Episodes

We always say your best business partner can be in the most surprising places. Today, we discuss why holding a global mindset and helping new companies with their first funding boost, regardless of location, makes for a healthier business ecosystem. Jenny Fielding, the co-founder and managing partner of Everywhere Ventures, is a big believer in the game-changing impact of global entrepreneurship. From her own journey as an accidental entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, she stresses the impor...

What if you could look into a crystal ball and see exactly what your family’s long-term care needs will be in the future? In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Lily Vittayarukskul, the brilliant CEO and co-founder of Waterlily, an AI-powered platform that uses over 500 million data points to help families plan for the financial and emotional realities of aging. Lily is a World Economic Forum Top Innovator, a patented inventor, and someone who turned a heartbreaking personal experi...

In this episode, I am happy to introduce you to a great mind from my circle here in Chicago. Lisa Guillot, a best-selling author and expert in personal branding, offers a transformative perspective on the significance of a clear vision framework for achieving success. With a rich background in design and branding, Lisa specializes in helping leaders craft vibrant and purposeful personal and professional brands. Her approach is encapsulated in her book, "Find Your Clear Vision," and the CLEAR met...

From buying property while in his Harvard dorm to starting a business with his wife, Derrick has made it his life's mission to improve the process for and access to real estate investing. Derrick Barker, the co-founder and CEO of Nectar, is at the forefront of transforming the real estate finance landscape through innovative technology solutions. Based in Atlanta, his company provides liquidity to commercial real estate owners with low-leverage, cash-flowing assets, enabling them to grow their p...

As the complexity and demands of technology continue to rise in our business lives, CEOs need to explore all available avenues of how to identify and attract top talent. This is where nearshoring comes in. Nearshoring is a valuable vehicle to augment existing teams, support rapid scaling, or bring new knowledge into an organization quickly. To learn more about nearshoring we turned to Brian Samson, an entrepreneur who has lived and established multiple companies in Latin America. Because of this...

Sandra J. Horton is a well-known author and speaker who offers valuable insights and practical strategies for today's organizational challenges. As a systemic leadership sustainability strategist, she penned "Activate Success: Tips, Tools and Insights to be a Leaders in Your Niche," a book packed with 27 activators to help leaders excel in diverse situations. Sandra's take on sustainable leadership highlights the importance of aligning values and being ready to address and adapt to rapid change....

Imagine if, within 9 years of starting a company, you could grow to have 34 million people a month interacting on your platform. And that is the story you will hear today from Adrián Ridner. Driven by a mission to provide life-changing and accessible education, Study.com is one of the largest online learning platforms for K-12 through college and beyond. With learners and educators representing more than 11,000 schools, Study.com is focused on supporting students, teachers, and the teacher pipel...

Consumers are spending more money than ever on health supplement products, and yet, most people are confused, frustrated, and unsure of what is truthful and what works. Enter Caroline Carralero, a founder on a mission to help solve the metabolic health crisis and bring clarity to this corner of self-care healthcare. While Caroline started Daily Nouri out of her kitchen, she has built the business into an Omnichannel entity with a presence online and in retailers such as Walmart. Daily Nouri offe...

Have you ever thought about your communication fingerprints as a leader? Or the gap between what you say and what your teams hear? Well, we thought it would be interesting to talk with Oscar Trimboli, a renowned thought leader and expert on the transformative power of listening in effective leadership. Drawing from his extensive background, including his tenure as marketing director for Microsoft Australia, Oscar has dedicated himself to decoding the behaviors of exceptional listeners. Oscar has...

We know this has happened to you. You go to pick up a prescription and are floored by the price. Or even worse, you have had a loved one diagnosed with a rare disease only to find limited treatment options. The pharmaceutical industry needs drastic change, and Dr. Jo Varshney is all in on making that happen. As Founder and CEO, VeriSIM Life, Jo leads a team of world-class scientists, machine learning engineers, and in silico simulation experts bringing clarity to drug development through computa...

Leadership has always come with challenges and stress but today's business environment has escalated the pressures on CEOs far beyond where they were just a decade ago. In this episode, we talk with Andrea Petrone who has been recognized as one of the top 2% of executive coaches in the UK. Andrea became a CEO at 35 making his mark in the energy industry. Over his career, Andrea has lived and worked in 7 different countries, gaining invaluable insights into leading international teams and organiz...

If ever an industry needs a bit of disruption, it’s the home equity loan or refinancing space. Well, we had the opportunity to sit down with Michael Gifford and hear how Splitero is revolutionizing how homeowners can access their home equity and feel more empowered when doing so. This interview weaves insights into Michael’s founder’s journey and the mission behind Splitero to deliver a greater power of choice to homeowners in their time of need. (Audience note: please investigate options before...

