🎮 New Episode: Anthony Conta on Games, Growth, and Getting Unstuck
Title: Make Your Next Move a Game

This week on Leadership Rules, Anthony Conta brings the fun. He’s a UX designer, product strategist, professor, and the creator of Funemployed (now Bad Interviews). Oh, and he once taught chess to preschoolers.

In this episode, Anthony joins Marnie and Nick to talk about the intersections of design, teaching, creativity, and career reinvention. It’s part improv show, part product jam session, and all-around inspiration.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

🎲 Why career detours are often the best part of the story
🎓 How teaching forces clarity in leadership
🧠 Why UX and leadership both start with empathy
📦 How Anthony designed a hands-on UX textbook that doesn’t suck
🏁 And why “just start” might be the best advice no one takes

This one’s for the curious, the creative, and the career shape-shifters. If you’ve ever wondered what’s next, Anthony makes a strong case for playing your way into the answer.

📍 Connect with Anthony Conta
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyconta/

Medium → https://medium.com/@anthonyconta

🎲 Check out Bad Interviews (formerly Funemployed) wherever you buy your games.
📘 Grab The Art and Science of UX Design online or at your favorite bookstore.

Subscribe for more conversations with rule breakers, design thinkers, and everyday leaders redefining what it means to show up with curiosity.

#LeadershipRules #AnthonyConta #UXDesign #CareerPath #BadInterviews #GameDesign #CuriousLeadership

🎧 New Episode: Leadership Rules with Dr. John Barile
Title: Leading From the Core

In this episode, Dr. John Barile joins Nick and Marnie to talk about what it really means to lead with purpose, clarity, and character. As an experienced school leader and author of Leading from the Core, John brings both heart and strategy to a conversation about trust, team culture, and the evolving role of leadership in education and beyond.

He shares insights on how to lead through change, why authenticity builds influence, and what it takes to create schools — and workplaces — people actually want to be part of.

Whether you're in education or any leadership role, this episode will challenge you to reconnect with what matters most and lead from a deeper place.

📍 Connect with Dr. John Barile
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-john-w-barile-sr-33bab5169/

📖 Leading from the Core now available wherever books are sold.

Subscribe for more conversations that explore leadership, purpose, and how to build something meaningful — from the inside out.

#LeadershipRules #JohnBarile #LeadingFromTheCore #SchoolLeadership #AuthenticLeadership #TeamCulture

🎧 New Episode: Leadership Rules with Leah Leverich
Title: Redefining Success: How Curiosity and Courage Shape Career Paths

What if the best leadership move you ever made was not going to college?

In this episode of Leadership Rules, we sit down with Leah Leverich — host of the Decision Day podcast and Brand Manager at Big Brand Ventures — to explore what it means to take an unconventional path with purpose. Leah shares how she navigated the decision to skip college, why she launched a podcast about career journeys, and how curiosity continues to shape her leadership voice.

You’ll hear:

✨ Why “follow your passion” can be confusing (and what to ask instead)
🛣️ The power of job shadowing for self-discovery
📦 How to reframe comparison and own your choices
🎤 What podcasting taught Leah about listening, leadership, and community
🧭 And why courage sometimes means doing what most people won’t

Whether you're mentoring a young leader or rethinking your own path, this conversation is a powerful reminder that success isn’t one-size-fits-all.

📬 Reach Leah directly via DecisionDayPodcast@gmail.com, or at LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-leverich/
🔗 Explore more from Leah → Decision Day on Instagram
💼 Check out Big Brand Ventures → bigbrandventures.com

What do NIL deals, career centers, and AI mentors have in common?

They all show up in this week’s Leadership Rules conversation with Don Philabaum—a serial entrepreneur, innovator, and author who’s been preparing students and leaders for “what’s next” long before most people saw it coming.

Don joins Nick and Marnie to explore how curiosity, adaptability, and human connection still beat out chaos and tech hype every time.

In this episode, Don shares:

🔗 Why human connection is the one competitive advantage AI can’t replicate
🎓 What career centers must do now to stay relevant
🤖 Why Gen Z understands AI better than most professionals
⚽ What the NIL era can teach all of us about career development
🧠 And why people do business with people—even in the age of bots

Plus:

• What it's like to launch virtual career coaches before ChatGPT was cool
• How to rewire fear of change into fuel for leadership
• And what student athletes and CEOs both need from their mentors

📍 Learn more about Don Philabaum:
🌐 Athlete Career Training
🌐 Talk to Me 24x7

What do school safety, confidence in chaos, and sneaking into a Michael Jackson concert have in common?

