The Leadership Buzz | Work Hard. Tell the Truth.
Buzz Buzzell 39 episodes Nov 9, 2026
The Leadership Buzz is a short, practical leadership development podcast aimed at managers, executives, and anyone who wants to lead better. It is hosted by retired Air Force Colonel and executive coach Lloyd "Buzz" Buzzell, ACC, who draws on 37 years of military leadership experience from enlisted Airman up to colonel. Each episode focuses on a single leadership concept, pairing it with an idea from a respected leadership book and a real story from Buzz's own career. Listeners come away with practical takeaways plus three coaching questions to help them build trust, develop people, make better decisions, and grow as leaders.
Episodes
The Ideal Team Player: Humble | Part 1
Send us Fan MailEgo can look like confidence until it starts hurting the team.In Part 1 of our new series on Patrick Lencioni’s The Ideal Team Player, TJ and I talk about the first quality: humility.Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is being secure enough to listen, give credit, ask for help, and put the mission and the team ahead of personal recognition.I share two lessons from my Air
Genuine Humility in Leadership | Values to Action Part 4
Send us Fan MailThe fastest way to spot a leader with real character is simple: watch how they treat people who can’t advance their career. We’re wrapping up our Values to Action series with the fourth principle from Harry Kramer’s From Values to Action: genuine humility. For us, this isn’t about thinking less of yourself. It’s about being grounded, remembering where you came from, and showing con
Values to Action Part 3 | True Self Confidence
Send us Fan MailWhat does true self-confidence look like in leadership? Is it having all the answers, being the smartest person in the room, or knowing when to listen and learn from others?In Part 3 of our Values to Action series, executive leadership coach and retired Air Force Colonel Buzz Buzzell explores true self-confidence, the third principle in Harry Kraemer's book Values to Action.Dr
Values to Action Part 2 | Balanced Perspective
Send us Fan MailTwo leaders can walk away from the same meeting with completely different stories. And both can sincerely believe they're telling the truth.That's more than a communication challenge. It's a leadership challenge.Because the moment we assume our perspective is the whole picture, we stop listening and start defending.In Part 2 of our series on Harry Kraemer's From
Values to Action Part 1 | Self-Reflection
Send us Fan MailHow well do you know yourself as a leader—especially when you are tired, stressed, disappointed, or convinced you are right?In Part 1 of our Values to Action series, Buzz explores self-reflection as the foundation of values-based leadership. Drawing on Harry Kraemer’s book, From Values to Action, this episode looks at the connection between self-awareness, values, behavior, and lea
Never Split the Difference | Tactical Empathy for Better Leadership Conversations
Send us Fan MailHow can leaders handle difficult conversations without giving in or escalating the conflict?In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, Buzz Buzzell explores tactical empathy from Chris Voss’s bestselling negotiation book, Never Split the Difference. Tactical empathy is not agreement, and it is not lowering the standard. It is understanding what a situation feels like from the other pe
The Motive by Patrick Lencioni: Leadership Responsibility vs. Reward
Send us Fan MailWhy do you want to lead?In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, Buzz explores The Motive by Patrick Lencioni and the difference between reward-centered leadership and responsibility-centered leadership.Leadership can bring recognition, authority, and opportunity. But real leadership also means having difficult conversations, giving clear feedback, making hard decisions, developing
Gregg Popovich Leadership Lessons: Building a Winning Team Culture
Send us Fan MailTalent can win a game. Culture is what helps a team keep winning over time, especially when things get difficult.In this episode, I use Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs as a leadership case study. Their success was not just about having great players. It was built on clear standards, unselfish play, accountability, and trust. Their “beautiful game” meant the best shot matte
Purpose: Helping People See Why Their Work Matters | Drive, Part 3
Send us Fan MailNothing is more draining than giving your best to work that feels invisible.In Part 3 of our Drive series, Buzz explores purpose at work and why leaders must help people see how their daily effort connects to a larger mission. Drawing on 37 years of Air Force leadership and nuclear operations, he reflects on a mission where long shifts, rigid procedures, and routine work often led
Mastery: Ambition Isn’t Always a Promotion | Drive, Part 2
