Podcasts about north star

What does it take to stop competing on price and start commanding attention? One word. Your core belief. In this episode of the Business of Story, host Park Howell sits down with Brian Burkhart, founder of Square Planet and one of America's top communication strategists, to reveal why most businesses become invisible commodities — and exactly what to do about it. Brian has spent decades helping Fortune 500 leaders, CEDx speakers, and senior executives find the single galvanizing word that transforms how teams align, how audiences feel, and how brands compete. His insight is simple and powerful: if you can't name what you stand for, you won't stand out. In this episode you'll discover: How to distill your core belief into one powerful word that galvanizes your entire organization Brian's 10-step ancient Stoic framework that works for any presentation, pitch, or keynote How to reverse-engineer your core beliefs directly from your daily actions Why your audience decides with feelings first — and how to make art that activates them The Mad Men "It's Toasted" moment that proves one idea beats every feature list Brian Burkhart defines art as "the unnecessary done on purpose to make someone feel." Sprinkles on cupcakes. Colorful hospital walls. Hotel turndown service. None of it is necessary. All of it creates enthrallment. And enthrallment is exactly what separates unforgettable brands from forgotten commodities. Whether you're preparing a Monday morning presentation, a keynote, or a company-wide initiative, this episode gives you the tools to find your North Star — and make it impossible to ignore. Guest: Brian Burkhart, Founder of Square Planet Contact: info@squareplanet.com Free 45-minute consultation: mention the Business of Story Host: Park Howell, Founder of the Business of Story and creator of the StoryCycle System™ Learn more: businessofstory.com

Partner with Jay: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/contactㅤPre-order Jay Schwedelson's new book, Stupider People Have Done It (out June 9, 2026).All net proceeds are donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, let's kick cancer's butt: https://www.amazon.com/Stupider-People-Have-Done-Marketing/dp/1637635206ㅤSubscribe to Jay's newsletter for weekly marketing tips and tactics: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/newsletterㅤRegister for GuruConference (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.guruconference.comㅤCheck out Eventastic (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.eventastic.comㅤConnect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/Check out Jay's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@schwedelsonCheck out Jay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayschwedelson/Ask Jay anything: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/askㅤLeave a comment and follow the show, it really helps us out!ㅤFollow Stu McLaren on Instagram at @stumclaren, and head to his website Stu.me, where he points listeners to find everything he is working on.ㅤEveryone slaps the word "community" on things now, but almost nobody builds one that survives past 90 days. Stu McLaren has been quietly building membership businesses since before that was a buzzword, and he sits down with Jay Schwedelson to explain why the whole game has flipped from handing people information to actually walking them to the finish line. The part worth your commute is a one-message test that tells you whether anyone will pay before you build a single thing.ㅤBest Moments:(02:59) Why most communities turn into ghost towns after 90 days(04:32) The North Star question every membership needs to answer for its members(07:33) The founding member launch: one message that proves demand before you build anything(12:23) How AI flipped memberships from access to acceleration(17:42) Love me or hate me, there's no money in the middle(19:50) Why Stu is now completely evangelical about Japan

Thanks for listening, and please follow us on Insta @NHPTalent and www.youtube.com/thePOZcast For all episodes, please check out www.thePOZcast.com This special episode is brought to you by our dear friends at Blood Cancer United. An organization very near and dear to me. I'm here to remind you to give to causes that make a difference. You want to help, but you don't know where to start? Blood Cancer United is at the top of my list. They are the global leader in helping patients and families with blood cancer, and your dollars fund research, patient support, and advocacy. Please give today here: Thank you for supporting this important mission. Learn more and donate here: https://pages.lls.org/voy/nyc/nyclls26/aposner   Chapters: 1:54 - Lindsey's background 4:11 - Decision making 5:00 - Big Lesson Learned as an RA 5:58 - Paralysis of Choice 7:52 - Job Hopping 8:40 - Difference between Boomers & Millennials (Leadership wise) 10:48 - Young Leaders - Where is the gap? 12:19 - Concept of Feedback 14:11 - Impetus behind writing the first book 15:37 - Multi-generational Workforce 18:59 - Need of physical workplace vs remote work (uncertainty) 21:53 - Magic Formula 23:20 - Lindsey's book title struggle 25:18 - Early Career Guidance 26:45 - Insightful Interview Questions 29:06 - Who should read the book 29:47 - Golden key takeaway 30:41 - Biggest challenge in writing this book 31:52 - Vulnerability 32:26 - Greatest piece of advice 34:20 - Lindsey's Super Power 34:35 - Personal/Professional Silver Linings 35:54 - Lindsey's North Star

Do you feel like you built a business for freedom, but somehow became the person everyone depends on for EVERYTHING? In this episode, I sit down with Ashley Thomas to talk about the leadership shifts that help you move from reactive chaos to sustainable success. We break down why discipline and clear expectations create more freedom, the ways poor retention and people-pleasing are costing your business, and why being the "cool boss" without structure creates confusion and resentment on your team. Ashley also shares her Leadership Compass framework for defining your North Star, turning your values into behaviors your team can actually follow, and creating a culture where accountability starts with you. Get ready to become a stronger leader, empower your team to take more ownership, and build the systems and culture that give you more freedom to focus on growing your business. Check out our Sponsors: Shopify - Try the ecommerce platform I trust for Glōci. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at http://Shopify.com/happy. Zazzle - Save 25% on your first order today at http://Zazzle.com with code EARN. Monarch Money -  Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off at http://Monarch.com with code EYH. Northwest Registered Agent - Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/EarnFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Wealthfront - Join the million-plus people already building long-term wealth with confidence by heading to wealthfront.com/earn. Indeed - Indeed is giving Earn Your Happy listeners a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Just go to http://Indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on Earn Your Happy. Momentous - If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com and use code EARN for up to 35% off your entire first order. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 How to turn a reactive business into an intentional one.05:30 Why discipline and boundaries protect you from constant business fires. 09:15 Why business owners struggle to step into leadership. 12:00 The North Star framework for staying focused on what matters most. 15:15 Strategies for staying disciplined and focused on your bigger goals. 20:45 What your retention numbers reveal about your company culture. 25:00 Why a "no rules" culture can create confusion and resentment. 31:45 Tips for building a strong company culture as your business grows. 34:45 The people-pleasing trap that can hurt your team and leadership. 36:15 The leadership mistakes that could be creating your culture problems. 40:00 The framework for defining who you want to be as a leader. 43:45 Ways to turn your core values into behaviors your team can actually follow. 46:00 What's the difference between talking about your values and actually living them? 49:15 What is sustainable success? 52:00 Strategies for building a leadership team that can make decisions without you. 54:45 Advice for becoming the leader your business needs you to be. RESOURCES DM “GIFT” to Ashley @hbic.sixten on Instagram for a chance to win Ashley Thomas' Leadership Compass, valued at $999! Apply for the Elite Entrepreneur Mastermind HERE! Get on the waitlist for Mentor Collective Mastermind HERE! Try glōci for 40% off your first order with code HAPPY at checkout - head to getgloci.com FOLLOW Follow me: @loriharder Follow glōci: @getgloci Follow Ashley: @hbic.sixten Earn up to 4.30% APY with Wealthfront's high-yield cash account for a limited time: https://wealthfront.com/earnThis experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. The host of Earn Your Happy podcast, Lori Harder (“Media Partner”), is not a client of Wealthfront. The Media Partner receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage for this paid endorsement placed in their podcast, creating a conflict of interest. More details available via the referral link. The Direct Deposit Plus Investing Program from Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC provides eligible clients a 0.25% APY increase above the base APY on eligible Cash Account balances (up to an overall boosted rate of 4.30% for a limited time when including the three month 0.75% APY boost for new clients) when you direct deposit $1,000 a month, plus open, fund, and maintain an investing account. Wealthfront may change or end the program at any time and determine eligibility at its discretion. Terms apply. Full details at wealthfront.com/promo-terms.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of January 30, 2026, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. References to the APY for the Wealthfront Cash Account, including any APY increase, are to the APY paid by insured depository institutions that participate in our cash sweep program (the "Program Banks”). Wealthfront Brokerage does not pay interest. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY.Same-day withdrawal or instant payment transfers may be limited by destination institutions, daily transaction caps, and by participating entities such as Wells Fargo, the RTP® Network, and FedNow® Service. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Fees & Eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Securities investments are not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Product images are for illustrative purposes and do not reflect individual experiences, account balances, or performance.

Basketball is bigger than basketball.In Episode 314 of the JAMODI Podcast, Matt Sayman sits down with Great Lakes Christian College Head Coach Elijah Kess to discuss building a championship culture through consistency, servant leadership, relationships, and daily standards.Growing up in Baltimore, basketball became Elijah's path toward changing the trajectory of his life. Today, he leads one of the nation's successful Christian college programs while working multiple jobs, raising a family, and refusing to lose his hunger.Topics include:• Building culture that lasts • The "North Star" philosophy • Relationships over championships • Why consistency changes lives • Coaching beyond basketball • Recruiting through honesty • Developing mentally tough players • Leadership through servant mindset • Daily habits that build winners • Faith, family, and purposeIf you're a coach, leader, teacher, parent, or athlete, this episode is full of practical leadership lessons you can apply immediately.Subscribe for weekly conversations with basketball coaches from every level.

Are you what you do? James Clear says identity change is the North Star for habit change — and he's right. But it works the other way too: your habits are quietly shaping your identity. In this episode, I talk about the two-way loop between habits and identity, why "your labels, your limits" applies to how you see yourself, and what this means for the culture of your team — because culture is really just collective identity, shaped by collective habits. If you want more questions like this to help you build more remarkable days, I send them three times a week in Your Remarkable Day. Sign up at kevineikenberry.com/newsletters.

Basketball is bigger than basketball.In Episode 314 of the JAMODI Podcast, Matt Sayman sits down with Great Lakes Christian College Head Coach Elijah Kess to discuss building a championship culture through consistency, servant leadership, relationships, and daily standards.Growing up in Baltimore, basketball became Elijah's path toward changing the trajectory of his life. Today, he leads one of the nation's successful Christian college programs while working multiple jobs, raising a family, and refusing to lose his hunger.Topics include:• Building culture that lasts • The "North Star" philosophy • Relationships over championships • Why consistency changes lives • Coaching beyond basketball • Recruiting through honesty • Developing mentally tough players • Leadership through servant mindset • Daily habits that build winners • Faith, family, and purposeIf you're a coach, leader, teacher, parent, or athlete, this episode is full of practical leadership lessons you can apply immediately.Subscribe for weekly conversations with basketball coaches from every level.

Vancouver Holocaust survivor Adam Policzer, 87, is marking three major milestones this summer: the publication of his first English-language Holocaust autobiography in the form of a 60-page graphic novel, The House Across the Street; the premiere of a documentary about his life; and the 80th anniversary of his reunion with his father after the Second World War in July 1946. Eighty years ago, Policzer was reunited with his father, who had fled Hungary before the outbreak of the Second World War and found safety in Chile. But the child and his mother didn't get out in time before the Nazis invaded Hungary. So, Policzer's mother arranged to hide her young son with the Christian family living across the street in the city of Miskolc. She was later deported to Auschwitz, and eventually perished in a Nazi slave-labour camp in Poland. Policzer eventually moved from Chile to Vancouver, B.C. in the 1970s, where he worked as an architect. He and his wife wanted to leave a memoir for their grandchildren, so he drew his story as a graphic novel, published in Canada in June by Dirty Water Comics. Policzer believes he is one of the few child survivors who vividly remembers the Holocaust, and possibly one of the only survivors to tell his story as a graphic novel with his own drawings. The story has also inspired a new documentary about him which recently premiered at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. On today's fresh episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, Adam Policzer joins host Ellin Bessner to explain how drawing his images helped him deal with his Holocaust trauma, while paying tribute to the Christian family that repeatedly risked their lives to save his, but never qualified for recognition by Yad Vashem. Also joining are the filmmakers Jamie Michaels and Liam Karp, both from Winnipeg. Related stories Learn more and buy the book “The House Across the Street” by Adam Policzer, published by Dirty Water Comics, in Winnipeg. Watch the trailer for the new documentary about Adam Policzer, called “I draw them the Best I Can”, which had its world premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival on June 8, 2026. Check out director Jamie Michael's 2019 graphic novel “Christie Pits” in The CJN , and also co-director Liam Karp's solo Holocaust short film called “Tattoo” (2023), which also screened at the TJFF in June. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

Mark Schultz, Northstar Commodity says soybeans and corn make fresh highs for the move but for how long? Wheat sets back on profit taking, while cattle bounce or put in a low? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 109: Michael League is the founder of Snarky Puppy, the GroundUP Music label, and the GroundUP Music Festival, and he's one of the most independent minds working in music today. He sat down with us for a deep conversation about how he built the whole thing. This isn't an interview about bass tone or gear. It's about how the entire machine actually works: how a bandleader turns a college project into a five-time Grammy-winning institution, an artist-first record label, and an international festival, all on his own terms, and all without a major label calling the shots. We trace the whole arc. League started Snarky Puppy in 2004 at the University of North Texas because he wasn't getting to play, so he built his own band. It transformed when he immersed himself in the Dallas gospel and R&B scene, absorbing the mentorship of the late Bernard Wright, the "North Star" who reshaped its feel. Out of that came the Snarky Puppy sound and the rotating cast fans call "the Fam," nearly 40 players who launched solo careers like Cory Henry's ("Lingus" is one of the most-watched instrumental performances online), Bill Laurance, Mark Lettieri, Larnell Lewis, Robert "Sput" Searight, and more. Michael pulls back the curtain: how he leads and pays this rotating collective, schedules a year out so everyone gets bandstand time, and sees himself, borrowing from Béla Fleck, as "a leader among equals." We get into why he founded GroundUP Music after growing disenchanted with the label system, how it works as an artist-friendly alternative to majors, and how the GroundUP Festival became a no-headliner gathering that's crossed the Atlantic. We also cover his life as collaborator: his partnership with David Crosby, whose late-career renaissance he helped spark; Lalah Hathaway entering the Snarky orbit; Family Dinner coming together; discovering Jacob Collier early; his band Elipsis with Antonio Sanchez and Pedrito Martinez; his love of the oud; and running it all from a 500-person Roman-era village in Spain. We talk making a living in music, sustainable careers for musicians, mentors and friends he's lost, and AI's effect on the industry. This is for musicians, bandleaders, producers, and label-builders and anyone who's wondered how to build something lasting without compromising the art. If you love Snarky Puppy, jazz fusion, and the real workings of the industry, this one's for you. Subscribe and hit the bell. Lets go! This episode is brought to you by our friends at The Pod Company! Their portable sauna makes it easy to prioritize your health wherever you are, whether you're on tour, traveling, or at home. Use promo code ELMO to get yours for $499 instead of $999! Learn more at https://podcompany.com/ Huge thanks to our friends at DistroKid! DistroKid is the easiest and fastest way to get your music on over 150 platforms worldwide! Go to https://distrokid.com/vip/elmo to get 20% off your first year! Become a Patreon Member to stay in the loop as we post Patreon-only exclusive content, ad free episodes, and discussions about music and music careers. https://www.patreon.com/gowithelmo Please SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW this podcast to catch new episodes as soon as they drop! Your likes, comments and shares are much appreciated! Listen to the audio form of this podcast wherever you get your podcasts: https://elmolovano.komi.io/ Follow Michael: https://www.instagram.com/michaelleagueplaysmusic/ Follow Go With Elmo: https://www.instagram.com/gowithelmo/ https://www.tiktok.com/@gowithelmo https://x.com/gowithelmopod Follow Elmo Lovano: https://Instagram.com/elmolovano https://x.com/elmolovano Follow Jammcard: https://www.youtube.com/@jammcard https://www.instagram.com/jammcard/ jammcard.com #michaelleague #snarkypuppy #groundupfestival Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us Fan MailFeeling stuck can be confusing when your life looks good on paper. We talk about that exact tension: having the job you wanted, having friends, doing all the “right” things and still feeling empty. Instead of ignoring it, we treat it as a signal. That uneasy feeling often points to a bigger truth: fulfillment comes from alignment, not comfort, and alignment usually requires a decision that scares you.We walk through the two catalysts that changed our trajectory. First, we set a clear goal with a real deadline: start a business by the end of the year, then put in reps even before everything made sense. Second, we put ourselves in a high-action environment by attending Grant Cardone's conference in Miami, where the message became obvious fast: if you want to build a business and provide value, you have to share your message and actually help people. That shift turns “maybe someday” into “I'm starting now.”From there, we trace how a practical skill set in accounting, personal finance, and financial literacy can become the foundation for coaching that goes far beyond money. We talk about building a North Star vision, strengthening mindset, supporting mental health and physical health, improving relationships, and staying grounded in service, community, and purpose. We also keep it real about the messy beginning: no sales system, no polished funnel, getting paid through Venmo, then evolving step by step. If you're researching how to start a coaching business, how to start a side hustle, or how to stop overthinking and take action, this is your reminder to build brick by brick.If this hits home, subscribe for more Five Minute Friday insights, share this with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What's one small step you're willing to take this week? To Reach Jordan:Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93ZwFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/Hope you find value in this. If so please provide a 5-star and drop a review.Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-edwardsconsulting/30min 

