Career growth in leadership does not begin with a title or a plan. For Courtney Intersimone, it began with saying yes to things she was not sure she could do and discovering that figuring it out was the skill all along.

Courtney spent 26 years in financial services, ultimately leading a global HR team of 200 people at a 50,000-person organization. She never planned to stay that long. She never planned to lead that many people. And for years, she actively avoided managing others, calling herself, with full self-awareness, a reluctant leader. What changed was not ambition. It was a mentor who refused to let her play small, and a series of assignments that forced her to lead before she felt ready.

In this conversation, Courtney shares what it truly takes to lead people well at scale from the non-negotiable practice of the one-on-one meeting to the art of having honest career conversations with people whose aspirations may not match the current moment. She talks about what she learned watching senior executives up close early in her career, why getting curious about human behavior will do more for your leadership than any MBA, and what it cost her to stay out of her own way long enough to finally start her own firm.

Four and a half years into running her executive coaching and consulting practice, Courtney works with leaders who have achieved the title, landed the role, and are now asking, now what? She meets them in that exact moment and helps them figure out what comes next.

In This Episode:

● Why making yourself available in a one-on-one is not optional and what "present" actually means in that room

● How to have honest career conversations with ambitious people even when you do not have the answer they want to hear

● What Courtney's mentor did that she credits for unlocking her best leadership years and how to apply it to the people you lead right now

● The mindset shift that made leaving a 26-year career not just possible but necessary

● Why the only real security available to any of us is the belief that we can figure things out

Connect with Courtney Intersimone

Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

New episodes every Wednesday.

*Natalie Davis is a licensed real estate agent with Keller Williams Downtown, LLC.

Systems-based leadership is not a shortcut. It is the only way a team can keep moving when you are not in the room and Matt Johnson has spent over a decade building the proof for that inside his own agency.

Matt is the founder of Get Micro Famous, a done-for-you production and strategy firm that helps coaches, speakers, and thought leaders launch and sustain flagship video shows. He runs a remote creative team of 12 to 15 people and leads the entire operation in less than four hours a week. That number is not a flex. It is the result of a decade of systems-building, habit installation, and the willingness to remove himself from every decision that did not require him.

In this conversation, Matt brings a genuinely unconventional lens to leadership, one shaped by growing up a preacher's kid, spending his life as a musician, and building a business while managing undiagnosed narcolepsy for 25 years. The result is a framework for leadership that has nothing to do with motivation or recommitment cycles, and everything to do with structure, stability, and showing up the same way every single time.

This episode is for every entrepreneur who is still the center of every decision, every communication, and every fire and who knows, deep down, that the business cannot scale from there.

In This Episode:

● Why good systems matter more than hiring rock stars and what that means for every B and C player on your team

● The "I do it, we do it, you do it" model that builds both competence and buy-in without throwing people into the deep end

● How Matt dismantled the guilt-recommitment cycle that keeps most leaders stuck on an emotional loop

● The musician's mindset that redefined how Matt thinks about leadership: pros practice until they cannot get it wrong

● One practical step any leader can take this week to start building systems using the tools already available to them

Connect with Matt Johnson at getmicrofamous.com

Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:

Website: ⁠⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠

Email: ⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠

Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠and ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠

Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

New episodes every Wednesday.

In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Dana Gentry Roach, USA Today bestselling author, 20-year real estate veteran, multi-market center owner and operator, and Senior Culture Advisor for Keller Williams Realty. Dana's story is one of the most honest leadership journeys you will hear: from spray tanning strangers at the University of Kentucky to becoming one of the most trusted voices on culture, calling, and what it actually takes to build a life that compounds.

Dana did not set out to lead. She set out to sell. What changed everything was a moment at a microphone in a room full of 500 Keller Williams agents when a mentor she had never met asked her one question that exposed the ceiling she had been building for herself. From that moment forward, Dana has been in the business of staying in rooms that stretch her, following the Four Cs model before she knew it had a name, and leading from a place of realness over rightness.

In This Episode:

• Dan Sullivan's Four Cs model: why commitment comes before credentials, capabilities, and confidence, and why every leader who has ever jumped before they were ready has been living this model
• The power of proximity and why getting into the right rooms, and staying in them, has compounded Dana's leadership, wealth, and relationships over two decades
• Why companies with strong cultures raise their bottom line by 756% according to the most recent Harvard study, and what that means for every leader building a team right now
• The one question that transformed Dana and her husband Adam's marriage and applies directly to how leaders show up for their teams: do you want me to fix it or feel it?
• How Dana went from winging everything to hitting number 14 on the USA Today bestseller list with her debut book, Restore: 90 Days of Intentional Living

Dana also shares what it means to be the person who figured out how to stay in the rooms, why people leave leaders before they leave companies, and what Craig Groeschel's line, people would rather follow a leader that's real than a leader that's right, has meant to how she leads every day.

