Innovating Leadership:
Co-Creating Our Future

Resources:

Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.

Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI, or check out the Kindle version at https://amzn.to/44buVz8. The audiobook version is now available at  https://amzn.to/4dTCleZ.

Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.

Listen to George’s other episodes:

• Leading with Character: A Real-Life Red Roof Report
• Red Roof: Revisioning the Future
• Expecting the Unexpected: VUCA in Action at Red Roof

Guest(s):

Guest(s) Bio:

George B. Limbert is a visionary executive and transformational leader with a proven track record of driving organizational growth and operational excellence. As President of ILI’s Innovative Executive Solutions, George partners directly with boards and executive teams to accelerate strategic transformation, deliver measurable performance, and implement world-class leadership frameworks.

George’s executive leadership is distinguished by his tenure as President and CEO of Red Roof Franchising, where he led a dramatic financial turnaround, tripling EBITDA in just 12 months during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has built scalable infrastructure and operational processes for multi-million-dollar organizations, consistently delivering results in complex, challenging environments.

Transcript
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Maureen: Welcome to Innovating Leadership co-creating our future, where we explore cutting edge ideas to help leaders thrive in a rapidly changing world. I’m your host, Maureen Metcalf, the CEO, and founder of the Innovative Leadership Institute. Today I’m thrilled to welcome George Limbert, who’s stepping into an exciting new role for our institute. He’ll be the President of Innovative Executive Solutions. George brings a unique philosophy, grounded in judicial temperament, doing the right things, and helping leaders find their North star.

George (2): Thank you again, Maureen. For having me on the podcast. I think this is maybe number three or four. And so very excited to be back. Number four, very excited to be back and very excited to be sharing kind of the new adventures of what’s going on. The opportunity presented itself based on the atmosphere of what we were seeing.

[00:01:00] We were seeing a mass exodus. We are seeing a mass exodus of C-suite executives. Who are retiring because of the grind being too much. And we’re seeing a gap in seasoned veteran executives who can help companies do what they need to do to get to where they want to be. And when you see that opportunity, it just made sense for me to come on board to the ILI and open the IES division.

Of innovative executive solutions. ‘Cause we think that there’s a need out there and we think we can meet that need by providing the right, temporary, part-time, fractional, whatever you want to call it, executive into businesses, and help them really excel. I was excited because I feel like my career path has led to this moment

Maureen (2): let’s jump to a little bit about your leadership philosophy. What is judicial temperament and what does that have to do with doing the right [00:02:00] thing?

George (2): Yeah, no, the way I’ve always viewed traditional temperament and like we talked about in previous podcasts, I’m the. i’m the son of a a federal magistrate judge. And judicial temperament has been a big part of my upbringing and it’s something that I’ve been really trying to impart at the various companies that I’ve been at.

And what it is, is the ability to really analyze problems. And look at them from a non-emotional perspective and look at them from a perspective of trying to solve and overcome those issues. But not allowing emotions to, to get to the top or rise to the top of the decision making tree.

And part of that’s trying to lead the business to do the right thing. And what I always say is, if you do the right thing, you never have to worry. If you do the right thing for the business, you don’t have to worry about the business ’cause the business is gonna succeed if you do the right thing for your people.

You don’t have to worry about your people because they know you’re doing the right thing. They’re gonna respect you for that no matter what the [00:03:00] right thing is. And sometimes the right thing isn’t always the easiest thing. And so sometimes those are the hard things to do and sometimes it’s really easy to do the wrong thing.

And it’s really hard to do the right thing. So combining those two philosophies of do the right thing, judicial temperament has been very successful for me. And I’m excited to, to help that span across different industries because I can impart that wisdom on different companies and really see and feel the the success of that.

Maureen (2): So I would love to hear one or two stories about your experiences in this One of the things I appreciate about you is you see things that I don’t because of your legal training. So something that might on the surface seem yeah, of course. Why? What’s the big deal? And there are also lots of things that are far more nuanced that you will see through a different lens [00:04:00] than other executives, even with strong training and how that has helped you guide businesses.

George (2): The best thing to talk about is how you handle your people. How do you handle your team members? And yes, there is a very rigid legal way to do that. But there’s also a right way to do that. And they certainly intersect, but sometimes they go in opposite directions and how you treat that team member.

