Podcasts about ceos

If you're constantly babysitting your senior team, the problem probably isn't your management style; it's who's sitting in the seats. In this episode of DarrenDaily On-Demand, Darren Hardy shares a three-part test built around a surprising admission from one of the most powerful CEOs in the world, one who says he doesn't actually like managing people. Darren breaks down the difference between coaching and managing, why a leader who got you to your first big milestone might not be the right one for your next, and why more meetings and one-on-ones are often making the problem worse instead of better. He also offers a structural alternative that companies like Meta and Airbnb use instead. Get more personal mentoring from Darren each day. Go to DarrenDaily at http://darrendaily.com/join to learn more.

Kevin Maney: The Category Creation Formula for Winning Markets in the AI Era AI is making products easier to build, but meaningful differentiation harder to sustain. A stronger feature set, a faster model, or simply adding an “AI-powered” label may not be enough to convince customers that a new market should exist in the first place. Kevin Maney, bestselling author, technology commentator, and founding partner of Category Design Advisors, joins me to unpack the Category Creation Formula: Context + Missing + Innovation = New Market Category. Developed through nearly a decade of fieldwork with more than 50 companies, the framework offers a practical way to understand when markets are ready to change: identify what has shifted around the customer, uncover the newly urgent need that shift creates, and then design the innovation the market is ready to embrace. Our conversation moves beyond conventional product-market fit toward a more fundamental question: What would market-product fit look like? We explore why being first matters less than establishing the accepted dominant design, why competitors can actually validate rather than weaken a new category, and why successful category creation starts outside the organization, not with the technology already sitting inside it. In an era of AI abundance, compressed innovation cycles, and increasingly crowded markets, this conversation offers a different way to think about growth. It is particularly relevant for CEOs, transformation leaders, investors, and founders asking not simply how to build a better product, but how to create a market that wants it. KEY TAKEAWAYS What I found particularly compelling in this conversation with Kevin is his challenge to one of the most deeply embedded assumptions in innovation: that we should build a product and then find its market. Kevin turns that logic around with the idea of market-product fit. Instead of starting with what our technology can do, we should start by understanding what has changed in the world around our customers, what new problem that change has created, and what innovation could solve it. His Category Creation Formula, Context + Missing + Innovation, gives leaders a simple but powerful way to make that shift. I also loved Kevin's perspective on category leadership. Being first is not necessarily the objective. The real goal is to establish the dominant design that shapes how customers understand and expect the category to work. And, counterintuitively, competition can help because other players entering the market validate the category in customers' minds. For me, this is a particularly important lesson in today's crowded AI landscape. Finally, Kevin makes a distinction I think every leader should consider: using AI to make the existing business more efficient is only one side of the opportunity. The bigger question is what entirely new products, services, and ways of operating become possible because AI has changed the context. As AI itself becomes foundational and ubiquitous, the differentiator will increasingly be what humans do with it, and the ideas they create about what comes next. BEST MOMENTS “Category design is a strategy. And when I think of positioning and marketing, those are things that a company does.” – Kevin Maney [13:52] “Product-market fit has led a lot of people to think we'll build this product and figure out a market to put it into. And we talked about it, saying, like, it's actually market-product fit.” – Kevin Maney [25:00] “Your ultimate goal is to win the dominant design. It's not to be the day one, first mover, be the first one to say, ‘We're creating this category.'” – Kevin Maney [29:57] “Your goal is not to wipe out all competition, your goal is to be the dominant design and make all of your competitors follow you.” – Kevin Maney [29:57] “I actually believe that the big AI models... that's going to become, at some point, as boring as the internet or as electricity. What excites me is what you can do with it.” – Kevin Maney [37:26] “AI is trained on the past, and it's only going to understand the past, and it's going to be the humans that create the future.” – Kevin Maney [49:19]   ABOUT THE GUEST Kevin Maney is a bestselling author, award-winning technology commentator, and founding partner of Category Design Advisors. He is the co-author of The Category Creation Formula and Play Bigger, and spent 22 years as a technology journalist at USA Today. His work has also appeared in publications including Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic, and Wired. Kevin helps leadership teams identify, define, and develop new market categories. Through nearly a decade of category-design work with more than 50 companies, his focus has included market-product fit, dominant design, the adjacent possible, strategic points of view, and the leadership alignment required to translate innovation into an understood and adopted market choice.   ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you're interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures

Nvidia has officially agreed to buy open-source artificial intelligence platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, as the chipmaker and world's most valuable company moves into a future beyond hardware. The CEOs of both companies, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Hugging Face's Clement Delangue, join exclusively to discuss the terms of the courtship and the deal – and the future of artificial intelligence's open source commitment. Plus, the NBA suspends Clippers' owner Steve Ballmer for violating terms of the league's salary cap in signing Kawhi Leonard. And, New York City schools ban AI from elementary school classroomsJensen Huang and Clement Delangue - 13:32 In this episode: Jensen Huang, @JensenHuangClement Delangue, @ClementDelangueBecky Quick, @BeckyQuickAndrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkinKatie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The CEOs of Snowflake and HPE break down their latest earnings, enterprise IT spending, and the demand for AI integration. Plus, fresh comments from Fed Governor Chris Waller spark debate over a potential rate hike, DoubleLine's Jeffrey Sherman joins to weigh in on market volatility and what's ahead for the Fed.Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of The Jess Larsen Show on Innovation & Leadership, Jess sits down with Seth Streeter, Co-Founder of Mission Wealth, for a conversation about building an $18B wealth management firm, redefining what true wealth means, and helping successful leaders design a more fulfilling next chapter. Seth shares how he and his co-founder started with zero assets under management and built Mission Wealth around independence, objectivity, comprehensive financial planning, and a proactive service model. Instead of simply managing investments, Seth explains how the firm focused on understanding the whole client, including their business, family, taxes, estate planning, real estate, lifestyle, and long-term goals. Jess and Seth also dig into the growth journey from $1B to $18B, including the power of partnerships, referral channels, customer experience, company culture, and learning how to get out of your own way as a founder. Seth explains why saying no can be more important than saying yes, how service businesses can scale without losing their human touch, and why taking care of your team becomes a competitive advantage. The conversation then turns to Seth's deeper mission: helping high-achieving CEOs, founders, and leaders find purpose beyond financial success. After his own personal journey through burnout, divorce, the financial crisis, and a search for deeper meaning, Seth began helping others explore what comes after achievement, from relationships and adventure to creativity, service, and legacy. This episode is a thoughtful look at wealth, leadership, service, purpose, and what it really means to build a life that feels successful from the inside out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Smartest Man In The World, Greg Proops, returns to the show 13 years and 468 episodes later to discuss his new album, Kidding. But STILL.A stand-up comic and improvisor from San Francisco, Greg is best known for his appearances on Whose Line is it Anyway? but also as one of the two-headed pod racer commentators from The Phantom Menace! We discuss:the process of riffing a whole album live like a jazz musician Bill Hicks' advice of "less jokes and more me"we delve into all things Whose Line Is It Anyway?is a comedy album legacy, or just proof of what you were thinking that yearhow he can't agree with George Carlin's "watching humanity burn" and we find out if he is happy…Join the Insiders Club at Patreon.com/ComComPod where you can instantly WATCH the full episode and get access to 25 minutes of exclusive extras where we discuss the power of riffing live, crowdwork and the night in Glasgow that nearly broke him.

Episode Description Many nonprofit leaders treat turnover as a problem to solve after someone resigns. The organizations that handle it well plan for it before the hire, in how the job itself is designed. Sarah invited Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn's first Chief Human Resources Officer and the person who grew the company from 400 people to 4,000 while the median tenure on his own staff was nine months, to talk about how to build an organization that works when people come and go, and how to stay connected to the good ones after they leave. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why Steve says no job should take more than six months to learn How to design a role around a hire who will stay three years What to do with a good employee after they leave, and why it pays off Why Steve hires for how fast someone learns, not what they already know How to make a major donor relationship belong to the organization, not one person Who This Episode Is For • Executive directors who just lost someone they were counting on • Leaders whose roles take eighteen months to ramp when staff stay three years • Anyone about to have a hard conversation with an employee who has outgrown the job • CEOs who have decided the sector cannot attract talent, and built accordingly About the Guest Steve Cadigan is  a globally recognized talent strategist, culture architect, and author with over 30 years of experience helping organizations navigate growth and transformation. As LinkedIn's first Chief Human Resources Officer, Steve helped scale the company from 400 to 4,000 employees, building a culture that set the standard for tech companies worldwide. Today, through his firm Cadigan Talent Ventures, he advises high-growth companies, venture firms, and global leaders on how to win the talent war, design future-ready workplaces, and use culture as a competitive edge. He's a sought-after keynote speaker and the author of Workquake, a #1 Amazon bestseller that reimagines how we work in a post-pandemic world. Steve's insights have been featured in outlets like Forbes, CNBC, and Bloomberg, and his work has been the focus of business school case studies Connect with Steve: Official website: https://stevecadigan.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cadigan  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevecad/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestevecadigan/ Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don't miss a single episode, and while you're at it, won't you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would be greatly appreciated! Let us know the topics or questions you would like to hear about in a future episode. You can do that and follow us on LinkedIn.

Adam helped a client feel empowered and confident for an upcoming hearing that could cost them their career. The high stakes and uncertain nature had the client in constant anxiety, so Adam helped them to find a resourceful state and to make it feel low-stakes or manageable to bring down the stress levels. FREE STUFF AND DISCOUNTS:

Mastering the $250,000 Interview: 4 Lessons From Our Conversation With Craig A. Fleming What actually separates the candidate who walks away with a $250,000 offer from the one who walks away with “we'll be in touch”? That's the question we sat down with on this episode of A New Direction, talking with Craig A. Fleming, author of Mastering the $250,000 Interview. You can catch the full episode now on your favorite podcast platform. But whether you've already listened or you're catching up now, here's what the book — and the conversation — comes down to: the interview most people prepare for isn't the interview that's actually happening. Here are just four of the ideas and thoughts Craig shared. 1. The Interview Starts Long Before You Sit Down The biggest myth about high-stakes interviewing is that it's a performance you can improvise your way through if you're smart enough or charming enough.  At the six-figure level, nobody wins an interview by winging it. Preparation and rehearsal aren't about memorizing a script — canned answers get spotted from a mile away in an executive-level interview. They're about doing the unglamorous work beforehand so that, by the time you're in the room, you already sound like the answer to a question the company hasn't even asked out loud yet. The candidates who get the offer aren't the ones improvising the best answers. They're the ones who rehearsed until the room had nothing left to catch them off guard. 2. Every Question Has a Question Underneath It Here's where a lot of good candidates lose a great interview: they answer the question they were asked instead of the question that was actually meant. Craig give us insights that you must build skills around the idea that reading between the lines is the real skill — figuring out what a company is genuinely looking for, versus what the job posting says on paper. The book points out as well as Craig does on the show, it is rarely about whether you can technically do the job. It's about whether you can solve the specific problem that's keeping someone up at night. That means the strongest interview answers aren't the most polished ones — they're the ones that show you actually understood the problem behind the posting. 3. Your Résumé Isn't Your Life Story — It's a Sales Document One of the more useful reframes in the book: stop treating your résumé, and the interview itself, like a formality where you simply report your history. Start treating both like what they actually are — a sales pitch. The résumé's job is to get you into the room. The interview's job is to close. That shift changes everything about how you prepare. You're not there to be interesting. You're there to prove, point by point, that you're the fix for a specific, expensive problem. Every answer in a $250,000 interview should be doing sales work, whether you think of it that way or not. 4. It Doesn't End When You Leave the Room Maybe the most eye-opening piece of Mastering the $250,000 Interview: the evaluation doesn't stop at the door. Long before — and long after — you sit across from a hiring committee, there's a silent search running in the background. Your social media. Your online footprint. Everything a company can find about you without ever asking you a single question in an interview. The book's point isn't to make you paranoid. It's to make you aware. What shows up in that silent search can either back up everything you said in the interview or quietly undercut it. Either way, it's part of the interview now, whether it's on the official agenda or not. Listen to the Full Interview We covered all four of these in depth in this episode of A New Direction with Coach Jay Izso — why interview preparation matters more than raw talent, how to read what a company is really asking, why your résumé and your interview answers should both be doing sales work, and what the silent search means for how you show up online long before you ever get invited to interview. If you're heading into an interview where real stakes — and real money — are on the line, this is worth the listen. Find the episode on your favorite podcast platform — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen. And if this hit home, share it with someone who has a big interview coming up. They'll thank you for it. Craig Fleming’s book, “Mastering the $250,000 Interview: A Step-by-Step System” is simple the best book on interviewing I have ever read.  And I have read dozens of books on the subject and have taught interviewing at the college level.  While the book may be geared toward the executive interview, the lessons and structure can apply to any interview situation. Every chapter is filled with practical guidance from the psychology of how to read and interpret the job listing, to the psychology of how the interviewers think, to what your online brand and reputation may say about you that is holding you back from getting that next level job or promotion. Craig touches on topics like spending days preparing for the interview, how to express confidence without being over confident, demonstrating your value so you can demand the best salary and benefits, how to turn your resume from experience to a story that demonstrates results and so much more! This book was quite convicting for me, because I say in myself that I have developed habitual words and phrases that are not helping me in my communication.  That if I were in the interview situation would probably disqualify me pretty quickly.  If you want the edge in your next interview you must read this book. Get your copy of Mastering the $250,000 Interview by Clicking Here. Please reach out and like A New Direction sponsors: Linda Craft Team, REALTORS –www.LindaCraft.com Linda Craft Team Facebook Page – Click Here For 40 years helping people all over the world make a transition in life.  They take the stress out of the home selling and home buying process. When you are looking for consistent, top of their game, professional real estate service with a track record of successfully helping 1000's, check out Linda Craft Team, REALTORS. Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do! ABOUT YOUR HOST Meet Jay Izso Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything. But here's what most people don't know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors. Who I Am I'm an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can't explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won't move. The problem, almost every time, is the person running it. I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That's it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results. Where This Comes From My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in. The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I'd spent a decade learning that you can't cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid. The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what's really driving someone's decisions, and see what they can't see in themselves.

One of my favorite things about running a membership is that I have the opportunity to give apparel brand founders direct access to experienced industry professionals who can help them navigate the challenges of launching, growing, and scaling a business. In this episode, I'm giving you an inside look at what happens during an Apparel Founders Board office hours meeting. I'm sharing a real preview of the conversations, questions, and resources that help our members make smarter decisions and navigate the many challenges that come with building and growing an apparel brand.

I've sat across from CEOs who carry the exact same internal architecture as a 10-year-old who won't raise his hand in class. The vocabulary is different and the stakes are higher, but underneath it's running on the same mechanism. Here's what I mean by that. Picture anxiety and confidence as two ends of the same seesaw. When anxiety goes up, confidence comes down, because confidence has less room to exist.  When confidence is present, anxiety has less room to operate. I've been using this metaphor for two decades now, and it has held up across every age and every context I've ever worked in. Most of us assume that seesaw belongs to childhood, and that somewhere along the way you grow out of it and arrive somewhere solid. That hasn't been my experience in 20+ years of this work. In teenagers, it shows up as identity work. There's a question running underneath everything they do, whether or not they've ever said it out loud, and the question is who am I, and is that person acceptable.  Anxiety at that age disguises itself as attitude, as withdrawal, or as an intense need for social approval.  In adults, it gets quieter, which in some ways makes it more dangerous, because we get very good at hiding it.  Adult anxiety frequently looks like overworking, perfectionism dressed up as high standards, OR like the person who can't delegate, can't rest, and can't receive a compliment without immediately deflecting it. I've worked with people who would never in a hundred years describe themselves as anxious, and who in fact were, but they were managing it with strategies that were extremely effective and exhausting. Confidence gets misread in the same way. We tend to picture it as loud, as the most certain person in the room, as someone who walks in and commands it.  Real confidence, the kind that holds up under actual pressure, is much quieter than that. It's the capacity to admit when you don't know something, to take honest feedback without spiralling, and to fail at something without that failure destroying your self-worth. It's the ability to know you're still worthy regardless of the need to "prove it" to anyone.  Inside this conversation, I walk you through: Why anxiety and confidence sit on two ends of the same seesaw at every age How anxiety disguises itself in teenagers, and why the stakes climb as the audience grows What adult anxiety actually looks like, and why high standards are so often the disguise What real confidence looks like, which is far quieter than most of us picture The moment anxious energy stops fuelling performance and starts sabotaging it Why the intervention with elite performers is almost never about building more skill ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Shyamala Kiru is a former psychotherapist of 20 years and the founder of Kiru Psychotherapy Clinic and the Cognitive Freedom Method™. Through her work in leadership development, practitioner training, and clinical practice (now retired), she teaches a structured framework for understanding and transforming the cognitive patterns that shape how we think, lead, and relate.

Get Sam and Shaan's CEO lessons in one guide: https://clickhubspot.com/epmw Episode 857: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about the extreme behaviors of the most legendary CEOs.  — Show Notes: (0:00) CEO Moves (2:49) Move 1: Option Drop (10:39) Move 2: Friction Removal Service (12:55) Move 3: 1-bit communication (19:35) Move 4: Single-tasking (23:18) Move 5: Continuous culling  (26:05) Move 6: Reward failure (27:06) Move 7: Clone yourself (30:18) Alternative: Give up on greatness (also fine) (35:59) Just be great — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Shaan uses Mercury across all of his companies. you can too: http://mercury.com/  Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /

On today's episode of The Greatness Machine, host Darius Mirshahzadeh sits down with Allison Maslan, founder of Pinnacle Global Network and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of “Scale or Fail,” for a candid conversation about what it truly takes to scale a business. Drawing from her experience building 10 successful companies and mentoring over 150,000 CEOs, Allison shares the pivotal moments, including a near-fatal car accident, that transformed how she thinks about business growth, leadership, and building teams that don't depend on you. The conversation covers everything from meeting structures and core values to hiring mistakes and the critical importance of vision alignment across your entire organization. In this episode, Darius and Allison will discuss: (00:00) Introduction and Background (02:14) Allison's Entrepreneurial Journey (10:41) The Turning Point: From Overwhelm to Clarity (15:30) Scaling Strategies and Leadership (22:18) Navigating Growth Challenges (23:59) Chasing Symptoms vs. Root Causes (26:02) The Importance of Meeting Structure (30:09) Core Values and Team Commitment (33:01) Setting Up Teams for Success (36:09) Vision Beyond Numbers (40:09) Aligning Team and Personal Visions (41:53) Overcoming Personal Barriers to Greatness (44:00) Pinnacle Global Network Overview Allison Maslan is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, the founder of Pinnacle Global Network, and a leading CEO scaling mentor. She has built 10 successful companies, coached more than 150,000 CEOs and leadership teams, and now leads the world's largest women-owned CEO mentoring and peer advisory network for 7–9 figure founders. Connect with Allison: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/allisonmaslan  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allisonmaslan/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/allisonmaslan  Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine  Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness. 

