Embark on a transformative experience designed for aspiring and current leaders who seek to turn their vision into impactful action. This training program, Leadership Unlocked: Empowering Your Potential will equip participants with the essential skills, tools, and mindset needed to effectively lead teams and organizations in today's dynamic environment.
Outcomes & key take aways from the series:
Leadership Unlocked: Empowering Your Potential is designed to equip leaders with the skills to inspire and drive teams towards meaningful success, which, in turn, strengthens the organization as a whole. Today’s leaders face complex and dynamic challenges, from rapid technological changes to diverse workforce needs. Leadership Unlocked: Empowering Your Potential will help develop attendees’ skills of adaptability, communication, and emotional intelligence to handle these evolving demands successfully.
Research shows that poor leadership is one of the main reasons employees leave their jobs. This series will enable leaders, and aspiring leaders, to develop effective people skills, making employees feel valued and reducing turnover rates, which is key in helping drive overall organizational success. Leadership Unlocked: Empowering Your Potential is an investment in your personal and professional development. We look forward to you joining us!
Session 1: January 15, 2-3pm
Stepping up to the Challenge: Leadership Lessons Learned from the Trenches!
Presenter: Dr. Charlie Minnick
Description:
In today’s fast-paced and often unpredictable organizational environment, effective leadership is more crucial than ever. This presentation delves into the real-world experiences and lessons of leading the complexities of challenging situations from the presenter’s 40 years of leading both people and processes.
Whether you’re an aspiring leader or a seasoned professional, this session will equip you with actionable insights and practical strategies to enhance your leadership capabilities in any environment. Join us to learn from the trenches.
Session 2: February 19, 2-3pm
The Dark Side of Leadership
Presenters: Dr. Patricia Ryan & Bill Davis
Description:
An interactive and enlightening presentation that dives into the often-over-looked dark side of leadership. In the workplace, we are usually familiar with the positive aspects of leadership, but rarely do we discuss or understand its darker dimensions.
Key Takeaways:
● Participants will gain insights into why some leaders exhibit toxic behaviors and how those behaviors affect team and organizations.
● Participants will discover practical tools and approaches to deal with toxic leadership and mitigate its impact on your professional environment
● Participants will understand that awareness is a powerful tool that can help you navigate and address challenging leadership dynamics.
Session 3: March 19, 2-3pm
Breaking Barriers: Developing a Respectful and Collaborative Workplace for Everyone
Presenters: Dr. Zelihic's Biography & Dr. Thiry's Biography
Description:
Please join Dr. Maja Zelihic and Dr. Katie Thiry as we celebrate International Women’s Month in March.
Many of us have observed situations where gender dynamics have influenced workplace interactions. How organizations repsond to those situations is key to overall organizational success. Additionally, what can organizations do to foster a respectful and collaborative workplace for all? A key component of creating a respectful and collaborative workplace is for individual employees to develop a greater self-awareness to support professional growth.
This panel discussion will focus on understanding and developing a respectful and collaborative workplace, examining what are some common misconceptions about leadership styles, and what can organizations do to implement an objective decision-making processes.
Session 4: April 16, 2-3pm
Managing Conflicts: Mindsets and Skillsets
Presenter: Dr. Charlie Mennick
Description:
Ultimately, management is about handling the day-to-day problems at work; leadership is about leading changes that challenge the day to day work. In both situations, conflicts are generated when what people care about gets threatened. The two most common ways of dealing with conflict (both ways are in our DNA) is to fight or give in. Neither works effectively for us or for our organizations.
What we are looking for is a third way. Join us to get a glimpse of that third way.
Session 5: May 21, 2-3pm
Leading with Emotional Intelligence
Presenter: Kevin Allen
Description:
Contemporary organizations have evolved away from the command-and-control practices of the supply economy past. In its place, leadership practices have rightfully evolved to those which take the emotional states of the organization into account and through self-awareness, be able to connect with people to inspire and lead them effectively. The body of evidence is altogether clear; emotionally intelligent leaders are more effective than those that are not. Key however, it to turn the principles of emotional intelligence, self-awareness and emotional motivations into concrete daily leadership practices.
In short, the objective of the course is to Encourage, Equip and Inspire emerging leaders to effectively apply the principles and practices of emotional intelligent leadership.
Session 6: June 18, 2-3pm
When Success Becomes the Enemy: How to Build a Culture of Curiosity to Overcome Status-Quo Behaviors
Presenter: Dr. Diane Hamilton, Founder & CEO of Tonerra
Description:
In today’s fast-paced business environment, clinging to past successes can hinder innovation and growth. Research shows that companies can lose significant revenue due to the cost of status-quo behaviors and lack of innovation, with losses potentially reaching up to $1 trillion annually. Why did Netflix succeed while RIM’s Blackberry did not? The answer lies in their ability to foster a culture a curiosity and continuous adaptation. In this session, you will learn actionable insights and practical steps to build a culture of curiosity within your organization.
