PODCAST · business
Badass Softie
by Dr. J.J. Peterson
A Badass Softie is unapologetically ambitious and leads with heart. Ambitious and kind. Fun and driven. Powerful and deeply human.Badass Softie, hosted by Dr. J.J. Peterson, is a podcast that challenges the false choice leaders are too often given: be strong or be compassionate. The world doesn’t just need more leaders — it needs leaders bold enough to make an impact and compassionate enough to make it meaningful. Each episode pulls back the curtain on leaders, creators, and innovators who are rewriting the rules of what real leadership looks like. You’ll walk away with stories, insights, and practical takeaways that show you how to lead with both strength and softness — the very definition of being a Badass Softie.Subscribe and follow and step fully into the kind of leader the world is waiting for.
Episodes
-
What If Your Job Is to Create More Magic? | Will Guidara
What if part of your job is to create more magic? After attending Will Guidara's Welcome Conference in New York, Dr. J.J. Peterson found himself returning to a conversation that had already changed how he thinks about work, creativity, and the people around him. Listening again, he discovered new...
-
Some Answers Only Come After You Start | Jill Pickering
You have an idea you keep coming back to. A book you want to write. A podcast you want to start. A business, creative project, or next chapter you can see yourself pursuing. But starting means finding out what happens when the idea leaves your head. What if it isn’t as good as you thought? What…
more -
When Good Communication Isn’t Creating Connection
We have more language for healthy communication, boundaries, and emotions than ever before. So why can our relationships still leave us feeling so disconnected? Dr. Lee Long believes part of the problem may be where we put our attention. When a conversation becomes difficult, we often focus on...
-
Let AI Make Room for What Only You Can Do
AI can write, research, organize, automate, and produce at a scale that would have been impossible for most people a few years ago. But Dan Cumberland thinks the more interesting question is what all of that frees you up to do. As AI takes on more of the execution, it can create room to go...
-
What Can You Do When You Can’t Fix It?
What do you do when a problem is so big that anything you could possibly do feels insignificant? On September 11, 2001, Dr. J.J. Peterson was thousands of miles from home, volunteering with a medical clinic in a rural village in the Dominican Republic. With almost no information and no way to...
-
When Changing the Plan Feels Like Failure
You’re used to being the person who follows through. So when plans change, it can feel personal. Dr. J.J. Peterson had just celebrated a year of Badass Softie without missing an episode. Then interviews moved, a new client required unexpected travel, his daughter left for college, and suddenly…
more -
Staying Grounded When Things Get Hard
Something will eventually not go according to plan. Maybe a project doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, a difficult conversation catches you off guard, or life takes you in a direction you didn’t expect. You can’t control all of it, but you can get better at what happens next. Dr. J.J. Peterson...
-
Courage Is Something You Practice
A year ago, Dr. J.J. Peterson launched Badass Softie with a lot of questions. What if nobody listened? What if it went nowhere? And maybe the hardest one: Who am I to do this? A year later, the fear wasn't the thing that disappeared. J.J. changed. After a year of conversations about ambition,...
-
Are You Being Kind—or Just Avoiding Conflict?
It’s easy to tell yourself you’re being kind when you decide not to say the hard thing. You don’t want to hurt someone, create tension, or turn a small problem into a bigger one. But what if avoiding the conversation isn’t actually kindness? Matt Turner learned that putting people first sometimes...
-
The 3 Marketing Emails Every Business Needs
Ever spend more time deciding what to write than actually writing it? If marketing feels harder than it should, the problem may not be your writing. You may simply be asking the wrong question. Dr. J.J. Peterson remembers sitting down every week to write emails and wondering what to say.…
more -
Stop Marketing Like Everyone Is a Stranger
If your marketing feels exhausting, you're not imagining it. Every week there's another platform to learn, another algorithm to understand, and another tactic promising to help you reach more people. But what if the problem isn't that you need more attention? What if it's that you're acting as...