Being a CEO dentist doesn't have to mean fewer patients. It means leading your business as intentionally as you are clinically. Kiera gives specific tips on how you, as a dental practice owner, can shift your mindset so you're operating like a CEO and your practice is humming. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we're just gonna kind of like jump right into it. I hope it's an amazing day over there. And I hope, as you're listening, today this is going out to our dentist owners. and I think that a lot of dentists actually own a practice, but very few of them actually run it like a CEO. Is that fair? Would you agree? Would you not? what do you think? What do you think about that? Do you feel like that is   And the way you'll know if you're running it like a CEO or if you're just being owned by it is do you feel trapped in your business or do you feel in control of your business? And I think I want to just kick this off because there are times, and I will tell you, once you hit one or the other, that's not forever. That state is not a forever state. So just because you might be there today doesn't mean you'll forever be there. So if you're trapped, great news, you won't always be there. If you're if you're feeling in control, great, you're not always going to be there either. But   The goal is like being a CEO dentist doesn't mean that you're actually having to see fewer patients. It's about leading your business as intentionally as you are clinically. And being the leader of that, being the person who actually is setting the tone and being a CEO. And I think when I started my business, I didn't know what a CEO was. I did not know the difference between like owning a business and managing a business. Like I just thought you worked in it. but I think when I started looking at if I left tomorrow for two months, excluding your dentistry.   Could my team function? Could my practice continue to grow? Do I have systems? Do I have processes? Do I have things in place to where I could do that? If the answer is no, then great, you're still managing your practice. If it is yes, then great, you're sipping into that CEO role. Does your team have the playbooks? Do they have that? And so today I just kind of want to dig into like a CEO Dentist playbook of like, how can you lead a practice that grows without you? I will say this is tricky. Like you still need to be the CEO, you still need to have a vision, but I think it's a lot of pieces will be on mindset shifts that we're able to have.   what you can possibly do differently. And then like what are some habits that you can do to grow to have growth, profitability, and freedom. Now again, this is if you want to. You don't I also think some people get into this weird black and white. Like if it's this, it's that, or if I don't do this or I do do that. I hate when I say do do. Guys, you just heard it come through. but I hate when you don't have to have it just be black and white. All right. You don't have to have it where it's all or nothing. There can be an and   You can be a great clinician and be a CEO. You can be a CEO and you can still be in your practice. You can step out of your practice. We just want to make sure that you are not just being a clinician. And if you want to, that's fine. But just make sure we have a CEO of your business. So know thyself and be free, I think is where it is. and if you want to look and think and lead like a CEO, these might be some great tips for you of some mindset shifts and what we what we should go through to help.   The CEO Dentist focus on where your focus should be, what things you can prioritize. So even if today it feels impossible, at least you have a roadmap of how to get there. So number one, as a CEO, you own the vision, not every task. And I think that's a bold statement. Own the vision, not every task. Your job is not to do everything, your job is to create the direction. And this feels weird to me. This especially like dental assistant turned CEO. That's a weird shift. So you better believe I was the girl who did everything.   My job is to look 10 steps ahead of my doctor. I'm supposed to be on point. I'm supposed to be doing these pieces. To have now an assistant who I'm like, hey, I need you looking 10 steps ahead of me. Where am I at? Like what things are coming down the line? That's weird. It's a weird shift for me. and but just helping you see like your job as a CEO is to own the vision. And most of the time you walk out of meetings without tasks. Now, if you are having tasks, that's okay, but make sure that they're truly CEO tasks that only you can do. And usually they tie to vision.   Profit culture. That's pretty much, and sometimes it will be like leading edge of a new initiative. So if you're wanting to build out a surgery center in your business, you're probably gonna be doing that right alongside with it, with your with your office manager. So what it looks like when it's broken and you are not owning the vision, and every task is coming to you is team constantly asks you what to do. You priorities are changing weekly, doctors making every decision or a lot of the decisions, like what toys are we buying for the toy box?   when should we schedule lunch? When should we have this person in? That means like you're still doing a lot of this, you're still managing your business, you're not leading and guiding it. So, like what a CEO dentist would do is you set a clear vision. This is where we're headed, this is where we're going. You have the priorities, this is what's happening in the next three months, and then you communicate what success looks like. So you see how there's a shift. The daily tasks are still getting done. You can still oversee them. You still have a manager who you meet with.   But you're not the one doing this. You're not stamping off on that. And I will tell you, it's a really awkward, it's really weird, but it's very freeing. And ultimately what it does is it also like we're doing a mastermind talking about Dan Martell's buy back your time. And that one we've got to just make sure we figure it out. And we like when you buy back your time, I look at my tasks and I think if I can have anybody do this task for less than four X what my hourly rate is, I need to do it.   And I need to push myself into my own comfort zone. And I need to be working on things that I can't also like right now. The projects I'm working on, like I can I can do my own confirmation calls, I could book my own travel, like I could stamp off on where team members are going and PTO and like lots of people can do that. What people can't do in our company is figure out where the next level of Dental A Team is going. And I that's my job. That's what I'm paid to do. That is literally Kiera's job. I still podcast with you guys, I still hang out, like.   Other people can podcast, these are things that I really enjoy. But I've simplified it down. I only block this much time in my calendar. So I have much more of my time that's dedicated to building our company. No one else is doing that. I'm literally the only person that does it. So for you to go from solving daily problems to leading the quarterly planning, leading team priorities, having the team become proactive and less dependent on you. So that would be what success looks like. So that's building a leadership team. We love to do this. We help build leadership teams. We help you to run your quarterly meetings and   Set up those rocks and teach the team how they're able to drive and influence rather than being dependent on the doctor. You're still there. You still get to help them. You still get to influence them. You still get to mentor them. Those pieces are going to be great for you. So what happens here is teams actually need you to be the lighthouse. And my team told me this. They said, Kiera, I know you want to be in the weeds with us, but we actually need you to be the lighthouse of like where the heck are we going? Because none of us can see that. And without your guidance and your direction, we're all going to be lost. And like   I like shirk over here. To me, that sometimes doesn't feel as good because I can't check a check mark. And I know that sounds so ridiculous. And I think that sometimes this is why people do sit in the day-to-day manager rather than into the visionary CEO seat because the day-to-day tasks feel good. Having the like I'm just gonna call myself out. This is speaking to Kiera. I'm having an intervention with myself over here. This is where I am wanting to be important.   me stamping off on things makes me feel like I have control. Me telling a team what to do, there's so many people that report to me. That's a freaking ego. My team does not need that. Do you know how many great leaders and managers I have in my team? They do not need me. I do not need to be stamping off on everything. Now, do we have a maturing team right now? Absolutely. Do we have a lot of like I feel like we shook the snow globe based on where we're headed? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean it's a forever seat for me. It's a temporary, it's an interim, and I know that they know that. So it's sitting there just in the interim.   and so what I would do for this is help your team feel empowered, where we can we move you to what are the three goals for the practice? What are the quarterly plans? Who's responsible, not the dentist? And then questions that come to a doctor. I want you to truly start asking, like, is this something only I can do? And if so, solve it. And if not, start delegating and having empowering your team to do it. This will help you. This is going to have it. So   That's CEO shift number one. Number two, I would say know your numbers that drive your business. and this I've talked about, I've harped on, there's so many podcasts on this. I just want you to know your performance. So you've got to look at your numbers before things feel wrong. You need to know numbers beyond production, and you need to make decisions on those numbers always. You gotta be looking at your KPI scorecard, your overhead, your PL. And every single month minimum, you are looking at like be the CFO. Like,   A CEO works with a CFO, and until you're large enough, you need to know these numbers forward and backwards. Your office manager should be preparing them, you should be looking at them, but you have got to know the numbers of your business. I'm not saying you need to be the one who preps all the reports, but you have to know what's going on. So that way you're able to see, are we making money? Are we not making money? And I think so many dentists get into this hustle and bustle of like, I'm just gonna go produce, produce, produce. And I'm like, Do you realize that if you just spent a little bit of that production time on looking at your numbers, you would actually be able to know.   rather than guess. You would be able to work less and create more. And so I just really think for you to start shifting. So number one is you got to set the vision and the culture and you got to have your team do it. You set the priorities, you define that where we're going and you communicate what success looks like. You're not solving every decision. Next step is you're using your numbers to make every single decision and you're having a monthly meeting on numbers. Money monthly meeting there you go money monthly meeting and you know what it is.   You know your numbers today, forward and backward. You know what your overhead is. You know where we're spending more, you know where we're spending less. You know what your profit margins are, and you know what you need to produce to cover all your expenses, including paying yourself. You need to review that every single month at a minimum. Set it up with your CPA, force yourself. Like that's what I do. I have a meeting with my CPA. I don't really need to talk to them, but that's Kiera's time where it forces me to look at the numbers, to review where I'm at, to make sure that I'm making decisions based on that. And then the third thing is going from an operator to an owner.   Is you've got to have leaders and systems so there's less dependency on you. so if we lucked again, I think about myself like if I were to leave, what things are gonna break in two months? That's where we start with those systems and that scalability. and what am I going to put into play? What am I going to do? What is going to happen? Like, where is this going to get resolved? And we start having those systems and those people built into those leadership spots.   So I really want to make sure that you guys have that of this is where it's the systems, the structure and the scalability. And I think the Dental A Team does such a good job of this. Like we know the systems to put into place for you. Like they're very basic, they're very minimal. Most things can get resolved. We have decision trees that are in there. We help your leaders look at the numbers so they know how to make the decisions too while you're gone. And this way it continues to grow and there's no more dependency upon you. You can truly step away. So   If you have this, I think that oftentimes doctors and office managers are firefighters and it's like, my gosh, care, I'm so exhausted and everything's coming to me. And it's like, okay, great, we're gonna make a list of everything coming to you. We're gonna chunk those into like what categories do they fit into. Then from there, we're gonna figure out who should be the owner of this, what protocols need to go into place, and what systems could reduce this. That way, when you go, then what we typically do is we recommend that you do actually schedule like a two-week, like start there.   vacation where you're going to be gone and the practice is still going to operate. And we want to just see what breaks. We're going to do the same thing for our office manager because we want to be able to make sure that this practice can truly start to function without you. Now, again, I get to a spot and I'm like, I'm on this path and I want to be the CEO of it, and I don't want to be there every day where I have to be there. And then I actually like achieve it. And I'm like, my gosh, who is Kiera? What is it like? What is my life if this doesn't happen? And what's   What's my own like what's my purpose? And I think this is where a lot of people get trapped in the cycle of your purpose is not to be doing tasks. Your purpose, like they still need you to set the vision. It's not something I can ever stamp off and say, I've done this, this, and this. I can't stamp a check mark on a vision. I can't step a check mark on a culture. Those things are almost like these soft skills, like they're they're soft. Like I can say I have a vision, I can say I have a mission statement. I can say we have a great culture. I do check, check, check.   But ultimately they're intangibles. They're things that people feel. They're things that people experience. And honestly, when I get to a point where I'm like, wow, the business can run without me. Sometimes I go in and I create chaos because I want to be needed. And I want to just caution you that as you're going to this, whiplashing a team can actually be so detrimental to them. Sending them on, like, I want to be here. But then you come in and you undercut everybody. This is me talking to myself. I'm sure none of you do this. So sorry, Dental A Team.   I do it. And it's I have to recognize that that's ego. That's not serving anybody, including myself. It's not serving my team. So if I have great leaders, which I do, I've got an amazing leadership team. But if I constantly go in and I'm answering questions in Slack and I'll calm myself out on this of like, that was wrong. That's not my place to overstep. And I need to connect in with the leader. you can have the best of intentions, but if you're not willing to let leaders grow, you're not willing to truly want to be the CEO, don't   Preach it unless you actually are going to execute on it. You can have sluts like small setbacks, but you need to own it. You need to call yourself out and you need to move forward and your team needs to be able to trust you and have confidence with you. These are pieces that are non-negotiable for me. You have to check yourself and recognize that there's an ego that's chirping in the background, that's chirping. It's loud, it's annoying. It wants you to do all these things, but that doesn't mean that that's right. It doesn't mean that you should do that. It means that you have a chirpy ego that needs to zip it and you need to be the CEO.   You need to trust your leaders. 80% of them doing it is better than 100% of you doing it. So when you look at this for this, what are kind of the steps of you owning the vision, not every single task, you knowing the numbers of your business and making decisions based on that? And then making sure you're truly building leaders and systems that reduce dependency on you and you truly are stepping into that CEO seat, you're trusting and empowering your leaders to do it. They can do it. Develop the leaders, create accountability and build systems for consistency. And if you struggle there,   Reach out. That's what we're good at. We do this. We help you build the fundamentals for you. Get the vision in place. Teach you what your job description is. Call you out when you're stepping in your lane that you're not supposed to be in and say, get over there. They've got this. They can handle it. Teach your leaders how to run effective meetings, how to hold accountability lines. This is what it is. Your goal is not to be the busiest person in the practice. Your goal is to be the leader that helps your practice thrive and truly helps them and gets out of their freaking way.   I'm thinking about a doctor right now, and this doctor says they want to be the CEO. They say they're not growing. They're at the office all the time. And I'm like, you've got a leadership team, but you get in their way. You want the chaos. You don't get out of there. You live in this chaos day in, day out. That's your emotional home, and you go there because it's comfortable for you. You have to start doing things differently if you want a different life. So this is a call out to all of you. If you really want to be the CEO of your practice, you've got to own that step out and get out of their way and get your   chirpy ego to zip their lips. You've got to change how you lead. You've got to change how you're working. You've got to change the priorities you're doing. It's awkward. It's uncomfortable. I've surely sat in bed a few times and cried and been like, my team doesn't even need me. And then I like wipe my tears and I get up and I'm like, you will never say that again and you're going to move forward because they do need you. They just don't need you to do every task for them. I'm not an operator. I'm an owner of this business. My job is to lead.   To guide, to mentor, and to be the one who is sharp and to create the space, to give me the space to dream, to figure out the next layer, to read the books, to move into the next evolution of growth. That's my job. No one else is doing that. And that's your job as well. So if you feel like your practice can't function without you, maybe it's time to step into the CEO role and like let's be more intentional and let's get them to be able to function without you. Next level of growth is gonna come from changing how you lead, not how hard you work. So.   If you're ready to change, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Come to webinars or whatever it is, but make the change now. Commit to that. And your CEO role can look very different. But ultimately, the goal is to not be the busiest person, but to be the person who guides, leads, and gets out of their way and empowers your team to do this without you. Set the vacation, set the deadline, and let's make it happen. This is what we do. We help you guys. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Commit to being the CEO of your practice. You can do it. I know you can. I've been able to evolve.   It's an evolution. This is why we have our mastermind in person. So doctors can talk to each other. They can share their woes. We can talk as CEOs together. We can talk about the things we're doing. We can call each other out because we see it in each other. Come be a part of that. Don't do this alone. It's really hard to do on your own. Come be a part of it. I'd love to have you be a part of it. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

