Talk, Unleashed

International Women's Day - Taking a Stand

March 08, 2023 16:54 - 16 minutes - 22.9 MB

Hate is an interesting thing. The immediate reaction of response is defensive, right? And in my experience that defensive energy comes with its own level of reciprocal hate. Perhaps different words or intention. Perhaps justified as necessary because it’s protective, but hate all the same. And thus the cycle of hate is perpetuated. In this week’s podcast, a close look at a very personal example of this in my own life - an example that took place 7 years ago this week. For more details on tha...

The War of Northern Aggression

March 01, 2023 17:00 - 14 minutes - 20.4 MB

If we do not pay attention to the past, we are bound to repeat it, right? Well, sometimes paying too much attention isn’t good either. I mean, when driving a car it’s best to look forward through the windshield AND ensure that you pay some mind to the side and rear mirrors to be clear on what’s going on behind you. To be aware. To avoid problems. Thing is, the view I have from my rearview mirror is different than what someone sees in another car. Same thing for the windshield, actually. And ...

Don't Talk to Strangers

February 22, 2023 17:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MB

There are likely few who haven’t heard the warning at some point when they were young. “Don’t talk to strangers.” It’s not an altogether unusual premise. There are some logical dangers in the world of which to be aware. AND at the same time creating a fear-based view of the world doesn’t exactly do us any favors. The irony is that if I move around the world with intention and belief of fear, I end up creating the very situations that I fear. Odd how energy works that way. Top that off with t...

Haters (Not) Gonna Hate

February 15, 2023 17:00 - 23 minutes - 32 MB

On any list of criteria for people in my life you’d think “must love dogs” would be top of the list. You wouldn’t be wrong. That said, there are people in my life who don’t particularly care for them. Some of them had bad experiences as kids. Others are allergic. And some just don’t like them much. They’ll tolerate well behaved dogs but generally speaking given a choice they’d rather not have dogs around. What they don’t do is HATE dogs. Hate, it’s a substantive word that has a lot of heat t...

Beaver

February 08, 2023 17:00 - 16 minutes - 22.2 MB

Home. It’s a four-letter word that brings up a lot of things. As a gal who was voted “most likely to move away and never come back” in high school, the idea of home has never been about a birthplace. Okay so I wasn’t actually voted that, but I never felt like Philadelphia fit. Odd to say, considering it’s where I was born and spent the first 18 years of my life. Went away to college and loved Chicago, but that never felt like home either. The feeling of home, truly solid feeling of it, didn’...

Detours, Distractions, and Jurassic Park

February 01, 2023 17:00 - 17 minutes - 23.8 MB

There are a a few fascinating things about Southern Florida. One of them - the wildlife. Specifically a particular Iguana that isn’t actually from here, but ended up here due to … well … human error. This week Cathy found herself playing Iguana wrangler and in the process connecting with a substantive message about responsibility, tolerance and that topic that was mentioned last week, the difference between detours and distractions. What does leadership actually mean in today’s world? Good ...

Be Blessed. Be Safe.

January 25, 2023 17:00 - 15 minutes - 21.4 MB

As the big journey of 2023 begins and I untether from the City of Las Vegas for a while, there was an interesting set of interactions I had that delivered precisely the message that needed to percolate while I was beginning my cross country drive. Happenstance and serendipity led to a slightly longer than anticipated trajectory for my trip (a story you can read about here), which also gave me lots of time to ponder and what came up for me was a simple message that was delivered to me by a ga...

Tim Schneider

January 18, 2023 17:00 - 43 minutes - 59.9 MB

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had the pleasure of sharing an Unleashed Conversation with an amazing leader here with you and it felt entirely apt to kick it off with Tim Schneider. I met Tim while taking a 5 month leadership intensive he leads through his leadership company for the Vegas Chamber called Leadership Advance. It was a small cohort and considering the brevity of the program we covered a lot of ground. That’s Tim for you - leadership personified. Not a surprise for someone who...

Detached versus Unattached - Who Knew?

