Leaning into Leadership
We all want to see successes in both our personal and professional lives. Often, that requires strong leadership. In a time when leadership can be more challenging than ever, this podcast is dedicated to cultivating leaders by elevating the voices of leaders and promoting positivity. Join Dr. Darrin Peppard, lifelong educator and best-selling author, for this mixed platform podcast (some solo, some guest interview) for inspiration and insight, and some great leadership stories from those are living it, excelling at it, and celebrating it. Together, let's lean into leadership.
Recent Episodes
Dec. 21, 2025
Episode 252: The Leader You're Not with Scott Borba
This episode is sponsored by DigiCoach. Make walkthroughs meaningful. Simplify your coaching culture. Visit digiCOACH.com and mention Darrin for special partner pricing. In Episode 252 of Leaning Into Leadership , Darrin Pepp...
Dec. 14, 2025
Episode 251: Overcoming Passion Drift - A Conversation with Dr. Danny Steele
This episode is sponsored by DigiCoach. Make walkthroughs meaningful. Simplify your coaching culture. Visit digiCOACH.com and mention Darrin for special partner pricing. In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, Darr...
Dec. 10, 2025
Episode 250: Flipping the Mic - Lessons from 250 Episodes of Leaning Into Leadership
This episode is sponsored by DigiCoach Make walkthroughs meaningful. Simplify your coaching culture. Visit digiCOACH.com and mention Darrin for special partner pricing. For this milestone episode, the script gets flipped. Lon...
Dec. 7, 2025
Episode 249: From Pioneer to Powerhouse - Building Culture at Valor Christian with Keith Wahl
This episode is sponsored by DigiCoach Make walkthroughs meaningful. Simplify your coaching culture. Visit digiCOACH.com and mention Darrin for special partner pricing. If you’ve followed high-level high school athletics—espe...
Nov. 30, 2025
Episode 248: People First Leadership - A Conversation with NAESP President April Knight
This episode is sponsored by DigiCoach Make walkthroughs meaningful. Simplify your coaching culture. Visit digiCOACH.com and mention Darrin for special partner pricing. In this inspiring episode, NAESP President April D. Knig...
Nov. 23, 2025
Episode 247: You Don’t Have to Leave to Lead - A Conversation with Dr. Chris Jochum
Sponsor Spotlight: digiCOACH Support for today’s episode comes from digiCOACH — the walkthrough and coaching platform designed to simplify data collection, strengthen feedback, and improve instructional clarity. Visit digiCOA...
Nov. 20, 2025
Episode 246: The 8-Step Framework Every Leader Needs for Difficult Conversations
Sponsor Spotlight: digiCOACH Support for today’s episode comes from digiCOACH — the walkthrough and coaching platform designed to simplify data collection, strengthen feedback, and improve instructional clarity. Visit digiCOA...
Nov. 16, 2025
Episode 245: Belonging Begins with Us - Leadership Lessons from Jayme Braida
Partner Spotlight: Let’s face it — leadership is complex. That’s why Darrin is proud to partner with digiCOACH, a walkthrough and coaching platform that simplifies observation and feedback so leaders can focus on what really ...
Nov. 9, 2025
Episode 244: Clarity - A Leader’s Secret Weapon
Partner Spotlight: Let’s face it — leadership is complex. That’s why Darrin is proud to partner with digiCOACH , a walkthrough and coaching platform that simplifies observation and feedback so leaders can focus on what really...
Nov. 2, 2025
Episode 243: Unbreakable Leadership - Strategies for Surviving Toxic Environments with Kate Lowry
Clarity in leadership starts with visibility—and that’s exactly what DigiCoach delivers. Designed to simplify walkthroughs and feedback, DigiCoach helps school leaders build a culture of coaching rooted in trust, consistency,...
Oct. 26, 2025
Episode 242: Building the Bench - Leadership Growth with Dr. Dan Hornick
In this special on-location episode of Leaning Into Leadership , Dr. Darrin Peppard sits down with longtime friend and colleague Dr. Daniel Hornick , Superintendent of Orange County Public Schools in Virginia. Together, they ...
Oct. 22, 2025
Episode 241: Six Quotes That Shaped My Leadership (and the Road to Awesome)
Episode summary To celebrate the launch of darrinpeppard.com , Darrin shares six quotes that have shaped his leadership—and how each one connects to clarity, systems, purpose, relationships, and the courage to take the road l...
