About this podcast
Welcome to The Talent Forge: Shaping Workforce Behavior with Jay Johnson — the podcast where behavioral science meets the day-to-day challenges of leadership and talent development.
Each week, Jay Johnson, behavioral architect, two-time TEDx speaker, and corporate trainer, brings you bold conversations and tactical insights to help organizations develop better managers, improve communication, and shape workplace behavior that drives results.
Whether you're an emerging leader, a C-suite executive, an operations manager, or an individual seeking growth, this show delivers behavior-based strategies that stick. Jay and experts in the field come together to share a behind-the-scenes look at the tools that build high-performing teams, reduce burnout, and foster cultures of accountability and trust.
From leadership development and management coaching to behavioral intelligence and culture transformation, you'll walk away with actionable tools to improve your people, processes, and performance.
This isn’t theory. This is real-world behavior, transformed. Welcome to the Forge.
Interested in being a guest? Please contact Madison Bennett via email ([email protected]).
Episodes
The newest 20 of 93 episodes
- The Little White Lie: "I'm Fine" · 20 min“I’m fine” might be the most polished sentence in the workplace and one of the least honest. We dig into the quiet reality behind that answer: it’s often a containment strategy…
- The Intellectualization Reflex and How To Break It · 25 minYou can be brilliant at patterns and still be terrible at presence. We’re naming a common trap for leaders, coaches, and high performers: the intellectualization reflex, that…
- Behavioral Contagion At Work · 33 minCulture can shift in a single meeting and not because you delivered a better speech. It shifts because someone’s behavior spreads quietly, fast, and often without permission. We…
- Design Training That Builds Real Business Tools with Rose Benedicks · 43 minMost training is built to transfer knowledge. That’s not enough anymore. If we want learning and development to survive budget cuts and earn real influence, we have to build…
- Solo Mission Series: Relationship Management at Work · 39 minA single vague message can kick off a week of tension, not because anyone is incompetent, but because the brain hates uncertainty and relationships strain under pressure. Our…
- From Paralympic World Record to Daily Growth: The 1% Method with Mikael Avatar Stjernvall · 39 minA Paralympic world record doesn’t come from hype; it comes from tiny choices repeated for years. That’s where this conversation with Mikael Avatar Stjernvall goes: into the real…
- Neuroscience Tools For Leadership and Change with Dr. Lisa Riegel · 43 minYour smartest plan can fail if the brain thinks it’s under threat. That’s why we brought on Dr. Lisa Riegel, a neuroscientist and author of Aspirations To Operations and…
- Solo Mission Series: Turn Vague Criticism Into Usable Behavior Change · 26 minMost leaders think the hard part is “giving feedback.” I think the real challenge is clarity. When we say things like “be more proactive” or “watch your tone,” we’re usually…
- From White Knuckling to Thriving with Trauma-Informed Recovery Coaching with Jeanne Foot · 33 minWork performance problems rarely live only in a spreadsheet. They live in bodies, nervous systems, habits, and the quiet stories people carry into meetings. We sit down with…
- Part 2: The Creativity Advantage with Steven Puri · 59 minYour calendar can be full and your team can still be stuck. We get into the real reason: creativity doesn’t die from lack of talent, it dies from lack of safety and lack of…
- What if Leadership is Just Navigating Through Fog? with Pete Behrens · 36 minThe fastest way to break a great technical team is to promote your best individual contributor and then pretend leadership is “common sense.” Jay Johnson sits down with Pete…
- Solo Mission Series: How to Replace Workplace Assumptions with Clarity · 25 minA two-word email. A silent reply. A vague “we’ll circle back.” Your brain fills the gap and suddenly a small moment becomes a big problem. We dig into why assumptions feel so…
- Solo Mission Series: Why Quick Asks Create Chaos and How to Fix Them · 31 minEver felt your focus hijacked by a “quick question” that turned into a day of rework? We go straight at drive-by delegation—the vague asks, Slack grenades, and meeting ambushes…
- Solo Mission Series: Rewiring The Yes Reflex · 26 minEver agreed to “something quick” and found yourself buried under drafts, meetings, and late‑night fixes? We dig into the yes reflex—the automatic compliance that sounds like…
- What if Joy is Your Most Undervalued Business Strategy? with Joel Hilchey · 43 minWhat if the fastest way to better performance is more joy, not more grind? We sit down with engineer-turned-entertainer-turned-executive Joel Hilchey to unpack how purposeful…
- How Naming Your Feelings Can Transform Tough Conversations with Yancy Wright · 49 min · Season 2 Episode 3Burnout isn’t the villain; it’s the flashing dashboard light you can’t afford to ignore. We sit down with leadership guide Yancy Wright to explore how the body signals trouble…
- SERIES: Tech and Tools - How Practicing Real Conversations Unlocks Talent and Culture with Matt Sussman · 24 min · Season 2 Episode 2Meetings move at the speed of voice, and too many talented people stay quiet when it matters most. This week, we kick off our new Tech and Tools series with FLOW Speak co-founder…
- Practical Leadership For First-Time Managers with Dalmo Cirne · 35 min · Season 2 Episode 1Promotions are exciting until the work changes under your feet. We sat down with leadership expert Dalmo Cirne to unpack why great individual contributors can stumble as new…
- Remote Culture, Real Results with Chris Dyer · 49 minThe biggest blocker to remote success isn’t the tool you picked. It’s the clarity you haven’t written down. Jay sits with culture expert Chris Dyer to unpack how a recession…
- Rethinking Power: Where Quiet Voices Change Teams with Greg Weinger · 40 minLoud doesn’t equal leader. Greg Weinger joins us to unpack why quiet professionals can become some of the most effective leaders in the room—and how to get there without faking…
