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Missing Conversations

Missing Conversations

By: Altus Growth Partners
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 How do you create extraordinary and meaningful outcomes that take care of people, your organization and the future you care about? We at Altus believe all results, those that you want and those that you don't, are generated by conversations. When conversations are missing, people and results suffer—learning to see the missing conversations is where to begin. Helping you and your teams have the right conversations with the right people to get the results you desire is what Altus is all about. Through in-depth interviews with incredible guests, we explore the power and practices of conversations. In each interview, you'll learn how to see the missing conversations to enhance your leadership influence and impact and ignite a world of difference, one conversation at a time. If you're aiming for bold change and growing your leadership, teams and organization to create extraordinary results, we want to talk to you! Schedule your confidential conversation. altusgrowth.com/contact.2023 Economics
Episodes
  • Episode #67: Leading Through Chaos: The Secret to Keeping Your Team Aligned and High-Performing When Demand Is High

    Episode #67: Leading Through Chaos: The Secret to Keeping Your Team Aligned and High-Performing When Demand Is High
    Dec 4 2025
    When your business is hit by a pandemic, a capacity crunch, or clients who treat your work like a commodity, how do you protect your people, your standards, and your own sanity? In this episode of Missing Conversations, hosts Dan Winter and Heather Neely talk with Jeff Weinberg, owner of JW Catering, who has spent 25 years in Silicon Valley "controlling chaos" as he and his team serve events from 5 to 5,000 people. Jeff shares how a chance complaint at a concert turned into a decades-long partnership, how he and his team pivoted in just five weeks to ghost kitchens and a pop-up Jewish deli during COVID, and how he keeps reinventing and reimagining the business so his people can keep working, learning, and caring for their community. His story shows how to design teams that run without you, balance demanding customers with clear boundaries, and protect capacity and morale, all while continuing to align people and vision as conditions shift. 🎧 Listen in to hear how strong leaders keep their teams coordinated and grounded when work is demanding and change is fast. Key Moments You'll Want to Hear 01:34: The accidental contract that launched a 25-year leadership journey. 03:19: Designing systems that allow teams to thrive when every day is different. 04:22: What leaders gain when they step back and let experts lead. 06:01: Building frontline teams who can adapt in the moment. 08:23: Why knowing people's lives makes leaders better at developing talent. 11:08: Navigating friend–client relationships without sacrificing your team and their capacity. 11:58: The five-week sprint that saved jobs and kept the business alive. 18:04: Making crisis decisions that take care of the people who need you most. 21:07: Reading early signals and walking away from misaligned clients. 23:03: Competing with being seen as a commodity by educating customers and staff. 26:35: Teaching a new generation what real hospitality looks like. 30:08: The secret to staying relevant through booms, busts, and a pandemic. 31:54: Managing capacity when everything is urgent and important. 34:54: How small acts of gratitude sustain teams during the most demanding times. 35:52: Providing opportunities for your team to choose who you serve in the community. 37:47: Creating true owner freedom by trusting your bench. 39:44: Holding the space for your team to learn the lessons that make them better. 41:32: Expecting your team to own outcomes with integrity and care. 42:52: Learning to speak carefully and listen differently. 44:47: The inner work of blending leadership styles so partnerships thrive. By the end of this conversation, you'll hear answers to: How do I build a team that can operate independently so I can step back without losing quality or momentum? Independence grows when leaders create space for others to truly own the work rather than wait for direction. When leaders step back with intention, they invite their staff to make decisions that reflect their own care for the work, the clients, and the people they serve. A simple question like "Can you live with this decision?" shifts the conversation from task completion to responsibility, reflection, and commitment. Over time, the team stops looking upward for permission and starts acting from shared ownership, holding the whole, not just their part, while preserving the standards and reputation of the founder. Timestamps: 04:22, 37:47, 41:32 How do I protect my team's capacity, well-being, and morale when demand outpaces resources? Capacity holds when leaders see their people as humans with limits, not just roles to be filled. Protecting the team starts with paying close attention to energy, overwhelm, and mood. When demand increases, leaders pause to ask what the human cost of a "yes" might be and how to distribute work in a way that preserves dignity and pace. Small, consistent gestures such as shared meals, coffee runs, chair massages, and moments of humor restore people's capacity and reinforce connection. When teams feel cared for, they meet challenges with steadiness, creativity, and a willingness to meet the demand together. Timestamps: 31:54, 34:31–35:39, 21:07–22:42 How do I lead through crisis in a way that protects my people while keeping the business alive? Human-centered crisis leadership begins with asking who will be most affected if the organization pulls back, and choosing to act from care rather than fear. When Covid shut everything down, Jeff rebuilt the business in five weeks so his staff could continue supporting themselves. Ghost kitchens, walk-up service, and a pop-up deli weren't just business pivots; they were commitments to dignity, stability, and community. Leading from responsibility created loyalty, resilience, and a culture strong enough to move through uncertainty together. Timestamps: 11:58–16:49, 18:04–19:22, 30:08–30:58 We need to take care of everybody from a mental, as well as physical, standpoint. About Jeff Weinberg Leveraging his ...
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    48 mins
  • Episode #66: Facing Uncertainty? Here's The One Thing Your Team Needs Most From You Today