January 11, 2023 23:48 - 18 minutes - 42.3 MB

In last week’s episode I spoke about a concept that I dig into today - the difference between between detached … and unattached. Yes, I hear you. “Come on, Cathy. They’re not that different those words.” Perhaps not in literal meaning, but for this gal, the way they land is much different. The latter is about staying present, connected and committed - even in the face of difference. The former is about an attitudinal f*ck you. In today’s episode I share the journey of my last few weeks, the ...

Let's DO THIS

January 04, 2023 17:00 - 23 minutes - 32.8 MB

AWAY WE GO!! It’s a New Year. Time to look ahead with the wisdom of months past, take the lessons and be ready to crush it. Every year I pick a word, an intention, and lean into the New Year with it. Last year the word was abundance. And boy did I get to see just how surrounded by abundance I am - an abundance of friends whose support literally held me up in moments where I felt like I might just fall apart. As I pondered the word, I also had a chance to spend some time celebrating my niece’...

Family and Joy

December 28, 2022 17:00 - 12 minutes - 28.9 MB

Ah, family. This time of year is saturated with all kinds of commercials and expectations around what things are supposed to be like. Truth is, for most folks, family pushes buttons. No big surprise there. The family is the place those buttons got installed. What if getting together with family didn’t have to be stressful? What if the holidays didn’t have to be? What if you actually COULD experience all that joy - and put the stress in its rightful place? Yep. Possible. Just need to be uncon...

Suicide [Trigger Warning]

December 21, 2022 17:00 - 11 minutes - 25.4 MB

No easy way to say this. Losing someone to suicide rips a hole in your gut like few other things. Losing someone, it’s never easy. No matter the circumstance. When, however, that loss comes at that person’s own hand - there is something exponentially more gutting. The shock of loss combined with this deep, sick knowing that it just didn’t have to happen. The world was rocked with the sudden suicide of DJ tWitch - a favorite from the Ellen Degeneres show. It was sad that someone who was so pu...

Sick

December 14, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 35.6 MB

Nothing like capping off an exciting whirlwind trip to Paris with COVID. Yep. It got me again. Thankfully seems to be pretty mild this time around and as I muse on wrestling with feeling unwell, it occurred to me that when I’m not feeling well, I don’t always behave well. My temper is short. It’s hard to focus. Overall a sense of malaise impacts everything. Being me, I started thinking about working with dogs and how the first thing I always evaluate when called in to deal with a dog that ha...

Source Code (Not the Kind You Think)

December 07, 2022 17:00 - 18 minutes - 42 MB

The power of responsibility. It’s something we’ve touched on quite a bit here on the podcast, and today we get to the source – where responsibility begins. Self. Meaning – at the highest level of responsibility I am clear that when it comes to the world around me, my relationships and even my community and the world beyond, I am responsible. Full stop. Whether it’s direct influence or merely the energy I put into the world, when I think of myself as the generator of my own possibilities, som...

Declarations

November 30, 2022 17:00 - 20 minutes - 47.5 MB

What does it mean to make a declaration and then ensure it happens? Lots of folks talk about lots of things that they never do. And yet there are others who make audacious statements of things they're going to create and - BOOM - they get 'er done. What's that about? The meaning of the word and what's underneath it has been a pretty hefty aspect of my Leadership Training in the last couple of years and as I committed to a declaration about doing something I'd been talking about for a few mon...

Abundance and Gratitude

November 23, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 31.5 MB

Seemed fitting given the timing of this week’s episode to muse on the topic of gratitude and another topic that rides closely in the sidecar, abundance. For anyone who’s meandered the path of sobriety, personal development, mindset mastery and the like – it’s pretty common to engage in some sort of gratitude practice. Funny that something that seems as though it should be so simple needs a practice in today’s world in order to be maintained. I mean, I don’t typically have to practice things ...

Radical Authenticity and (Gasp) LOVE

November 16, 2022 17:00 - 22 minutes - 51.5 MB

Last week’s road show was so much fun, I figured I’d do it again. This time en route from central California back to Las Vegas. While zipping along the same road on which James Dean died (including a pit stop at the last spot he was seen alive) I pondered the discussions I’d had over the previous days – a delicious adventure in San Luis Obispo, CA for a friend’s wedding. In the days before the wedding an array of fascinating encounters gave rise to a fresh perspective of just how closed off...