Sure you can turn over to the human Resources department to do all the termination of an employee and remove the human element from it. And that’s maybe the legal thing to do. But is it the right thing, not only for that person who’s departing, but also for the rest of your team and how they view how you as the leader handled that.

So yes, having a legal background helps you say, here is what the book, so to speak, the legal book, I don’t know, so to speak, says for [00:05:00] you to do. But here’s the aspects that you should think about that could alleviate problems in the future. And based on my experience, here’s where things.

Go wrong if you follow this rigidity that that may not take into consideration the human element.

Maureen (2): That dovetails really in an important way with the rate of change we’re seeing right now. And there are places where I think it makes sense to fall back on. There’s just a right way to do things. There were other areas where. need to update our thinking about what’s right. That five years ago, pre COVID, during COVID, there was a way of doing things that employees are, have different expectations now and we interact. Again, back to nuanced. We really need to attend to. The environment we’re [00:06:00] creating and the commitment and the sense of security as folks are worrying about losing their jobs to AI and the number of fears that people have at this point. Building trusts is crucial.

George (2): It is key and communication’s a huge. Piece of that puzzle as well, and constant communication with your team members, constantly trying to figure out what keeps them going, what lights them up, what motivates them to do the right thing and guiding them to that. the other thing I think about too is I, I think you’ve heard me say it.

On this podcast if I was running a hotel brand during COVI and what I tell people is if you weren’t on the front lines battling COVID in the hospitality industry, if you were at home sitting, in your in, in your kitchen you were obsolete to the industry changed overnight.

You were obsolete. And we are all living with what. Changed during [00:07:00] COVID and then, before we could even catch our breath, we get hit with this AI revolution, and it’s really, I think the good that came outta COVID is a lot of the transformation stuff.

I think that AI is exciting in a lot of wonderful ways, but to your point, it’s exceptionally scary to your team and the importance of communication just comes. Full circle in that moment because you have to be able to constantly communicate to your team as to how you’re evolving as a business.

Whether you’re trying to fight the, come back to the office situation that’s maybe still lingering out there. Whether you’re trying to get your team members to fully embrace AI to make their lives more efficient. It’s we’re living in a very uncertain world. And and the best way to help ease the tension of your team is to constantly and effectively communicate with them.

Maureen (2): Yeah, I was with a group of technology mid-tier technology leaders this morning, and so we’re airing this in January of 2026. Many [00:08:00] organizations just hit their return to the office full time. It looked like about a third of the folks were. Mandated to be back full-time. Some were saying their manager would probably give them a lot more latitude.

They didn’t really have to be in full-time, but there was a lot of resentment. The hybrid, three days a week people seemed fine. The, I have to be back in the office full time. Lots of. Anger and resentment that we were able to do this and we did it effectively and we were really productive and now you’re telling us we can’t work from home. It’s, it seems like in the US I, I am not in touch with this as much globally that. The entire attitude about the workplace is changing from during COVID. [00:09:00] It was hard to find workers. Now it’s hard to find jobs, and the culture has shifted, not just the availability of jobs.

George (2): Yeah, for sure. I’m already seeing folks that are opting out of their current jobs. Because of the requirement to, to return to work to return to the work office or the office. And so it’s and then couple that with the uncertainty of the job market. We’re seeing tons of people that are, open to work.

It’s it’s an interesting problem and juxtaposition and really that’s where culture building. And doing the right thing for your team and for your company comes into play. A mandated return to the office is maybe not always the best solution. And understanding, and I get it.

There’s, competition amongst departments. If the technology department gets to stay home, why doesn’t the finance department get to stay home? Or those kind of things. So it’s really about, it’s really about building your culture. And it doesn’t just come because you, give free lunch or give them a [00:10:00] lunch.

Or pay for their lunch or anything like that. You really have to dig into the mindset of the employee and understand what is it about the work from home that was making them so successful. What is it about the work from home that makes ’em want it so badly? And are they truly, what how do you comfort your shareholders?

Or how do you comfort your owners in the sense that they’re actually working when they’re home as well. And so I think that’s, again, it comes with con communication, feedback from your employees, understanding their sentiment, understanding where they’re coming from, and trying to meet them where they are and also help them do the right thing for the business.