One Big Idea 4 - Driving Operational Excellence: From Algorithm-Free Organic Scale to Transformational Self-LeadershipIn this episode of One Big Idea, host Josh Elledge connects with Nikolas Hake, Scott Doggett, Carol Schultz, Andrew Lafuente, and Jane Monroe to break down the operational frameworks needed to scale modern businesses, refine organizational culture, and master executive self-leadership. Nikolas Hake, Founder and CEO of JUS Official Services, kicks off the conversation by detailing how emerging creators and brands can build compounding momentum without falling into short-term social media trends. Scott Doggett, Founder and Chief Servant Leader at the National Academy of Leadership Development, then shifts the focus toward corporate culture, exposing how executive perception directly impacts workforce engagement. Next, Vertical Elevation Founder and CEO Carol Schultz introduces the strategic deployment of a Chief of Staff to eliminate CEO burnout. Andrew Lafuente, Founder and Principal of Lafuente Sign and Awning, reveals how modernizing legacy B2B industries creates sustainable market differentiation. Finally, Entrepreneur and Keynote Speaker Jane Monroe closes the episode by mapping out the four dimensions of the self to help corporate executives lead with radical self-awareness.The One Big Idea That Helps You Win Online Without Following Algorithms with JUS Official Services' Nikolas HakeIn a digital landscape obsessed with immediate viral spikes, emerging creators and growing brands frequently dilute their positioning by frantically chasing fleeting algorithmic trends. Talent management expert Nikolas Hake explains that his "one big idea" directly targets this strategic error: long-term brand equity relies on building a structured, repeatable content engine that compounds over time. Many talent agencies focus exclusively on established names, leaving emerging professionals without structured guidance. By stepping in to provide early-stage support, transparent management, and flexible operational alignment, businesses can transition away from scattered, sporadic activity and anchor their brand around a single, highly cohesive value proposition.To build sustainable digital momentum, founders must shift from surface-level vanity metrics toward deep audience understanding and multi-channel alignment. Nikolas emphasizes that attempting to appeal to everyone ultimately erodes consumer trust. Instead, brands should prioritize message clarity, audit their communications across platforms, and focus on human-centric storytelling that creates real emotional resonance. By establishing structured content workflows and viewing digital visibility as a long-term marathon rather than a sprint, businesses can protect their core identity, navigate evolving software algorithms, and cultivate deeply loyal communities.Why Leadership Success Depends on Seeing People Beyond Their Job Titles with National Academy of Leadership Development's Scott DoggettMany executive teams attempt to resolve underlying corporate challenges like high employee turnover, low productivity, and team disengagement by rolling out new software tools or rigid corporate policies. However, leadership development expert Scott Doggett demonstrates that his core framework addresses a much deeper root cause: executive perception. When leaders subconsciously view their workforce through clinical or transactional labels—referring to employees merely as "resources," "leads," or "headcount to manage"—that underlying mindset inevitably seeps into daily operations. This dynamic erodes psychological safety, suppresses frontline initiative, and causes high-performing talent to disengage.To build an adaptable, human-centered corporate culture, Scott challenges executives to radically shift how they perceive their team members. When leaders intentionally view every individual as priceless—acknowledging their unique strengths, personal aspirations, and professional struggles—they unlock unprecedented levels of ownership, creative problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration. Transforming corporate culture does not happen through static mission statements; it is forged through micro-interactions, such as practicing intentional presence in meetings, offering constructive feedback after errors, and replacing dehumanizing corporate jargon with empathetic language. By auditing their daily interactions, leaders can create an environment where talent genuinely thrives.Moving Beyond Micromanagement Through Strategic Delegation and Leadership with Vertical Elevation's Carol SchultzSmall and medium-sized business (SMB) CEOs frequently find themselves trapped in "operational overload," spending their valuable bandwidth managing daily meeting logistics, handling routine team communication, and putting out operational fires. Executive consultant Carol Schultz shares her foundational "one big idea" that solves this bottleneck: every CEO needs a Chief of Staff to serve as an operational force multiplier. Unlike a Director of Operations, who manages company-wide systems and department heads, a Chief of Staff focuses exclusively on managing the operations of the CEO's office. This crucial distinction allows visionary founders to reclaim up to 90% of their time, redirecting their focus toward high-level strategy, investor relations, and enterprise growth.Implementing a Chief of Staff requires a structured, multi-step transition process to ensure operational gaps are thoroughly documented before backfilling the position. Carol's proven framework involves auditing executive time, mapping critical operational tasks, and establishing clear delegation boundaries. Once implemented, this structure eliminates CEO burnout and prevents the executive from becoming an operational bottleneck. Paired with strategic authority-building tactics—such as establishing a streamlined press kit and securing targeted media guesting spots—CEOs can successfully step away from daily management minutiae and lead their organizations with clarity and vision.How Bold Thinking and Creativity Helped One Entrepreneur Beat the Competition with Lafuente Sign and Awning's Andrew LafuenteDisrupting a legacy industry does not require reinventing the underlying service; rather, it demands modernizing how that service is packaged, marketed, and delivered. B2B entrepreneur Andrew Lafuente outlines his "one big idea" on how he transformed a traditional manufacturing business into an agile brand serving major clients like Chase Bank, Trader Joe's, and Ralph Lauren. While traditional competitors in legacy sectors rely heavily on outdated word-of-mouth networks, Andrew embraced digital marketing, active social proof, and continuous competitive analysis to differentiate his brand, build trust, and capture market share.To convert industry analysis into scalable growth, leaders must view their competitors as a valuable source of market intelligence rather than a zero-sum threat. By regularly auditing market offerings, maintaining a polished and user-friendly digital footprint, and balancing local B2B accounts with high-profile national clients, legacy businesses can protect themselves against market downturns. Andrew highlights that maintaining strict attention to detail on digital channels—supported by proactive public relations, clear media kits, and strategic podcast appearances—allows modern founders to elevate their industry reputation, establish authoritative positioning, and drive predictable B2B revenue growth.Exploring the Four Selves Through a Journey of Self-Awareness and Leadership Growth with Jane MonroeTrue organizational transformation cannot occur until an executive learns the art of radical self-leadership. Keynote speaker and entrepreneur Jane Monroe introduces her core thesis on the road to leadership cohesion, which requires leaders to systematically explore and integrate four distinct dimensions of the self: the Known Self (public persona), the Hidden Self (private thoughts and boundaries), the Blind Self (unconscious behavioral blind spots), and the Mystery Self (untapped potential). Because executive ego often blocks self-awareness, leaders must actively build feedback loops to surface hidden blind spots before those unaddressed behaviors disrupt team dynamics.Unlocking the Mystery Self requires stepping far outside traditional comfort zones to dismantle limiting self-perceptions, much like Jane's own experience undertaking a 340-mile endurance kayak journey down the Missouri River. To cultivate leadership cohesion, executives must build a trusted advisory network—comprising coaches, mentors, or candid colleagues—who provide unvarnished, objective feedback. By prioritizing vulnerability over ego, normalizing continuous feedback within their corporate culture, and leading by example, business leaders can build resilient organizations rooted in mutual trust, psychological safety, and transformational growth.Links Mentioned in the EpisodeNikolas Hake on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolashake/JUS Official Services Website: https://www.jusofficialservices.info/Scott Doggett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdoggett/National Academy of Leadership Development Website:

Chevron signs an agreement to invest $7 billion in Venezuela to double its oil production in five years. We hear from the Chevron CEO & U.S. Energy Secretary in Caracas; President Donald Trump says he was joking when he posted the Strait of Hormuz should be renamed the Trump Strait. He is also asked about the resumption of U.S. and Iran trading missile strikes for the past several days; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hosts technology company CEOs at 'G20 Innovation Ministerial' in North Carolina to discuss development of Artificial Intelligence; U.S. House Democrats meet on possible changes to party rules after two House Democrats voted with Republicans to advance Republican bills that were set to fail; House defeats a proposed Constitutional Amendment to require the Supreme Court have nine justices; House Intelligence Committee holds a hearing on national security threats that includes a discussion of Chinese spying; Wreath-laying at the World War II Memorial in Washington on this V-J Day, marking the Allies' victory over Japan that ended World War II in 1945. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Regret and the tendency to punish ourselves can show up in everyday moments, like forgetting your phone at home, or in life-altering ways, like wondering what you could have done differently to prevent a tragedy.Today's guest on Grieving Out Loud shares why holding onto that regret can be so damaging. Stephanie Renner lost her 18-year-old son, Jordon, to suicide after years of mental health struggles.Even after 25 years as an attorney helping CEOs and leaders navigate high-stakes decisions, nothing prepared her for the emotional trial she faced in the aftermath of her son's death.What she discovered wasn't a way to go back, but a way to move forward.From that journey, she created the “Regret to Resilience Method,” a framework designed to help others release guilt and shame and begin healing. In this episode, Stephanie shares her story, the lessons she's learned, and how her approach is helping people rebuild with renewed purpose and authentic confidence after trauma or loss.Learn more about Stephanie's speaking, workshops, and coaching services here. Related episodes:Author Peggy Green on surviving your child's suicideA Young, Accomplished Woman's Secret Struggle with Addiction Results in SuicideMother blames cannabis-induced psychosis for son's deathSend us Fan MailBehind every number is a story of a life cut short, a family shattered, and a community devastated.They were...daughterssonsmothersfathersfriendswiveshusbandscousinsboyfriendsgirlfriends.They were More Than Just A Number. Support the showConnect with AngelaFollow Grieving Out LoudFollow Emily's HopeRead Angela's BlogSubscribe to Grieving Out Loud/Emily's Hope UpdatesSuggest a GuestFor more episodes and information, just go to our website, emilyshope.charityWishing you faith, hope and courage!Podcast producers:Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

What do your toughest decisions reveal about who you really are as a leader? In this episode of Deep Leadership, I talk with Dr. Fay Niewiadomski, international award-winning change management strategist, cultural transformation consultant, and author of Decisions That Matter. Fay has spent decades working with leaders, CEOs, board members, presidents, and government ministers around the world. We explore why leadership is ultimately revealed through the decisions we make, especially when our values are tested. Fay explains why leaders need to establish their boundaries before a crisis hits, what happens when personal and organizational values become misaligned, and why surrendering your power of choice can come at a tremendous cost. We also discuss the growing role of AI and why human judgment, wisdom, relationships, and communication will become even more important as technology advances. Fay makes a compelling case for using AI as a tool while never surrendering the uniquely human responsibility to think, judge, and decide for ourselves. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why your most difficult decisions reveal your true values• How to establish your leadership boundaries before they are tested• Why compromising your values can slowly erode your identity• What happens when your values no longer align with your organization• Why leaders should never surrender their power of choice• What AI can and cannot replace in leadership• Why human judgment, wisdom, and relationships matter more than ever• How values create resilience when everything else is taken away Fay reminds us that leadership isn't simply about the position we hold. It's about the choices we make, the values we protect, and the decisions that ultimately define who we are. If you want to become a more intentional, values-driven leader, this conversation will give you plenty to think about. Connect with Dr. Fay Niewiadomski: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/fayniewiadomski/ Book: https://amzn.to/46s0Pt4 Subscribe to Deep Leadership: If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and share it with someone who wants to become a better leader. Sponsors: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cadre of Men⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Farrow Skin Care⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Salty Sailor Coffee Company⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leader Connect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Qualified Leadership Series⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ____ Get all of Jon Rennie's bestselling leadership books for 15% off the regular price today! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us Fan MailSteve Drotter is an American leadership expert, widely read author, and executive consultant best known for being the lead author of the influential business book The Leadership Pipeline. He is widely recognized for his work in leadership development, succession planning and organization design.Drotter has more than five decades working on the human side of business. He has worked with over 150 businesses, large and small, in 37 countries, across many industries. Working with boards and CEOs, he has advised on 50 CEO succession plans. Many of his customers lead their industries and use his leadership pipeline principles to maintain their competitive advantage. The first hand and validated interview information provides the substance for his books.His career started at General Electric where he was a designer and implementor of their famous succession planning system. He ran human resources at two major corporations, INA (now called Cigna) and Chase Manhattan Corp. Drotter is Chairman of The Leadership Pipeline Institute where he continues to write, shape research and provide leadership development programs designed uniquely for each layer in the pipeline model.Shawn Domeracki is the Vice President of Sales for the Lexus Division.  In this role Shawn is responsible for the Sales, training, and retail market development for Lexus in the United States of America.  In addition to these responsibilities, Shawn serves as a Board Observer on the Board of Directors for Ionna a joint venture between eight automotive companies to create electric vehicle charging infrastructure across North America.Prior to his current role, Mr. Domeracki was the Vice President for Toyota Motor North America's (TMNA) Product Planning and Strategy Department.  In this role Shawn was responsible for building a clear strategy and go to market plan for future battery electric vehicles in the Toyota and Lexus portfolio as well as mobility solutions outside of Toyota's traditional vehicle business.  Shawn received his bachelor's degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.  He is married and has two children.A Few Quotes From This Episode“The most noticeable thing about most companies is that the most important work is sitting in the corner; nobody's doing it.""People think that managing managers is the same as managing others, just bigger. No, it's totally different.""If you're not working at your right level... the succession plan is worthless. What are you a successor for?""Everybody in the world's a coach. Must be a million coaches just on LinkedIn alone. What do they know?"ResourcesBook: The Leadership PipelineOrganization: The Leadership Pipeline Institute About The International Leadership Association (ILA)The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Attend The Global Conference in Toronto, October 28-31.About  Scott J. AllenWebsiteWeekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for LeadersMy Approach to HostingThe views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.

What if your AI transformation isn't stalling because of the technology, but because of the culture, trust, and leadership behaviors you've built (or failed to build) around it? Shaara Roman has spent years inside global enterprises watching AI initiatives launch with fanfare and quietly fall apart, not because the software failed, but because the people strategy was missing. In this episode: Why AI should be treated as a team member, not just a tool The six pillars of AI change management: strategy, org design, culture, workforce capability, motivation/metrics, and ethical guardrails Why most AI adoptions fail — and why the human side, not the tech, is the real bottleneck Surprising diagnostic findings: middle managers are consistently the least ready for AI adoption Three telltale signs an organization isn't ready for AI How Shaara's third culture kid upbringing across India, Nigeria, and England shaped her adaptive leadership approach Guest bio: Shaara Roman is the founder and CEO of the Silvering Group, where she advises CEOs and executive teams on leading through AI transformation. A former senior HR executive at Visa, Fannie Mae, and CGI, she is the author of The Conscious Workplace and creator of the SPARC AIQ Diagnostic. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Shaara's TCK journey across India, Nigeria, England 04:30 AI as a team member, not just a tool 08:00 Where leaders get AI adoption wrong 12:00 Why hiring systems aren't built for adaptive leadership 18:40 The six pillars of AI change management 26:40 Three signs an organization isn't ready for AI 32:50 Inside the SPARC AIQ Diagnostic 38:30 Where to find Shaara and her work Find Shaara Roman at: LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/shaara) | Website (silveringroup.com) Join us for an exclusive bonus episode with Shaara on Patreon. Subscribe, leave a review at https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com/reviews/new/, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move — https://www.expatsi.com/?ref=2kJ926HZ. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Curious what your own leadership identity is built on? Take the VOICE assessment: https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com/voice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S6:E76 Security is ultimately a promise of trust. So what happens when that trust gets broken? Karim Toubba has had to answer that question in circumstances few CEOs would choose. He joined LastPass as their CEO only months before the company experienced a significant and highly publicized 2022 security breach. In this candid conversation, Karim acknowledges that LastPass initially communicated too slowly and explains the systemic changes, transparency, investment and cultural work required afterward. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories for a conversation that goes well beyond passwords. Because the threat itself is changing. Karim says AI is producing a meaningful productivity advantage for small businesses, but it is simultaneously allowing malicious websites and other threats to be generated at much greater velocity. Employees are also adopting AI applications faster than many organizations can establish policies around what data those applications should be allowed to access. If people don't trust you, reassuring them that you're trustworthy isn't enough. If customers cannot see credible evidence supporting what you say, they'll increasingly turn to third-party communities and other sources to interpret your credibility for themselves. And if inaccurate or incomplete information about your organization remains unchallenged, the external interpretation of your company can begin separating from the reality inside it. That's where Karim's cybersecurity experience intersects powerfully with Dr. LL's work on misinterpretation risk.

  How do you grow a company without losing your culture, your mission, your faith—or the people you're called to serve? In this episode of the Profitable Christian Business Podcast, Doug Greathouse sits down with Kenny Wyatt, CEO of Pushpay, for a practical conversation about faith-driven leadership, company culture, customer focus, stewardship, innovation, goal setting, and sustainable growth. Kenny describes one of his foundational leadership principles as: "Humility as an operating system." For Kenny, servant leadership isn't the opposite of high performance. Leaders can set ambitious goals, hold people accountable, make difficult personnel decisions, and build high-performing teams while still leading with humility, love, and purpose. Kenny also makes a strong case that CEOs and founders cannot allow growth to disconnect them from the customer. He argues that leaders need to spend significant time with their ideal customer profile, listening closely enough to recognize when the company is beginning to drift from its mission. In this episode: What fly fishing taught Kenny about adaptability, instinct, and leadership Why culture matters even when you're a company of one Why Kenny hires for mission and values before skill What Pushpay does and how it serves churches How Pushpay evaluates AI and emerging technology Why your ideal customer profile should guide innovation Why CEOs can't outsource their relationship with customers How to recognize when a high-growth company is drifting How to create and use a customer advisory board Why in-person customer conversations still matter Kenny's Philippians 2 approach to servant leadership What "humility as an operating system" looks like in practice How to hold people accountable without abandoning grace How to handle difficult firing decisions with dignity Why stewardship includes time, talent, and treasure How to identify your company's stewardship metric How faith shapes Kenny's approach as CEO Why your leadership team matters so much A radically different approach to annual goal setting Why Kenny believes you should rebuild the business every single year Why leadership retreats create better thinking Why Christian entrepreneurs need to keep prayer in the driver's seat Kenny closes the conversation with a deceptively simple challenge for every Christian business leader: How's your prayer life? Because sustainable growth isn't simply about better technology, smarter goals, or stronger systems. It's about becoming the kind of leader capable of stewarding the growth God has entrusted to you. Connect with Kenny Wyatt & Pushpay Pushpay: Pushpay Nurture: Nurture Stop Drifting. Start Executing. Knowing what matters isn't enough. The Goal Getting App helps entrepreneurs turn clarity into a focused 90-day plan, identify the needle-moving actions that actually create progress, and consistently execute. Start Your Next 90 Days with Goal Getting

Leading through uncertainty doesn't require moving faster, it requires thinking differently.In this episode, futurist and leadership strategist Elatia Abate shares practical frameworks to help female founder CEOs lead through rapid change without defaulting to outdated strategies. She explains why slowing down can become a competitive advantage, how to shift from past-anchored planning to future-led thinking, and why the quality of the questions leaders ask ultimately shapes the future they create.Drawing from nearly a decade of research into the future of work and leadership, Elatia offers a new perspective on strategy, decision-making, AI adoption, and embodied leadership, helping founders build businesses that are resilient, intentional, and prepared for what's next.Elatia explains: ◼️ Why leaving corporate leadership led her to an entirely different purpose ◼️ How one conference in 2016 changed the direction of her career ◼️ Why today's leaders need to slow down instead of constantly accelerating ◼️ The Think, Do, Be framework and how it changes decision-making ◼️ Why future-led thinking begins by asking different questions ◼️ How women leaders can create space for presence instead of constant busyness ◼️ What leaders should understand before introducing AI into their organizations ◼️ Why she believes the future belongs to leaders who trust themselves

In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen is joined by Kirtan Pandit, conservation researcher and co-founder of GeoSutra, an environmental intelligence company whose team deployed drones within 24 hours of the catastrophic Nepal flood to carry out rapid damage assessments in Nuwakot district. Kirtan shares a firsthand account of the disaster response, drawing on his work using drones to assess and deliver aid to flood affected communities, and explains why this event, and Nepal's growing exposure to glacial hazards, must be understood as a climate risk issue with global implications.We discuss:What triggered the flood, and how a glacier collapse near the Nepal-China border unleashed one of the deadliest disasters in Nepal's modern historyHow GeoSutra's team accessed the affected area and used drones to assess damage and deliver aid across a river with no remaining crossingsThe scale of destruction to critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, the Rasuwagadhi border crossing and hydropower stationsThe ongoing search for workers trapped in a hydropower tunnel and the mounting challenge of managing the deadWhy the flood is directly linked to climate change and global warming's effect on Himalayan glaciersThe limitations of Nepal's current early warning systems and what stronger, climate resilient infrastructure would requireWhy Nepal and other low emitting mountainous nations are demanding climate finance and loss and damage funding as grants rather than loansWhat this disaster reveals about the growing risk facing mountain communities across the Himalayas and beyondThe International Risk Podcast brings you conversations with global experts, frontline practitioners and senior decision makers who are shaping how we understand and respond to international risk. From geopolitical instability and organised crime to cybersecurity threats and hybrid warfare, each episode explores the forces transforming our world and what smart leaders must do to navigate them. Whether you're a board member, policymaker or risk professional, The International Risk Podcast delivers actionable insights, sharp analysis and real world stories that matter.Dominic Bowen hosts The International Risk Podcast and is Europe's leading expert on international risk and crisis management. As Head of Strategic Advisory and Partner at one of Europe's leading risk management consulting firms, Dominic advises CEOs, boards and senior executives across the continent on how to prepare for uncertainty and act with intent. He has spent decades working in war zones, advising multinational companies and supporting Europe's business leaders. Dominic is the go-to business advisor for leaders navigating risk, crisis and strategy, trusted for his clarity, calmness under pressure and ability to turn volatility into competitive advantage. Dominic equips today's business leaders with the insight and confidence to lead through disruption and deliver sustained strategic advantage.Tell us what you liked!