 EPISODE DESCRIPTION I sat down with Ilies, CEO of Ouinex, a crypto exchange that launched earlier this year with one clear mission: stop retail traders from getting crushed by institutions on unfair playing fields. Ilies breaks down exactly how traditional crypto exchanges are structured in a way that lets market makers and financial institutions exploit everyday traders, and explains the specific model Ouinex uses to fix that. We also dig into why TradeFi instruments on most crypto exchanges cost retail traders five to seven times more than they should, how AI copilots could change the way traders manage positions, and where the market is headed as institutional money continues flowing into digital assets. If you have ever wondered why your trades seem to always go against you, this episode will open your eyes.DISCLAIMERNothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/ CONNECT Ouinex Website: https://ouinex.com/enTwitter/X: https://x.com/OuinexTelegram: https://t.me/+g8twTjE3_wUxY2E0Web3 with Sam Kamani: https://www.web3pod.xyz/ KEY POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS • [00:54] Ilies shares his background, starting at FXCM 25 years ago and building his way into crypto and founding Ouinex in 2022• [03:24] He explains the central limit order book problem: retail traders are competing in the same order book as well-funded institutions with co-location and full trading teams• [07:26] Ouinex introduces the no-taker execution model, where market makers can only make markets, not take orders, and have no visibility into retail client orders• [08:19] TradeFi instruments on Ouinex tap into decades-old bank liquidity from Goldman, Citi, and Deutsche, making Ouinex around 20x more liquid than competitors on those instruments• [10:23] Ilies compares spreads: a normal TradeFi broker offers around one point on gold, while major crypto exchanges charge around seven points for the same product• [15:37] He describes how thin crypto liquidity lets institutions move markets with small capital, keeping retail as what he calls exit liquidity• [20:00] Ouinex is a multi-asset platform, so when crypto is flat, users can access oil, gold, Nasdaq, and equity markets all from one interface• [21:28] On regulation, Ouinex is actively working with a local partner to obtain a MiCA-aligned license in Europe• [26:24] Discussion on AI in trading: Ilies is skeptical of predictive AI signals but excited about an AI copilot feature that would call traders when their positions hit key levels• [30:30] Ilies and Sam discuss the growing wave of institutional interest in digital assets, with family offices and hedge funds expanding into crypto• [34:30] North Star metrics for Ouinex are trade volume and retention, and currently almost no users are leaving once they join• [37:48] Ouinex is preparing for a seed or Series A round, targeting documentation ready by end of August, and is inviting traders to try the platform

Finding Your Way: When You Feel Lost in Life Have you ever quietly said to yourself, "I've lost my way"? Not necessarily out loud. Just inside your own mind. That feeling that somehow you've become disconnected from where you're going, who you're becoming, or even who you really are. In this deeper dive episode, Paul explores a personal experience of feeling lost after making significant changes in life and identity. What emerged was a surprising realisation: perhaps we don't lose our way at all. Perhaps we simply lose connection with the part of ourselves that already knows the way. This episode explores the uncomfortable space between who you've been and who you're becoming, why that space can feel like grief, and how looking outside yourself for answers often keeps you stuck. Most importantly, you'll experience a guided hypnosis and visualisation process designed to help you reconnect with your future self, discover your inner direction, and uncover the next small step on your journey. Because maybe your path isn't something you find. Maybe it's something you feel. IN THIS EPISODE • Why feeling lost often follows personal growth and change • The hidden link between identity and feeling directionless • Why searching for answers outside yourself can make things worse • The difference between finding a thing and following a direction • How your future self may already know the next step • Using emotion to communicate with your unconscious mind • Why purpose is often discovered through feeling rather than logic • A guided hypnosis process to reconnect with your inner compass KEY TAKEAWAYS ✓ Feeling lost doesn't mean you've lost your way. ✓ Identity shifts can temporarily create uncertainty and confusion. ✓ Your future self can provide guidance when your conscious mind feels stuck. ✓ Direction often appears before the destination becomes clear. ✓ Purpose is experienced through alignment and feeling, not just thinking. ✓ Small steps create clarity far more effectively than endless searching. QUOTE FROM THE EPISODE "You don't have to have the whole plan. You don't need the perfect map. Your future self doesn't hand you the whole journey. It simply nudges you, one step at a time." REFLECTION QUESTIONS • Have I really lost my way, or have I simply lost connection with myself? • What parts of my identity am I currently letting go of? • What feeling am I truly seeking in my future? • If my future self could guide me today, what small step would it suggest? • Am I searching for answers outside myself that may already exist within? CALL TO ACTION If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who may be feeling uncertain about their direction in life. https://personaldevelopmentunplugged.com/485-finding-your-way-when-you-feel-lost-in-life And if there is a subject you'd like explored in a future episode, email: feedback@personaldevelopmentunplugged.com Together we'll keep exploring, learning, and evolving. Until next time... Have more fun than you can stand. Shine Brightly

This episode originally aired on July 25, 2025. Ellin Bessner will return with new episodes next week. If you happen to be in the Laurentians one Friday afternoon this summer, near the Saint-Agathe, a resort area north of Montreal that's popular with Jewish families, you might hear clapping, singing and loud Jewish music blasting from a flotilla of boats tied together in the middle of a lake. The gatherings represent two concurrent pre-Shabbat get-togethers, where Jewish cottagers motor out, tie up in a circle and welcome in the Sabbath. Attendees have raved about the trend, praising it for bringing badly needed Jewish resilience and inspiration that lasts long after the boat owners set their feet on dry land. In fact, the idea has been such a success that it's multiplied. There are, in fact, two different spiritual celebrations each Friday, organized and operated by separate people. Both groups of boats listen to Jewish music alongside candles, challah, a rabbi and seafaring shmoozing, but don't mix them up—each organizer is quick to point out key differences in flavour and religious observance. On today's episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Howard Stotland, who runs the event from Ivry-sur-le-Lac, and Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, who runs a different Pre-“Shabb'o'at” program out of the Congregation House of Israel in nearby Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) https://thecjn.ca/north Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN

What if walking away from the CEO seat was the smartest career move you could make in AI right now?Cameron Herold sits down with Alex Triplett, COO of you.com, the company quietly powering web search for AI agents behind brands like Salesforce, Anthropic, and Harvey. Alex turned down the chance to be a CEO to take the second-in-command seat at a fast-moving AI startup, and he explains exactly why.They get into the operator work most leaders avoid: walking into a 135-person company, making a brutal focus call, and rebuilding the team around a single mission. Alex breaks down his first 90 days, the listening tour that validated his biggest decision, how he sells to enterprise without getting strung along, and the system that keeps him out of the minutiae.Skip this one, and you risk what most new executives do: the right idea at the wrong time, and broken trust. Listen now for the unfiltered COO playbook on focus and timing.Sponsored byGenius Network - An exclusive community for highly successful entrepreneurs, connecting you with top-tier leaders, strategic insights, and powerful relationships to help you grow your business faster and smarter.Learn more: https://www.geniusnetwork.com/Timestamped Highlights10:16 – “Google for AI agents,” explained: the invisible layer your favorite LLM cannot work without13:18 – You might be using you.com right now without knowing it. Here is where it hides in the AI stack15:08 – How to tell a real enterprise deal from a buyer who is just keeping you busy19:56 – The COO superpower hiding in plain sight, and why it gets you a seat at the C-suite table23:08 – Chief of staff or glorified executive assistant? The title too many companies get wrong25:24 – Three companies, one founder: how Richard runs you.com while raising $650M for a frontier lab33:34 – 135 people on day one: the focus call that cut the team to 110, then built it back stronger38:01 – One mission, one North Star, and the moment focus “just exploded” the company39:23 – The first 90 days that make or break a COO: the listening tour that validated everything47:23 – Why this COO leaves messages unread on purpose, and what it taught him about good decisions50:09 – The one-sentence piece of advice he would give his 22-year-old selfAbout the GuestAlex Triplett is the Chief Operating Officer of you.com, the leading web search API for AI agents, serving customers like Salesforce, Anthropic, and Harvey. An investor turned operator, Alex spent the first decade of his career in private equity before moving to the operating side. He served as Global Head of Corporate Development at ION Group, where he helped grow the business from $150 million to $3 billion in revenue, and later as CFO and COO of Appfire. He also chairs the board of the travel app Pangea and holds a degree from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

Justin Brown runs Primal Video, a channel with nearly two million subscribers that teaches creators how to actually make videos. But as Justin explains, he never set out to be a YouTuber. He walked away from a profitable production company, clients and retainers, to gamble on a channel he treats less like a creative outlet and more like a business tool.In this episode, Justin is refreshingly candid about how it all runs. We cover why he went from a team of 14 down to 4 without shrinking the business, why fun became his real North Star after building a company he grew to resent, and he doesn't hold back on the money: how affiliates quietly became his biggest revenue line (nothing to do with Amazon), how a $14 microphone click turned into a $30,000 commission, and why the email list, not the channel, is the real business behind the business.A practical, unusually open look at owning your audience and building a creator business that doesn't fall over when one platform changes its mind.Topics covered: audience ownership · email lists · affiliate marketing · revenue diversification · lean teams and AI-assisted workflows · YouTube as a business tool · always be testing

WHAT IFWhat if the very humility you were raised to wear like a badge of honor is the exact thing quietly capping your career? What if showing up, speaking up, and being seen isn't bragging. That's the whole game. Siri Swahari spent two decades unlearning that lesson, and now she's built an entire movement to make sure other women don't have to figure it out alone.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROSiri Swahari moved to the US at 23 with no network, no roadmap, and no one in her corner. She built her entire career from scratch, volunteer work at a Colorado Springs library to VP at one of the world's largest IT and business consulting firms. Along the way, she founded Women Executive Circle, a community of senior women leaders now active in 12 states and growing. I needed to have this conversation. Her message is one every woman in corporate America needs to hear right now: you were not taught to show up, speak up, and be seen. That ends today.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Humility Trap. Siri grew up in India being told that announcing her achievements, even being class topper, was bragging. She breaks down the deep unlearning it took to realize that staying invisible when you're already delivering value isn't humility. It's counterproductive.Imposter Syndrome Is a Growth Signal. Siri reframes the thing most women dread: if you're feeling imposter syndrome, you're doing something new, something uncomfortable, something that means you're growing. She shares how a career rotation into an entirely unfamiliar business function transformed how she leads. She coaches others through it now.You Can't Be an NPC in Your Own Career. Siri borrows her son's gaming acronym. NPC, non-playing character. It's what happens when talented women stay silent and expect growth anyway. Advocacy, visibility, and speaking up aren't optional extras. They're the game itself.What Bad Leaders Teach You. Siri and Erica both share how their worst leadership experiences became their most formative ones: the bosses who didn't credit their work, the environments that made people feel disposable, and how those moments became the North Star for the leaders they chose to become.The Origin Story of Women Executive Circle. What started as a small lunch group in Raleigh, born out of a Christmas party that required 100 attendees to happen, became a 12-state community of senior women leaders. Siri tells the full story, including the parking lot moment that made her text her WhatsApp group that Thursday night and say: the world needs this. Let's go.The WEC Framework: Wins, Evolving, Challenges. Siri walks through the rose/bud/thorn icebreaker she adapted into WEC's signature framework. Going around a table and asking 'what's actually going on in your life' unlocks something no traditional networking event ever could. It's the reason a leader who hadn't gotten out of bed in three days showed up to happy hour. She left with a plan.Representation Is the Work. After a women-in-AI event, Brown women lined up to ask Siri how she was so comfortable speaking in public. Not the VP title, not the promotions. That moment is what drives her. Because you can't be what you can't see, and Siri is committed to being visible so others know it's possible.RESOURCES & LINKSWomen Executive Circle: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-executives-circle/LinkedIn: Siri Swahari: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirishaswahari/ RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual

On this episode of the STL Bucket List Show, we sit down with Dr. Tayler Onion—host of the Hang Time podcast, professor at UMSL, former Division I volleyball player, and advocate for women in sports—to discuss one of the fastest-growing movements in athletics today.Tayler shares her journey from growing up on a small farm in rural Illinois to competing at the University of Illinois, earning her doctorate studying women in sports leadership, and launching Hang Time, a podcast dedicated to telling the stories of women who are changing the sports industry. She reflects on the unexpected story behind becoming the Outback Bowl's famous "Bloomin' Onion" mascot, how that experience inspired her first podcast, and why she ultimately rebranded to focus exclusively on women's sports.The conversation explores the incredible rise of women's athletics, the lasting impact of Title IX, why representation in coaching and leadership matters, and how media coverage, fandom, and athlete-driven storytelling are creating opportunities that didn't exist just a few years ago. Tayler also shares her vision for building a stronger community for women working in sports throughout St. Louis, the lessons she's learned as both an athlete and educator, and why she believes the city is ready for even more investment in women's professional sports.From unforgettable championship moments to the future of sports media, this episode is an inspiring conversation about leadership, community, and the people helping shape the next generation of sports.They discuss: - Growing up on a farm in Industry, Illinois, and playing volleyball at the University of Illinois - Winning the "Be the Bloom" contest and becoming the Bloom and Onion mascot at the 2019 Outback Bowl - Launching the Bloom Pod during the pandemic and its focus on everyday people with big ideas - Finishing a doctorate on women's self-perception of power in sports leadership during Title IX's 50th anniversary - The decision to rebrand and relaunch as Hangtime, focused solely on women in sports - Interviewing ESPNW founder Laura Gentile and what it took to build a media category from scratch - The Deloitte projection of $3 billion in women's sports revenue for 2026 - Why traditional brands still don't know how to market to women's sports fans - Growing up without girls' sports and finding a North Star in local player Sam Quiggle - The 1999 U.S. Women's World Cup and Brandi Chastain as formative childhood moments - Reaching the national championship match with Illinois volleyball in 2011 - Teaching in UMSL's Sports Management program and getting students into the Super Bowl, Final Four, and NFL Draft - Hangtime's first in-person event at Urban Chestnut and the upcoming membership launch on August 1st - Bringing more pro women's sports — WNBA, NWSL, PWHL — to St. LouisSupport the show

If you feel like you're working hard but not actually getting closer to your goals, this episode is going to show you exactly why. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I'm breaking down the one foundational piece most service-based entrepreneurs skip when trying to scale: a clear, specific destination. This is for business owners who are stuck in a revenue plateau, trying different tactics, and still not seeing consistent business growth. After 9 years of experience, I can tell you this is rarely about needing more strategies. Inside this episode, I walk you through how defining your “North Star” transforms your business strategy, strengthens your pipeline, and simplifies your entire sales process so you can actually scale.What You'll Learn:Why most founders are stuck using tactics instead of real business strategyHow a clear “North Star” drives sustainable revenue growthThe difference between strategy, tactics, and direction in your businessWhy vague goals are slowing your sales process and pipelineHow to create a scaling plan that actually works for your businessWhy borrowing someone else's strategy is keeping you stuckEpisode Highlights:[00:00] Introduction: The cross-country road trip analogy[02:00] Why most business owners are “driving in circles”[04:00] The problem with vague goals like “I want to scale”[06:00] What a true North Star looks like in business[10:00] Real examples of specific, actionable business goals[14:00] Why copying someone else's roadmap doesn't work[18:00] Strategy vs. tactics: what most people get wrong[22:00] How to use your North Star to make better decisions[26:00] Why clarity simplifies your entire business strategy[30:00] Final thoughts on scaling and long-term growthKey Takeaways:Scaling Starts With a Clear DestinationHere's what I see constantly. Service-based entrepreneurs saying they want to “scale” or “grow,” but they can't clearly define what that actually means.After 9 years of working with business owners, I can tell you this is the biggest reason people stay stuck.If your goal is vague, your business strategy will be vague.And when your strategy is vague, your pipeline, pricing strategy, and sales process all become inconsistent. You're moving, but you're not moving in the right direction.That's why it feels like you're spinning your wheels.Your North Star Drives EverythingThe most important concept in this episode is your North Star.This is not a general goal. This is a specific, measurable destination.Not:“I want to hit six figures”“I want to scale”But:“I want to add $2,000/month in recurring revenue every month”“I want to pay off $1,000/month in debt from my business”“I need 4 qualified sales calls per month to hit my revenue goals”Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this is what drives every decision across your Pricing, Pipeline, and Sales pillars.Because once you know exactly where you're going, everything else becomes clear.Most People Are Using Tactics Without StrategyThis is where things break down.You're asking:Should I post on Instagram?Should I start a podcast?Should I launch a workshop?But those are not business strategy decisions.Those are tactics.Tactics are just “turns” on the road. Without a clear destination, you can take all the right turns and still end up going in circles.That's why more effort doesn't always lead to more revenue growth.Borrowing Someone Else's Strategy Won't WorkThis is one of the biggest traps in the online space.You see someone else's roadmap and think:“That worked for them, so it should work for me.”But what you don't see is:Their starting pointTheir capacityTheir actual goalIf their destination is different, their strategy will be different.Trying to follow it anyway is like taking a scenic road trip when your goal is to get somewhere fast. You'll end up frustrated, delayed, and off track.Clarity Makes Decision-Making SimpleWhen you have a clear North Star, everything becomes easier.Every decision becomes a simple filter:Does this move me closer to my goal?Or does it take me further away?That applies to:OffersInvestmentsMarketing strategiesHiring decisionsThis is how you simplify your business strategy without constantly second-guessing yourself.Scaling Requires Strategic ThinkingAt a certain point, you cannot rely on trial and error anymore.Throwing spaghetti at the wall works early on.But if you want real business growth and consistent revenue, you need:Clear targetsDefined timelinesIntentional planningThis is the shift from operator mode to CEO mindset.And it's what separates businesses that grow from businesses that actually scale.You Don't Need More Strategy. You Need More ClarityThis is the truth.Most service-based entrepreneurs don't need another tactic, another funnel, or another platform.You need:A clear destinationA strategy aligned to that destinationConsistent executionThat's what creates momentum.That's what stabilizes your pipeline.And that's what allows you to scale without burning out.Resources MentionedSubscribe to Back Pocket Insights for FREEBook a CEO Strategy Call Learn more about The Missing Piece IntensiveLearn more about The Focused Visionary AcceleratorDownload the FREE Lead and Conversion TrackerSubscribe to the Sunday Morning Brew NewsletterAbout the Host:Michelle DeNio is a business strategist based in Sarasota, Florida, specializing in helping service-based entrepreneurs break through revenue plateaus using her Focused Visionary Framework. With over 300 podcast episodes and 9 years running her consulting business, she helps coaches, consultants, and service providers scale sustainably through strategic planning, pricing optimization, and sales process development.Connect with MichelleWebsiteThreads Instagram LinkedIn Facebook

