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The Thermostat with Jason Barger

The Thermostat with Jason Barger

By: Jason V Barger
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A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, guides this journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision and values. Learn more at JasonVBarger.com or on social media @jasonvbargerJason V Barger 2019 Career Success Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Self-Awareness Tools with Jason P. Carroll

    Self-Awareness Tools with Jason P. Carroll
    Jun 9 2026
    Many leaders and teams are not always aware of what is getting in their way and what opportunities exist to improve their culture and performance. Tools help us see more clearly. For Full Show Notes and Links Visit: https://www.jasonvbarger.com/podcast/self-awareness-tools-with-jason-p-carroll/ Jason is joined by his friend, Jason P. Carroll, the founder of Aptive Index, for an insightful conversation about leveraging self-awareness tools to remove leadership obstacles and build high-performance teams. Please rate and review the podcast to help amplify these messages to others! Summary: With employee engagement hitting a ten-year low and only 23% of workers trusting their organization's direction, how can executives build an environment where teams truly thrive? In this episode of The Thermostat, Jason V Barger sits down with behavioral intelligence specialist, TEDx speaker, and certified Dare to Lead facilitator Jason P. Carroll. Together, they explore the profound intersection of psychometric science, data-driven self-awareness, and strategic culture shaping. This conversation moves beyond generic motivational advice to break down the mechanics of human hardwiring in the workplace. Jason and Jason examine the hidden traps of leadership habits, highlighting how executives often inadvertently erode trust through micro-doses of misaligned communication. They analyze real-world case studies of behavioral clashes, emphasizing that true self-awareness isn't just about collecting personality data—it's about understanding your systemic impact and knowing how to dial in your personal strengths with precision. Essential listening for C-Suite executives, founders, and managers committed to mastering corporate culture, this episode offers a practical blueprint on leveraging AI-powered behavioral intelligence, navigating cultural dissonance, and deploying the core drivers of organizational trust to enhance leadership in teams. Episode Notes & Timestamps: Intro: Jason Barger introduces Jason P. Carroll, founder of Aptive Index, setting up a conversation on self-awareness tools and removing leadership obstacles. Meet Jason P. Carroll: A look into Carroll's background, including scaling a previous company from $20M to $80M through people decisions, training with Brené Brown, and playing sandlot baseball. Running Hot: Analyzing the cartoon imagery of running at maximum temperature and the difficulty high-performing leaders face when trying to slow down. The Evolution of Culture: Observations on how economic uncertainty, work-from-home shifts, and AI require leaders to reframe people leadership with deep intentionality. The Trust Crisis: Discussing the Gallup data hitting a 10-year low in employee engagement and the reality that only 23% of workers trust their leadership. The Data vs. Self-Awareness Trap: Why listing personal tendencies on a spreadsheet isn't true self-awareness, and the necessity of understanding your behavioral impact on a team. The Cowboy Hat Case Study: A narrative about a high-energy CEO learning that he can't expect a structured accounting department to adapt to his chaotic executive style. Misaligned Hardwiring: Jason P. Carroll shares a story from his previous company where clashing behavioral needs created an operational chasm between visionaries and operators. Dialing in Strengths: Why self-awareness doesn't mean becoming a chameleon, but rather finding the proper execution balance without losing your executive edge. Cultural Dissonance & Lingering Habits: Jason Barger unpacks why "what we allow lingers and what we teach triggers," and the leadership obligation to protect the culture of "we." The Trust Drivers: A comparison of the HBR trust drivers (logic, empathy, authenticity) and the Aptive Index metrics (character, competence, compassion). Psychometrics & The AI "Now What?": How the AI system Aria converts dusty, one-time personality data into continuous, real-time workplace conflict guides. Outro: Jason outlines steps for leaders to calibrate their thermostat by proactively shifting behaviors to shape culture. Key Takeaways for Leaders: Systemic Impact Mapping: Move past simple personality test checklists; true self-awareness requires evaluating how your hardwired tendencies alter team dynamics. Dial, Don't Discard: Refining your leadership style is not about erasing your natural strengths, but dialing back over-indexing tendencies (like steamrolling) to allow for team autonomy. Address the Dissonance: Guard your culture fiercely by refusing to let misaligned behaviors linger, actively teaching back to your core operational values. Listen to the full episode and access show notes at: https://jasonvbarger.com/podcast/self-awareness-tools-jason-p-carroll/ Bio: Jason Barger is a husband, father, speaker, and author who is passionate about business leadership and corporate culture. He believes that corporate culture is the "thermostat" of an organization, and that it can be used to ...
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    42 mins
  • Assessing Your Team's Culture

