When everything feels politically, emotionally, and culturally flammable… Is it even possible to speak the truth as a leader and not get burned?

In Part 1 of this hard-hitting and profoundly personal conversation, Jeff Hancher, author of Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, joins Dov Baron to dissect the modern leadership paradox: How do you build a high-performance culture that welcomes critical conversations… without triggering fear, fragility, or fake harmony? .

Jeff Hancher is a former senior executive in a $30B Fortune 500 company. However, what you won’t see on his résumé is that he grew up in a household of abject poverty with two parents who were medically unable to work. He learned early how to read emotional volatility and became an elite leader by mastering empathy and precision under pressure.

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This episode is for leaders navigating:

• Entitled teams and unspoken resentment

• Cancel culture minefields and performance fragility

• The tension between psychological safety and actual accountability

It’s not a soft talk. It’s not a shaming session.

. This is a fcuking masterclass in courageous feedback and real leadership in the era of emotional volatility.

💥 What We Confront in This Episode:

• What most leaders get dangerously wrong about feedback culture

• Why conflict avoidance is the silent killer of performance

• How to deliver feedback that lands firm but not harsh

• The invisible cost of leaders who want to be liked more than they want to be respected

• Why your top performers may be suffering in silence, while low performers drain your culture

• What Jeff learned about truth-telling from… and his alcoholic father and a Firm Feedback mentor.

• How to confront without collapsing trust

• Why psychological safety doesn’t mean protecting egos

• The #1 question to ask before giving any piece of feedback

• Why the future of leadership requires both steel and soul

💬 Power Quote:

“Leadership isn’t about being liked. It’s about being trusted. And trust is earned in truth, never in avoidance.” ~ Jeff Hancher

👤 About the Guest:

Jeff Hancher is a U.S. Army veteran, the founder of The Champion Forum, and the author of Firm Feedback in a Fragile World. With decades of leadership experience at the highest levels of the corporate world, Jeff now coaches elite business leaders on building feedback-rich cultures without losing their humanity or their edge.

He’s trusted by Fortune 500 leaders and military veterans alike to turn emotionally fragile teams into resilient, high-accountability cultures.

🔗https://www.jeffhancher.com/ https://thechampionforum.com

🎧 Subscribe & Review:

This episode will challenge you, but if you’re brave enough to listen through to the end, it will transform your feedback and sharpen your leadership forever.

📝 Drop us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and tell us: What’s the hard truth you’ve been avoiding giving your team?

👉 Tag @DovBaron and use #TheDovBaronShow to be part of the conversation.

🎙 Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube & wherever leaders come to get real.

📌 Hashtags

#JeffHancher #FirmFeedback #TheDovBaronShow #LeadershipInFragileTimes #RadicalCandor #AccountabilityWithEmpathy #CourageousLeadership #PerformanceCulture #PsychologicalSafety #TransformationalLeadership #TruthTellingInBusiness #EmotionalSourceCode #ChampionForum