How do we keep engaging—through work, retirement, and even life’s toughest transitions?

In this episode of the What Juices You Podcast, employee engagement expert and author David Zinger joins Brady Wilson to share why engagement isn’t a static metric, but a verb you live daily.

Founder of the Employee Engagement Network and a lifelong educator, David reframes engagement as an act of agency, mindfulness, and play. From practicing “10-minute engagement zones” to volunteering in a palliative ward, he shows how engagement is both a gift to your present and an investment in your future self.

David and Brady dive into retirement, trust in organizations, the necessity of demands, and even making peace with death as a “final friend.” His perspective invites leaders to see engagement not as something done to us, but as a dynamic choice we can make—moment by moment.

In this conversation you’ll learn:

• Why engagement as a verb creates energy across every stage of life
• How today’s choices fuel your “future self” in retirement and beyond
• The role of mindfulness, micro-lingering, and play in leadership
• What palliative care can teach us about living fully engaged
• Why freedom without demands may actually drain energy

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Transforming Workplace Engagement For Over 20 Years

Whether you’re looking to grow leadership capabilities, build high-performance teams or fuel everyday innovation, Juice’s proven content and customized learning solutions will deliver lasting impact and help you transform your workplace. For 20 years, we’ve partnered with companies around the world to transform employee engagement. Every day, we work with leaders like you to unlock the energy needed to fuel performance.

• Leadership Training Programs
• Learning Experiences
• Leadership Resources
• Webinars & Workshops
• About Juice

How do you lead a fast-growing town with small-town roots—and keep people energized through change?

In this episode of the What Juices You podcast, Doug Nadorozny, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Aurora, shares his unique leadership journey—from building a thriving tech company in Northern Ontario, to guiding municipalities through growth, complexity, and cultural transformation.

Doug reflects on lessons learned from his entrepreneurial days—like empowering employees with “mission statement credit cards”—and how those principles still shape his approach to government leadership. He also unpacks Aurora’s 10-year transformation: developing a high-functioning executive team, implementing an Integrated Business Planning Process that other municipalities now admire, and building a culture ready for big projects and rapid growth.

What you’ll learn from Doug:

• Why empowering people to make values-based decisions sustains trust and performance
• How difficult conversations and patient leadership shape culture and teams
• The power of integrating strategy, budgeting, and culture into one coherent system
• Why legacy isn’t about projects alone, but the culture and capacity you leave behind

If you’re a leader facing complexity, balancing politics and people, or striving to turn small-town charm into large-town sophistication, Doug’s story offers practical wisdom and inspiration.

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Transforming Workplace Engagement For Over 20 Years

Whether you’re looking to grow leadership capabilities, build high-performance teams or fuel everyday innovation, Juice’s proven content and customized learning solutions will deliver lasting impact and help you transform your workplace. For 20 years, we’ve partnered with companies around the world to transform employee engagement. Every day, we work with leaders like you to unlock the energy needed to fuel performance.

• Leadership Training Programs
• Learning Experiences
• Leadership Resources
• Webinars & Workshops
• About Juice

How do you lead a business through feast and famine—and keep people at the center?

In this episode of the What Juices You podcast, Merlin Bartel, President & CEO of the Epic Group of Companies, shares how a passion for empowering the “underdog” has guided his leadership from the very beginning.

What started in 2001 with a single roofing truck has grown into a diverse group of companies spanning construction, restoration, exteriors, and even software. Yet Merlin’s true fuel remains the same: creating opportunity, belonging, and resilience through people.

In this conversation with host Brady Wilson, Merlin reflects on:

• How a heart for the underdog shaped Epic’s inclusive culture, now home to staff from 20+ nations.
• Why lived values—not just words on a wall—build the kind of trust and culture that last decades.
• How Epic sustains energy in a feast-or-famine industry through diversification, innovation, and treating subcontractors as true partners.
• The story of launching and selling SumoQuote, and how it created life-changing opportunities for his team.
• Why servant leadership, succession planning, and vision for the future keep him energized today.

If you’re a leader who believes culture and resilience grow from putting people first, this conversation with Merlin Bartel will inspire you to think bigger and lead deeper.

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Transforming Workplace Engagement For Over 20 Years

Whether you’re looking to grow leadership capabilities, build high-performance teams or fuel everyday innovation, Juice’s proven content and customized learning solutions will deliver lasting impact and help you transform your workplace. For 20 years, we’ve partnered with companies around the world to transform employee engagement. Every day, we work with leaders like you to unlock the energy needed to fuel performance.

• Leadership Training Programs
• Learning Experiences
• Leadership Resources
• Webinars & Workshops
• About Juice