A Spiritual WHAT?

November 09, 2022 17:00 - 22 minutes - 52.2 MB

Nothing says spiritual experience like wolfing down a Wendy’s Pub Burger, fries, and root beer and then recording a podcast episode while whizzing down a freeway. Yeah. That happened. It was while on route back to Las Vegas after a magical weekend that it occurred to me – I’d forgotten to record this week’s Talk, Unleashed. The good news is that my brain was saturated with a series of powerful experiences that were easy peasy to share. It is even better news that I’m an audio nerd podcaster ...

Patience is a Virtue

November 02, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 37.5 MB

We’re BACK! Funny to think it’s only been a month since the last fresh episode. It feels both a blink and a lifetime. During the podcast’s brief hiatus I took a good long think about where Talk, Unleashed gets to go in its second year. Consensus is that folks enjoy my storytelling ramblings, so you’ll be getting more of that and there’s been some requests for digging even more deeply with the interviews. So I got a bigger shovel. In the development of my coaching curriculum for Unleashed Lea...

Lint (Yes. Lint.)

September 21, 2022 16:00 - 6 minutes - 15.2 MB

Pinch me. Talk Unleashed is a year old. Ups and downs. Twists and turns. Embarking on so much exploration and learning. Appreciating all of you who share your experiences. Thank you. So what does lint have to do with anything. It’s something simple. Seemingly innocuous. Something that if you don’t sort out, don’t clean from filters, may actually set something on fire. Like your house. There are metaphors of that in dog behavior too – as you might guess. The little seemingly simple things lik...

Peeing in the Pool

September 14, 2022 16:00 - 18 minutes - 41.5 MB

Being part of a community means behaving in a way that’s responsible and respectful to others. This can be carried a wee bit far, just ask anyone who lives somewhere with an overly militant HOA. That said, there is something about structure and a set of agreements for folks living in community that makes sense. They exist wherever we go – whether it’s a nuclear family, a neighborhood or living space, work environments and of course any sort of shared public space. Some things are codified to...

Liminal Spaces

September 07, 2022 16:00 - 18 minutes - 42.5 MB

When a friend of mine and I had a chat in early 2022 and she asked me about my “liminal plans”, I didn’t get it. She was referring to the preparation I might want to consider making as I was making my way towards some big changes in my life. She asked if I was “prepared” for the transition, for taking the time to “properly” digest the past and look to the future. I scoffed a bit and said I was. Turned out I wasn’t. Turned out that 2022 actually WAS the liminal space – an extended period of ...

Engage or Avoid

August 31, 2022 16:00 - 18 minutes - 42.5 MB

Do, or don’t do. There is no try. Isn’t it fun how binary some things can be? At least when presented by Yoda. Joking aside, when it comes to dogs and dog behavior, while there are some gray areas of feeling/emotion, the truth is that the beauty of a dog is the simplicity of it’s view. This or that. Full stop. The truth is that if we dig down deeply enough into the basics of human behavior the truth is that most things are pretty clear. Feelings and emotions may make things a bit muddy, but ...

Words Matter

August 24, 2022 16:00 - 15 minutes - 35.5 MB

Words matter. Granted I’m a language nerd so they may matter a bit more to me than many, but whether you like it or not, the words you choose to use (or not use) have impact. Words can lift up and tear down. Incorrect words can set something in motion that can take years to turnaround. The word conventionally used to describe a group of wolves, Pack, for example? It’s incorrect. Literally incorrect. There even have been suggestions by folks with deep understanding of wolves, like Gordon Habe...

Choice

August 17, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 36.8 MB

The power of choice. As a smarty pants species we humans have all kinds of choices that we tell ourselves we get to make. That’s not entirely inaccurate, of course. When it comes to living in a community, of being a balanced part of society – the truth is that choices get pretty simple pretty quickly. Kind of like how when I teach my dog various things – it gets a choice. The choice to do what I’ve directed, or experience the consequence for not doing so. Now perhaps this episode should have...