Connect with Dana Gentry Roach:Book: Restore: 90 Days of Intentional Living

Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:

Website: ⁠⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠

Email: ⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠

Newsletter: Flamingo Files on ⁠Substack ⁠and ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Faith-led leadership is not a softer way to lead. For Nicole Rueth, it is the only thing that rebuilt her after losing everything.

In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Nicole Rueth, top mortgage lender, real estate investor with 60 doors and two commercial buildings, and one of the most honest voices on what it takes to lead through total collapse and come out with more clarity than you had before.

Nicole built her career from the ground up. Raised by a single mom who modeled grit as survival, Nicole climbed from bookkeeping to producing 400 million dollars in mortgage volume. Then, in one of the most turbulent periods in real estate history, she got fired twice in one week, lost her team, lost her brother in a freak accident, and had to face the question every high-performing leader eventually has to answer: if my worth is not in my volume, then who am I?

What she found on the other side of that question is the foundation of everything she now teaches.

In This Episode:

• Why tying your self-worth to your production volume is the most dangerous thing a leader can do, and what Nicole rebuilt her identity on after losing both
• The three-step leadership framework Nicole now runs her team, her business, and her life through: mindset, action, and give back
• How the emotional economy is shifting and why leaders who lead with empathy and connection are outperforming leaders who still lead with data and volume
• The morning routine Nicole runs starting at 3 a.m. that sets the foundation for every decision she makes as a leader and a lender
• Why saying no to more things is how Nicole went from grinding at 400 million in volume to building something she actually wants to lead

Nicole also shares the quote inside her Bible that drives everything, why she wants to leave it all on the field, and what that phrase means now compared to what it meant when she was sprinting.

Connect with Nicole Rueth

Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:

Website: ⁠leadershipthatshines.com⁠

Email: ⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠

Newsletter: Flamingo Files on Substack and LinkedIn

Listen & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Authentic leadership does not come from a title, a certificate, or a checklist. It comes from knowing who you are, owning that fully, and showing up in service of others without shrinking.

In this episode, Natalie Davis sits down with Jodi Wright — U.S. Navy veteran, case manager, community advocate, author, and MPH candidate at UNC Gillings — for an honest conversation about what it means to lead from your core, no post-nominals required.

Jodi has spent her life giving back. From military service to probationary case management to a Safe Roads, Safer Communities initiative launching in Pennants Lane, Virginia, her leadership is not theoretical. It is lived, daily, in the spaces most people overlook. She is also releasing her debut book, Belle Haven — a deeply personal work about awakening, healing, and stepping into who you are meant to be. What makes this conversation stand out is Jodi's unflinching clarity on accountability. In her work with individuals navigating real consequences, she holds a judgment-free space and asks a simple, direct question: who are you, and how do you plan to move forward? That same standard applies to every leader listening.

In This Episode:

● Why Jodi believes you do not need post-nominals to lead and the hill she will die on

● What Belle Haven is about, who it is for, and why Jodi pulled it back from publication before it was ready

● The accountability conversation that Jodi facilitates in her classes and why it is always the first step

● How she manages a full life across military service, graduate school, community work, authorship, and motherhood — held together, in her words, with duct tape

● How Jodi wants to be remembered as a leader — and the lane she is creating for others to follow

Jodi closes with a message every leader needs to hear: the table is not a four-by-four. It is endless. Grab your chair, fold it out, and take a seat.

New episodes every Wednesday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.

Connect with Leadership That Shines:

Website: l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠

Email: ⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠

Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Check out the⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Leadership legacy is not built from titles, products, or platforms. The leaders who have walked through the doors of the Leadership That Shines Podcast so far have made that undeniably clear.

In this solo reflection episode, host Natalie Davis pauses to celebrate a milestone, over 5,000 downloads from the first few episodes, and does something more important: she pulls back to examine what the guests have actually been teaching us. Across four conversations with Jim Carlough, Savio P. Clemente, Justin Knoll, and Nicole Johnston, the same qualities and themes keep surfacing. Not because the guests coordinated. Because great leadership runs on the same foundation regardless of the industry, the title, or the story.