-
The Best Marketing Isn't About You
The best marketing isn't about getting people to notice you. It's about helping the right people recognize themselves in what you have to say. Too often, business owners treat marketing like a performance—trying to sound more professional, more polished, or more like everyone else. But the more…
more -
The Hardest Marketing Decision You'll Ever Make
What if the biggest reason your marketing isn't working has nothing to do with your website, your social media, or your messaging? What if it's the decision you've been avoiding? After spending more than two decades helping global brands like Nike and Adidas tell clearer stories, Kris Jones made…
more -
Why Customers Don't Remember Your Business
Your company probably doesn't have a differentiation problem. It has a memory problem. Dr. J.J. Peterson kicks off a new marketing series by exploring one of the biggest misconceptions he encounters in strategy sessions. Most businesses believe they need to stand out from the competition. In...
-
The Leaders Who Take the Biggest Risks Aren't Fearless
Some leaders seem willing to make impossible decisions. They change careers. Walk away from security. Speak uncomfortable truths. Bet on themselves when success is anything but certain. What if courage isn't what makes those decisions possible? Dr. J.J. Peterson explores a childhood moment that...
-
Why We Perform Instead of Telling the Truth
Most people don't set out to become performers. But over time, it's easy to trade pieces of ourselves for approval, success, certainty, or the version of us we think other people want to see. Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with author and book coach Ally Fallon for a conversation about authenticity,...
-
What Happens When Everything Becomes Practical
What if the moments that change someone's day are the ones we almost talk ourselves out of? The compliment we never give. The thank you we never send. The invitation we never make. The extra effort we decide isn't necessary. In this conversation, Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with bestselling…
more -
Maybe Consistency Isn't The Goal
Melissa Greene spent years as a member of the Grammy-nominated Christian music group Avalon before becoming a pastor, speaker, writer, and advocate. But along the way, life began challenging some of the beliefs she had always held—and forcing her to confront an uncomfortable truth: Growth doesn't...
-
Failure Doesn't Always Mean You're Wrong
What happens when the strategy stops working, but the mission still matters? Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with entrepreneur, author, and Copper founder Allison Trowbridge for a conversation about leadership, adaptation, and the difference between staying committed to a mission and staying attached...
-
What If You Had Nothing To Prove?
What if the pressure you're carrying isn't coming from your workload, your business, or the world around you? What if it's coming from the belief that you still have something to prove? Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with leadership coach and author Angus Nelson to explore why so many ambitious...
-
People Experience You Before They Hear You
Many leaders want their work to speak for itself. But whether we like it or not, people start forming opinions about us long before we ever say a word. Dr. J.J. Peterson and stylist and brand strategist Toi Sweeney explore the tension between authenticity and intention — and why showing up...
-
Why Great Businesses Still Get Overlooked
Some businesses do exceptional work and still struggle to stand out. In this conversation, Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with Julie Firth and Sonya Whittam, founders of Story22, to explore the hidden gap between the value a business delivers and the way customers actually experience it. They talk...
-
You Don’t Have to Perform to Be Seen
You can know your work helps people and still feel weird promoting yourself. The pressure to stay visible, market yourself online, and constantly talk about what you do can quickly start to feel performative, especially for leaders who care deeply about authenticity. In this episode, Dr. J.J....
-
Maybe You Don’t Need More Discipline
What if the problem isn’t discipline — but understanding how your brain actually works? In this conversation, Dr. JJ Peterson sits down with licensed therapist and co-host of the Something Shiny ADHD Podcast, Isabelle Richards, to explore how ADHD, neurodivergence, and what Isabelle calls being...
-
Why Some Experiences Stay With You
Most experiences don’t stay with you. You go to a conference, an event, a workshop, and within a few days, most of it is gone. Not because it wasn’t good, but nothing made it stick. Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with Matt Ford, experiential marketing expert behind activations for Adidas, Cartoon...
-
How to Succeed Without Losing Yourself (What No One Tells You)
What happens when you get what you wanted and it doesn’t fix what you thought it would? You can spend years working toward something, only to realize it doesn’t feel the way you expected. In this episode, Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with Al Andrews, founder of Porter’s Call, to talk about what...
-
Why Selling Feels Uncomfortable for So Many Leaders
Selling shouldn’t feel like pressure, persuasion, or pretending to be someone you’re not. But for a lot of leaders, it does. In this episode, Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with Bob Burg, co-author of The Go-Giver, to unpack why so many people feel uncomfortable with sales—and how a simple shift in...
