path forward. Real leaders. Real stories. Real action.
If you care about leadership, adaptability, resilience, curiosity, and better decision-making, hit subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one guardrail you think every team should set before adopting more AI?
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https://open.spotify.com/show/0fDDb1gvrvsttm4nInRL8Y
👉 Connect with us:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmichaelmaddock/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-tobin-a54225/
https://flourishadvisoryboards.com/
https://www.mike-maddock.com/
Pull up a chair. There’s always room for your seat at the table.

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