About A Student of Leadership - Where Great Leaders are Made, One Habit at a Time!
Welcome to A Student of Leadership, the podcast for leaders who believe growth is never finished.
I'm Robert Adams. Behavioral leadership coach.
Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coach.
Thirty years in food distribution, multi-unit operations, and leadership development. Ranked #6 in the United States for Leadership Coaching on LinkedIn by Favikon.
Each episode delivers one idea, one story, and one question worth sitting with. Built for leaders who are actually in the work. Not theorizing about it.
The food industry is where leadership gets tested every single day.
On the floor. In the kitchen. At the table. In the boardroom.
Fast-paced environments, tight margins, diverse teams, constant pressure. Labor shortages, turnover, supply chain disruptions.
These are not buzzwords.
They are our daily reality.
This podcast is built for that reality.
The foundation of everything here is the Place Setting Framework, seven dimensions of leadership using a formal table setting as metaphor.
The Plate.
The Knife.
The Fork.
The Spoon.
The Glass.
The Napkin.
The Table.
Each week maps to one element.
Each episode connects to The Leadership Table newsletter on Substack, arriving every Monday at 6:00 AM.
Leadership excellence is not built on charisma or natural talent.
It is built on intentional behaviors that anyone can learn, practice, and master. Small shifts in how we communicate, recognize effort, handle conflict, build accountability, and show up for our teams create lasting impact. Practical. Proven. Implementable immediately.
I am not here pretending to have all the answers. I am here as a fellow student. Someone who believes the moment we stop learning is the moment we stop leading effectively.
New episodes every Tuesday at 6:00 AM EST.
Listen and subscribe:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-student-of-leadership-real-leaders-real-growth-one-table/id1788679511 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-student-of-leadership-real-leaders-real-growth-one-table/id1788679511)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KdlbKAVbF118b2Khfcpqy (https://open.spotify.com/show/6KdlbKAVbF118b2Khfcpqy)
Website: https://astudentofleadership.riverside.com/ (https://astudentofleadership.riverside.com/)
The Leadership Table on Substack: https://robertadamsleader.substack.com/ (https://robertadamsleader.substack.com/)
Real Leaders. Real Growth. One Table.
This is the final episode of A Student of Leadership.
Thank you for listening, and for sharing these episodes with the leaders around you. The conversation keeps going. It's moving to live sessions on Substack, where you can bring the leadership question you're working through, and we'll talk it out together.
Subscribe for free at theleadershiptable.net, and you'll get the invite when the first session is set.
A Student of Leadership was a podcast for leaders who want to keep getting better, from Robert Adams, leadership coach and creator of the Place Setting Framework. The show has ended, and every episode stays here for you to come back to.
The conversation continues at The Leadership Table: a free weekly newsletter, short Notes through the week, and live sessions where you bring your question and we work through it together. Join at theleadershiptable.net.
Real Leaders. Real Growth. One Table.
6 Oct 2026
The Front You Hold Alone
Episode 78: The Front You Hold Alone
The higher you climb, the fewer people will tell you the truth, and the fewer you feel you can tell. Your team cannot be your outlet. Your peers are half competitors. The people above you want to see you have it handled. Your circle of honest relationships shrinks exactly as the weight grows. This episode is about what leaders in the seat quietly carry, why the mask gets heavier every quarter, and what Toby Cosgrove learned the hard way, from a stranger who had no reason to speak up.
The Glass is the fifth element of the Place Setting Framework. Clarity and Transparency, including the surface that faces in.
In this episode:
- The seventy-percent stat leaders keep missing (Monster, 2026), and why it lands hardest at the top
- The loneliness of the front, and what it costs the person holding it
- Toby Cosgrove, and the hardest feedback of his career arriving from a stranger
- Why the one person outside your building matters more than the twenty inside it
- What Robert learned about the mask across a long career in distribution
This episode's ask: tell one trusted person the truth behind the front.
Companion pieces: This week's Leadership Table starts October at The Table, the room you build for later. Next Monday's newsletter goes to The Glass in full. This afternoon's Breaking Bread on LinkedIn turns this week's move into one thing you can run today.
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-student-of-leadership-real-leaders-real-growth-one-table/id1788679511 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-student-of-leadership-real-leaders-real-growth-one-table/id1788679511)
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KdlbKAVbF118b2Khfcpqy (https://open.spotify.com/show/6KdlbKAVbF118b2Khfcpqy)
The Leadership Table on Substack: https://theleadershiptable.net/ (https://theleadershiptable.net/)
If insight needs somewhere real to land: astudentofleadership.com (http://astudentofleadership.com)
Free Place Setting Assessment: placesettingassessment.scoreapp.com (http://placesettingassessment.scoreapp.com)
Breaking Bread on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7316826823063920641/ (https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7316826823063920641/)
Real Leaders. Real Growth. One Table.
22 Sept 2026
The Muscle You Stop Using
Written to one leader, on the judgment that fades when you stop using it.
Episode 77: The Muscle You Stop Using
A leader does not lose judgment in a moment. They lose it one skipped rep at a time. In this episode, Robert Adams speaks directly to one leader about the quiet cost of cognitive offloading, the documented risk of deferring to systems until the habit of human judgment fades (WIL 2026, Hospitality Net). The danger is not that the machine fails. It is that a fading skill feels exactly like a busy, productive week, until the moment you need the judgment and it has gone soft.
The Fork is the third element of the Place Setting Framework. Absorption and growth.
In this episode:
- Why judgment fades like a muscle, one skipped rep at a time
- The reason a fading skill feels identical to a productive week
- The slower version of this Robert watched play out across a career in distribution
- Lisa Su, and why the CEO of a company worth hundreds of billions still keeps her hand in the technical calls
- Which reps to hand the tool, and which to guard
- Run towards problems, and what it protects
Somewhere in the episode is the one thing you could still do by hand this week, the thing the tool offered to take off your plate.
Read the companion pieces. Monday's Leadership Table newsletter, The Skill You're Quietly Losing, makes the full case. Monday's Breaking Bread on LinkedIn, The Reps You Stop Taking, already turned it into one move you can run today.
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-student-of-leadership-real-leaders-real-growth-one-table/id1788679511 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-student-of-leadership-real-leaders-real-growth-one-table/id1788679511)
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KdlbKAVbF118b2Khfcpqy (https://open.spotify.com/show/6KdlbKAVbF118b2Khfcpqy)
The Leadership Table on Substack: https://theleadershiptable.net/ (https://theleadershiptable.net/)
If insight needs somewhere real to land: astudentofleadership.com (http://astudentofleadership.com)
Free Place Setting Assessment: placesettingassessment.scoreapp.com (http://placesettingassessment.scoreapp.com)
Breaking Bread on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7316826823063920641/ (https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7316826823063920641/)
Real Leaders. Real Growth. One Table.
Podcast Authority Score: 7 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
15
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
Contact A Student of Leadership - Where Great Leaders are Made, One Habit at a Time!
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about A Student of Leadership - Where Great Leaders are Made, One Habit at a Time!
Who hosts A Student of Leadership - Where Great Leaders are Made, One Habit at a Time!?
Rob Adams host the show. Published by Robert Adams.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does A Student of Leadership - Where Great Leaders are Made, One Habit at a Time! take guests?
The show does not typically feature guests, based on episode analyses.
Host of A Student of Leadership - Where Great Leaders are Made, One Habit at a Time!?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