Send us Fan MailThe most overlooked kind of ambition is the person who stops chasing the next title and starts chasing the next level of skill. We pick up part two of our Daniel Pink Drive series to talk about mastery, the desire to get better and better at something that matters, and why great leadership makes room for growth that does not look like a promotion.I share lessons from 37 years in th
Autonomy: When Leaders Give Up Control | Drive, Part 1
Send us Fan MailAutonomy can sound risky, especially when the stakes are high. But when the mission is clear and the boundaries are real, autonomy is not freedom from responsibility. It is a performance advantage.In Part 1 of our Drive series, Buzz explores Daniel Pink’s first key motivator: autonomy. Drawing on 37 years of Air Force leadership and nuclear operations, he shares a story from an ins
What Is Your True North? | How Great Leaders Shape You
Send us Fan MailWhat is your True North, and will it guide you when leadership gets difficult?In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, I draw on Bill George’s True North and stories from my 37 years in the Air Force to explore how our values shape the way we lead. Titles may give us authority, but they cannot tell us who we are or how we should respond when the pressure rises.I share lessons from t
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There | How Leaders Grow at Every Level
Send us Fan MailLeadership growth requires more than hard work and technical expertise. In this episode of The Leadership Buzz Podcast, we explore Marshall Goldsmith’s bestselling leadership book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, and why the behaviors that created your success may eventually hold you back.Goldsmith calls this the “success delusion”—the belief that because a behavior helped u
How to Know a Person | Leadership, Listening, and Seeing People in Busy Times
Send us Fan MailHow to Know a Person: Leadership, Listening, and Seeing People in Busy TimesThe fastest way to lose a team is not always a bad plan. It is treating people like tasks while chasing the next deadline.Recording from a New York City hotel room during a packed stretch of travel, graduate-school work, and deliverables, Buzz reflects on a leadership question that would not let go: Do the
From Expert to Coach: A Client-Led Executive Coaching Field Guide
Send us Fan MailWhere does faith belong in executive coaching—if anywhere? In this special edition of the Leadership Buzz, retired Air Force Colonel and ICF-credentialed coach Buzz Buzzell presents his NYU Executive Coaching Capstone Futures Project: a faith-informed, values-based, and client-led approach to executive coaching. Most leaders are trained to diagnose quickly, decide quickly, and fix
The Advice Trap: Why the Hardest Person to Coach Is Yourself
Send us Fan MailWhen should a leader provide the answer—and when does that answer prevent someone else from learning how to think?In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, Buzz Buzzell explores The Advice Trap by Michael Bungay Stanier through the lens of nearly 40 years of military leadership, nuclear operations, and command-center decision-making.Some situations require decisive direction. Safety,
Teams That Work: How Great Teams Keep Getting Better | Part 3
Send us Fan MailTeams That Work: How Great Teams Keep Getting Better | Part 3Great teams don’t improve simply because they stay busy. They improve because they intentionally learn from both success and failure.In Part 3 of our series on Teams That Work by Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, Buzz explores how coach-like leadership helps teams think independently, speak honestly, adapt under pressur
Teams That Work: Why Great Teams Embrace Healthy Conflict | Part 2
Send us Fan Mail“My door is always open” is one of the most repeated phrases in leadership. But does your team actually trust you enough to disagree, deliver bad news, or tell you something you don't want to hear?In Part 2 of our Teams That Work series, based on the work of Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, we explore team trust, psychological safety, healthy conflict, and high-performing t
Teams That Work: Are We Really on the Same Page? | Part 1
Send us Fan MailHow do great teams stay aligned when the stakes are high?In Part 1 of this three-part series on Teams That Work: How to Build High-Performing Teams by Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, Buzz explores one of the book's most practical concepts: team cognition—the shared understanding that allows teams to move in the same direction.Most teams don't struggle because people d
The Courage to Question | Leadership Lessons from Richard Feynman
Send us Fan MailYour title cannot bend reality. Your confidence cannot change the facts. Great leadership starts when we stop protecting our image and start pursuing the truth.In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore Richard Feynman’s book What Do You Care What Other People Think? and the leadership lessons behind the Nobel Prize-winning physicist’s lifelong commitment to curiosity, humi