WHAT IFWhat if the very humility you were raised to wear like a badge of honor is the exact thing quietly capping your career? What if showing up, speaking up, and being seen isn't bragging. That's the whole game. Siri Swahari spent two decades unlearning that lesson, and now she's built an entire movement to make sure other women don't have to figure it out alone.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROSiri Swahari moved to the US at 23 with no network, no roadmap, and no one in her corner. She built her entire career from scratch, volunteer work at a Colorado Springs library to VP at one of the world's largest IT and business consulting firms. Along the way, she founded Women Executive Circle, a community of senior women leaders now active in 12 states and growing. I needed to have this conversation. Her message is one every woman in corporate America needs to hear right now: you were not taught to show up, speak up, and be seen. That ends today.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Humility Trap. Siri grew up in India being told that announcing her achievements, even being class topper, was bragging. She breaks down the deep unlearning it took to realize that staying invisible when you're already delivering value isn't humility. It's counterproductive.Imposter Syndrome Is a Growth Signal. Siri reframes the thing most women dread: if you're feeling imposter syndrome, you're doing something new, something uncomfortable, something that means you're growing. She shares how a career rotation into an entirely unfamiliar business function transformed how she leads. She coaches others through it now.You Can't Be an NPC in Your Own Career. Siri borrows her son's gaming acronym. NPC, non-playing character. It's what happens when talented women stay silent and expect growth anyway. Advocacy, visibility, and speaking up aren't optional extras. They're the game itself.What Bad Leaders Teach You. Siri and Erica both share how their worst leadership experiences became their most formative ones: the bosses who didn't credit their work, the environments that made people feel disposable, and how those moments became the North Star for the leaders they chose to become.The Origin Story of Women Executive Circle. What started as a small lunch group in Raleigh, born out of a Christmas party that required 100 attendees to happen, became a 12-state community of senior women leaders. Siri tells the full story, including the parking lot moment that made her text her WhatsApp group that Thursday night and say: the world needs this. Let's go.The WEC Framework: Wins, Evolving, Challenges. Siri walks through the rose/bud/thorn icebreaker she adapted into WEC's signature framework. Going around a table and asking 'what's actually going on in your life' unlocks something no traditional networking event ever could. It's the reason a leader who hadn't gotten out of bed in three days showed up to happy hour. She left with a plan.Representation Is the Work. After a women-in-AI event, Brown women lined up to ask Siri how she was so comfortable speaking in public. Not the VP title, not the promotions. That moment is what drives her. Because you can't be what you can't see, and Siri is committed to being visible so others know it's possible.RESOURCES & LINKSWomen Executive Circle: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-executives-circle/LinkedIn: Siri Swahari: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirishaswahari/ RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual

In this episode of Million Dollar Flip Flops, Rodric sits down with Meggi Rombach for a powerful conversation about midlife pivots, self-reflection, courage, and what it means to stop following the old success script.Meggi shares how her own burnout, health challenge, and career transition led her to help people in midlife redefine their next chapter in a way that feels more aligned with who they really are. Rather than seeing past choices as “wrong,” Meggi offers a more compassionate perspective: maybe that mountain was right for one season, but now it is time to choose a new direction.The conversation explores mindful rebellion, intrapreneurship, speaking up at work, breaking old patterns, and learning how to prototype a new life before making a major leap.In This Episode, You'll LearnWhy the “old success script” stops working for many people in midlifeHow to know when it is time for a new chapterWhy self-reflection is the first step toward changeHow to identify the patterns you keep bringing into new situationsWhy speaking up benefits both employees and leadersWhat “mindful rebellion” really meansHow lifestyle prototyping can help you test your next moveWhy negotiating your way toward your ikigai can open new doorsHighlights & Timestamps[00:00] Why speaking up mattersMeggi explains how people speaking up creates more innovation, engagement, and retention.[01:00] Meet Meggi RombachMeggi shares how she helps people in midlife break away from the old success script and define a more aligned next chapter.[02:00] Right mountain, new seasonRodric and Meggi discuss whether people climb the wrong mountain—or whether the mountain was simply right for a previous phase of life.[03:00] Start with honest self-reflectionMeggi explains why change begins with looking honestly at where you are and whether you still enjoy the path you are on.[04:00] Patterns follow youMeggi shares why people must examine how they show up, or they will carry the same patterns into the next job, relationship, or chapter.[05:00] Fear of speaking upThe conversation turns to why people stay quiet at work and how to share opinions without entitlement.[06:00] Burnout and the turning pointMeggi shares how a major health challenge and burnout forced her to stop, heal, and rethink what came next.[07:00] Mindfulness at workShe explains why mindfulness is not just fluffy meditation—it can improve stress, focus, and efficiency.[08:00] Rebel talentMeggi discusses the research behind rebel talent and why organizations benefit when people challenge the status quo.[09:00] Intrapreneurship and challenging old systemsRodric and Meggi talk about entrepreneurial thinking inside organizations and why many people are afraid to risk their seat.[11:00] Lifestyle prototypingMeggi explains how to test a new direction through side projects, volunteer work, or small experiments before making a major leap.[12:00] Transferable skillsShe shares why people are never truly starting from zero and how existing skills can carry into a new career or business.[13:00] Coaching and portfolio careersMeggi shares her vision for combining coaching with fractional corporate work to create systemic impact.[14:00] Where to find MeggiMeggi shares her podcast, LinkedIn presence, and reflection assessment tool.[15:00] Teleportation and the next guest questionMeggi leaves the next guest a fun question: if teleportation were possible, where would they go and why?[15:30] The lesson of 2025Meggi answers Cindy Baker's question and shares her biggest lesson: negotiate your way into your ikigai.[16:00] Embrace mindful rebellionMeggi closes by encouraging listeners to challenge the status quo, ask uncomfortable questions, and do it with intention.Notable Quotes“If people dare to speak up, to show up, to speak their mind, actually everybody wins.” – Meggi Rombach“I want my people to speak up. I want them to rebel a bit against me because that's when the real good stuff happens.” – Meggi Rombach“It starts with self-reflection.” – Meggi Rombach“Trust your North Star.” – Meggi Rombach“You can say anything as long as you say it politely and without a sense of entitlement.” – Meggi Rombach“Negotiate your way into your ikigai.” – Meggi RombachConnect with Meggi Rombach

Donat Rétif joined Loveholidays in December 2019 — just three months before Covid shut down global travel. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, the CEO of the UK's largest online travel agent for package holidays talks to Sir Richard Harpin about how he not only survived that crisis but used it to triple the size of the business, build one of Britain's most impressive tech-driven growth stories, and put Loveholidays on course for an IPO. Also, what it's really like to run a private equity-backed business — and he advises CEOs to never deviate from your North Star.Subscribe to the Business Leader Podcast and sign up to our free weekly newsletter at businessleader.co.uk/newsletters. Business Leader is a membership community for ambitious CEOs and founders of mid-sized UK companies, designed to help them grow with purpose through strategic support, peer-to-peer learning, expert coaching, and high-impact events. Sign up for our Business Leader newsletter here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever feel stuck in the cycle of change? Let's talk about how to embrace it instead! Tag someone who needs to hear this! Change isn't just inevitable; it's essential. Think about the bamboo tree: it spends years growing its roots before it shoots up at an incredible speed. Just like us, sometimes we need to dig deep before we can rise.

“What you want is to be able to look at your goal, what you've written down, and have a really clear picture for what that looks like.” - Beth BaranyIf you self coached, could you be more efficient with your writing time?That's exactly what How To Write the Future podcast host, Beth Barany is sharing today in the episode titled “How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star.” Beth shares what the writing GMC stands for and breaks down each area explaining how you can create your best in your storytelling,From defining your big goal, how to find your motivation, to even handling conflicts, Beth also shares an example of a quick-timed exercise at the end of the episode, which is great for when you're feeling stuck in your writing.ABOUT THE HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE PODCASTHow To Write The Future is a podcast for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to imagine better worlds—and write stories that bring those futures to life. Each episode offers practical craft guidance, creative prompts, and big-picture inspiration to help you draft, revise, and publish with purpose.ABOUT BETH BARANYBeth Barany is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. She helps science fiction and fantasy novelists write, revise, and publish stories that matter by blending practical craft guidance with a commitment to imagination, possibility, and how stories shape our world.RESOURCESThe Writer's GMC: Know What You Wanthttps://writersfunzone.com/blog/2007/02/01/the-writers-gmc-know-what-you-want/This episode is adapted from The Writer's Adventure Guide by Beth Baranyhttps://books2read.com/writersadventureguideSHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth BaranySHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDadeEDITORIAL SUPPORT by Iman Llompartc. 2026 BETH BARANYhttps://bethbarany.com/Questions? Comments? Send us a text!Support the show---♦︎ JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP: For fiction writers! You've finished your first draft! Congrats! Now what?Join the Edit the Future: Sci‑Fi/Fantasy Revision Lab. Get premium weekly lessons and a monthly Q&A on Zoom. Subscribe: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2012061/subscribe♥︎ FREE: Sign up here for the Edit Your Novel ChecklistHelps writers revise faster with less overwhelm by focusing first on diagnosis, not fixing. Get yours at http://edityournovelchecklist.com.♡ SHOP: Sci‑Fi & Fantasy 24 Writing Prompts: https://ko-fi.com/s/4ac9160a74❤️ Want to be interviewed on the podcast? => Email us!CONNECT WITH BETHvia emailvia LinkedInCREDITSEDITED WITH DESCRIPT (Affiliate link)MUSIC: Uppbeat.ioDISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465

Olivia Wilde's not afraid of Virgina Woolf. That's for sure. She used the Mike Nichols' film as her “North Star” in making this film, and it's very apparent to us as we discuss all of the Oscars implications and awards season possibilities for The Invite, starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. NON-SPOILER REVIEW OF THE INVITE: The Production Backstory - 2:01 Reception Scores & Box Office - 6:13 More Reasons Why We're Rooting For This - 8:30 The Way Too Early Awards Profile - 12:55 The Premise & Our Watch Stories - 13:47 Non-Spoiler Script Thoughts & the Mike Nichols' Influence - 17:25 Reviewing These Stellar Performances & Why It's a Gothams Movie - 21:49 The Production Values - 27:24 An Oscars Lens + The Actor Awards speculation - 32:49 SPOILER WARNING // SPOILER FILLED REVIEW OF THE INVITE - 40:23 A SHOCKING CLAYTON DAVIS THEORY CONFIRMED? - 41:01 The Set-Up & Bone Chilling Resemblances to a Mike's Family - 45:34 Verbal Jousts & The Family Guy joke that'll be OUR north star for this episode - 47:24 More Superlatives for Olivia Wilde - 49:26 The Most Memorable Scenes & Commentary on Male Thinking - 51:01 A Series of Clever Moves By These Filmmakers - 56:28 Central Conflict & How Our Podcast Is Basically A Marriage - 1:00:35 That Ending - 1:07:28 Final Grades / Final Thoughts - 1:10:22 OUTRO: Stay tuned for upcoming Oscar Profile Reviews for huge new movies like The Odyssey, etc. Stay tuned for upcoming Oscar Race Checkpoints and upcoming special episodes discussing the ever-evolving Oscars Race. And stay tuned to our feed for our upcoming rewatch series on the films of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. But when you get all these, we have no idea and don't want to jinx it - maybe soon, maybe never. Until then, we thank you for supporting our show with positive ratings, reviews and of course, by telling your friends about us. Thank you. https://linktr.ee/mikemikeandoscar

FMQ 536 – Freedom or Structure… Which One? Do you really want complete freedom? I thought I did. No rules. No schedule. Just the freedom to do whatever I wanted. But the more I explored it, the more I realised something didn't feel right. Total freedom can leave us drifting, while too much structure can feel like a prison. So maybe we're asking the wrong question. Perhaps it isn't freedom versus structure at all. Maybe it's about support versus control. In this Five Minute Quickie I'm sharing a real part of my own North Star exploration as I try to discover what allows creativity, purpose and meaningful progress without feeling trapped. This isn't the answer. It's the seed. In the next longer episode we'll explore how a few gentle anchors can create more freedom, not less. In this episode you'll discover: Why complete freedom isn't always as freeing as it sounds. How too much structure can quietly drain creativity. The surprising difference between support and control. Why gentle anchors may be more powerful than rigid routines. A simple question to begin exploring your own balance. If you've ever felt torn between wanting complete freedom and needing enough structure to actually move forward, this episode will give you something worth reflecting on. Please share the episode: https://personaldevelopmentunplugged.com/fmq-536-freedom-or-structure-which-one Ready for the deeper dive? Follow the podcast so you don't miss the next episode, where we'll explore how to create a life that feels both free and grounded. Shine Brightly

This episode originally aired on Not in Heaven on July 9, 2026. Subscribe to Not in Heaven here. How much does motive matter when it comes to hate crimes? In recent years, Canadian Jews have been rocked by a series of attacks on their community institutions, including late-night shootings at schools and synagogues, attempted arson, and smashing community centres' windows. Many Jews have met the situation with a profound sense of dislocation and disbelief; a feeling that the country they once thought they knew had radically shifted around them, that their non-Jewish neighbours were not who they thought they were. But last month, new information emerged about the alleged perpetrators of these crimes. According to reports in both Toronto and Montreal, some significant portion of these attacks were carried out by ‘gig-criminals', a kind of gun-for-hire network of young people getting paid thousands of dollars from anonymous clients to shoot at targets as varied as waste managment plants, the American embassy, tow truck companies—and Jewish instiutions. This prompted our rabbinic podcasters to ask: if the perpetrators of at least some of these shootings were motivated by financial gain, and not animus towards Jews in particular (as one arsonist has claimed in court as recently as this week), how does that change our community narrative? Will collective pressure on politicians to combat antisemitism actually help the situation, if the criminals are not motivated by antisemitism? And, on a deeper level, do you need to feel hate to commit a hate crime? Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Timothy Snyder is one of the world's leading historians of fascism. His bestseller, On Tyranny, is a palm-sized North Star for democracy — featuring twenty lessons from the 20th century for how each of us can resist authoritarianism and protect our republic — all of which feel doable. He and I had this conversation in 2021. I am sharing it here now as we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of independence.  America, said Benjamin Franklin, is “a republic, if you can keep it.” Tim Snyder is a guide to keeping it.

Ever get the feeling your business is fine - clients, income, nothing on fire - and yet it somehoq feels harder than it should, a bit flat, like you're pouring energy into a version of it you don't fully mean? That feeling isn't a discipline problem or burnout. It's the gap between the business you're running and the one you actually want to be running, and it's the most expensive thing most founders carry. In this episode, Holly closes that gap on her own business, live and in public, on her birthday. You'll hear the exact first step she takes every client through: naming the safe version and the real version of your business side by side, spotting what the safe one has quietly been costing you (hint: it's not money, it's your capacity and energy), and finding the one concrete, slightly-terrifying move that only the real version would make. This is the first pillar of her chart-based method - your North Star, the true direction of your business - and she builds it out loud so you can see exactly how to start on yours. If you've been building a smaller, safer version of the right business without realising it, this one will catch you. This is chart-based business architecture, not horoscopes: your birth chart read as the operating system your business has been missing, and translated into how you actually run it. If it lands, the Cosmic Blueprint is the door in - the way you start finding your own direction in your own chart. Get yours here: https://abranchofholly.thrivecart.com/2026/  The question to sit with: is the business I'm running now still the one I actually meant to build? Get your weekly horoscope on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollybrayceo/ 

Bloomberg is reporting that one of the key signals driving the AI trade is losing its reliability — and that raises a critical question for investors who've built positions around AI infrastructure, chips, and related names. When the narrative cracks, understanding what's driving valuations underneath becomes more important than ever.Today's Stocks & Topics: SAP SE (SAP), Market Wrap, Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI), AI Tokens, Terex Corporation (TEX), What Happens When the AI Bubble Pops? The Trade Is Losing Its North Star, Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (AIT), Adobe Inc. (ADBE), SMI 3Fourteen Full-Cycle Trend ETF (FCTE), ROTH Conversions, Hyperscalers.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

You can hit your financial goal and destroy your business. You can be surrounded by fans, but none of them become customers. This is demoralising, and it happens when you're measuring the wrong thing. In this episode, you'll learn one of the most important concepts in product management — the North Star metric — and how to apply it to your product, your venture and your career. This is the concept that tells you not just whether you hit a number, but whether you're actually winning. This episode is for you if: You're building a product and want to make sure you're focused on the right thing You have a big career goal and want a sharper way to track real progress You keep hitting targets but feel like you're not actually getting anywhere Book a free consulting session with Sophia: https://calendly.com/sophia-matveeva/new-meeting-1 Timestamps: 0:00 – Why you may be measuring the wrong success metric 00:30 – Podcast intro: Tech for Non-Technical Founders 01:52 – Free consulting sessions  03:20 – New course on product thinking and AI innovation 04:40 – What is a North Star metric? 06:36 – Revenue vs retention in a language learning app 10:25 – Why retention is the real growth metric 14:38 – How to apply North Star metrics to your career or venture 16:00 – How Sophia Matveeva grew Tech for Non-Techies 17:55 – External stages as a personal North Star metric 19:50 – Set better goals for the second half of 2026 20:47 – Free session reminder and episode close Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. Listen to our podcast on: Apple Spotify YouTube Audible Pandora Transcript: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/311-the-one-metric-that-tells-you-if-you-re-really-winning

Building a strong personal brand does not come from sharing more credentials, creating more content, or following another formula. Often, the most powerful way to stand out online is by learning how to tell the stories that reveal who you are, what you believe, and why your work matters. In this episode, Deanna sits down with Elizabeth Brett, a former NBC reporter turned storytelling coach, to discuss how health professionals and women business owners can use storytelling to build authority, deepen connection, and create content that feels more human in an AI-driven world. Elizabeth shares how to identify your North Star story, how to know what is safe and aligned to share, and why micro-stories may be more powerful than the traditional origin story. Tune in to hear: Why storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to build authority online How health professionals can identify the story that anchors their offer How to know whether you are sharing vulnerably or oversharing The importance of using your own internal compass when deciding what parts of your story to share Why your story should connect to the transformation your offer creates How to navigate stories that involve family members or other people Why many business owners are not telling enough stories or taking enough creative risks The difference between proving your authority and showing your authority through lived experience How to start seeing everyday moments as content and storytelling opportunities How to use AI as a tool to uncover stories without losing your authentic voice Why the traditional long-form origin story is becoming less effective The power of micro-stories and small human moments in building trust How dietitians and health professionals can talk about weight loss, confidence, or personal struggles with integrity How to strip away who you think you need to be and show up with more presence How to build a brand that feels honest, human, and deeply connected to the people you want to serve   Connect with Elizabeth: Website: https://www.elizabethsbrett.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethsbrett Learn more about Story Alchemy and Elizabeth's storytelling resources: https://www.elizabethsbrett.com   Connect with Deanna: Instagram: @dietitiandeanna and @online.entrepreneur.academy   Want my help and strategies to have $30, $50 or $100K launches of your online program? Apply to OEA Scale