Natalie walks through the themes she has identified, shares her own honest reflections on self-sabotage, solitude, and showing up, and reveals the one question she now asks every guest at the close of every episode, and the answer that keeps stopping her cold.

In This Episode:

• The difference between builders and operators, and why knowing which one you are changes everything about how you lead
• Why your old operating system will not carry you into the next version of your leadership, and what Savio P. Clemente's 29 days in a hospital room taught us about rebuilding
• How Nicole Johnston's framework for self-sabotage made Natalie identify the exact moments she has gotten in her own way
• The one thread that connected all four legacy answers, and why not a single guest mentioned what they built, their title, or what they left behind
• What impact, influence, and growth actually look like when they are lived out by real leaders in real circumstances

This episode is for every leader who has been paying attention and wants to know what it all means.

Connect with Natalie Davis and Leadership That Shines:Website: leadershipthatshines.comEmail: themagic@leadershipthatshines.comNewsletter: Flamingo Files on Substack and LinkedIn

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Episode 8

Leadership visibility is one of the most misunderstood skills in a woman's career, and Nicole Johnston has spent 30 years figuring out exactly why.

Nicole Johnston is a women's excellence and leadership speaker, TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Taboo Topics, and a certified coach who spent three decades in consumer products at companies like Procter and Gamble, Kimberly Clark, and Hershey Foods. She was often the only female sales leader in the room. What she saw there shaped everything she now teaches.

In this episode, Natalie Davis and Nicole Johnston go deep on the real reasons women get passed over for promotions, underpaid without knowing it, and burned out before they ever get the recognition they have earned. This is not a surface-level conversation. It is a direct, data-backed, and actionable look at the patterns holding women back and what to do about them.

In This Episode:

Why promotions are based on the perception of leadership potential, not task completion, and why that distinction changes everything about how you show up at work.

The 720 hours per year of invisible, non-promotable work women carry at home and in the office, and why it is directly connected to burnout and career stagnation.

How to identify your self-sabotaging behaviors and use role play, journaling, and audio recording to build the muscle memory for difficult conversations before you ever have them in real life.

The difference between a coach, a mentor, and a sponsor, and why women who do not build sponsorship relationships are consistently left out of the rooms where decisions get made.

Executive communication skills that shift how leadership sees you, including what clear, concise, and compelling looks like in practice and why women are socialized to communicate as doers, not leaders.

Nicole Johnston's book, Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About But Don't, is available now. Each chapter addresses a real workplace challenge with practical next steps, including email templates for asking for a raise and tools for identifying the mental load you carry.

Connect with Nicole Johnston:

Instagram: @nicolejohnstonspeaks

LinkedIn: Nicole Johnston

Connect with Leadership That Shines:

Website: ⁠www.l⁠⁠⁠eadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠themagic@leadershipthatshines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Newsletter: The Flamingo Files on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Check out the⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Magical Mornings Journal⁠⁠⁠

Integrity in leadership is the center pillar. Without it, everything else collapses. In this episode of the Leadership That Shines Podcast, Natalie Davis sits down with Jim Carlough, leadership identity archetype, author, mentor, and speaker, for a direct, practical conversation about the six pillars that define how great leaders build loyal, high-performing teams.

Jim has spent over four decades in healthcare and leadership. He has mentored professionals for 25 years. His book, a 164-page, no-theory leadership roadmap built entirely from lived experience, is earning near-perfect ratings on Goodreads and Amazon from readers in countries across six continents. His workshops are helping accidental managers, founders, and executives reduce voluntary attrition and build the kind of psychological safety that makes people want to stay.

In This Episode:

• Why most organizations create accidental managers, and what that costs them within 18 to 24 months
• The six non-negotiable leadership pillars: integrity, compassion, empathy, stability, focus, and humor
• The question Jim has asked himself every night since 1983, and why it has kept his voluntary attrition rate below 5%
• How to tell the difference between compassion and empathy, and why a leader has to know when to use each
• Why humor is not a soft skill but a strategic tool that humanizes leaders and builds psychological safety

Jim's framework is not theory. Every story in this episode is real, every principle is tested, and every one of the six pillars is something a leader can start applying within 14 days.

Connect with Jim Carlough:Website: jimcarlough.com

Book: The Six Pillars Of Effective Leadership: A Roadmap to Success