Magic in the Room #138: An Introduction to Intentional Leadership
March 6, 2023
We are kicking off a new season of Magic in the Room with a four-part series on Intentional Leadership. In this episode, Hannah, Luke, and Chris make the case that everyone is a leader, no matter their job title. Because we are all leaders, we can intentionally influence the people and situations we encounter.
We define Intentional Leadership as a three-step process:
- We notice something that could be better
- We choose how to change things for the better
- We act to make the change
By cultivating our capacity to notice, ability to choose, and courage to act, everyone can have a more significant positive impact on the world around them.
To download the free guide that goes with this episode,
subscribe now.
Listen now on your favorite platform!
Go Deeper:
- Read our blog post Leadership is Everywhere and Nowhere All At Once
Credits:
- This episode of Magic in the Room was recorded onsite in Big Sky, Montana
- Music by evangrimmusic.com
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace that are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success. Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke Freeman, Hannah Bratterud, and Chris Province dive into the concept of “mattering,” inspired by Zach Mercurio’s work, and explore why it is a foundational driver of engagement, performance, and culture in organizations. They challenge leaders to move beyond assuming people matter to actively ensuring individuals feel that they matter by being valued and by contributing value to a shared purpose. The conversation highlights how mattering differs from belonging, why it cannot be replaced by perks or efficiency, and how leadership behaviors like attention, recognition, and presence directly shape whether people feel seen, heard, and understood. Through examples ranging from workplace dynamics to broader societal trends like social disconnection, they argue that disengagement, conflict, and even poor performance are symptoms of a mattering deficit. Ultimately, they position mattering not as a soft concept, but as a measurable, actionable leadership responsibility that underpins trust, resilience, and long-term success.