Tolerance and Trolls (The Internet Kind)

August 10, 2022 16:00 - 24 minutes - 55.2 MB

Tolerance. Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of that in the world today, least of all when it comes to the so-called “social” media platforms. While they’re not really designed for actual discourse and connection there is the opportunity to take advantage of these technologies to learn and grow. Teachable moments. So when some junior varsity Internet trolls popped up in response to this Instagram reel, it seemed the perfect opportunity to share some insights and talk about how a moment influenc...

Child's Play

August 03, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 37.9 MB

Grow up. Stop acting like a child. You’re so juvenile. Amazing how the most important and formative phases of our lives become insults and pejoratives at a later stage in life. Typically they’re used to describe a grown adult who’s behaving irresponsibility or not being accountable or responsible. What if, instead, we could remember that these early stages of our lives are precisely the time when wonderment, discovery and creativity embody nearly everything we do? What if embracing these qu...

When is Enough, Enough?

July 27, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 45.9 MB

You can’t stay clean today on last week’s shower. Makes sense, right? So, too, it goes with things like personal development and growth … and dog training. Of course we make strides and progress and evolve and – the work is never really “done”. In today’s episode, the parallels between educating a dog … and a human. And why being a work in progress is actually a good thing. What does leadership actually mean in today’s world? Good questions, right? That’s what Cathy Brooks, thought. And it’...

Awareness and Attention - My End of the Leash

July 20, 2022 16:00 - 25 minutes - 57.9 MB

Social skills are delicate muscles that lose their tone quickly when they’re not exercised. It just takes one global pandemic and shutdown with related isolation and separation from society to show that. It’s as though people have flooded back into the world but forgotten they’re no longer in their living rooms. As I’ve been on walkabout for the last months with my dogs, moving around in public has taken on an entirely different experience. I’m in a heightened state of awareness of my surrou...

Boundaries. More than Skin Deep

July 13, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 46.5 MB

Boundaries. There are so many places that this word plays into our lives. There’s the boundary between nations, the boundaries between people’s properties (whether that’s fencing on the back 40 or the wall between two apartments), and of course there are the sometimes confounding and occasionally elusive emotional boundaries in relationships. Regardless of the form, boundaries serve to show where one thing ends and another begins. In today’s episode of Talk Unleashed, the boundaries are even...

Myles Weissleder

July 06, 2022 16:00 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MB

For all the talk of being “authentic” in today’s business world, it still seems to be a pretty rare thing. So when I caught sight of a post on LinkedIn from an old friend that was utterly raw and vulnerable – and was getting serious traction – my interest was piqued. Myles Weissleder and I first met not long after he and some friends started the event platform Meet-up. As part of testing his own platform, Myles began an event called SFNewTech, which would become the very first (and 500 pound...

John Hagel III

June 29, 2022 16:00 - 43 minutes - 99.8 MB

There’s no place for feelings in business, right? Stick with strategy, measurable results, spreadsheets and data. Well, none of those things matter if the heart and soul of a business – aka the PEOPLE – are off kilter. Today’s guest, John Hagel III, is one of the leading management and business consultants in Silicon Valley. For the last 40 years he’s focused heavily on working with top companies and executives focused on strategy. Lately, though, he’s realized that there’s something even m...

Surrender - First Step on the Path to Success

June 22, 2022 16:00 - 13 minutes - 31.5 MB

It seemed only logical after last week’s discussion about being messy and how that can lead to commitment that this week we pick up where we left off and keep digging. Surrender. Yep. That word that seems to strike fear or at least palpitations into the hearts of most folks. Surrender. Common thought is that it means to fail, to lose. Turns out that couldn’t be farther from the truth. True surrender actually is a critical step on the path to winning. Make sure you have a notebook handy or at...