Get the free Core Drives in the Wild guide, behavioral design applied to real products: professorgame.com/WildCD Episode Summary Michael Lukich, a marketing analytics leader with more than 20 years across consulting, data, and strategy, explains why the fix for a struggling team is almost never more effort. He walks through the closed-loop trap he built early in his management career, the systems thinking tools he now uses to find leverage points, and why over-measuring single marketing channels quietly starves the top of the funnel. Drawing on the Cabreras' DSRP model, Donella Meadows, and nearly 25 years at the poker table, he shows how to see a whole system instead of optimizing one piece to the detriment of the goal. Listeners come away with a practical way to map any system, pick a single North Star metric, and design loops that let a team improve on its own. About the Host Rob Alvarez is Head of Engagement Strategy, Europe at The Octalysis Group (TOG), a leading gamification and behavioral design consultancy. A globally recognized gamification strategist and TEDx speaker, he founded and hosts Professor Game, the #1 gamification podcast, and has interviewed hundreds of global experts. He designs evidence-based engagement systems that drive motivation, loyalty, and results, and teaches LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and gamification at top institutions including IE Business School, EFMD, and EBS University across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Key Takeaways Michael Lukich's early management trap was a closed loop with no exit: he could not step away until the team improved, and the team could not improve until he stepped away, which pushed him to 75-hour weeks before he redesigned the loop instead of adding effort. Accepting work at roughly 70 percent of his own output, paired with a tighter review cadence, let his team feel the consequences of their own decisions and turned him from a micromanager into a player coach. The "if you can't measure it, it doesn't exist" credo pushes budget toward easily measured lower-funnel channels and leaves the top of the funnel leaky, because no one can defend upper-funnel spend in a boardroom. The fix is whole-system measurement through multi-channel attribution and mixed models, not more measurement. Zynga over-relied on data and stacked Black Hat Core Drives that drive urgency and scarcity, a reminder that an A/B test measures one week, not how a feature performs as a system over two years. Derek and Laura Cabrera's DSRP model (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives) gives a four-part way to map almost any system, then find the bottleneck where one move has the biggest outsized effect. Poker trains decision-making under uncertainty and incomplete information, including the faulty learning loop where playing well can still lose and playing poorly can still win, which is why Michael says half the frameworks in his book started at the poker table. Topics Covered 0:00 — The loop you cannot escape 0:20 — Meet Michael Lukich: data, teaching, poker 2:41 — Designing your own life as a system 5:46 — Promoted into a trap with no exit 11:14 — The marketing measurement trap 13:53 — Frankenstein products, Zynga, and Black Hat 17:34 — A practical system: pick one metric 18:56 — Mapping systems with DSRP 22:23 — The strategy dashboard and the North Star 24:07 — James Clear, Ryan Holiday, and one book 26:54 — Translation and poker as the perfect game 30:25 — Where to find Michael and closing advice Get the free Core Drives in the Wild guide, behavioral design applied to real products: professorgame.com/WildCD About Michael Lukich Michael Lukich is a marketing analytics leader with more than 20 years across consulting, data, and business strategy, currently running marketing analytics for a major US marketing agency. He spent five years as an adjunct professor and has played poker for nearly 25 years, two habits that shaped how he thinks about teaching and making decisions under uncertainty. He writes the Stoic Systems Thinker newsletter, where ancient Stoic philosophy meets modern systems thinking, and is the author of the book of the same name. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife and two daughters. Find Michael Lukich Online The Stoic Systems Thinker (website and newsletter) LinkedIn The Stoic Systems Thinker on Substack Mentioned in This Episode Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows James Clear and Atomic Habits Ryan Holiday Poker The Stoic Systems Thinker by Michael Lukich Derek and Laura Cabrera's DSRP model (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives) Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Zynga The Octalysis Framework and Black Hat Core Drives Kaizen and Kaikaku (continuous improvement versus radical change) Free Resources and Get in Touch Core Drives in the Wild: Professor Game Free Guide Get Daily Value on Your Email Let's chat about your gamification project YouTube LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Start Your Community on Skool for Free Ask a question

Ghazi Masood, Chief Revenue Officer at Replit, joins Sam Jacobs and Asad Zaman to break down the company scaled from $2 million towards a North Star of $1 billion in revenue in about two years, with roughly 350 employees and a 75-person go-to-market team. Ghazi gets specific on the operational cadence that replaced the quarterly SaaS playbook, why more than 90% of reps overachieved in H1 and why he believes $2 million per rep still isn't the ceiling, and how Replit built its own CPQ, Clari, and Gainsight equivalents on top of Salesforce. Plus, the shift from inbound to outbound pipeline generation, why AI-native orgs run leaner on entry-level headcount and a Quiz Pro Quo on how AI-native companies are structured. In short: a fantastic episode if you want to see how hyper-growth companies are operating, warts and all. Key Takeaways: - The AI-era operating cadence compresses from quarterly to weekly. As Ghazi Masood, CRO at Replit, put it: "forget monthly. We're literally driving a weekly rhythm to the business," with weekly forecast calls, weekly Gong reviews, and a company-wide Friday all-hands they call weekly wins. - Ghazi argues the SaaS-era rep productivity ceiling is gone. Asked whether $2 million per rep is a lot, he said "I would say no… you can do a lot more," after more than 90% of the team overachieved in H1 and enterprise reps blew past $1.5 million in the first half of the year. - Replit keeps a minimal purchased stack and builds the rest on itself. Ghazi described the tools they buy as "HubSpot, Gong, and Salesforce. And that's kind of it," then added "everything else on top of that is Replit. We built our own CPQ on Replit. We're building our own version of Clari on Replit," plus a homegrown Gainsight-style customer health dashboard. - Scaling the team fast, Ghazi made enablement one of his first hires. As he put it, "the very first hire I made was somebody to run and help me build enablement," and that leader built a two-week bootcamp where reps earn a certification before they get a territory.   Connect with the Hosts & Guests:   Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Ghazi Masood, CRO at Replit - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghazi-masood-09195a2/   Topline is more than a YouTube Channel:   Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Ghazi Masood 02:20 Scaling $2M To $1B In Two Years 03:16 The Weekly Operating Rhythm 08:55 What Replit Actually Is 10:21 Building An Outbound Motion 11:29 The SaaS Replacement Wave 19:04 Competing With Claude And Cursor 22:57 Brand And ICP Discipline 25:57 Betting On Model Breakthroughs 28:10 Quiz Pro Quo 44:54 Hiring And Enablement At Speed 52:34 The $2M Per Rep Question 57:41 CRO Versus VP Of Sales 1:00:52 Bulls VS Bears 1:06:50 The GTM Tech Stack  

A personal creed is like a North Star or a compass that dictates how you show up in the world. And most people don't know it, but it can be one of the most powerful and effective, yet simple life hacks that exist. This can be a profound spiritual practice and/or an impactful personal development exercise.

Today, we are talking about your North Star—the guiding light that keeps your podcast on track so you stop trying to talk to everyone and start talking to the exact people who need your wisdom. We're niching down until it hurts, defining your absolute ideal listener, and locking in your core message.Here's what we're breaking down in this **** Shifting from passive consumer to creator & the social media reality check. **** The AI Campaign Secret: Using backend AI for speed-of-light marketing & navigating 2026 compliance laws. **** Core Lesson: Defining your show's "North Star" (Topic, Listener, and Message). **** Your holiday weekend homework and a special weekend pass! WEEKEND SCHEDULE NOTICE:Because it's the eve of the Fourth of July, I'm giving you a weekend pass! We are taking the holiday and Sunday off. Go enjoy your family, eat some potato salad, and we will resume right here, locked and loaded, on Monday at 8:30 PM Pacific Standard Time. DAY 3 HOMEWORK:Take your time over the long weekend to write down a one-paragraph description of your show's North Star.1. State your specific topic.2. Profile your one ideal listener (give them a name and age!).3. Write your core message in one single sentence.Connect with the Family:Drop your thoughts and homework answers in the comments below! Don't forget to hit that Subscribe button right here on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, or wherever you love to listen.Your next chapter isn't about slowing down. It's about building something that lasts.#TheSecondActExecutive #PodcastWorkshop #ExecutiveLeadership #BusinessStrategy #WomenInBusiness #ContentCreators

Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek are joined by Cavendish's Roger Lee to unpack Andy Burnham's North Star of "Manchesterism" and what it could mean for the UK economy, markets, and investors. They debate whether devolving more power to the regions represents genuine economic reform or simply another version of heavy-handed state intervention, while exploring the implications for growth, government spending, fiscal policy, and the UK's increasingly fragile bond market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've been standing on the sidelines. Watching your voice shrink every time the room gets uncomfortable. Letting fear dictate what you say, who you become, and how small you're willing to stay just to avoid the backlash. Here's the truth: the cost of silence is always higher than the cost of speaking up. And the moment you stop apologizing for what you believe is the moment you stop living someone else's script. Zuby is an Oxford educated rapper, bestselling author, and one of the most uncompromising independent thinkers alive. He's built a career using his voice to challenge narratives, spark real conversations, and inspire millions to stop waiting for permission to live boldly. In this episode, he breaks down the exact frameworks for building a life that means something, why usefulness beats happiness as a North Star, and the one practice that turns avoidance into courage. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the biggest killer of men under 50 is themselves and what that says about purpose, meaning, and the fundamental pillars that have been knocked out of modern life The moral duty to be strong: why it's not wrong to be weak, but it's wrong to voluntarily remain weak, and how competence builds confidence that serves others How to overcome fear when the people you love want you to stay the same and why listening to everyone doesn't mean taking everyone's advice The zoom out framework: fear God not man, remember most people have it harder than you do, and recognize you asked for the life you're living Why meaning comes from knowing what you actually value, not what society told you to prioritize, and how trade offs are the secret to building a life you designed instead of inherited Stop shrinking. Start speaking. The world doesn't need another person playing it safe. It needs you at full volume. ___________ (00:00:00) Introduction: Stop Self-Obsessing and Start Building Something That Matters (00:00:53) The Hidden Crisis: Why Young Men Are Quietly Disappearing (00:02:18) Boys Are Always Building or Destroying: The Testosterone Truth (00:04:13) The Gender Role Confusion: Who Pays for the First Date and Why It Matters (00:07:33) Quiet Quitting Masculinity: The Generation Opting Out Entirely (00:11:30) Real Wages, Real Problems: The Economic Truth Nobody Wants to Admit (00:15:11) It's Wrong to Voluntarily Remain Weak: Your Moral Duty to Be Strong (00:19:12) The Parable of the Talents: Don't Stand Before God at Half Capacity (00:21:08) Look-Maxing, Vanity, and the 80-20 Rule for Men's Appearance (00:25:55) Stop Fighting Biology: Why Blank Slate Thinking Is Making Everyone Miserable (00:28:17) Build Competence First: The Foundation of Self-Respect (00:30:01) The Self-Obsession Trap: Focus Outward to Escape Your Own Head (00:32:44) Therapy, Shamans, and Substituting Religion: The Long Way Back to God (00:37:33) I Fear God, Not Man: The Source of Courage in a Cancel Culture (00:40:16) Zoom Out: You Asked for This Worry (00:43:42) Listen to Everyone, Obey No One: Handling Criticism from People You Love (00:46:04) The Nigerian Parents Who Let Zuby Become a Rapper (00:52:32) Never Let a Stranger on the Internet Ruin Your Day (00:53:33) What Is a Meaningful Life? Trade-Offs, Priorities, and Conscious Decisions (00:59:50) One Goal Since 19: Use My Voice to Impact Millions (01:01:13) Final Words: Keep Moving Forward, Focus on the Light, and Persevere ___________ MORE FROM BIGDEAL

Are overprivileged AI agents the biggest emerging threat in cybersecurity? In a recent high-profile attack, a vibe-coding company had its entire source code stolen because an attacker exploited a long-lived, overprivileged token tied to a third-party AI agent.In this episode, Ashish sits down with Ely Kahn, CPO at Okta, to unpack the challenge of managing Non-Human Identities (NHI) in the AI era. Ely explains why traditional, static human permissions completely break down when applied to autonomous agents. To solve this, Okta has spearheaded Cross-App Access (XAA), an extension of OAuth that uses an Identity Assertion Grant (ID JAG). This open protocol, backed by 25+ partners, including Anthropic, XAA securely passes the baton between apps without annoying consent pop-ups or dangerous static API keys.We also explore the four maturity levels of agent authorization, ranging from broad API keys to the ultimate "North Star" of intent-based security. Learn the difference between SPIFFE (for internal cryptographic identity) and XAA (for downstream resource authorization), how the Linux Foundation is building an Agent Domain System, and why every CISO needs an immediate "kill switch" for rogue AI agents.Guest Socials -⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ely's Linkedin Podcast Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CloudSecPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you want to watch videos of this LIVE STREAMED episode and past episodes - Check out our other Cloud Security Social Channels:-⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security Podcast- Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security Newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you are interested in AI Security, you can check out our sister podcast -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AI Security Podcast⁠Questions asked:(00:00) Introduction(02:50) Ely Kahn's Background: From DHS to Okta CPO(04:00) Why AI Agent Identity is Different from Human IAM(06:30) The Danger of Overprivileged Tokens: A Source Code Breach Case Study(08:30) Introducing Cross-App Access (XAA) and ID JAG(11:00) Agent Identities: Acting on Behalf of a User vs. Autonomous Scopes(13:00) SPIFFE vs. XAA: Workload Identity vs. Resource Authorization(14:30) The Linux Foundation's Agent Domain System for Cross-Company Passports(18:00) Assuming Breach: Why Prompt Injection Makes Identity the Highest ROI Security Action(19:30) The 4 Maturity Levels of AI Agent Authorization(21:00) Intent-Based Security and Zero Standing Privilege(23:00) How to Offboard AI Agents and Manage Identity Governance (IGA)(27:00) The 3 Governance Questions Every CISO Must Answer(28:50) Implementing a Universal Kill Switch for Rogue AgentsResources spoken about during the episode:Learn more about how Okta and XAA are setting the new security standard for the AI era

APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. Over the past few years, a series of popular uprisings across the world have been described by mainstream media as “Gen-Z Uprisings” – movements led by young people and described in western media as generally being against government corruption. These movements have been most notably visible in our own media due to their use of technology, including platforms like Discord and TikTok, and internationally consistent adoption of pop culture symbolism, like the flag of the “straw hat pirates,” a black flag depicting a grinning jolly roger wearing a straw hat. The flag is the banner of the protagonists of the long-running hit anime series One Piece whose adventures often find them coming to the defense of marginalized communities around their world. But these movements didn't come out of nowhere (or the internet for that matter). Understanding their origins – and the elections that have resulted from their successes – can shed light both onto the international struggle against authoritarianism and the challenges we face building an alternative. In this episode we are looking at two countries, Nepal and Bangladesh, where popular uprisings in the summer of 2024 and fall of 2025 have led to elections this year. In this episode, we are joined by two US based organizers, Sharmin Hossain and Samir Shrestha, whose work as part of South Asian diasporas has rooted them in movement work here in the US while maintaining relationships and solidarity abroad. Sharmin Hossain is a Bangladeshi Muslim organizer from Queens, New York, who is currently the Organizing Director for 18 Million Rising. To learn more about 18 Million Rising, check out their site at www.18millionrising.org. Follow Sharmin on all platforms at @sharminultra Samir Shrestha belongs to the indigenous Newari tribe of Nepal, where he was born. He has spent the last 18 years involved in movement work here in the US. To learn more about The Ruckus Society and request a training, visit: www.ruckus.org/training-action-support/training-requests/ To learn more about Convergence Magazine and the Block and Build Podcast, follow them at @_convergencemag and @blockandbuildpod. Check out Covergence's work at www.convergencemag.com. Transcript Swati Rayasam: [00:00:00] welcome fellow travelers to Apex Express. It's been a minute, but in case you don't remember, my name is Swati Rayasam, and I'm gonna be your conductor tonight. I have been very excited about this week's episode for a few months because tonight Apex is featuring Convergence Magazine's Block and Build podcast. Block and Build is creating a roadmap for the movement that's working to block the impacts of [00:01:00] rising authoritarianism while building the strength and resilience of the broad front that we need to win. And both the team at Convergence and the guests for tonight's show are close comrades and friends of Apex. On this episode, Cayden Mak, podcast host and editor-in-chief of Convergence, is joined by Samir Shrestha and Sharmin Hossain, two US-based organizers from the South Asian diaspora, Nepal and Bangladesh respectively. Sharmin and Samir will talk about the history and continued struggles of the international Gen Z uprisings, which have only really made a blip in Western media coverage. They'll discuss the history of those movements and the political conditions which created them, as well as help us understand how Americans can be in meaningful solidarity with people's movements abroad. Without further ado, I'll hand it over to Cayden. Cayden: Over the past few years, a series of popular uprisings across the world have been described by mainstream media as the Gen Z uprisings, movements led by young people and described in Western media as [00:02:00] generally being against government corruption. These movements have been most notably visible in our own media due to their use of technology, including platforms like Discord and TikTok, and internationally consistent adoption of pop culture symbolism. but these movements didn't come out of nowhere, or out of just the internet, for that matter. Understanding their origins and the elections that have resulted from their successes can shed light both onto the international struggle against authoritarianism and the challenges that we face building an alternative. In this episode, we're looking at two countries in particular, Nepal and Bangladesh, where popular uprisings in the summer of 2024 and fall of 2025 have led to elections this year. I was recently joined by two US-based organizers, Sharmin Hossain and Samir Shrestha, whose work as part of the South Asian diaspora has rooted them in movement work here in the US while maintaining relationships and solidarity abroad. Sharmin Hossain is a Bangladeshi Muslim organizer from Queens, New York, who's currently the organizing director for 18 Million Rising. Sharmin, thanks so much for joining us today  Sharmin: Thank you for having me. I love Convergence.  Cayden: Thank you. [00:03:00] And, Samir Shrestha belongs to the indigenous Newari tribe of Nepal, where he was born. He spent the past 18 years involved in movement work here in the US, and Samir, it's really good to see you this morning.  Samir: So good to see you too, Cayden.  Cayden: Well, to start us off, let's try and set some context Sharmin. I'm wondering if you can give us kind of a quick gloss of the 2024 uprisings in Bangladesh, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her party were ousted from power. What are the sort of themes of the protests, and then the way that the state responded, and where are we kind of now? Sharmin: Wow, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to talk about my country and all the amazing things that happened, because I think the Global South really forges, like, new possibilities as far as, like, what we can do and, and consolidate as far as power goes. So today is actually March 26th, and it's Bangladeshi Independence Day, coincidentally. Cayden: Happy independence Day.  Sharmin: Happy Independence Day. I find it very serendipitous for us to delve into this layered and complex history, um, of the student movement. So [00:04:00] the Bangladesh student protests of July 2024, were deeply rooted in systemic inequalities that the young working class and the poor faced. Nearly 32 million young people were actually out of the workforce, or education in a population of a country of 170 million. So that's a pretty significant number. And so that issue was a focal point for widespread discontent in the country. In July of 2024, the High Court of Bangladesh actually reinstated a quota system for government jobs after an appeal was made when the then-ruling Hasina government abolished the quota system, um because in 2018 she faced a lot of pressure from student protesters. But this quota system is really interesting, and it represents a lot. It reserved 30% of government jobs for descendants of freedom fighters. And in Bangladeshi history, that's a very complex and layered identity. Millions of our [00:05:00] ancestors actually fought in the liberation war against the US-backed Pakistani military, and the Bangladeshi Liberation War, and genocide in Bangladesh actually resulted in the death of over three million people who sacrificed for the birth of our nation. And so for the Hasina government, the quota system was actually what she used to appoint a lot of her loyalists and her supporters to high levels of government, the military, and it basically created the political ecosystem for the Awami League, her party, to maintain dominance. And the Awami League actually was the party that once led the liberation struggle, and over the course of 15 years, we actually saw how much they consolidated power through political repression, the Digital Security Acts that was surveilling and targeting freedom of speech, as well as the corruption and fear that they [00:06:00] stoked against their opposition. And these government jobs, like most of us, it represents many things. It represents the government's responsibility to take care of poor people, um, economic and political opportunity, and it also represents, like, the corruption and the authoritarian rule of the Awami League, and how they were rigging elections, and how the court systems, and even entrance exams for the Bangladeshi civil service, were actually regularly leaked and compromised. And so -within that background, that's when you have the Students Against Discrimination movement take the streets in July demanding fair access to government jobs. And things actually got violent really fast. Within seven days, nearly 174 people were murdered, and thousands were injured. There was an indefinite curfew, social media blackouts, and then a military occupation with shoot on sight orders. And of course, the bullets that were raining upon, Bangladeshis were US, [00:07:00] arms. So students were terrorized by these vigilante groups that were collaborating with the Bangladeshi police. And these student groups were actually organized by the Bangladeshi Awami League. These student groups were notorious for repressing student elections, sexually assaulting students, um really threatening people that were running for student elections. And so there's already this, like, vigilante ecosystem that exists within the campuses that was weaponized during the student protests. And then you have a climax moment on July 14th. Sheikh Hasina went on television accusing the students of being Razakars, and Razakars are collaborators of the Pakistani army, and it's a very derogatory term in Bangladesh, and it refers to people who support the Pakistani military's operation to suppress the Bangladeshi Liberation War. They're also accused of heinous crimes. And so when students were accused of being Razakars, it, like, [00:08:00] lit a fire. Millions took the streets that day, and they were like, “Oh, hell no.” Like, “How dare she disrespect us?” While there's thousands of people who are on the streets, blood, everywhere. Rickshaw wallas are having to pull students into hospitals. There's just so much violence happening on the ground. And so on that National Day of Action, July 15th, clashes happen. Multiple deaths are live-streamed, and one of them, Abu Sayeed, he was a university student at Rangpur University in northwest Bangladesh, really galvanized the country because we watched this student, who is not armed, surrender and get sh- shot, by the Bangladeshi police. And we know what these spontaneous moments of violence do to the public, right? It usually always sets fire to another wave of social protests and action. And so then millions start marching to Sheikh Hasina's home, and [00:09:00] really, her brutal and arrogant response sealed her fate. And the protesters, and at this point, this is a populist movement, millions of people that are rickshaw wallas, working-class people, students, teachers, are taking the streets, marching towards her house. And they demand her resignation. And on August 5th, within 36 days of the movement, she resigns and flees to India, our neighboring country. Over 1,400 people have been killed, under her brutal repression. And so that's some of the background of the student movement, and we can talk more about some of the dynamics of it. Cayden: Yeah, that's super helpful, and I think reflecting on the ways in which also the sort of, like, escalation on the part of the government is, I think, a really important story here, for sure. Samir, I'll also now turn it to you. What should our listeners know about last fall's uprisings in Nepal, which also ousted the sitting government of, K.P. Oli and his, his party and how they led to [00:10:00] elections, earlier this month, in March of this year?  Samir: Thanks, Cayden, and Happy Independence Day to you, Sharmin. I am somebody who was born and raised in Nepal, and am spending most of my life in the diaspora now, and I wanna name the limitations of, uh, my understanding of what's going on in Nepal because of me not being on the ground organizing with the masses. And, I wanna honor the work that's been happening in Nepal, on the ground one of the big things that, that's really n- is important to name is, like, it's only been 20 years since we abolished monarchy. Uh- Mm-hmm. … uh, 2006, right? That is a big thing for us to understand. And the party that was in power, and has been in power since, was the party that has been organizing our movements, and that is the organized left in Nepal, and, like, really betrayed our people once we, once they got into power, right? And, like, started kind of veering towards the right once they got in power. So 20 years later The economic conditions of our people on the ground are really dire. There's no jobs available. People are migrating. A lot of our folks, one of the biggest source of economy and source of money for our, [00:11:00] our people back home is, like, migrant work, uh, in Dubai and, traveling to Dubai, Qatar, and working under very bad conditions. So one- that's one of the big things that's also been informing,, lot of the consciousness of the- our young people in Nepal, right? And then one of the other things that's named really important is, so since the election, since 2006, the Communist Party, the Congress Party, and the Maoist Party have been, they're the only ones who have been in power for the last 20 years, and these are all old upper caste men, even though they were the ones who were leading the movement and were organizing at left. But these were s- the representation and the leaders in these parties were all upper caste, caste Arya people, which is the dominant caste in Nepal, right? And that's a very important layer to name. And that really informed, I think, a lot of the ways they showed up after we won. And, and that's one, one big question that we always have in the left, right? What do we do after we- Yeah … abolish monarchy? What do we do after we win? And we haven't figured that out too, as does any other movements, right? And 20 years later, the frustration is on the very high, against the status quo. And then we, and there [00:12:00] was a lot of, like, obviously there was a lot of inspiration from Bangladesh, like Indonesia, and, like, the uprisings there. And, like, this one, uh, thing started trending the young people started organizing around Nepo babies. There's like, you know, “Yeah, you don't have access to we do, you're gonna take our access away from social media while your kids, and people who have connections to you and have, access to you are just posting about the life, the lavish life they're living abroad and in my homelands,” right? So that's one of the places where it started. And once that started, there was online campaign. And there was already conversations around banning social media in Nepal, and they were- Hmm … finding, like, different ways around it, and that really escalated the way people really responded to the situation, is like once they started organizing around Nepo babies and how they were, like, getting momentum around that, that's when exactly the social media ban went into effect, right? And that's a really important name because, like, one of the biggest pet peeves for me as a diaspora person has been this idea of people only started the uprising and took the streets because of the social media ban. [00:13:00] But just- Hmm. Mm-hmm … all these other things really added up to it. That was just the, just the point of escalation, right? So fast-forward, people started organizing on Discord. Uh, also the irony of it is that was one of the apps that was banned, uh, in Nepal as, uh… And people started organizing in Discord. And also wanna name the reality of, like, the only people who had access to Discord are also, like, privileged folks like us- Sure like younger, upper middle class people. So we were not really getting folks from outside Kathmandu and from our villages and from rural areas, right? So they didn't really have any say in what the organizing would look like. So it happened very, organically, very decentralized. So there was a call for people to show up at Maitighar which has been a popular protest space in Nepal, for a very long time. And it was like at the, at the center of Kathmandu. So there was a call out september 8. A lot of folks came out, and then people from outside Kathmandu that couldn't make it to Kathmandu started coming in big numbers. And the goal of the protest was peaceful protest, right? [00:14:00] And one of the things that happened, don't quote me on this, but my understanding of it from, talking to people there is, like, a lot of political parties who had, who were the opposition from the Communist Party at that time started infiltrating the protest, and the protest started becoming, quote-unquote, “violent,”, which was not, uh, what the young people wanted. So fast-forward, that led to 19 deaths on the first day of the protest, which led to the home minister resigning, at the end of the day. But Oli, the prime minister, is so arrogant and really didn't figure out the power of young people and, like, how they could keep mobilizing and organizing. He decided to just downplay them and say, “I'm not resigning,” which led to more heightened escalated protests the second day, where people started marching to the parliament buildings and started burning down buildings. And people started, people got to a lot of, like, the political parties' political party leader home and started burning them, and, really started, holding them accountable. And also , there was videos of clips of, like, people torching into people's homes and, like, [00:15:00] Sher Bahadur Deuba, who has been in power for the last 20 years in different, ways, who's one of the, considered one of the most corrupt leader in Nepal, from Nepali Congress party, got attacked by the protesters. So fast-forward, more escalation led to, like, 52 more deaths, and the Oli party finally decided to resign at the end of that night, and that's, that's when curfew was impo- imposed by, the army. So that led to, like, a total of 72 deaths. I wanna name, like, in just the two days of mobilization, two days of organizing, because sometimes in the left we don't understand. We talk about the similarities of our struggles but we don't really talk about the conditions that led to it and, like, the level for the risk that our folks leveraged, to be able to topple the government, right? So I just wanna name that out loud and honor that part of, like, how the, how people, like, really leveraged risk. And then fast-forward, people started organizing. The conversation kept going on on Discord, and then there was, like, a town hall style meetings happening on Discord where, like, I think 7 to 8,000 people were on it. And also I still wanna name again, the people who didn't have access to the internet and [00:16:00] phones were not able to part- participate in that. And decided Susila Karki, who was a chief justice 10 years ago, a woman, who also joined protesters during the first day of them mobilizing in the street. They decided, they voted, to hold her as the interim prime minister for now. And There was also one other layer is like a lot of people wanted Balen Sah, who is our prime minister now, but constitutionally if he was part of the interim government, he wouldn't be able to run for prime minister. So that was like a strategic decision that, uh, like he made, and the movement made around not electing him as part of the interim government. So one of the big responsibilities of the interim government was to hold elections in six months, which honestly I was not very-  Cayden: That's hugely ambitious. Samir: It is hugely ambitious, right? And also the reality is it happened, and also there are questions around, yeah, were we able to hold elections in a way where everybody had access to it, right? And that is a big question that I'm still asking, I'm still sitting with. But there were like record numbers that showed up to the polls, but [00:17:00] we haven't really, like we still really don't have answers around what accessibility looked like for people to show up at the polls. And fast-forward now, the Rastriya Swatantra Party which emerged at like a, at a very popular party in 2022, won with majority. And we just sworn in our new Prime Minister Balen Sah yesterday, we can talk about more later. Cayden: Well, thank you for summing up, both of you for summing up- Pretty long, complex histories fairly quickly for us. I've been thinking about the way that, like, Western media largely reports on these kinds of uprisings as if they come out of nowhere. And, like, we know as movement people that rarely, if ever, like, do they truly come out of nowhere. So, like, yeah, I wanna dig into what the longer arc of these stories really is. And I, I really wanna talk about, I guess, like, the specific texture in both Bangladesh and Nepal about how these protest movements position themselves against the government, against, like, other social forces, and, like, how kind of, like, other social phenomena acted on and shaped [00:18:00] these movements as well. Sharmin: I love that question 'cause it allows us to see, like, also the rich history of our, like, respective areas, and how much, like, young people have always been at the forefront of so many revolutionary struggles. And we often, um, you know, uh, post social media era like to make generalizations that this never existed before. But actually, you know, in Bangladesh, students are the most incredibly organized force that has shaped much of our history since 1947. The 1969 uprisings against Ayub Khan, the 1971 Liberation War, and then the , 1987 protests against the military dictator Ershad. And then later, our return to democratic governance in 1990 and the road safety protests of 2018, which actually laid the groundwork for so much of the student, frustration with the government not being able to keep students safe because of road safety issues and [00:19:00] just, the general mismanagement of transportation and, public resources. And so the campus has always been a key space for the pulse of the nation. But it's also a key space for goons and vigilante groups to organize their forces. So the Bangladesh Awami League has their faction, the Chhatra League, and then there's, you know, the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is the right-wing Islamist group of Bangladesh that has been growing, has their faction, the Chhatra Shibir. And then the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which, you know, has been in opposition to the Awami League, also has their goons on campuses. And so one of the major, trends you'll see during these moments is how these factions are actually weaponized to make sure that the violent state apparatus is deployed within public spaces. And, you know, you asked about, like, missteps and some of the things that political formations, might forget to plan for or think [00:20:00] about. And, you know, one of the things that I, I'm sure Samir can relate a little bit is, like, a lot of these student organizations, you know, students against discrimination, there was a group of men who claimed leadership of the student movement and formed, a party, the National Citizens Party. And you notice quickly the contradictions of their formation. All the women leaders were either asked to leave or they left because of what an undemocratic, unfeminist space it was. And then you noticed quickly that the National Citizen Party started allying itself with the right-wing forces to gain a populist base. And that, to me, is the, one of the biggest contradictions of what do leftists do when we gain power? And also, like, the sober conversation is, are these leaders leftists? Or did-  Cayden: Yeah, were they ever? Were they ever?  Sharmin: Or did we project our leftist dreams onto them and I think one of the things that [00:21:00] we've been doing for many generations, and I think Vincent Bevins' work really synopsizes this well, in looking at the last decade of popular uprisings, is that we've been doing politics without ideology, right? Mm-hmm. That these political for- formations actually don't have a coherent theory of change when they're contesting for power. And so you notice quickly the National Citizens Party was very reactionary, and it was very anti-fascist by, their vernacular, but what anti-fascism meant was that we hate the Awami League, we're gonna ban the Awami League, and the Awami League is no longer going to exist. And then we're- Yes … gonna fight for Sheikh Hasina to be hanged, right? And so that became their populist slogan.  Cayden: Hmm.  Sharmin: And so, you know, there is no left force in Bangladesh, and that's something that we have to name, that for sure there are garment workers that are organizing a party. There's a communist league that does not actually grow in their base. Um- Hmm … and that is why coming out of [00:22:00] the July uprisings, you notice this leadership actually turned center right really fast because they didn't have a, a vision that was rooted in economic and political struggles of the working-class students who made up majority of the base of people that were on the streets. Um, and you know, it was surprising, Cayden, I'll just say, like, after the, the NCP was getting ready for elections that just happened this past February, they joined a coalition with the largest Islamist force of Bangladesh, and this is such a misstep, right? To join forces. W- your enemy of your enemy is not your friend, right? Like, wh- where, like, where, when has that gotten us anywhere? It falls into the traps of organizing without a clear, coherent ideology, and then the post-uprising impact is weakened. And so a lot of that groundwork of, like, theoretical work, we actually have to do that to be able to be ready for fights that take power in the way that [00:23:00] feel, restorative and generative, instead of what we're seeing now, which is a populist right-wing growth in Bangladesh. Cayden: That feels like such an important lesson that we need to learn, unfortunately, over and over again, and I feel like this theme of, the enemy of my enemy is sometimes still my enemy has been coming up on this show a lot lately. That like, it, I, uh, you know, we see it happening in our movement politics here too, especially in, in this sort of moment of authoritarian retrenchment in our own government, that like, there are, there are challenges around that, and there's like ways that I think, yeah, it makes sense that it feels good in the moment to be like, “Yeah, there's more of us than there are of them.” But it's like, well, who, who are us? Like, what is the us that we're talking about? Samir, I will pass it to you to talk about, I guess, some of the texture that we should know about the protest movement in Nepal, and like what are the ways that, other social forces also outside the state have shaped the way that the protests have played out there. Samir: I was listening to Sharmin, and I was like, “Oh, there's so many similarities,” [00:24:00] like in a lot of the political forces that led our movements and also like talking about K.P. Oli, there's so many similarities of like how they were the face of the movement. And as somebody who really admired K.P. Oli because, you know, he was part of the social movement left. He was part of , like the first people's movement struggles, uh, that happened in the '90s that got rid of absolute monarchy. He was the face of the Communist Party. He did take up arms, right? So all of the tools that our revolutionary histories have used to, find liberation, right? So he used a diversity of tactics. Like, he started as somebody who believed in picking up arms. And then he led a people's movement in the '90s of, like with other political parties to get rid of the Panchayat system, which was a system of absolute monarchy and where all the political parties were dissolved right by the king from the 1960 to 1990, right? But one of the big things that I think we didn't think about when our movements were being led, when our movement ancestors were organizing and like really thinking about is like what does identity mean for our movements. There's political forces, [00:25:00] the social movement parties that are leading our people and organizing our people, and they did the organizing that happened in Nepal, the door-to-door, the base building that happened, if that was done by political parties, right? Which is true, and we need to name that layer, too. And I think one of the things that we're missing in this moment right now is we have been so, so frustrated by the last 20 years of governance by these forces. We wanna forget the political history of how we got here, right? Mm-hmm. And that has been one of my big critique of the young people in Nepal, right? And for me, I also think about as somebody who's getting older and also had access to my dad who was part of this movement, right? He was a big force as part of the Communist Party, and now he's heavily traumatized because of the way he got betrayed by his comrades, right? And I think one of the forces I was talking about identity is, like, all of these political forces were led by upper caste Brahmin men, and there was no indigenous representation. So finally, the 1990, we were able to get rid of absolute [00:26:00] monarchy. By '96, we still don't have full democracy in Nepal, so, you know, the Maoists decided to wage a civil war where they really organized the masses, and really created conditions for the monarchy, to bow down, right? And the Maoist party came out of this forest and, like, built a coalition with the Communist Party and the Congress Party to take the streets again. In 2006, we finally were able to get rid of monarchy, but 2006 to 2014 was a struggle to, like, really, draft a new constitution for us, where we made some progress and where we also did some things where it took us back around, like, women's rights, right? And so there was a big feminist movement that really created, like, organizing conditions of 2026 in so many ways, right? And one of the things that we were seeing during the last 20 years is what's happening is all the communist parties, the people who led our movements and uprisings were veering towards the right, right? Hmm. Because they consolidated more power, like, you know, exactly what happened with, uh, Bangladesh. They consolidated more power where, you know, they could stay in power [00:27:00] for long. The indigenous folks were part of the struggles and the uprisings in the 100 years of our movement struggles. But once we won and they got, the Communist Party got into power, they started, like, pushing policies that would not benefit indigenous peoples, right? And then one of the big things that Nepal wanted is federalism in terms of, like, one of the big critiques of Nepal has been the government is so centralized in Kathmandu. Other people outside of Kathmandu really don't get to take part in politics. And, so federalism was one of the big things that we pushed for, right? At Indigenous Struggles, that is the one thing that we pushed for so that we can govern our homelands, and that was the one thing that Oli was, like, against too, and that was also one of the reasons why he started becoming less and less popular, right? But one of the things that's 2026 was, I think it's also really important to understand, is the 2026 uprisings were led by youth who I believe, I dare to say, didn't have, the full understanding, the political understanding of our political histories in that way. And there's this, like, disconnect in terms of, like… it's hard for me to bridge the 100 years of left in Nepal [00:28:00] and like, you know, this youth uprising that's happening in Nepal that has no connection because it's not an organized group, right? It's very decentralized. Right. It happened on Discord. And that is one of the big questions we have now is, like, how do we as young people, the young people who led this uprisings, how do they stay organized, right? And that is a big question we still don't, we don't have answers to, right? The movement histories and, you know, the last 20 years has been very traumatizing, but there's also so many lessons and so many beautiful things that happened during the organizing, right? So how do we make those connections? How do we ask those questions? How do we talk to this feminist group? How do we talk to, like, workers, right? We need to figure that out. And I think one of the big things, like Sharmin talked about too, is like the student protest student movements were a big part of how we got liberation in Nepal, and the student movements are like directly connected to political parties because they have the student wing. But that also doesn't mean they are not organized. Yes, they were organized, and they really figured it out, but they have gotten corrupt. There's goons there, there's only men there. [00:29:00] And, like, how do we really ask those questions as a movement now and start building on some of our social movement histories? And that is a big question. And I haven't heard anything, and I'm very curious what's gonna happen on that, and I've been sitting with that a lot, too.  Cayden: Yeah. No, I, I mean, I feel like thinking about the challenges in remembering and then sometimes, like, having movement history misremembered to us by people with motivations. I can see how in that way for these young people who are getting organized, who are, like, trying to figure out what they want from the government in the future . there's some real, delicate territory for them to negotiate around, like, understanding themselves in a lot of ways as political and historic actors, which is really interesting. Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to Apex Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org.  Cayden: One of the other trends that [00:30:00] I would love to talk about is this, sort Western media trend where, an uprising happens somewhere, a protest movement happens somewhere, and they're like, “Oh, there's an interim government. Great.” And then, like, in the US, we don't hear anymore the establishment of interim government is, first of all, deeply informed by the social movements and social forces that are already moving on the ground and also glosses over the way politics is done in a particular place. I'm wondering if there's stuff that you've noticed that has really been lost from the international media discourse about the politics of both Bangladesh and Nepal since the sort of student uprising moment. And if there's stuff that you've been seeing in the like, interim government moments that you're like, “Oh, this is something to watch out for.” Like, “This is something that we can draw some lessons from.”  Sharmin: Yeah. Well, in Bangladesh we had a United States favorite Nobel Laureate, you know, Muhammad Yunus- Mm-hmm as our interim government. And, and I think what's so fascinating is that, you know, he is the world's sweetheart because he created [00:31:00] this, like, you know, microfinancing program that is, a program that they say, you know, empowers the poor people. And, we know that in practice it actually did not reverse poverty, and it actually left millions of people in more debt, than, they or- originally were projected to gain. And so I think what's very fascinating about having such a pro-capitalist, figure that is, a sweetheart of empire, it spoke to his legacy in office, you know? During his time, he also signed one of the most devastating US-Bangladesh trade agreements with Trump- Hmm … which actually, further isolates China from the Bangladeshi trade market and, forces Bangladesh to do all of our trade deals with the US. And it's a non-binding agreement. And so it is, deeply unlawful and also devastating to the economy of this area of Southeast Asia that actually needs China as, an ally, as a country that has, contributed a lot to the development of [00:32:00] our, transportation systems and, so for us it- it's also about how much of this interim government was, you know, representing the interests of the global elite and what he was willing to do to be able to s- to, to squash, revolutionary energy within the country. The Women's Commission was one of the most powerful consolidation of feminist leaders under the interim government that were looking to reform land laws for women. And similar to what, Samir was saying, right? Women's rights just are the first thing that these governments throw under the bus and that- women's commission report that was looking to really examine land laws and inheritance laws and and the rights of women economically like actually triggered one of the largest anti-feminist rallies in the country's history- Wow … where millions, millions of Jamaat-e-Islami men and their supporters took the streets in [00:33:00] protest of women having rights. And that was something you did not see the Western media touch, even-  Cayden: No …  Sharmin: even though the Western media was, like, so excited for this revolution, right? You know, on the ground too, you have those people that are like, “This is a CIA-backed, like, uprising,” right? And then on the ground you see, like, oh yeah, people actually don't want to touch the complexities of this country because it is layered within, like, religious nationalisms- Mm-hmm ethnic nationalisms, and caste. And so in my experience, I would just say that people know very little of the political forces within this, greater West Asian political landscape and how it connects to US imperialism here and abroad, you know? Pakistan was once the CIA's closest ally in the Cold War, and they continue to be during the war on terror right now, right? Mm-hmm. The United States provided Pakistan with military, diplomatic, and economic support because a [00:34:00] pro-US military dictatorship in this region that was a staunch anti-communist ally created a buffer between the axis of the USSR, China. Cayden: Hmm.  Sharmin: And then I'll say at the same time, on the ground, there were dozens of reports of mobs that were attacking temples and Hindu leaders. Hindus are a minority in Bangladesh that have been historically, marginalized, and these contradictions were, were getting highlighted, right? Because that violence was eerily similar, right? The partition of South Asia- Yeah …  Cayden: excluded  Sharmin: Hindu-Muslim communalism, and there were tensions and divides that fell across class lines. And for Western and, hegemonic media outlets, this looked like, oh, the Muslims are attacking the Hindus again.  Samir: Right.  Sharmin: And so for me, like, the being able to reckon Islamophobia, communal violence, identity and class politics, but also the way nationalism operates in South Asia, it, it's a tricky dance [00:35:00] And I've been learning how to really convey this complex history because the country's, uh like, beautiful history of, like, using guerrilla warfare to defeat US-backed forces in the region, it also represents something different from its neighbors, India and Pakistan. Mm-hmm. And within that, you know, we have Bangladesh joining the PLO in Lebanon to fight on behalf of Palestinian liberation. We have the fact that the country's actually i- inception was based on a socialist vision, right? And it's now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with the fast fashion garment industry that's also ravaged by climate crisis and mass displacement. And so for me, it always just comes back to anti-war and anti-imperialism, like all the nodes of my brain, because I'm like, “Here's this US global death-making machine and this defense industry that sells tear gas shells to my country and [00:36:00] sells Israeli surveillance technology to my country.” And then there's this Bangladesh trade agreement that Trump was able to wager during this vulnerable moment for our country and it's at the core of all the political and economic violence within my country. And so the neoliberalization of our campuses and what these students are facing is because of the war economy. And so, so I just, like, zoom out in those moments, and I'm like, “Oh, this, this feels very much so like Cold War politics and the aftermath.”  Cayden: Yeah, like the politics of the Cold War have just simply never left us. Like, they're still here, and it's like we've sort of swapped in China as the big bad in a lot of ways.  Sharmin: Right.  Cayden: Samir, I wonder if there's, stuff that you've been seeing about the interim government in Nepal that you think are worth our sort of examination as kind of like lessons that we can draw from what happens after the protest, and yeah, like how that has been part of the electoral moment also we're in in Nepal right now. Samir: Yeah, [00:37:00] well, the interim government was, what was it, about five months. I think we didn't really see a lot of work that happened from the interim government, but obviously one of the big wins of the interim government was they were successfully able to hold elections. And the Western media has only focused on Balen Saha, this, quote-unquote, “rapper,” this charismatic guy who is gonna, who's 35 years old and is gonna lead. And then like Sushila Karki, I mean, one of the big things that everybody is like, “Oh, she's the first woman prime minister of Nepal, and what does that mean for us?” And, you know, this identity politics of like, “Oh, we finally got a woman president.” And for us it's like when we talk about it, that's the only thing we see in the discourse. But the reality is she was also a woman prime minister in an interim government that she knew was gonna last for six months, right? And also one of the things that a lot of people don't think about and realize is like the youth really didn't know who she was. And I think that's one of the big things that Sarmin talked about too, is like how do our youth have the consciousness? And do we have a left, social movement left, that's actually supporting them to really understand, you know, the conditions [00:38:00] of our people and who we're electing and, like, how we're organizing and what that means for us, right? But one of the big popularities about her was, like, she was not a career, jurist as she was appointed, was a lawyer that was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2009 by the Judicial Council, and she had this reputation of pushing back against some of the political parties and some of the establishments in that time. So that was, like, one of the big things that really lured our folks, there was this one interview of her that went really viral about how she talks about, you know, establishment parties and how she challenged, some of the status quo while she was… Because a lot of times what happens with some of these appointments are people who are loyal to the to the parties, right? That was the one big thing that really attracted a lot of our young folks, to mobilize around her being the prime minister. And it's just, like, a lot of unknowns around, like, we still don't know because with the older parties, it was very clear to us that the Communist Party was, like, more loyal to China, right? And the Congress party was more loyal to India. And then one of the things a lot that we don't see in the discourse even in left spaces, right? Even [00:39:00] in, like, media spaces is, more than US imperialism, India and China is also waging some form of imperialism in our homelands, right? And that we don't wanna name that layer because in the US, as, us being in the belly of the beast, our only responsibility is to fight US imperialism. And then for me, as somebody from the Global South, I understand that how that impacts our movement and how that is dangerous and harmful to our people in our, back in our homeland. Because China and India are bullying Nepal in a lot of different ways politically, right? Because nothing happens in Nepal without the consent of India and China, right? And India obviously has more power, and they're, like, fighting over that power in Nepal right now. And the other thing that I wanted to name is, I was hoping K.P. Oli, during our interim prime ministership, during that interim government, would be held accountable, which didn't happen. And we're not talking about that, right? And also she [Karki] had a lot of limitations, and we still are figuring out what, like, what kind of power she held, right? But the hope was for me was, like, that she would hold the people who were responsible for our people's deaths accountable during the six months she was there, which [00:40:00] really didn't happen and really moved. And that's one of the things that hasn't been talked about, and I think that was a big political opportunity for her to do some of that work to push K.P. Oli out of power because he, after doing all of this, was still able to contest the elections and lost really badly. But one of the things for me, the inspiration was, like, how Sheikh Hasina was pushed out of the country, right? Like, that was one of the hopes and dreams, and that didn't really happen, during this interim government.  Cayden: Hmm. That's interesting that there's, like, a possibility that he might be back. Well, I wanna turn a little bit to thinking about this history that's been unfolding and, like, what it is like to be observing, talking to comrades and loved ones as an organizer who's based here in the US as part of your diasporic community. One of the things I think a lot about is, like- When we talk about solidarity with people's movements internationally in the US, sometimes we forget that, like, people from those diasporas are our comrades. They are here. And that we have a lot to, [00:41:00] like, learn from them. What has it been like watching the sort of, like, social movements in Bangladesh and Nepal respectively, and what has it been like to have that consciousness as an organizer here in the US dealing with all of the political stuff that we've been dealing with here? Samir: I love that you asked that question, Cayden, and also, like, yes, I just wanna start with, like, this layer of like, oh, yes, we have comrades here who are from these diasporic communities who actually can inform us in this. And to add another layer to that, even with, with my, you know, my history of being born and raised in Nepal and, like, being connected to our movements there and, like, living here for the last 20 years now, right? That also creates another layer where I don't have access to everything, and that also creates a layer of, like, that I don't have to know everything, right? And I wish our left- Mm-hmm … Western left understood that layer sometimes because – In our movements, I'm gonna go be a little– I'm gonna little shit about our movements here, you know? Because one of the things that happens is, like, the romanticization of what's going on in our homelands without understanding, and this idea- Mm-hmm of, like-like, we have to know the answers to every… It's okay to not have answers. I think that's a big thing that I reflect on a lot as somebody here, [00:42:00] right? And also, the reality is I have access to my father, who is, for me, the only revolutionary that I know who was part of, like, social movements and who, like, really spent his whole life to the movement and is now still doing things after being betrayed by his party, right? So I think that's one of the big things. I think it's okay to know that. I think the second thing for me as somebody in the diaspora, it's my role in the diaspora. It's also what is my role in the diaspora to inform my comrades. If you're an upper-caste person, it is your responsibility to name that in the movement spaces that you hold and name that layer- Mm … and inform people about that layer. I think about that a lot. I sit up, I sit with that and reflect on that a lot, and that really informs the way I show up as somebody in the diaspora. And my responsibility, one of the things that we saw when all of this was happening you know, the movements, the social movement left was so fast, got into this train of, like, it's a Color Revolution [i.e., the revolution is backed by the US government/is a US-led intervention], as if our peoples don't have the capacity to organize. Yes, there was infiltrations. Yes, India was involved. But yes, there was also uprising where 70 people died, right? So just, bringing it down to, like, it's not really being complex and, like, [00:43:00] being nuance about that. And that really is harmful to our people back home, right? Because that, in that, when we're doing that, we're taking away, like, access from our people in terms of, like, how they are doing things. And also, like, really, I think invalidating the fact that our, the governments that was being oppressing against the uprisings are oppressive. So that just, like, invisibilizes, uh, what the state is doing, right? Because it is a Color Revolution, you know. The, it is not led by the people. We're, there was even sign, things like they said, like, “Oh, there were signs in English.” Like, can you just think about, you know, the, the orientalist, uh, you know-  Cayden: Yeah …  Samir: orientalist way that you are thinking even as somebody who considers yourself a social movement left. So that's, I think, one my, that, for me, that is a big responsibility. And- And that is where I can also make an impact as somebody in the diaspora. I am not on the ground, that is the reality of it, and knowing where I can make impact and how I can make impact, and knowing very clearly that I don't have all the answers, and I'm not– I'm an outsider in so many… I go back home every time I go home for a couple of months, the way I show up in these movement spaces [00:44:00] is I'm here to listen and I'm an outsider, and I'm trying to figure out how I can support you, right? And that is, for me, a role as a diasporic person, and I'm very clear on that. And I think it's also because I have access to my dad who grounds me in that, and it's like- Mm-hmm “Samir, you don't live here anymore.” He will remind me very clearly. He's like, “You don't live here anymore.” And you need to understand that, and that's okay.” And he will ground me in that, and that really helps me in terms of thinking of how I wanna show up as a diasporic person.  Cayden: Yeah. No, that's, that's really helpful, and I think that, like, this thing that you're describing about the sort of like in some ways, like, healthy, but in other ways sort of, like, overblown skepticism that US observers can have about uprisings, revolutions in other countries just because, like… The, the word that came to mind as you were describing it was, like, infantilizing, right? That it's, like, as if people can't independently form their own political opinions without the intervention of the, like, global superpower is just sort of, like, baffling to me. You hit on something that, like, I think about a lot [00:45:00] also as somebody who is, like, a generation removed from the immigrant generation in my family. I don't have a ton of relationships with my family who are in Hong Kong and China, but, like, how do I, like how do I relate to that? It's very challenging, and it's- and I, I think that there's so much in, like, US like left social movement discourse that I'm just kind of like, “I actually don't know how to relate to this as a diasporic person sometimes.” Sharmin, I'm also interested to hear from you on this.  Sharmin: Yeah. Yeah, similarly, I feel, I feel like there is this, like, uh, relationality that it's pushing people that are here to really think about more clearly. I feel like some of the early '70s through the '90s was a very, like, symbolic type of solidarity that we had- Mm-hmm where, where, you know, we would do the cultural attire, the cultural associations, you know, the melas, which are, like, big fairs that we have in these hubs of, like, immigrant communities. And now I think the politics are coming back. Like, I think after the July uprising, [00:46:00] you actually saw solidarity actions popping up across hubs in, you know, New York and California where people were like, “Actually, this impacts me and I wanna talk about what this means. I wanna talk about the cultural and political organizations that run this local community.” And one thing that I really took back from the last two visits to Bangladesh is really learning the skills of talking to somebody who disagrees with me because-  Cayden: Hmm …  Sharmin: I think in the United States the left does not practice, being able to engage, talk, even, like, be in relationship with people that might be politically opposed to you. And so when I go to Bangladesh, I'm actually surrounded by a lot of homophobes. I'm surrounded by a lot of men who, like, support the Awami League, and I've had to kind of, like, sit in this in between of being like, “Oh, yeah, like, I actually have to learn how to debate better. I have to learn how to, like, you know, be that person that's, like, holding humanity but also holding the, the critical left analysis that I, I believed in to be right because I [00:47:00] know I'm right.” Right? And I know that, like, this is a hill that's worth dying on. And I think with Mamdani's win in, in New York, like, there's so many examples of how that, like, South Asian left politic that's actually talking about class exists- Mm-hmm.  Cayden: Yeah …  Sharmin: within the geography of our communities. And, you know, especially for, you know, Samir and I are, like, the minority South Asians, so we're not the Indian upper caste. And so for us, we're like, “This has always been the reality of our people.” They are working-class organizers. They're people who know how to talk about the intricacies of domestic labor, about the unorganized labor forces, about the people that are left out of the political agenda of our government. And so for me, like, I really take some of the lessons that DRUM [ Desis Rising Up and Moving]  is doing on the ground in New York around what it means to actually build a member base that's rooted in relationship, but also towards a North Star. And that North Star, it looks a little socialist. It looks a little working class. It looks [00:48:00] very deeply rooted in a feminist, anti-oppressive politic. And I think for someone in diaspora, that's been the biggest growth area for me, where I'm like, “How do I hold this vision and not lose hope that my people are not, like, all right-wing people that are out to, like, you know, destroy me and my people?” But we are in this center-right populous moment that will require us to do cultural shift. It will require us to do that, like, slow work of tilling the land, like Ella Baker spade work. And you know, a comrade of mine, Nafiz, who's a brilliant writer at Jamhor, when I was talking to him about processing the February elections, he was just like, “You know, I actually think, like, I'm seeing a lot of possibility right now because I saw what happened to Egypt after Tahrir Square, and I saw where Egypt went and what a military dictatorship did to that country.” And he was like, “And Bangladesh, that's not what happened to us.” And, and he was like, “And this is important for us to really reckon with how… Not to [00:49:00] say, like, ‘Oh, it could be so much more worse,' but it could be so much more worse.” And we have to work within these, like, terrains in a way that's, like, really reckoning with why are people wanting to find comfort in these right-wing religious social groups, because they are the only organized groups of people that are providing shelter and food. And so unless the left fills that gap, we are gonna see right-wing populism, and we've seen it within white supremacy here, but it translates to every Global South country, from Brazil to, you know, um, obviously South Asia. And so yeah, I just am trying to be more, like, relative in that way, where I'm like-  Cayden: Hmm Sharmin: “Oh, we're a lot more relative than we think we are.”  Cayden: Yeah. That is such a good insight about, like, having to context switch Across geography, across political context, like builds a, like a really important muscle for us as organizers. This has been an absolutely fantastic [00:50:00] conversation and I've learned so much from both of you. My one sort of like, well I have two outgoing questions and they're sort of related to one another. One is thinking about like as a monolingual English speaker, as somebody who's like in the US, I think one of the things that I've often felt a challenge around is like where do I look to for news, for updates, and for analysis about what's going on in the Global South, especially for places where I have no cultural or language connection. And like when you're assessing news and information that's coming out about movement politics. What do you consider, what do you think about, what are the questions you ask yourself when you're like seeing headlines, kinda day-to-day that you think would be useful for other folks to start thinking about? Sharmin: Yeah. I, I really think about, like, multiple nationalisms right now, that there's, like, these competing forces of, like, who gets to tell the story. And I always, like to think about, like, how, uh, US [00:51:00] interests, Chinese interests, or even, like, Indian interests are determining the news landscape right now. And I don't like to think about it, but I, I've been looking at so much coverage that feels very much like, yikes, like what is going on, with our, like, news ecosystem? And unfortunately, I think we need to get back on Facebook. Like, I think that the fact that- … progressives and the left have left Facebook, like, I get it. Fuck Meta, and Facebook is the main place for so much like organizing. And we-  Cayden: Contest every space.  Sharmin: Get back on Facebook. Who cares if there are right-wing trolls on it? You we have to create alternative like information systems that are, like, really amplifying to these networks and groups of people that are getting inundated with that information. And I think we're really lucky because there's a lot of leftist South Asian publications now, Himal South Asian, Jumphore, you could become Patreon supporter and really be a part of these legacy, South Asian [00:52:00] left, thinkers that are actually thinking about, like, the long-term arc, and they, they're contending with socialism. They're contending with the communist, like, legacies of our organizations. And so, I just really appreciate that they're doing political analysis with politics and not just focusing on, like, symbolic forms of, like, political analysis. So shout-out to them and, and their hard work because yeah, they, they're English media that is getting translated for this day and age, you know? Cayden: Yeah. I… It was really exciting to me to, like, do a lot of the sort of, like, background for this conversation and find, like, English language movement media coming out of South Asia. I was like, “This is so exciting.” Like, this is… I feel like in some ways the thing that they're trying to do is, like they're kind of our comrades- Mm-hmm in a sense, right? Like, they're trying to do a similar thing to the thing that we're trying to do at Convergence, and I was like, “Ooh, this is really cool. Like, I'm bookmarking this.” Yeah. So I don't know. Samir, do you have, do you have other thoughts about, like, what things [00:53:00] US people should be thinking about as they're kind of assessing news and developments? Samir: Yeah, big ups Himal Magazine. I think that is a big source of information for me too. And also as somebody who struggles with reading Nepali now, which I'm very embarrassed of it's really hard for me to get access. to. I have to sit with my dad to, like, really go through some of the news articles, which, you know, my dad gracefully agrees. Uh, I think one of the big things is, like, I do benefit a lot from his free labor. I'll just name that on this podcast. But I think, and one of the things I would say is like- Thanks,  Cayden: dad …  Samir: really, like, figuring out, like, I don't know, like, pushing through the binary of, like, what US imperialism means for Nepal and what also there's, there could be other forms of imperialism that I named earlier, that Sharmin named too. And also right now, I think there's a lot of unknowns for us too, right? We have this party that was not part of the political establishment that came into picture in 2024. So we are still grappling with the idea of, like, what does this mean for us? Who are they gonna be loyal to, and how does, what does this mean for geopolitics in Nepal, right? So we are still sitting with that question. And there is some clarity around, I think one of the things I would say is there's a [00:54:00] lot of excitement, even in diaspora community, and my role in the diaspora also has been talking to some of my friends who are stoked about this prime minister right now because we haven't built a left that is informing them of the nuances and, like, how we can actually figure out the critique of this person, right? Because for me, I think it's really important the social movement left to understand because even my friend, my comrades are sending me, “Oh, this rapper is a prime minister now.” It's somebody that I trust a lot, right? Yeah. And I have to do the work of like, “Hey, this person has this history of governing in this way when he became the mayor of Kathmandu, where he was against poor people,” right? He did some changes, structural changes that helped, upper middle class people. And using that as a way to, like, really assess what he's gonna do for Nepal, and I'm actually skeptical, right? He is somebody from the Madhesi movement, which is a indigenous group that is very marginalized in Nepal, but he also comes from a very upper class background, right? And that's also real. We have to name that. His party's ideology is to push us away from federalism in some sense, right? And also the reality is they had a majority, they won a majority because we didn't have a social movement left outside of political parties that would help us assess him, right? [00:55:00] So that's, I think that's the question. Those are some of the questions I would love people to ask, because I am asking those questions as somebody who is from Nepal and from the diaspora, and I check myself every time. And yeah, I will end it with, like, it's okay to not have all the answers, and just, yeah, do some of that work of, like, reflecting on, like, asking yourself how you are taking in some of the information that you're seeing. And obviously, Himal Magazine is a big source, and one of the Substacks that I would highly recommend too is, I think we could put it in the links later, it's called Kalam Weekly, which is on Substack. I have some critiques of their writing too, but that's really been helping me understand what's going on in Nepal right now.  Cayden: You both have been so incredibly generous with your time, and this has been such a rich conversation. I don't know if there are places also where if our listeners want to follow your work, I don't know, if there's organizations or places where you are publishing thoughts, either your own or organizationally that you wanna share. Sharmin, is there any place people can find you online? Sharmin: Yeah, for sure. We're building the Asian American left at 18 Million Rising, so you could follow us there, and I'm @sharminultra [00:56:00] on all social media.  Cayden: And Samir, is there a place people can find you?  Samir: Uh, yeah, I am a very quiet person. Uh, but direct action has been a big part of our struggles in the last few years, and we are really thinking about, like, how we can escalate strategically, so I am part of a network of direct action trainers called the Ruckus Society. Hit us up. We do trainings, go to our website, request a training if you need any direct action support. We love nerding out on action design and thinking about action curriculum and how we train our people to do action safely. And follow Ruckus Society, and I don't really have a social that's public, so…  Cayden: that's so fair. I respect your choice not to be perceived.  Samir: I mean, also, I'm not Sharmin, I feel I learn from her so much, from Sharmin, so I just wanna name that, and also just from how I- And  Sharmin: we're friends. Like, we, we've done direct actions together. Like, we've been arrested together. Like-  Cayden: Yeah. …  Sharmin: we're comrades, so it's just so fun to be able to talk about this- Well, I really-  Cayden: Yeah …  Yeah. Thanks again, Sharmin, Samir. Absolutely a pleasure to talk, and I'm, I'm sure we'll talk again soon.  Sharmin: Talk soon. [00:57:00] Thank you, guys.  Samir:

Most leaders treat community as a marketing channel. They're leaving the real advantage on the table.Chris Catania , Head of Community at Esri built community from a love of live music. Lately, he wrote the playbook. In this episode he joins Erica Kuhl, who scaled Salesforce's legendary Trailblazer community, and Josh Schachter to make the case that community isn't a nice-to-have. It's a strategic operating system competitors can't copy.From Lego's near-bankruptcy turnaround to Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, demanding harsher feedback, this episode reframes what community can do for a business.---Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.---What You'll Learn- Why community is a service to every team, not a marketing channel- The importance of speaking each executive's language- The "fake flowers vs real flowers" test for authentic community- Why community-driven companies build an advantage rivals can't catch- The three E's: enablement, experience, evaluation- How to set a North Star while delivering ROI in small wins---Timestamps0:00 - Preview & Intro1:56 - Meet Chris Catania6:27 - Three founders, one music origin story10:17 - The Lego turnaround that saved the brand14:25 - Fake flowers vs real flowers17:28 - Why nobody likes the word "community"22:05 - The Marc Benioff feedback story (CEO of Salesforce)24:24 - Is Voice of the customer underleveraged?31:47 - Erica ran Salesforce's first Twitter handle33:22 - Community as a service and the unfair advantage37:20 — One takeaway: the three E's---Josh is writing a book on building customer relationships. Follow his journey and insights at www.joshschachter.com---Where to Find the GuestChris Catania: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophercatania/Website: https://chriscatania.co/---Where to Find the Hosts: Erica's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericakuhlJosh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/