Maureen (2): And as you’ve said, it’s a complex equation and. Balancing, ensuring that you’re getting the level of work you’re paying for is a fiduciary responsibility. But watching my fanny sit in a chair doesn’t mean I’m actually doing the work you’re paying me to do versus my Amazon shopping or playing Angry Birds or something on my laptop.

George (2): And this is the problem. We talk about all the change [00:11:00] that occurred. With COVID and all the change that occurred now, that’s occurring now with ai. The problem that, that this is a result of is not from any of those things. It’s a failure to manage and the failure to manage people has been the issue from day one.

If you’re an effective manager, if you’re a good leader and you’re exhibiting good leadership skills, then you shouldn’t have a problem understanding the productivity of your team at any moment, whether they’re sitting right next to you or whether they’re remote. And I think that’s what, that’s really the problem.

And companies, I think if I could just put eyes on them every day, they’re gonna be productive. And the truth is that they’re gonna be as productive as they were, if not less. ’cause now they have to commute and now they have to, they don’t have the evening time to spend as much with with doing their work.

So it’s gonna be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Maureen (2): A, and I wanna give the caveat, there are some people who wanna be in the office full time and making that available is also reasonable.

George (2): Oh yeah, for [00:12:00] sure. I, and I, and again, I just think it, you have to understand the core of the business and you have to understand the core of the team members and you have to give them what’s going to make the, give them the best and highest chance to succeed. And if someone says.

I want to be there five days a week. Let ’em be there five days a week. If someone says I wanna do hybrid, or, then I think, one thing that gets lost is this idea of collaborative time, right? And so having a designated week per month where everybody must be in to collaborate.

Seems to me like, a simple solution to really ensure productivity, to put eyes on your team, to be working together, to really instill a sense of team. There’s, just a lot of ideas that could really help.

Maureen (2): It’ll be interesting for our leadership team as we grow.

George (2): I.

Maureen (2): haven’t talked about do we have a shared physical space. I’ve not required that. I don’t, I’m introverted. I personally do not require sitting next to you. I [00:13:00] really like working with you, but,

George (2): but again it’s, it’s what I mean, you use us as an example. We have trust amongst each other.

Maureen (2): Yeah.

George (2): We trust that the team is gonna be doing what they need to do. We have really high level executives who have, who’ve been through this rodeo many times.

So there’s high level of trust, there’s high level of communication, there’s high level of collabor collaboration. So it’s a physical space in our circumstances is not necessary at all. So yeah, I think it just depends.

Maureen (2): So North Star, we talked a little bit in the intro about finding a North Star, and as you’ve transitioned since we’ve worked together. Three different roles. So you were promoted at Red Roof, then you exited there, went to another company, did some transitions there, and now you’re with us. What guides you and how did you figure that out?

’cause I think probably many of our listeners. Are curious [00:14:00] about how they define their next steps and it’s a confusing time, not just understanding the jobs that will continue to exist two years from now. If I take a new job, will it be there? But then what’s aligned with my values? You went through a complex thought process.

George (2): Yeah, no, and I think that, every, everybody’s situation is different and everybody is in different places in their lives to be able to. Determine what makes the most sense. But I had been thinking about something like this for a very long time. And and I saw the opportunity and I really felt that the timing was right and what led me down that path was I really evaluated what are the things that really motivate me?

What are the things I, I really enjoy doing? I remember when we were. Kids in art class and you would talk about right brain and left brain and you’d be drawing a picture and then all [00:15:00] of a sudden the bell would ring and you thought it was 30 seconds and it turned out to be an hour. And so that those what are the things that are gonna put you in the right mindset so that you, so you feel the time.

Passes very quickly and very enjoyably. And how can you monetize that? Let’s be honest, right? I can’t sit around with crayons all day and draw pictures and expect to make a living. So how do you do that and how do you really play to those strengths?

And I saw the opportunity and I, I always tell this to people. I got to the top of the hospitality industry. You don’t get to those places without really strong counselors and mentors and really great people to advise you along the way. You being one of those people, Maureen.