Oct. 19, 2025
Episode 240: Leading Through What You Can’t Control
In this solo episode, Dr. Darrin Peppard dives deep into one of the hardest challenges leaders face — guiding their teams through circumstances completely outside their control. From district-wide budget cuts to post-COVID un...
Oct. 12, 2025
Episode 239: The Science of Action - Unlocking Your Conative Strengths with David Kolbe
Leadership starts with self-awareness—but most assessments only tell part of the story. In this episode, Dr. Darrin Peppard sits down with David Kolbe , CEO of Kolbe Corp , to explore the conative side of the human mind—the p...
Oct. 5, 2025
Episode 238: Leading with Clarity with Casey Watts
In this episode, I sit down with Casey Watts—speaker, author, thought leader, and creator of the Clarity Cycle Framework . With over 20 years in education and a decade of coaching experience, Casey has helped countless leader...
Sept. 28, 2025
Episode 237: Family, Faith, and Fist Bumps with Dr. Zac Bauermaster
In this week’s episode of Leaning Into Leadership , I sit down with Dr. Zac Bauermaster, an elementary principal in Lancaster County, PA, whose fist-bump videos with students recently went viral — one reaching over 382 millio...
Sept. 21, 2025
Episode 236: Courage, Recovery, and Hope with Dr. Kacy Shahid & Dr. Kevin Lein
In this episode, Dr. Darrin Peppard is joined by Dr. Kacy Shahid and Dr. Kevin Lein , members of NASSP’s Principal Recovery Network . They share their personal journeys through tragedy, the lessons they’ve learned, and the ho...
Sept. 17, 2025
Episode 235: Cutting Through the Buzzwords and Bringing Clarity to Leadership Language
In this solo episode, Dr. Darrin Peppard dives into the leadership buzzwords we all hear — and probably use — without stopping to define. Words like collaboration, accountability, engagement, data-driven, and professional dev...
Sept. 14, 2025
Episode 234: Second Mile Leadership with Dr. Jason Williamson
Dr. Darrin Peppard sits down with Dr. Jason Williamson—speaker, author, and creator of the Second Mile Mentality —to explore how leaders move beyond minimum expectations and build cultures where presence becomes proof. From a...
Sept. 7, 2025
Episode 233: Racing the Future with Brad Waid - AI, Industry 4.0, and Leadership
In Episode 233 of the Leaning Into Leadership podcast, Dr. Darrin Peppard welcomes Brad Waid — award-winning Emerging Technology Leader, international keynote speaker, and global futurist. Brad shares insights from his forthc...
Aug. 31, 2025
Episode 232: Six Essential Elements of School Culture (and How Leaders Shape Them)
In this solo episode of Leaning Into Leadership , Dr. Darrin Peppard dives into the heartbeat of every great school: its culture. Drawing from personal experiences as a principal and superintendent, as well as insights from h...
Join the Email List
Listen On
Related Shows
Leaning into Leadership
Visit Page
Modern Math Teacher
Visit Page
Aspire to Lead
Visit Page
Time for Teachership
Visit Page
Schurtz and Ties: A podcast about education and culture
Visit Page
Catching Up with Casey
Visit Page
Unapologetic Leadership
Visit Page
Limitless Leadership Lounge
Visit Page
Lead with HOPE Podcast
Visit Page
The Happy Music Teacher
Visit Page
Teaching Champions
Visit Page
Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Visit Page
Teach Happier! Small shifts. Big gifts.
Visit Page
The Jeff Bradbury Show
Visit Page
The Language of Behavior
Visit Page
Unlocking Unlimited Potential Stories
Visit Page
In AWE Podcast
Visit Page
The Ed Essentials Podcast
Visit Page
Science 360
Visit Page
Moments of ImpartED Joy
Visit Page
Learner-Centered Spaces
Visit Page
Leading Collaborative Response
Visit Page
Digital Learning Today: Where Productivity Meets Innovation in the Classroom.
Visit Page
Building a Culture of Collaboration
Visit Page
Leader of Learning
Visit Page
Making the Grade Podcast
Visit Page
EduMagic: Future Teacher Podcast
Visit Page
The Shut Up and Teach Podcast
Visit Page
The Reading Teacher's Playbook with Eva Mireles
Visit Page
The Secret Sauce with Kip Shubert
Visit Page
powerED Up
Visit Page
The Pixel Classroom Podcast
Visit Page
Ask The Tech Coach
Visit Page
plAI Around and Find Out!
Visit Page
Teach Better Talk
Visit Page
Design Cast
Visit Page