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Pick up my book The American Nightmare! => Click Here! In Today's Episode This week, we have been confronting the cost of the waiting man and why sitting around waiting for orders is surrender in slow motion. On Tuesday, we put waiting versus acting side-by-side. Today, on this Thursday show, I want to talk about what true initiative actually looks like in the real world—and why saying "that's not my job" is the most irritating, non-manly thing a man can say. Look at the men in my own inner circle—my CFO Jeremy and my right-hand man Sterling. Jeremy worked four years for free editing podcasts and managing financials because it was what needed to be done, moving first before anyone compensated him, and that's why he is becoming a multi-millionaire today. Sterling serves as our family's fixer, private security, and trainer, acting on instinct to protect our ecosystem without ever waiting to be told. When you move first without complaining or waiting for permission, you build real wealth, earn absolute trust, and attract other high-caliber men into your life. Here are the non-negotiable rules of initiative you need to live by today: Kill "that's not my job": The moment you say those words, you prove you are a passive spectator; real men step up and handle whatever needs fixing. Move before you're compensated: Winners deliver massive value long before the paycheck or recognition arrives, proving their worth through action. Be the instinctual fixer: Train yourself to see gaps in your household, workplace, and ecosystem, and close them immediately without waiting for an assignment. Attract high-caliber men: If you are sloppy and passive, you attract sloppy men. When you operate with relentless initiative, you attract unstoppable leaders. Tomorrow, we are wrapping up the entire week by breaking down the exact blueprint of the Initiative Code so you can stop procrastinating, put boots on the ground, and win the week spiritually, physically, and financially. Warriors Rise! Other Resources! > Set Up Your Consultation with our Indexed Universal Life Insurance Team = > https://freedominsurancellc.com/consultation > Track your entire crypto portfolio, build exit strategies and receive real-time sell alerts, all in one simple dashboard. Do all of this with our Crypto Tracking App Merlin! Get 30 Days of Merlin Free => https://www.merlincrypto.com/ > Learn about how to join our 3T Warrior Academy https://sale.3twarrioracademy.com/home?utm_source=linktree&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=CJV Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, I'm sharing something I recently taught in a live training with a group of brilliant online coaches and entrepreneurs. It's the timeless strategies of subtraction, scaling, and automation that let me run a business without constantly having to reinvent the wheel or physically show up to sell something in order to make money. That, to me, is not the definition of freedom. And it's not the way I roll. I get real about the month my older sister passed away in January 2023, when my business still made $208,000 even though I wasn't in the mood to sell, because my sales system was already built to compound whether I was there or not. I share why I resisted funnels for two full years thinking they were "too bro marketer," how I recently made over $50K on a 10-day Hawaii trip without selling a thing, and the truth about why ads don't work for most people (spoiler: it's not the ad agency, it's the messaging). If you're ready to stop wearing the badge of burnout and finally let automation carry the weight of your business, this episode is your permission slip. Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! KEY POINTS: 00:00 Welcome and Mission 00:49 Training on Scaling 02:13 Grief and Revenue 04:51 Systems Not Hustle 09:08 Why Funnels Matter 11:04 Messaging Before Ads 14:38 Delegate and Simplify 16:29 Freedom Stories 17:18 Get Help and Next Steps 20:24 Wrap Up and Subscribe QUOTABLES: "The money doesn't stop. It doesn't freeze if I'm not physically showing up to sell." — Julie Solomon "Funnels, they are what do this work for you behind the scenes." — Julie Solomon "Messaging is your number one priority. Always and forever, it will never change." — Julie Solomon RESOURCES: [UNSCRIPTED RETREAT 2027] Where your voice, your message, and your identity become one. February 3–5, 2027 • Nashville, Tennessee APPLY HERE [THE REVENUE ACCELERATOR] Book a strategy call to explore whether The Revenue Accelerator is the right next step for your business and leadership. Apply and schedule your call today. [ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence. Follow Julie on Instagram! MUST HAVES THIS MONTH: [GROW WITH EASE USING THIS PLATFORM]Whether you're just getting started or scaling, this tool helps you grow your business with ease. Check it out here.
Episode #443 of BGMania: A Video Game Music Podcast. Today on the show, Bryan wraps up September 2026 with another eclectic mix in Radio Hour, Volume 91! Buckle up for what might be the longest track title in BGMania history, a Zeta Gundam legend lending her voice to a brand-new retro anime adventure, the Gummi Bears game Disney never made, and a Majora's Mask arrangement sent in by the person who arranged it. Plus a three-track spotlight on Another Eden Begins, the time-traveling RPG from the mind behind Chrono Trigger. We close the night by checking into a very suspicious inn, because spooky season starts tomorrow and I couldn't wait. Email the show at bgmaniapodcast@gmail.com with requests for upcoming episodes, questions, feedback, comments, concerns, or any other thoughts you'd like to share! Special thanks to our Executive Producers: Jexak, Xancu, Jeff & Mike. EPISODE PLAYLIST AND CREDITS The Strange-Step All Night Dancing Bunny Cheerleader's Assaulting Trumpet Resounds!! from Dragon Half [Tadahiro Nitta, 1994] Accelerating Destiny from Orbitals [Falk & Klou feat. Mami Ayukawa, 2026] Kalanoro from Kalanoro [Jyeuhair, 2026] Unstoppable from Aniimo [GALACTIKA feat. jasyours, 2026] To the Sky of Time from Another Eden Begins [Yasunori Mitsuda, 2026] Chaos -Flowers that Bloom in the Void- from Another Eden Begins [Takeshi Yamagami feat. Arisa Kori, Mie Sonozaki & MoeMi, 2026] A Light Never Forgotten from Another Eden Begins [Yasunori Mitsuda & Mariam Abounnasr, 2026] Long Live the King from Zenless Zone Zero [Sān-Z STUDIO, 2024] Theme Song from The Adventures of the Gummi Bears [Unknown/NintendoComplete, 2014/2019] Southern Swamp from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask [Koji Kondo/Florian Bochkovsky, 2000/2026] Town Where the Bells Chime from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana [Ken Nakagawa, 2004] A Challenge to God -Four Guardian Kings Battle- from Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song [Kenji Ito, 2005] Stage 4-1 -Aboard the Pachacamac- from Les Aventures de Tintin: Le Temple du Soleil [Alberto Jose González, 2000] Webdrench Inn from Well Dweller [Eric Thompson, 2026] LINKS Patreon: https://patreon.com/bgmania Website: https://bgmania.podbean.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/cC73Heu Facebook: BGManiaPodcast X: BGManiaPodcast Instagram: BGManiaPodcast TikTok: BGManiaPodcast YouTube: BGManiaPodcast Twitch: BGManiaPodcast PODCAST NETWORK Very Good Music: A VGM Podcast Listening Religiously
Acts 14 brings us along on the final leg of Paul and Barnabus' missionary journey. The Spirit of God continues to pour out leading to salvation and continued persecution. The persecution is intense and idolatry is running rampant, but even then there are miracles, healings and numbers of salvation are added to the church. As we dive into this chapter, we also learn the importance of staying on mission amidst opposition. You can connect with Amie on her website: https://rawandrealministries.com/ You can connect with me or order my books on my website here: https://debbiekitterman.com/ click on the store tab and choose the book(s) you would like to view under the book tab. OR on Amazon here using my affiliate links: Check out my Amazon Store front here:https://a.co/d/0fSFMjq0 D2h Podcast Books https://amzn.to/4wnk96D Podcast Equipment https://amzn.to/4u8PloC I even have other categories for my sourdough, chickens, my favorite things, and more…. check my entire storefront out here: https://a.co/d/0fSFMjq0
Hey YC Online! Sermon notes: https://yc.church/resources ABOUT YOSEMITE CHURCH: Our mission is meeting people where they are and loving them to where Christ wants them to be. Yosemite Church wants to help you find your next step. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://yc.church/ or download the Yosemite Church app. NEXT STEPS: Have you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what's next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://yc.church/baptism GIVE ONLINE: https://pushpay.com/g/yosemitechurch FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/yosemitechurch https://www.instagram.com/yosemitechurch/ All music performed under MultiTrack License: 242540
Do you know someone who can just…figure it out?Not enough money, time, information, or resources? Somehow, someway, they MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.There's a word for this quality: agency.And after spending years around successful entrepreneurs, I've become convinced that self-agency is one of the most important qualities a business owner can develop.Because business WILL business. A launch won't go according to plan. Your website will crash. The algorithm will change. Someone will drop the ball.The question isn't whether something unexpected will happen. It's: What will you do next?In this episode, I'm breaking down three ways to strengthen your self-agency: ownership, action, and responsibility. I also share a personal story about Dr. Gabrielle Lyon that completely changed how I think about refusing to accept a dead end.Because self-agency doesn't mean believing you can control everything.It means believing that no matter what happens, you can control your next move.Press play to learn how to stop waiting, start moving, and become the entrepreneur who figures it out.Click play to hear all of this and:[00:00] Why “making it happen” might be the most valuable entrepreneurial trait you can develop[00:52] How self-agency determines whether you wait for circumstances to change or create your next move[01:56] Why successful business owners find another way when the original plan stops working[02:52] How Dr. Gabrielle Lyon showed me what extraordinary agency looks like in real life[05:46] How to assess your self-agency by examining ownership instead of blame[06:51] Why taking action before you feel completely ready creates clarity[07:54] How faster decision-making can strengthen your agency[08:45] Why changing the questions you ask yourself changes what you believe is possibleListen to Related Episodes:How to Create Sustainable Business Success by Prioritizing Your Health with Dr. Gabrielle LyonBuilding a Business (and Marriage) with Your Spouse: Behind the Scenes with my Husband, JD5 Steps to Self-Trust That Change Everything
David Gee is the former CIO and CISO at storied companies such as HSBC and Eli Lilly. Rather than quietly disappear in his retirement, he's been writing books. And not just any books, two of his published books are "A Day in the Life of a CISO" and "How to Sell to the CIO and CISO". And not just tiny little ebooks! Each of them is 500 days of details. Specifics. Stories. Advice. Explanations. Basically everything you need to raise your game selling to senior security and IT leaders.In this episode Why the CISO's default rule is one in, one out, and what the CFO says that makes it soThe exception: a new category the current stack doesn't cover, and why it's worth the extra procurement work and intensive POCsSecurity budgets are "one pot of money," and AI is now crowding it. Some boards are asking whether AI could replace whole packagesWhy the strategy that's already written down is too late for you, and the 12 to 15 month window before anything is budgetedThe two-sentence intro that got a meeting with a large Australian company agreed within hours"AI alerts are 9 times more chatty": the one soundbite that made David stop a startup mid-pitchThe three Cs of trust, and why swapping the A team for the B team after the contract is the mistake CISOs rememberWhat David wishes CIOs understood about security, including the HSBC mobile banking storyAbout the guest David Gee spent around twenty years as a CIO, including at Eli Lilly, before deliberately moving into the CISO chair at HSBC Asia Pacific. He now sits on boards, advises a small number of startups, and has written three books, the latest being How to Sell to the CIO and CISO.Notable quotes"The CFO's telling you, hey, stop buying new crap from new vendors. Can you just use the vendors we have?""The strategy that's been written down and being executed often is too late.""I can't just spam them because you asked me to. That would be going against my book."Chapters00:00 Why a CISO wrote a book for salespeople 10:39 Guarding the network, and getting in before the budget exists 13:05 What a CISO actually wants from a first meeting 17:29 Building trust: the three Cs 21:28 Selling change, and why procurement slows it down 23:10 How a CISO's career stage changes what they'll buy 26:50 The CIO and CISO tension, and the HSBC story 30:25 Turning the CFO into an ally 33:45 Startups, one in, one out, and AI 39:41 Where vendors fit after the sale 41:10 What to bring to the CISO meeting 46:39 Overrated or underrated Support the showThe Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startupWant to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and trainingNeed ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.
Sometimes becoming unstoppable begins with realizing you have more control over your life than you thought. Merrill Isherwood shares how her journey from professional ballet and a battle with bulimia to an abusive marriage, single parenthood, corporate struggles, and life coaching taught her the importance of self-ownership. She and Michael explore trauma recovery, toxic relationships, self-esteem, emotional support, and the courage to ask for help. Merrill also explains why coaching is not about giving people answers, but helping them discover their own strength and make conscious choices about the life they want to live. Highlights: 03:11 - Merrill shares how ballet shaped her early life and career. 11:00 - Pressure around weight led to bulimia and leaving professional ballet. 20:49 - Toxic relationships taught Merrill the importance of setting boundaries. 31:09 - A life coaching course changed how Merrill viewed control and personal responsibility. 43:28 - Trauma recovery became a focus of Merrill's coaching work. 59:16 - Undivided attention can help parents build stronger connections with their children. . About the Guest: I am still here, and I am most grateful for that privilege. I have been fortunate to live out most young girls' dreams of being a professional ballet dancer and an air hostess / flight attendant. However, for many years was terribly unhappy and felt life was not worth living.... Abusive relationships were the order of the day, both at work and in my personal life, and I unfortunately developed a severe eating disorder which taunted me for 12 years. Atop that were several sexual assaults, exorcism, home robberies, burnout, financial scarcity, manipulation and more. I overcame being completely broken emotionally; physically, experienced grief from the loss of multiple loved ones and friends; was a single parent (for over 20 years with no support), lost most of our material possessions, and loads more. Often questioning, “Why me?”, I read one day what we should be asking ourselves is “Why not me?” Why should I think, or assume I should be immune to difficulties in life? This was when I realised the power of my mind. I overcame the trauma of the above through mind control, determination, reflection, introspection, and willpower. That was a changing point in my life. Perhaps I went through these experiences so I could help others. In 2019 I studied to become a certified life coach, intent on helping others. Subsequently, I created a course on healing oneself emotionally, using the principles of life coaching. I discovered once my emotions were better aligned, the physical 'tiredness', and lethargy, decreased, and for the first time, (in what felt like forever), I decided life might be worth living after all. My desire is to teach others to do the same. Realising how much valuable time I had wasted, hiding from the world, feeling pathetic, and unworthy, I set out to make a difference, spreading love and support. At the lowest of the low, God sent heavenly friends to support me through the dark days. My mission is to strengthen, and empower others by teaching them the tools, strategies, and skills they need to succeed, and to be able to live the life they choose. I encourage them not to waste their lives being unhappy, it really IS worth putting in the work, healing, and being able to actually LIVE a productive AND fulfilling life! Ways to connect with Merrill**:** Website 1: Merrills Life Transformation Coaching: https://merrills.co.za Website 2: My Healing Program: https://myhealingprogram.com Instagram: The Sista Hood: @thesistahoodsa Facebook: Merrill Isherwood: https://www.facebook.com/merrill.isherwood Merrills Life Coaching: https://www.facebook.com/Merrillsthesistahood/ The Sista Hood: https://www.facebook.com/Merrillsthesistahood/ LinkedIn: Merrill Isherwood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merrill-isherwood-the-change-catalyst/ **My Healing Program: ** ? About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes:
The unstoppable and indefatigable Colm Tóibín drops in to talk about his latest projects – which include poetry, opera and a new novella. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Alan interviews Graham Harris - the British inventor of the Tri-Creaser. Graham rose from obscurity as a lowly factory floor worker to become a successful serial inventor with 81 patents to his name. His invention - the Tri-Creaser has sold in over 100 countries. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts so you won't miss a single episode. Business website: www.technifold.com His book, Off Script and Unstoppable can be found on Amazon
Being unbothered is not apathy. It is refusing to let misunderstanding, false accusations, or pain control your obedience.In Acts 21:17-40, Prophetess Tai McNeely looks at what happens when Paul arrives in Jerusalem and finds that his reputation has arrived before him. He is misunderstood, misrepresented, and mistreated, yet he refuses to let other people's assumptions pull him away from what God told him to do.This message is for anyone learning how to stay faithful when people get your motives wrong. You will see why protecting your peace is not the same as avoiding hard conversations, why forgiveness matters when you have been hurt, and how to respond without letting ego, anger, or the need to prove yourself take over.In this episode, you'll discover:How to respond when people believe a false version of your storyWhy faithfulness does not guarantee the outcome you hoped forWhen to bring clarity and when to release what you cannot controlHow forgiveness keeps pain from controlling your responseWhy adversity can become an opportunity to strengthen your witnessPrimary Scripture: Acts 21:17-40 NLTSupporting Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:12, Galatians 6:1, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Revelation 12:10-11, Ephesians 6:12, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 NLTFollow The Purpose City Church Podcast and visit purposecitychurch.com to connect with us and plan your visit.Purpose City ChurchAurora, ILSundays at 10:00 AM
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series in Acts
Life will try to stop you. Worry, fear, and uncertainty will knock on your door. But when you learn to refuse worry, replace it with prayer, and release it through worship, you become unstoppable.