-
Why Your Message Isn’t Landing (Yet)
So many leaders feel like they’re saying the right things… and still not being heard. They create content. They follow the strategies. They build what they’ve been told will work. And yet—something doesn’t land. In this conversation, Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with Macy Robison, a strategist...
-
Why Great Leaders Don’t Try to Eliminate Tension
Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with designer, strategist, and storyteller Justin Ahrens to explore a part of leadership most people try to avoid: tension. There’s a natural pull to resolve things quickly—to choose a side, simplify the path, or chase clarity. But some of the most meaningful…
more -
What You Don’t Notice Matters More Than You Think
There are things happening right in front of us that we can’t see. Not because we’re ignoring them. Not because we don’t care. But because our experience has never required us to notice them. Dr. JJ Peterson explores how two people can look at the same situation, care about the same outcome, and...
-
How Leaders Develop a Point of View
In a world overflowing with information, what actually makes a leader stand out? It isn’t having more knowledge, better data, or more polished content. What separates leaders who shape the world from those who simply repeat what others say is something deeper: a clear point of view. But…
more -
Leaders Need More Than Rest
Leaders are tired. Not just from long hours or packed calendars, but from the constant mental load of decision-making, responsibility, and momentum that never quite stops. For many high-performing leaders, the instinct is to push through the exhaustion or hope a little time off will fix it. But...
-
Is It the Prize… or Your Mindset? Building Motivation That Lasts
Dr. JJ Peterson challenges a belief many ambitious leaders quietly hold: that what we call self-awareness might actually be a fixed mindset in disguise. When rewards disappoint, applause is delayed, or results don’t show up the way we hoped, it’s easy to blame the “prize.” The market. The...
-
Strong Leaders Change Their Minds
What if the strongest thing a leader could say isn’t “I was right,” but “I see this differently now”? Dr. JJ Peterson challenges one of leadership’s most persistent myths — that consistency means never changing your mind. Drawing from cognitive psychology, decision science, and a deeply personal...
-
Permission to Try Something New
Leaders carry growing responsibility. Bigger teams. Bigger decisions. Bigger stakes. But growth in responsibility doesn’t automatically mean growth in thinking. Dr. JJ Peterson explores a counterintuitive leadership truth: when leaders stop trying new things, their thinking gets smaller — even as...
-
How to Lead When There Is No Script
Before he ever worked with leaders on message and clarity, Dr. J.J. Peterson spent years performing improv comedy — an environment where nothing is scripted, mistakes are guaranteed, and collaboration determines whether a scene survives. What most people misunderstand about improv is that it…
more -
The Stories That Shape How We Lead — with Tricia Rose Burt
Most people think a story has to be a seismic, life-altering event to matter. Something dramatic. Something obvious. Something big enough to justify being told. But leadership is rarely shaped by moments that announce themselves. In this conversation, Dr. J.J. Peterson talks with storyteller and...
-
Can Friendship at Work Actually Make You a Better Leader?
Work is relational—whether we admit it or not. And yet many leaders are taught that professionalism means distance, separation, and emotional restraint. In this conversation, Dr. J.J. Peterson reflects on what actually happens when trust, friendship, and shared commitment exist inside a working...
-
When Cynicism Feels Earned — and Why Leaders Can’t Afford to Live There
Cynicism often starts as protection. It forms after systems fail, trust erodes, and disappointment stacks up. For many leaders, it feels reasonable—earned, even. But over time, that armor begins to cost more than it protects. Dr. J.J. Peterson reflects on how cynicism quietly reshapes leadership:...
-
The Best Leadership Lessons Come From Where You Least Expect
Some of the most meaningful leadership lessons don’t come from business books, keynote stages, or boardrooms. Sometimes, they come from places you don’t expect. In this episode of Badass Softie, Dr. J.J. Peterson shares unexpected leadership insights inspired by a behind-the-scenes look at Taylor...
-
Redefining Success Before the New Year Defines It for You
As a new year begins, many leaders feel an unspoken pressure to measure themselves against impossible standards — more growth, more output, more proof that they’re “enough.” In this episode of Badass Softie, Dr. JJ Peterson invites listeners to pause and challenge the definition of success…
more -
Why Leaders Need Celebration Before Things Feel “Ready”
As leaders, we’re often taught that joy should wait its turn. That celebration is something you earn after the work is done, the chaos settles, and everything feels appropriate. But what if that belief is quietly burning us out? In this episode of Badass Softie, Dr. JJ Peterson invites leaders to...