    Episode #66: Facing Uncertainty? Here's The One Thing Your Team Needs Most From You Today
    Nov 26 2025
    When your organization is moving fast and uncertainty spikes, your leadership presence becomes the difference between a team that breaks and one that moves forward together. In this episode of Missing Conversations, hosts Lynette Winter and Ellen Burton sit down with Amy Riley, an internationally respected leadership coach, speaker, and author who has spent over two decades helping leaders bring out the best in their teams. Amy shares insights from rooms where jobs were on the line, strategies were rewritten overnight, and leaders had to align vision and reality in real time—VPs steadying anxious sales teams, presidents leading through layoffs with honesty and care, and CEOs saying "yes" to their teams so ownership and capability could grow. Together, they explore how to name what you know and what you don't, invite multiple perspectives into the conversation, ground tough decisions in values, and rebuild trust moment by moment so that people feel seen, stay engaged, and move with you through uncertainty. Key Moments You'll Want to Hear 01:49: The one simple action leaders can take to understand what their teams really need. 02:42: Why transparent, forward-focused dialogue strengthens trust and anchors teams during change. 04:14: How one VP calmed a rattled salesforce by clearly stating what's known, what's unknown, and how they'll figure it out together. 07:14: How leaders can confidently say "I don't know" without losing credibility 08:58: The practical questions leaders can use to surface alternative perspectives and expand what's possible. 10:20: What people invent in the absence of information, and how silence drains focus, loyalty, and trust. 11:43: Leading through layoffs: How one president met people with empathy and honesty, inspiring them to come back when stability returned. 13:33: How to stay present, human, and connected in the hardest conversations. 15:15: The link between emotional intelligence and the courageous decisions leaders must make under pressure. 16:07: How one CEO protected culture, deepened ownership, and still got to a better solution by saying "Yes" to a team idea he wasn't so certain would work. 17:32: Why letting teams try, fail, and adjust grows more capability than directing them from the corner office. 18:58: The leadership pause: a quick reset that interrupts reactivity, checks assumptions, and leads to more intentional action. 21:05: Why naming your assumptions out loud opens up better strategies and clearer decision-making. 22:18: How leaders can design the conditions where teams step up, take ownership, and make strong decisions. 25:09: How values anchor tough decisions, protect standards, and guide hard conversations. 29:06: "How do we want to be together?"—the question that grounds teams through disruption. 30:16: The one thing we have control of in times of change and uncertainty: how we show up. 32:01: How presence, transparency, and follow-through rebuild trust faster than most leaders realize. 34:32: A simple trust equation leaders can use to repair relationships and strengthen commitment. By the end of this conversation, you'll hear answers to: How do I communicate confidently when I don't have all the answers? Leaders strengthen trust by naming what they know, naming what they don't, and engaging the room in co-creating the path forward. Amy shows that the alternative—silence, vague messaging, or overconfidence—erodes credibility fast. Leaders who openly acknowledge uncertainty while grounding people in what is clear create shared ownership and forward movement. Timestamp: 04:14–08:58 How can I keep my team focused and grounded when anxiety, change, or disruption is high? Teams stay engaged when leaders check in, ask what people are actually experiencing, and make space for the emotions already in the room. Amy explains that in the absence of information, people invent their own stories—and those stories usually lean toward fear. Leaders who provide honest updates, name the tension, and invite open dialogue protect trust and reduce reactivity. Timestamp: 10:20–14:58 What is the one thing I can do as a leader to build trust quickly, even after layoffs, missteps, or tough calls? Trust is rebuilt moment by moment through transparency, follow-through, and presence. Amy's examples—from a president leading layoffs with humanity to a CEO saying "yes" so his team could learn by doing—show how trust grows when leaders listen fully, own their mistakes, invest in their people, and model the behavior they expect. Trust doesn't require years; it's created in how leaders show up every day. Timestamp: 11:43–17:54 and 32:01–34:32 Whatever the situation, there are opportunities to show up for others. 🎧 Carrying your team through uncertainty? Ground yourself in what works. Listen now. About Amy Riley Amy L. Riley is an internationally renowned speaker, author, and consultant. She has over 2 decades of experience developing leaders at all ...
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    38 mins
  • Episode #65: How to Create Psychological Safety at Work: Small Leadership Practices That Build Trust, Respect, and Performance

