The Hollow Bunny Leadership Podcast

For Episode 76 of the Hollow Bunny Leadership Podcast, Kristen and Sylvia got out of the studio and onto a stage in California, where they recorded a live episode during the RISE conference. In front of an audience of women in policing, they went back to the beginning – sharing the story of how they met, explaining what "hollow bunny" means, and revisiting some of the stories and lessons that have shaped the podcast over the past four years. For longtime listeners, there’s something pretty great about hearing some of those stories again, this time with a live audience reacting along with them. And for anyone new to the podcast, it’s a chance to get to know Kristen and Sylvia and understand what the Hollow Bunny is all about without having to start at Episode 1. The live setting also gave the conversation a different energy and made for a particularly powerful episode for women working in the profession.

In this episode of the Hollow Bunny Leadership Podcast, former police chiefs and hosts Kristen Ziman and Sylvia Moir explore the delicate leadership balance between extending grace through "charitable assumptions" and recognizing actual behavioral patterns when people fall short. Drawing on concepts like the fundamental attribution error and the three distinct dimensions of trust—ability, benevolence, and integrity—they discuss how leaders can guard against personal biases, ensure their words align with their daily actions, and navigate the tough choices that arise when competing professional and personal priorities collide.

In our latest episode, Kristen Ziman and Sylvia Moir tackle the "selection problem" in modern organizations, debating whether leaders are too often promoted based on surface-level traits like charisma, confidence, and visibility rather than true substance. Using their signature "hollow bunny" metaphor to describe leaders who look the part but lack depth, Kristen argues that standard interview panels routinely reward high-visibility personalities over quiet competence and team-building capability. Sylvia offers pushback by introducing the Ivey Business School Leader Character Framework, emphasizing that robust leadership evaluation must test multidimensional character traits - such as judgment, humanity, courage, and temperance - under pressure. Ultimately, Kristen and Sylvia examine how leaders frequently promote others based on shared personal values, offering a compelling look at how organizations can look beyond charm to assess authentic character and capability.

In this episode of The Hollow Bunny Leadership Podcast, former police chiefs Sylvia Moir and Kristen Ziman explore personal transformation and leadership after stepping away from executive roles, drawing on concepts from Jim Collins, David Brooks, and Colin Powell. They break down a four-part framework for navigating life's major transitions: confronting the Cliff (defining, trajectory-altering life events), navigating the Fog (the uncertain period after a crisis that demands disciplined patience rather than hasty action), tending the Fire (the enduring internal purpose that outlasts any job title), and cultivating Self-Knowledge (continually re-evaluating one's identity across different seasons of life). Ultimately, the hosts highlight that true fulfillment comes from separating your personal worth from your position, using resilience and inner purpose to guide your next chapter.

In Episode 72, co-hosts Kristen Ziman and Sylvia Moir dive into the psychology of workplace productivity by unpacking Parkinson’s Law – the famous adage that work expands to fill the time allocated for its completion. Trading witty banter about childhood Trapper Keepers and questionable snack choices, the duo dissects how this law manifests in organizations, particularly through "artificial busyness" and bureaucratic bloat (illustrated by the humorous trap of managers hiring multiple assistants who simply create more work for one another). To combat this, they connect Parkinson's Law to the Law of Triviality (where committees obsess over minor details they all understand) and the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule), offering actionable leadership strategies to trim the fat. Ultimately, they argue that modern leaders should use constraint as a tool for impact – recommending shorter deadlines, breaking large projects into bite-sized milestones, replacing hour-long calendar blocks with highly structured 15-minute syncs, and focusing strictly on outcomes rather than the illusion of being busy.