The Leap Academy Podcast with Ilana Golan is all about honest and inspiring conversations about what it really takes to leap to bigger things, amazing careers, and craft the life you want. Stories and tips you won't find anywhere else. Ilana speaks with some of the world's most influential people, experts, and thinkers who created incredible careers, massive impact, built a reputation, and an extraordinary life. Together we discover the untold truths, the emotions, and important lessons that enabled them to reinvent themselves & leap. We take our audience on a journey that will not only inspire but also teach concrete lessons on how to leap careers: fast-track to leadership, jump to entrepreneurship, build a personal brand, portfolio career, and much more.
169 episodes transcribedDespite his high intelligence, George Barrios nearly flunked out of both high school and college, drifting without discipline or direction. Realizing...
When Eric Ries built his first startup, he believed he had the perfect plan. But when no customers showed up, the business collapsed, exposing a costl...
Jason Feifer started his career writing about middle school dances at a tiny local newspaper, frustrated and convinced he was capable of more. Stuck i...
Tim Draper didn’t become a legendary investor with billions in his account overnight; he started by taking a $6 million loan to launch his first ventu...
When Yancey Strickler moved to New York, he was broke, freelancing for $50, and chasing a writing career. Little did he know, his gift for building on...
Elena Cardone’s life changed the day she watched her best friend die in a house fire. That trauma sent her spiraling into a decade of drugs and alcoho...
Ra’anan Cohen walked into the tech world with no fancy degree and no startup pedigree; just a phone call from a friend and the promise of free food an...
When Kim Perell was fired, she had to fire all her friends on the same day. The company she thought would make her a millionaire had just gone bankrup...
Jason Fried didn’t follow the startup rules most founders swear by. He rejected venture capital, refused to chase growth at all costs, and chose to st...
Don McGuire did not build his career through a straight line. He lost elections as a kid, moved every few years, started over again and again, and had...
In the late 1990s, Mike Seckler started a company with little experience, plenty of curiosity, and no idea what was coming. Then the dot-com bubble bu...
When Bill Gurley wanted to break into Wall Street, there were no job postings waiting for him. So he flew to New York, knocked on doors, and asked str...
Nir Eyal grew up clinically obese, ashamed of his body, and convinced that food controlled him. He tried every diet: low-fat, keto, vegetarian, and in...
Dr. Amy Shah did everything she was supposed to do. Ivy League education. Elite medical training. Multiple board certifications. On paper, her life lo...
The world tells leaders they must be everything: visionary, innovator, operator, executor. Patrick Lencioni tried, but it nearly crushed him. He wasn’...
Before Damian Maldonado was negotiating billion-dollar valuations or building businesses across Puerto Rico, he was a kid living in poverty and sharin...
After two decades as a pastor making $50K a year, Eileen Wilder woke up to a terrifying truth: she was meant for more. Her body was breaking down. Her...
Stephanie Mehta never chased the CEO title. She chased the story. She built her career in some of the toughest newsrooms in the world, including The W...
At just ten years old, Kim Storin was writing letters to CEOs, asking for donations and clearly outlining why her cause mattered. That instinct to con...
Long before ChatGPT became a household name, Zack Kass was walking into boardrooms as Head of Go-To-Market at OpenAI, introducing executives to a tech...
