Using Humor to Find the Success in Uncertainty

With Special Guest: Joel Zeff, Work Culture Expert, Keynote Speaker & Author

Uncertainty is serious business. But the leaders who navigate it best may have one thing in common: they never stopped having fun.

In this episode, Meridith sits down with Joel Zeff — work culture expert, improv performer, and author of Make the Right Choice — to make the case that laughter is not a soft skill. It is a competitive advantage hiding in plain sight.

Joel has spent 25-plus years turning corporate audiences into improv performers and proving that the same instincts that make a great improv scene — listening, adapting, supporting your team, saying yes — are exactly the instincts that make a great leader.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why improv is not just entertainment — it is one of the most powerful leadership development tools available
• How fun drives engagement, passion, and performance in ways that money simply cannot replicate
• The one question every leader should be asking their team — and almost never does
• Why the ability to embrace change is a choice, and how to start making that choice consistently
• How creating psychological safety for mistakes unlocks creativity, risk-taking, and results

Whether your team is burned out, playing it safe, or just going through the motions, this episode is the permission slip to lead differently — and the roadmap to make it stick.

Special offer from Joel: Mention Ask for Change when you connect with him and receive a free chapter from his new book on change.

Connect with Joel Zeff: joelzeff.com | LinkedIn: Joel Zeff

The Power of Abundance

With Special Guest: Dr. Mitchell Levy, Global Credibility Expert & Executive Coach

When uncertainty hits, most leaders default to scarcity. They protect, they contract, they play defense. What if the leaders who win are the ones who choose something different?

In this episode, Meridith sits down with Dr. Mitchell Levy — global credibility expert, executive coach, and member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches — to explore what executive abundance actually means, why it matters in a world of constant disruption, and how the right framework changes everything.

Dr. Mitchell spent years researching credibility, clarity, and leadership before arriving at a concept that cuts to the root of why so many executives struggle to translate vision into results. His book, Executive Abundance, is the product of a PhD dissertation that proved academically what he had seen in practice for decades.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why 98% of executives lack clarity — and why that single gap undermines everything else
• The Executive Abundance Engine: the four interdependent components every leader needs in order
• Why the quarterly-numbers-only framework is costing companies their people, their customers, and their future
• How abundance thinking reframes the five stakeholder groups every leader is responsible to
• Why frameworks are not just strategy tools — they are the bridge between vision and execution

In times of uncertainty, the leaders who hold onto scarcity thinking fall behind. The ones who build a new framework move forward. This episode shows you how.

Connect with Dr. Mitchell Levy: mitchelllevy.com

Being Ridiculously Easy to Do Business With

With Special Guest: David Avrin, Customer Experience Expert & Bestselling Author

Your product is good. Your team is good. Your pricing is competitive. So why are customers still leaving?

In this episode, Meridith sits down with internationally in-demand keynote speaker and customer experience strategist David Avrin to tackle the question most businesses never think to ask: how hard is it to actually do business with you?

David has spent decades helping organizations across the globe rethink how they serve customers, build loyalty, and grow in a marketplace where quality alone is no longer a differentiator. His latest book, Ridiculously Easy to Do Business With, is the manifesto every business owner and executive needs right now.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why ease of doing business has overtaken price as the primary driver of customer decisions
• The difference between necessary friction and the unnecessary friction that is quietly costing you customers
• Why chatbots, contact forms, and rigid policies are driving your best clients straight to your competitors
• How uncertainty in the marketplace amplifies customer frustration — and what you can do about it
• The one question every leader should ask: what is it like to be your own customer?

If you have worked hard to earn your customers' trust, do not lose them over something you can fix. This episode will show you exactly where to start.

Connect with David Avrin: davidavrin.com | LinkedIn: David Avrin