Cohesion Culture

Cohesion Culture We are a consulting, coaching, & leadership dev. program teaching belonging, value & commitment.

When a career path hits a wall, the impulse is to pull back, shield our pride, and process the setback behind closed doo...
08/13/2026

When a career path hits a wall, the impulse is to pull back, shield our pride, and process the setback behind closed doors.

On today's episode of the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast, guest Jay Poulton (The Accent Coach ) joins special co-host Trevor Crunelle and Ben-Jamin Toy to discuss what happens when you're fired and how to turn that moment into a catalyst for growth.

Jay reflects on being let go early in his career due to a mismatch in company culture. He shares the difference between surface-level transparency and genuine vulnerability, sharing how bringing his grief into a trusted community helped him process the loss, rebuild his confidence, and launch a successful career as an international communications and accent coach.

Key takeaways from this episode include:

➡️ How to recognize when workplace anxiety is signaling a culture mismatch

➡️ Why vulnerability is the most important tool for human connection in leadership

➡️ Practical ways to process career grief and move intentionally into your next chapter

Leaders are not defined by the moments they stumble, but by how they choose to process the experience and support those around them.

Tune in and discover how owning your story transforms failure into momentum:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6jdnUU7cSrTLUCQODwfs8u?si=XfyUC-5tTT2RF6qRz4KUZQ&nd=1&dlsi=21af23d5ca924155
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/overcoming-the-pain-of-being-fired-early-in-your-career/id1795472281?i=1000779894144
YouTube: https://youtu.be/xaLryHQhc6c?si=E1lOklXWKY18SBwh



When you build a business with family or close friends, relying on trust and a simple handshake comes naturally.But what...
07/28/2026

When you build a business with family or close friends, relying on trust and a simple handshake comes naturally.

But what happens when the unexpected occurs and there's no written plan to guide the way?

On today's episode of the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast, serial entrepreneur Holly Porter joins Dr. Troy and guest co-host Trevor Crunelleto share her story about navigating an unexpected transition in her family business.

After bringing her son on as a full partner in their concrete company, an unplanned turn of events right over the holidays left them without a buyout plan, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and forcing a complete strategic pivot.

Holly opens up about:

🔹 The cost of operating without clear contracts
🔹 How to balance kindness and empathy with firm business structure
🔹 Why asking the right questions upfront protects both your company and your personal relationships
🔹 Turning difficult setbacks into long-term learning lessons

Head over to your favorite podcast platform to listen to the full episode and learn how to build clarity into your own team structures.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2lyF4k4IqHITkDHd9eurB5?si=I-Ey0hBySkWQ4zXIrWaKTg
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-poor-planning-derailed-a-multigenerational-business/id1795472281?i=1000778706633
YouTube: https://youtu.be/_ntTiG0zruc



07/13/2026

Our email account was briefly compromised, and a fraudulent email was sent to our list earlier today.

If you received an email from us with the subject line: 'Legal Notice SC1003P /Re: COURT ORDER', please do NOT open it, do NOT click any links, and delete it immediately.

This email did not come from us. It was a scam attack sent by an unauthorized third party.

What we are doing right now:
- We have secured our account and blocked further unauthorized access.
- We are working directly with security protocols to ensure this does not happen again.
- Your data security is our highest priority, and we deeply apologize for any confusion or alarm it may have caused.

If you have already clicked on any links within that fraudulent email, we highly recommend changing your passwords and running a security scan on your device as a precaution.

Thank you for your quick attention to this, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Let’s talk about the mistakes that actually made us better.We’ve all had those moments. The ones where your stomach drop...
06/25/2026

Let’s talk about the mistakes that actually made us better.

We’ve all had those moments. The ones where your stomach drops, time slows down, and you realize, “UH-OH. That did not go the way I planned.”

But as cohesive leaders, we know that an UH-OH only stays a mistake if we refuse to learn from it. When we pause, listen, and pivot, that exact same moment turns into a massive Aha!

In the latest UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast episode, guest David Petrash shared his own unforgettable corporate UH-OH. Fresh out of the Navy as a 28-year-old nuclear engineer, he stepped into a plant manager role and tried to dictate exactly how a veteran team should do their jobs.

It took a seasoned, 50-year-old employee pulling him aside to deliver the ultimate Aha moment: Leaders shouldn't micromanage the process. They should remove the roadblocks and provide the resources.

That single shift in humility completely transformed David's leadership trajectory.

Now, we want to hear from you:
What’s the biggest UH-OH you’ve successfully turned into an Aha this month?