The boys are back with their postgame podcast, this time delayed 36ish hours by the late finish to Friday's 29-23 win against Northwestern. Mike and Zach pick the bones out of that game, good, bad and indifferent, and try to separate concerns from unnecessary anxieties, as Indiana works to correct its flaws heading into the meat of Big Ten play. Chapters: 0:00 -- Intro 1:23 -- Digging into Northwestern win 8:01 -- Defensive good and bad 17:31 -- Offensive good and bad 33:07 -- The potential importance of learning to win Read: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2026/09/26/indiana-football-curt-cignetti-consistency-fans-concerns-josh-hoover-defense/91947322007/ Get IndyStar's IU coverage sent directly to your inbox with our IU Insider newsletter: https://profile.indystar.com/newsletters/iu-insider/?ipid=NLsignupIU Order "Unthinkable to Unstoppable" today: https://bit.ly/4gezKxZ
The harvest season is here and Team Rocket is ready to take over, Zzweilous finds redemption a year later on NA soil, Kaz returns from her official casting debut, and LAIC sells out instantly! Get The Battle Catz Podcast merchandise here: https://the-battle-catz-podcast-shop.fourthwall.com/ Where to find us! YouTube - https://youtube.com/@thebattlecatzpodcast X - https://twitter.com/BattleCatzPod Caleb Peng YouTube - https://youtube.com/calebpeng X - https://twitter.com/CalebPeng Twitch - https://twitch.tv/calebpeng HurricaneKaz X - https://x.com/thehurricanekaz Steve YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/PvPSteve X - https://x.com/PvPSteve1 Twitch - https://twitch.tv/PvPSteve7 Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/@GdayBattlers Twastell X - https://x.com/pogoTwastell 0:00:00 - Intro & In Game Events 0:19:20 - Kaz's Korner 0:26:49 - Championship Series 1:52:51 - YouTube Comments
Dr. Jonathan Youssef
What do we do when we cannot understand what God is doing? Acts 12 reminds us that even when God's hand is hidden, His heart can still be trusted and His purposes cannot be stopped. Through the death of James, the miraculous deliverance of Peter, and the downfall of Herod, we discover three important truths for our lives: following Jesus wholeheartedly will cost us, nothing is impossible for God, and pride always destroys. When life doesn't make sense and we cannot trace His hand, we can still trust His heart.
We close our wild and wonderful journey through the Book of Acts with Paul's arrival in Rome, where he continues to boldly teach about Jesus. Nothing or No one could stop him.
A Jesus Awakening happens when God's Word takes root in people, the Holy Spirit moves in power, and lives are genuinely transformed. Like the awakening in Ephesus, the unstoppable gospel is marked by proclamation, demonstration, and transformation—God's Word is preached and practiced, His power is evident, and people surrender sin to become more like Jesus. Listen and be challenged. Support the show
Pastor David Hwang shared from Luke 4:21-30 about the greatness of God's love.
Continuing through our study in Acts.
Welcome back to the podcast! In this episode, host David Mansilla welcomes Abhay Salpekar, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at Deep Neural. Abhay is a seasoned strategic technology and AI executive with a proven track record of aligning technology strategy with business objectives across startups and multibillion-dollar enterprises.Join us as Abhay walks through his journey from electrical engineering and mainframes to leading today's most advanced AI cybersecurity and quantum-readiness initiatives. He breaks down how technology is evolving exponentially and what professionals must do to stay adaptable and resilient in a fast-changing world.Key Takeaways & What You'll Learn:AI-Driven Cybersecurity: How traditional security models are transforming into autonomous, context-aware adaptive security meshes.Securing AI Agents: The emergence of agent identities, Model Context Protocols (MCP), and cryptographic "agent passports" to authenticate and control autonomous AI agents.Preparing for Quantum Computing: Why organizations must begin building quantum-proof products to withstand the leap beyond binary computing.The Skills Life Cycle (SLC): How tech professionals can spot S-curve patterns in their careers and pivot before their current skills become commoditized.Foundations Over Trends: Why mastering core logic and architectural principles is the key to surviving every technological hype cycle.Drop a comment below: What skill are you focusing on to future-proof your tech career? Don't forget to Like, Subscribe, and hit the Notification Bell for more interviews with leading voices in technology!#AISecurity #QuantumProof #TechLeadership #LeadersInTech #Cybersecurity #DigitalTransformation
In the final chapters of Acts, Paul's journey to Rome is anything but straightforward. Through storms, shipwreck, imprisonment and unexpected detours, we see God's providence at work. Paul continues to trust God, serve others and proclaim Jesus wherever he finds himself. Acts ends with Paul in prison, yet the gospel remains unhindered. The story is unfinished because Jesus is still at work through His Church today. We are invited to trust God's purposes, serve faithfully wherever He places us, and take the hope and life of Christ from our neighbourhoods to the nations.
It's hardly your average father-son enterprise. UB40 has been rolling out the hits since 1978, and over the years they've had their dramas and a few personnel changes. And now founding member Robin Campbell has been joined on stage by his son Matt – the pair lining up behind the mics together, touring the world, and performing songs written before Matt was born. In 2027, the band is coming to New Zealand with their new Unstoppable World Tour. It's been nearly fifty years since UB40 first began, and Robin confessed that he didn't for a minute expect to still be performing after so long. "My ambitions probably stretched to maybe getting a decade out of it," he told Jack Tame. "To get to here, we are literally 48 years later since we started, it's what dreams are made of, I've spent my entire life doing something I love." Robin says the tour is named 'Unstoppable' for a reason, as it's effectively how they feel at the moment. "We literally feel like we're having the most fun we've had in a long time." While the band has been in existence for nearly fifty years, Matt was not, and only joined the line up in 2023. "To be honest, it was never anything that I'd kind of dreamt of doing in that respect, but it's something that I kind of feel has come naturally in that sense," he told Tame. "It's really it's an honour and a privilege really to be part of the band, to be welcomed into the band by everybody. And, not only performing with my dad, but performing with, essentially everybody, everyone in the band I've known my whole life." "It's a really special thing to be involved with." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Download the blueprint for building a jacked, lean, athletic physique at BuiltLikeABadass.com. For the highest quality supplements, that I use personally and with all my elite clients, go to RenegadeSupplementStore.com and save 15%. Before I was training WWE Superstars, coaching elite athletes, and helping men transform their bodies and lives, I was a fat, weak, insecure kid who could barely lift a bar. In this episode, I'm opening up about the experiences that shaped me, how I reinvented myself, and what it took to turn my weaknesses into superpowers. This one is more than sets and reps. It's about overcoming adversity, finding your mission, and becoming the man you're meant to be... 2 of the most fateful days of my life. [0:20] How Renegade was born. [7:17] What it took to turn my weaknesses into superpowers. [17:15] Why fitness is so much more than fitness. [20:48] The true power of connection. [27:15] What will people say about you when you're gone? [31:42]
What separates elite performers from everyone else?Don't Quit. Know Everything. Be Unstoppable.Survivor Contestant, Season 47, Solomon "Sol" Yi joins Jordan Chase to talk about the mindset behind a 20-year career in medical device sales - and competing on one of television's toughest shows.From breaking into med device and performing under pressure to mental toughness, self-awareness, and going all-in, Sol shares what he's learned about reaching the highest levels of performance - and why, after 20 years of chasing success, he sees it very differently today.RESOURCES:Sol's Favorite Book - The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy GallweyConnect with Sol#medicaldevicesales #Solomonyi #salesleadership #highperformance #mentaltoughness
Strong businesses do not become healthy by accident. They are built through trust, clear leadership, accountability, and a willingness to face problems together. Will Watrous joins me to explore what makes leadership teams work and why so many companies struggle even when good people are involved. Will shares how his own entrepreneurial journey led him from marketing into helping leadership teams use the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, to create greater vision, traction, and team health. We discuss vulnerability-based trust, productive conflict, accountability, business complexity, data-driven decisions, and why leaders must take responsibility for both what works and what does not. Will also explains why simplicity matters as companies grow, how weekly meetings can keep teams focused, and why leaders need quiet thinking time to gain clarity. You will find practical leadership lessons here for building stronger teams, making better decisions, and creating a healthier business. Highlights: 05:22 How helping one business owner launched Will's entrepreneurial journey. 11:42 Why strong leadership creates accountability. 15:29 How trust becomes the foundation of healthy teams. 26:20 Why productive conflict leads to better decisions. 40:44 How leaders can reduce complexity as a business grows. 54:04 Why clarity breaks help leaders think and lead better. . About the Guest: Will Watrous is a business owner, EOS Implementer, and advisor to growth-minded leaders in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow area. He works primarily with founders and leadership teams of companies with 10 to 250 employees who want more clarity, discipline, and traction in their organizations. His work centers on helping leaders simplify complexity, make better decisions, and consistently execute on what matters most. As a Certified EOS Implementer, Will guides leadership teams through the Entrepreneurial Operating System, focusing on vision, accountability, data, and healthy team dynamics. He is known for being practical, direct, and grounded in real-world business experience. Clients value his ability to ask hard questions, create focus, and turn strategy into clear priorities that actually get done. Beyond EOS, Will owns and advises multiple businesses, including a marketing company and commercial real estate investments. This firsthand ownership experience shapes how he works with clients. He understands cash flow, hiring decisions, sales challenges, and the pressure leaders face when growth creates complexity. His approach blends structured systems with sound judgment and financial awareness. Will is deeply interested in finance, long-term wealth building, and disciplined execution, both personally and professionally. He values tools, scorecards, and measurable outcomes, but believes strong businesses are ultimately built by healthy, aligned leaders. His Christian worldview influences how he thinks about stewardship, integrity, and responsibility. He lives in the Tulsa area with his wife Jenny and their two children, Eli and Ellie. Outside of work, Will enjoys fitness, hiking, travel, learning, and time with his family. He is driven by helping leaders build organizations that are not only successful, but sustainable and well-run for the long term. Ways to connect with Will**:** LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willwatrous/ Website: https://implementer.eosworldwide.com/will-watrous/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingson, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, greetings, everyone, wherever you may be today, I am your host Mike Hingson, and you are listening and/or watching Unstoppable Mindset. Our guest today is Will Watrous, and Will has a I think a lot of interesting things to talk with us about regarding organizations, team building, teamwork, and other such things, and I'm not going to give it away because it's his job to really talk about that, which is a lot more fun. Although I will say that he and I share a like of a particular book on teamwork, which we'll talk about, I'm sure, as we go forward. But anyway, Will, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here. Will Watrous 01:40 Thank you, Mike. What a pleasure to be on your podcast today. Michael Hingson 01:43 Well, well, I've been looking forward to it for a while, so we're we're glad we're doing it, and we'll we'll take about an hour, and then you can go off to dinner unless you've already had dinner. Speaker 1 01:53 Sounds like a plan. Michael Hingson 01:56 Yeah, Will is in Oklahoma, so I think he's having warmer temperatures today than we are. Anyway, so let's let's go ahead and move forward. Why don't you tell us kind of maybe a little bit about the early will growing up and all that? Speaker 1 02:10 Sure. So I grew up in a little coastal town, Mystic, Connecticut, which is on the shore, northeastern Connecticut. Michael Hingson 02:19 Did you ever have pizza there? I had to ask. Speaker 1 02:21 I did. I did have Mystic Pizza before it was made famous by Julia Roberts' right movie, and that was that was my hometown. Yeah. So the Mystic Drawbridge there, and the old Mystic Village, or the Mystic Seaport. It's a very touristy, but also a great place to grow up. Yeah, on the water, and yeah, the youngest of six kids, five boys, one girl, but don't feel sorry for her because she is probably could still beat me up. She's a strong, strong woman, and yes, pretty, pretty average in in many ways, childhood graduated from high school and went off to college here in Oklahoma. Spent about six years out here going to school, and then went back to the East Coast. This time to Washington D.C. area. I was working in a large nonprofit organization just outside the Beltway, and then wound up going to Boston. Taught at a school in Brookline, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. And then my wife decided she wanted to go to college out here in Oklahoma, so we moved back out here in around around 2010, and I started a business, and that started my entrepreneurial journey, which was very intensive. Let's say learned a lot, a lot of it the hard way, and really developed an affinity, appreciation for business, for entrepreneurship, for ultimately serving people, which is what most businesses should be designed to do. And through all of that, took some really powerful principles, insights, truths away, and now have the privilege of helping a lot of other business leadership teams run stronger, better, healthier companies. Michael Hingson 04:28 What got you to go to college in Oklahoma? Coming from Mystic, Speaker 1 04:33 well, being the youngest of six, two of my brothers had come to school out here, and so I was following in their footsteps. Michael Hingson 04:41 Where did you go to school? Speaker 1 04:43 So I went to Oral Oral Roberts University. Yep, and I went to a college called Raymo Bible Training College, which is a Christian two-year Christian school out here. Michael Hingson 04:56 And eventually, you came back. And why did your wife want to come? And go to college in Oklahoma, kind of same concepts. Speaker 1 05:03 Yeah, she wanted just so she wanted to go to the Rayma Bible Training College to get a foundation in her faith, and just you know early on in in life wanted to lay that framework, that groundwork, so that she she felt for the rest of her life, and she had met a lot of other graduates from that particular school, which is an amazing school, and they had all just shared how influential, how impactful the school was for them. And mind you, it's not just about head knowledge, you know, not just information. It's about ultimately knowing God better, and so which tends to serve you well in every every area of life. So she was hungry for that. So we decided to move out here. And I, the nature of my work at the time was such that I could work remotely, and so we moved here. And she went to school, graduated, and we stayed and raised a family. Michael Hingson 06:01 So, what what kind of business did you start when you started your business? You said in 2010. Speaker 1 06:09 Yes, in 2010, and so I had been serving in a marketing capacity, doing marketing management for the organization in the D.C. area, and learned a lot simply by doing. Don't have my my college education. My degree is in music performance, actually, so didn't serve me very well as far as marketing is concerned. So I learned a lot by doing, and when I moved out here, I knew someone who had an auto repair shop, and he, through a series of events, had to rename his rebrand his shop completely. the the the I went to his website, I think one day, and it said under construction, and I thought that's weird. I know he has he's been in business, he has a website, so I send him an email, and he emailed me back and said he just asked inquiring is everything going all right? He replied and said I need help right now because we're in the situation where I need to redo everything. So I at the time was not a technician when it came to marketing. I was more of just a manager strategist type. So for whatever reason, I decided that I could build him a website. I just wanted to help, so I didn't charge him anything, and literally went online, and this is many, many years ago. Before there was all of the resources available to us now, and I Googled how do you build a website, and I prayed, and I just went through this very excruciating process of coding and understanding how it all worked. Wound up building him a website, learned a lot along the way about search engine optimization, about digital advertising, and then other you know forms of online advertising. And his he's a great businessman. He does good work, and he has a good reputation. He knows lots of people. His business grew to the degree that he would have some other business owners come to him and say, "Man, what are you doing? Because you you guys are just crushing it. And he's a really gracious guy. He would tell these other business owners, "Well, I have this guy named Will, and sometimes I have to call Will and tell him to tone it down a little bit because I'm too busy. Well, these other business owners demanded my phone number from him because they wanted you know to grow their businesses. So I started getting phone calls from other business owners asking if I would do for them what I was doing for this man, and that started. So I never really woke up one day saying I'd love to start a marketing agency. I just was trying to help someone who needed Michael Hingson 09:00 it, Speaker 1 09:01 and it wound up turning into a business. So then I hired someone, and they started helping me. And then hired some more and grew it and grew it until about four years ago. I stepped away, and there's more to that story as well as as to how I was able to step away. I still own that company passively now. It's a it's a great multi-million-dollar, very profitable, growing company, very healthy company. But now my passion and focus is helping entrepreneurs create businesses that give them what they want from their business that are more aligned, more healthy, and stronger-not just for the business owner and the entrepreneur, but for the whole for the whole company, for everyone involved in that organization. Michael Hingson 09:48 So, you're more involved now in helping people start businesses, or are you still dealing with businesses that exist and you're helping to to kind of improve them? Speaker 1 10:00 Businesses that are already existing. So typically, my my the clients that I work with now are are two to 50 million in annual revenue, 10 to 250 employees. They're growth oriented. They're willing to be open and honest with one another and with themselves, and they're more afraid of the status quo than they are of change. They really are trying to get somewhere, but feel stuck, feel frustrated, feel like the things that have they've been trying to to do to make the business better just aren't gaining traction like they need. Michael Hingson 10:34 Well, how does that differ from what you were doing before? Speaker 1 10:37 Ah, well, so before the marketing agency was really focused on lead generation, increasing their revenue, their sales. Now, what I do is work with leadership teams. I use the EOS model, which is the entrepreneurial operating system, which is a very specific process and set of tools that I teach the leadership team of the organization, so typically that's the three to seven people at the top of the company making the important decisions, and I help them do three things. I call them vision, traction, and healthy. So vision means first getting the leaders 100% on the same page with where is this company going and how do we plan to get there. Traction from the standpoint of helping your leaders to become much more disciplined and accountable, and executing really well to achieve every part of your vision, and then healthy meaning helping the leaders to become a more healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team. Because the truth is that most leaders don't function well as a team, and what I found is, as goes the leaders, so go the rest of the organization. So what we do is we get to the point where everyone in the company is all crystal clear, fully aligned with the vision and plan. They're gaining consistent traction wherever you look in the company, people are executing on that vision together, and they're doing it as a group of people who are who enjoy the work that they do and and enjoy the people that they're around. Michael Hingson 12:13 Okay, what do you think is the problem