All of them show up in this week’s Leadership Rules episode with Dr. Roderick “Rocky” Sams—a passionate educator and school safety leader who believes preparation isn’t just a strategy. It’s a mindset.

Rocky joins Nick and Marnie to talk about how leading well starts with knowing yourself, investing in what matters, and showing up ready—even when the opportunity hasn’t arrived yet.

In this episode, Rocky shares:

🔐 The critical link between psychological safety and physical safety
🧠 How clarity, calm, and curiosity build real leadership presence
📚 Why he believes personalized learning is more possible now than ever
🏖️ How scheduling monthly “timeouts” with his wife helps him lead better
🔘 What Centegix is doing to transform school safety with one simple button

Plus:

• The one question every leader should ask before speaking
• Why struggle is often the best teacher
• The story of a young Rocky Sams sneaking into a stadium for a life-changing concert

👀 Bonus: Rocky’s message to educators about finding joy again—even in the chaos.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

📍 Connect with Dr. Roderick Sams:
🔗 LinkedIn

📧 rsams@centegix.com

What do undefeated teams, AV carts, and prosthetic legs have in common?

They all show up in this week’s conversation with educator and coach Rob Elia—and every story points to the same truth:

🏆 Leadership isn’t about winning. It’s about trust.

In this episode, Rob joins Nick and Marnie to talk about:

🎾 Coaching through culture, not just competition

🧠 Why confidence is a performance multiplier

🛠️ How to build trust that actually sticks

📉 Why you shouldn’t rescue people too soon

👟 And the real reason some losses matter more than wins

Plus:

• How to lead when your kid isn’t the starter
• Why culture doesn’t start with hype, but with habits
• The moment one player’s return from cancer taught the entire team what leadership really means

👀 Bonus: Rob explains why his undefeated record matters way less than the way his team practiced every day to earn it.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

📍 Find Rob Elia:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertvelia/

Check out the podcast Rob hosts: Leader’s Edge Podcast in association with the New Jersey Association of Educational Leaders

How do you go from wallflower to world-class connector?

Jason Croft didn’t just figure it out—he reverse-engineered the process.

In this episode, Jason joins Nick and Marnie to talk about leadership, networking (especially for introverts), and how to build “market gravity”—the pull that makes you the inevitable choice for the people you want to serve.

Jason is the host of Strategy + Action, a brand and storytelling strategist, and the guy who once read The Tipping Point and decided—on the spot—to become a connector. A year later? People were calling him for introductions.

In this conversation, Jason shares:

🧲 Why visibility isn’t enough—you need gravity

🎯 What most people get wrong about standing out

🛠️ How to build confidence through evidence

🎤 Why podcasting might be the best networking tool on earth

🙋‍♂️ And the one leadership rule that changed everything: Lead yourself first.

Plus:

• What to say when you're stuck at a networking event (and don’t know a soul)
• Why introverts make the best interviewers
• The truth about “accidental leaders”—and how to know if you are one

👀 Bonus: Jason reveals the bold decision that transformed his career—and how you can do the same (without faking a personality transplant).

🎧 Listen to the episode now.

📍 Find Jason Croft:

https://thejasoncroft.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncroft/

What do Sour Patch Kids, Target run-ins, and dinner-table confessions have to do with leadership?
According to Derrick Kinney—everything.

In this episode, Derrick joins Nick and Marnie to talk about raising confident, character-driven leaders (especially teens), building trust through imperfection, and why financial education is really just leadership training in disguise.

Derrick is the founder of the Good Money Framework, the creator of Simple Teen Success, and the kind of guy who listens to audiobooks at 1.75x speed and rips out the pages he’s actually going to implement. (Yes, really.)

In this conversation, Derrick shares:

🧠 Why kids don’t want lectures—they want lessons (and candy)
🧃 The magic of a Target encounter done right
🧍‍♂️ How to teach influence through confidence, not charisma
💸 Why bad money beliefs start early—and how to break them
🎯 And the rule every leader should live by: Own your mistakes. Own them fast.

Plus:

• How to teach teens to talk to adults (without hiding in the chip aisle)
• The “Highs and Lows” dinner game that turned parenting into mentorship
• Why leaders should feel worse about a mistake than their clients do

🎓 Want your teen to level up?
Check out Derrick’s course: Simple Teen Success

📍 Find Derrick Kinney:
https://www.instagram.com/derrickkinney/
https://www.simpleteensuccess.com/