Kristina Bouweiri calls herself an accidental entrepreneur. Perhaps this is how she started – by marrying into the business, Reston Limo – but her success was no accident. Kristina has brilliantly grown the tiny 5-car business to the #13 largest limousine company in the U.S.! All this despite personal and business crises, including divorce from the firm’s founder and periods of economic turmoil!

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Few business conversations center on love, but love is exactly what drives Dr. Mark Bergel every moment of every day. His mission is “simply” to end poverty. It may seem like a lofty goal but when you hear this amazing interview, you’ll know that if anyone can end poverty, it’s Mark!

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In this revealing interview Doug Fruehling, Editor of the Washington Business, shares what it’s like to be a leader who frequently struggles with self-doubt and confidence even as he makes bold, unpopular decisions like omitting “Redskins” in print!

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When one of my clients – let’s call him Bill – first became the CEO a large nonprofit the organization was floundering. For a long time it was led by people who had the best of intentions but not the strategic outlook or discipline to truly optimize the organization’s mission. The leadership team (LT) was comprised of talented individuals, but they were a group of managers all with their own interests, agendas and loyalties, only interacting when necessary. Bill was also unknown and had a starkly different personality and management approach than his predecessors, which initially engendered resistance in the entire culture, including the LT.

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“Failure is not an option and neither is complaining.” This – and doing more with less – is what Glen O’Gilvie learned from his Jamaican immigrant parents. So when he became an “accidental” leader at a young age, Glen had to figure out how to gain credibility and trust, lead people of all ages and backgrounds and make a transformational impact on the organizations and communities he served.

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The Washington Post called Doug Duncan the best County Executive in Montgomery County history. But then what was splashed all over the media was Doug withdrawing from the Maryland governor race due to severe depression. What followed Doug calls “two years of living in hell.”

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Just so I can get the confession out of the way – yours and mine – I just returned from a fantastic week in Mexico City. I left several days after launching the podcast that I’ve been working on obsessively between clients and sleep for months. There was still so much to do, I struggled in deciding whether to go.

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Brian Hawkins was told he wasn’t smart enough to work as a hospital payroll technician. Urged by a mindset instilled by his family “You can do, you must do and you will do” and driven to change the medical system that treated his grandfather poorly Brian persisted to eventually to become the Director of the DC Veteran Affairs Medical Center. You’ll hear just how much Brian’s parents (and children) have taught him about leadership all throughout this interview.

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Imagine – you are 10 years old in the South during the Civil Rights Movement and your white mother leaves an abusive marriage and marries a black man. It’s illegal and your new family is shunned by both the white and the black communities. Compelled to save the family and make a better life, the three of you flee to Canada and then Washington State. Your biological father finds you and forces you to return, but at 12-years-of-age you escape, making a harrowing journey across the country, alone, back to your mother and step father…

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Did you notice that September was a bit of an odd month? I don’t think it was just me as most of my associates and clients reported strange glitches – from technology meltdowns to interpersonal miscommunications to professional missteps. Whether it was coincidental, astrological or imaginary, I found that along with the challenges emerged some fascinating insights. Most enlighteningly, I may have finally learned how to process “constructive feedback” in a balanced, healthy, non-self-kicking manner. At first I thought it was a fluke, but of course then I got multiple opportunities to validate this newfound skill (aren’t I lucky!)

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