that leaders and companies most often misdiagnosed in their organizations that create the problems that you have to come in and deal with. Speaker 1 12:30 I would say one of the most common is accountability. It's a it's it's a common hot button frustration of many business leaders, and the misdiagnosis, as you said, is that accountability is actually a byproduct. It is, it's a formula. Actually, the formula is this: L plus M equals A. So the L stands for leadership, plus M stands for management, equals A stands for accountability. So leader accountability is the output, and so rather than trying to make your people be accountable, which you can't really do. What you can do is be a great leader and be a great manager, and the result will be you'll create an environment where accountable people thrive. And so, within EOS, we teach five leadership abilities and five management abilities, or not really ability. They're more like practices, leadership practices, and and management practices. You just do those things well, and and the accountability that you so desire will show up in the organization. Michael Hingson 13:52 Yeah, I think a lot of people don't really understand what accountability is, and and that doesn't help the process, and yeah, you know exactly what I mean, and and that that tends to really make a lot of challenges for people because they they resent rather than recognizing that people who truly understand accountability are are trying to do something to help build the team, help the team work well, and and are looking out for the whole company, but just so many people don't understand that, do they? Speaker 1 14:27 No, and and part of the reason it's interesting. All these EOS tools work together, but another tool that we use a lot is the something we call the accountability chart. The accountability chart is a visual illustration of the structure of the organization, meaning who is responsible for what. So we've got the leadership team, but then every single person in the organization should have a box, a seat on the bus, and within. Box or in that seat, there's five major roles that they really need to own. What I like to say it this way: If the company could speak, why would it say this function exists? Why is this seat in the organization? And many companies have not clearly defined what success looks like for an employee. What are their five major accountabilities or roles within the organization? And so, how can you hold someone accountable to something that's not been clearly communicated from the get go? If they don't really understand what success looks like and what we need them to be doing and focusing and being great at, then it's it's really hard to to hold them accountable. Michael Hingson 15:46 Yeah, and they they just miss it. Well, going back to something I mentioned at the beginning, you and I are both great fans of the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Which which function or dysfunction do you? I can imagine what this might be, but which dysfunction do you most often encounter, and do we find most often with companies and people? Speaker 1 16:14 Yeah, I'll have to start at the bottom of the pyramid because it's right. It's it's it's a it's linear in a way, and and in that one builds upon the other. So the bottom tier of the pyramid is vulnerability based trust. So trust, and that, as Patrick describes it, is being completely open and honest with one another. If you sit down and have a conversation with a peer, you know that they're going to be completely frank. They'll tell you the truth and the whole truth. That, and not only that, you can trust them to have the right motives, the right purpose behind things. It's not political. They're not, you know, kind of positioning themselves and working the politics and dynamic dynamics of the organization. They're really trying to do what's right for everybody involved. So vulnerability-based trust is the first one, and that takes time. That's Patrick defines that as different from the kind of trust that is based on just knowing people in the sense that you can you know what to expect out of them if you're familiar with them. You work with them a lot, so you kind of you can trust that they're going to act a certain way. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about this true, open, and honest approach, being candid with one another, and that comes through some specific exercises. Ultimately, times the more you know about people, about their personal lives, and the more time you spend with them is what ultimately builds trust. Michael Hingson 18:07 Yeah, and it's all about building a trusting relationship that allows for that level of honesty. Because when you truly have it, then you're you're dealing with an environment where when someone says something to you, you know they're not trying to be political. You know they're not trying to undermine you, but they're trying to give you information, and it goes back to accountability and holding maybe you accountable for the things that you said that you were going to do. But it's also about holding the whole company accountable by feeding back to and working with people to get jobs accomplished. Speaker 1 18:48 Yes, absolutely, that's right. And and for that to happen, everyone has to be on the same page. We all must be looking at the same picture of where we're planning to go and agreeing on how we plan to get there. Michael Hingson 18:59 Yeah, and in a sense, even though accountability is at the bottom of the pyramid, it starts hopefully at the top with senior management that sets the tone and starts to create the environment where everyone can learn to trust and work together in a much more positive way. Speaker 1 19:21 That's right. When we when I work with leadership teams, I half jokingly tell them in in our early sessions that they should look around at the company and admire the wonderful things that are happening, the clients and customers that are being served, the employees that are getting their job done. All all of those things are wonderful, and you helped create that wonderful. On the flip side, all of the frustrations, the pain, the things that are broken and not working, you created that too. So you have to take responsibility for all of it, the good and the bad. And so the leadership really does have to. Take responsibility for everything. Michael Hingson 20:03 Why is it that trust is so hard, and trusting relationships are so hard to build, even when when people probably have really wonderful intentions and want to do it? But why is it so hard? Speaker 1 20:16 Ooh, that's a great question. Michael Hingson 20:18 And and I'll and I'll tell you one of the reasons I ask, being a little prejudiced, working with guide dogs. I work with dogs, and I have learned over the years that while dogs may love unconditionally, they don't trust unconditionally. But dogs are more open to trust, and if you really work at building a trusting relationship with a dog, you set the rules. You set which is what they want, you set the ground rules, you set the tone, and if you do it, the relationship that develops is incredible. But that just seems to be something that's really hard for humans to do internally or between human and human. Speaker 1 20:55 You know, I think the answer is in something that you just said, and the word is intentional. Intentionality, I think that most people show up to work focusing on the work, focusing on doing things faster and more efficiently, and the how and the strategy. But they don't focus very much on the health of the team. And Pat Lynchioni talks about that as well. How that most organizations are focused on getting smarter, but not on getting healthier, and he argues that the healthier team will outperform the smarter team every single time. Michael Hingson 21:36 The other part about it is the whole concept of just being open to trust-we we in our in our human world just see so many examples of why not to trust. And I think too many people have just learned, well, we can't trust. We don't dare take the chance. We can't because everybody has their own agendas, and so how can we trust them? Because they're looking out for them. They're not looking out for me, and we teach children this. We teach each other this, and that's so unfortunate because it doesn't need to be that way. Speaker 1 22:11 Yeah, what are they? The wisest serpents, gentle as gentle as doves, is the is the saying. I, I'm not. You're right. There's a lot of people out there, unfortunately, that have ruined it. Let's say the few have ruined it for the many. I think, and the reality is that today you have to be. And now with AI, we don't need to go there. But with AI, you really have to really have to know what's going on because what seems real isn't. Michael Hingson 22:44 Yeah. Do you think that will improve over time? Speaker 1 22:49 What's that? Michael Hingson 22:50 That AI will get better over time, and a lot of things that aren't real today will become more real just because the whole process will improve. Speaker 1 23:04 Will AI improve? Yes, absolutely. Will its results and its helpfulness improve? Absolutely. Will people continue to use that for their own good? You know, for their for their own devices at the expense of other people. Yes, unfortunately. Michael Hingson 23:21 Unfortunately. Speaker 1 23:22 So, what does that make leave? Where does that leave us? I think we have to be all the more wiser to it. You can't. You can't stay ignorant and think that everything's going to be okay. Michael Hingson 23:35 Where do you think AI fits in corporations mostly, or should fit? Speaker 1 23:41 Well, it's it's an incredible tool. It is an incredible tool, and I think it's it's like it's like money. What do you what do you do with it? It's simply a tool. What are you going to do with it? Where does it fit? It depends on what kind of business model, but I see it impacting every business to some degree, we utilize it heavily. I think when I work with leadership teams, I do a lot of facilitation. So we'll we'll sit around this table here. I'm in my session room here, and we have lengthy, deep, meaningful, impactful discussions with one another, and sometimes I even encourage them to use AI to refine an idea or to collaborate over an idea. But I warn my teams that AI has no soul, and what I mean by that is, it's it's information, it's data and information, but the human being there's more to us than just information. It's like the data, the information part of us is like the tip of the iceberg, and but there's a whole mass below the waterline. I believe you have a soul and a spirit, and so the danger I warn teams of is making strategic decisions based on information that comes from AI without really discussing and using their their soul. Sometimes ideas can resonate with a person on a different level. That that AI and just information can't it can't go there. It's not able to go there. So I don't know if that makes sense. But I just warn them: AI has no soul. You need to pay attention to what's going on inside of you as you're discussing ideas and and weigh that into the decision. Michael Hingson 25:46 And I still go back to we're the ones that are and should be the creators, and so it's great to use AI to help a process, but we still need to be the ones to do the real work. Speaker 1 25:59 Yes, Michael Hingson 26:01 and I think too many times I hear about it with with schools and so on. Oh, students are just writing their papers using AI. Well, we need to work on encouraging that not to be the case. The AI can help provide information, as you pointed out, but that's what it is. It's an information source, and it's only one information source, and anyone who is truly looking for information knows full well you don't just rely on one source. Speaker 1 26:29 Right. Michael Hingson 26:30 Even if it's a human, you don't rely on one source. Speaker 1 26:33 That's right. That's right. But it but it is Michael Hingson 26:35 pretty crucial to to work through that. Well, Patrick Lencioni talks a lot about conflict, and he talks about teams that have healthy conflict, and then there are those who quietly just kind of avoid it. What distinguishes, or how do you deal with the two different kinds of teams? Because I know Patrick talks about the fact that conflict is a very useful thing and needs to be respected as part of the process, Speaker 1 27:04 right? So the second layer of the pyramid that he illustrates is healthy conflict or productive conflict, which can only happen if there is a foundation of trust, because without trust, people tend to hold their cards close to the vest. They're not willing to go out on a limb and say something that might be taken the wrong way, because for fear of retribution, or that it could be it could be used against them, or or what have you. And so conflict is may the best idea win. I have wonderful teams. They're healthy teams. They'll fight like cats and dogs over an idea, not over. It's not personal. They're simply fighting for the best idea to win, and so they'll go at it heated conversations because they have strong opinions. At the end of the day, though, what really matters is that everyone has been heard? The point of conflict is to get the options out on the table to see what's possible, to see what's available, and then from those options, pick the best. So, what healthy conflict does is it opens it up for people to share, be willing to get out there, share their opinion, go back and forth, and as I said, everyone gets heard. That's such a critical piece of healthy team is that you're hearing from everyone on the team. They're having that opportunity to share their perspective, and then when all is said and done, the what we call this person the integrator. This is the person who leads the leadership team. They have a decision to make. It's not a democracy. They have heard all of the all of the opinions, and and then they say, "Well, this is what we're going to do. And 99% of the time, reasonable people, even if they disagree with a decision, if they have been heard and know that their opinion is valued, they are willing to commit to a decision that's against what they believe should have happened. Michael Hingson 29:14 Well, so take that to the next level. Let's say that the decision is made, and in a month, it turns out it really wasn't the right decision. Then what? Speaker 1 29:25 Yeah, healthy teams can pivot, and they don't. Excuse me. There's no paralysis by analysis. They're they're able to be flexible and make a quick decision without regrets and move on. You know, in business, most of the decisions that we make are reversible. It's not like we're a brain surgeon and there's someone's on the operating table, and and one slip means drastic results, or it's not a court case, and the judge once they slam the hammer, nothing changes. That's the verdict. In business, most decisions are reversible. Sometimes I see teams or leaders who are hesitant to make a decision, and I encourage them make a decision, commit to it, and start taking steps. We can always iterate. We can make adjustments along the way, but if you don't act, if you don't take one step forward, then you can't steer a parked car, as they say. So, when when your question was if a month later it was a wrong decision, we agree as a team to pivot and move on. And a great healthy team, you know, they'll probably give one another a hard time and laugh about it and poke a bit, but but keep moving toward the goal. Michael Hingson 30:46 But it's all in fun and it's not intended in any way to be personal, Speaker 1 30:50 right? Michael Hingson 30:51 Which is really the key. None of this has to be personal. We're not doing it to one up anyone, and the good teams truly understand that. Speaker 1 31:02 That's right. Michael Hingson 31:04 Do you ever find environments where leaders unintentionally do things where accountability breaks down? Speaker 1 31:15 Yes. One thing that happens specifically with visionary or leaders or founders is something I call end run, which is when they don't follow chain of command. Basically, because of their position in the company, they feel freedom to go to anyone in the company and either make a decision or give them a directive, and the person that they're giving the directive to feels obligated to follow that because it's a senior leader. Michael Hingson 31:54 Yeah, Speaker 1 31:55 and so that really that really damages you know it's chain of command ultimately, but it damages the relationship, damages the health of the team, and the hard thing about it is that visionary leaders and founders are idea people. They are the creators. They're brilliant at coming up with seeing opportunities and coming up with ideas to solve problems and add value, so they have this natural bent to research. They're curious. They'll want to talk to people, employees in the organization, and that's all good. But they do need a healthy boundary and to understand who they should talk to about decisions or influencing employees in the organization. Michael Hingson 32:43 Yeah, I'm curious about something. How do the operations within a business differ from, say, what goes on in the military, where there's an absolute chain of command, and someone along the line, can issue an order to someone, and it's supposed to be obeyed, and so on. But how does military operations differ, or do they from business, or should they from business? Speaker 1 33:10 I yeah, that's a great. I I think there's some strong similarities, and some significant differences. You know, one question, and this was actually oddly enough. This was a military leader. I forgot who it was, but it was a general. He said something he asks his subordinates on a regular basis is, "Tell me something you know I don't want to hear. Tell me something you know I don't want to hear. And his goal there was to truly to create a relationship with his subordinates where they feel comfortable raising their hand, saying we've got an issue, here's a problem, and I think that traditionally in the military that would be resisted. I think the or my my perception anyway is that subordinates would rarely want to say something's wrong. Everything's always okay, you know. Following orders, everything's good. But I respect that that general's practice of of telling his subordinates that, and I I recommend my leaders do it as well because they need to know what's going on. Really, there's this I think a natural desire to impress or to make it look like I'm doing a good job and our department is okay, so they don't bring up real issues. And so the kind might go against your question, but the the common thread there is a willingness to talk about real issues, real problems, to bring them up, solve them together as a team. But first, be willing to identify. And oddly enough, it goes back to the trust piece: to being open and honest. You have to be willing to just call something out. The elephant in the room: several people know that there's something going on. Nobody wants. To say it, just say it. So that that's maybe one similarity. Michael Hingson 35:06 Well, I know that in reality, in the in the military, I at least I've heard this from my military friends. They they do emphasize teamwork and and teaming and so on. But at the same time, they have this reputation where there's an order and you you just obey the order because that's what the general or what someone above you says and it seems like there's a paradox there somewhere. Speaker 1 35:33 Yeah, I think in in business, what my observation has been that people do need to know the why. I think in the military that's not required, and maybe same in parenting. Sometimes it's you're on a need to know basis, and you just need to follow the order. Whereas in business, I think it's much more common practice for good leaders to give the context of why this directive matters, so that the people can connect the dots and have a clearer picture of the overall success of the mission, as it were, the goal of the organization. They can see how what they're doing is contributing to that over goal. Overall goal. Michael Hingson 36:20 Yeah, yeah. Well, and in the military, maybe the privates don't necessarily get the get to know the why, Speaker 1 36:31 right? Michael Hingson 36:31 But but the hope is that there are enough people above them who are involved in a process that there is enough of an understanding that that enough people know the why that that the process works, and I guess that's a. I've not ever been in the military, and I'm certainly not going to criticize, but it just seems to me that that the more people can communicate and interact with each other, the stronger the team will be, no matter whether it's business or military. Speaker 1 37:00 Yeah, I would hope. Michael Hingson 37:03 So you know, but so EOS generally represent talks about clarity and execution. Where do leaders typically in organizations lose traction after they set a clear vision? Where do where do things break down. Speaker 1 37:22 You know, I think one of the most powerful ideas within EOS is the weekly meeting. So there is something we call the Level 10 meeting, and the name Level 10 comes from when we started working with companies and 1000s and 1000s of companies. One of the questions we would, one of our first questions in meeting them would be: rate the quality of your meetings on a scale of one to 1010, being best. How effective are your internal team meetings? And on average, they were about a four. And so over time, we developed the level 10 meeting agenda, which is a very specific agenda for leadership teams on a weekly basis to conduct that covers makes those those meetings so effective and efficient. And we keep talking about Patrick Lencioni. He wrote another book called Death by Meetings, which is a great great book as well. But so within EOS, the level 10 meeting is a very clear agenda. It gets everyone on the same page. Data passes quickly and smoothly across the right channels to the right people. We solve problems together, and it's just a wonderful, wonderful way to keep the business moving forward. So your question was, what happens after they set a clear vision? Well, very often they lose traction because they're