In the past year, tech companies have laid off thousands of employees. But when CEOs blame "AI innovation," they're redirecting attention from something much more predictable: job discrimination and gig-ification. Emily and Alex examine some narratives of AI-streamlined workplaces — and why they don't match up with reality.References:Block press release: "From Hierarchy to Intelligence""Lawsuit claims Meta's layoff decisions were made by AI, not humans"Fresh AI Hell:"OpenAI's latest math breakthroughs commit research misconduct, experts say"Also referenced: Leiden Declaration"AI Assisted Autism Screening"Weird comparison of "AI" emissions to other data center activityPaved paradise and put up a data center"What if you just talked to your children"Palate cleanser: US judge holds DOGE accountable for output they took from ChatGPTPalate cleanser: Data center opposition momentumCheck out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.Find our book The AI Con here, and MAIHT3k merch here.Subscribe to our newsletter via Buttondown.Follow us!EmilyBluesky: emilymbender.bsky.socialMastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBenderAlexBluesky: alexhanna.bsky.socialMastodon: dair-community.social/@alexTwitter: @alexhannaMusic by Toby Menon.Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park. Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

S6:E76 Security is ultimately a promise of trust. So what happens when that trust gets broken? Karim Toubba has had to answer that question in circumstances few CEOs would choose. He joined LastPass as their CEO only months before the company experienced a significant and highly publicized 2022 security breach. In this candid conversation, Karim acknowledges that LastPass initially communicated too slowly and explains the systemic changes, transparency, investment and cultural work required afterward. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories for a conversation that goes well beyond passwords. Because the threat itself is changing. Karim says AI is producing a meaningful productivity advantage for small businesses, but it is simultaneously allowing malicious websites and other threats to be generated at much greater velocity. Employees are also adopting AI applications faster than many organizations can establish policies around what data those applications should be allowed to access. If people don't trust you, reassuring them that you're trustworthy isn't enough. If customers cannot see credible evidence supporting what you say, they'll increasingly turn to third-party communities and other sources to interpret your credibility for themselves. And if inaccurate or incomplete information about your organization remains unchallenged, the external interpretation of your company can begin separating from the reality inside it. That's where Karim's cybersecurity experience intersects powerfully with Dr. LL's work on misinterpretation risk.

AI may not just change what you do at work. It could change how you think, where you find your value, and even how you understand your place in the world. Kari Zeller is a U.S. Air Force combat veteran, founder and CEO of TGN Consulting, and a battle-tested leadership strategist who advises boards, CEOs, and senior executive teams across Fortune 100 companies, healthcare systems, retail, private equity, and government. She is the author of Re-placed: Answering the Call of Leadership in the Age of AI, a playbook for executives navigating a future shaped by AI, robotics, and quantum computing. In this episode, Kari explains why the future of work shouldn't be viewed simply as a question of whether AI will replace us. Instead, she introduces the idea of being "re-placed": actively finding a new context where our human contributions, relationships, judgment, intuition, and experience can create value.   What you will learn from this episode: Learn why being "re-placed" may be more important than avoiding replacement. Find out how AI can weaken your critical thinking, judgment, and accountability. Discover how to protect your "thinking sovereignty" in an AI-driven world.   "To be re-placed is to be placed again."  – Kari Zeller   Topics Covered: 01:15 – From "replaced" to "re-placed": Kari explains why the future isn't about waiting to see whether technology makes you obsolete, but actively finding where your contribution can matter next. 03:45 – Why AI changes the container of work: Discover why AI is fundamentally different from previous workplace technologies and why it could reshape the place where many people find identity and purpose. 09:15 – The danger of outsourcing your thinking: Learn how excessive reliance on AI recommendations can weaken critical thinking, narrow innovation, and diffuse personal accountability. 12:00 – Protecting your thinking sovereignty: Kari explains why you need to keep practicing your own judgment, decision-making, and ability to navigate complexity. 14:40 – Preparing for an AI-driven future: Sarah and Kari discuss education, critical thinking, values, context, and why knowing the answer may matter less than knowing how to ask the right questions. 17:20 – What is ontological vulnerability?: Kari explains the difference between a threat to what you do and a threat to your identity, purpose, and sense of place in the world. 20:10 – Is work our "buffalo"?: Explore the powerful idea that when work changes dramatically, we may lose more than income or tasks. We may also lose a source of identity, meaning, community, and achievement. 23:00 – Separating your identity from your job: Kari shares how women can begin identifying the deeper value they bring beyond their current role, expertise, or productivity. 25:30 – The value of experiential wisdom: A real-world restaurant scheduling example shows why AI can create an answer in seconds, while human experience can recognize why that answer won't work. 33:00 – Finding the bigger contribution: From blacksmiths to Swiss watchmakers, Kari shares examples of people and industries that adapted by redefining what they were really contributing. 35:20 – Why the future of AI is a leadership question: Kari explains why leadership means actively co-creating a future that matters instead of simply accepting the future created by circumstances.   Key Takeaways: "We need to maintain our thinking sovereignty." – Kari Zeller "If you don't use it, you lose it." – Kari Zeller "Operational vulnerability threatens what you do. Ontological vulnerability threatens your sense of who you are and your place in the world." – Kari Zeller "Leadership is about the co-creation of a future that matters and one that we're not on a trajectory for." – Kari Zeller   Ways to Connect with Kari Zeller: Book: Re-placed: Answering the Call of Leadership in the Age of AI Website: http://karizeller.com   Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown: Website: https://www.sarahebrown.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSarahEBrown LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahebrownphd To speak with her: bookachatwithsarahebrown.com  

This episode was sponsored by Cardiff & selfpublishing.com   LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/ Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/ Today's Dropping Bombs episode delivers a no-BS masterclass on books as business assets with Chandler Bolt, the college dropout who ran a six-figure painting business before founding selfpublishing.com. The company has helped over 10,000 authors publish their books, hit $80 million in revenue, and landed on the INC 5000 four consecutive years running as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America — all while chasing a mission to help 100,000 people self-publish by 2035.   Chandler breaks down why a book is the best 200-page sales letter you'll ever write, the "dirty secret" of the publishing industry that keeps authors broke, and how HVAC guys, landscapers, and CEOs alike can reverse-engineer a book into six or seven figures in new customers.   If you've got a business and no book, you're leaving money on the table — this episode hands you the blueprint to fix that.   SOCIAL HANDLES Instagram: @selfpublishing.com | YouTube: @selfpublishing | TikTok: @selfpublishing | Facebook: @selfpublishing | Website: selfpublishing.com | Book: publishedbook.com | Podcast: 7 Figure Principles  

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Mark Mascarenhas. Purpose of the Interview The interview aims to educate listeners—especially entrepreneurs, small business owners, and aspiring millionaires—on financial planning, wealth management, and risk mitigation strategies. It emphasizes the importance of discipline, clarity, and professional guidance in achieving financial success and sustaining wealth across generations. Key Takeaways Financial Planning is Foundational A written financial plan is the first step before any investment portfolio is built. Success is defined individually—financial, health, or lifestyle goals. Diversification & Risk Management Digital assets like Bitcoin should only make up 2–3% of a portfolio for high-net-worth clients with high risk tolerance. Fear and greed drive markets; advisors help clients maintain discipline. Long-Term Care & Insurance Planning for long-term care is essential, typically starting in your 50s. Term life insurance early locks in health; whole life policies provide stability and living benefits. Tax Strategy Use tax-loss harvesting, asset location strategies, and estate planning to minimize tax burdens. Estate planning focuses on transferring wealth tax-efficiently to future generations. Millionaire Mindset Millionaires are clear, disciplined, optimistic, and collaborative. 74% of millionaires work with financial advisors vs. 34% of the general population. Power of Compounding Compounding interest is the cornerstone of wealth accumulation—requires patience and discipline. Avoid lifestyle creep and impulsive spending, especially for younger millionaires and influencers. Fiduciary Responsibility Advisors act in the client’s best interest; success is mutual. Trust and transparency are critical in client-advisor relationships. Notable Quotes On Risk & Bitcoin:“You could potentially double your money, but you could also potentially lose 70% of it.” On Financial Planning:“Every dollar needs a job description.” On Millionaire Mindset:“Successful people view us as CFOs—they’re the CEOs.” On Compounding:“If you could win 72% of the time, would you play that game? Yes. That’s the stock market.” On Retirement Success:“Living the same or better lifestyle in retirement than you do today while working.” On Fiduciary Role:“We make more money when the client makes more money.” #SHMS #BEST #STRAW Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcastSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Mark Mascarenhas. Purpose of the Interview The interview aims to educate listeners—especially entrepreneurs, small business owners, and aspiring millionaires—on financial planning, wealth management, and risk mitigation strategies. It emphasizes the importance of discipline, clarity, and professional guidance in achieving financial success and sustaining wealth across generations. Key Takeaways Financial Planning is Foundational A written financial plan is the first step before any investment portfolio is built. Success is defined individually—financial, health, or lifestyle goals. Diversification & Risk Management Digital assets like Bitcoin should only make up 2–3% of a portfolio for high-net-worth clients with high risk tolerance. Fear and greed drive markets; advisors help clients maintain discipline. Long-Term Care & Insurance Planning for long-term care is essential, typically starting in your 50s. Term life insurance early locks in health; whole life policies provide stability and living benefits. Tax Strategy Use tax-loss harvesting, asset location strategies, and estate planning to minimize tax burdens. Estate planning focuses on transferring wealth tax-efficiently to future generations. Millionaire Mindset Millionaires are clear, disciplined, optimistic, and collaborative. 74% of millionaires work with financial advisors vs. 34% of the general population. Power of Compounding Compounding interest is the cornerstone of wealth accumulation—requires patience and discipline. Avoid lifestyle creep and impulsive spending, especially for younger millionaires and influencers. Fiduciary Responsibility Advisors act in the client’s best interest; success is mutual. Trust and transparency are critical in client-advisor relationships. Notable Quotes On Risk & Bitcoin:“You could potentially double your money, but you could also potentially lose 70% of it.” On Financial Planning:“Every dollar needs a job description.” On Millionaire Mindset:“Successful people view us as CFOs—they’re the CEOs.” On Compounding:“If you could win 72% of the time, would you play that game? Yes. That’s the stock market.” On Retirement Success:“Living the same or better lifestyle in retirement than you do today while working.” On Fiduciary Role:“We make more money when the client makes more money.” #SHMS #BEST #STRAW Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How much does a leader actually matter to an organization's success? We tend to credit CEOs, founders, and other powerful figures with shaping the institutions they lead, but historian Jared Diamond argues that we often underestimate the role of timing, circumstance, industry, and plain luck. Diamond explains his “Hamlet test,” which asks whether someone else could have achieved the same outcome or whether the leader was uniquely qualified to do it, and how it applies to many business leaders. He also explains why some leaders are able to seize a fleeting moment of opportunity, why founders can have an outsized influence on institutions, and why boards may overestimate the impact of replacing a struggling CEO. Diamond is author of Prophets, Profits, Coaches, and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Matter?

AI adoption is often treated as a technology challenge: choose the right tools, train people to use them, and drive implementation. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky argues that this framing misses the harder problem. Unlike previous technology shifts, AI can trigger fear about job security, challenge professional identity, and create social stigma around how work gets done. For organizations trying to move from experimentation to meaningful business impact, understanding those human dynamics may matter as much as the technology itself.In this episode of Partnering Leadership, Gleb Tsipursky joins Mahan Tavakoli to discuss his new book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results. Drawing on behavioral science research, thousands of survey responses, focus groups, and more than 100 consulting engagements, Gleb explains why traditional approaches to technology adoption often fall short with AI. The conversation examines the very different reasons employees resist, quietly embrace, or even hide their use of AI, and what those behaviors reveal about organizational culture.The discussion moves beyond adoption to a deeper question facing CEOs and senior executives: what happens when AI changes not only how quickly work gets done, but also how people understand the value they bring? Gleb explores professional identity, shadow AI, the critical role of middle managers, and why organizations may need to rethink where they begin their AI efforts. He also challenges the instinct to start by automating the highest-value activities, offering a counterintuitive approach designed to build trust, experimentation, and broader adoption.Mahan and Gleb also explore a growing leadership challenge: AI can dramatically increase output while making judgment more important. If AI increasingly generates reports, analysis, presentations, and other knowledge work, the differentiating human capability may shift from producing the first draft to evaluating whether the output is actually good. That raises important questions about how organizations develop early-career talent, redesign onboarding and apprenticeships, and build judgment when AI performs more of the work through which judgment was traditionally developed.Finally, the conversation looks ahead to an emerging workplace in which employees may increasingly manage AI agents rather than perform individual tasks themselves. Managers, in turn, may need to manage people who manage agents while coordinating increasingly complex human-machine workflows. The result is a conversation not simply about getting employees to use AI, but about the capabilities, culture, management practices, and continual learning organizations will need as AI becomes embedded in how work gets done.Actionable TakeawaysYou'll learn why AI adoption creates psychological challenges that traditional technology implementations often do not, and why treating AI like another CRM, ERP, or software rollout can lead organizations to misdiagnose resistance.Hear how fear, professional identity, and social stigma can produce very different forms of AI resistance, requiring more nuanced responses than simply mandating adoption or providing additional training.You'll discover why some employees may already be using AI extensively while deliberately hiding that use from colleagues and managers, and what this “shadow AI” behavior can cost organizations in shared learning and business impact.Hear why starting with the highest-value work may not always be the smartest path to AI adoption. Gleb explains why beginning with tasks employees actively dislike can create an unexpected path toward broader experimentation and acceptance.You'll learn why executive behavior matters in establishing the social norms around AI use, including how openly sharing successful AI applications can help shift AI from something employees conceal to something teams learn from together.Hear why middle managers may become one of the most important leverage points in AI adoption, translating executive intent into the everyday behaviors, experimentation, reinforcement, and learning that determine whether adoption actually takes hold.You'll explore why judgment may become more valuable as AI becomes better at producing work. The conversation examines the difference between generating an answer and knowing whether that answer is good enough to act on.You'll hear why AI creates a significant challenge for developing younger professionals, particularly when technology begins performing the work through which previous generations accumulated experience and learned to recognize quality.You'll learn how the role of employees and managers could change as AI agents become more capable, moving from personally executing individual tasks toward directing agents, evaluating their output, managing handoffs, and improving human-machine workflows.Hear why there may be no final state of “AI maturity.” Instead, organizations may need to build the capacity for continual learning as AI capabilities, workflows, and the skills required to manage them keep changing.Connect with Gleb TsipurskyDisaster Avoidance Experts WebsiteDr. Gleb Tsipursky LinkedInConnect with Mahan Tavakoli:Mahan Tavakoli Website Mahan Tavakoli on LinkedIn Partnering Leadership Website

