Leading Ain’t Easy is hosted by Ryan Calkins and Erny Epley. Ryan is the founder of Reframe & Rise, a career and leadership coaching practice helping veterans and other professionals realign their work and lead with purpose. Erny runs Bus Pro Network, supporting school transportation leaders across California with training and development. Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram for clips, prompts, and behind-the-scenes upda...

In this Episode: The hosts focus on Imposter Syndrome, the feeling that you don't deserve your position and are waiting for someone to call you out. Defining the Doubt: Erny shares his first managerial experience (being a young boss to older, more experienced employees) and the blunt question that triggered his earliest professional imposter syndrome.Early Career Terrors: Ryan recounts being a 19-year-old Lance Corporal marksmanship coach, tasked with instructing NCOs and officers who had far...

Leadership isn’t all highlight reels, motivational quotes, or textbook frameworks. It’s messy, isolating, full of self-doubt, and it rarely looks the way it does on social media. That’s why we created Leading Ain’t Easy. In this special intro episode, Ryan Calkins and Erny Epley pull back the curtain on what this show is all about. We share our leadership journeys; from the Marine Corps, student government, and private-sector consulting to public-sector transportation leadership and building ...