Influence: How Leaders Create Lasting Change | Bernard Banks
The Jon Gordon Podcast
Jon Gordon
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of The Jon Gordon Podcast, I sit down with Bernard Banks—director of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University and co-author of The New Science of Momentum—for a powerful conversation about leadership that endures.
Bernard draws on his experiences teaching at West Point, leading at Northwestern's Kellogg School, and developing future leaders at Rice to share what makes great leadership: character, competence, intentionality, and accountability. We discuss the importance of trust, positive influence, and the ability to balance results with empathy to achieve sustainable success.
Bernard also offers key insights from his new book about how leaders turn moments into momentum, breaking down practical strategies backed by research and lived experience.
Whether you're leading a team or just starting out, this episode is a reminder that leadership is about influence and impact, not just authority. Tune in for actionable inspiration to grow as a leader and make a lasting difference.
About Bernard,
Dr. Bernard (Bernie) Banks is a renowned expert in leadership and organizational change, with global experience leading and developing teams across diverse sectors. He currently serves as Director of Rice University's Doerr Institute for New Leaders and Professor in the Practice of Leadership at the Jones Graduate School of Business.
A retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, Dr. Banks led West Point's Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership before transitioning to academia, where he also served on the senior leadership team at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
He holds degrees from West Point, Northwestern, Columbia, Harvard, and a Ph.D. in social-organizational psychology from Columbia. His work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Military Psychology, and The New York Times, and his latest book, The New Science of Momentum (HarperCollins, 2025), explores how great leaders and coaches build lasting impact.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the John Gordon podcast, where we share John's interviews with guests, as well as key strategies and lessons from his keynotes, coaching, and more. |
| 0:09.0 | We want to encourage you to check out John Gordoncertified.com if you're interested in growing as a leader, coach, speaker, or trainer. |
| 0:15.0 | When you get certified, you'll be able to teach, coach, and train others on John's most impactful mindset, leadership, and teamwork principles. |
| 0:22.5 | For more information, visit John Gordoncertified.com. That's J-O-N-Gordoncertified.com. Now let's jump in to |
| 0:29.3 | today's episode. |
| 0:31.5 | Hey, this is John Gordon with the John Gordon podcast. And today, my guest is Bernie Banks. Bernie, how you doing? |
| 0:38.5 | I'm doing well, John. |
| 0:39.5 | It's wonderful to be here. |
| 0:41.0 | It's great to have you. |
| 0:42.1 | We both have a passion for leadership development. |
| 0:46.5 | Talk about where you're currently working right now |
| 0:49.7 | in leadership development. |
| 0:51.5 | So currently I am the director of the Door Institute for New Leaders at |
| 0:55.3 | Rice University. Rice University is located in lovely Houston, Texas. And we are a world-class |
| 1:02.6 | institution that's dedicated to ensuring that our students have both competence and character. |
| 1:08.1 | As you know, competence can allow you to rise, but character is what allows you to thrive over time. |
| 1:12.9 | And so ensuring that our people are equipped |
| 1:14.6 | not only to do the right thing, |
| 1:17.1 | but also to know how to do the right things the right way |
| 1:19.7 | is integral to what we do here at Rice. |
| 1:21.9 | So I feel very blessed to have the opportunity |
| 1:24.1 | to work with these wonderful students. |
... |
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