not on a weekly basis measuring their progress toward that goal and vision, and solving problems on a weekly basis that show up that get in the way because there will always be things that prevent us, that resist us from our goals. So, are we methodically? And this is a discipline. This is it's it's not you know glamorous. It doesn't always feel good. But if you can stick with that weekly cadence, then every single week you're you're measuring what matters, the KPIs? It's a score. You know, one of the items on the agenda is the weekly scorecard, five to 15 numbers give us an instant pulse on the business. Reviewing the data, solving problems, and marching forward. So that's where it gets lost, because also in that meeting, everyone is staying on the same page, and there's that accountability. You're looking across the table, say, asking about this initiative or this project. Is it on track? Yes or no? Are we confident we're going to get it completed on time? Do you need any help? Every single week, the leaders. Showing up to that meeting and asking those questions of one another, and they know, hey, on Tuesday at 2o'clock, I'm going to have to answer this question: Is this goal on track for the quarter? And so that introduces this accountability within the team, where the peer-it's peer-to-peer accountability. They're holding one another accountable for the goals of the organization, Michael Hingson 40:22 yeah, I talked with a person recently on one of our podcast episodes. She runs a a boutique PR organization, and it has been growing, but she's not letting it grow too fast. But it has continued to grow, and and I've asked her, and I asked her how how long do you expect or how much do you want the company to grow, and can it grow too large where it becomes unmanageable? And she acknowledged that that kind of thing can happen, and and it it kind of is an interesting concept because most entrepreneurs want their companies to be successful and grow, but when you get multi-million-dollar or larger companies and you're hiring 50, 100, 200, 500 employees, that kind of ranges raises a lot of different complications, and it gets really overly complex. At what point does all the complexity really become too dangerous to deal with? Speaker 1 41:27 So the complexity model is where you you can calculate how complex business gets by every person you add to the organization. My point is complexity is real, and as a leadership team or as a leader, you have to constantly fight the onslaught of complexity. You have to fight for keep it simple, less is more. Keep it simple, less is more. So, if you had two people in an organization, you've got two lines of communication, one going from one to the other and back. If you add a third person, so you increase the number of people by 50% Now there are six lines of communication, so 200% increase in complexity, and that's just communication. Not talking about systems, processes, culture, all of that other stuff. You add a fourth person, so you increase the number of people by 100% from the two. Now you have a A 500% increase, 12 lines of communication. Speaker 2 42:45 Yeah, Speaker 1 42:46 so you have to, as a leader, fight against complexity, and the way that you do that is by less is more, keep it simple. Within EOS, we set three to seven rocks. We call them every quarter. Those are just business priorities, not 27, three to seven. Because if everything is important, nothing is important. So you're always asking yourself as a leader, what's the simplest way to say this, communicate this? What's the simplest way to do this? Do we have the simplest possible structure for the organization. Occam's razor says that the simplest solution is invariably the best solution, or the best solution is invariably the simplest solution. So the the complexity thing is real. You have to stay aware of it, and and fight against it by keeping things simple as you go. Michael Hingson 43:42 Yeah, and and the reality is, it goes back to what you were talking about. Certainly, the weekly meetings and other methods that you use to make sure that everyone not only is encouraged to communicate, but they do communicate. And again, it all gets back to that bottom level of the pyramid, which is accountability, and as long as everyone understands and feels the concept of accountability, and that we're all working toward the same thing, you have a much better shot at making it successful and making it work. Speaker 1 44:15 Right, that's right. Within EOS, we have a two-page strategic plan, not 50 pages. It's not this giant document. It's two pages that allow everyone within the organization to see who we are, where we're going, how we plan to get there. It's simple. Michael Hingson 44:36 Yeah. So, for a while, you didn't own your own business, and then you you now own your own business. How is becoming your own entrepreneur and your own your own business owner, boss, or whatever you want to call it? How has that changed? Kind of the advice you give to other people, and and what do you think about being? A business owner, as opposed to working within another organization, Speaker 1 45:05 you know, I I think I I'm spoiled. No, I don't think I could ever be a good employee again. Yeah, I just have a deep appreciation for visionaries, for people who see what's possible and then rally a team around them to help make it become a reality. That's a special. That's a special quality, and the world needs lots of that quality. So I, I, I have gained just a greater appreciation for the entrepreneurial spirit, and I, I think that it's it's now it's not for everybody, and that's okay. But I, I just can connect now more deeply than I ever could with people who are taking that step of faith, being courageous, doing something that's risky and uncomfortable, and just figuring it out as they go. I think that's for me particularly that resonates. I can't now, and I get it. I I understand. There's the majority of people are comfortable with a oops are are comfortable with a salary, a steady amount of income, and the safety that that brings. But I just it doesn't compute for me. I can't do it. It's just not for me what life is about. Michael Hingson 46:26 Yeah, I know. Especially since 2008, I've not only owned my own company, but it's been mainly me and dealing with lining up speaking engagements and so on, and especially since we moved down here in in 26 2014, I'm I'm very used to being my own individual, and and I I hear exactly what you're saying. I can work in an environment where there are other people, and there's there's times that that's that's a good thing, but I know that especially during COVID, people complained a lot about being locked down and they really missed being with other people, and I always had a little bit of a problem with that because I don't I don't look at other people, so that's one thing, but I learned that I could still communicate with people, and so I I didn't fall into some of those traps. I just do find it interesting, but I understand what you're saying. You're used to to to being the person not only in charge, but you're interested in setting the vision, and there's a lot of merit to that. Speaker 1 47:40 Yeah, yeah, and and he it takes all of us. If he had all visionaries and no doers, no you know no executors, then we'd be in a mess. I'm terribly sorry. The it's later here in the evening, and the cleaners are are at the door. Let me just tell them to wait 10. Give me 10 minutes on the office here. I'll be back in just a moment. Okay. Michael Hingson 48:05 So, yeah, I I appreciate the the position, and I can live with it as as well, and I can I can cope. I can work either way, but I I do like kind of really being the person in charge of me, I think it it probably works better. Yeah, that's okay. Speaker 1 48:28 Yep, we're all wired differently. Michael Hingson 48:30 Yeah, we are. So, in in making decisions, data is is a very important thing, and and it's certainly something that we need to keep around. Why do so many people resist and business leaders resist using data in a kind of an honest way? What are they afraid of? Speaker 1 48:51 Well, I think that data is can make things black and white. I think that data can be very telling because we can share opinions and feelings and ideas, but you can't. The numbers are the numbers; they they are what they are, which is why we use this weekly scorecard in that level 10 meeting I was talking about. But Ronald Reagan said, "Trust but verify. So the idea here is that people don't respect what you expect; they respect what you inspect, and the data is an inspection of what actually happened, what's real, what's what's going on on the ground, and that that's uncomfortable. The numbers don't lie most of the time. Now they can be manipulated, and people can tell stories. But if you're set up in the scorecard the right way with the right. Measuring the right things, it gives you a good idea of what's really going on. So I think it's just a natural resistance, a fear of being falling short, a fear of punishment. Ultimately, you know, in some form or fashion, hardship, difficulty, uncomfortability, things like that. Michael Hingson 50:22 But I think the the other thing I show about data, though, is it is kind of hard factual information, as you say. But it doesn't necessarily always bring the human element into to to things that maybe ought to be considered as well. So that the data should only be part of the final decision-making process. Speaker 1 50:45 It's very true. Very true. If you're looking at the numbers, there's always a story behind the numbers. What's the story behind the numbers? And that has to be part of the equation. Michael Hingson 50:55 As a as a speaker, I get a lot of people who say, "Well, we'll consider you fill out this form, and will evaluate you along with everyone else. And the problem is, I've realized that a lot of these forms, you fill them out, and you get a bunch of words on a screen, but doesn't really tell the whole story. And that's unfortunate because I think that too many evaluators are missing out on really understanding speakers when that happens. Speaker 1 51:25 Yeah, I believe that's true. Yes, absolutely. Hearing someone in person can't compare to just words on a page. Michael Hingson 51:36 Well, so yeah, it's just one of those things that one has to deal with when a team experiences a setback. What is it that causes some people to recover quickly while others don't necessarily recover quickly? Speaker 1 51:54 Why don't some people recover more quickly? Michael Hingson 51:59 Or teams, yeah. Speaker 1 52:00 Or teams. I think I don't know that I can separate teams from people. Michael Hingson 52:08 Yeah. Okay. Speaker 1 52:09 You know, and I say that because it has to do with self awareness. It has to do with personal development. I think many of these qualities are inseparable from the performance of the team, because a team is ultimately a group of individuals, and so in that way you've got the team dynamic. But you're you're also going to rely heavily on the character and the qualities of the individuals on the team. And if some people just can't let go, if they can't just raise their eyes or turn their gaze from the past and look forward, then, then they're going to struggle. Now, there are tools. You know, who is it? An autopsy without blame. He called it in good to great. In good to great, he said. This is where. What was his name now? Jim. I forget his name. Who wrote Good to Great, Jim Collins? Michael Hingson 53:04 Collins. He said Speaker 1 53:05 he called it on autopsy without blame, which is a team or person's ability to look back at the past and just understand. Okay, what happened? This isn't this isn't to point fingers. We just need to know what actually went down, so that we can learn from it. Because I tell teams this all the time, the past is only good for one thing-learning from it. And once you learn from it, you got to let go and move on. So the and and it's funny, I say this again every every meeting that I have with them. Actually, we review our data and we look back, we understand what. And then I said at the end of that review, I say, "Okay, that's the past. Nothing else we can do about it. Anything else need to be said before we leave it completely in the past and move forward? And I give them that opportunity to process and to you know make observations, insights, confessions. But after that moment, we got to let it go, and I think that a team has to be committed to be willing to do that for them to be able to to move forward. Michael Hingson 54:09 Yeah. Well, a lot of what you do is I suspect helping leaders, especially shift their mindset in some way. What mindset shift really helps leaders move from reacting to problems to leading intentionally and developing the kinds of of operations that we're talking about here as being successful? Speaker 1 54:35 I think you know you said mindset shift, but this is what I would call a mindset best practice. It's something I call a clarity break. A clarity break is a time scheduled on your calendar. So this is hard landscape. This is a an appointment you make with yourself that you keep, and in a clarity break, you get away from all the noise. You turn all the notifications off. You. On do not disturb mode, and you get a legal pad and a pen, and you simply think it. You think about the biz, think about the business, think about the biggest challenge you're facing, and you just start writing. And it's amazing what kind of solutions, ideas, next actions come to us when we have that clarity of mind. When we have time to get gain perspective, to take a step out of the fray, all of the noise, and just simply think. There's fewer things more valuable than high quality, pure thought, just simple thinking time. So that that is a mindset best practice, I would say, and and I encourage leaders to do it at a minimum of once a week, 3060, 90 minutes. Get a legal pad. Now, there's another book out there called The The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham. That's lessons from the the chairman of the board, and he that book is a book full of questions that leaders should be asking themselves about the business. You could use those as prompts, or just again get quiet and think about the business right now. And I promise you, you'll start writing, and the thoughts will just flow, and you'll write the whole time and come up with such clarity and such perspective that allows you to re reengage, reenter the business with confidence as to what needs to happen, what are our next steps, and that's so important because that confidence is a precious commodity for leaders. You have to protect your confidence, and the confidence comes from clarity, and the clarity comes from taking time away from the business to simply sit and think. Michael Hingson 56:46 One of the things that I think all too often we individually and collectively don't do is to just stop and think about life, think about things, do more internal introspection, and that's kind of what you're talking about. And the reality is, if we would do more of that, and if we would listen to our own mind, we would discover so many things that would help us along the way. My favorite example is Trivial Pursuit, where I ask people regularly when you're playing Trivial Pursuit, and somebody asks, and somebody reads a question from a card. Immediately, you think of an answer, but you went, "Oh, that came too quickly. That can't be it. And so you think again and come up with another answer. But that first answer invariably was the right answer. But that's not what we listen to. We're teaching ourselves not to be so introspective and to sit back or to sit down and think about whatever it is that we need to think about, and as you point out, writing things down. Speaker 1 57:50 Yes, so valuable and and hard to do, frankly, in our age of distraction. Our phone is so distracting, and so so many other options, so many other things that hit the dopamine, get the dopamine flowing, that challenge our our ability to, or our sitting down and making time to do simple thinking time. Michael Hingson 58:16 Yeah. Well, if a leadership team today wanted to have one practical step about how they would work together this quarter. What would you advise? How would you advise them to start? In addition to reaching out Speaker 1 58:34 to you, which I'm Michael Hingson 58:35 all in favor of, but that's another story. Speaker 1 58:38 You know, there is a tool out there that I would point them to. It's called the organizational checkup. It's free. It's online. It's put out by EOS. There's no obligation, no strings attached, or anything like that. But I think that tool. It's a set of 20 questions, and you rate each question on a scale of one to five, five being best. And that tool would really shine the light on where the most pain is being felt across the organization. When the leaders, first of all, just give an honest assessment of those 20 questions, they'll be able to put their finger right on the priority of what they need should should fix first. And I think that would just that exercise alone would get them all on the same page of what problem to tackle first, and I think that would be the very valuable for them. Michael Hingson 59:30 And what is that called again? Speaker 1 59:31 It's called the organizational checkup. If you were to Google EOS organizational checkup, there'll be a link there, and it's just 20 questions. Michael Hingson 59:40 Great. Well, if people want to reach out to you and learn from you, or interact with you, and maybe use your services and so on, how best can they do that? Speaker 1 59:52 Yeah, connect with me on LinkedIn is great. Also, if you just did a search for EOS Will Watrous, my name, it'll come up. I've got lots of content out there. The EOS website has my listing and contact information on there as well. Michael Hingson 1:00:06 And what are what's your LinkedIn name or handle? Will Speaker 1 1:00:10 Watchers. Yep, Wils. Michael Hingson 1:00:16 Okay. Well, I hope people will reach out. This clearly has been instructive in so many ways and lots of great ideas. So I want to thank you for being here and being a part of this. And I want to thank all of you who are paying attention to us today, wherever you're listening and/or watching. If you'd like to reach out to me, and I'd love to hear what you think, please email me at speaker@michaelhingson.com at speaker at m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com wherever you are with us in the podcast please give us a five star rating but more important give us a review we love reviews and people who are interested in looking at podcasts love to see the reviews that others have thought about podcasts, and so hopefully you'll say nice things about us. But either way, please give us a review. If you know someone who ought to be a guest on our our podcast, Will, including you, please introduce us. We're always looking for people to come and tell their stories. and And with that, again, I want to thank you for being here, Will. This has been absolutely fun. It's been hours gone by without without any any time seeming like it passed. So thank you very much for being here. Speaker 1 1:01:29 Thank you, Mike. What a pleasure to speak with you, and looking forward to your podcast success. Michael Hingson 1:01:37 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable Mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back, and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset.
Zach Lewis runs IT and security at a university on a tight budget, and when he needs a problem fixed, he goes looking in the startup community. He's been a sub-10 customer at Concentric AI, a very early customer at Island, a design partner for Jazz DLP, and he ran an email security product from a barely-out-of-stealth startup for four years. He explains what he gets for buying early, what he needs to see before he'll take the bet, and why your LinkedIn message almost certainly isn't how you'll reach him.In this episodeWhy a four-year run with a sub-10 email security startup turned Zach into a repeat startup buyerThe trade he makes for being early: lower pricing locked in for three or five years, and features built in weeksWhat he watches during a design partnership: the whole problem solved, the team growing, the product moving fastHow his DSPM vendor ended up working like a remote member of his teamWhy nobody inside the university pushed back on buying from startups10 to 20 LinkedIn pitches a day, three replies in seven years, one purchase, and where he finds new vendors insteadHow a deal actually gets funded in a July-to-June budget, and why something usually gets switched off firstWhy two out of three startups he sees are pitching shadow AI, and why he covered it with tools he already hadAbout the guestZach Lewis is CIO and CISO at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, a Venture Advisor at Glilot Capital Partners, and the author of Locked Up (Wiley, 2026), the story of his university's response to a LockBit ransomware attack. He was named Non-Profit CISO of the Year in 2023.Notable quotes"I've done a 5-year on a couple startups just because we want to lock in that low pricing.""Best email security product I've ever seen.""I don't think anyone even really knew they were a startup, nor did they care."Chapters00:00 Intro03:18 Advising at Glilot and the St. Louis "cyber mafia"07:23 What he listens for in a first startup conversation09:31 How a design partnership really works13:37 Why legacy DLP failed and what Jazz does differently16:41 His first startup bet: email security20:00 Price, multi-year lock-ins, and features in weeks21:00 How much time early-stage vendors actually take23:38 Does anyone push back on buying from startups?24:38 Sorting out AI security without adding tools28:04 "Stop messaging me on LinkedIn," and what works instead33:28 How deals close: budget cycles, sunsetting, the CFO39:09 Buying after a breach41:00 Locked Up43:31 Visionary or smoking crack Support the showThe Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startupWant to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and trainingNeed ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.