F*ck Looking Good - A Confession

June 15, 2022 15:02 - 15 minutes - 35.2 MB

What might it look like to stop worrying about looking good and be authentic. Really authentic. Nothing like having people in your life who refuse to cosign your bullshit and keep you honest. That’s what you’ll get with Cathy in this week’s episode. It’s a snack-sized offering that is decidedly unvarnished and definitely unleashed. What does leadership actually mean in today’s world? Good questions, right? That’s what Cathy Brooks, thought. And it’s why she created Talk, Unleashed – a new p...

Professor Eugene Volokh

June 08, 2022 16:00 - 51 minutes - 119 MB

One of the most powerful and important pillars of democracy in the United States is freedom of speech – the privilege granted a right in the US Constitution is a shield. It also can be a sword. Eugene Volokh is a Professor of Law at UCLA. His specialty, the First Amendment. What’s a canine behaviorist and life coach talking about with a First Amendment expert? Simple. Cheap Speech. It’s a phrase Professor Volokh coined back in 1995 as he predicted the massive impact the Internet would have o...

Brent Barrett

June 01, 2022 16:00 - 47 minutes - 109 MB

Family. It means lots of different things to different people. For today’s guest, Broadway Star Brent Barrett, it especially means connection and support. Despite perceptions of the cutthroat competition of performance, from where Brent sits, the truth is that every performance is really about the family of people who come together to create it. Whether it’s a one night concert or an extended run, the camaraderie and connection is something that lasts. Knowing him as long as I have, I can at...

John McClain

May 25, 2022 16:00 - 52 minutes - 120 MB

When I asked today’s guest what leadership means to him, his immediate response was listening, which makes perfect sense. After all, the sound is the very thing that drives John McClain. It has since he was 10 years old. And he’s not just good at it. He’s great. Companies like Chevrolet, Dodge, Intel, and MGM Resorts think so. And the Emmy Awards and Grammy on the shelf at Monster Sound and Picture (the studio for which he’s co-owner and sound designer/mixer) aren’t such shabby proof either....

Jim Louderback

May 18, 2022 16:01 - 46 minutes - 106 MB

Adapt or die. Always seemed a pretty aggressive statement. It’s true though. Especially when it comes to technology. Trends of new platforms and services have shifted our world in remarkable ways in the last 20 years and for those who’ve leaned into those changes with curiosity, well, they’re still around. One of those people is Jim Louderback. He’s one of the most trusted and respected voices in digital media. Starting back with his time at PC Week Magazine and then on to its parent company...

Lori Michele Leavitt

May 11, 2022 16:19 - 46 minutes - 107 MB

Having vision, clarity, and the right circle of trusted advisors. Sounds like a no-brainer for success, right? Funny how not simple it actually is. What IS a trusted advisor? Who are the people who trust and how do you engage with them? Today’s guest, Lori Michele Leavitt is a consultant and coach who guides organizations and the people who lead them to engaged leadership and the ability to pivot. If the last few years have taught us anything it’s that the ability to adapt quickly can mean t...

Beverly Ulbrich

May 04, 2022 16:06 - 49 minutes - 113 MB

It’s a word that’s come up on our podcast before – empathy. Today’s guest, Beverly Ulbrich, highlights it as part of the way she defines her method of dog training. Empathetic. A former Silicon Valley Tech Exec turned dog trainer (sounds a bit like last week’s guest J ), Beverly turned her attention to full-time dog training nearly 20 years ago and much like Talk Unleashed’s host, Cathy Brooks, finds that the core need to bring a sense of empathy to communication applies to both ends of the ...

Cathy Brooks

April 27, 2022 16:08 - 12 minutes - 29.4 MB

With 36 episodes under our belt, we’re taking a moment to regroup, think about where things are right now and share a little bit about what it is we’re doing here, how that has evolved from our start and where things are going next. The guest is your host, Cathy Brooks. She is a communications professional whose work ranges from radio to television, newspaper and digital platforms. For 22 years she worked in Silicon Valley in public relations, event curation, and business development. In 20...