No Mess, No Magic | Building Fearless Teams Through Psychological Safety
Send us Fan Mailo Mess, No Magic: Why Fearless Teams Tell the TruthEvery leader says they want honesty. But the real question is — have we created a culture where people feel safe enough to give it?In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore Amy Edmondson’s The Fearless Organization and the power of psychological safety. Fearless teams are not teams without mistakes, conflict, or hard conve
Earthrise Leadership | Bill Anders and the Power of Perspective
Send us Fan MailWhat if the biggest leadership breakthrough is not working harder — but seeing differently?This week on The Leadership Buzz, we explore William Thorndike’s The Outsiders and the remarkable leadership journey of Bill Anders — Apollo 8 astronaut, creator of the iconic Earthrise photograph, and former CEO of General Dynamics.On Christmas Eve 1968, Anders helped humanity see Earth from
Make Your Bed | Small Things Are Never Small Things
Send us Fan MailAdmiral William H. McRaven’s Make Your Bed reminds us of a powerful leadership lesson: small habits create lasting impact.Leadership is not built in one big moment. The big moment usually reveals the discipline, character, and habits you have been building all along.In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore how small daily actions shape stronger leaders. Making your bed is
What Leaders Celebrate, Teams Repeat | Praise, Encouragement, and Positive Energy in Leadership
Send us Fan MailHow do great leaders create influence without relying on authority, position, or title?In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore leadership lessons from Leading Without Authority by Keith Ferrazzi and discuss how praise, encouragement, gratitude, and celebration shape workplace culture, employee engagement, trust, motivation, and leadership effectiveness.Buzz shares practi
Leadership Under Pressure | Built Long Before the Pressure Arrives
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore how leadership under pressure is usually built long before the pressure arrives. Using Todd Beamer’s story from Lisa Beamer’s Let’s Roll, this conversation looks beyond the headline moments of September 11th and into the values, habits, mentors, faith, and daily choices that shape courageous leadership over time.We discuss:• Todd B
Bonus Episode | Three Defining Moments That Shaped My Leadership
Send us Fan MailIn this special bonus episode of The Leadership Buzz, Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell reflects on three defining moments from the summer of 1983 that shaped his understanding of leadership, resilience, responsibility, mentorship, integrity, and service. From witnessing an extraordinary act of servant leadership on a nuclear power plant construction site, to the sudden loss of his father on a
Engage With Honor | Courageous Accountability for Everyday Leaders
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore Engage with Honor: Building a Culture of Courageous Accountability by retired Air Force Colonel and Vietnam POW Lee Ellis and discuss how these leadership lessons apply directly to business, teams, organizations, families, and everyday life.This conversation is not just about military leadership. It is about resilience, workplace c
Multiplier vs Diminisher Leadership: Are You Making Your Team Smarter or Quieter? Liz Wiseman | Multipliers | Leadership, Team Performance, Psychological Safety
Send us Fan MailAre you a multiplier or a diminisher as a leader?The fastest way to lose a room is to walk in thinking you need to have every answer. In this leadership podcast episode, we break down Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman and explore a critical leadership question: are you amplifying your team’s intelligence or shutting it down?We’ve both seen it—sa
Radical Candor | Care Personally, Challenge Directly
Send us Fan MailMost leaders think they’re being kind when they hold back the truth—but what if the real damage comes from silence? In this leadership podcast episode, we dig into Radical Candor by Kim Scott and explore one of the most important leadership skills: giving honest feedback to people you genuinely care about.We break down the core of the Radical Candor framework—caring personally whil
People Matter: Ownership Changes Everything
Send us Fan MailOwnership is the quiet force that turns average teams into teams you can trust under pressure. When something goes wrong, do you default to “whose fault is this,” or do you ask the question that changes everything: “what part of this is mine to own?” That single shift builds credibility, reduces blame, and creates real momentum, even when the workload is heavy and the system feels
How to Get a Return on Failure | The Power of the Debrief
