What does it take to go from an entry-level employee to the Chief Administration Officer of one of America's most beloved companies?

In Part 1 of my conversation with Linda Rutherford, we explore Linda's remarkable career journey from the newspaper industry to the executive leadership team at Southwest Airlines.

After losing her newspaper job when her employer closed, Linda found an opportunity at Southwest and spent decades growing into one of the airline's most influential leaders. Along the way, she discovered that one of the most important leadership skills isn't speaking—it's listening.

Linda shares how a fifth-grade teacher changed the course of her life by making her write the "Wise Old Owl" poem 500 times in a spiral notebook, a lesson that would later shape her leadership philosophy, influence her writing on listening, and guide her contributions to books on leadership and organizational change.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Making career pivots after unexpected setbacks
• Growing from an entry-level role into executive leadership
• Why listening is one of the most underrated leadership skills
• The leadership lessons behind her published work on listening and change management
• How childhood experiences can shape a lifetime of leadership

If you've ever faced a career detour, wondered how leaders build trust, or wanted to understand the difference between hearing and truly listening, this conversation is for you.

Thanks for Answering the Call.

🎙️ Caller ID Podcast: where life, career, and identity meet.

📲 Listen and subscribe at daviswells.com/caller-id-podcast.

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New episodes drop weekly, featuring conversations with people across disciplines who are thoughtful about their work and honest about the cost of doing it well.

I’m Brandon Davis Wells and thanks for answering the call.

In part two of our call, Coach Ellenwood talks about his desire to keep learning and how he deal with getting a little bored.

He also leans into his calling as someone who isn't a hoops expert (although I'll tell you having spent countless days on the road with him and his staff, they're definitely expert level hoops tacticians).

How he deals with losing now vs when he was a younger coach is a marked change, you don't want to miss that.

What brings his biggest frustrations and joys.

And of course, our word association with failure, money, and more.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Caller ID.

You can follow Caller ID wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you’re enjoying the show, a quick rating or review helps more people find it.

New episodes drop weekly, featuring conversations with people across disciplines who are thoughtful about their work and honest about the cost of doing it well.

I’m Brandon Davis Wells and thanks for answering the call.

This week is part one of my call with Ashland University Head Men's Basketball Coach, John Ellenwood. Coaching basketball wasn't the original plan, but it's definitely turned into a calling. Turning down opportunities with the FBI and other major retailers are pieces of the first part of our conversation. John. talks about nearly being fired, and what it took for him to save his job, including dangling by a thread from high in a factory.

John is a deeply, insighful, and loyal man, who happens to also be a fantastic basketball coach.

Listen in to our call as we talk career, identity, and leadership in part one of our two-part call.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Caller ID.

You can follow Caller ID wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you’re enjoying the show, a quick rating or review helps more people find it.

New episodes drop weekly, featuring conversations with people across disciplines who are thoughtful about their work and honest about the cost of doing it well.

I’m Brandon Davis Wells and thanks for answering the call.