Maureen (2): Thank

George (2): And we spent lots of time and all of those, I’ve, I have a cad. I have five or six people that I consider in my kitchen cabinet of advisors and I spent a lot of time talking through all of these things with those people. And and it, that’s how it led me here. A lot of thought, a lot of analytics a lot of analysis and a lot of really trying [00:16:00] to find that north star within yourself to tell to help you really understand and help hone in on what’s gonna excite you, motivate you and really get you outta bed in the morning.

Maureen (2): One of the things I appreciated about you was that. Delicate balance of who am I and what do I value, also getting external input because we live in our own skin and in our own blind spots and biases. And you shared as candidly as I have ever heard anyone share with your CEO group that I’m part of the transition out of Red Roof and. It was interesting to see how people validated. It’s not just, this is what I think, therefore I must be right, but this is my personal experience painted as, as unbiasedly as a human can do. But we still have biases. [00:17:00] And then hearing from. Seasoned executives give you feedback on, here are the questions I would ask.

What have you seen? What have you not seen? And a fairly unanimous perspective on your next step, which I think at least helps validate, not that we’re asking other people what we should do, but the validation process I think is helpful.

George (2): we all live with insecurities about everything in our lives and having a really. Amazing group of executives tell you that the path you’re on is the, is the right one, is exceptionally validating. And I think that’s part of the decision making process is really searching for that validation as you’re really gut checking whether you’re doing the right thing.

And so having a bunch of folks say, you know what? This. Sounds like you’re on the right path. Sounds like you’re doing what you should be doing and really focused on the right issues is exceptionally helpful. Not everybody [00:18:00] has that but I think that there’s a ton of resources out there where people can, utilize their mentors their advisors, their good close friends to to help them in these types of transitions and these types of major life and job changes.

Maureen (2): I really appreciated that a foundation of your decisions was your family’s wellbeing. So

George (2): yeah.

Maureen (2): our listeners, they don’t know that about you, and we often hear executives give the business side, but we don’t hear how committed. You are I assume many others are as well, the folks I work with, but that is a foundation to your decision.

George (2): You and I actually spent a lot of time on the idea of transforming your leadership journey. You look at my timeline of departure from Red Roof and then most recently, my most recent company those two decisions were really rooted in growing your development level of [00:19:00] leadership beyond that of what you’re expected to be as a leader.

When I left Red Roof to go to a construction company, the conventional wisdom was, what are you doing? You have a one in 11 job that you know that, that is in the United States. There’s no other, there’s only 11 of the same jobs. You’re giving that up there.

Go to a construction company and what really? Motivated me to do that was, of course all of the things we had just talked about and all the mentorship, but also all of the family. And being around and being more present for my family was really a huge factor in that decision. And it also came to play in this next decision as well.

And oftentimes doing the right thing isn’t what everybody is expecting you to do. Oftentimes doing the right thing isn’t what. The world thinks you should be doing. It’s really what is what you should be doing, what you know is the right thing. The right thing for my family was, for me to get to this point, the right thing for my leadership journey was for me to get to this point and the right thing for most importantly myself, was for me to get to this point.

It, [00:20:00] it all comes together and it’s all part of that and you can’t. Downplay that you can’t folks often struggle because they say if I do this, what is everybody going to think? And if that’s gonna lead your decisions then you’re going down the wrong path.

You know what you really should be saying is how’s it going to affect myself? How’s it going to affect my family? How’s it gonna affect my wellbeing? And how’s it gonna affect the others around me? And that’s the consideration set you should have, not what everybody else is gonna think.

If you sit around thinking, waiting for everybody to think good things about you, then I think you’ll be waiting a long time.

Maureen (2): Or you’ll be fairly internally struggling

George (2): Yeah.

Maureen (2): you’ve made decisions that aren’t aligned with your values.

George (2): exactly. Exactly.

Maureen (2): So now let’s jump into the seven mindsets framework that we talked about in the intro. You mentioned a little bit about mindsets. Which mindset do you believe is most [00:21:00] crucial for leaders to navigate.

George (2): where I’ve made mistakes in my career, where I’ve made mistakes in general in my life is when I’ve lacked humility. So I think that’s where it begins is your professional humility. And being contrite being, sorry.

Admitting you’re wrong. Admitting you don’t know everything. Admitting that your decision here may have been rushed or may have been brash and you need to rethink it. I think about a time where again, with Red Roof, we’re going through tons and tons of transition. We have executives leaving.

