Ep17 Jeff Bettinger, From Classroom to C-Suite: The Foundation of True Leadership: Leadership Development

HOST: Ovi Vasquez, Inspirational Leadership Keynote Speaker. Fatherless farm boy from rural Guatemala—Inspiring teams to peak performance. He challenges teams to embrace change and step into bold leadership. He grew up in a village off-the-grid, migrated to the U.S., learned English in two years, graduated from high school in three years, earned a B.A. in management, in two years. Ovi has worked for Apple, Tesla, Salesforce, and Uber. He is a TEDx speaker, author, and a social entrepreneur.

GUEST BIO: Jeff Bettinger is a global CHRO & board-level advisor who partners with CEOs and investors to unlock growth through people, culture, and leadership. With 20+ years across Fortune 100/500, high-growth, and PE-backed companies, he’s led transformation through M&A, IPOs, and rapid scale. Jeff is a best-selling leadership author, board-certified executive coach, and trusted advisor at critical inflection points.

Find our guest at: https://JeffBettinger.com
Find our host at: https://www.ovinspires.com

Keywords: leadership development, executive coaching, IPO strategy, corporate transformation, people-first leadership, talent development, psychological safety, emotional intelligence, growth mindset, mentoring, organizational culture, business education.

Summary: In this episode, Jeff Bettinger, Chief Administrative Officer at Hudson Talent Solutions, shares how his foundation in education shaped his global impact as a corporate leader. Drawing on lessons from teaching, parenting, and executive coaching, Jeff offers practical advice for C-suite leaders navigating rapid change. He explains why psychological safety and failure-tolerant cultures are essential for leadership development.

Takeaways
✅ Great leaders create safe environments for failure and learning.
✅ Self-awareness is the most important leadership trait.
✅ Most executive challenges are rooted in personal patterns that began long before leadership.
✅ The best way to develop leaders is by giving them responsibility.
✅ Change management is at the heart of leadership in both education and business.
✅ YouTube is an underrated tool for just-in-time leadership learning.
✅ Giving others ownership builds confidence and reveals future leaders.
✅ Strong leaders help teams navigate complexity by breaking responsibilities into small, clear parts.

Titles
✅ From Classroom to C-Suite: Jeff Bettinger’s Leadership Blueprint
✅ Lessons from a CHRO: Growth, Grit, and Developing Future Leaders
✅ Psychological Safety and Self-Awareness: The Foundation of True Leadership

Sound Bites
🗣 “Leadership is people stuff.”
🗣 “Most problems executives face started before they became executives.”
🗣 “Self-aware leaders develop the next generation of leaders.”
🗣 “The best leaders I’ve seen make failure safe.”

Chapters
00:00 – Intro: Who is Jeff Bettinger
02:00 – From Teacher to Global CHRO
04:00 – Leadership that Earns Trust
07:00 – Education, Boy Scouts, and Swiss Alps Lessons
09:00 – Executive Coaching Patterns
13:00 – Building Psychological Safety at Work
16:00 – Navigating Change in IPOs and Mergers
19:00 – Giving Responsibility to Grow Leaders
21:00 – Book: Geysers, Grizzlies, and Grit
26:00 – Books Every Leader Should Read

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