    Assessing Your Team's Culture
    Jun 2 2026
    Assessing your team's culture is an important step for your culture's future development. Jason discusses best practices for assessing the culture and leading real change. View Full Show Notes Here: https://www.jasonvbarger.com/podcast/assessing-your-team-culture/ Jason breaks down the critical architecture of a comprehensive cultural audit, explaining how elite teams can move beyond superficial surveys to actively calibrate their organizational environments. Please rate and review the podcast to help amplify these messages to others! Summary: Why do so many organizations excel at collecting workplace data yet consistently fail when translating those metrics into meaningful execution? In this episode of The Thermostat, Jason V. Barger breaks down the structural gap between simply "taking the temperature" of a workforce and actively "setting the temperature" for future growth. He explores why standard digitized employee engagement surveys often fail when deployed in isolation, and details a holistic methodology designed to map pain points and optimize organizational workflows. Moving past automated human resources checklists, Jason defines a robust, three-angled strategy for a comprehensive cultural audit. This framework blends organization-wide quantitative surveys with deeper cross-functional interviews and executive vantage point discovery sessions. By constructing a participatory assessment process rooted in active listening and clear forward plans, leaders can avoid employee cynicism, secure long-term buy-in, and successfully position corporate culture as a non-negotiable strategy. Essential listening for C-Suite executives, operations directors, and culture transformation advocates committed to leadership in teams, this episode offers a practical blueprint for turning baseline diagnostics into an active, high-performance roadmap. Episode Notes & Timestamps: [00:00] Intro: Jason introduces the essential requirement of evaluating your current corporate state before designing a future trajectory. [00:01] Calibrating the Thermostat: A milestone reflection on 335+ episodes and the ongoing commitment to breathing good oxygen into global workforces. [00:02] Authentic Algorithms: Why genuine human feedback is critical in the age of automated bots, and how listeners can help amplify positive leadership messages. [00:03] The 6 A's Framework: An overview of change management theory and the circular roadmap of Assess, Align, Aspire, Articulate, Act, and Anchor. [00:05] The Survey Trap: Examining why many companies get stuck in a passive loop of "taking the temperature" without ever building a real operational strategy. [00:08] The Cultural Audit Blueprint: How to design a holistic evaluation process using quantitative surveys to isolate trends across all departments. [00:09] Cross-Functional Layers: The power of structured qualitative interviews with multi-tiered representatives to extract deeper frontline insights. [00:10] Senior Leadership Vantage Points: Leading discovery sessions with the executive tier to target pain points and align baseline data with macro visions. [00:11] Core Values as Tools: Parallels between precise, actionable cultural language and utilizing assessment data as a living mechanism rather than a decorative poster. [00:13] Pillar 1 - Participatory Inclusion: Ensuring every employee feels their voice is an essential building block of upcoming operational pivots. [00:14] Pillar 2 - Active Listening Posture: Overcoming survey fatigue by transparently synthesizing, contextualizing, and sharing assessment results back with the workforce. [00:15] Pillar 3 - Decisive Action Plans: Activating the remaining 6A phases to turn qualitative benchmarks into sustainable corporate habits. [00:16] Strategic Inquiries: Jason outlines strategic closing questions to ponder for leaders preparing to gauge their team's current landscape. Key Takeaways for Leaders: Move Beyond Metrics: Avoid institutional cynicism by ensuring that every culture or engagement survey is instantly paired with a visible strategy for operational action. Holistic Diagnostics: Build a multi-angled cultural audit that checks automated survey data against deep cross-functional focus groups and executive roundtables. Foster Active Ownership: Build a highly participatory assessment process where frontline teams realize they are active co-creators of the target organizational temperature. Listen to the full episode and access show notes at: Bio: Jason Barger is a husband, father, speaker, and author who is passionate about business leadership and corporate culture. He believes that corporate culture is the "thermostat" of an organization, and that it can be used to drive performance, innovation, and engagement. The show features interviews with business leaders from a variety of industries, as well as solo episodes where Barger shares his own insights and advice. Connect: Subscribe to our channel: Make Your 2026 Effective! Book ...
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    19 mins
  • ReMember Who You Are Becoming