We have, we have team members that we want to keep. And I missed a promotion on one of the team members and that team member came to me and said, boy, this person became a vice president and this person became a vice president. But what about me? I thought I was supposed to be.

Promoted as well, and I thought for a second and said, boy, I probably could come up with something here that, makes no sense. But then I really went and said, let’s do the right [00:22:00] thing. Let’s talk about the truth. And I said, the truth is, I just missed it. I just missed it. I won’t miss it again.

You’re exactly right. You deserve this promotion. It has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with me missing it, and I will put it in the, I will put it in for consideration here very shortly. And it saw that kind of candor, that kind of humility admitting that you made a mistake and doing the right thing and being honest with your team member is really what made all the difference.

And that built trust, talking about earlier what we were talking about that built a lot of trust between that person and I and that trust played very well for us as we continued. Our professional relationships. So I really think about that first. I think it starts with humility.

Doing the right thing, of course is on there and, an unwavering commitment to the right action. Again, when you’re not humble, you stumble, oh boy, maybe I should trademark that. When you don’t do the right thing, you have to worry, and I think those are two, two of the [00:23:00] seven that stand out the most to me.

Maureen (2): One of the other mindsets is inspiring followership. And to me that humility and doing the right thing feed into, I’m not gonna follow someone I don’t think is honest. not gonna follow someone who I think

George (2): takes

Maureen (2): the easy path and covers up their mistakes, we’re all tempted to do that. Boy, it’s, yeah, there’s a reason it’s called The Easy Path.

George (2): It’s hard to do the right thing. It’s hard to be honest with your team, especially when you, it puts egg on your face. But you know what though? That comes down to culture as well. And if you have a culture of trust and you have a culture of candor, and you have a culture of openness where team members aren’t afraid to speak up or speak their mind because they’re afraid that they may get their hand slapped.

Or they may get disciplined or they may lose their job for just talking about where they have a problem. we’re data people, right? We’re data scientists, all of us, and we want data. And data is feedback from an employee who speaks up in a meeting and [00:24:00] says, I don’t like the way we’re doing this.

And why wouldn’t you accept that data? Why wouldn’t you create an environment where that data. Is freely given. It’s the best data in the world. It’s the best information you can have from your employees telling you exactly how they feel in an environment where they feel safe to do it. Why create anything else?

The it really I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

Maureen (2): Oh, there are days I can imagine doing it a two completely different way. Sorry if, because it’s hard sometimes to hear that. You don’t agree? Here we go again and it’s the back to, it’s the right thing, but it does get frustrating sometimes.

George (2): Yeah, it’s not easy. But I think that, my, my strength as a leader was my one-on-one development of my team members and I always sat. And listen, the first 15 minutes, I let them drive the agenda. I let them tell me what, what’s on their plate before I started hammering them about what [00:25:00] I needed done.

And if you do that, it gives you an opportunity to really figure out their mindset and what’s maybe their frustrations. And you can you can analyze, you can really help them through that. And then once you do that, and then you drop. Hey, I need these 10 things done.

You get a little bit of a better response. But no, it’s, it what do they say? Le leadership or management would be easy if it weren’t for the people,

It’s it’s all about the people and people are different and people have different mindsets. And what motivates one person may not motivate the other and what works well for one may not work well for the other.

Frankly. What leadership style worked well 10 years ago? Maybe doesn’t work well today either. That’s part of this professional humility is that you are constantly looking at yourself. You’re looking inward and you’re constantly saying, you know what? This worked here, but this approach may not work where I’m at today, or This worked on this person, but this approach may not work on that person.

Maureen (2): Yeah. One of the other [00:26:00] mindsets is authentic and reflective and that ability to look inside. And really ask the question, is this working? Did I do my best? How might I update and elevate what my best looks like? That may have been my best today, but I hope that my best tomorrow is even better. And so there are two skills that stand out. In developing leaders and being the most effective leaders, self-awareness and that ability to reflect and refine. ’cause if we can’t do that, we can’t grow.

George (2): I don’t know about you, Maureen, but my self-awareness stems from the voice in my head. That is my mother. Constantly telling me that I need I, maybe not, I’m not as good as I think I am, and I need to do better, right? And that little voice inside your head that says you’ve gotta do better.

