FailCraft

In this episode of FailCraft ,former Wall Street investment banker, ownership transition strategist, andfounder of Theodora Africa, Michael Podolny, joins Ezekiel to unpack whytraditional charity models fail to solve chronic poverty and how market-drivenbusiness design creates lasting human restoration. After decades of structuringhigh-stakes corporate acquisitions, Michael traveled to West Africa...

In this episode of FailCraft ,single father, coach, and founder of Inspiring Father, Tyler McAdams, joinsEzekiel to explore the raw realities of single parenthood, surviving emotionalburnout, and breaking generational trauma. After navigating a painful divorce,a difficult subsequent separation, financial pressure, and his youngestdaughter’s three-month stay in the NICU, Tyler found himself trapped...

In this episode of FailCraft ,retired U.S. Navy Chief Operations Specialist, defense analyst, and communityleader Adam Hinds joins Ezekiel to break down what authentic leadership lookslike once rank, titles, and authority are completely stripped away. Over a22-year military career spanning sea duty, reserve service, and deployments toDjibouti, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Bahrain, Adam learned how to t...

In this episode of FailCraft ,clinical psychologist of over 35 years and co-author of Reenactments: Breakthe Behavior Patterns That Keep You Stuck in Trauma, Stress, and Everyday Life ,Dr. Tony Iezzi, joins Ezekiel to unpack why we repeat self-destructive habitseven when we logically know better. After years of treating trauma survivorswith standard exposure therapy, Dr. Iezzi noticed a troubling...

In this episode of FailCraft , practicing dentist, author, and founder ofSelfworth.ca, Mitesh Jani, joins Ezekiel to explore the transformative power ofinner self-reflection, overcoming severe burnout, and shifting from outcomeobsession to daily execution. After spending a decade balancing a clinicalcareer and multiple businesses while burying his writings in an untitleddesktop folder, an enforced...

In this episode of FailCraft ,Speakers Hall of Fame inductee, bestselling author of Even Eagles Need aPush , and expert on vital aging, David McNally, joins Ezekiel to explorehow to navigate profound loss and redefine purpose in life’s second half. Despite inspiring millions on global stages, David’s resilience was forgedthrough intense personal tragedy: losing his first wife to ovarian cancer, hi...

In this episode of FailCraft ,science fiction and cyberpunk author Russell Anders joins Ezekiel to discusscreative resilience, discarding a 10-year manuscript, and bridging the dividebetween being a writer and a published author. After spending a decade writinga massive 600,000-word manuscript, Russell earned praise from industry agentsbut zero publishing offers. Instead of getting discouraged or...

In this episode of FailCraft ,founder and CEO of FBO Strategies and architect of the Carbyne Allocation®,Keith Friedman, joins Ezekiel to break down why conventional wealth managementadvice regarding conservative assets is fundamentally flawed. Drawing on over25 years of financial services experience, Keith explains how traditionalportfolios heavily weighted in bonds, bond funds, and cash equivale...

In this episode of FailCraft ,artist, author, and creativity coach Rick Sorenson joins Ezekiel to share howlosing a 13-year international paper importing business pushed him back to hiscreative and spiritual roots. After navigating disruptions ranging from factoryfires and harvester disputes to supply chain breakdowns in Bhutan, an economicdownturn forced Rick to let the business go and pay off ac...

In this episode of FailCraft ,Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), Duke MBA, and serial entrepreneurThomas Addison joins Ezekiel to share how losing $1.55 million on a businessdeal that looked flawless on paper became the foundational education for hisgreatest ventures. Bouncing back from catastrophic loss, Thomas went on toacquire and sell a garage door company, execute a profitable exit on af...

In this episode of FailCraft ,former Fortune 500 management consultant and founder of DiscussIt, Rita Rai, joinsEzekiel to break down why the traditional consulting model fails modernbusiness agility. After years advising enterprise executive teams onlarge-scale digital transformations, operational overhauls, and strategy, Ritaobserved that the real needle-moving moments never came from 80-page sl...

In this episode of FailCraft ,educator, former Department of Defense education research analyst, andco-author of Born of Nothing , Dr. Donald Williams, joins Ezekiel toshare how he broke out of a Southern mill village to rewrite his family'sgenerational trajectory. Raised in an extended family of cotton mill workersknown derisively as "lintheads," Donald's environment expected yo...

In this episode of FailCraft ,psychologist, speaker, and co-author of The 5 Languages of Appreciation inthe Workplace , Dr. Paul White, joins Ezekiel to uncover why 79% ofemployees who quit cite a lack of appreciation as their primary reason forleaving. Partnering with Dr. Gary Chapman to bring the five love languagesframework into corporate settings, Dr. White's work has impacted over 800,000...