Jack de Golia

April 20, 2022 16:10 - 37 minutes - 86.9 MB

Audiobooks. They’re among the most intimate of voiceover genres and give a whole new meaning to having voices in your head. A narrator relates the story – including all the characters – and they are directly in your ear. In today’s episode, we hear from someone who may sound familiar. Not surprising, considering that Jack de Golia has brought nearly 175 book titles to life (some of those are coming soon). He’s a voice actor who specializes in audiobooks (though he’s done pretty much every ot...

Antonio Diaz

April 13, 2022 17:01 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MB

Despite my skepticism at someone who declares themselves “leader of the pack” – especially given the fact that the word pack is actually utterly inaccurate in describing a group of dogs (more on that another time), when I was pointed to the Instagram feed for Antonio Diaz, I found myself pleased. Here is someone who pulls no punches, tells it like it is, and most of all focuses on helping people be better humans to their dogs. In other words, he’s my people. When we finally met in person afte...

Silvia Vasquez-Lavado

April 06, 2022 16:00 - 48 minutes - 45 MB

There aren’t many people in the world who can say they haven’t faced some kind of trauma or tragedy in life. And while it’s not a competition – there are some whose paths are decidedly more rocky than others. People choose to handle that in different ways. Not all of them decide to climb Mount Everest. Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is an explorer, mountaineer, author, survivor and activist. Perhaps even in that order. Her recently published book: “In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage” ...

Robin Raskin

March 30, 2022 19:29 - 40 minutes - 37.6 MB

When her husband brought home a computer in the 1980s Robin Raskin had two options: learn about the technology or get a divorce. She opted to do the former and to add to that by writing a column about it for InfoWorld Magazine. That column got Robin noticed and launched her into a career as one of the most influential women in technology publishing. Rising through the ranks in Ziff-Davis, Robin was an editor at PC Magazine, where the challenge of being a woman and keeping home and work separ...

Alice Sauro

March 23, 2022 17:58 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MB

Music heals. It always has. It’s one of the few things that is common to all people – regardless of nationality, culture, religion or politics. It’s a binding element. A societal glue that has the power to heal. Today’s guest, Alice Sauro, believes this to the marrow of her bones. Among the first kids in the US to be trained under the Suzuki Method, Alice went on to study at Julliard and then to perform for 29 years. She shifted from performance to management – first at the Fisher Theater in...

Ashley Watkins

March 16, 2022 15:59 - 45 minutes - 42.1 MB

Finding purpose is pretty much the whole reason any of us meander around on this blue marble on any given day. For some, getting to that “why” takes a minute and some serious navigation. For others, it’s about serendipity. Ashley Watkins is a lawyer who, after spending some time in the corporate world defending insurance companies, realized that the loud sound she heard was her soul being sucked out. Taking a break and taking up the offer of a law school pal to hang her shingle at the firm w...

Christina Aldan

March 09, 2022 20:34 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MB

Imposter. Fraud. They’re powerful words and they both sit in the title of the soon-to-be-released memoir of today’s guest, Christina Aldan. Neither of those words necessarily come to mind when you think of Christina. She’s a respected brand marketing strategist and keynote speaker, she’s graced the TEDx stage, and is a known authority on the topic of emotional intelligence. When her tweet about her Memoir came out, the title landed. Hard. “Imposter: Memoir of a Fraud”. Mic drop. In Christina...

Rachel Diamond

March 02, 2022 16:56 - 50 minutes - 46.8 MB

Most of us remember our childhood pets. On some level, we know they play critical roles in our lives beyond just the fact that they’re cute and cuddly. Some folks though, like Rachel Diamond, not only remember every single pet in their life, but they also are super clear on the lessons that each one brought. Rachel is an architect, designer, and coach and when she’s not creating beautiful things and spaces, she’s working with the women of her industry to support their leadership and growth. ...

Jen Williamson

February 23, 2022 19:38 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MB

In a world fraught with such conditionality there are few things more unconditional than the love of a dog. It’s probably one of the main reasons folks get them. The lessons we get to learn from the kind of connection we have with our dogs can, if we stay present to it, be life-changing. Relationship and Marriage Coach Jen Williamson knows this first hand. The work she does is about creating powerful bonds through the work she and her husband do with The Unshakable Family. After achieving th...

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