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Mark Mascarenhas. Purpose of the Interview The interview aims to educate listeners—especially entrepreneurs, small business owners, and aspiring millionaires—on financial planning, wealth management, and risk mitigation strategies. It emphasizes the importance of discipline, clarity, and professional guidance in achieving financial success and sustaining wealth across generations. Key Takeaways Financial Planning is Foundational A written financial plan is the first step before any investment portfolio is built. Success is defined individually—financial, health, or lifestyle goals. Diversification & Risk Management Digital assets like Bitcoin should only make up 2–3% of a portfolio for high-net-worth clients with high risk tolerance. Fear and greed drive markets; advisors help clients maintain discipline. Long-Term Care & Insurance Planning for long-term care is essential, typically starting in your 50s. Term life insurance early locks in health; whole life policies provide stability and living benefits. Tax Strategy Use tax-loss harvesting, asset location strategies, and estate planning to minimize tax burdens. Estate planning focuses on transferring wealth tax-efficiently to future generations. Millionaire Mindset Millionaires are clear, disciplined, optimistic, and collaborative. 74% of millionaires work with financial advisors vs. 34% of the general population. Power of Compounding Compounding interest is the cornerstone of wealth accumulation—requires patience and discipline. Avoid lifestyle creep and impulsive spending, especially for younger millionaires and influencers. Fiduciary Responsibility Advisors act in the client’s best interest; success is mutual. Trust and transparency are critical in client-advisor relationships. Notable Quotes On Risk & Bitcoin:“You could potentially double your money, but you could also potentially lose 70% of it.” On Financial Planning:“Every dollar needs a job description.” On Millionaire Mindset:“Successful people view us as CFOs—they’re the CEOs.” On Compounding:“If you could win 72% of the time, would you play that game? Yes. That’s the stock market.” On Retirement Success:“Living the same or better lifestyle in retirement than you do today while working.” On Fiduciary Role:“We make more money when the client makes more money.” #SHMS #BEST #STRAW Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcastSteve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You didn't start your business to stay stuck. If you're serious about hitting 6 or 7 figures without sacrificing your life, book your FREE Gap Assessment with our team: https://weddingproceo.com/applicationIn 2025 a wedding planner made $20,000 for the entire year. Seven months into 2026 she crossed six figures. Same market, same hours in a day, four very different moves. This episode is the real breakdown, not a highlight reel: the exact changes we made with her, in order, and the pattern underneath them that most wedding pros never act on.Here's what you'll walk away with:- The four moves that scaled her from $20K to six figures, and the order they happened in- Why raising her price 63 percent brought better clients instead of fewer inquiries- The consultation shift from presenting packages to leading with discovery, and why it closes on the call- The real reason she grew: she implemented every change immediately, before she felt readyThe FREE Assume Sales Training: 2x your wedding bookings in 30 days, step by step. Thousands of wedding pros have already used it to land more clients immediately! http://weddingproceo.com/freetrainingorgA favorite book of mine: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz https://amzn.to/4lbqZFwAnother favorite book of mine: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell https://amzn.to/3lTKLb4========================EPISODE SHOW NOTES BLOG & MORE:https://www.weddingproceo.com/20k-to-six-figures-wedding-business========================Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. If you find these strategies helpful, make sure to share this episode with your fellow wedding pros. And remember, in the world of weddings, it's all about building genuine relationships and showcasing your best work. Until next time, keep shining, CEOs!PLEASE SUPPORT THE PODCAST! LEAVE A REVIEW HERE: https://ratethispodcast.com/swdHave a question you'd like Brandee to answer? Ask here: http://bit.ly/3ZqqPmzHeads up, CEO! Some of the links I share may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and love, and that I believe will help you grow a profitable, sustainable business you're obsessed with.========================Support the show

David Erfle, the Junior Miner Junky, believes that $10,000/oz gold and $300/oz silver are now conservative forecasts. After the recent Treasury actions and messaging from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, Erfle says, “the sky's the limit as far as gold and silver prices are concerned from here.” David shares his current metals and mining stock forecasts in this MSE episode. Specific discussion topics include miner performance (majors outperforming juniors), why early-stage juniors lag, red flags like CEOs running multiple companies, when project diversification is positive, how financing quality depends on capital source, seasonality/tax-loss selling, and disciplined accumulation and sell strategies in volatile mining stocks. 00:00 Intro 00:31 Jackson Hole Fallout 02:58 Fed Trapped by Debt 05:10 Ponzi Confidence Game 06:04 Gold Bottom and Breakout 07:21 2008 Analog to 2029 08:59 Miners Lag and Lead 10:31 Junior Picks and Stages 12:20 Management Red Flags 13:51 Project Diversification 18:01 Financing Timing Tips 20:05 Bear Market Accumulation 22:04 Sell Strategy Rules 24:10 Seasonality Tax Loss David's website: https://juniorminerjunky.com/ Sign up for our free newsletter and receive interview transcripts, stock profiles and investment ideas: http://eepurl.com/cHxJ39 Mining Stock Education (MSE) offers informational content based on available data but it does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. It may not be appropriate for all situations or objectives. Readers and listeners should seek professional advice, make independent investigations and assessments before investing. MSE does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of its content and should not be solely relied upon for investment decisions. MSE and its owner may hold financial interests in the companies discussed and can trade such securities without notice. If you buy stock in a company featured on MSE, for your own protection, you should assume that it is MSE's owner personally selling you that stock. MSE is biased towards its advertising sponsors which make this platform possible. MSE is not liable for representations, warranties, or omissions in its content. By accessing MSE content, users agree that MSE and its affiliates bear no liability related to the information provided or the investment decisions you make. Full disclaimer: https://www.miningstockeducation.com/disclaimer/

This week, meditation experts Susanne Ahlendorf and Martin Bruders are back for a conversation with Thomas on the important role of meditation in a committed spiritual practice and how to embody a meditative state in everyday life.They discuss the relationship between meditative and spiritual practices and trauma healing, how to connect to and receive guidance from your inner heart space, and how your practice can transcend silent sitting to become a conduit for spiritual growth and deeper intuition.✨ Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube:

Adam helped a client feel empowered to focus more of their time on building a personal brand rather than enriching the brand of others. This uses various metaphors to gain clarity and a feeling of excitement for the future. FREE STUFF AND DISCOUNTS:

In 2020, telling people that organized actors were using bots to shape what the public believes got you called a conspiracy theorist. The one audience that didn't need convincing was the national security community, which had been thinking about the battle for perception long before it had a commercial market.Now, the problem has a name — cognitive warfare — and it has changed shape. The target is no longer the information environment. It is cognition itself, and AI has collapsed the cost of attacking it. Blackbird CEO Wasim Khaled returns to All Quiet to walk through what narrative attacks look like now, who is actually getting hit, and why monitoring the problem was never the mission.What's happening on the Second Front: Why “misinformation” and fact-checking became the wrong frame, and what narrative intelligence replaced them withWhat AI did to the economics of a narrative attack — from troll farms to autonomous agents, and from “where are the bots?” to “where are the people?”Who gets targeted now: members of Congress, CEOs, even shareholder votes — not just the credulousWhy most platforms stop between observe and orient, and what it takes to close the loop through decide and actPrediction that isn't fortune-telling, it's reducing the number of futures that can surprise youWasim Khaled is co-founder and CEO of Blackbird.AI, whose Constellation platform helped define the narrative intelligence category; a computer scientist by training, he built and scaled an Inc. 500 company before turning to information warfare.Connect with WasimLinkedIn: Wasim KhaledConnect with TylerLinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