In this episode of FailCraft ,founder of WR Digital Marketing and author of The Three Roots Marketing PlanWorkbook , Juliana Weiss-Roessler, joins Ezekiel to break down why small andmid-sized businesses burn out on social media while seeing zero return. Withover two decades of experience serving more than 150 organizations, Julianapulls back the curtain on the traditional agency playbook and expos...

In this episode of FailCraft ,private investigator, former juvenile probation officer, gang investigator, andauthor of Tip of the Spear , Dave Kopeny, joins Ezekiel to pull back thecurtain on the failed War on Drugs and the modern teen addiction crisis. Growing up in a home consumed by addiction—where he was introduced to LSD ateight years old and later lost his father, brother, and sister to subs...

In this episode of FailCraft ,father of eight and author of Autism Sucks: Finding Hope in the Chaos ,Paul Voss, joins Ezekiel to share the raw reality of raising a child on thespectrum while managing a large household on zero sleep. When his youngestdaughter began regressing into severe autism in 2022, generic clinicalplatitudes failed to solve her nightly two-hour waking cycles or intensesensory...

In this episode of FailCraft ,founder of Human Liberation and host of The Joel Bein Show , Joel Bein,joins Ezekiel to break down why adding more self-improvement habits, meditationsessions, and mindset reframes often fails to solve chronic self-sabotage. After spending years in an exhausting cycle of pushing and grinding against avicious inner critic, Joel discovered a belief-clearing method that...

In this episode of FailCraft ,financial coach, best-selling author, and host of the Give A Heck podcast Dwight Heck joins Ezekiel to discuss escaping the paycheck-to-paycheckgrind and building intentional financial freedom. Raising five children as asingle father while running an IT consulting business, Dwight lived in constantfinancial exhaustion—until a severe health crisis in 2001 stripped away...

In this episode of FailCraft ,professional gallery artist of over 30 years and transformational guide DevorahBrinckerhoff joins Ezekiel to explore how mixed-media intuitive creativityheals the trauma that analytical thinking cannot touch. Moving away from thepressure of painting for external gallery approval, Devorah created the SoulPortraits methodology out of personal necessity—ripping up old jo...

In this episode of FailCraft ,serial entrepreneur, sales psychology specialist, and founder of Elite BusinessCruises Joe Rockey joins Ezekiel to challenge the outdated tropes andpressure-heavy scripts that hold modern sales teams back. Having launched 29different business ventures, Joe breaks down why traditional script-basedclosing destroys morale, why prospects deploy the defensive "I'm...

In this episode of FailCraft ,inspirational speaker, wellness entrepreneur, and award-winning author Sara Imjoins Ezekiel to share her harrowing yet deeply triumphant story of survivingthe Cambodian genocide. In 1975, while attending college away from home, Sarawas taken captive by the Khmer Rouge and forced into four brutal years of laborcamps—enduring starvation, exhaustion, and severe illness d...

In this episode of FailCraft , veteran executive coach, speaker, and authorof Mayday! and Hidden Metrics , M.Nora Bouchard, joins Ezekiel to unpack how high-performing leaders can identifyand dismantle dangerous blind spots. Early in her career at a global consultingfirm, Nora hit every milestone on paper while secretly operating as anaggressive, fear-driven manager—until a single question from he...

In this episode of FailCraft , small business owner, former two-term Mayorof Placentia, and California State Senate candidate Rhonda Shader joins Ezekielto pull back the curtain on government reform, fiscal discipline, and cuttingthrough bureaucratic red tape. Taking office when Placentia was on the brink ofbankruptcy, Rhonda faced relentless establishment pushback to launch the city'sfirst in...

In this episode of FailCraft , holistic empowerment mentor, keynotespeaker, former collegiate athlete, and author of Blurred Lines ,Lauren Fay, joins Ezekiel to explore how high-capacity women can break freefrom emotional exhaustion, overthinking, and reliance on alcohol to cope withstress. Alcohol-free since 2018, Lauren explains that drinking is rarely theprimary issue—it is often a tool used to...

In this episode of FailCraft , author, speaker, and storyteller Daniel Grayjoins Ezekiel to share how total accountability and faith guided him throughthe federal justice system and incarceration following January 6th. Rather thandeflecting blame or adopting a victim mentality, Daniel chose radicalownership—submitting an unvarnished confession of his life's mistakes directlyto the judge before...