Career Growth, and Promotion

Curiosity did not just show up as a thinking skill in 2025. It showed up as a career accelerator.

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor kick off their five-part year-end reflection series by unpacking the most impactful leadership conversations of 2025. This is Part 1 of 5.

They revisit the lessons from Shachella James on strategic curiosity — ask to elevate, learn it all versus know it all, and why visibility is created through questi...

Curiosity is your career currency — and this is the episode that proves it. Shachella James, VP of Enterprise Systems at CenterPoint Energy, closes out the Strategic Curiosity series with Ralph E. Owens II and Terry Baylor by delivering her top three leadership principles, making the case for strategic friction, and explaining why one bold question per meeting is all it takes to shift your trajectory. Part 5 of 5.

Most leaders are taught to have answers. The best ones have learned to ask better questions. In this episode, Shachella James — VP of Enterprise Systems at CenterPoint Energy, 12-time marathon runner, and national-level bodybuilding competitor — joins Ralph E. Owens II and Terry Baylor to break down how curiosity, used intentionally, becomes one of the most powerful tools in a leader's arsenal. She unpacks the biggest misconception about asking questions at work — that curiosity signals ignorance — and flips it entirely. Her frameworks for tailored, timely, and two-clicks-down questions will change how you show up in every room you walk into.

The professionals who get promoted aren’t the ones with all the answers — they’re the ones asking the questions that shift the room. Shachella James, senior technology executive, joins Ralph E. Owens II and Terry Baylor to break down how strategic curiosity gets you noticed by senior leaders, including the gift of exclusion and the art of gathering. Part 3 of 5.

Performing well but not advancing? The SPICE framework may be the missing piece. Shachella James, VP of Enterprise Systems at CenterPoint Energy, joins Ralph E. Owens II and Terry Baylor to break down the career acceleration model built on Sponsorship, Performance, Image, Curiosity, and Exposure — and why curiosity is the one element that makes all the others work. Part 2 of 5.

You don't have to have all the answers to lead at the highest level — but you do have to ask better questions. In this episode, Shachella James, VP of Enterprise Systems at CenterPoint Energy, joins Ralph E. Owens II and Terry Baylor to introduce three curiosity-driven leadership principles that separate promotable leaders from everyone else. Part 1 of 5.

Write the vision down. Make it plain. Put it on paper.

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor close out their five-part conversation with Brenda Battle — national health equity leader, C-suite executive, and the first woman to appear as a guest on the show. This is Part 5 of 5.

Brenda closes the series with her most personal episode yet. She shares the one piece of wisdom she would pass to every emerging leader — be humble — and the pra...

What happens to your identity when the title disappears?

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor continue their conversation with Brenda Battle — veteran healthcare executive, board leader, and one of the most respected voices in transformational leadership. This is Part 4 of 5 of their conversation with Brenda.

Brenda gets candid about what it means to carry your purpose beyond the position — how she navigated knowing it was time to lea...

What you don't measure, you can't manage. And what you don't bring to the table — your full authentic self — is exactly what your organization is missing.

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor continue their conversation with Brenda Battle — national health equity leader and C-suite executive. This is Part 3 of 5.

Brenda connects innovation to equity — and shows how both principles are transferable to any industry, any table, and any p...

Most leaders know when their season is ending. Very few act on it in time.

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor continue their conversation with Brenda Battle — national health equity leader and C-suite executive with over 43 years of leadership experience. This is Part 2 of 5.

Brenda opens with one of the most honest statements in the series: she did not have the energy to take the organization to the next level — and that was reason...

There is a quiet whisper that every leader hears eventually. I'm good at what I'm doing. But should I be doing more?

In this episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor welcome Brenda Battle — national health equity leader, C-suite executive, global speaker, and the first woman to appear as a guest on the show. This is Part 1 of 5.

Brenda opens with a story about telling a friend one year in advance that she would not be at her organization — with n...

Right now AI is still optional. That window is closing fast — and the people who move first will 10X their careers.

In this final episode of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast's eight-part GenAI series, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor close with one of the most powerful real-world stories of the entire run. A help desk technician — the lowest rung of the IT hierarchy — went all in on AI when his organization launched an internal campaign. Eighteen months later he was the Head of AI. R...

AI is not here to think for you — it is here to assist your thinking. Ralph and Terry break down why being the human in the loop is the most critical AI principle for professionals, share a free Microsoft AI certification path, and set up the most powerfu

AI may not replace your job — but someone who knows AI probably will. Ralph and Terry break down how to measure and articulate the ROI of AI in your career, share the pro tip that reveals how your role generates revenue, and explain why transparency about

Only 20% of AI users are using prompt engineering — and those are the people flying past everyone else. Ralph and Terry break down real-world AI case studies across marketing, HR, and finance, then show how advanced prompting techniques can simulate leade

If you are putting sensitive company data into a free AI tool — stop. Ralph and Terry break down why free AI tools are not safe for company data, how data leakage could cost you your job, and what the trust but verify principle means when working with AI

Ralph spent 90 minutes building one prompt — now it does in two minutes what used to take two hours. He and Terry break down prompt engineering, saved prompts, ChatGPT memory, and how AI is the engine powering Leadership Sovereignty itself — and how any p

AI is like having a personal coach in your pocket — always available, never tired, always focused on making you better. Ralph and Terry break down how to use AI for daily emails, meeting notes, interview prep, and business messaging — and why the professi

Right now two people at your company are doing the same job — one is using AI every day. In 12 months one of them will be promoted. Ralph and Terry open the eight-part GenAI series with a simple question: which one will you be? This episode breaks down ho

Don't be the angry black man — take more risks, open your mouth, don't be afraid to be the only person in the room. In the series finale, Phillip McKibbins answers what he would tell his 20-year-old self and delivers the most important principle of all se

Fake it till you make it? Phillip McKibbins says no — have faith that you're going to make it and work until you do. In Part 6, he shares how he survived 30 interviews, a stolen resume, and a withdrawn offer, and why the things you do when no one is watch

The enemy always attacks you mentally first. That is where the self-talk comes in.

In Part 5 of 7 of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast's Speaking Truth to Power series, Phillip McKibbins shifts from survival to strategy. Coming off the most personal episode of the series — the brain tumor — Phillip now reveals what carried him through it and every other challenge in his career: a faith that moves, a self-talk that speaks truth, and a willingness to take risks that most people call reckless and...

The doctor said: you have a brain tumor, you probably have a week to live. In Part 4 of 7, Phillip McKibbins shares the most personal episode of the series — a 12-hour surgery, a room full of prayer, and what he saw at hour eight on the operating table th

Before you can lead anyone — you have to learn to follow first.

In Part 3 of 7 of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast's Speaking Truth to Power series, Phillip McKibbins opens with one of the most powerful mentorship stories in the series. He shares how his mentor Wendy Ong — a force of nature in the entertainment industry — called him out in a meeting, challenged him to fix his organization in 30 days, and then spent the next several years teaching him how to show up in rooms most technologists...