Mike Niziolek and Zach Osterman prepare for Indiana's Friday night showdown with Northwestern by attempting to, among other things, answer the question of just how worried Curt Cignetti is about the Wildcats. Plus, discussions of Josh Hoover's progress, this week's Daley/Wyatt update and some upcoming book events. Chapters: 0:00 -- Intro 1:01 -- Some housekeeping 3:36 -- How worried is Curt Cignetti? 9:58 -- Taking stock of IU football through three weeks 12:25 -- Josh Hoover and the IU offense 20:25 -- Dealing with greater expectations 26:42 -- Stephen Daley/Kellan Wyatt update 35:17 -- Surprise player(s) so far? 40:01 -- Injury updates Read: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2026/09/20/indiana-football-fans-reaction-perfection-national-championship-hopes-josh-hoover-curt-cignetti/91849024007/ Get IndyStar's IU coverage sent directly to your inbox with our IU Insider newsletter: https://profile.indystar.com/newsletters/iu-insider/?ipid=NLsignupIU Order "Unthinkable to Unstoppable" today: https://bit.ly/4gezKxZ
In today's episode, I'll be diving into why messaging is so critical when it comes to driving sales and attracting your ideal clients. I'm also sharing my own journey—how I went from struggling to make consistent sales to hitting million-dollar years by refining my messaging strategy. Messaging is truly the foundation of a sustainable brand, and I'll show you how getting it right can lead to massive growth. You won't want to miss this one! Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! KEY POINTS: 00:00 One Hour Content Promise 02:37 Why Sales Stall 04:04 Julie's Million Dollar Shift 05:27 Messaging Over Tactics 06:49 General Messaging Attracts Lurkers 07:47 Messaging Builds Authority 11:05 Small Audience Big Sales 12:42 Raise Prices With Positioning 14:18 Content Isn't Enough 15:05 Wrap Up and Next Steps QUOTABLES: "Your ability to grow your sales today is directly tied to the strength of your messaging." — Julie Solomon "Messaging is your foundation of influence, authority, and most important, sales." — Julie Solomon “Refining your messaging can attract your ideal clients effortlessly.” — Julie Solomon RESOURCES: [UNSCRIPTED RETREAT 2027] Where your voice, your message, and your identity become one. February 3–5, 2027 • Nashville, Tennessee APPLY HERE [THE REVENUE ACCELERATOR] Book a strategy call to explore whether The Revenue Accelerator is the right next step for your business and leadership. Apply and schedule your call today. [ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence. Follow Julie on Instagram! MUST HAVES THIS MONTH: [SHOPIFY'S TOOLS MAKE IT EASIER]From marketing to payments, this platform helps you do it all in one place. Learn how here.
The weather is finally turning, the sun is out, and the build-up to daylight savings has officially brought out peak icy pole chat. Chris and Zac dive into listener tags, Zooper Doopers, Calippos, and Chris's early steps into sports nutrition influencing after receiving a care package of Amacx gels and recovery juice. Plus, we celebrate the 49ers moving to 2-0 to start the NFL season as the official football team of the podcast, and look ahead to an already fast-filling Sweat vs Steam 2026.This week's feature guest is one of the most dedicated runners you'll ever come across, Run2PB athlete Jenna Trueman. Joining the team back in December 2019 after building her way back from the New York Marathon, Jenna has since smashed personal bests right across the board—from the 5K all the way up to the marathon, including a 7-minute half marathon PB down to 1:50 at Jetty to Jetty and a 4:02 in Canberra.But Jenna's story goes way beyond the stopwatch. She has officially ticked off the Abbott World Marathon Majors, including a mind-blowing 2025 double where she ran Boston on a Monday and London with Phil the following Sunday, finishing within three minutes of each other. We unpack the incredible resilience it took to bounce back from a mid-race gallbladder attack and emergency surgery at the Sydney Marathon, complete a conservative 8-week return, grab sweet redemption on that exact same course, and then immediately line up for her first-ever 26km trail race in Malaysia.Jenna shares what it's really like balancing a full-time career in finance and motherhood in the brutal Brisbane heat, working with coach Matt Davey, and being an incredible role model for her kids.Oat Running Socks is proud to partner with the Better With Running podcast and Run2PB, keeping our community moving in absolute comfort. Engineered for peak performance.Oat Running Socks | Official Partner of Better With Running & Run2PB
00:00 Welcome and Big Claim00:18 What Is an A.I. Harness02:20 Why Context and Permissions Matter03:18 The Problem With DIY Toolchains05:31 SuiteDash as the Unified Harness06:52 BYOK Explained Bring Your Own Key07:53 Privacy Compliance and Local Models09:15 Live Demo A.I. Connections Setup10:01 Adding Providers Defaults and Reporting11:48 No API Keys Use SuiteDash A.I. Service13:09 Switching Between Service and BYOK13:46 Whats Next and Final ThanksMike, Founder and CEO of SuiteDash, introduces SuiteDash as a business operations and automations harness for A.I., explaining that an A.I. “intelligence endpoint” needs a harness to take real-world actions and that business context and permissions are critical. He argues that building a custom harness across many disconnected tools is fragile and distracting, and positions SuiteDash as a tight, single-database platform with the needed business “surfaces” already built. He explains BYOK (Bring Your Own Key), allowing users to plug in one or many A.I. provider API keys, assign different models to different processes for cost and privacy control, and even use local models for compliance. He demos the A.I. Connections area, reporting, adding providers and verifying keys, setting default models, and switching to SuiteDash's at-cost A.I. service for users without API keys, and previews upcoming videos on agents and skills.----https://suitedash.com is on a Mission to help business owners around the world achieve #SuiteFreedom by leveraging the power of systems, processes & automations!But realize that YOU are ALSO a part of our Mission!Our development is 100% guided by YOU and the Community as a whole! YOU have the power to make suggestions that actually get heard and actually get built.So, please if you haven't already done so, we'd like to invite you to become an active part of the SuiteDash Community and provide feedback, ideas, and assistance, or just chime in to let us know when things are really working well for you. Together, we can build your perfect solution! Together, we are UNSTOPPABLE!Work smarter. Live better. We've got your back!---Need help?DOCS @ https://help.suitedash.comSUITEBOT @ https://bot.suitedash.comPLAYBOOK BUILDER @ https://playbook.suitedash.comCOMMUNITY @ https://community.suitedash.comYOUTUBE @ https://youtube.com/suitedashACADEMY @ https://academy.suitedash.comVOTE @ https://vote.suitedash.com---Build your Business & Make MoneySU1TE : Become a SU1TE Partner @ https://su1te.comAUTOP1LOT : Become an AUTOP1LOT Partner @ https://autop1lot.comAGENCY : Become an Agency Partner @ https://suitedash.com/become-an-agency-partner/---FACEBOOK @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/suitedashofficialINSTAGRAM @ https://instagram.com/suitedashTIKTOK @ https://www.tiktok.com/@suitedashX @ https://x.com/suitedash---Need advice and/or help adapting SuiteDash to your specific needs?We highly recommend that you work with one of our Certified Agency Partners. This Program is designed to connect SuiteDash customers with established and knowledgeable agencies who have verified and credible experience with the SuiteDash platform. CERTIFIED AGENCY PARTNERS @ https://suitedash.com/agency-partner-program/
Cyber startups churn through heads of sales, and the usual explanation is a bad hire. Matt Calligan, Director of Growth Markets at ArmorText, argues something different. Founder-led product-market fit only proves the founder can sell, and there's a stage between that and scale that most companies skip. He calls it the Vanguard stage and lays out what has to be true before anyone hands a VP of Sales a number.In this episodeWhy early cyber buyers are "buying access to the founder," not the productThe four lights that have to turn green before you scale: a defined motion, a non-founder who can sell it, proof at volume, and junior reps who can run it without churnWhy junior AEs vs. a seasoned VP is a false binary, and the personality type Matt hires for insteadWhy your President's Club rock star is often the wrong person for the first seatHow ArmorText's founder-run hour-long demo became a five-minute UI walkthroughWhat to do when your founder won't let go of the long feature demoHow the unicorn math of a VC fund pushes founders to skip the middle stageAbout the guestMatt Calligan is Director of Growth Markets at ArmorText, which builds secure out-of-band collaboration for incident response teams. He has spent two decades in enterprise sales, including co-founding Influents as VP of Sales, and has worked on ArmorText's go-to-market since 2018.Notable quotes"If your process is still requiring the founder, then what you have is a founder and an AE in a trench coat." (tightened)"This stage takes as long as it takes.""Founders are always salesperson number one."Chapters00:06 Welcome and the spin-the-wheel game01:51 Why cyber startups go through three heads of sales05:16 What product-market fit actually proves08:57 Founders are always salesperson number one11:20 Fund math and the pressure to skip steps16:11 Why cyber's chasm is inverted18:49 The four lights of the Vanguard stage21:28 Who to hire for the first seat24:48 Do it a hundred times: hearing why the baby is ugly26:32 From a 60-minute demo to five minutes30:40 How to get the founder to let go32:52 When to stop preserving runway and floor it38:47 The reverse channel program43:35 Questions to ask before joining as a founding AE45:57 Differentiation teardown Support the showThe Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startupWant to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and trainingNeed ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.
A strong story can do more than sell a product. It can change how people see a brand, a problem, and even themselves. I talk with advertising and brand storytelling expert Park Howell about why our brains respond to simple problem-and-solution stories, how trust shapes buying decisions, and why your story should focus on your audience instead of you. Park shares the ABT storytelling framework, lessons from decades in advertising, and how one campaign helped drive major growth for Goodwill. We also explore AI storytelling, brand identity, human creativity, and why the best use of AI still requires a human voice. I believe you will find Park's ideas useful whether you lead a business, market a brand, speak to audiences, or simply want to communicate with greater impact. Highlights: 01:19 - Why every strong story starts with a problem that needs solving. 14:46 - How shifting the story away from yourself makes it more relevant to your audience. 19:55 - What one advertising campaign taught Park about the power of story structure. 30:25 - How the ABT framework turns a message into a clear, compelling story. 44:39 - How storytelling helped Park make a major career shift at age 55. 53:50 - Why finding key moments in your life can reveal the story worth telling. About the Guest: Park Howell is known as The World's Most Industrious Storyteller, having helped purpose-driven brands grow by as much as 600 percent through the power of strategic narrative. With over 40 years in brand creation, including 20 years running his own advertising agency Park and Co, Park was named Advertising Person of the Year in 2010 by the American Advertising Federation of Metro Phoenix. The following year, his agency was recognized among the Top 10 Impact Companies in Arizona by the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. Park is an EMMY Award-winning storytelling strategist and the founder of the Business of Story, a proven platform based on his 10-step Story Cycle System to clarify your story, amplify your impact, and simplify your life. His popular weekly Business of Story podcast is ranked among the top 10 percent of downloaded podcasts worldwide, and Feedspot.com named it the number one business storytelling podcast for 2022. In 2020, Park published Brand Bewitchery: How to Wield the Story Cycle System to Craft Spellbinding Stories for Your Brand, which teaches readers how to use three proven narrative frameworks to captivate audiences and convert customers. He followed this with The Narrative Gym for Business in 2021, a practical 75-page guide on using the ABT framework—And, But, Therefore—to make all business communications compelling and persuasive. Most recently, Park launched the StoryCycle Genie, an AI-powered platform that helps business leaders craft lucrative brand story strategies in minutes rather than months, using his proven Story Cycle System that has grown brands by as much as 600 percent. The platform democratizes strategic storytelling expertise, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes. Park consults, teaches, coaches, and speaks internationally, having guided hundreds of brands and developed thousands of leaders in organizations including Dell, The Home Depot, Hilton, Cummins, Walgreens, Banner Health, and the United States Air Force. A graduate of Washington State University, he combines his degrees in communications and music composition to help leaders excel through the stories they tell. Ways to connect with Park**:** StoryCycle Genie™ Linkedin.com/in/ParkHowell Twitter.com/ParkHowell Facebook.com/Park.Howell Instagram.com/ParkHowell YouTube/BusinessOfStory The Business of Story About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingson, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi, everybody! Wherever you happen to be welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host Mike Hingson, and our guest today is Park Howell, who has been in advertising for quite a number of years. So he's going to talk about a lot of that kind of stuff, and I think it'll be fascinating. He's been Advertiser of the Year in the Arizona area, and he's just done a lot of different kinds of things over the years that will be interesting to hear about. I suspect that you'll all find what he has to say pretty fascinating, and he has done a lot with helping people and companies improve their brands, as you'll see. Anyway, I'm not going to give it away. Where would the fun be in that? So, Park, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're here. Well, Mike, thank you so much for having me. It's a true honor. Well, thank you. I'm I'm honored that you're you're here as well. Well, why don't we start? I'm I'm going to start. I usually like to start by asking people to talk about their their kind of early life, and I'll do that in a minute. But I want to start with something else. What is advertising? I'll ask for an opening question. Park Howell 02:08 The desperate act of selling something. How about that? It if you've got you know if you're going to sell something out there, you got to let the world know what that is. Of course, I had a mentor of mine, Sandy Peterson, when I was just growing up in the ad world, and he often said to me, "He said, 'Hey, Park, even 2000 year old churches ring their bells every Sunday morning to let their people know that the doors are open, and that to me is advertising that you've got to be able to communicate and tell stories, share stories about your brand and your world that connects from your target audience's point of view to solve a problem they have. You know, every story is about a problem. Without a problem, without conflict, you have no story, and that is the essentials of advertising: is what is the problem you are solving for whom, and how do you do it better than anyone else? Yeah, and I think the the key to that is stories, and and so many people just don't understand why storytelling and having stories is such an integral and important part of everything that we do. Yeah, well, if you think about it, you know everyone is is fearing this existential crisis of AI, the most remarkable technology our brilliant brains have been able to create. But if you think about it, and you go back 75,000 years when our ancestors were navigating and surviving the savanna. They were using the technology of storytelling in the way of rebel storytelling, cave paintings, and so forth, to be able to not just evolve but become you know the Homo sapiens storytelling apes we are today. So that particular structure, that technology of storytelling, speaks specifically to our very primal limbic brain, where all of our real decisions are being made, and that brain has not changed appreciably in 75,000 years, even though our neurofrontal cortex has enabling us to create what we have today in technology, and that's why I get asked this a lot. You know, they'll say, "How is AI changing storytelling? And I said, "Well, it's not. Storytelling is fundamentally the same. It is changing the storyteller and how we share those stories with the world. And I think we need to be careful with AI because right now we're sort of on a cusp. So part of AI can be very accurate. Sometimes it's not, but the reality is that AI is not going to replace the human being storyteller and. Michael Hingson 05:00 So it's really important that although we can use AI to help, we still have to be the ones that are in charge and tell the stories. Park Howell 05:08 Well, the fundamental structures or algorithms of storytelling are the exact same as they always have been: setup, problem resolution. That is your, you know, Kurt Vonnegut, famous American writer, said, you know, a story is about a man falls in a hole, a man gets out of a hole. It needn't be about a man, and it needn't be about a hole. People love that story. Yeah, that is so true. So that's something that is innate in us human beings. You can certainly teach, and we have AI how to use those frameworks, but AI can never replace the actual human experience that you're talking about. Michael Hingson 05:50 How often do we refer to the TV show Lassie, and everybody keeps thinking that sometime Timmy fell into the well, and he never did once, Park Howell 06:00 and Lassie was there to pull them out, right? Yeah, Michael Hingson 06:03 but but Timmy never did fall in the well. But anyway, whatever. Well, well, Park Howell 06:08 Mike, our our brains are problem solution brains. I mean, again, that primal limbic brain of ours is all about survival. That is our survival center, and whenever we're buying anything, it yeah, a lot of times it's driven by ego. But emotionally, first and foremost, it's driven by what problem are you solving? How are you going to help me survive this problem and get me out of this mess faster than anyone else? Just the other day, went in for a haircut. My hair was atrocious. The longer it got, the worse my original haircut was, and I had a problem. And I went in and sat with a young guy by the name of Ray down at V's Barber Shop in North Phoenix, and in you know in under 30 minutes he got me cleaned up, looking my best again, and he solved a basic primal problem. I want to look good. I want to be socially acceptable. I don't want to look like a jerk. That's the problem solution dynamic, right? It Michael Hingson 07:09 is. You know, one of the most interesting and compelling stories I can think of, and I think people mostly forget about it today, but was back in the early 1980s when we had the Tylenol crisis, when somebody planted cyanide in one bottle of Tylenol in a restaurant in a in a drugstore, and the thing that that happened was that within like a day, the president of the the company that manufactured Tylenol went on the air in public and said, "We are going to pull every bottle of Tylenol off the shelves until we verify that there are no other problem bottles of Tylenol. And by doing that, I mean he first of all he he taught us a basic business lesson that we really ought to take more to heart, which is you confront problems and you are very upfront with with the with the problem and what you're going to do. But it was just such a compelling thing that he did. He said that, and then they did, and eventually, then of course everything went away, and because there were no other bottles, but still, he just he handled it in such an incredible what an incredible way! What a what a great feat of advertising, if you will. Park Howell 08:31 Well, Mike, if we don't have trust with our target audiences, then we have nothing. Yeah, and so yeah, they had a major problem of trust when that happened, it wasn't their fault necessarily. Some lunatic planted that, but the fact that they didn't have you know secure caps and so forth, it revealed a problem in the industry. But he was very smart in taking immediate action and doing what he did to help maintain that trust for Tylenol, and hopefully build on that trust over time. That we are here for you, and we will protect you in every possible way we can, Michael Hingson 09:09 because that's who we are. And and of course, it did lead to changes. Now we do have more secure caps and and other things like that. So there were changes in the industry. It's unfortunate that they had to happen, but understand it, and so we now have what we have. But but it still is just kind of one of the most dramatic business cases and and if you will advertising cases that I can think of. Park Howell 09:36 Well, it's interesting too because it underscores a fundamental way we storytelling Homo sapiens make sense to the world, and we will tend to remain in status quo as the over-the-counter pain reliever industry was, and not securing those