    ReMember Who You Are Becoming
    May 26 2026
    Remembering the core of why you exist and your purpose as an individual or a culture requires intentional remembrance. AND, ReMembering is a process for the future of who you hope to become. Jason explores the transformative power of "active remembrance," offering leaders a strategic blueprint to align core organizational identity with future execution. For Full Show Notes Visit: https://www.jasonvbarger.com/podcast/remember-who-you-are-becoming/ Please rate and review the podcast to help amplify these messages to others! Summary: In a fast-paced commercial landscape dominated by continuous systemic distraction, how do elite executives anchor their organizations while successfully driving innovation? In this episode of The Thermostat, Jason V Barger handles the profound practice of structural remembrance, demonstrating how looking backward at your core roots is the essential first step to moving forward effectively. This conversation moves beyond standard management advice to deconstruct the active process of what it means to ReMember. Jason breaks down the dual responsibility facing modern leaders: the cognitive requirement to recall exactly why an enterprise exists, paired with the structural assembly needed to align everyday habits with a future vision. Drawing on historical frameworks like Memorial Day and insights from his second book, Jason challenges leaders to shift their attention away from safe, repetitive patterns to build a highly connected corporate culture. Essential listening for C-Suite executives, HR directors, and managers focused on leadership in teams, this episode offers a practical five-part framework to reframe corporate narratives, hone non-negotiable priorities, and ensure that who you are becoming is explicitly aligned with your foundational purpose. Episode Notes & Timestamps: [00:00] Intro: Jason introduces the spirit of remembrance and the necessity of stepping back to evaluate the long-term journey. [00:01] Setting the Temperature: A reflection on 330+ episodes and the ongoing dedication to breathing good oxygen into leadership spaces globally. [00:03] The Origin of Memorial Day: Tracing the history of Decoration Day (1868) as a cultural blueprint for tracking foundational roots and honoring corporate sacrifice. [00:04] The 3 PM Pause: An analysis of the national moment of silence as a operational metaphor for executive self-reflection and recalibration. [00:07] Deconstructing "ReMember": Insights from Jason's second book on returning to core purpose while actively assembling a participatory, forward-looking future. [00:09] 1. Clarifying Future Identity: Why leaders who aim at nothing hit it every time, and how to explicitly describe your target organizational identity. [00:10] 2. Building Intentional Habits: Auditing how your team thinks, acts, and interacts daily to prevent institutional complacency and comfortable regressions. [00:12] 3. Process Over Results: Understanding why sustainable revenue and performance metrics are simply the downstream outcomes of intentional human development. [00:13] 4. Reframing the Inner Narrative: Strategies to break out of repetitive, risk-averse internal dialogue to focus on collective innovation and possibility. [00:15] 5. Honing Priorities: Dispelling the myth of multitasking and why high-performing teams must narrow their focus to 3-5 core objectives. [00:16] Active Renewal: A closing call to action on carrying the best elements of your past to co-create a resilient enterprise ecosystem. Key Takeaways for Leaders: Identity-Driven Habits: Ensure your daily operational habits and communication structures actively back up the aspirational culture you claim to build. Input Management: Focus directly on the development of your workflows and people; when you protect the input, the performance metrics take care of themselves. Radical Focus Restriction: Overcome organizational exhaustion by ruthlessly eliminating peripheral noise and committing fully to 3-5 strategic priorities. Listen to the full episode and access show notes at: https://jasonvbarger.com/podcast/remember-who-you-are-becoming/ Bio: Jason Barger is a husband, father, speaker, and author who is passionate about business leadership and corporate culture. He believes that corporate culture is the "thermostat" of an organization, and that it can be used to drive performance, innovation, and engagement. The show features interviews with business leaders from a variety of industries, as well as solo episodes where Barger shares his own insights and advice. Connect: Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JasonVBarger Make Your 2026 Effective! Book Jason with your team at https://www.jasonvbarger.com Like or Follow Jason 👍 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbarger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonvbarger/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonvbarger/ X: https://x.com/JasonvBarger
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    20 mins
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