Seek the Good and Celebrate: The Confetti Leadership Model with James Ferguson

What if the secret to a culture people can feel the moment they walk in isn't a budget, a program, or a perfect leader — but a habit anyone can start today?

This week, award-winning culture pioneer and best-selling author James Ferguson joins Debra & Ken Corey to share what 16+ years in hospitality — and a cancer diagnosis that arrived just months after his first book — taught him about leading people. James tells the story most leadership books would never touch: the day he passed out in treatment, his daughter Nora arriving as a "buzzer-beater" hours later, and the single question that reframed everything — "Is this happening to me, or for me?"

Then it gets practical. James unpacks his CONFETTI Leadership Model — eight habits for any leader at any level — and we dig into the ones that change teams fastest. Why you should celebrate first downs, not touchdowns. The $40 oven that rebuilt a team's trust. Why saying "thank you" costs nothing yet almost no one does it. And why real inspiration is built on the hard days, not the best ones.

It's warm, honest, and full of things you can use on Monday morning. Confetti only looks fluffy — underneath, it's a system. Press play and seek the good.

Books and speaking: confetti-man.com | Instagram: @confetticulture | LinkedIn: James Ferguson

KEYWORDS: leadership, company culture, employee recognition, gratitude, vulnerability in leadership, present leadership, trust, active listening, employee engagement, hospitality leadership, servant leadership, psychological safety, James Ferguson, Confetti Culture Playbook, Seek the Good and Celebrate

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome — meet James Ferguson, culture pioneer & author

01:03 James' story: 16 years in hospitality, serving his way up

02:06 First job at the front desk — "your title gives you nothing to give"

03:21 The mission behind the book: a cancer diagnosis and Seek the Good

03:50 Nora's buzzer-beater birth — "is it happening to me or for me?"

06:38 Parenting and leadership: becoming a girl dad made him better

07:50 Present, not perfect — why leaders should be vulnerable

11:19 Model it and they'll mirror it: the confetti jacket

12:30 Admitting you don't know turns 1 brain into 11

13:56 The CONFETTI Leadership Model and its 8 principles

15:31 Building an acronym: mission, values, and earning the book

17:08 Nurture Trust: do what you said, listen, then act ($40 oven)

22:14 Active listening vs. being near someone who's talking

22:55 Celebrate Often & Thankfulness: first downs, not touchdowns

27:59 What does "thank you" cost? Nothing

31:17 Inspire Daily: inspiration is built on the hard days

34:00 The Ben story — leadership from someone who wasn't your boss

36:07 Stay curious: seek the good and celebrate it

39:20 Where to find James

The Long-Handled Screwdriver: Why Experts Make the Worst Micromanagers

What if the best coaching never happens in a booked one-hour session — but in the small, everyday moments most managers walk straight past?

In this episode of Corey-osity Unleashed, Debra and Ken Corey sit down with Gillian Jones-Williams — CEO, motivational speaker, author of 50 Top Tools for Coaching (now in its sixth edition), and 2024 Businesswoman of the Decade. Gillian left home at 17, built her firm Emerge Development Consultancy across three decades and multiple recessions, and was later diagnosed with bipolar and ADHD — a turning point that transformed how she helps leaders bring out the best in every kind of mind.

Together they unpack the "long-handled screwdriver" trap that catches technical managers, the ORACLE coaching model that refuses to solve the stated problem until it finds the real one, the surprising power of visualization, how to navigate the "parts conflict" pulling your head, heart and gut in different directions, and why curiosity is the bravest — and safest — thing a leader can do.

Practical, warm, and packed with tools you can use tomorrow.

Get the book: search "50 Top Tools for Coaching" on Amazon.

Connect with Gillian: emergeuk.com | LinkedIn (Gillian Jones-Williams)

Keywords: coaching, leadership, neurodiversity, ORACLE model, GROW model, micromanagement, visualization, parts conflict, DEI, curiosity, employee engagement, ADHD, executive coaching, coaching culture, inclusive leadership

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Gillian Jones-Williams

03:07 Gillian's Journey and Personal Challenges

06:02 The Evolution of Coaching

09:08 The Importance of Coaching in Leadership

11:58 Personalized Coaching Techniques

15:10 The Sixth Edition of 50 Top Tools

17:59 The Oracle Coaching Model

23:27 Unpacking the Oracle Model

29:16 Understanding Parts Conflict in Coaching

36:14 The Importance of Diverse Coaching Tools

41:03 Curiosity as a Key to Effective Leadership

Hope is a Strategy: Why Leaders Must Learn to Cultivate It

What do people all over the world want most from their leaders? According to Gallup's research presented at the World Government Summit, the answer is hope. Not strategy. Not vision decks. Hope. And yet almost no leadership development programme teaches it.

Ian Pettigrew has spent years researching exactly this gap. In this conversation, he unpacks what hope actually is — and why it's not the same as optimism, positivity, or wishful thinking. Hope, by his definition, is a belief that the future can be better combined with knowing what you can do to make it so. That small distinction changes everything about how leaders show up, how teams perform, and why some people find a way through the hardest circumstances while others don't.

This episode goes deep on the practical side: Ian's Hope Play Sheet (free at hope.tips), why toxic positivity actively undermines hope, what the Fyre Festival documentary teaches us about silencing concerns, and why some leaders have already scuppered their ability to inspire hope before any tactic can help. Ian also brings his own story — recovering from a trimalleolar ankle fracture during lockdown and training to cycle the height of Everest on an indoor bike — as a lived demonstration of the framework he teaches.

If you lead people and you've ever been told to "give your team more hope" without any guidance on how to actually do it, this is the episode that fills that gap.

Keywords: Ian Pettigrew, Hope, Leadership, Realistic Optimism, Hope Play Sheet, Positive Psychology, Employee Engagement, Workplace Culture, Strengths, Resilience

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Ian Pettigrew

05:40 The Everest Challenge: A Journey of Hope

13:32 Ian's Life Journey and Career Path

23:58 Exploring the Concept of Hope

28:32 Practical Tools for Cultivating Hope

33:21 The Balance of Realistic Optimism

38:43 Practical Steps for Leaders