Send us Fan MailFailure is not a leadership flaw. It is a leadership guarantee.What separates strong leaders from stuck leaders is what happens after the miss. Do we hide, blame, and move on too quickly, or do we slow down and learn?In this episode, we lean on John Maxwell’s How to Get a Return on Failure and a military practice called the debrief. High-performing teams review the game tape, walk
Leaders Are Readers | Why Reading Makes You a Better Leader
Send us Fan MailLeaders who don’t read don’t stay sharp, they just stay busy. Today we unpack a simple belief with huge consequences: leaders are readers, and the ones who keep learning are the ones who make better calls when pressure hits.TJ tees up General James Mattis’ famous message on professional reading, and I explain why Mattis saw books as a way to “light a dark path ahead.” When we skip
Leaders Eat Last: How Great Leaders Build Trust
Send us Fan MailMost teams do not fail because they lack talent. They fail because they do not feel safe enough to tell the truth, take smart risks, or trust their leaders when things get hard. We dig into Simon Sinek’s Leaders Eat Last and the real point behind that phrase: leadership is service, sacrifice, and putting your people first, even when nobody is watching.Buzz shares a unforgettable st
Delegation for Leaders: How to Build Trust and Develop Your Team
Send us Fan MailDelegation can look like leadership while quietly turning into control. If you’ve ever handed something off and then felt the urge to step back in, rewrite it, or “just do it yourself,” you’re not alone and it’s costing you more than time. We dig into what delegation really means: transferring ownership, authority, and space so someone else can deliver an outcome, not just complete
How Honest Leaders Build Trust That Lasts
Send us Fan MailHow Honest Leaders Build Trust That LastsThe most dangerous leadership moments rarely announce themselves. They show up in quiet rooms, with incomplete facts, time pressure, and someone offering an easy shortcut. In this episode, we explore telling the truth as a daily leadership discipline and why trust erodes quickly when words, actions, and values fall out of alignment.Drawing f
Perfection Is a Lie: The Leadership Lesson from Malmstrom
Send us Fan MailPerfection is a tempting leadership standard because it feels like discipline, pride, and professionalism. But I’ve seen the darker side: when leaders communicate that anything less than flawless performance is unacceptable, people don’t get better they get quieter. They protect appearances, avoid questions, and hide uncertainty. That is how a team with “high standards” can become
Trust Is Personal: How Leaders Build Trust
Send us Fan MailTrust is the operating system of leadership. When trust is strong, teams communicate openly, move faster, and perform better. When it is weak, even simple decisions become difficult.In this episode of The Leadership Buzz, Buzz Buzzell explores a key idea from the book The Seven Rules of Trust — Make It Personal. Trust is not built through titles, authority, or slogans on the wall.
Strong Ground: What Leaders Build Before Results
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of The Leadership Buzz, we explore the newly published book Strong Ground by Brené Brown and the leadership idea that real performance starts with a strong foundation. Before teams can move fast or perform well, they need stability. Trust, clarity of values, and connection create the ground people stand on. When leaders rush past those things, teams often end up com
Be the Leader They Want to Work For
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we explore what it means to be the leader people actually want to work for. Drawing from Quick Leadership by Selena Rezvani, we reflect on how everyday behaviors responsiveness, clarity, and follow-through shape how leadership is experienced. Through story and coaching insight, this episode invites leaders to examine the small moments that quietly build trust or er
Lead Beyond Control; Build What Lasts
Send us Fan MailControl can turn a crisis around, but does it build a team that lasts? We dig into the hard gap between short-term wins and long-term strength, guided by Surrender to Lead from Jessica Kriegel and Joe Terry and a field-tested equation: purpose plus strategy plus culture equals results. Through a candid military story, we show how metrics can spike while psychological safety sinks,
Trailer | The Leadership Buzz
Send us Fan MailA brief introduction to The Leadership Buzz and what listeners can expect in future episodes.The Leadership Buzz is hosted by Lloyd “Buzz” Buzzell, an ICF-ACC executive coach, DISC practitioner, and retired U.S. Air Force officer with 37 years of leadership experience. Each episode focuses on one book, one idea, and one practical leadership concept to help you align your behavior w
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