So excited to bring back a favorite past guest of mine, Jeffrey Klubeck, a pillar of his industry. Jeffrey is a well-known coach, consultant, and leadership expert, who is all about emphasizing the importance of soft skills for building strong leaders, teams, and organizations. Known for his book "The Integrity Game," Klubeck shares his wisdom on communication, emotional intelligence, and change management through tailored corporate programs and teaching gigs at his old stomping grounds. He's bi...

Can everyone tell when you use AI to write copy to write ads? Alex Persky-Stern, CEO of Waymark, is at the forefront of harnessing generative AI to transform video advertising for small businesses. He champions the idea that AI can significantly enhance the creative process, allowing for the production of high-quality video ads that small businesses might not have been able to achieve otherwise. Under his leadership, Waymark is pioneering projects that push the boundaries of content production, ...

276 Setting Sights High: Equity and Accessibility in Vision Care with Matthias Hofmann, Co-founder & CEO of Eyebot; Boston, MA, USA We love speaking with MedTech founders and so we were excited to have Matthias Hofmann, the co-founder and CEO of Eyebot join us to explain how his team is transforming the way we receive vision care. Before this interview, we had no idea that 25% of US counties lack a practicing eye care provider. We also hadn’t thought about the increasing shortage of vision care ...

Rarely do you meet people who you just know your life is richer because of that meeting - well, Chad Foster is one of those individuals. Author of Blind AmbitionTM, Chad is a globally recognized speaker and advocate for resilience, sharing his compelling journey from blindness at 21 to becoming a Fortune 500 corporate leader and motivational figure. Chad’s life story is the embodiment of living within disruption and staying grounded in purpose. Today, he is on a mission to help others thrive thr...

Angel Vossough, the brains behind BetterAI, is shaking up the AI game by focusing on making wine searches and recommendations more personalized through her cool project, VinoVoss. Angel and the team blend their skills and vast wine knowledge to craft an AI solution that opens the gateway for everyone to become a better wine expert as well as guide choices to lesser known quality brands. A big advocate for diversity and inclusivity, Angel also discusses the significance of diverse AI training dat...

273 Scale Profits and Win Back Time By Training Teams to Lead with Christian Muntean, Founder at Vantage Consulting; Anchorage, AK, USA If you want different organizational results, tap into a different kind of leadership guru. For this episode, we headed north to Alaska to meet with Christian Muntean, a distinguished authority in leadership training helping CEOs drive improved financial results and business outcomes via improved team dynamics and organizational performance. Recently, he bundled...

272 Better Systems, Better Trucking, Happy Drivers - How aifleet is Humanizing and Enhancing Ground Freight Movement with Marc El Khoury, Co-Founder and CEO of aiflee, Austin, Texas, USA Marc El Khoury, the visionary founder of aifleet, is transforming the trucking industry with a focus on enhanced driver utilization and technological innovation. With roots in management consulting and a discovered passion for trucking, Marc has steered airfleet to an impressive annual growth rate of 75% to 100%...

271 Fractional Real Estate Ownership Opens New Doors with Duncan Kreeger, CEO and Founder of TAB; London, England, UK Duncan Kreeger, the visionary founder and CEO of TAB, is on a mission to democratize real estate investment by making it more accessible and liquid for a broader audience. Drawing from two decades of experience in the property market, Duncan seeks to revolutionize traditional investment methods, which he views as risky and limiting, by offering fractional ownership opportunities ...

270 Leveraging Human Interaction for Authentic CEO Branding with Raoul Davis, CEO of Ascendant Group; Newark, DE, USA Raoul Davis, the CEO of Ascendant Group, is a pioneering advocate for the institutionalization of CEO branding, emphasizing its critical role in building trust and authentic connections. He advocates for executives to actively manage their personal brands, ensuring alignment with their company's ethos to enhance long-term market presence. Raoul underscores the importance of human...

Cam Doody knows what it takes to move an early-stage start-up through product fit, function, and successful launch as he has honed in on creating the right environment and formula for success. As co-founder and general partner of Brickyard, a venture capital firm based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Cam and his team specialize in supporting early-stage tech startups and have built a reputation so strong that they are expecting possibly up to 10,000 pitch decks of founders hoping to enter their progr...

Rohit Bhargava is a person you should know and follow. He is a pioneering thinker renowned for his expertise in non obvious thinking, a philosophy he champions through his speaking, consulting and body of work. We invited Rohit to tell us about his new book, Non Obvious Thinking: How to See What Others Miss. Rohit believes in the necessity of non obvious thinkers to drive innovation and disrupt conventional business paradigms, a vision he communicates through books, podcasts, and newsletters. He...

Every day CEOs and senior leaders are faced with a tsunami of information and requests so we invited Nuala Walsh, leadership expert and author of Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World to share her esteemed insights. With her distinguished 30-year career in financial services and as the founder of Mind Equity Consulting, Nuala brings a profound understanding of human behavior to the forefront of business decision-making. In a world rife with data overload and disinformation, Nua...