Navigating life after a devastating spinal injury can feel insurmountable, yet it is entirely possible to discover a profound new sense of purpose. In this episode, Irene Weinberg welcomes Karen Olson, founder and CEO emeritus of Family Promise, to explore the beauty of resilience and the power of service. Karen shares her deeply personal journey of transforming the heartbreak of losing her mother at age twelve into a life dedicated to uplifting homeless families. She also discusses her inspiring new book, Meant for More: Following Your Heart and Finding Your Purpose, and how her recent spinal cord injury has deepened her spiritual perspective on compassion. Join us for a heartfelt conversation about how rupture can lead to rebirth, and how each of us can act as a North Star for someone else.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL HEAR ABOUT THINGS LIKE:How childhood loss, specifically the suicide of her mother, created a "hole in the heart" that simultaneously heightened Karen's sensitivity to the suffering of others.The transformative power of a chance encounter with a homeless woman named Millie in Grand Central Station, which sparked the creation of Family Promise.How Family Promise's innovative "rotation model" mobilizes local congregations to provide housing and community support to families experiencing homelessness.The profound shift in Karen's healing journey that occurred when her father finally embraced her during a hospitalization, highlighting the power of connection over talk therapy.How Karen's recent spinal cord injury served as a second "rupture," forcing her to reinvent her life again and deepening her spiritual perspective on resilience and vulnerability.WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-aqXGzd-sA&list=PL7judgDzhkAWmfyB5r5WgFD6ahombBvoh

Sameer Samana, head of equities and real assets at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, says that as long as the market keeps making higher highs and lows, investors should use technical indicators as a North Star to stay in the game and ride the market higher. Samana says the market's move to record levels says that broader economy is strong enough to keep the market rolling with a "turbo-boost" from artificial intelligence on top of it providing faster growth, though he does worry about the economy overheating and needing to step back. He says the most likely scenario is for the market to "take a breather" between now and midterm elections, but "starting in November, you'll start the next leg of the bull market and it would not surprise me if that one runs well into end of next year." Kevin Roth, managing director of research for the CFB Board of Standards, discusses the group's recent survey on Americans and financial fraud which found that most people have faced some rip-off attempts, but almost no one discusses it with families or reports it to authorities. Some 55% of Americans expect fraudsters to target them or someone close to them in the next 12 months, but less than 40% are confident they would catch every type of fraud they might face and avoid being ripped off. Plus, Josh Stevens, chief investment officer at CresAlta Investment Management — which in May launched CresAlta Global Dividend and CresAlta Small and Mid-Cap, ETFs based around high-conviction growth strategies — talks stock investing now in the Market Call.

How do you measure the success of your podcast that is NOT downloads?You'll hear from a wide range of podcasters in different niches—storytelling, history, prepping, finance, faith, recovery, TV rewatch shows, local podcasts, health, creativity, and more—sharing how they really gauge success. Their answers include:Direct listener feedback & real‑life impact (behavior change, decisions, staying sober, safer driving, adopting, spending time with Jesus, handling conversations differently)Engagement & community (emails, voicemails, social comments, active groups, email lists, live events, guest offers, collaborations)Actions taken (lead magnet signups, newsletter growth, memberships, classes, affiliate links, donations and financial support)Enjoyment, fun, and personal growth (being excited about the next episode, getting better on the mic, becoming more confident and creative)Alignment with purpose & service (sticking to your “why,” serving a niche community, “who many” vs. “how many,” “one life at a time”)Legacy & memory (building an audio/video archive for family, preserving loved ones' stories, creating a personal record you can revisit)Along the way, Dave adds commentary on why downloads alone are a poor North Star, how to re‑center on who you serve and why you podcast, and how podcasting can be a tool for service, community, and legacy—not just stats.Participants In This EpisodeScott from What Was That Like?Kate from Drafting in the PastMark from Practical PreppingNancy from Family Food StoriesBuckRalph From Content Creator's AccountantSteve from Podcast Editor's MastermindTrip From Home Brewed Christianity Podcast Spencer from The Recovery Show Travis from Bestie ApprovedAshriel from Called and Curious PodcastDave Interviewed JesusZo from Back Look CinemaJen from Women in PodcastingMarc from Solo Talk and Podcast BrandingChris from Cool Cars with Chris Howard from AA Recovery Interviews Ray from Around the LayoutYork from Welcome to Earth StoriesRob from Softball CentralDan from Based on a True StoryTim from Create Art and My Solo MS JourneyKim from the Pharmacist's Voice and the Perrysburg PodcastDave from Fix My PodcastMentioned in this episode:You Have A Message That Needs to Be HeardYou have a message that needs to be shared. Discover the art of podcasting at the School of Podcasting. We teach you to shine a light on your stories, inspiring others one episode at a time. Let your voice be your legacy. Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/joinSchool of PodcastingBuild the Website You Want with PodpagePodpage is flexible. If you want to promote something you can put it in the sidebar, on the front page, or at the bottom of every episode (not to mention the navigation bar, the footer and more). Podpage is designed specifically for podcasts. Quit trying to squeeze your podcast into a website made for a yoga studio. Start your free trial at podpage.com/previewPodpageQuestion of the MonthSo you find out someone is a podcaster, what book would you recommend that they read. Obviously this could be a book about podcasting, or business, or storytelling, or, or... you get the idea. You find out someone is a podcaster, what is the book you recommend (audio or video). I need your answer by July 24th. Don't forget to say a little bit about your show and your website address (so I can add it to the show notes). Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/questionQuestion of the MonthLive AppearancesI love to meet people when I'm on the road. I'm going to be at Empowered Podcasting Conference in Charlotte NC Podcast Movement in NYC Podindy in Indianapolis In. For more information and links, go to schoolofpodcasting.com/where To have me speak at your event, reach out at schoolofpodcasting.com/contacntWhere Will I Be?