caps because they never had a problem. So why change them? They never anticipated that to be a problem, and then what happened? A problem happened. You know, a big hole. This, you know, Tylenol fell in, as did the entire industry, and that's what shakes people out of status quo. Status quo will kill us faster than anything if we are not continuing to evolve and move forward. Michael Hingson 10:16 No one anticipated that there would be a group of people who would deliberately fly fully loaded with jet fuel airplanes into the World Trade Center until it happened, and I still, having read all the reports, I am not at all convinced that we would have been able to figure it out, even if every government department was communicating together, which they still don't know how to do, but the bottom line is that we didn't anticipate it. We did make buildings that were flexible. We did a lot. I think we did all that we could do at the time, but by the same token, nobody anticipated it until a bunch of people got together and worked and and did what they did and brought the world almost to its knees, and and I hate to say it, but I talk about trust and teamwork a lot, and talk about teamwork. The 19 hijackers kept their mouths shut. They they did what they set out to do to a large degree, although I don't even know whether they thought that they were going to cause the buildings to collapse. But still, they they did what they did, and it also has caused so many other positive things to happen since. But nevertheless, again, nobody thought it was going to happen, and so we had the situation that we had, yep, yep, that's exactly right. And I mean, you lived through it, thank God. But boy, being right in the heart of all of that, what an impact it had on your life! It certainly caused me to to change what I do. So now, instead of selling computer hardware and managing a hardware sales team, as I tell people I get to sell life and philosophy and and travel the world and be a keynote speaker and it's a lot of fun and it's not the and it's not the story of getting out of the World Trade Center nearly as much as it is the story of how I got there all the things that led up to it and the things that I learned that allowed me to be able to survive getting out of the World Trade Center, and unfortunately, one of the the challenges that that I continue and blind people in general continue to face is that sighted people think that you're less of a person if you can't see, and it is really a challenge to get people to recognize that's not true, and you're really misassessing the situation. But it is what we face. Park Howell 12:45 Yeah, no doubt. And you are a great voice and advocate for your community to go and demonstrate that to people. It's like, all right, so I've lost my sight, but now let me re, you know, reframe my life and my message to the world, or just look at the impact you're having on people. Michael Hingson 13:02 Well, and and you know the reality is, I was I've been blind my whole life, and and the the the idea is that it is important that we learn that blindness isn't the problem; it's the misconceptions that so many of us face at the hands of others that that tends to be the real difficulty. So we ought to maybe get your help to do better advertising. I don't know. We'll have to see. Well, tell us a little about. I will go back to it now. Tell us a little about kind of the early part, growing up and all that. Park Howell 13:30 Yeah, I grew up in the Seattle area, just north of Seattle, in a place called Bothell Woodenville area. Ah, one of seven kids, and we were all born within nine years of each other, so we were quite a pack of of crazed Northwesterner little kids. We had a lot of fun. Great parents took us on lots of adventures and always encouraged us to do what we always wanted to do. And one of the things I wanted to do at a very young age was learn how to play the piano because my grandmother Mabel, who played the piano like nobody's business, and it just always blew me away, and so they gave me piano lessons, and I, as a little kid, just started writing these little ditties, these little songs, and whatever, and kept writing more of them, and just had fun with it. Ended up getting a degree in music composition in theory, but figuring Mike that I probably starved to death as a composer. At the same time, I also got a degree in marketing in you know communications, and it's really you know blessed me. My whole musical background has played a very important role in me over my 40 years in the branding world on writing, finding the theme to a brand story, introducing interesting characters and twists to the plot that you do in music writing, just as you do in storytelling. And here I am, you know, 40 years later, I ran my own ad agency for 20 years in Phoenix, but. I pivoted away from that 2016 just to simply coach, speak, and teach people leaders how to use stories to have the impact in the world that they want. So I find it ironic. I come full circle where I studied music composition in theory, and now I teach brand storytelling composition in theory, wow, and and clearly it is it's a it's an interesting challenge. Do you find many people who, at least at first, resist this whole concept of telling stories that they're just not used to it and they resist it? Not as much anymore, and a lot of people will ask me, you know, how do you sell people on storytelling? And I tell them I don't. The people that hire me are already sold on story. They know how powerful it is. They just don't know how to do it. And when I come in and find someone very resistant to storytelling and whatever, I'm like I respect that. That's cool. Keep doing your features lists and your you know functions lists and that sort of thing, and see where it gets you. Because Mike, one of the two true story truths that I talk about is number one is your story is not about you. It's always about your audience and what's in it for damage. Story truth number two is your story is not about what you make, but what you make happen in people's lives. So those that are resistant to storytelling are focused on themselves and communicating about what they make, and just assume you will arrive at the marvelous conclusion that gee, what you make is for me, where storytelling is what you make happen, and that word happen is so important because it speaks to the outcomes, the activity, the momentum of the story that you tell that that describes the impact you have on them, and I think you said something that's really key. It's not about you; it's about what you make happen, and and it's about the audience. I know as a speaker, I learned really early on, fortunately, that it's not about me, and that's also partly why I say it's not so much about escaping from the World Trade Center, it's all the other things that that led up to it and have happened since. But it isn't about me as a speaker. It's about Michael Hingson 17:30 what I do to connect with the audience and what the audience needs from me. And I have to learn that so that I can best tell my story in a way that will be relevant to Park Howell 17:42 them. Yeah, Mike. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got is if you are speaking, and before your presentation could be to a small group of people, could be a large auditorium. If you are really stressed out, freaked out, major butterflies. A few butterflies are normal to keep you on your toes, but if you are really stressing out, it's because your ego has taken over and you're making that presentation about you. As soon as you make that shift to say, no matter what happens on that stage, if I totally forget where I am, if I fall off the front of the stage, if I go into a coughing attack, it doesn't matter because I am in service to them. As long as I can impart wisdom to my audience that they can leave with at least one takeaway, then that makes all the difference. Your your butterflies go away, and you're like, I'm just here to help. Michael Hingson 18:36 And and that's exactly right. And I tell that to people when I'm discussing coming to to speak at events for them, is it's not about me. My job is to be a guest, to be a servant, and I need you to tell me the kind of messaging that you need if you have anything like that, and we'll put it together. But I'm here to do what you need to make your conference more successful than it might otherwise be, and that's that's my job, and I can do that, and I know I can do that because I know how people react to the story, and the reason I love to give in-person presentations more than virtual presentations is that when I'm telling the whole story, including growing up and all that, I've learned how audiences typically react to different things that I Park Howell 19:30 say, and if I'm not hearing the reactions that I expect, then I have to change something around to deal with it because I want to draw them in. But at the same time, I I do know that typically audiences are interested in what I have to say, and as long as I make that interesting for them, then we're good. Yeah, without a doubt, and you know it goes back to even your first question about what. Is advertising. Advertising is that storytelling that you make it about your audience, whether they're reading a Facebook ad, or watching a TV commercial, or listening to a radio commercial, or reading a white paper that you wrote. If you take the approach of making it about them, and I've got a framework, I'd be happy to share with you and your audience on how to do that, then the impact of all of your communications goes through the roof. If Speaker 1 20:32 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show, your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset community. Michael Hingson 21:04 When did you realize? Was there a moment that you kind of had this aha moment that said storytelling is wasn't just a creative technique, but was really part of the whole fundamental process? Park Howell 21:17 Yeah, it you know something that I had thought about early in my career, I just was intuitive about it, innate, and all the great ads I loved always had story. But I never thought to myself, "Boy, that's a great story. I think that's a great ad. And something happened in 2003 when I was running my ad agency, Park and Co. in Phoenix. We were working with Goodwill. Now, Goodwill Industries-they're a bunch of franchises all around the country-and we were working with the Phoenix franchise. They had 24 stores at the time. It was a big account. They were going to spend spend well over a million dollars with us to help them with their marketing. And we went out, we toured all their stores, and we said the first things you need to do is clean it up. It just they don't smell great. You got to have more inventory out there before you do any marketing. Get your operations together, and they were smart. They listened to us and they did. And then we created an advertising 32nd commercial campaign. Two spots in that campaign. One of them polled unbelievably well, Mike. I mean, same store sales a month after the campaign started running went up 42% with this one commercial in the campaign. The second commercial in the campaign didn't poll at all. It just didn't work. It fell flat, and I sat there at my agency, scratching my head, and said, "Why did this ad work so well, and this other one, Buckus, got nothing out of? In fact, the very first ad we created, we won an Emmy award for because it was so well produced and worked so well. Well, when I started studying true story architecture and storytelling, I'm like, oh my goodness! That first spot is a perfect setup, problem resolution story. We had fun with it, kind of you know sharing a real world experience. And in fact, the goodwill said you were you were telling the story that we feel like you were going to be making fun of our customers when in reality we weren't. We were calling them out. We were saying, "Listen, we know you're a closet shopper, and you might even be embarrassed to shop at Goodwill to go and find your treasures, but don't let that stop you. That played and pulled in. You know, increased sales by 42% The other one was just kind of this creative, clever spot that we were very proud of as an agency, but it never ever landed with our audience because it wasn't speaking to them, nor did it follow a story structure. Now, again, that first one was just an intuitive, innate story structure in there, and when I started studying it, I'm going. Oh, let's follow this structure with all of our commercials, you know, all of our work moving forward. And then I did a deep dive with Hollywood to truly understand why does this structure work in our human brains. And when I started studying, then that took over my life. I was so fascinated by it. Again, I think it was my music composition theory background where I was fascinated as to why does music work on us and what are the algorithms that work better than others. That I was now enthralled with storytelling. What are the algorithms, the story structures that work better than anyone else. That was my awakening back then. Michael Hingson 24:45 What have you discovered about storytelling that traditional advertising doesn't do? That has in turn made you so successful. I think you're kind of alluding to it, but I gather that what you do is a little bit different than. Oftentimes, what we see in the advertising world. Well, I would say advertising world is in decline. Just watching the Super Bowl Park Howell 25:08 over the weekend, I could not tell you one of those commercials that I thought was any good at all. It just seemed like a bunch of creative noise out there, and yet our brains still fundamentally lean into and make meaning with the you know set up problem resolution story structure, and yet it seems like the ad world has completely abandoned it, and makes no sense to me. If you compare advertising today back to the 60 s, 70 s, 80 s, 90 s, even you will see a marked difference. And today, it's more wallpaper noise in abundance. Where back then it was much more curated storytelling. Fewer people were doing it, fewer channels to expose you to it, and they just had a much greater impact. So I always say, if you want to hack through the noise and hook into the hearts of your audiences that emotional center where they actually make their decisions, their buying decisions, then share a story in a structure that's been around for 75,000 years. That is what overcomes this technology that is just bombarding us with slop today. What I find really fascinating, in part, about what you just said, and I didn't get to watch the Super Bowl. I was flying back from freezing in Delaware on Saturday, but yeah, it was 60 mile an hour winds and it was 17 degrees. It was it was so cold that Michael Hingson 26:44 that my guide dog Alamo didn't even want to go outside and do his business when the wind was up so high. We walked out. We went 10 feet, and he just turned around. I'm not going out there, brother. You stay out here if you want, but I'm going in. But but later it worked okay. But still, I didn't see coming up to the Super Bowl any major discussion, as we've seen in past years about a lot of the Super Bowl commercials and so on. And there hasn't there hasn't been much discussion of it all this year about it, which I find interesting. And of course, what you're saying kind of verifies and justifies that. Yeah, yeah, they spent. big money producing big time spots that just left me, anyways, very flat. I'm like, what, Park Howell 27:30 what's going on here? It's you know, I, you know, it's ironic humor, goofy stuff, whatever, and that's fine, but it does not play to our meaning making limbic buying brain. It just doesn't. Michael Hingson 27:42 Have you ever done a Super Bowl commercial? Park Howell 27:45 No, never had one, huh? That would be fun. It's rarefied air to be able to do one of those, but no. Most of my work was in the B 2b world, coming out of Phoenix. Some some national accounts, a couple global accounts, but nothing to the level of Super Bowl. You know, Michael Hingson 28:01 well, maybe we need to advocate for a switch. Park Howell 28:05 Well, I'm kind of out of that world. I am much more of a story consultant now to work with teams and agencies and leaders and so forth. On all right, show me what you got, and let's figure out how can we make it better, if not way better. Michael Hingson 28:22 Yeah. Well, and and and hopefully you'll have some significant influences in that. You said that you've helped some companies increase their brand by 600% How do you measure that? Park Howell 28:36 Yeah. Well, they measured it, and so that was Clinica Adelante, a 33-year-old community health center in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time, this was back in 2009, 2010. They were their business model was coming under immense fire with immigration. With they were really working with farm workers out in the West Valley farms were getting bladed over with big subdivisions, and their their basic clientele was going away, and so they needed to attract and maintain their core mission of of making healthcare sustainable and available to anyone, regardless of your ability to pay, but in order for that to happen, they had to bring in regular insured patients to help pay the bills. Which means they had to attract even better doctors so that people would move from their traditional healthcare into Clinica Adelante. And we told that story. We changed the name because there was a fear that Clinica Adelante was a little bit too, you know, Hispanic for. I'll just be honest with you, you know, the white folks to come there, but we kept Adelante because that means advancement, moving forward, becoming, and you know, in in Spanish. So it became. Adelante Healthcare, and we branded it all around sustainable healthcare for all. And they were one of the first big community health community groups to really embrace green healthcare, sustainability in operations, sustaining the ability to get healthcare, and then sustaining the individual health of each one of their people that came in, and so how they measured that is they looked at the growth of their doctors, and they went from having just a couple clinics into 12 clinics, and the new ones that they added were all leed certified sustainable clinics. They then looked at the growth of the practitioners came in their administration, the growth of their actual patients that came in, and across the board over the course of six years they grew by 600% Wow! Avensate to Foya at the time when she's no longer their CEO, she was the one instrumental in building all this growth. She told me on my business of story podcast that she goes. We would never have grown that way had you not helped us get our overarching brand narrative in place and taught us how to tell the story to the world to attract those top tier practitioners, to attract the Anglo community that was ensured that we're going to come in, and then to attract national attention on their sustainable healthcare model that brought them even more cred. So yeah, they were looking at the measurement was purely by practitioners and then actual patients coming in. Michael Hingson 31:36 Well, and and clearly it worked. Park Howell 31:39 Yeah, yeah, very effective. Michael Hingson 31:41 Tell us about something that you talk about the ABT network framework. Park Howell 31:47 Yeah, and this is one of the most basic structures I teach. In fact, I call it the DNA of storytelling because you get this three-word structure down, and yeah, it sounds simple, but it takes a little practice. Then all of your messaging will be way more impactful, way more engaging, and it's called the and but therefore or NABT narrative framework. And here's the way it works very quickly. It's three sentences. The first one is your and statement of agreement. You want to identify your audience again, placing them at the beginning of the story. Describe what they want relative to your offering. They may not even know what you have to offer yet. You're foreshadowing that, and why is it important to them? So, who's your audience? Where they want, and why is it important to them? Raising the stakes with that. Why is it important to them? Then you introduce the but statement of contradiction, the problem. But you're frustrated, you're concerned, you're overwhelmed. You follow that with a negative emotion because you're speaking to their emotional heart, right? Because of this problem that's keeping you from getting what you want, therefore, then you follow that. Therefore, it's a positive emotion. Imagine what it's going to feel like when you get this by doing such and such with us. Your brand, your call to action doesn't come in until the second clause in the third sentence, which is your therefore statement of consequence, and if you like, Mike, we could build one really quick just to show all of your listeners how to do it, and let's do it for your show. All right, and I'm going to make some notes on my end because I'm going to ask you a couple questions. Do you want to do that? Michael Hingson 33:39 Sure, why not? Park Howell 33:40 It'll take about five minutes. Michael Hingson 33:42 I'm flexible, so my tell me who is your number one audience for this show. I think the the the the audience is is pretty eclectic overall because we don't have a specific theme that the podcast deals with. So I would say that the audience is is composed primarily of people who are curious, who want to get life lessons, to learn how to to to do things better, and to find ways to move forward in life without as much fear as we typically encounter in our world. Park Howell 34:25 All right, so let's dig down a little bit deeper. And you're in sales, so you know this: that it's great to have an eclectic audience, but the Pareto principle always comes into play. That means that 80% of your audience