And you always have to look inward because you can. Nobody’s [00:27:00] perfect. Nobody is, the most important or vital thing to any business. But we are, but what you are is you can constantly improve and you can constantly improve what you’re doing, how you’re approaching it. And again, just like technology changes on a daily basis, just like we’re seeing with all the AI changes, so does your leadership.

So does what motivates your employees and your team members. All of that is changing, if not more rapidly than technology. And so running a playbook from 2005 or 2015. Doesn’t do you any good anymore. You’ve gotta understand the environment that you’re in. You and it may not do you may have ran a successful playbook in 2025, that’s not gonna work in 2026.

It may have worked for company A, it may not work for company B. So that, that authentic and and constant reflection of yourself, that mindset framework is so important because that’s how you evolve. To being successful in different, many different environments.

Maureen (2): Yeah, the thing [00:28:00] you talked about that context switching and you got it when you went from hospitality to construction and you’re getting it now moving into working with us. You have a different context in the law school. You’ve got a different context in your volunteer work and your board work in hotels for the homeless.

Each of them it’s an interesting. Idea because you are authentic to what is required of you in that situation, not just, I’m George, I’m gonna be the same for everyone, but the, I’m gonna pull from who I am, what different situations require.

George (2): and you would think that. I have three ventures going right now, and you brought up one of them, which is common Roots which is a business, a social enterprise for-profit, business designed and helping combat the homeless issue within Central Ohio.

And what we focus on is helping place homeless people in housing [00:29:00] and deeply affordable housing, whether that’s through a hotel or. Or whether that’s an apartment and and you would think, oh, George Limbert Brandand, a major hotel company and he is, should be the right person to run a deeply affordable housing company.

That’s not the case, right? I’m a member of the board. I oversee certain aspects of the company but there’s a CEO. And he’s an incredible expert when it comes to dealing with homeless population. And so that’s part of the reflective nature of what we do as leaders is we understand where we can be most effective and how we can provide the best help and the highest and best use.

And that’s, I think, that’s a little bit of a subset also of inspiring followship. Followership is you also need to know when to lead and when to follow as well.

Maureen (2): I think that’s a really good point, and you’ve been in enough leadership roles that you’re probably happy when somebody else takes it, takes the reins on occasion.

George (2): Some, for some reason, everybody wants to take [00:30:00] the minutes of every meeting, so when someone else takes the minutes, I’m happy with that.

Maureen (2): That’s what AI’s for the AI minute takers are really quite helpful.

George (2): Yep.

Maureen (2): for listeners leading who want to elevate their leadership and align with their North Stars, as you have talked about doing yourself. the best way to start working, toward that? And if they wanted to work with you, how would that happen?

George (2): Yeah. So there’s two types of folks that that I’m looking for, right? One of them is people that need leadership fractional leadership. And an executive advisory executive services to help them in with their business issues. And that’s easy. Go to innovative leadership.com.

G limbert@innovatinginnovativeleadership.com is the way to get ahold of me. And then of course, if you are in that point in your career where you think helping lots of businesses and [00:31:00]imparting the knowledge that you’ve gained. And the wisdom that you’ve gained through your career, and you wanna try your put your hat in the ring to, to try to be one of these advisors.

I’d love to hear from you as well and talk about how that could work.

Maureen (2): Beautiful. I am beyond delighted to have you leading this business unit, and we’re gonna be talking to other people on the podcast as well who are joining us. So our listeners will get to hear from. People who have, I have been interviewing as clients and thought leaders in the community, and they’re now joining the team and I am, and you’re running that.

George (2): I’m exceptionally excited. I just I’m honored to be around such incredible minds and I can’t wait. For your listeners, stay tuned because, the folks that are on this list are pretty great and they’re gonna be incredible assets to this organization, and the future is really bright and I’m pretty excited to be part of it.

Maureen (2): So for our listeners, thank you for joining. Please listen [00:32:00] share, follow, comment that your input helps the algorithms make the podcast more accessible to other people.

George (2): thank you Maureen for ha having me today and thank you to all the listeners and have a great day.

Maureen (2): Thank you, George.