I sat down with John Johnson, founding CEO of Patmos Hosting, to unpack how he bootstrapped a data center company with no outside capital after a big tech host threatened to cancel a client, leading him to pursue independence by “controlling the dirt.” We talk about his rule “he who pays, rules,” why he believes VC money erodes a founder's mission, and how owning infrastructure and going upstream helps you control your destiny and protect your data. John also explores AI's risks—counterfeit human personhood and reducing humans to artifacts—while arguing for a renaissance where authentic humanity becomes a premium. He shares how Patmos is redeveloping the old Kansas City Star printing press into a C-PACE financed, assessed clean-energy data center plus a downtown tech hub to create jobs and urban renewal. We also discuss his Albertus Magnus Institute and his North Star: human freedom.03:25 Counterfeit Humanity & the Organic Human Market08:07 AI and the Technocratic Paradigm11:21 The Human Renaissance: Practical Counter-Revolution14:08 Owning the Dirt: Freedom Through Education & Independence14:20 John's Journey: From Ministry to Data Centers22:55 Patmos: Free Speech Hosting & AI Infrastructure27:23 Data Centers, Sustainability & The Kansas City Story32:20 Owning Your Own Data & Patmos Phase TwoConnect with John: • https://patmos.tech/• https://magnusinstitute.org/Connect with Raul: • Work with Raul: https://dogoodwork.io• Free Growth Resources: https://dogoodwork.io/resources• Connect with Raul on LinkedIn (DMs open): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dogoodwork/ 

Katrina is a growth leader with over a decade of experience in DTC marketing, specializing in new customer acquisition, paid media, and creative strategy.  She currently serves as Director of Growth Marketing at Timeline, where she's helped scale the brand across both nutrition and skincare to nearly nine figures. She's known for building high-performing acquisition engines by combining data, creative testing, and conversion optimization to drive efficient, scalable growth. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro [01:35] Growing into a marketing leadership role [03:03] Balancing acquisition and lifetime value  [04:56] Defining the North Star for your business [05:56] Sponsor: Migrate [07:53] Diagnosing disconnects in customer journey [01:27] Sponsor: Intelligems [13:53] Structuring landing pages to tell a story [18:22] Sponsor: Electric Eye [19:32] Eliminating buyer confusion to drive sales [22:40] Moving past shotgun marketing tactics [27:18] Callouts [27:28] Diversifying your marketing channels [30:47] Viewing the holistic customer journey Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube #1 Doctor Recommended Urolithin A timeline.com/ Follow Katrina Adams linkedin.com/in/katrinamarieadams Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

When growth pressure hits an organization, it triggers a hidden survival instinct: teams become political, siloed, and reactive.Most executives try to solve this by pushing harder—but driving pace without dignity is exactly how you destroy organizational trust.In this episode of Lead The Team, Ben Fanning sits down with Mark Banfield, Chief Revenue Officer at TeamViewer (and former CEO of 1e), to break down what it actually takes to scale a high-growth SaaS business across private equity and public markets without causing massive team burnout.Mark shares the exact framework required to create "constructive interference"—a powerful force multiplier that aligns every single employee, from the front lines to the C-suite, toward a singular North Star.This conversation covers:• The early warning signs that your company is becoming political instead of mission-driven• Pace vs. Dignity: How to demand high execution without breaking your team's culture• The transition from CRO to CEO: What leading revenue can never prepare you for• Trust vs. Surveillance: The reality of implementing autonomous tech and AI in the workspaceWhether you're a CEO, executive, founder, or ambitious professional navigating modern leadership under extreme market pressure, this episode will fundamentally change how you balance performance with human relationships.Chapters00:00 – The growth pressure mistake most executives make02:18 – The CASE framework for authentic leadership trust05:15 – Early warning signs of toxic organizational silos07:45 – Pace vs. Dignity: Balancing pressure and human relationships09:35 – CRO to CEO: The brutal reality of total accountability14:10 – Lessons from competitive swimming: Mindset, monotony, and discipline22:14 – Trust vs. Surveillance: The future of autonomous AI workforce tech37:04 – Constructive Interference: How to build a true force multiplier Ben Fanning interviews top executives, CEOs, founders, and business leaders to uncover the real-world leadership lessons shaping modern organizations.Topics include executive psychology, high-performance teams, SaaS scaling strategy, crisis leadership, private equity growth, organizational transformation, and building trust in the AI era. Subscribe for weekly conversations on leadership under pressure, executive performance, team alignment, and building resilient organizations.Boost your productivity and decision-making—get vital insights from each episode delivered directly to your inbox at:http://benfanning.com/insight#leadership #ExecutiveLeadership #TeamAlignment #HighPerformanceTeams #SaaSLeadership #BusinessPodcast #LeadTheTeam-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter

Hey friends, Chase here Jeff Boyd is on the show today, and this conversation is about building the kind of life and business that does not always look like the predominant story on the internet. Jeff is the founder and chairman of MTE, More Than Energy, which he describes in this episode as "an energy that loves you back." Before that, he spent 15 years as the President and co-owner of Luggage Free, where he expanded global operations to more than 100 countries before selling the company in 2019. What I loved about this conversation is that it is not the usual story about chasing the next app, raising venture capital, or building something because the internet told you that is what entrepreneurship is supposed to look like. This is a conversation about physical products, unsexy businesses, competition, fatherhood, leadership, and what it means to keep choosing hard things on purpose. Jeff says it plainly right at the top: "That's why I tell my team all the time. They just look at me and I'm like, if it were easy, everybody be doing it. We got to do what nobody else is willing to do, and then you're going to be happy we did it. And I tell them that I'm like, oh yeah, this is hard. And I'm excited about it. Because now that's an opportunity for us because we'll outwork anybody." That idea is at the center of this episode. We talk about the grind of building something real, why curiosity matters more than credentials, what sports teach us about business, why leadership is not about personality type, and how the best things in life often come down to loving the process instead of obsessing over the outcome. Why This Conversation Matters Right Now Most of the entrepreneurs and creators we see online are building in public, building digitally, or building something that looks like the current version of what the internet rewards. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not the only path. In this episode, I say: "A lot of folks I know in the audience feel a pressure to make their businesses walk and talk and look like the creators and the entrepreneurs that see out there in the world, which is one of the reasons I want to start celebrating some people who are building really successful lives, careers." That is why I wanted to have Jeff on the show. He built and sold a shipping business. Now he is building a physical product in the health and wellness space. He is not chasing the obvious thing. He is not trying to make his work look like everyone else's. Jeff's path is a reminder that there is a whole world of entrepreneurship outside the digital-first story. There are products, services, local businesses, physical goods, retail shelves, manufacturing problems, customer conversations, teams, families, and real-life constraints. And sometimes, that is where the opportunity is. What We Explore in This Episode Jeff's early business story and how he became employee one at a shipping company before helping grow it around the world. The "answer is yes" mindset that helped Luggage Free expand into all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Why physical products are different and what changes when you are building with atoms instead of bits. The origin of MTE and why Jeff wanted to build "an energy that loves you back." What it means to enjoy the grind when the work is hard, relentless, and full of problems you do not know how to solve yet. Fatherhood, presence, and time and why Jeff says he is "so all in now" with his family. Competition, sport, and business and why Jeff still trains and competes as a long jumper. Leadership and authenticity and why Jeff says people do what you do, not what you say you do. Second and third career arcs and what Jeff has learned about zooming out, building teams, and letting people play the right roles. The Core Idea: If It Were Easy, Everybody Would Be Doing It One of the strongest threads in this conversation is Jeff's relationship with hard things. He is not pretending the grind is glamorous. He says straight up that building physical products, selling through retail, and getting people to care is hard. But he also sees that difficulty as part of the opportunity. "You know I some of this stuff I think the harder it is, the better for me. For sure. You want, you want to bear. People are going to be like, oh, I don't have the guts to do this. That's right. Yeah. And then the ones that do, that's a that's another level, right? That's another fence they cleared. But then it's like, okay, well now you did that. But are you ready to grind now because it's a grind." That is the mindset that shows up again and again in the episode. The point is not that everything should be hard for the sake of being hard. The point is that difficulty can reveal where other people quit. That is true in sport. It is true in business. It is true in building a family, a product, a brand, a company, or a body of work. The Answer Is Yes Jeff's first major business story starts with Luggage Free. At the beginning, the company was taking orders by hand and trying to get the phone to ring. Then the first real call came in. "Anyway, so we're trying to get the phone to ring so we can handwrite our orders. And the first call, the guy, you know, we're all. It was kind of like a movie. We're all like, you know, hushed around him, waiting, you know, hearing him, he's like, oh, I'm sorry, we don't serve. North Carolina hangs up. And we were like, oh, dude, Gary, of course you serve anybody." That moment became a kind of operating philosophy: "And I was like, from now on, the answer is yes. Like whatever anybody says answered yes. And with that really that charge? Yeah. We were quickly in all 50 states and we grew to 109 countries throughout the world. And it was always in response to a call." There is something powerful in that. Not because saying yes is always the right answer, but because early in a business, the market often tells you where to go before your strategy deck does. Someone calls. Someone asks. Someone has a need. Someone gives you a clue. The question is whether you are willing to follow it. Building Something You Can Hold After selling Luggage Free in 2019, Jeff had time and space. He was not rushing into the next thing. He was riding his bike, playing tennis, spending time with his family, and looking for what might call him next. What called him was not another service business. It was a physical product. "And so in 19 sold it 2019, 2019 were operating all over the world, offices all over and sold it and was kind of free to at that point, I was like, all right, I want to like what I loved about it was the challenge and the fun and the competition. Right. You're building, you're competing." He continues: "But I what I yearn for was a product and something that was tangible I could actually hold right and do a different scent or a different flavor or different size or different color, whatever." That desire eventually became MTE. Jeff had been trying to solve his own energy problem, stacking supplements, chasing better mood, better energy, and better performance, until he realized the pieces were not working together. "And I realized I was like, Frankenstein. I mean, like, we were talking about it last night, like piling all these supplements together to try and make yourself feel better, even even like ten supplements, which doesn't sound that bad. Shit. Crazy. Yeah. We'll be like a suitcase full when you're traveling, you know?" MTE came from that search. "So we built it's an energy that loves you back. Right. Like an energy drink that loves you back. Yeah. Right. So you get prebiotics and caffeine free blend. That's better than caffeine. Yeah. So now you're getting energy that feels great that you can trust. Sure. And no jitters, no crash, no impact on sleep." Curiosity, Thrill, and Figuring It Out One of my favorite parts of this conversation is when Jeff talks about starting something in a category where he did not have obvious experience. He had not built beverage brands before. He was not a chemist. He was stepping into a new world. His answer was not fear. It was curiosity. "Yeah. Like, I like hair on fire. Like, let's go figure this out." Then he gets to the larger point: "I like it's curiosity and thrill. And that's what it boils down to. Right. Like, I think you you like that's what entrepreneurship is. It's solving problems and and finding solutions to things. Even if you've done it 20 times, they're going to be solutions that need to be had in the evolving world and landscape in which we operate." That is entrepreneurship in a sentence. You do not get to know everything before you begin. You do not get a guarantee that the answer is obvious. You get a problem, a question, a changing landscape, and the chance to learn fast enough to keep moving. Jeff says: "But that's why I love it. I think if, if we boil it down, I love the curiosity that that is necessary to just because you're like, I don't know the answer to that. Instead of that overwhelming me or said of panicking, I'm going to go learn because I'm sure there's more than one answer. We'll figure out. Maybe we'll triangulate, figure it out. Yeah, get to a solution. And and then we'll know for next time. And then we'll be able to iterate and make it better. And on it go. Like I love that process." You Have to Love the Process The conversation moves from business into fatherhood, sport, and the shape of a life. Again and again, we come back to process. Jeff says it directly: "Yeah. You have to love the process, right? And I think that's true of anything, particularly in stuff like that where it's easy to focus on the outcome. I'm lose 20 pounds, I'm going to whatever it is, I'm going to get this promotion, you know. And then I think what happens is then the outcome just naturally happens because you love the process." This applies to entrepreneurship, training, parenting, leadership, and creative work. If you are only trying to reach the finish line, you miss the life that happens while you are getting there. Jeff connects that idea to family: "Like the time is fleeting, right? For whatever it is. And you really have to enjoy the journey because, you know, like, I look at things like, if it's a line that's made up of just millions and millions of dots, and those dots would represent any given period in time." He continues: "Right. College graduation, high school graduation. They get married like whenever it is. You've decided that they've you've set them free. The that point will just be one of hundreds of millions of points that made up the line. Yeah. So, you know, looking and it's kind of the same with like a business, right. Like if you're just all you want to do is sell the business, you're just focused on that. You're going to miss all these hundreds of millions of, of experiences or anything else, right?" Competition Brings Out the Best in People Jeff is still a competitive long jumper. He talks about master's track, world records, regional meets, and the way competition gives him purpose. That competitive lens shows up in business too. "I love it, I love it, I think I think I love to compete. Like I was just telling my buddy the other day, like, I don't like when he's fine, but I hate losing, which is weird, right?" Then he goes deeper: "So I just love the competition, and I love the process that goes into it. And having, you know, so being able to have a purpose and go in and compete and I love competing. Sure. I just think it brings out the best in people." For Jeff, sport is one vehicle for competition, but not the only one. Business is another. "Sports is just a vehicle to compete. Right. So is it the competition like because it brings the best out in you or why do you like it. Yeah, I think I think just that it's the vehicle for sports. Sure. So I like it as an umbrella. I love it in the business." He talks about the shipping company in that same frame: "Like even the shipping company I had towards the end, I was I didn't have a lot of passion for it, but I had, you know, a very competitive space and there were upstarts in the industry and you're like, all right, well, these guys are trying to take my lunch money, you know, like, right. Not on my watch." Leadership Means Leading From the Front When I ask Jeff what is required of leadership, his answer is simple: "Got to lead from the front, I think. Right. I mean, yeah, it's people do what you do, not what you say you do." He adds: "I think you need to be genuine too. Yeah. Right. Like, if you're, if you're genuine and authentic, I think people are more prone to get in line and buy in and say, I'm, I'm, I'm subscribing to what? You're where you're leading me again." That is an important distinction. Leadership is not just having followers. It is not having the loudest voice in the room. It is not projecting certainty at all times. It is what people see you do. It is the consistency between your words and your behavior. It is whether the people around you believe that the thing you are asking from them is something you are willing to model yourself. Nobody Does It Alone Later in the conversation, Jeff talks about what he has learned in this newer chapter of his life and career. One lesson is the importance of zooming out. Another is the myth of the lone genius. "And then the other thing I've learned is you like, nobody does it alone. Right? I mean, that's like total myth. Yeah. The myth of the lone wolf. The lone genius. Yeah. It's, you know, you need a you need a whole group of people that are going to bring ideas that you would have never thought of. They're going to execute your ideas that you do have." He continues: "Right? They're going to they're just they're going to champion for you in ways that you never even knew needed to be championed. You know, I mean, all the things you need a you need a great team and you need to find." That is a hard-earned lesson for builders. The bigger the thing you are trying to create, the less likely it is that you can muscle your way through alone. You need ideas you would not have had. You need people who can execute. You need people who can challenge you, support you, and help you see what you are missing. Role Players Matter One of the most useful leadership ideas in this episode is Jeff's realization that not everyone on a team has to be an all-star. "And the other thing I talk about all the time is it's you have to resist the urge to demand that everybody in your team is an all star, right? Like even the greatest sports teams have role players, and they have guys that sit on the bench to get the starters ready for the playoffs." He explains what he learned: "But they don't, you know, they're they're effectively benchwarmers. But they have a role in the team. And you have a trainer and you have a coach and assistant coaches and all. You know, it's it's the whole organization." That perspective changed the way he thought about people and teams: "That was difficult for me earlier on. I, I just felt like everybody had to be an all star. If you're not at all star, you're you're like, I'm failing you or you're failing me. And either way, you got to go. You know, we're going to get somebody else in here." The lesson is not to lower standards. It is to understand roles. Great teams are not built by pretending everyone is supposed to contribute in the same way. About Jeff Boyd Jeff Boyd is the founder and chairman of MTE (More Than Energy), colloquially known as 'energy that loves you back'. MTE has prebiotics and a caffeine-free blend that functions better than caffeine, giving users feel good energy they can trust, with no spike, no crash, and no impact on sleep. Prior to founding MTE, Jeff spent 15 years as the President and co-owner of Luggage Free where he expanded global operations to over 100 countries before selling the company in 2019. In his free time, Jeff is a notorious oenophile, cyclist and long jumper. If he's not on the bike, on the track, or in the cellar, he enjoys traveling the world with his wife and two children. www.getmte.com Instagram YouTube Timecodes 00:00 – Jeff on why hard things create opportunity 02:06 – Chase welcomes Jeff to the show in Seattle 02:21 – Why this episode is different from the usual digital-first entrepreneurship conversation 05:21 – Jeff begins the story of becoming employee one at a shipping company 07:35 – "From now on, the answer is yes" 09:21 – Selling the company in 2019 and wanting to build a product 10:31 – Jeff starts getting the itch to build something new 15:40 – Why building a physical product is not a get-rich-quick scheme 17:57 – Jeff explains MTE: "an energy that loves you back" 22:35 – Starting in a category where you do not have all the experience 23:59 – Curiosity, thrill, and solving problems as entrepreneurship 28:01 – Fatherhood and being "born to be a dad" 31:12 – Why Jeff is "so all in now" with his family 33:16 – Time, family, business, and "millions and millions of dots" 36:18 – Why you have to love the process 38:15 – Attitude, winning, and sports psychology 39:23 – Jeff on still competing in long jump 42:00 – Why Jeff loves competition 46:33 – Leadership, authenticity, and leading from the front 50:45 – Zooming out and finding your North Star 51:47 – Why nobody does it alone 52:05 – Building teams with role players, not only all-stars 58:37 – "When people show you who they are, believe them" 01:03:14 – MTE cans, flavor work, and mango pineapple 01:05:08 – The Reggie Watts collaboration 01:09:20 – Why the harder path can be better 01:12:15 – Retail as the next frontier 01:17:03 – Jeff's three-pillar vision for MTE 01:17:45 – Ingredients, paraxanthine, prebiotics, and clean energy Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes with these questions: Where am I making my business or creative life look like someone else's version of success? What is the "non sexy" opportunity I might be overlooking because it does not look cool online? Where could "the answer is yes" help me learn faster? What hard thing am I avoiding that might actually be the opportunity? What problem do I not know how to solve yet, and who could help me triangulate an answer? Where am I too focused on the outcome and missing the process? What part of my life is made up of "millions and millions of dots" that I need to appreciate now? Am I leading from the front, or only telling people what I value? Where am I expecting everyone to be an all-star instead of building a real team? What would it look like to zoom out and find the North Star again? A Simple Practice for Builders Here's something practical you can do this week. Pick one hard thing in your work or life that you have been treating as a sign to stop. It might be a distribution problem, a hiring problem, a creative problem, a sales problem, a health problem, or a relationship problem. Then sit with Jeff's line: "Oh yeah, this is hard. And I'm excited about it." Do not use that line to pretend the hard thing is easy. Use it to reframe what the hard thing might be showing you. It may be pointing to the part where other people quit. It may be pointing to the skill you need to build next. It may be pointing to the person you need to ask, the rep you need to take, or the process you need to fall in love with again. The work is not always to find an easier road. Sometimes the work is to become the kind of person who can walk the hard one with more purpose. Final Thought This episode is a reminder that business is not only about scale, speed, funding, or hype. It is also about curiosity, grit, family, physical products, role players, clean energy, long jumps, retail shelves, hard conversations, and the willingness to keep learning when you do not already know the answer. Jeff's story is not about avoiding the grind. It is about choosing the right grind. It is about building something thoughtfully, leading from the front, and staying close enough to the process that the outcome has room to take care of itself. Until next time: do what nobody else is willing to do, and love the process enough to keep going.