How Saying Yes Creates Better Leaders and Stronger Organizations

What if the key to career advancement was as simple as saying "yes" to opportunity? Howard H. Prager , President of Advanced Learning Group, believes this straightforward philosophy can transform professional development and organizational culture. During our conversation at ATD 2025, Howard reveals why our brains are naturally wired to say "no" and how overcoming this instinct unlocks tremendous growth potential. The discussion takes a fascinating turn when Howard identifies change as life's third certainty (alongside death and taxes). In today's world of instant global communication and persistent uncertainty, leaders must become pioneers and explorers who encourage experimentation rather than resist the inevitable. Howard challenges the myth of the heroic solo leader, emphasizing that success comes through collaborative effort – not through following a single visionary into "battle." Drawing from his book "Make Someone's Day: Becoming a Memorable Leader in Work and Life," Howard proposes a revolutionary practice for organizations: creating cultures centered around making others' days better. Imagine workplaces where people care more about supporting colleagues than protecting individual territories. Such environments naturally foster the engagement that organizations desperately seek but fail to capture through pulse surveys and metrics. As both an executive coach and tuba player, Howard brings unique interdisciplinary insights to leadership development, using musical metaphors like improvisation and conductor-following to illustrate organizational dynamics. His approach reminds us that bringing diverse perspectives to challenges lightens everyone's load and enriches solutions. Want to transform your workplace culture or accelerate your professional development? Connect with Howard at howard@advancedlearninggroup.com or find his book "Make Someone's Day: Becoming a Memorable Leader in Work and Life" wherever books are sold. ---------- Talking About Ways To Improve Company Culture and People Performance The People and Performance Podcast is a show that dives into all things related to raising performance in the working world around us. We investigate how technology and HR processes are inextricably linked to the employee experience and the bottom line. Chris Bjorling, Co-host Christopher Bjorling is President at Fidello Inc. , a consulting and services firm specializing in improving human performance. For over 30 years Chris has led Fidello in creating unique talent management solutions. Through the products and services he and his team have created over the years, his organization has helped clients design, develop, implement and integrate talent management processes and systems. Bill Banham, Co-host Bill Banham , Publisher at The HR Gazette , Host of the popular HRchat Podcast and Organizer of events such as DisruptHR London. Bill has worked with lots of business tech and HR-focused brands in the UK and North America including HRreview, TalentCulture, HRmarketer, Sprigg HR, and Team Fitness Tool. Contact us to learn more!

You can listen to How Saying Yes Creates Better Leaders and Stronger Organizations online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How Saying Yes Creates Better Leaders and Stronger Organizations is an episode from People and Performance Podcast by Fidello Inc..

This episode is 11:24 long.

This episode was published on Aug 7, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from People and Performance Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.