-
The One-Liner That Turns “What Do You Do?” Into a Real Conversation
Ever been at a holiday party, networking event, or standing awkwardly near a charcuterie board when someone asks, “So… what do you do?” And suddenly your brain short-circuits. You ramble. You minimize. You say something vague like “I help humans” and quietly watch the conversation die. In this...
-
The Price of Integrity (And Why It’s Worth Paying) with Jen Hatmaker
Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with author and speaker Jen Hatmaker for a candid conversation about courage, integrity, and what happens when the life you’ve built no longer fits who you’re becoming. Jen Hatmaker has navigated public success, private heartbreak, theological transformation, and the...
-
Staying Human in the Age of AI: How Leaders Stand Out With Point of View, Story, and Wisdom
Everywhere I go lately, people are asking me the same thing: How do I stay human when everyone is using AI? And honestly, I get it. We’re living in a moment where content is being produced faster and more generically than ever before and leaders are wondering how to keep their voice from...
-
Leadership Lessons for Creatives: Balancing Identity, Courage & Growth with Laura Higgins
In this episode of The Badass Softie Podcast, Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with creative business mentor and coach Laura Higgins for a heartfelt, grounded conversation on what it really means to lead as a creative. Laura opens up about her journey from “generalist” uni dropout to running a...
-
Why Success Doesn’t Require the Spotlight with Tim Schurrer
In this episode of Badass Softie, I sit down with my longtime friend and former colleague, Tim Schurrer — someone whose leadership shaped not only my career, but the culture and growth of StoryBrand itself. Tim is the author of The Secret Society of Success, a book that gently dismantles the...
-
The Leadership Shift: Redefining Success with Amy Porterfield
For leaders who chase big goals but crave meaning just as much as momentum — this conversation is for you. Dr. J.J. Peterson sits down with Amy Porterfield, New York Times bestselling author of Two Weeks Notice, to unpack how ambition can serve you without consuming you. Amy shares how she went...
-
Feeling Burned Out? THIS Might Be the Missing Piece
You’ve been grinding nonstop: chasing goals, managing pressure, holding it all together. But lately, even the wins don’t feel like wins anymore. If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. In this solo episode of Badass Softie, Dr. J.J. Peterson unpacks how burnout quietly steals your joy,...
-
How to Lead Through Grief
What do you do when life doesn’t go to plan — when the roadblocks, losses, and grief feel like they’ve stopped you in your tracks? In this episode of Badass Softie, Dr. J.J. Peterson opens up about the year he lost his father and became a dad in the same weekend. Through stories of heartbreak and...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
A Badass Softie is unapologetically ambitious and leads with heart. Ambitious and kind. Fun and driven. Powerful and deeply human.Badass Softie, hosted by Dr. J.J. Peterson, is a podcast that challenges the false choice leaders are too often given: be strong or be compassionate. The world doesn’t just need more leaders — it needs leaders bold enough to make an impact and compassionate enough to make it meaningful. Each episode pulls back the curtain on leaders, creators, and innovators who are rewriting the rules of what real leadership looks like. You’ll walk away with stories, insights, and practical takeaways that show you how to lead with both strength and softness — the very definition of being a Badass Softie.Subscribe and follow and step fully into the kind of leader the world is waiting for.
HOSTED BY
Dr. J.J. Peterson
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Badass Softie have?
Badass Softie currently has 60 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Badass Softie about?
A Badass Softie is unapologetically ambitious and leads with heart. Ambitious and kind. Fun and driven. Powerful and deeply human.Badass Softie, hosted by Dr. J.J. Peterson, is a podcast that challenges the false choice leaders are too often given: be strong or be compassionate. The world doesn’t...
How often does Badass Softie release new episodes?
Badass Softie has 60 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Badass Softie?
You can listen to Badass Softie on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Badass Softie?
Badass Softie is created and hosted by Dr. J.J. Peterson.
URL copied to clipboard!