is usually made up of 20% of your listeners or one target audience. If that is true for you, and you are really even though it's eclectic, I get that. But who are you really speaking to? Even though you're attracting in a lot of others, who's your. Michael Hingson 35:00 Are they professionals? Are they, you know, non-professionals? Or is it for speaking gigs? What What is it? I would say that to a very large degree, it's professionals, and I know that that there are also a number of people who are curious to to hear me because I am a speaker, and some of them have have have brought us in as a result of the podcast. But I think we're dealing primarily with more of a professional-oriented audience that wants to hear ways that they can do things better, and they love the fact that we have a lot of general, different kinds of categories, rather than one specific thing that every episode goes towards. But it's all about trying to figure out how they can use the things that they hear each week to make themselves and their businesses or their world better. Park Howell 36:00 Okay, so that's the curious professional who want to learn how to do things better, and if they they listen weekly, they are going to be exposed to an eclectic group of guests that have all achieved a certain amount of success in their individual area. Michael Hingson 36:21 Right, Park Howell 36:22 that fair enough? Michael Hingson 36:23 I think that's fair. Park Howell 36:24 So that would that might be your statement of agreement. You know, you want to learn how to do things better, and if you tune in to the unstoppable mind, that we will, you will learn from some of the most eclectic leaders in the world, so that you can have the impact in your career and on other people that you seek. All right, science, Michael Hingson 36:48 good, right? Park Howell 36:48 Okay, but let's introduce a problem because I don't actually want to introduce your show quite yet. I just was kind of getting that sort of out in my mind. But what are they? What what's a negative emotion that that they are are experiencing because they don't typically have access to these you know sort of eclectic minds. Are they frustrated? Are they concerned? Are they? Michael Hingson 37:11 I think I think there is a a level of frustration and concern, but I also think that there is a lot of fear. We talk about subjects like disabilities. We talk about subjects like AI, and I think that, to a large degree, those are things that people don't understand very well, and so they're afraid of them. They're afraid of trying different kinds of things where they can use some of the the the concepts to improve what they do, so I think that there is there is a level of fear that more people have than than people who don't, and so they come into the podcast with the idea that well I don't know what I'm going to hear this week, and so something comes up on AI or disabilities, or or even advertising, and and people fear, oh, there are just too many problems, or it's going to be too expensive to fix, or it's not going to help me in what I do, which is something that, of course, you see. So I think that fear is is probably a good overarching concept that people deal with. Park Howell 38:22 Okay, so we've got the emotion, negative emotion of fear. Now let's add the problem that's creating that fear. Because of what? You're fearful because of lack of knowledge in these areas, or Michael Hingson 38:37 I would say so. I think it's more fear of a lack of knowledge, and societal norms have said do it this way, and a lot of times on this podcast we hear that that's not the way to that that isn't correct. But I think that a lot of it is societal, and a lot of it is just plain when societal is is guilty of that as anything, but it's a lack of knowledge. Park Howell 39:05 Okay. Then by listening, let's move on to the therefore. Just writing here the therefore statement of consequence. Therefore, what will be their positive state by listening to your show. You know, imagine what you're going to feel like, or what is the positive state? Michael Hingson 39:28 The positive state is that they're going to hear things and and encounter people who talk about a lot of the the very same things that they've been feeling, but who have learned how to overcome or deal with issues, and who have, as a result, become more successful and more confident in in their world. And and the reality is, I think that most everyone who comes on the the podcast has a story to tell about challenges they faced. And they talk about what they did to overcome it, and how it has helped them grow and improve themselves as a result. Park Howell 40:11 Interesting. Okay, so this is good, and this is the way an ABT always comes together. You just kind of formulate your thoughts. If you were to sum up this story that you're sharing with me right now, as we create the ABT, and you could give it one word that becomes your story theme. What would that word be? Michael Hingson 40:32 Unstoppable. Park Howell 40:34 Okay. So you want to become unstoppable, Michael Hingson 40:37 right? And I don't mean that in a negative sense or in an egotistical sense, it it it really is a a competence thing. But unstoppable, I would say, is a is a good term to use. Park Howell 40:51 All right, excellent. So now again, I'm just kind of you know I'm free, right? I'm freely working here. So I'm going to just say here, folks. This is how you do it. Mike has given us a ton of great information, and you've just seen how I've kind of pulled that out of him. And I've, for my mind, I'm the outside looking in because I don't know his business or brand that well. It gave me a number of different threads to work from, and when I have that, then I ask myself, what's the one story theme? You know, name of the show, so it's be unstoppable. So I'm going to want to introduce that right up top, and it's going to come down to what we call the conversational ABT first, just to get our singular problem solution set up. And this, when I say conversational ABT, it's very vacuous. It's very simple, just to make sure we've got the right problem solution lever in there, and in this case, you want to be unstoppable, but you don't feel unstoppable right now. Therefore, we're going to help you become unstoppable by listening to our show. Now, granted, that is very vacuous, but is that essentially the problem solution dynamic that we're dealing with, I think so. If you were standing in front of a group of 5000 people speaking as you do, and they don't know who you are or why you're there, what you're going to talk about, and you could just start your your speech with, "You all want to be unstoppable, right? But you don't feel unstoppable right now. Therefore, over the next 60 minutes, I'm going to show you how to become unstoppable. Yes, it's redundant, but boy, everybody in the room knows what you're talking about, and they're Michael Hingson 42:32 going to pay attention. Park Howell 42:33 They're like, "Thank you, I've got a theme. I've got a singular theme that I'm going to focus on. So now let's take that in and build out a little bit bigger, and but therefore, so it becomes more of a story, more of a talking foundation that you can build from. So you can say, as a curious professional, you want to learn new things so that you can be unstoppable in your career, in your life, and with the impact that you're making in the world, but you're fearful, maybe even frustrated, because there are so many things like, you know, disabilities and the existential crisis of AI and other things that you feel like are holding you back, because you don't have a place to go and hear from people that have overcome these sorts of things. Therefore, imagine your abundant mindset growing and your unstoppability taking over when you start listening to my show, where I introduce you to an eclectic array of professionals from around the world that have overcome great obstacles to to find tremendous success, and will show you how to do the exact same thing. There you go. So again, I was kind of vamping on that, but you can see you set it up. You identify the audience. What do they want to become unstoppable? But why don't they currently have it? Because they don't know where to turn to learn about how do you overcome things like disabilities and the existential crisis of AI. Therefore, put your mind at ease. Let's replace that fear with an abundance mindset and learn from you know the people that we we host on the show. So I would share that with anybody out there, and that's what I'd ask them to do. The breakout is write down who's your number one audience, what do they want relative to your offering, and why is that important to them? But why don't they currently have it? What's the problem standing in their way? Therefore, how are you going to help them achieve it? Yeah, and that's a great explanation of the ABT method, which I love. And I didn't invent it; I learned about it from Dr. Randy Olson back in 2013. He's a Harvard PhD evolutionary biologist. Gives up 10 years ago's to film school in his mid 30s at USC. Graduates, produces writes, directs, and produces three movies on climate change and global warming. But the body of his work is about taking this basic framework of the ABT and teaching scientists and academics how to make their complex messages simple and compelling, and what I've learned from Randy over the years of working with him directly on this is the ABT has been around literally since the beginning of storytelling. He didn't invent it either. We are just revealing it to the world and say this is how you engage with that storytelling monkey sitting across from you. Yeah, which is which is cool. Well, you've you have I'm sure had situations where you use the ABT method in your own life to kind of reframe a story that that help you become stronger or more unstoppable? Can you cite an example of that? Yeah, I can tell you. It was back in September of 2015, and I had been running my agency at that time for about 20 years, and I just did not enjoy the advertising agency world anymore. It was got overrun by technology and digital marketing, and I thought I was getting the creativity sucked out of it. And my first thing was like, how do I fix this? And I found that storytelling was really the way to go. And it was we were very successful with it for 10 years, and my agency was growing. But I didn't care to be in an agency anymore. I wanted to teach people how to do it. And I remember waking up one morning with a total pit in my stomach, and the ABT essentially was, Park, you're an accomplished advertising professional, and you've got you know an amazing agency and team, but you are looking to make a bigger impact in the world than you can just simply do with your agency. Park Howell 47:02 Therefore, at the age of 55, you have to take a leap of faith, wind down your agency, start the business of story, and follow your true passion of consulting, teaching, coaching, and speaking on the power of story the world over. That essentially was my new mantra. That was my ABT. And what did you do? I wrapped up my agency by the end of 2015, 2016, January one. I launched the business of story. It was nice because it was kind of an extension or an off ramp of what I had already been doing. It wasn't like I was completely changing careers and industries. I just saw a new way forward to have impact in the world through communication, not just being an ad agency, but now being a teacher. And I mean, I went on right after that, or actually leading up to that, while I was still running Park and Co. Arizona State University came to me in 2013, and they saw the success I was having as an agency in the sustainability world with storytelling and my structures. I wrote a book on it, and I've since co-wrote a second book with Dr. Randy Olson, and they invited me to come in and teach a master's course on sustainable storytelling. Now, Mike, I had never taught anything in my life at that level, and I wasn't even the greatest student back in my days at Washington State University. But what I had learned over the course of the 30 years leading up to that, I was became a professor of practice, and I spent five years teaching storytelling, and I realized that that was my next calling-not just an ad guy, but to teach people how to do that. Michael Hingson 48:47 You talk about the story cycle system. What is that? Park Howell 48:50 Well, back in 2006, when I was struggling with our agency, trying to figure out how do you operate in this new digital realm and and actually make it work for clients. Our son Parker was going to film school at Chapman University, which is a very prominent film school over in Orange, California. He really wanted to be a film director, and I said, "Yeah, that's great. Go for that, and you might want to get your minor in business too, because business drives everything, even filmmaking. Well, while he was going to school there, and he has since moved on and has has a very prosperous career in the virtual reality mixed reality filmmaking world. So his education did him well. But while he was there, I was saying, you know, Parker, send me your books and your recorded lectures when you're done with them, since I'm paying for them, because I want to know what does Hollywood know about storytelling that we don't know, and that's when I was introduced to Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey. And as soon as I saw The Hero's Journey, I thought to myself, "By golly, this is a customer journey. This is a sales representative's journey." This is an agency owner's journey. This is all of our journeys. Why don't they teach this in the advertising world? It seemed like it was such a blueprint to success. It blew my mind. So I took it. It's a between a 12 and 17 step story structure is the hero's journey, or as Campbell would call it, the mono myth. And I mapped it to business because I knew the business people would say that's woo-woo Hollywood stuff. So I created my 10-step story cycle system, and Climate Adelante was the very first brand I used it on, and looked at it. It was kind of a science experiment, Mike. I didn't know if it was going to work or not, and it worked beyond my wildest imagination. And that's when I said, "There's magic here. There's incantations here. There's algorithms here that I need to understand much better. And by the way, it was Joseph Campbell who famously said, "Follow your bliss. You know what do you really love to do? And doors will open where there were only walls before, and in doing that, well, number one, we started having tremendous success in branding. Arizona State University shows up and says, "We want you to teach a master's course in this. I got a chance to sit down with the legendary screenwriting coach Robert McKee in his home in Connecticut and interview him for three hours for my podcast, even before I had a podcast. And I'm like, this stuff works. The magic of story works, and that's really what got me going. Is I had to take that leap of faith several years later and say, all right, you know, at 55, most people don't make that change, but I thought everything else has been telling me this is the way forward. I need to respect that and have the courage and the curiosity and go for it. Michael Hingson 51:51 And it worked, Park Howell 51:52 and it's worked fabulously. I've been able to travel around the world, teach people all over the place how to do this stuff. We have embraced AI. I think, by the way, I got to laugh because artificial intelligence is like the worst brand name you could ever advance for our most dynamic technology ever created. Think about it, though. It plays to one of the story truths I talked about earlier, right? The technologist that created AI named what they made artificial intelligence. Yeah, I reframe it as to what can artificial intelligence actually make happen in your life to artful intelligence because it doesn't work very well without you, and it can absolutely amplify your ability to create, to connect, to to have a tremendous impact in the world, and so I think about a little bit like emotional intelligence (EI) plus AI, artificial intelligence equals a whole new kind of ROI, and to me, that's your return on intelligence because it can make you smarter, it can make you faster, it can make you a better writer. I've experienced it myself, and that's why I look at artificial intelligence as artful intelligence when used right. Michael Hingson 53:17 And I think the key is when used right, and and the the operative part of all that is, it isn't going to do the writing. It isn't going to do the creating, but it's going to give you tools and assets that you can use to make you a much better writer and creator. Park Howell 53:36 Yeah, to me, it replaces the blank page and the blank stare with a right piece of content that you can now become the chief copy editor and writer on, Michael Hingson 53:48 right? Which which is fine. Yeah, I I don't think you're ever going to be able to take the human out of the creativity, no matter how good artful or artificial intelligence becomes. There's still that human element that that really is going to be part of it and should be part of it, Park Howell 54:06 yeah, without a doubt. One of my favorite piano players, Ben Folds and writer, you know, songwriters. He was a guy that back in the '90s, I was listening one of his first albums, and it was the first artist I had ever heard that left mistakes in his recording. He didn't go back. He didn't auto tune. If he missed a note on his piano playing, he left it. And there was such an authenticity to his singing, songwriting, and music because of that, there was nothing artificial about it. You knew you were hearing from an artist, warts and all, very endearing. And as AI gets better and better and better, it's going to erase those warts and it's going to give you synthetic pablum that is going to give you a toothache. Is it is not going to feel feel human unless you know how to use Michael Hingson 55:05 it, right? Which is which is the important part. So there are a lot of entrepreneurs and and people who have great stories. How do you help them learn to tell those stories? What do you do today? The Park Howell 55:21 best thing, the best tip I can give to anyone to that excellent question, is when you're telling a story, don't think about some big epic arc of a story. Those are like impossible to tell. Forget about it. And actually, your audience pretty much doesn't care about it. Think about a moment in time when everything changed for you, that woke you up, that set you on a new trajectory, tell that story. Have you noticed with a lot of the stories I've told, I've always given you a timestamp. I woke up in September of 20. What was it? September of 2015 with a knot in my stomach. Well, you do that. I purposely do that because if I start with a timestamp, it triggers my limbic brain to say, "Oh, something must have happened. Park started with a timestamp. I'd better pay attention to hear what happened to him, so I know what to do in case it ever happens to me. That's the essential sort of biology around it, as we believe. Then I followed up with a location stamp in bed in Phoenix, Arizona, with a knot in my stomach. Well, everyone's woken up with a knot in their stomach. They can relate to it. They can picture it. They can feel it. So now, opening up the theater of the mind. Oh, I can see it. You know, and then what happened? I loved my advertising world, you know, and I was really good at it. Got ad guy of the year in Phoenix in 2010, but there's the plot twist. But I no no longer liked it. Didn't want to be an ad guy anymore, and I was 55 years old. Let's raise the stakes a little bit more. So what did I do about it? I wound down my agency over the course of the next four months, launch business of story, and I've never looked back. That is a story about a moment in time for me that everything changed, and I share those with you. And how did I learn about storytelling? Gave you a timestamp, 2006. Gave you a location stamp, Chapman University in Orange, California gave you an individual, Parker, our son. Everyone you know that has kids have been in and out of college. They can relate to that. So I tell everybody, don't look for your story. Find your scenes. Those moments when things change in your life that you did not anticipate, or those moments of overcoming something that informs who you are today, knit together those scenes, and your story will find you. Yeah, Michael Hingson 57:50 what is the story cycle genie? Park Howell 57:53 Well, what we did, and then we took two years to create it. So we've got our story cycle system. I wrote a textbook on it, and I've taken numerous brands through it, and it typically takes 345, months to actually do. After all the due diligence, research, and creative brainstorming, whatever, one of my clients who had been through it and built it for his agency and a content management system ended up selling both of them after we rebranded. Came to me and said, "I love the StoryCycle system. We can make it way more efficient through AI. We're going to build it. And I said, "Okay, you build me a prototype, and away we go. Well, he did. I was blown away. We spent next two years. We launched it in July, and now anybody can use my process through the StoryCycle Genie at StoryCycleGenie AI, and all you have to do is give it your brand name, give it your website, and if you want to add a couple of other documents to it, you can. You don't have to. The genie is going to go through your website, give you a brand assessment on how you're currently showing up in the world with your story, and then it's going to create with you your overall brand narrative strategy. So you are interacting with the genie through that artful intelligence engagement to really dial in your foundational brand story. It