    Episode #65: How to Create Psychological Safety at Work: Small Leadership Practices That Build Trust, Respect, and Performance
    Oct 30 2025
    $2.7 billion a day. That's what U.S. workplaces lose in productivity when people don't feel emotionally or psychologically safe. Psychological safety isn't a policy. It's the everyday experience of being able to speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, challenge assumptions, and be fully ourselves at work. In this conversation, Altus Growth Partners executive coaches Steven Jones, Ellen Burton, and Lara Guille explore how leaders build that safety through small, intentional practices: curiosity before correction, deep listening, open-ended and consent-based questions, and the courage to address workplace incivility with care. Leaders have a profound opportunity to create cultures where respect is lived, responsibility is shared, and people can contribute their best. If you lead others, this conversation will help you lead in a way that strengthens trust, belonging, and performance, starting with your next conversation. Key Moments You'll Want to Hear 00:56: The key message of psychological safety: a daily practice that leaders set in motion. 02:12: The subtle behaviors that erode trust, belonging, and performance 07:33: Billions in lost productivity and human potential. This is the cost of disrespect. 10:08: How tone and language become the real workplace culture. 11:42: What does it really mean to show courage in the workplace? 14:14: The two questions leaders should start their day with: What do my people need today? What is mine to do? 21:15: When people don't feel valued, they don't just "quiet quit." They stop offering their best thinking. 23:57: How unprocessed pain shapes workplace culture more than you think. 27:30: How practicing curiosity before correction opens possibilities. 31:09: The universal truth: every person wants to know they matter. 31:59: How micro acknowledgements grow trust, safety, and belonging. By the end of this conversation, you'll hear answers to: How can I create psychological safety on my team? Psychological safety is built through daily practice. By asking open-ended questions, listening without interruption, and using consent language, such as "Are you open to talking with me about this?", a leader can demonstrate genuine care and a sense of belonging. Timestamp: 27:30–31:59 What are the benefits of psychological safety at work? When people feel safe to speak up and contribute, organizations see higher engagement, retention, innovation, and productivity, and significantly fewer sick days linked to stress and witnessed incivility. Timestamp: 07:42–10:08 How do I address disrespect or incivility at work without shaming people? Instead of correcting behavior through blame, ask, "Does this behavior show care for your colleague?" This reframes accountability as alignment with what the person says they care about, which builds responsibility, not defensiveness. Timestamp: 16:29–18:30 Whenever we can create more safety for others, we also create more safety for ourselves. About Altus Growth Partners At Altus, we partner with CEOs and leadership teams who are serious about growth and willing to engage in new kinds of conversations to produce better results. We care deeply about helping leaders and teams collaborate more effectively, navigate complexity with confidence, and foster a culture where people thrive. It's in these environments that challenges are met with curiosity, people bring out the best in one another, and progress is anchored in shared purpose. Because when leaders and teams are truly working together, they expand what's possible and the meaningful impact they can make in their lives, their organizations, and the world around them. You can find Altus Growth Partners on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/altus-growth-partners/ About the Book Growing Groups Into Teams: How do you turn a group of individuals into a highly effective, productive team? Growing Groups Into Teams is an unusually useful book written by a team of generative consultants and coaches who have helped thousands of groups become effective teams. Through real-life stories combined with pragmatic advice, this book strengthens your ability to see what's needed and take effective action: What two promises turn a group into a team. How to engage people to make those promises. How to invite responsibility and accountability. How to include and inspire people across differences. How to build and rebuild trust, and more! Regardless of how productive your teams are today, the insights in this book will help you grow to the next level to drive your business or organization forward. Order your copy today! Order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Groups-into-Teams-Real-life-ebook/dp/B0CJLC23VS Order directly: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?l8SxF4Aexn9gq08iz7jFBbwutleujrftoZ2wAOFzCVH If you're looking to expand your leadership influence, shift your results, and develop a highly engaged, accountable team, we'd love to talk to you. Schedule a conversation...
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    34 mins
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