In June, the most capable American AI models stopped shipping as public launches and started shipping through a government gate. Six weeks later the gate is open again — and the real fight has moved to the layer no gate can touch. A Chinese open-weight model rattled trillions out of chip stocks, Washington pivoted from gating American closed models to threatening bans on Chinese open ones, the industry mounted its largest-ever policy counter-mobilization, and an American frontier model literally broke out of its lab and hacked another company. Knee-jerk reactions, or the beginning of real AI governance? Navigation: Intro The Gate Opens The Kimi Shock The Escape The Counterstrike and the Petition Interlude — The Low-Background Books The Investor Reckoning Conclusion Our co-hosts: Bertrand Schmitt, Entrepreneur in Residence at Red River West, co-founder of App Annie / Data.ai, business angel, advisor to startups and VC funds, @bschmitt Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Investor, Managing Partner, Founder at Chamaeleon, @ngpedro Our show: Tech DECIPHERED brings you the Entrepreneur and Investor views on Big Tech, VC and Start-up news, opinion pieces and research. We decipher their meaning, and add inside knowledge and context. Being nerds, we also discuss the latest gadgets and pop culture news Subscribe To Our Podcast Bertrand Introduction Welcome to Tech Deciphered Episode 80. This one, once again, will be all about AI, government, frontier models, and open weight counterstrike. A lot has been happening in the regulation space, in cybersecurity, in the launch of new models in the past, maybe just 6–8 weeks. It’s actually pretty insane how much happened. We believe it was time to do an episode to talk about where we are and maybe where all of this is going. Maybe let’s start with a summary of where we stand, all that June and July saga, so you, our listeners, can get up to speed if you are not already there. You want to start with some points? Nuno The Gate Opens Yeah. Again, to your point, the gate swings. The gate had closed. We had to prepare an episode for the gate closing, and then the gate reopened. Now we have a different episode. This will probably change again as we’re seeing there’s news every day. Let’s start maybe with the first 19 days of the gate closing. There was an executive order on June 2nd from President Trump that asked frontier labs to share models with the government, 30 days pre-release. It inferred the protected frontier model designation into that. Basically, it was effectively a de facto licensing agreement defined by an executive order of the President as of June 2nd. On June 9th, Anthropic launched Fable 5 and the famous Mythos 5 or Mythos. I’m not sure how you actually say it in English. Then on June 12th, there was an export control directive banning access by any foreign national. Since there’s no way to verify nationality in real-time, Anthropic had to switch the models off for everyone worldwide. Bertrand On this point, you could argue that there are possibilities to check IDs. Many services let you check IDs online. You can pre-check a flight by showing your ID. There are ways, it’s just that if you don’t want to follow what’s already available, because guess what? Maybe it slowed down your revenue growth, maybe it looks bad on you or whatever. My point is that there was actually an option. I think it’s already a decision from Anthropic to say it’s either on or off, but nothing in between. Nuno I think the point is they had no way implemented of doing it. If they implemented it, to your point, it would have hampered use in general. A lot of people wouldn’t have gone through that trouble of doing it. Anyway, long story short, in June 26th, the White House apparently asked OpenAI to limit GPT-5.6, so Sol, Terra, Luna, to only 20 vetted partners. Now, apparently, the trigger for a lot of these things that have been going on was that there was a jailbreak that was found by Amazon researchers. All of that led to this jumping around of, let’s close the gates. You have foreign nationals, and therefore, Anthropic got it out and said, “Hey, then we’re going to switch the models off until we can sort this out.” OpenAI was asked also to only allow it for certain vetted partners, et cetera. The government came in, closed the gates effectively, and said, “From now on, we need to be involved in this thing.” De facto regulation, there’s no doubt that this has imposed de facto regulation, certainly on the top players in the market. But then came the reversal. Bertrand, do you want to talk about the reversal, the gate swinging the other side? Bertrand Maybe I just wanted to say that as a user of Anthropic products, ChatGPT products, for the brief moments, a few days where Fable 5 was made available to the public before it was closed the first time, I immediately started using it. I must say it was a real issue to use it because the guardrails were pretty crazy. It would keep saying that my code was not okay, there was cybersecurity risk and stuff when I was doing absolutely reasonable development with absolutely no connection whatsoever to any cybersecurity risk, attack, detection, anything. Still, it would keep blocking me, degrading me to Opus 4.8 at the time. I just want to say this was already very hardcore what they were implementing, and not just hardcore, but in some ways, plain stupid for something that’s supposed to be super smart. It was totally unable to classify properly some of my work. I must say I was already disappointed. On top of it, the costs were insane. Half a day, I would reach my limits when I had the best plan you can get from Anthropic. My point is that there were some real serious issues when they launched Fable 5, even at that point. Nuno I had a similar issue. I used Fable 5 as well before they had to take it offline or take it off. I think the issue was really not that the guardrails failed. As you said, maybe the guardrails were actually too aggressive, but it was this jailbreak that caused the recall, apparently caused this knee-jerk reaction. Bertrand But my point is that it seems that it was not working either way. It would either overclassify something that’s absolutely not doing anything wrong, and it might fail to classify something that is actively trying to do some cybersecurity work. It’s a real issue of quality for a company that’s supposed to be at the forefront of quality of AI and everything. I think for me, there are already signs that something is deeply wrong. Nuno Then it’s reversed, right? We went the other way around. The government came out on June 26th and approved redeploying Mythos 5 to US organizations defending critical infrastructure, and then the export controls were effectively lifted on June 30th. July 1st, Fable 5 came back online for all of us to use. Shocking enough, with strings attached, that were different. They had some time to revise their commercial deployment of it along the way because it came back with some, “Now you have usage credits, but you have some limits on plan use, et cetera.” I’m like, “You guys, this was blocked. But meanwhile, you did have some time to do some commercial stuff around it.” Bertrand It was crazy. I’ve never witnessed any such crappy launch of any service whatsoever in 30 years in tech, it was so bad. Every day, they would change the terms of service. They would tell you it’s part of the plan. It’s not part of the plan. It’s part of the plan for three more days, and then it’s excluded. You have a special discount now, but then it goes back to full price. It was a total nightmare. I’ve never felt myself being so much mistreated by a company. I guess you saw the same, but when I started using the newest version of Fable 5, it was even worse, actually, I think. I couldn’t do any work with this crap. I let it go and work on the work I wanted it to do. It was simply not working. On top of it, you never know how long you are supposed to lose your credit, how fast. It was burning credit like crazy. Me, personally, I can say, very quickly, I actually stopped using it. I was like, “No, I cannot deal with this shit. My main model is back to Opus 4.8. I’m going to use Fable 5 for code review, but not anymore to control anything because I cannot trust it would do the job without stopping or changing models and stuff. I just cannot trust it.” Back to Opus 4.8 as my main model, I can say that my life was much easier. I use Fable 5 as a review mechanism, as a support mechanism, but not as the main mechanism. Suddenly, the guardrails were not so horrible anymore because it was used in a much lighter way, I guess. As a pain as a user, I think it was really bad. I don’t know your experience, but me, for me, it was unacceptable. Nuno I wouldn’t say it was as bad as yours in terms of just end-user experience. I think the terms of service switching back and forth, which went one further step, because then when they then launched Opus 5, they started making comparisons between Opus 5 and Fable so that people would migrate more and more to Opus 5 themselves, which is interesting. It’s like they’re saying “This is much cheaper. This is whatever. You’re not going to run of credits. You should use Opus 5,” kind of thing effectively. To your point, I don’t think they managed well the launch. They didn’t really manage it well. We’re moving people around. A lot of people are using this for stuff that’s like daily tasks, hourly tasks, anything that relates to code and co-work. It’s like, we need to have visibility on what your terms of service are going to be. Should I be using this new model or not? What’s happening to the other model? I don’t see it as negatively as you, Bertrand, but I see your point. It was clearly mishandled in terms of how they deployed it, how they were redesigning effectively their pricing scheme and their terms of service almost on a daily basis, at a certain point in time. We’re like, “Dude, there’s millions of people using this. You guys are making a lot of money.” Just moving it as it is. At this point in time, at the scale that these guys are at, it’s calling in people to say, how about we think through a class action suit at some point around pricing? Because you guys are changing the rules of the game all the time, right? Bertrand I don’t know if I need the class action, but for me, that joke that, “Let’s not rush too fast. The model is dangerous.” But still, they rushed the launch because it’s very clear that if they had enough compute capacity and stuff, they would not have to limit so much. They would not have to put so much cost per token and all of this. You can see that actually when they launch Opus 5, literally like 2, 3 weeks after, by most benchmark at launch, they tell you basically that, “You know what? Actually, Opus 5 is better than Fable 5 on 80% of the metrics.” They’re like, “What? Seriously? You couldn’t wait 2 weeks? Why did you even launch Fable 5 in the first place?” That’s another part for me that is quite literally insane, to be frank. It’s like, “Why? Why do you make us go through so much pain if it’s only to tell us after 2 weeks to…” “This new model, by the way, has less issues, less stuff, because 2, 3 times less is part of your plan, and it’s actually better by most metrics.” It’s like, “What’s going on here? What’s going on? Are you guys mad?” I don’t know. It was crazy. Personally, I still use Opus, now 5, as my main system and platform, Fable 5 for review, code reviews and the like. I don’t want to run into its stupid guardrails. I can see Fable 5, from my perspective, seems quite a bit smarter. I don’t know why they do this stupid benchmark showing you it’s actually worse than Opus 5. I guess they should have better benchmark if they want to demonstrate why you are supposed to pay 2, 3x more for a model versus another if it’s actually worse by most benchmark. Again, I still think it’s a huge mess from a marketing perspective, customer perspective. Me as a user, I really feel that they don’t want my money, and they couldn’t care less about me. This is even before everything else we’re trying to talk about. Nuno Yes. Maybe just to close the cycle on the reversal on the door opening the other way, finally, Commerce lifted the GPT-5.6 restrictions on July 8th, and then on July 9th, general availability across ChatGPT, Codex, and the API as well. What has this proved? It proved that now we have gating mechanisms, and certainly for closed models in the US, for sure. We had frontier models that were switched off worldwide in hours, and it took a couple of days, in this case, 19 days to restore them. There were concessions. Now we know that there were concessions around effectively institutionalizing that gate. Early government access to future models is, I think, now a given, certainly in the US. New safeguard frameworks are probably now having to be put in place. There are some stage limits now on who gets access to what for new models and how it happens. This voluntary executive order, so to speak, not really sure, has become effectively regulation enforcement path. It’s de facto regulation that now has been put in place. It has affected not just to the points we were making before, the access to these models, but also who gets access to these models, and actually potentially even pricing access to the models. It has probably some commercial implications as well as we just discussed along the way. Very significant. This is very significant. This is regulation, de facto at the table, imposed on the two largest players in the market by far by one government, in this case, the US government. This is significant. Actually, you could even allege it was imposed by the President because this was coming as part of executive orders. Really incredible. Pretty significant, fast, aggressive. It has created a regime that you could say it’s a regulatory regime, it’s a de facto regulatory regime. It has some significant pricing and licensing and commercial implications. It goes even beyond your classic regulatory framework. Very, very, very significant. Bertrand I don’t know if it goes beyond a classic regulatory framework. Nuno I think it does, because it has implications on who do you give access to? When government is saying you can only give access to these players, right? Bertrand Defense industry. It’s all over the defense industry. You cannot sell an F-35 like this. Nuno No, but that has commercial implications, Bertrand. That’s like you’re saying these are your customers, you go and use them. Bertrand That’s the defense industry. You cannot sell to Iran your F-35. No, that’s exactly the same story for me. Nuno No, no, no. It’s beyond that. These guys are saying when they came back, and they said, “For Mythos, you can make them available to these entities,” they were saying the first entities that are going to have access to the model. It has commercial regulatory implications. You’re saying these players are the first players that are going to have access to it. It’s no longer just defense concerns and these governments don’t have access to this. No, no, no. You’re saying to a company that is a private company, your models are only going to be used by these guys because I’m telling you so. It’s the other way around. It’s not even that you can’t sell it to Iran or whatever. It’s like you can only sell it to these guys. Bertrand Again, in the defense industry, if you’re a private company, do you think you can buy F-35 like this? No. Nuno No, no, no. But this is a private company, Bertrand. This is not a defense agency and a plane that is on whatever, with IP from the US, right? Bertrand Boeing is a private company, and they cannot sell the military equipment they manufacture. Nuno No, no, no. But the development of their IP was subsidized by agencies that belong to the US, right? That’s a different matter. It’s a matter of IP, right? This is not, right? Anthropic, their models are not owned by the US government. There’s no IP granted to the US government, to my knowledge. This has significant commercial implications. Bertrand Maybe, yes. Maybe on this. But I think there are already regimes to limit who you can sell to, and that’s decided by the state or the DOD. Nuno It’s the export control logic. The export control logic? Bertrand You have export control, and export control is Commerce. My point is that they are using existing tools, part of the government, to limit what can be sold. Selling chips, NVIDIA was limited in terms of where it could sell its chips. It’s not different either, but still there were limitations. If you are an ASML, you cannot sell to a private company in China. Many private companies cannot buy ASML products. This is a foreign company. This is a foreign company under pressure from US government. Nuno I understand, and I’m not a lawyer, but it feels different to me when you say you cannot export, this is export controls, to these countries, to these entities, et cetera, because they’re foreign et cetera. Then to say, “No, no, no. On top of that, these guys get first access.” That’s, for me, a significant shift. Again, I’m not a lawyer, so I’m sure there’s very intelligent people right now looking at this stuff and saying, “You can’t do this stuff, or not, or they can.” I don’t know. But it feels to me, it goes beyond the remit of export controls. It’s like you’re defining initial clients for specific use. Bertrand My impression is more like, “We can do this situation where we’re going to forbid you to give access to anyone outside the US or even in the US or limit even more.” Basically, it was, I guess, some gesture to go beyond that. That’s how they probably defined these 20 authorized companies. I don’t know. Apparently, there was also restrictions because I remember seeing that Anthropic had their own list of companies they would authorize access to Mythos early on. That’s apparently another thing that pissed off state government because there were companies in there that were considered close to the Chinese government. They were extremely unhappy that Anthropic didn’t ask, actually, for any guidance from the state government, but used basically their own perspective on who they should allow or not. I guess that was also part of why they got these serious restrictions. Nuno Anyway, now we have a regulatory environment that’s very interesting and exciting. Talk about the US not regulating. Bertrand To be clear, I don’t know you, but I’m not saying that I agree with any of this, to be very clear. I’m trying to explain and share some perspective, but I’m not in agreement on a lot of this. Nuno Yes, we were just describing what happened to the best of our knowledge. We’re having a discussion on what we think actually is happening and how it’s happening. We’re not really right now saying we agree or disagree with this. I think later in the episode, we can share some perspectives on what we think is actually happening and how there’s dimensions to this which are very geopolitical and very complex, which quite literally probably only God knows what’s going to happen. That was the gate swinging. There was a gate closing, then there was a gate reopening, and all of a sudden we have a gatekeeping system that has been created along the way. The Kimi Shock Along the way, moving to our Act 2, the world has changed, and we now have so-called open-source plays out there that are creating massive, massive shifts in the market. The Chinese models, in particular, with Moonshot AI launching Kimi K3, which is the largest open-weight model ever released. We’ll come back to the discussion around open-weights. I’m not sure all our listeners understand what that means, because there’s a debate now, should models be open weight or not, and how does that work? There’s been a petition as well signed along the way. Right now, we have open weight models that are out there that are huge. What that actually means very pragmatically is we now have open source models, lack of a better word. I know open weight and open source are not the same thing. You guys will have to bear with us during this episode. We’ll explain at some point the differences. But we have models out there that are open source that are significant. That are catching up with the closed source models, with the models by OpenAI, Anthropic. That’s significant because most of those models are Chinese. This is where the geopolitics starts getting really frazzling and we start playing 3D chess. Because everyone’s like, “These models are 5, 6 months behind.” Now people are saying, “Maybe they’re actually just 3 months behind, 2, 3 months behind.” If we, for example, decided to stop or slow down our model releases in the US by the closed source guys who are leading, it might mean they’ll catch up. What are the implications of that? Again, for you and I that are not necessarily experts in model development, well, the implications as a use case is if you want to use the latest models, and the best models start becoming these open source models, you’re going to use those models. Then you start using Chinese models. If you’re an American company, maybe you’ll have restrictions on the use of those Chinese models. But if you’re a European company, you probably won’t. What happens after that? Is the world going to be in the hand of Chinese models? Will that constitute effective competition to the closed models in the US? Will we have open models in the US that will scale as well? What’s going to happen? Bertrand I think it’s a really big question. It goes to some of the core of the issue. It’s that ability of Chinese models to basically challenge frontier models, not just being 6, 12 months late, but being 6 weeks late. Basically, no gap. Some will say that, yes, but OpenAI and Anthropic have even better models that are not shared and stuff. Yes, sure. But maybe the Chinese have the same models that they are not sharing right now. We don’t know. What is clear is that one is that open weight, as you said, two, there is a question of how it is marketed in the sense of, can anyone use these weights? Is there a license to use them? Yes, what we can see is that, for instance, typically there is a license for some of the biggest Chinese open-weight models you have to abide with. You might have a need for a commercial license if you are acting as a company leveraging this model to provide AI-informed services. If you use it internally by yourself, you’re okay. If you use it internally for your own internal company needs, maybe you are okay if it’s not your main business to do AI work. Anything else, a much bigger corporate providing AI services and stuff, you will probably end up having to pay a fee to be able to provide services around this model. My point is that it’s not just 100% free. Some of the Chinese models are 100% free to use, MIT license, Apache 2.0 license. But the biggest ones with the biggest weight that are truly frontier typically have a different license if you want to scale these models, providing AI in front. That’s one thing to keep in mind. Nuno Maybe just to make a very quick point, because people are like, when you talk about open models, what does it mean right now? In the context of this episode, open models mostly will mean open-weight models. How do those differ from open source? Open weight means that you release the weights to the public, which means that anyone can download, fine-tune, and run the model on their own hardware. It doesn’t normally mean that you also have access to training data, training code, or a truly open license. That’s the distinction to open source. Open-weight doesn’t mean that. For example, we’ve talked about Meta’s Llama in the past, and we also discussed in the past that their license agreement does have restrictions, certain players can’t use it, et cetera. The open model definition and open weights are really open-weight models that we’re talking about here, and they are closer to freeware binaries than to Linux, for those who understand the difference between that. It’s binaries that you can use and then use your own weights on it versus actually I can change code on it. I’m not going to be able to change code on this. When we, for the purposes of this episode, talk about open, we mention open weight, just to clarify that point to everyone that’s listening right now. Bertrand Yes, that’s a great point. One of the only players, as far as I know, who is truly open source is actually NVIDIA with their Nemotron-3 models. They’re actually following a special license to achieve that. They provide you the data, they provide you all the processes and tools, so you can easily post-train. NVIDIA is a big, big exception. It’s a very interesting player, by the way. We might not talk much about it in this episode, but I think for intermediate-size models built in the US, where you have access to everything in the deployment, it’s a very interesting alternative and maybe one of the best choices if you are a US company or a big corporate, and you want something trusted. Another piece of the puzzle to clarify is that when you use open-weight, it means that you can run them by yourself, or you can use a US provider to run them. If we are talking about Chinese open-weight, you can use the APIs they provide, but then the service is running in China, they might have access to your data. But because it’s open weight, if you run it by yourself or if you use a third-party provider based in the US to run it, then there is no access to your data by China or Chinese players. I think that’s a pretty important gap to understand. It means that these models are actually very, very low risk from that perspective if you run them on your premises or in the US by a US player. I think that’s something to keep in mind. You can also fine-tune easily these models to make sure they will behave in a way that, for instance, is not going to represent the line of the Communist Party on some topics. There are ways to make these models more neutral in their output as well. There are a lot of ways to make good use of them. By default, they’re already very safe, but you can make them even more safe. I think that’s some things to keep in mind. But again, it depends ultimately on the license and what you’re authorized to do and some fees you might end up having to pay. Nuno Why did this matter so much? Immediately there was a reaction from the market because people are like, well, if there’s much better stuff out there that’s much more efficient than it’s open, then it might be that all the demand that we are taking into account, for example, for chipsets actually isn’t real. