Developing the most challenging “soft” skills to navigate high pressure, expert-driven organizations

I’m the founder of Towerscope, a social impact team and leadership development consulting firm, Duke University faculty member, a Psychology Today columnist, author of the Millennials Guide to Workplace Politics and a companion workbook, and a former research center executive within one of the most complex organizations in the U.S.

The Hard Skills show combines research and practical tips about the highly nuanced leadership skills needed to navigate today's leadership challenges, such as creating inclusive and healthy workplaces and managing conflict and tension during organizational upheaval.

The show appeals especially to leaders who come from technical backgrounds who have moved into leadership roles over time (e.g., healthcare, STEM, tech, academia, law, pharma, life sciences). It is also a draw for organizational misfits (people who might feel a misalignment between the organizational culture and their leadership style). But the leadership "soft" skills we discuss apply to anyone on their leadership journey.
 

I listened and enjoyed many podcasts myself, but I chose this medium because I personally enjoy deep, meaningful, one-on-one conversations with smart people. This lets me keep learning and exploring my ideas and learn from others, while I also teach others and help increase my visibility in the work I do. I already wrote a lot (books, Psychology Today blog, newsletters), but the podcast medium allows people to connect better with my personality.

I started my podcast in July 2023 and we released the first episode in August after we had four episodes completed.
 

I currently release episodes once a week. I previously used a company (TalkRadio.nyc) to produce it and we live streamed and then published it into a podcast afterward. Since December 2025, I now record all episodes and publish it to my YouTube channel (@DrMiraBrancu) as well as the same Apple and Spotify podcast venues since 2023.

I have developed a system to find guests, and help walk them through the guest onboarding and prep process using a 10-page guide I created, and Google Forms to help me collaboratively develop the skeleton outline for the introduction, the questions I will ask them, and the social media information we need to promote the episode. I have an assistant who uses a template I created to develop the social media assets and draft announcements we use. I also have an editor. Using this system, it takes about 20-25 hours per month to produce 4 episodes, including communicating with the guests, reading their books (I like to have guests with books and prepare well for them), develop thumbnails for YouTube, review transcripts and other notes for production, and promote them on social media.
 

I do not currently take sponsorship from the podcast, though I would be open to considering it. So podcasting currently doesn't benefit me monetarily but I use it to enhance my personal brand, increase awareness and connection to new folks who don't yet know me (top of the sales funnel), and keep learning.
 

I use RedCircle for distribution, vidIQ to optimize YouTube content, Canva for thumbnails and social media promotion, Riverside for recording, and then my podcast production team for the rest. I previously used a Yeti microphone and earbuds; now I've moved to a Shure microphone. Both are good in my opinion.

The large majority of the guests I have had on my show so far are folks already in my network that I invited, or new folks I have heard speak and I'm excited to hear more from. However, once I reached about 50-60 episodes, I began receiving outreach from podcast PR folks wanting to get their clients on my podcast. I have a system to evaluate the fit of each guest. I use Google Forms to have each guest who is unknown to me apply to see if they meet my criteria. If they are a good fit for what I am looking for, I will invite them to set up their episode date through my Calendly link, read my 10-page guide to prep in general, and fill out a social media promotion and prep form (also via Google Forms) to help me plan out the episode by pulling out their responses about their area of expertise. In that form we ask guests to upload their headshot and bio and my assistant uses that information to develop social media promotion assets.
 

We publish on YouTube, and primarily promote on LinkedIn and through my newsletter. These seem to be my best marketing channels.
 

When I was doing the show live it was liberating in some ways because I had to let go of worrying about creating a perfectly edited show and instead embrace authentic dialogue, but now that I edit them, I like having more control over that process. I waited for a long time to get started, but I truly enjoyed the process when I started. Outsourcing was critical to my success - I would never have the time to do this otherwise. Sometimes I do wonder if all the work is worth it, but as long as I am enjoying the process I will continue. It's not enough to do the podcast - you must promote it and ideally invite guests who aren't shy about promoting it - it's what helps with visibility.
 

The best places to find me are here:
www.GoTowerscope.com
https://www.linkedin.com/company/towerscope/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancu
https://bsky.app/profile/mirabrancu.bsky.social
https://youtube.com/@DrMiraBrancu
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-skills/id1706366751