Did a miscommunication spark a better team process? Did a failed project reveal a stronger strategic direction?

Drop your stories in the comments below! Let’s normalize talking about the bumps in the road that lead to our greatest breakthroughs.


Mission First or People First?What happens when a mission-first culture overrides your intuition to care for your team?I...
06/25/2026

Mission First or People First?

What happens when a mission-first culture overrides your intuition to care for your team?

In this week's episode of the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast, Dr. Troy Hall and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with former FBI Special Agent and current cyber executive Malcolm K. Palmore to unpack a vulnerable and deeply necessary conversation about leadership accountability and mental health.

M.K. shares a look at a time when he allowed institutional compliance to stop him from aggressively advocating for a colleague in distress. The lessons he took from that experience permanently reshaped his approach to building high-performing, high-trust teams.

On this episode, you'll learn:

👉 How to balance a "Get Stuff Done" style with a people-first heart.

👉 The danger of letting corporate or institutional timelines blind you to team burnout.

👉 How to structurally build grace periods and human redundancy into your operational strategy.

If you are leading a team in a high-stakes, high-growth environment, you cannot miss this lesson in putting connection before content.

Listen to the full episode here:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/31CkQjleNgZwaaOKBO4QoC?si=aYYaTIYqRjyjK_czW9FB6g
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-leaders-must-advocate-for-their-teams/id1795472281?i=1000773888718
YouTube: https://youtu.be/p2nmbB172gs



What happens when the person teaching others how to build their dream life watches their own life completely collapse?On...
06/08/2026

What happens when the person teaching others how to build their dream life watches their own life completely collapse?

On last week's episode of the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast, Dr. Troy and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with the incredible Natalie Bouchard. Natalie shares the unfiltered story of a single year where she faced a major business scam that wiped out hundreds of thousands of dollars, lost her home, went through a painful relationship breakup, and navigated a frightening health scare... all at the same time.

But this isn't just a story about loss. It’s a masterclass in what it means to be rock solid from the inside out. Natalie breaks down how this massive UH-OH moment forced her to stop relying on borrowed authority and finally return to her true center.

Here are 3 powerful things you will learn from listening to this episode:

👉 The Danger of 'Delegating to Avoid': How outsourcing areas of your life or business because you don't want to handle them leaves you vulnerable, and how to reclaim total ownership.

👉 Chameleon Survival vs. True Leadership: Why being an expert at reading the room and morphing to fit your environment is actually a survival mechanism that leads to burnout, rather than authentic leading.

👉 How to Read Life's Whispers: Practical insights on how to sit with uncomfortable realities and address minor misalignments before they turn into chaotic disruptions.

A huge thank you to Natalie for coming onto the show and sharing her journey with such profound transparency, grace, and wisdom. Her perspective on how bumps are actually life's way of correcting our path is something every leader needs to hear.

👉 Click below to listen on:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2x14J0u176FL6790eaLF1Y?si=_END5kDYRJ2coFiEHKWX1g
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/standing-in-your-natural-authority-as-a-cohesive-leader/id1795472281?i=1000770784888
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/epFpHsbY



What happens when a hard-driving, type-A extroverted leader realizes their management style has silenced half their team...
05/21/2026

What happens when a hard-driving, type-A extroverted leader realizes their management style has silenced half their team?

You get an UH-OH moment that reshapes everything.

On the latest episode of the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast, Dr. Troy and Ben-Jamin Toy chat with executive coach, author, and professor Matt Dickerson.

Early in his career, Matt thought he was running highly collaborative, solution-oriented meetings. But he was blindsided by a formal HR complaint.

He wasn't talking over people, but he was allowing a loud, high-dominance in-group that sounded exactly like him to entirely dominate the room. The deliberate, analytical processors on his team were completely drowned out.

By equating volume with value, he was missing the critical, dissenting insights his team needed to solve complex operational problems.

In this episode, Matt shares his vulnerable journey of fixing his house from the inside out, moving his team from mere invitation to true involvement.

Tune in to discover:

➡️ The Reality of the Babel Effect: Why we mistakenly associate leadership capability with talkativeness and what it costs team productivity.

➡️ The Unconditional Apology: How Matt repaired broken organizational trust publicly and built a continuous feedback loop without using defensive language.

➡️ The Physicality of Listening: The grounding techniques Matt uses today (like flat feet and standing up) to stay physically present and keep his own extroverted blind spots in check.