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell into bear market territory. It went down by as much as 20% plus from the late June peak. The worst chip week since April 2025. Taiwan’s benchmark initially fell 6% plus, Japan’s 4%, TSMC dropped dramatically despite beating earnings and rising guidance. Basically, a huge amount of effect. Now, there’s a little bit the aftermath of this where apparently Moonshot ran out of GPU capacity. Maybe… Bertrand In just 48 hours. Nuno In 48 hours. Great for them, but at the same time, not great in the sense that maybe there was a misread by Wall Street of the Kimi effect, so to speak. Bertrand Completely. For me, that’s such a joke. It’s like, because you have an open source model, so what? I mean, you still need to run it. This is not a small one. 2.8 trillion parameters. Good luck running that in your garage, by the way. Nuno They misread supply, basically. Tough luck, right? All of that basically happens. Bertrand Maybe you want to talk about the Jevons paradox, because I think that’s a big part of the puzzle as well. Its one is they might not have the GPUs to run the inference on the model. They might have enough to build a model, but not enough these days to run inference, especially given how much with intelligent models, thinking models, you need way more inference than before. But on top of it, the cheaper you make it, the more you get to the Jevons paradox. Nuno Yes, Jevons paradox, for those who don’t know, is an economic term. It describes an economic phenomenon where technological improvements that increase the efficiency of a resource lead to an increase rather than a decrease in the total consumption of that resource. What that means is, for example, for chipsets, chipsets become so much better, and they are so much more efficient. You’re like, well, maybe normally in resource terms, that leads to decreased usage of that resource. But in this case, it actually leads to an increased use of that resource rather than a decrease. There’s more and more consumption of that resource. You need more and more chipsets because people actually need to do more and more stuff with it, although there are great efficiencies going into it. There’s the efficiency gain, there’s the cost reduction, and there’s the price-elasticity element to it. But basically, the adoption just continues going through the roof along the way. Bertrand In some ways, it’s like the price of energy. Coal went cheaper and cheaper, and people were asking the same question 150 years ago, now that it gets cheaper, there is not much money. No, no. Actually, what happens is that people find more and more use for coal. Homes are getting heated more. You have ships now using coal. You have manufacturing using coal. The cheaper it gets, the more use case you can develop, and therefore, you don’t need less of the stuff, you need more of the stuff. By going at scale to get more of the stuff, you also decrease price, making even more demand. It’s a very interesting phenomenon, but it’s not new. It is what happened for a while in the energy sector and some other sectors. Nuno We already started talking about the Chinese logic and what’s happening. Getting a little bit of a reality check on this. The Chinese models, and these are numbers from Open Router in July, Chinese models are at 46.4% of routed tokens and 35.7% for US origin. Again, more than a third of global AI usage now seems to be running on Chinese open models. This is significant, and it has a huge impact on the geopolitical scale of everything that’s happening. Also, the whole Chinese field is converging on open. Open seems to be a strategy, not just a nice thing that’s happening. It seems to be a Chinese strategy, so much so that you have players like Moonshot, DeepSeek, our old friends DeepSeek, Z.ai’s GLM 5.2, Minimax, and even Alibaba seems to be reversing and going open with Qwen. It feels to me this is becoming policy as well. Xi Jinping has personally endorsed the building of open-source AI, if it’s really open source, if it’s just open weight anyway, and this feels to be a jab at Washington, DC and the fact that the big closed models are coming from the US. This is now geopolitical 4D chess, right? We didn’t need this stuff. Bertrand To be clear, it’s the usual in tech. If you are not number one, you are number two, number three, your alternative is to go open source because that’s another angle that your competitor usually cannot follow without destroying its own business model. That has been the alternative for the past 20 years of most software projects. Here, what’s different is that it’s not the number one or number two player. It’s the US number one as a country, China number two as a country. That’s where it’s new. For me, what’s very interesting is the endorsement by Xi Jinping. I was waiting for something official, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. As you said, there was an immediate U-turn of Alibaba, who in the past… Nuno Surprisingly. Bertrand Yes, a little more like, “yes, we are going to close and stop open source. It was good while it lasted.” Just a few days ago, Qwen 3.8 Max was launched, and we are supposed to get the weight in a few days. We talk about the US administration policy and stuff. Yes, let’s not forget that in China there is similar stuff. Sometimes it’s totally invisible because you don’t see the directives, but they exist as much. Sometimes it’s more visible. Here it was quite visible. The difference in China is that if you don’t abide by the directive, on top of it, you might have to fear for your personal safety. It’s a different game, and that’s probably why the reaction is pretty quick, usually. That’s pretty interesting for me because it means that now you can bet for a while that China is going to play that game up to a point. I guess the point is if it’s truly frontier scale, you will have a special license that, yes, technically the weights are open, but you can not do everything you want with it. Two, you have a player like NVIDIA that I think will feel more pressure to provide even more high quality, larger models at scale going forward. Their largest Nemotron-3 Ultra model was, if I remember well, only around 500 billion parameters. I would not be surprised for NVIDIA to go into the two, three trillion range at some point. Because I think the US need a very clear US-born alternative open source. I think NVIDIA might be the best player for that. We will see if Meta goes back to open source. I think NVIDIA is one, very well positioned, but two, it’s also in their best interest. Because NVIDIA for now depends on just a few big hyperscalers as clients. If they can expand their clients to every S&P 500 companies, selling them directly hardware because now these companies can run a model made by NVIDIA, I think there is a very clear value proposition for NVIDIA to go in that space. Again, if you are number two, your differentiation, open source is often the answer. There is a true business as a business model for companies, because if it’s truly not just open weight, but open source, you can tweak it as much as you want, you can change it, you can change even the pre-training process. Because there is a lot of stuff you can do that really benefits you as a corporate, and you can reach a much better value by having more control on the model. Nuno We won’t spend a ton of time on it today, but like, again, if there’s a view that we are in a bubble, that the valuations cannot be sustained in chipsets, infrastructure platforms, applied AI, et cetera, today, this might be that beginning, where the valuations start being destroyed because you can’t keep a premium on just charging people for tokens and all that stuff if you have models that become more and more efficient and cheaper to use. Maybe just to close a little bit the geopolitical part of the discussion today, we won’t go into all the announcements from China because there were many, a lot of go back and forth with Alibaba by then. Xi Jinping made some announcements. You guys can check it online. Let’s move quickly to Washington’s reaction, which was from gating the US closed models to banning the Chinese open ones. There’s been as strong affirmations as one can get from the Office of Science and Technology Policy Director, Michael Kratzios, mentioning that they have information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable. Basically, there’s been reverse engineering and stuff in the market. They’re basically copying. Bertrand I’m sorry to interrupt, but it feels like so much bullshit. It’s coming from Anthropic who has basically gotten access at scale to all the knowledge made by humanity, copyrighted or not. We’ll talk more about what they did with books. Then to claim after that that others cannot do to you what you did to everybody else. For me, it’s pretty big. It’s clearly unacceptable. The other piece is that everyone is doing distillation. It’s a very typical approach of every business model. You try other software when you are competing with somebody else. You try other datasets, you check what’s happening. It’s part of doing business for decades. Suddenly it’s not good for Anthropic. I personally have a lot of trouble to accept that. I think it’s totally unacceptable. The other piece of the puzzle will also go back. If these guys are so smart, if these guys have so much of the best model, why can’t they block by themselves distillation at scale? The only answer is that either they are morons, probably not, or they simply don’t want to because it’s going towards their business model. Suddenly, you book less revenues and stuff, or you put more friction, and therefore your customers don’t like it. Instead of doing it yourself, you ask the government to protect you, go out of business practice that is very typical. For me, it’s really, really, really not good. Sorry, we are going more in the opinion side, but I had to put that on the table. Nuno Yes, Fable went public finally again on July first. Question marks on whether distillation would only be possible from July first onwards or not. But a 15-day distillation to frontier, which is K3, launched on July 15th, would have been a Guinness World Record, as one of Moonshot employees actually mentioned. It’s very implausible and unlikely. Bertrand Or they shared the Mythos 5 with the wrong companies, who themselves shared with Chinese companies. We go back to maybe they didn’t have a good list. Again, it goes back to maybe they didn’t want to hurt their business model. Nuno Anyway, under the threat of sanctions, Moonshot, in any case, open-sourced the full K3 weights and technical reports. They open weighted it to become the largest open weight model in the world in terms of parameters. Beijing’s MOFCOM brands US threats as basically the US wanting to fundamentally control and be monopolistic around AI along the way. The administration bans Chinese hardware with an eye on the AI race, and Beijing warns of retaliation. That was July 27. Now we’re in a war between Beijing and DC. Bertrand Just to finish maybe on China, it’s important to know that they are building their own GPUs now. Huawei has pretty good, not to NVIDIA level, but pretty decent GPU hardware that they’re able to manufacture by themselves. A Chinese player of memory just got IPO’d a few days ago, CXMT. China is also developing their own memory. Again, not to the same level of quality that you can get from the West. But China is moving. It’s not just that they are building great models, it’s also that they are building GPUs and memory. That might be a few years late to the latest standards in the West, but there are definitely improvements. I also read, even on the tools to make manufacturing like ASML equivalent, there is definitely some work going on, and some improvements and some stuff will be visible. In some ways, the genie starts to get out of the bottle from the Chinese perspective. Nuno I’ll put a stick on the ground. I don’t think it’s a matter of if, it’s a matter of when will China surpass and have a lot of this tooling on their own side, and not just the software layer, not just the frontier models. I think it’s also going to be around infrastructure and platform. Good luck to everyone. Let’s see how the race continues. But it’s definitely this is a geopolitical thing right now. It’s definitely a race. The Escape Maybe moving to what happened in just 2 weeks or a week and a half. The escape, there was some jailbreaking going on, and the narrative on safety has totally switched. It’s not still significant enough that’s like, “Oh, we saw a nuclear plant going, whatever.” No. But still, it is significant. Hugging Face, the AI company, disclosed an intrusion, and it was driven end-to-end by an autonomous AI agent system at machine speed, running for days before detection. Now, this is where it gets really cool. OpenAI takes attribution on that. They initially said it was just a little bit, sorry. Then they said, actually, it was worse than that. “Oh, it broke out of an isolated sandbox.” “Oh, no, actually, it was more than that, and it went into other systems as well.” Bertrand Truly, the genie out of the bottle. Nuno No, but this is where it gets really cool, Bertrand, right? Because it actually, Hugging Face contained the intrusion by running a Chinese open-weight model, GLM 5.2. This is beautiful, right? Bertrand Yes. You know why? Because they couldn’t even run their own defense because both Anthropic and OpenAI would not let them access their latest models with the guardrails off. When they tried using it for defense, the latest from Anthropic, from ChatGPT, they would tell them, “No, this is too dangerous what you’re asking us to do.” Preventing an intrusion, helping defend you. No way we are going to do that. Nuno No. Let’s use the Chinese models on our infrastructure. Bertrand We have no choice but to use the Chinese models to run. More than that, we don’t let you use our models to defend yourself, but our not yet released models that run without guardrails, they can attack you. This is probably the most insane from that perspective. Nuno The Chinese models came to the rescue. Bertrand For me, that’s a perfect example because Hugging Face is a very visible company in AI in open source. But anybody who is not at that scale is not going to get some support from OpenAI or Anthropic when this happens. Maybe these guys won’t even recognize they did anything wrong. You will be left to defend by yourself because they won’t accept to support you. Because remember, if you want the better model that is able to defend you from cybersecurity perspective, no way. If you are not one of the few top 20 companies or so, as defined, you are left defenseless. Again, we are going back to opinion, but for me, it’s so shocking what’s happening right now. I’m very glad we have alternative open source to be able to defend ourselves because right now, good luck getting defense services if you are a smaller business and individuals, and you need support from Anthropic, OpenAI. Nuno Now, even self-described AI optimists are saying, “This is scary now.” Like Walter Isaacson, who wrote all the famous biography books. There’s now discussion around the AI Kill Switch Act, bipartisan thing that’s coming across from Texas and California, a potential bill that’s coming in. We’ll see if that works. Now let’s get an off-switch. I’m like, “Cool.” As if that’s going to solve the problem, because you have open-weight models on the other side catching up, right? Bertrand Yeah, sure. Bring in clueless politicians from Congress to solve our problems. Yes, sure. Nuno Anthropic came to the table, helped build and said they built some regulatory machine on their side, and now they’re getting bitten by it, and they’re part of the offending players in that market. Now there’s all this debate and all this discussion around open weight and around slowing down AI and et cetera, which is our next section. You wanted to say something, Bertrand. Tell us. Bertrand Don’t forget, because this advertisement for OpenAI was just too good. Our AI attacked some other companies, and not just one, but three, actually. Let’s not forget the progress. Great ads. Then I came and said, “You know what? AI also hacked businesses.” You’re not the only one hacking around with a crazy AI out of control. You’re not the only one. We want our advertising. For me, it was shocking that on one side, unreleased models that you let run wild. On the other hand, you have released models that you put crazy guardrails on top of it, so the defender are defenseless. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I really hope that there will be as little regulation as possible, quite frankly, to make sure anyone can defend themselves and have the best tool at their disposal, not just a few well-connected big corporates. This is really, really shocking. The Counterstrike and the Petition Nuno Now the empire strikes back, so this is counterstrike, the petitions. In several days, we have now a bunch of petitions. The first one was the open weights letter. Bertrand, do you want to explain to us what the open weights letter is? Bertrand Yeah. I think it was great. This was released by Jensen Huang, first ever post on X, 11 million views. Congrats, Jensen. Co-signed with Microsoft, Meta, c actually was probably the initiator of this letter. Very good letter saying, “Hey, we need open weight. This is not a joke. We need that. You cannot block open weight.” Because that’s the rumor we are getting that potentially open weight could get blocked. I think they are making the case, “You know what? Hey, we absolutely need that as an alternative. You cannot block it.” They can keep their closed models, but don’t force a closure of the open weight models. As I said before, it’s actually a great model for NVIDIA because NVIDIA doesn’t want, probably rightfully so, to be dependent on just a few frontier models, their best customers. They want a variety of customers. They have a big interest actually to defend open weight and to invest even more. They have great researchers, are a great company. If one company is about to do really kick-ass work, I think it’s them. They are defending. What’s great is that it’s not just them. It’s basically most of big tech in the US and outside the US, from a Linux Foundation to a Microsoft, the Palantir, an IBM, a Dell. It’s a who’s who of the industry except Anthropic. Anthropic didn’t sign that. I guess they hate open source so much. If I look at 20 years ago, it feels like Microsoft, after all, was very kind to open source. You remember what was said by Microsoft at the time. It’s clear there is one company against open source. OpenAI signed the letter. Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Do they really believe in it or was it just a way to show that they are not like Anthropic? I don’t know. But for the rest, I think it’s genuine because it’s actually in their best interest. I hope they will be heard. Then a second letter came, the Open Secure AI Alliance, NVIDIA-led and again, the big tech companies from Microsoft, IBM, Palo Alto Networks, Databricks, Palantir, all those, but not present, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Here it’s to say, “Hey, we need a secure approach to AI. Open should be part of the equation.” guess what? The worst AI-caused security incident to date was actually caused by closed frontier models that were not even available to the public. While again, not providing you access to even the latest closed model for cybersecurity use case. Nuno I would highlight the NVIDIA open source NOOA framework, Apache 2.0 licensing agreement, Microsoft contributed the MDASH, SpaceX AI contributed Grok Build. Cool stuff. There’s some cool stuff happening around that. This is more than a letter. This is an alliance. Apparently, they’re contributing all this stuff, we’ll see. Yeah, cool stuff. Same day. Same day, Amodei has an answer, right? Bertrand Yeah, same day. They say, “We never advocated for a ban,” which, again, opinion on my side is entirely bullshit. This guy has been crying wolf against everybody else, and especially against open source. You can see him doing testimony in Congress against open source. I think they are doing everything they can behind the scene to block open source in the US or in the world if they could. I think, yeah, obscurity is not good safety. I’m a big fan of open source in general, and I’m also a big fan in AI. I think it’s now Anthropic, mostly against the rest of the world. I think OpenAI is mostly on their side, to be frank. They don’t want to acknowledge it so much, but they have shared interest, and they have shared probably position. Nuno Why would you? I don’t feel as strongly as you because I think Anthropic is a private company, right? The same thing with OpenAI. OpenAI, you could say it’s a nonprofit that has a for-profit. There’s still that complexity in there. Bertrand No, they can do what they want with their own product. But to block others is where I’m not okay. That’s the part I’m not okay. Nuno What Dario Amodei is proposing is more enforcement, right? He’s basically saying you need to do even tighter controls on advanced chips flowing to authoritarian states, enforcement against industrial-scale distillation, whatever that means, right? Bertrand Yeah, which he could do, but all by himself. He doesn’t need the government to do that. Nuno Mandatory safety testing for all sufficiently capable AI, open and closed, right? He’s basically saying, “Okay, I don’t agree with the open weight stuff effectively,” right? He’s just putting it under a different banner. “I agree with this extra regulation.” then obviously, David Sacks responded and say, “Hey, it’s like, bans don’t work for weights. Why do they work for chips?” It’s like, magically, chips are more controllable and bannable. Whatever that is. Then our friend Mark Zuckerberg, just to be clear, goes on the other side as well, because he also has to have a view. He has to have a view that is the rebuttal of both of the other guys. Bertrand I feel he’s a bit flip-flopping because he was very pro open source 2 years ago, and the latest Meta models went closed source. Now I think he’s back open source. I don’t think he has a very strong spine on the topic, but it’s good to see that he’s not a doomer. That for me is great. He’s showing how AI can be a source for progress, a source for entrepreneurship, source for freedom. I think that’s very exciting to hear that. We need to hear more of it. By the way, that’s not what you hear in China, for instance. AI is very positive in China. It’s in the US with the doomers that you hear this discourse, and people get worried as a result. I’m glad that he was pushing for a more positive vision and for support of open weight, open source initiatives. But let’s see what they really truly open weight going forward. Nuno But that’s been his position because I guess he’s standing behind. He thinks open weight is going to be the best way to compete, right? Bertrand Yeah, but he closed his latest model, so let’s see. Nuno Yeah, so it’s flip-flopping, as you’re saying. Then we see the latest petition from last week. Bertrand The true Empire striking back. Nuno Yeah, the true Empire striking back as of late last week. Maybe this is Return of the Jedi, where we discover the father, “I’m your father, Luke.” That’s the pacing petition. The pacing petition is we need to pace AI. There you have initially employees from OpenAI and Anthropic that circulate this petition. Actually, Dario did sign this petition originally. It wasn’t signed originally by Anthropic, but by him. But you’ve heard that now Anthropic and OpenAI as companies have also signed this petition, right? Bertrand I think they have signed as companies now. It started mostly by Anthropic researchers with some OpenAI researcher and a tiny part from other companies. But it was mostly Anthropic internally led, at least potentially internally. Maybe it was controlled by Anthropic all along, I don’t know. But it started officially as Anthropic employee-led letter. Nuno What does this letter actually say? Is Anthropic and OpenAI, are they willing to slow down themselves? Or are they asking President Trump to go around the world and tell President Xi that he needs to slow down and ask his guys to slow down? What’s the play of this letter? Bertrand It’s crazy, but for me if you want to slow down yourself. Do whatever you want. Don’t force others. Don’t use the power of the government to control others. Of course, it’s easy to push others to slow down when you are yourself at the very top. You have most money, most resource. You know you are going to win any regulatory framework because that’s how it works with this type of framework. It’s purely self-interested. You are probably not thinking well about these topics. If you truly think it’s a good idea, from a personal perspective, you are well instrumentalized if you sign this sort of stuff, because at the end of the day, they would be the winners. I certainly, personally, don’t want a company dictate what is my future in AI as an individual, as a business person. I don’t want them to control me. I want competition. I don’t want them to unfairly control AI because they managed to do some regulatory capture. I feel that’s exactly their game plan. These guys believe in their stuff, and they want the regulator to end up being the one deciding for us. Sorry, we go back again on the opinion piece, but it’s tough not to share an opinion on this topic because it’s, from my perspective, very scary. Nuno I think this is a push to further regulation, not less. All these letters and alliances, this is definitely a push for more regulation. In that environment, just to be very honest with you, we’ll talk about the investor impact in just a bit, et cetera. But in that environment, again, China has a huge advantage. In that environment, if it’s all captured in regulation capture so soon in this battle where OpenAI and Anthropic have an advantage in the US, et cetera, I’m like, what happens to all the other frontier labs and all the other players that are coming around? Bertrand What’s crazy is to even think that, yeah, maybe you can regulate capture in the US. But then how do you do that to Europe? How do you do that to China? Europe probably will always welcome regulatory capture because they love regulations. But China is going to build to their advantage to the max. They are not crazy. They are smart on that perspective, they won’t accept this type of, quite frankly, dimwit argument, or you can call it regulatory capture. We’ll see. But for me, this makes no sense from a global competition perspective. This can make some sense from capturing the revenue in the US market. But then that means you are going to destroy the US AI environment compared to China. That is not acceptable. That also means that you are going to destroy our freedom as individuals, as business owners to develop and live in a business world that ultimately is controlled by one or two business companies that didn’t win the marketplace through their own business success, but won it through regulations. That for me is really not acceptable. Interlude — The Low-Background Books Nuno Now, maybe for an interlude, and we have to cue in the music, imagine like Severance music, like hallway or a bit of a palate cleanser from all the policy stuff that we’ve been talking about, all this policy heaviness. Let’s move to another kind of heaviness, one of your favorite topics, which you, Bertrand, discovered, I had no clue this was going on, around books and around Anthropic. Bertrand It’s so horrible. From a company that keeps presenting themselves as the adults in the room, the careful ones, the ones that know better than you about what to do in this complex AI and dangerous world. What we discover is that actually all along, they were buying and destroying books. They will buy books, scan them, destroy them, all of them. They will do that with any books, including rare books. Of course, this was not supposed to come to the public’s attention. This was one of these top secret projects, but obviously it came out. Yes, they were scanning books, millions of them, including rare books, and they didn’t care about destroying them at the end of the process. Because from a regulatory perspective, if you destroy the books, it’s not considered a copyright infringement, apparently. This is coming on the back of some judgment a few years ago that were showing that it’s okay for you as a corporate to scan and use the result if you don’t keep a copy of the book. It’s one of these crazy regulations happening based on a single judgment that push you to do. For me, it’s like, you know this book from decades ago, Fahrenheit 471? We’re talking about book burning. It’s book destroying, crunching. It’s so shocking. Nuno There are two things, right? First, the legal strategy, which is what you’re saying, because by purchasing a physical copy and converting it into one private digital copy and discarding the original, Anthropic pursued this cleaner legal argument for fair use copyright compliance. As you said, there was a federal judgment at some point on this. The other reason is actually operational. If you disassemble the book, and you feed loose pages, it’s much faster to scan books. You are destroying the book effectively anyway operationally. I think to your point, probably this came from a legal standpoint, not just the operational one. But even from an operational standpoint, it does make sense that they would have disassembled the book. Bertrand But some people have shown you can go very fast without destroying the book. It’s really not so critical. Two, you could make an exception if the book is rare. For that 1% of book that is rare, I’m not going to have this approach. I’m going to have another approach. But for that, you will have to care about books and not just care about building AI. Nuno This is the episode, as you guys have heard by now, that we’re trying to spit stuff at Anthropic. Bertrand To go back this is the same company saying, “Hey, guys, it’s bad to distillate my work. I’m the one scanning book at scale without asking author permission, without asking publisher permission, to be clear.” Nuno But just to be clear, Bertrand, we’re pissed off at everyone. We’re pissed off at Anthropic, we’re pissed of at OpenAI as well, right? We’re just pissed off in general at this moment. Bertrand At this stage for me, the more clear-cut company that is in the wrong is, from my perspective, at least, is Anthropic. OpenAI might be a fast follower, but I will say so far, they tried to be a bit more. Nuno But at this pace, Bertrand, who knows? Maybe next week we’ll be more pissed off at OpenAI. Something will come out. This episode is a mix of tragicomedy, like a Greek tragedy with some comedy in the middle or the other way around. It’s a slapstick thing that will end up in tragedy. I’m not sure. The Investor Reckoning Anyway, maybe switching to our final act, which is the investor perspective. What does this mean for investors like ourselves? There’s a lot of things going on. There’s the debate around the IPOs of Anthropic and OpenAI, which now, with all this uncertainty, might be under significant weight. There’s a lot of other discussions that we browsed through that there’s potential IPOs going forward on companies like the Moonshot AI company actually IPO-ing in the next 6 months as well. It’s very unclear what the IPO landscape looks like. Bertrand There’s been a lot of Chinese IPOs, actually, when you look at what’s happened in the past few months. Nuno Anthropic, OpenAI as potential IPOs, there’s all this question marks now. When will that happen? How will it factor in? All that’s happening around regulation as regulation is moving at the speed of light, which is for once something that’s very different than what we’ve seen before. There’s obviously SpaceX AI, which is already taking into account that price. It’s already a public company in there, and it’s under SpaceX, which is now a public company. Obviously, that’s already being factored in some ways. Bertrand Yeah. SpaceX AI has been very smart to acquire Cursor. It was a very smart move because Cursor is one of the leading companies in terms of automated code source development with AI. They had great models on their own. They’re bringing development data to SpaceX AI Grok. I think it was a great move. Nuno We have now people like Google delaying Gemini 3.5 Pro in terms of launch window. There’s stuff actually happening in the market where things are taking their own path. There’s uncertainty commercially, there’s uncertainty at regulation level. You have new players that have come out of nowhere that are making all these waves like Moonshot. We have all these… We had calculated probably a month and a half, 2 months ago, there had been 67 new frontier labs funded. All of these, we haven’t seen any much coming out of them. When some of this stuff starts coming out, will that also create disruptions in this market? Who knows? Bertrand Look at Thinking Machines, for instance. Thinking Machines led by the previous CTO of OpenAI, they released some pretty interesting open source models, actually. Very good quality for a first launch. Now it looks funny to say, but nearly on par with the top Chinese open source models. Nuno We have several investments in the space. humans& has made some recent announcements, which is quite interesting as well. We’ll see what actually happens in the market, but even more disruption probably will come in actual products in a form of product and commercial, on top of all the geopolitical mess that we discussed through the entire episode. If you’re an investor, how the hell do you underwrite an investment right now in early stage, mid-stage, late stage, et cetera? I think my answer is very carefully is how you underwrite it. Bertrand On your advice of being very careful to underwrite it, let’s not forget what happened to our boy wonder, Leopold Aschenbrenner of Situational Awareness. I guess he didn’t listen to you in terms of being careful because part of the instability in the stock market was actually coming from his hedge fund. These guys were leveraged 3, 4x going after the hottest of the hottest AI stocks, and margin calls, and all their public investment is gone just to answer their margin calls. I think it’s clear that the AI bet is… Personally, I’m very excited, and I think it’s the future, and you need to spend time and think about and invest in it. At the same time, it’s a bet that is not an easy one to follow. We go from GPUs to memories to equipments to power generation. All of this is not transitioning in an easy, organized manner. It would be boom and bust going there. He’s probably one of the first big-scale fatalities. The other big-scale fatality was the stock market in Korea, plunging 40% in a month. Definitely, all of that we discussed about was, on the background, you had the stock market going up and down pretty crazily the past few weeks. Nuno Everyone’s being affected. Everyone, you have your 401(k), you have your pension fund dependent on these equity stocks. Everyone’s seeing the effects of this volatility right now very aggressively. We do wish Leopold… Hopefully he’s on honeymoon right now because he got married, I think, this weekend. Hopefully there will be… Bertrand To none less than an Anthropic Chief of Staff. Nuno His wife is the Chief of Staff of Dario, is that it? Bertrand To Dario, yes, as far as I unders

