Dave Stachowiak on building a leadership podcast from scratch

Executive overview

Dave Stachowiak started Coaching for Leaders in 2010 with no audience, no format, and no clear idea who he was serving. Fear delayed the launch by nearly two years. The show became what it is by starting anyway, failing repeatedly, and listening to the audience once one existed.

The core shift: stop optimising for how you look and start optimising for what the audience needs.

From self-consciousness to audience focus

• Early nervousness centred on how Dave would appear in front of accomplished guests
• The shift came from asking: what question will get this guest to say the thing our members need to hear?
• Thinking of specific listeners by name — what is Brett dealing with today? — replaced generic preparation
• Teaching "it's not about you" at Carnegie for a decade before internalising it himself
• Nervousness decreased as focus moved from self to service

Listening as an attitude, not a skill

• Most people learn good listening behaviours in childhood; the issue is whether they choose to apply them
• The decision to listen is what degrades over time in long relationships, not the ability
• Carnegie teaches the principle but not the mechanics — because the mechanics are already known
• Curiosity is the most reliable tool for building connection; it became Dave's default only through years of practice
• Even 20–30 seconds of genuine presence can be memorable years later
• Time constraints are not an excuse: agree on the available window, then be fully present within it

Carnegie as a roadmap for introverts

• Dave's default is quiet and introverted; presenting still triggers a "run away" instinct
• Carnegie provided a toolkit for contexts where visibility matters — not a personality transplant
• Skills used enough times stop feeling performed and become situationally appropriate
• Authenticity is not about feeling at ease; it is about showing up appropriately for the venue
• Different roles in life (spouse, parent, client-facing professional) already require different modes — this is the same principle

Starting the podcast: fear and the minimum viable move

• Idea gestated for 8–9 months before buying equipment; equipment sat unused for another 8–9 months
• What finally triggered action: a Thanksgiving weekend distraction from dissertation writing
• Three founding commitments: fill a gap in the iTunes leadership category, high audio quality, weekly cadence
• First 20–30 episodes had no guests — solo shows requiring ~4 hours of prep per 30-minute episode
• Original name was "Coaching Skills for Leaders"; changed to "Coaching for Leaders" when the intended domain was unavailable and the topic felt too narrow

Discovering the real audience

• Dave assumed his audience were aspiring or new leaders
• First listener survey revealed: ~75% already managers, ~66% with 5+ years of experience, ~50% holding graduate degrees
• The mismatch was not a failure — it was only visible because the show existed at all
• Reorienting to a more senior audience unlocked more advanced guests and accelerated growth
• Lesson: launch on an assumption, then listen; you cannot survey an audience that does not exist

Failing forward as method

• School trains for accuracy; building something in public requires relearning that failure is data
• Early episodes are cringeworthy in execution but still sound in content
• Minimum viable product thinking (Eric Ries, The Lean Startup): what is the least I need to do to be genuinely useful?
• People still email about value found in episode 1 or 2
• Starting badly beats not starting; the audience grants benefit of the doubt when intent is clearly to help

On starting a project inside a career

• The question is not whether a project benefits you — it should
• The better question: does it also solve a real problem for the organisation, or is it a pet project?
• Giving without receiving breeds resentment; taking without giving is exploitation — both parties need to win
• Dave still does the show because the interviews are his primary source of professional development on leadership
• If no one were listening, he would continue — the learning is intrinsic