What if leadership isn’t about control, status, or “winning”—but about protecting dignity and promoting well-being?

In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Professor Michael Pirson, a global voice in humanistic management and humanistic leadership. Michael is the James F. Stoner Endowed Chair in Global Sustainability at Fordham University, Editor-in-Chief of the Humanistic Management Journal, and a leader in global efforts to transform leadership and business education toward human flourishing.

Together, they explore why modern systems so often normalize burnout, extraction, and “transaction-only” relationships—and what changes when organizations choose a different foundation.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• Why dignity is a “feature, not a bug” of being human
• How humanistic leadership opens a broader, more rigorous path to flourishing
• Why purely transactional cultures lead to innovation poverty and loneliness
• What the research says about how trust emerges and erodes—and why shared purpose matters
• Why measurement matters—and why wisdom and mindfulness must guide the use of metrics
• What’s broken in traditional business education—and what must be reimagined if we’re serious about flourishing

Memorable themes:

Human Dignity • Trust • Mindfulness • Well-being • Love and Care in organizations • Moral Imagination • Humanistic Management • Business Education Reform • Human Flourishing • Leadership Development

🎧 Listen now and join the movement toward leadership that helps people—and institutions—come alive.

Connect & Learn More

• Michael Pirson LinkedIn
• Humanistic Leadership Academy

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | Scott@FlourishingLeaders.us

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What if human flourishing isn’t a “nice-to-have,” but a strategic asset—one leaders must intentionally build, measure, and reinvest in?

In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Dr. Jelena Nikolic—labor economist, researcher, and educator—to explore the deep connection between economic performance and human flourishing.

Jelena argues that many organizations measure what’s visible—wages, productivity, profit, and GDP—while ignoring the “invisible variables” that actually drive sustainable performance: trust, dignity, agency, autonomy, meaning, and relational quality. She reframes flourishing as a form of intangible capital that compounds through retention, learning, innovation, and culture—and she makes the case that leadership is the “conversion engine” that turns those invisible assets into durable results.

You’ll also hear a refreshingly serious conversation about love in leadership and institutions—defined as the capacity to be in healthy relationship with oneself and others—and why love isn’t softness, but inner capacity that strengthens trust, cooperation, resilience, and integrity under pressure.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why flourishing and performance are structurally connected
• The “invisible variables” leaders must stop treating as optional
• How to measure differently and design work that doesn’t deplete people
• Love as a leadership capacity that can repair and humanize institutions
• Higher education’s next frontier: investing in teaching-focused faculty as a strategic workforce
• Practical wisdom as the bridge between moral intent and organizational reality

If you’re building a team, an organization, or an institution—and you want results that are both durable and humane—this episode is for you.

Guest: Jelena Nikolic, PhD

Jelena Nikolic is a PhD labor economist and founder of Applied Human Flourishing—about how human flourishing functions as a causal driver of economic performance. In her work, Jelena explores how leadership functions as a conversion mechanism—transforming these often unmeasured resources into measurable performance outcomes—and why this shift in thinking has major implications for how universities prepare students for an AI-driven, complexity-heavy economy. This perspective is the foundation of Flourishing as Capital™, a core methodology within Applied Human Flourishing, focused on how institutions train future leaders to convert human dynamics into durable performance.

Connect / Learn More

• Jelena Nikolic: LinkedIn
• Applied Human Flourishing

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | Scott@FlourishingLeaders.us

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What if flourishing leadership isn’t found in doing more—but in aligning your values, wellbeing, and relationships during times of change?

Change can shake us—or shape us. In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Ilene Schaffer, CEO of Silicon Valley Change, executive leadership coach, speaker, and host of the What’s Possible podcast.

Ilene shares a refreshingly human take on flourishing leadership: it’s not “work life vs. personal life.” It’s wellbeing 360—alignment with your values, your relationships, your purpose, and the life you’re actually living.

You’ll learn:

• Why alignment with values is the foundation of flourishing (not just performance)
• How one phrase—“not yet”—builds growth mindset and self-compassion during transition
• How Ilene integrates PERMA (Seligman) and Carol Ryff’s wellbeing model in coaching
• Ilene’s STAR model for thriving through change: Self-care, Thoughts, Adaptability/Acceptance, Relationships
• The surprising leadership power of walking: calm, creativity, metaphor, and better decisions
• Why Ilene created What’s Possible: making leadership and wellbeing tools accessible beyond paid coaching

Whether you’re stepping into a new role, navigating a life transition, or trying to lead with more clarity and calm—this conversation offers both warmth and practical tools you can use immediately.

Listen now—and ask yourself: What’s possible?

Guest: Ilene Schaffer

Ilene Schaffer is the CEO of Silicon Valley Change (SVC), host of What’s Possible podcast, an executive leadership coach, and speaker. Leveraging her graduate degrees in positive psychology and life transitions counseling, Ilene helps her clients thrive in the midst of constant personal and professional change. Greater confidence, enhanced relationships, improved communication skills, and overall life flourishing are some of the gains her clients report.

Connect / Learn More

• Silicon Valley Change (SVC) Executive Coaching
• Ilene Schaffer
• What’s Possible Podcast with Ilene Schaffer

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | Scott@FlourishingLeaders.us

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.