Surfacing Leaders

About Surfacing Leaders

Come with Marc as he tells the stories of leaders in unlikely places and the human spirit that drives us all.

Publisher

Marc Koehler

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 May 2023

Latest episode

6 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

90 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Nov 2026

   Practice Scared: Fear, Courage & the Calls That Matter with Sarah Furness

   At 12, Sarah Furness watched Top Gun and decided she’d be a pilot. Then she was told her arms were too short. She found a way in anyway and went on to fly helicopters for 21 years in the Royal Air Force. In this episode, Sarah and Marc talk about the day she lost her confidence in fast jet training, the night in Kenya she had to abort a rescue mission in a snowstorm, and what a boss’s simple admission taught her about trust. She shares her “Practice Scared” framework, why the debrief may be the most underused tool in business, and why she believes courage is something we’re born with and have to keep relearning. If you lead a team, or you’re about to, this one will make you rethink how you handle pressure.

2. 

   9 Oct 2026

   Building a Legacy That Lasts: Joe Bert of Certified Financial Group

   In this episode of the Surfacing Leaders podcast, host Marc Koehler sits down with Joe Bert, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Certified Financial Group, Inc., a Central Florida wealth management firm that now manages about $3.5 billion and was recently named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. CFG is also a Lead With Purpose client. A CFP® professional, former President and Chairman of the Financial Planning Association's Orlando Chapter, and longtime host of the On the Money! radio show, Joe is known to many as the "Oracle of Orlando." He brings a rare perspective on what it takes to build a firm, and a reputation, that lasts for five decades. Joe shares how growing up around his entrepreneurial father in Cleveland, and later helping launch a frozen food company that was acquired by Heinz, gave him a taste for building something of his own. After moving to Orlando in the mid-1970s, he realized that even with a business education, his own finances were "a collection of financial accidents," and he saw a gap in the market for real financial planning. He explains why honesty and integrity come first in every relationship, why listening and asking good questions build more trust than talking, and why he has learned to "keep your mouth shut" until he has heard every point of view. Marc and Joe also dig into how working with Lead With Purpose helped CFG restructure as a larger company, set up daily huddles and quarterly and annual goals, plan for succession, and free Joe to work on the company instead of in it. Joe also explains how CFG now hires for culture and uses the platform's recognitions, celebrated at all-hands meetings, to keep their team engaged. The conversation also covers how Joe leads through market volatility, including his belief that his team members are "as much behavioral managers as we are money managers," why CFG's phones don't ring off the hook when the market drops, and his reminder that "anybody can sail a ship when the sea is calm." He also shares his hopes and concerns for young leaders, his excitement and caution about AI, and the people he has watched surface as leaders inside CFG, including Aaron, his colleague of 18 years who now serves as president. The episode concludes with actionable advice for leaders: Lead with honesty and integrity. People can tell right away when you're not being genuine. Listen more than you talk. Ask questions that draw people out instead of jumping in with your opinion. Know what you're not good at. Surround yourself with people who fill those gaps, and welcome their challenges. Hold a steady course in rough seas. Fear spreads, but so does confidence. Take care of your physical and mental health. You can't lead well if you aren't well yourself. Join us in this episode to hear how a career spanning nearly 50 years in financial planning, broadcasting, and community service all points back to the same lesson: lasting leadership is built on trust, culture, and a steady hand when it matters most. Connect with Joe Bert:Website: Certified Financial GroupLinkedIn: Joe Bert

3. 

   25 Sept 2026

   From the FBI to Cyber CEO: How M.K. Palmore Builds Trust When There's No Physical Battlefield

   In this episode of the Surfacing Leaders podcast, host Marc Koehler sits down with M.K. Palmore, founder and CEO of Apogee Global RMS, who advises boards and executive leaders on cybersecurity strategy, operational resilience, and leadership development. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, former Marine Corps officer, and 22-year FBI special agent who later held executive security roles at Google and Palo Alto Networks, MK brings a rare, layered perspective on leading through high-stakes, high-uncertainty environments. MK shares how leading FBI SWAT operations and large-scale cyber investigations taught him that accountability starts with reflecting honestly on your own shortcomings, and why he still journals today, both digitally and by hand, to process what he's learned. He introduces his concept of "zone leadership," the idea that leaders show up differently depending on everything else going on in their lives, and why pretending you can fully separate your personal and professional selves does a disservice to both. Marc and MK also dig into why MK believes cybersecurity is fundamentally a leadership problem, not a technology problem, and why the best leaders he's worked with lead with people first, trusting that a people-centered approach gets a team to mission success rather than the other way around. The conversation also covers the shifting nature of the "battlefield" in a cloud-based world, a firsthand account of running down the Yahoo breach investigation and what it revealed about nation-states outsourcing to criminal hackers, and MK's candid take on how AI is compressing team sizes and reshaping entry-level career paths in cybersecurity and beyond. The episode concludes with actionable advice for leaders: Build in real time for reflection. Block it on your calendar like any other priority. Lead people first. Mission accomplishment follows from that, not the other way around. Take the focus off your own advancement. The best leaders often aren't chasing the next title. Prioritize risk based on your actual environment. You can't defend against everything at once. Concentrate on the people around you, not on yourself. Join us in this episode to hear how a career spanning the Marine Corps, the FBI, and Silicon Valley cybersecurity leadership all points back to the same lesson: the technology will keep changing, but leadership is still about people. Connect with M.K. Palmore:Website: apogee-global-rms.ioLinkedIn: MK Palmore on LinkedIn

Who has been a guest on Surfacing Leaders

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• George Randle
• Rashmi Airan
• David Parsons
• Lindsay Wilson
• Elizabeth Yerecic Freedman

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

68