Dr. Diane Hamilton will share stories from the many leaders and organizations she has interviewed or trained, illustrating how fostering an environment that encourages exploration and innovation can drive continuous improvement and adaptability. This session will equip employees at all levels with the tools needed to navigate change and stay ahead of the competition. Embracing this culture of curiosity will also help employees and leaders more effectively integrate and utilize artificial intelligence, enhancing decision-making, productivity, and innovation.
Dr. Diane Hamilton, Founder & CEO of Tonerra Biography
Session 7: July 16, 2-3pm
5 Effective Leadership Attributes for Emerging Leaders
Presenter: Bill Davis
Description:
This presentation delves into core leadership concepts, emphasizing that true leadership extends beyond directives and encouragement. It highlights key attributes for emerging leaders and essential coaching principles for success. You'll explore the importance of leading with purpose and by example, being a self-starter, staying engaged, demonstrating positive leadership qualities, motivating teams, and practicing perseverance and resilience.
Session 8: August 20, 2-3pm
Recognition Strategy for Thriving Workplaces
Presenter: Dr. Jim Chitwood 
Description:
Are your employees feeling truly seen and valued?
Recognition isn’t just a feel-good perk—it’s a strategic driver of retention, engagement, and performance.
This month’s presentation: "Employee Recognition Strategy," is packed with practical, research-backed insights to help organizations move beyond token gestures and build a culture of genuine appreciation.
Key Highlights:
Whether you're an HR leader, team manager, or executive, this guide helps you turn appreciation into action.
Build a workplace where great people stay—and thrive.
Session 9: September 17 , 2-3pm
Building a Strong Internal Communication Strategy
Presenter: Dr. Jim Chitwood
Description:
Internal communication is not just nice-to-have—it's the foundation of trust, culture, and performance.
This month’s presentation: "Internal Communication Strategy," breaks down the essential elements of effective workplace communication, backed by research, real-world examples (like Southwest Airlines), and proven leadership practices.
What You’ll Learn:
Whether you're a team lead, HR executive, or business owner, this guide gives you clear, actionable tools to improve connection, clarity, and culture across your organization.
Ready to lead with empathy and clarity?
Session 10: October 15 , 2-3pm
Leadership Through Service
Presenter: Panel: Ron Lott, Gabi Torres, and Brenda Thornton
Description:
This panel is about how to center service with your leadership.
Session 11: November 19 , 2-3pm
Leading from the top: Strategies to Engage the Hearts, Minds, and Actions of Team Members.
Presenter: Dr. Laura Palmer Noone & Dr. Richard Pattenaude
Description:
Leadership engagement isn't just about telling people what to do; it's about inspiring them to care, think critically, and take purposeful action. Leaders must lead by example, embodying the values, vision, and behaviors they want to see in others. This session will provide leaders, and aspiring leaders, actionable steps to engage the hearts, minds, and actions of employees at all levels of your organization.
1. Engage the Heart: Inspire and Connect Emotionally
Team members must feel a sense of purpose and belonging to fully commit. Engaging the heart creates loyalty, motivation, and resilience.
2. Engage the Mind: Stimulate Thinking and Empower Decision-Making
Team members need to feel intellectually challenged and valued for their insights.
3. Engage the Actions: Drive Behavior and Accountability
Leaders must align intentions with execution and ensure people are supported in taking action.
Session 12: December 17 , 2-3pm
Last Session! AI-Powered Leadership: Driving Smart Decisions and Maximizing Impact
Presenter: Andrew Shean, PhD
AI-powered leadership involves developing the skills to understand, strategically implement, and ethically manage artificial intelligence to drive business outcomes, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation. Effective AI-powered leaders harness data-driven insights to enhance performance, foster innovation, personalize customer and employee experiences, and ensure responsible use of emerging technologies. AI-powered leadership is not just technical—it’s strategic, ethical, and human-centered.
This timely and informative session will look at what is AI? How does it work, what are some biases associated with AI, and what are some AI prompts, tools and approaches that can best help facilitate effective leadership? We will also explore situations where using AI might not be the best approach.
Participants will learn why AI should be seen as a co-leader, not a replacement for leadership. It enhances vision but doesn't define it.
Chief Learning Officer
As Chief Learning Officer at Penn Foster, Dr. Shean leads academic program leadership, curriculum and courseware, academic support, faculty, non-academic support, and academic operations in pursuit of improving student lives. Prior to joining Penn Foster, Dr. Shean was the Senior Vice President & Chief Academic Officer at National Education Partners. He has also served in roles such as the Chief Academic Learning Officer for Bridgepoint Education, Vice Provost for Arizona Global University, and Executive Dean for the College of Education at Arizona Global University. He previously served as a high school English teacher where he was named the 2009 District Teacher of the Year, and in 2017 was selected a Chief Academic Officer Digital Fellow, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Shean earned his Doctorate of Educational Leadership and Management from Alliant International University. He holds an MA in Education and a BA in Sociology from the University of Northern Colorado.