➡️ Live Coaching in Action: Watch for a great moment mid-episode where Dr. Troy pauses to offer Matt some real-time coaching on avoiding limiting language.

Cohesion requires us to stop looking for the loudest voice in the room, and start building a culture that slows down enough to find the smartest one.

Listen to the full episode now on your favorite platform:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5L5QrfGNNR7qK8dNuvReGu?si=OclBhSNFQWiAkKFKuZawvA
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-volume-doesnt-equal-value/id1795472281?i=1000768578772
YouTube: https://youtu.be/g9xIVaWxMbc



Connections Before Content: The Power of Intentional LeadershipRelationships aren't built on data points. You don’t make...
05/14/2026

Connections Before Content: The Power of Intentional Leadership

Relationships aren't built on data points. You don’t make a lifelong professional bond or a true friend based on a zip code, a job title, or the type of car someone drives.

Relationships flourish when we stop collecting surface-level data and start seeking the personal insights that fuel a person’s spirit.

In our latest episode of UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders, Ben-Jamin Toy chatted with Eugene Manley, Jr., a PhD and mechanical engineer with a brilliant career. But the most impactful part of our conversation didn’t come from his resume... It came from his resilience during a massive UH-OH moment.

Eugene opened up about a year marked by reconstructive surgery and profound personal loss, and how he navigated a complete career pivot into his new venture, Innovation for Impact.

In this episode, we explore:

👉 Intentional Questions: How to move beyond "nice to know" facts to find the "need to know" emotional connections.

👉 ADHD Superpower: A candid look at how neurodiversity can drive professional innovation.

👉 The Strength in Asking: Why reaching out for help is a sign of leadership maturity, not weakness.

Eugene’s story is a great lesson in adapting when life hits hard and maintaining a mission-driven focus through the storm.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation here:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1KkwxXtOD9sEFG1RImLEJ2?si=kx5Nf7x5Q4uykb8bLnuyUw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pivot-with-purpose-from-engineering-to-impact/id1795472281?i=1000767381083
YouTube: https://youtu.be/sdWB2y2kSwc



Is your Pursuit of Excellence driving your best people away? 🚩Today on the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders pod...
04/24/2026

Is your Pursuit of Excellence driving your best people away? 🚩

Today on the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast, we are joined by the incredible Hanna Bauer, founder of HEARTnomics Enterprises LLC and Maxwell Leadership faculty member.

Hanna shares a vulnerable look at a season of massive industry disruption where she did everything right on paper—she became a Six Sigma Black Belt, tightened processes, and improved profit margins—only to realize her talent was walking out the door.

The lesson? You can have the best systems in the world, but if you don't have the heart and rapport of your people, those systems aren't sustainable.

In this episode, Dr. Troy Hall, Ben-Jamin Toy, and Hanna discuss:

🔹 The Trap of Isolation: Why fear leads us to hide from our teams when they need us most.

🔹 Hope as a Strategy: How to move from conceptual ideas to concrete actions that break the cycle of helplessness.

🔹 The Chinchilla Factor: Why connection before content is the secret sauce to high-performing teams.

🔹 Walking the Room: Why your front-line employees often have the answers the C-suite is missing.

If you’ve ever felt the pressure to choose between the data and the people, Hanna’s story is a great tutorial in how to lead with both.

Catch the full episode here:
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4rmIsCVuEJfKFrtfqbvUoJ?si=CVL0MUn2RRmg0KKOot746Q
🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cost-of-success-without-soul/id1795472281?i=1000762875949
📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/mKHNkK-8poM?si=rsGRiAUuHeafuu29



We are officially over one year into the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders journey, and the momentum is incredib...
04/06/2026

We are officially over one year into the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders journey, and the momentum is incredible.

With 12,500+ downloads and counting, it’s clear that the message of Cohesion Culture™ is resonating with leaders everywhere.

Most leadership podcasts focus on the "Aha!" moments....

We prefer the UH-OH moments.

For over a year, we’ve sat down with executives and visionaries to discuss the exact moments things went wrong and how those challenges paved the way for learning. We’ve learned that the most resilient leaders aren't the ones who avoid mistakes; they are the ones who lean into the UH-OH and use it as a catalyst for growth.

We started this podcast to peel back the curtain on the real, often messy side of leadership. Thank you to every listener who has tuned in, shared an episode, and applied these lessons to their own teams.

YOU are the reason we hit this milestone!

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from a UH-OH moment so far this year? Drop your thoughts in the comments below. 👇

Haven’t joined the conversation yet? Find us on your favorite podcast platform!



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