finishes creating your overall brand brain with audience stories in your content playbook, and then from there you can build any sort of marketing strategy that's going to be on brand because it knows all about your brand and what you do, and every piece of content it will write for you with you, and it's always on brand. And with every iteration you make, every change, every instruction you give to it, it gets smarter about how you show up in the world. So we just took months of brand development and boil it down to you can do it in a couple of hours. What used to cost 50, $60,000 to do might cost you 200. Let's all send them to build that brand brain out, and then from there it becomes your brand content agency in a bottle. You can use. With your people for all kinds of sales and marketing, from producing videos, it doesn't do images yet. It does all the content strategy around those, and so it's just taken our human invention of the story cycle genie based off of foundational narrative frameworks and makes it available to anybody that wants to build a world-class brand. What's the biggest mistake that you see that most people make when they're trying to share and tell their story and so on? What's the biggest storytelling mistake they usually make? They make it about themselves, and even if your story is about you, which is fine, we tell a lot of stories about ourselves because it's a great example of what we experience, what you can learn from our experience. But always tell it from the point of view of your audience. Why does Mike care about this story? Well, he he asked me, so you know that question about you know what'd you do as a young kid. So I want to tell that story, but I want to try to get it to be relatable to you, you come from a sales background, right? You have to get hardware, computer hardware, and so forth. And so, a lot of the things that I was talking to you about, and hoping that your audience would be triggering in on, was from your perspective through my experience. Michael Hingson 1:01:17 Right. Park Howell 1:01:19 That makes sense. Michael Hingson 1:01:20 It does. So, Park Howell 1:01:21 and then be brief. You know, one of the best copywriting tips I got was out of an old, old, old direct mail copywriting book. Said, you know, in this case, it was about writing. So, write with vigor. Brevity is vigor. Yeah, storytelling is the same way. You want to be specific and have specifics in the story, but you got to balance it with brevity. If to your point, Michael Hingson 1:01:47 yeah, people oftentimes take way too long. They have to explain too many things, or they think they have to explain that that they don't, and they take way too long to get to the point. Park Howell 1:02:00 Yeah, yep. The only way to overcome that is start your story with the end. You know, you could might it's sort of like a moral of a story. Like, gosh, Mike, have you ever been in a situation where you did something that surprised the hell out of you, and you found kind of a whole new calling? Yeah. Well, what are you talking about? Well, let me tell you what happened to me. Time stamp, location stamp. I was trying to do this, but then this thing happened to me that opened my eyes to this whole new world. Now I'm doing this. Makes perfect sense. So for listeners who want to develop their unstoppable mindset through clear storytelling and so on, how and what would be the best way for them to start? Well, like you, I also have a podcast. There you go. 10 years, and it's always story artists from around the world. It's called the Business of Story. We talk a lot about storytelling in every aspect of business: sales, marketing, branding, and personal development, and in fact, I end each show with the simple thought of remember that the most potent story you'll ever tell is a story you tell yourself. So make that a good one. So that's that unstoppable mindset, right? So go there. You can find me too on LinkedIn, Park Howell. Let me know. You know, reach out. Let's let's connect. Tell me you heard me on Mike's show, so I know where you're coming from. And then, of course, if you want to check out the Story Cycle Genie, you can even test the strength of your brand story for free. Just go to StoryCycleGenie.ai. You're going to click on a button that says "Give me my brand story grade. It's going to ask you for your name, an email, and your website. That's all. No credit cards. No nothing. And in under a minute, it's going to give you a grade from A plus to F minus, and a 14 point storytelling assessment that will validate what you're doing well, reveal gaps that you can easily fix, and even inspire you with new ways to tell your story. Michael Hingson 1:04:03 So there you are, and I hope people will reach out to you. I think that you have offered a whole lot of very relevant and useful stuff, which I'm not surprised at. I figured you would, and I personally really appreciate the time that you've taken with us. Maybe we should do more of this in the future. We'll have to discuss it and plot. Park Howell 1:04:23 I love it, Mike, and I got to have you over on my show if you're open to coming on the beach. Absolutely Michael Hingson 1:04:28 love the feature there. Absolutely, I always start my stories with a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Do you think anybody? Nobody's used that, right? You know, fair enough. Park Howell 1:04:38 Fair enough. I like it. There should be a movie out of that. Michael Hingson 1:04:41 They really should. What would they call it? Star something. Anyway, I really, I really Park Howell 1:04:48 unstoppable Star Wars. Michael Hingson 1:04:49 Unstoppable Star Wars. Right. Well, thank you for being here. I want to thank all of you for listening and watching. I'd love to hear from you. Hear what you think about today and. Everything with Park that we went through. Love to get your ideas. Feel free to email me at speaker at michael Hingson m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com. Wherever you're observing our podcast, please give us a five star rating. But even more important, give us a great review. People love reviews when they're considering what podcasts they're going to devote their time to, so we really appreciate reviews. And of course, as I also always say, if you know anyone who ought to be a guest on our show, Park, including anybody you may know, we're always looking for people you would introduce us to who can come on and tell their stories. So with that, I want to thank you once again, Park, for for being here and working with us and and putting us through some great exercises
"Don't wait for your life to become less busy before you honor your creativity." – Nataliya Falevich Today's featured author is a mompreneur, speech-language pathologist, artist, and speaker, Nataliya Falevich. Nataliya and I had a fun on a bun chat about her 1st book, “Velvet Blade: Requiem for Captivity”, her journey from immigrating from Moscow at 22 to earning three master's degrees while raising three children, why burnout can be a signal that transformation is overdue, and more!!! Key Things You'll Learn:How a single, honest moment of self-reflection can become the catalyst for a complete life reinventionWhat Nataliya learned about herself while writing her bookWhy writing a book can be a tool for your personal growthSome insights on how to honor your creativity as a busy parentNataliya's Site: https://nataliyafalevich.com/Nataliya's Books: https://a.co/d/0aUERYPWThe opening track is titled, “Unknown From M.E. | Sonic Adventure 2 ~ City Pop Remix” by Iridium Beats. To listen to and download the full track, click the following link. https://www.patreon.com/posts/sonic-adventure-136084016 Please support today's podcast to keep this content coming! CashApp: $DomBrightmonDonate on PayPal: @DBrightmonBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dombrightmonGet Going North T-Shirts, Stickers, and More: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/dom-brightmonThe Going North Advancement Compass: https://a.co/d/bA9awotYou May Also Like…913 – How a Master's Thesis Became a Published Novel with Kristina Smeriglio (@kristysmeriglio): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-913-how-a-masters-thesis-became-a-published-novel-with-kristina-smeriglio-kristysmeriglio/1110 – You're Allowed To Quit and Create Something Better with Kate Kayaian (@kate_kayaian): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/youre-allowed-to-quit-and-create-something-better-with-kate-kayaian-kate_kayaian/884 – How to Go From Stuck to Unstoppable with Murielle Marie Ungricht: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-884-how-to-go-from-stuck-to-unstoppable-with-murielle-marie-ungricht/727 – Personal Growth Through Intentional Living & Interior Design with Shana Francesca: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-727-personal-growth-through-intentional-living-interior-design-with-shana-francesca/1100 – The Burning Ground and the Courage to Live Your Greatest Story with Celinne Da Costa (@CelinneDaCosta): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/the-burning-ground-and-the-courage-to-live-your-greatest-story-with-celinne-da-costa-celinnedacost/1029 – Unlock Your Creativity & Make Life Your Biggest Art Project with Pia Mailhot-Leichter (@pialeichter): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1029-unlock-your-creativity-make-life-your-biggest-art-project-with-pia-mailhot-leichter-p/1008 – From Art Critic to Celebrity Insider with Nadja Sayej (@nadjasayej): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1008-from-art-critic-to-celebrity-insider-with-nadja-sayej-nadjasayej/1045 – Transforming Disney Dreams Into Dark Romance Novels with Bria Rose: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1045-transforming-disney-dreams-into-dark-romance-novels-with-bria-rose/963 – Navigating Creative Doubt to Reach the Publishing Promised Land with J.F. Monroe: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-963-navigating-creative-doubt-to-reach-the-publishing-promised-land-with-jf-monroe/1068 – Blending Entrepreneurial Drive with High-Octane Romantic Suspense with Lori Zoss: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1068-blending-entrepreneurial-drive-with-high-octane-romantic-suspense-with-lori-zoss/780 – She is You with Felicity Nicole: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-780-she-is-you-with-felicity-nicole/965 – From Hollywood Writing Rooms to Writing Her Own Rules with Amy Suto (@Sutoscience): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-965-from-hollywood-writing-rooms-to-writing-her-own-rules-with-amy-suto-sutoscience/
When God speaks but the road ahead looks painful, how do you know whether to stop, wait, or obey anyway?In Ready Anyway, Pastor Talaat McNeely teaches from Acts 21:1-16 NLT about what happens when God's direction seems clear, but the people around you reach a different conclusion. This message is for anyone trying to discern God's voice, make a difficult decision, release control, or keep obeying when the next step feels costly.In this episode, you'll discover:How to separate what God said from your fear, preferences, and assumptionsWhy a warning from God may prepare you for hardship instead of telling you to avoid itHow to receive godly counsel without giving up your responsibility to test what you heardWhy love can become control when fear takes overWhat it means to trust God when you cannot control the outcomePrimary Scripture: Acts 21:1-16 NLTPaul's example shows that readiness is not confidence that everything will turn out the way you want. It is confidence in the God who is leading you, even when obedience includes discomfort, uncertainty, or sacrifice.Purpose City Church | Aurora, ILFollow The Purpose City Church Podcast and visit us at https://www.purposecitychurch.com/
Jeremy and Joe analyze the Buffalo Bills' hot start to the season, debating if they are currently the best team in the NFL. They reflect on Nick Wright's "September champions" label and examine Josh Allen's career success early in the year. The discussion also covers the struggling AFC landscape, specifically the winless Los Angeles Chargers and the injury to Caleb Williams. (00:02:04) Fantasy Football Stars (00:04:00) September Champions Bit (00:08:05) Josh Allen Splits (00:12:18) Struggling AFC Teams (00:18:05) Chargers Historic Struggles
Dr. Jonathan Youssef
Pastor Rodney taught that praise is more than a song. It's making much of God with our words, actions, attitudes, and entire lives in response to who He is and what He has done. Praise is a choice that shifts our perspective from the size of our circumstances to the greatness and faithfulness of God, declaring that even when we don't understand what He is doing, we still know who He is. Listen and be challenged. Support the show
Brought to you by Stone and Wood's Pacific Ale...Marginal conditions at Trestles favoured the lightweights and left the lead-foots stuck in the mud in the mens (bar hundy kegger Col Houshmand). In the Women's Erin Brooks is on another planet right now. Gabby Bryan also announced her return to the yellow leaders jersey with a solid showing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Domonique Foxworth and Charlie Kravitz react to Josh Allen and the Bills dominating the Lions before previewing every game on the Week 2 NFL slate. Can the Bears' explosive offense crack the Vikings' daunting defense? How different will the Rams look in Week 2? And is the Eagles' offense actually any better? Plus, Saints-Ravens, Bengals-Texans, Commanders-Cowboys, Jaguars-Broncos, and much more. 0:00 Lions vs. Bills reaction 13:29 Vikings vs. Bears 27:37 Eagles vs. Titans 39:12 Packers vs. Jets 45:37 Panthers vs. Falcons 47:25 Browns vs. Bucs 50:53 Bengals vs. Texans 55:48 Jaguars vs. Broncos 1:00:34 Steelers vs. Patriots 1:03:04 Saints vs. Ravens 1:06:05 Commanders vs. Cowboys 1:08:18 Raiders vs. Chargers 1:11:05 Seahawks vs. Cardinals 1:12:55 Dolphins vs. 49ers 1:15:18 Colts vs. Chiefs 1:18:01 Giants vs. Rams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode, we dive into the intense backlash from redeveloping a neglected Oklahoma shopping center and the necessary mindset required to silence critics and execute your vision. We break down the critical difference between distress and eustress, explaining why choosing the right kind of pressure is the ultimate key to growth and high performance.Additionally, we unpack the Fed's recent decision to hike rates by 25 basis points, a move driven by sticky Core CPI data. This episode details exactly why single-family rental properties have become a financial trap for investors and why shifting focus to private credit, like the Imagos Income Fund, and commercial real estate offers far better risk-adjusted returns.KEY TOPICS DISCUSSEDManaging online trolls and local community pushback during commercial retail redevelopmentThe psychology of success and building thick skin as an entrepreneurCore CPI explained and why the Fed unexpectedly hiked rates by 25 basis pointsThe single-family rental trap and why cash flow is disappearing for residential investorsHow the 10-year treasury and 7% mortgage rates are crushing housing affordabilityGenerating passive yield through private credit investing and the Imagos Income FundUnderstanding distress versus eustress to unlock elite personal performanceKEY TAKEAWAYSChoosing eustress (positive, intentional pressure) over distress is what forces high performers to level up and build lasting wealth.Single-family rentals are currently a poor investment vehicle because the operational workload remains the same while profit margins and cash flow have been decimated by high rates.Core CPI strips out volatile food and energy costs, making it the most critical metric the Fed uses to determine rate hikes and economic policy.Commercial real estate and private debt funds offer significantly better returns and lower operational headaches compared to the current single-family housing market.Executing a massive vision requires silencing the noise of critics who operate from a mindset of scarcity and fear.CONNECT & TAKE ACTIONText INCOME to 844-777-1434 to learn about the Imagos Income FundText DEALS to 844-777-1434 to join the investment deals listText NAPA to 844-777-1434 for exclusive community eventsVisit SkylineOCresidences.com to explore luxury home ownership in Orange CountyCheck out ImagosX.com for ultra-high-net-worth VIP event packages
Big 12 Radio host Ari Temkin
Scott Garrard, Tim LaComb, Coach Ron McBride & Alema Harrington Memories of trips to Fort Collins Can USU slow down Utes high powered offense
Domonique Foxworth and Charlie Kravitz react to Josh Allen and the Bills dominating the Lions before previewing every game on the Week 2 NFL slate. Can the Bears' explosive offense crack the Vikings' daunting defense? How different will the Rams look in Week 2? And is the Eagles' offense actually any better? Plus, Saints-Ravens, Bengals-Texans, Commanders-Cowboys, Jaguars-Broncos, and much more. 0:00 Lions vs. Bills reaction 13:29 Vikings vs. Bears 27:37 Eagles vs. Titans 39:12 Packers vs. Jets 45:37 Panthers vs. Falcons 47:25 Browns vs. Bucs 50:53 Bengals vs. Texans 55:48 Jaguars vs. Broncos 1:00:34 Steelers vs. Patriots 1:03:04 Saints vs. Ravens 1:06:05 Commanders vs. Cowboys 1:08:18 Raiders vs. Chargers 1:11:05 Seahawks vs. Cardinals 1:12:55 Dolphins vs. 49ers 1:15:18 Colts vs. Chiefs 1:18:01 Giants vs. Rams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The fellas breakdown the Chiefs dismantling of the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. Kenneth Walker Jr ran all through Denver's defense as Patrick Mahomes returned from his injury. Then Chris and Beau turn their attention to the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers track meet. Chicago's offense looked unstoppable with Caleb Williams seemingly scoring at will. The fellas end with some America's Teams featuring New York football teams, Gen Z QBs and Jameis Winston! (00:00:00) - Week 1 Reactions (00:02:24) - Kansas City Chiefs 31 Denver Broncos 10 (00:26:21) - Chicago Bears 59 Carolina Panthers 37 (00:48:09) - America's Teams Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Send an email to the Green Light Mailbag presented by Zone Nicotine and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, the mailbag is open! greenlightmailbag@gmail.com With the return of the Layup Line, make sure to check out the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=YP1-ffQ3T_yUDRnJRhDtOw Check out Green Light's YouTube Channel, where you can catch all the latest GL action: Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, I'm sharing some transformative strategies to help you grow your business by attracting and converting your ideal clients. I'll walk you through how to get super specific about who you're serving, how to craft content that speaks directly to their needs, and why aligning your content strategy with your sales goals is a game-changer. We'll also talk about differentiating your offer and using targeted messaging to stand out in a crowded market. If you're ready to triple your income and create content that truly converts, this episode is for you Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! KEY POINTS: 00:00 Welcome and Mission 01:15 The First Shift: Speak Directly to Your Ideal Client 02:47 Why "Shallow and Wide" Is Costing You Sales 04:20 Six-Figure Months in the Off-Season, Posting Twice a Week 06:44 The $20K VIP Day From a Not-Yet-Six-Figure Client 09:00 The Second Shift: Stop Using "Me Me Me" Language 10:26 Don't Be the Best, Be the Only 13:00 Stop Selling the Airplane, Sell the Transformation 15:32 The Third Shift: You're Asking the Wrong Question 17:38 Closing and How to End the Year Strong QUOTABLES: “To triple your income, focus on targeted content. Content should support what you are selling.” — Julie Solomon “Identify and understand your ideal client deeply. Your messaging should resonate with their needs.” — Julie Solomon “Align your content strategy with your sales goals. Quality content is more effective than quantity.” — Julie Solomon RESOURCES: [UNSCRIPTED RETREAT 2027] Where your voice, your message, and your identity become one. February 3–5, 2027 • Nashville, Tennessee APPLY HERE [THE REVENUE ACCELERATOR] Book a strategy call to explore whether The Revenue Accelerator is the right next step for your business and leadership. Apply and schedule your call today. [ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence. Follow Julie on Instagram!MUST HAVES THIS MONTH: [SHOP SMARTER WITH THIS PLATFORM] From inventory management to customer engagement, this platform simplifies every aspect of running your business. Get started here.
Rob Has a Podcast | Survivor / Big Brother / Amazing Race - RHAP
Unstoppable Hyrox World Champ is News AF – September 15, 2026 Rob Cesternino, Tyson Apostol, and Danny Bryson are back with another entertaining episode of News AF, where they dive into the week’s most peculiar and amusing stories. Today, Rob, Tyson, and Danny talk through the week’s most newsworthy stories. To order Rob’s book, The Tribe and I Have Spoken, visit www.robhasabook.com Be sure to subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Need to catch up on more Actual Factual news? Archive of News AF Subscribe to News AF on iTunes View the News AF Archive News AF on Youtube Group AF Facebook Page Be sure to check our some great offers from our sponsors
"Dave, you remember?" It's been 25 years since a day we'll never forget: Zaslow, Dave, and the Shipping Container (do their best to) share their memories from 9/11/2001. Then, Matthew & Brady Tkachuk were at the Miami Hurricanes game last night to watch them absolutely annihilate FAMU, and Zaslow loves Cox. Today's cast: Zaslow, Your ol' pal Dave Dameshek, Roy, Chris, Jeremy, Mike, and Tony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices