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Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/08/19/leading-through-invitation-creating-meaningful-participation-flora-bowley/

How do you lead a creative workshop without deciding in advance what participants should create, feel, or discover? Artist and creative guide Flora Bowley designs one-day gatherings with simple prompts and light structure, then leaves enough open space for participants to shape the experience themselves.

Flora Bowley is an artist, author, and creative guide who has spent years facilitating art-based gatherings. Her upcoming tour, The Creative Revolution, brings this approach to a series of one-day events designed to create connection and collaboration through art.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How simple prompts can give a group direction without controlling the outcome
• How to balance structure and free time in a collaborative gathering
• What makes creative collaboration feel alive—and what gets in its way
• Why invitation can create participation so effectively

Connect with Flora Bowley

Website: https://florabowley.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/florabowley/

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Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams.

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

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Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/how-to-lead-ai-before-it-leads-you-ai-literacy-elena-filatova/

Most conversations about AI ask "how do we control it?" Sharna Fabiano asks a more useful question: how do you lead AI so it doesn't end up leading you? In this episode, she talks with Elena Filatova about the mechanics behind how AI actually generates answers — and why understanding those mechanics is what keeps a human in the lead role, instead of quietly following whatever the model produces.

Elena Filatova spent seven years at Google in data infrastructure and business intelligence before going independent. She now runs BCB Code Labs, where she builds AI-driven applications and helps businesses automate with AI, and teaches AI literacy.

You'll learn:

• How one changed word can completely change an AI's response, and the mechanism behind it
• Why AI "hallucinations" aren't mistakes — they're a statistical feature, not a bug, and why that changes how much you should trust an answer
• A simple technique — assigning AI a "persona" — for sharper, more targeted answers
• Why asking AI to "make a list" is a more useful prompt than it sounds
• Where to draw the line between real human-AI collaboration and wasteful "AI slop"

Episode References

Attention is All You Need (2017), Google Research

Connect with Elena

www.bcbcodelabs.com

Support the show

*
Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams.

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support

Send Fan Mail by Text!

Full transcript and show notes: https://www.sharnafabiano.com/2026/07/29/managing-up-how-executive-assistants-shape-executive-decision-making/

What if some of the most influential people in an organization aren't the ones making the final decision? Drawing on his research into executive assistants and his experience designing leadership development for the FDIC, Dr. Basil Read explains how influence flows through conversations, priorities, timing, and access—not just organizational charts. The discussion explores why organizations make better decisions when influence isn't confined to people with formal authority.

Basil Read is a retired U.S. Navy Captain, consultant, and Professor of Practice in Troy University's PhD in Global Leadership program. He designed a leadership development curriculum for employees at every level of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), helping transform the agency from the bottom to the top of employee satisfaction rankings. His research examines how executive assistants shape executive and board decisions through communication, prioritization, and gatekeeping.

You'll learn:

• What managing up really means—and why it's a critical skill for executive assistants and emerging leaders
• How executive assistants influence executive and board decision making without formal authority
• Why the FDIC trained every employee—not just managers—and what other organizations can learn from the results
• How language, timing, and prioritization shape the decisions leaders ultimately make
• Practical ways to increase your influence, regardless of your title or position

Episode References

J. Basil Read, III, “Followership at the FDIC: A Case Study”
https://www.emerald.com/jole/article-pdf/13/4/136/10069009/v13_i4_c14.pdf

Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower
https://irachaleffauthor.com/

Connect with Basil Read
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-basil-read-iii-ph-d-a1274b23/

Support the show

*
Sharna Fabiano is the author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow Podcast. She helps founders, solopreneurs, and new leaders build strong collaborative relationships and successful teams.

Get a discounted coach session with Sharna with promo code PODCAST
https://www.sharnafabiano.com/coaching/

Order the book: Lead & Follow
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Follow-Dance-Inspired-Teamwork/dp/1646632796/

Support the Show!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1735834/support