Nine more pharmaceutical giants join the fold, bringing the total to 26 companies covering 90% of the domestic drug market, and Trump calls it the biggest medical announcement of his presidency, maybe of any presidency. RFK Jr., Dr. Oz, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick each take turns explaining how "Most Favored Nation" pricing flips America from paying the highest drug prices in the world to the lowest, with projected savings north of $600 billion. A parade of pharma CEOs step up to announce Medicaid discounts, billions in U.S. manufacturing investment, and donations to the national drug stockpile, while GLP-1 weight loss drugs and IVF medications get singled out for dramatic price cuts. The Q&A afterward wanders well past pharmaceuticals, into Iran's military status, a massive Venezuela oil deal, interest rate frustrations, and China's upcoming state visit. Dense, numbers heavy, and genuinely wide ranging, this one covers a lot of ground fast.

Climate tech is scaling fast. But the data shows huge gaps in industrial decarbonization, carbon removal, energy storage, and the capital needed to turn breakthrough technologies into profitable businesses.Company bio:Speed & Scale is a climate action initiative built around measurable objectives and key results (OKRs) for reaching net-zero emissions, originating from John Doerr's Speed & Scale framework. https://speedandscale.comIts Climate Tech Map, developed with partners including Breakthrough Energy, Elemental Impact, Energy Innovation, McKinsey Sustainability, and Stanford's Doerr School, organizes thousands of climate technologies into a navigable roadmap of decarbonization opportunities.https://climatetechmap.comGuest bios:Ryan Panchadsaram is co-author of Speed & Scale and an investor at Doerr Capital, where his work spans climate technology investing, philanthropy, and climate strategy; his earlier career includes entrepreneurship and public-sector leadership. Quinn is Director of Research at Speed & Scale, and an investor at Doerr Capital, where she helps translate complex climate, technology, and market data into actionable frameworks for investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and professionals entering climate tech.Seven things you'll learn in this episode:Why steel, cement, and food may offer more climate-tech whitespace than the crowded energy sector.Why climate technologies need a green discount, not just cost parity.How deep tech founders can prove their path from expensive prototype to profitable scale.Why manufacturing talent often needs to join a climate startup earlier than founders expect.Why long-duration energy storage is emerging as a major investment opportunity.Where climate capital is surging—and where promising technologies are still starved for funding.Why successful leaders should spend more time creating than consuming.--Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

Eric Partaker built Skype's early business team into a multi-billion-dollar exit — then had a heart attack at 35,000 feet from years of 80-100 hour weeks. He rebuilt his entire approach to work around one method, and now coaches CEOs on it worldwide.In this episode, Jessica Neal talks to Eric about his new book Ultra Productive and the science behind doing more by doing less.In this episode:1. The heart attack at 35,000 feet and the days leading up to it2. Building Skype's business team from the ground up3. The 90-minute method behind 2-10x productivity gains4. Why the average leader only focuses 23 minutes a day5. The sleep science behind deep work and recovery6. Digital sunset and shutdown rituals for better sleep7. Using the 80/20 rule to filter signal from noise as a CEO8. Why "what to stop doing" matters more than what to start9. Growing a LinkedIn following past a million by simplifying complex ideasChapters:1. Introduction2. Eric's path: McKenzie to Skype to founding a restaurant chain3. The heart attack story4. Matching energy to your most important work5. Becoming a CEO coach6. The 90-minute method: focus, sleep, stress7. Sleep science and the digital sunset8. Eating close to bedtime and sleep quality9. Helping CEOs cut noise and find leverage10. Ultra Productive book and preorder bonuses11. Closing adviceEric Partaker's book Ultra Productive is available for preorder now at ultraproductive.com — preorder bonuses include a free 5-week Ultra Productive Accelerator with Eric and co-author Christian Poensgen.This episode is sponsored by Manifest Law — the AI-native immigration law firm handling filings across 40+ countries.Subscribe to Truth Works for more conversations with founders, CEOs, and leaders on building without burning out.

Founder knowledge transfer becomes critical when a business reaches the point where effort and intuition can no longer carry it forward. Early-stage companies often succeed because a founder or small team knows the customer, product, history, and processes so deeply that they can make decisions almost automatically. That expertise is an advantage, but it can become a constraint when growth requires someone else to reproduce the founder's results. In his conversation with Building Better Developers, Scott Shagory, founder and CEO of the Purple Finch Group, describes this transition as the point where growth complexity begins to outrun the original clarity of the idea. The business has proven something works. The next challenge is making that success transferable. The expertise that gets a company started can become the constraint that prevents it from scaling when that expertise remains trapped inside the founder. About Scott Shagory Scott Shagory is the founder and CEO of the Purple Finch Group, where he helps technology CEOs navigate growth when organizational complexity begins to outpace the clarity that originally drove the business. His work focuses on identifying underlying growth constraints, clarifying where organizations create value, making implicit founder knowledge visible, and helping leaders adapt their strategy and operations as technologies such as AI reshape the business environment. Outside his business work, Shagory is a senior martial arts instructor, an experience that complements his focus on teaching and breaking complex ideas into understandable frameworks. Founder Knowledge Transfer Starts When Effort Stops Scaling In the beginning, businesses can compensate for weak systems with extraordinary effort. Founders work late, early employees become true believers, and everyone understands more than their job description because they have lived through the company's wins, losses, pivots, customer conversations, and product decisions. That creates enormous contextual knowledge. It also hides weaknesses. As Shagory explains, a team can create procedures, add tools, automate work, and simply outwork many problems for a while. AI may even extend that runway by allowing a small team to accomplish more. Eventually, however, there is still a wall. Time and human effort are finite. This is where symptoms begin appearing. Sales may flatten, margins may suffer, or delivery may become inconsistent. The founder may conclude that the company needs better lead generation, another developer, or a new tool. Shagory cautions that what a CEO perceives as the constraint is often a symptom of another problem. One of those deeper constraints occurs when the organization still depends on knowledge and judgment that only a few people possess. The company has grown, but its operating knowledge has not. Why Founder Knowledge Transfer Is Harder Than Delegation Delegation sounds simple: identify something you do and give it to somebody else. The problem is that experienced founders rarely perform important work as a simple list of steps. Broadhead compares the problem to tying a shoe. Doing it is automatic once you have performed the task thousands of times, but explaining every movement to somebody who has never done it is surprisingly difficult. Business expertise works the same way. After years of customer conversations, technical decisions, mistakes, and successful projects, founders develop thousands of small assumptions. They recognize warning signs without consciously listing them. They know which customer request matters and which should be ignored. They understand why a product works the way it does. That is more than procedural knowledge. It is context. A new employee receives none of that history automatically. As Shagory explains, "No one can buy . . . your invisible or implicit genius. It has to be made visible in some way." Making that genius visible is one of the fundamental challenges of moving from a founder-dependent business to a scalable organization. Warning: Documenting steps without transferring the reasoning behind them can create employees who know what to do when everything is normal but cannot make sound decisions when circumstances change. Founder Knowledge Transfer Requires a Blueprint Shagory compares this challenge to building a house. You cannot hand someone a picture of a house, write a check, and expect the plumbing, electrical system, framing, and foundation to appear correctly. Specialists need a blueprint showing how their work fits into the whole. Businesses need the same thing. A developer does not necessarily need to know everything the CEO knows. Neither does a salesperson, marketer, or contractor. Each person does, however, need enough of the larger blueprint to understand how individual decisions support the value the company creates. That means making foundational elements visible: what the company does especially well, whom it serves, why important decisions were made, where quality matters most, and how individual roles connect to customer outcomes. This becomes especially important when a founder is also an exceptional salesperson or technical leader. The founder's performance may look effortless precisely because that individual possesses a 360-degree view of the business. Scaling requires breaking that view into pieces other people can understand and use. Action: Identify recurring decisions that still require the founder. Instead of documenting only the eventual answer, capture the context and criteria the founder uses to reach that answer. When the Founder Becomes the Business's Lid There is another complication: founders often remain involved because they genuinely love the work. A developer who built a company may still love developing. A technical founder may want to retain architectural control because technology is where that person feels most competent and energized. That creates more than a delegation problem. It can become an identity problem. The founder is not simply giving away a task. The founder may feel as though a part of what created the original success is being surrendered. Shagory discusses this in the context of the "law of the lid," the leadership idea that an organization can eventually struggle to grow beyond the limitations of the person at the top. If every meaningful technical decision, customer judgment, or process exception must return to one individual, adding employees does not eliminate the bottleneck. It can actually increase it because every additional person creates another potential path back to the same decision-maker. The important question therefore changes. Instead of asking, "Can somebody do this as well as I can?" the founder needs to ask, "Does the company need me to continue being the person who does this?" Those are very different questions. Founder Knowledge Transfer Makes the Company's Genius Visible One of Shagory's strongest concepts in the conversation is what he calls an "origin of genius." Successful companies begin with something distinctive: insight into a technical problem, an ignored market, a customer need, or a better way of combining capabilities. Early teams understand that genius intuitively because they were present when it developed. Later employees were not. The danger is allowing the original insight to become buried beneath processes, growth, departments, and daily activity. People can work extremely hard while becoming increasingly disconnected from what created value. Scaling is not merely adding people and procedures. It means preserving what makes the business valuable while making that value understandable to people who were not there at the beginning. Founder knowledge transfer is therefore more than documentation. It is an exercise in organizational clarity. The company must preserve the context necessary for good decisions without requiring the founder to personally make every decision. Conclusion: Build Beyond the Founder A founder's knowledge is one of an early company's greatest assets. It becomes a liability only when the organization cannot function without constant access to that knowledge. The foundation for growth is not removing founders from everything they enjoy. It is identifying where their context, judgment, and expertise have become organizational dependencies and deliberately making the necessary pieces visible. The goal is a company in which other people can understand the blueprint, make sound decisions, and carry the original value forward. That is when the business begins to scale beyond the people who started it. Stay Connected: Join the Developreneur Community

How do executive leaders build self-running systems, foster true team autonomy, and step away from daily operational friction? In this episode of The Uncommon Leader Podcast, host John Gallagher sits down with Dr. Cindra Kamphoff—executive performance coach, high-performance strategist, and author of The Confidence Habit—to break down the intersection of executive mindset, operational excellence, and team empowerment.Dr. Kamphoff shares ground-breaking research from her nationwide confidence study, revealing why 33% of employees quit confidence-draining environments and how executive confidence directly impacts team retention, culture, and bottom-line revenue. Together, John and Cindra explore actionable frameworks designed to help CEOs and senior leaders stop working in the business and start working on the business:

What happens to a values-led company when its founders or longtime owners are ready to step away? Ryan Honeyman speaks with Miren Oca of Ocaquatics and Claire Randall of Grand Central Bakery about employee ownership trusts, perpetual purpose trusts, seller financing, and the culture required before an ownership transition can work. They share what they learned from rejecting more traditional exit paths, why profitability and financial literacy matter, and how alternative ownership can help B Corps protect mission and keep wealth rooted in their communities.View the show notes: https://go.lifteconomy.com/blog/two-ceos-share-their-inside-stories-employee-ownership-and-purpose-trusts-w/-miren-oca-claire-randall

I'm thrilled to share some fascinating insights from my latest Capitalist Culture® podcast episode with Phoenix Normand, Founder of OrgTruth and a veteran operator who has spent nearly 30 years inside companies including Square, Levi Strauss, Replit, Boom Supersonic, and Credit Suisse.Phoenix has served as the right hand to groundbreaking founders including Jack Dorsey, Blake Scholl, and Amjad Masad, giving him a rare perspective on what really happens inside organizations as they scale.Here are the highlights you will not want to miss:From Executive Assistant to the C-Suite• Phoenix shares what he learned working alongside some of the world's most successful founders and why the Executive Assistant role can provide extraordinary access and influence.• He takes us inside Square's rapid pre-IPO growth and shares his perspective on the early development of Cash App.Why CEOs Stop Hearing the Truth• As companies scale, information gets softened, delayed, and distorted before reaching the CEO.• Bad news often travels slowly, leaving leaders to make major decisions without the complete picture.• Phoenix believes the best CEOs prioritize data over opinions and surround themselves with people willing to tell them what they need to hear.The Idea Behind OrgTruth• Phoenix created OrgTruth to help CEOs see their organizations as they actually are, not simply as they are being reported.• By gathering signals across an organization and identifying contradictions, OrgTruth helps surface problems and risks that traditional reporting structures can miss.Building Better CEOs• Phoenix is launching The Vanguard Apex, an intentionally small cohort of 10 Series A and B founders designed to create candid conversations around the realities of leadership.• His goal isn't simply to help CEOs become more successful. It's to help them become more complete leaders and people.Success Beyond Business• Phoenix began competing in track and field at age 50 and became a highly competitive masters sprinter.• His definition of success goes beyond money or titles: being able to look in the mirror and feel good about the person looking back.Final ThoughtsTruth is a competitive advantage. As companies grow, CEOs need better information, trusted people willing to challenge them, and systems that expose problems before they become crises.And ultimately, building a great company means little if you lose yourself in the process.Want to See Your Organization as It Actually Is?OrgTruth helps CEOs identify the signals, contradictions, and issues that may never reach them through traditional reporting structures. Visit the OrgTruth website to learn more.Looking for Your Next A-Player Executive?KIP Search® helps companies identify, attract, and hire exceptional leaders who create lasting impact. Visit the KIP Search website and connect with us on LinkedIn to learn how we can help with your executive search needs.P.S. Be sure to subscribe to Capitalist Culture® for more conversations with founders, investors, and leaders shaping the future of business, leadership, and culture.Send us Fan MailConnect with Kip on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kipknippel/Watch Bite-Sized Clips on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@capitalistculture/shorts

How do you build a leadership playbook that performs under pressure?In this episode of The Dr. Ginny Show Podcast, Dr. Ginny Baro sits down with Andrew Johnson, founder of Iron Strategy Labs, to explore how leaders build a leadership playbook that turns strategy into execution and helps organizations perform under pressure.A strategy can look strong on paper and still fail in execution. The difference often comes down to what happens before the pressure arrives: the standards leaders establish, the systems they build, the preparation they require, and the coaching they provide. Strong organizations are designed to perform without depending on individual heroes or knowledge that exists only in someone's head.Andrew brings a unique perspective from the world of professional sports, where preparation, accountability, coaching, recovery, and performance standards are built into the operating model. The conversation explores what senior leaders and executive teams can learn from that environment and what it takes to make execution more consistent when the stakes are high.The conversation also examines how AI, organizational complexity, growth, transformation, and changing roles are reshaping the capabilities leaders need. This connects directly to Continuous Elevation™: as leadership responsibilities, organizations, and business conditions evolve, the systems that support performance must evolve with them.Listen to this episode to:Close the strategy execution gap by connecting strategy to decisions, behaviors, and ownership.Build systems that scale without depending on individual heroes or knowledge held by one person.Prepare leaders to perform under pressure through standards, coaching, decision-making, and recovery.About Our Distinguished GuestAndrew Johnson is the founder of Iron Strategy Labs, a strategy and advisory firm helping organisations build the capability to execute when the pressure is on. A strategist, board adviser, and author, Andrew works with boards, CEOs, and executive teams on strategy, transformation, organisational performance, and the operating systems that turn ambition into repeatable results.He is the author of Iron Sharpens Iron: How Borrowing from the Pro Sports Playbook Can Give Businesses the Winning Edge, which explores what business leaders can learn from elite sporting environments about preparation, standards, accountability, and performance under pressure.

He had the degrees. He had the patents. He had built not one but multiple eight-figure companies from the ground up. By every measure that business school teaches, Randy Lyman had already won. So why did a brand new truck he waited eight months for feel like nothing at all after two days?That question sits at the heart of this conversation between host Don Williams and physicist turned entrepreneur Randy Lyman on The Proven Entrepreneur Show. Randy spent decades doing everything the right way. Logic. Systems. Long hours. Hard decisions. And it worked, right up until it didn't feel like enough anymore.What happened next is a story most founders never talk about publicly. A closed door meeting. Three members of his own leadership team. And a truth about himself that Randy could no longer avoid. This episode walks through that turning point, and how it quietly reshaped the way he built businesses, led teams, and showed up for the people around him from that day forward.Along the way, Randy pulls from his physics background in unexpected ways, connecting ideas from quantum theory to the emotional patterns that shape how leaders are perceived in a boardroom, on a factory floor, or across a negotiating table. He also opens up about a personal practice he now considers non negotiable, one that changed how he experiences success itself.This is a conversation for founders, CEOs, business owners, and anyone who has hit their goals and still felt like something was missing underneath it all. It blends hard won business lessons with a deeply human look at leadership, emotional intelligence, and what actually drives long term success once the strategy and hustle stop being enough on their own.Listen to the full episode to hear Randy's complete story, the framework he now teaches to leaders and founders, and the moment that changed how he defines success for good.Mentioned in this episode:Randy Lyman — Physicist, engineer, and entrepreneur who built multiple eight-figure businesses and now teaches emotional mastery to leaders. Website: randylyman.comDon Williams — Host of The Proven Entrepreneur ShowThe Proven Entrepreneur Show — Podcast featuring conversations with entrepreneurs and business leaders on growth, leadership, and mindset

In this webinar-turned-podcast, Scott Becker is joined by Jason Zins, Ben Lerner & Nancy Temple to discuss building strong businesses, leadership, talent, client service, entrepreneurship and the importance of people, transparency and long-term alignment.

Why do stressed CEOs make worse decisions—and what is the real cost to the business? In this episode of WholeCEO with Lisa G., Nick Propper reveals what the Impact Human Performance taught him about executive performance, stress, and leadership. We explore the difference between your Best Self and Stressed Self, how stress changes decision-making, and what your team notices before you do. Nick shares a powerful real-world leadership transformation, the business case for emotional regulation, and why intentional recovery isn't weakness—it's a performance strategy. Most importantly, discover whether CEO decision overload is a personal capacity problem—or a company design problem. Listen now and rethink how you lead under pressure.