Disruptive Influence: The Business Storytelling & Brand Communication Podcast

Joel Holtby believes creativity should be the most exciting part of any business — not something optimized into submission. As Founder & Global Co-CCO of Courage , one of Canada’s most awarded creative agencies, Joel has helped build work for brands including KFC, KitKat, CIBC, Nescafé and more. In this conversation, Joel & Jeff get into why creativity and efficiency often sit at opposite...

Jodie Cook believes there are no unique messages - only unique messengers. And in a time when AI can create almost anything, who you are might matter more than ever. Jodie is the founder of Coachvox , a Forbes contributor, exited agency founder, author and competitive powerlifter for Great Britain. She talks with Jeff about using AI to create more freedom - not more work - the three moats every ex...

What if the secret to building a better business isn’t being slightly better than everyone else - but becoming impossible to compare? Josh Lowman is the founder of Gold Front, a category design studio that helps companies create, define and own their categories. In this conversation, Josh explains why differentiation usually gets ignored, how category strategy can align an entire company and why f...

What if selling wasn’t about convincing someone to choose you - but helping them confidently make the right decision? In this episode of the Disruptive Influence Podcast, Jeff Abracen speaks with Alli Rizacos about selling with more structure, confidence and humanity - without the pressure, manipulation or ick traditionally associated with sales. Alli explains why buyers need three things before t...

Build the Business. Keep the Life. What if the goal wasn’t to build the biggest business possible - but to intentionally design one that gives you enough? In this episode of the Disruptive Influence Podcast, Jeff Abracen speaks with Jacob Pegs , a writer, marketer and architect of freedom-based businesses, about creating a highly leveraged one-person business without sacrificing your health, creat...

Agency owner, speaker, and author Ron Tite breaks down why most companies get purpose completely wrong - and how to turn it into a real driver of growth, decision-making, and differentiation. Ron is the author of The Purpose of Purpose and has worked with leading brands to help them align what they believe with how they actually operate and grow. In this episode, Ron explains: -Why most purpose st...

Jake Karls , Co-Founder & Rainmaker at Mid-Day Squares , joins Jeff Abracen for a fast, fun, and deep conversation on building brands by building out loud . Jake breaks down the origin story behind Mid-Day Squares' “act like a boy band” strategy, why story > features , and how humanization is an unfair advantage in a world obsessed with scale. They also unpack the behind-the-scenes rea...

Most brands aren’t failing. They’re just fading into the background. In this episode, Jeff sits down with David Brier , one of the sharpest and most unapologetic minds in branding, to talk about why so much marketing today feels polished, competent… and completely forgettable. David calls it the Wall of Beige: what happens when brands optimize for speed, safety, and scale - but quietly lose their...

In this episode, I sit down with designer, educator, founder, and category creator, Nick Broekema , the mind behind the booming discipline of Content Design and one of the most recognizable visual brands on LinkedIn™. Nick has built something rare: a business that’s 100% inbound . No outreach. No cold emails. No chasing. Just magnetic, systematic content that compounds. We go deep on: How Nick bui...

This is a conversation about what it really takes to build a business, stand out in a sea of sameness, and recover when the hustle turns into burnout. Louis Butterfield is the co-founder of Awesome Business Videos & Video Heroes, an agency, program & community helping founders create videos that actually get watched on LinkedIn. Known for his playful “videos in the park” format, Louis has...

What does it really take to stand out as a speaker in a noisy world? The zesty and unapologetically real, Annelise McCarthy , founder of Her Speaking Coach , joins Jeff to explore what speaking with confidence really means. From overcoming a childhood lisp to building a thriving global coaching business, Annelise shares powerful and counterintuitive lessons on communication, presence, and self-bel...

Priya Chopra reveals the secret ingredient behind her cross-border PR and creator agencies - a blend of vibes, intuition, and a relentless Momentum Mindset that keeps brands, and teams, sweetly winning. Priya Chopra is the founder & CEO of 1Milk2Sugars and double shot , where she mixes her “Sugar Factor” - a unique recipe of psychic intuition, empathy, and entrepreneurial grit - to help brands...

Curtis Matsko turned a pink diary and a garage startup into a $180 million leather-goods empire - then doubled it year after year by unleashing what he calls “founder magic.” He shares how leaning into your strengths and embracing the unknown can turn every setback into a launchpad for growth. Curtis Matsko is the CEO and co-founder of Portland Leather Goods , one of North America’s fastest-growin...

Jasmin Alić , LinkedIn's king of comments, content & community, shares how to turn content into conversations, stories into sales, and profile views into paying clients. We dive into warm outreach, offer alignment, and why connection beats content every time. Jasmin is a brand strategist and community builder who’s helped thousands of creators turn personal brands into real businesses. As...

Aaron Spivak co-founded Hush , turning a weighted blanket into a Kickstarter smash and selling to Sleep Count ry for eight figures - all before his 26th birthday. He joins Jeff to unpack the real juice behind: Filling Your Four Buckets – his health / friends & family / business / integrity framework Giving Before You Take – the counter-intuitive first rule powering his invite-only Founders Clu...

Shoaib Ahmed , Founder, Brand Storyteller, Ghostwriter, and Digital Nomad, joins Jeff to talk about building a business that actually works for you. We get into personal branding that drives results, solopreneur freedom, the reality behind it, and how Shoaib curates what he calls his “little life”, for more freedom, flow, and focus. He shares how he approaches content, and what it’s like to ghostw...

Mike Fata is a founder, investor, health advocate, and builder of movements. After losing 100 pounds, he co-founded Manitoba Harvest and grew it into a $100M+ hemp foods powerhouse, later guiding its $419M sale to Tilray. He’s now the CEO of Fata & Associates, host of the Founder to Mentor podcast, and an advisor to world-class natural product brands. Whether he’s mentoring founders or plungin...

Aransas Savas , motivational strategist and coach, joins Jeff to explore the real drivers behind creativity, influence, and personal growth. They dive into why healthy conflict is essential for innovation, how to transition from chasing positional power to embodying personal power, and why authenticity, not conformity, is the real superpower. Aransas shares how embracing play, curiosity, and even...

Rob Lawless set out to meet 10,000 strangers for one hour each. 7,000+ conversations in, the project has become more than a social experiment - it's a masterclass in empathy, presence, and the untold power of human connection. In this conversation, we go deep into what drives Rob, how he turned a bold idea into a global movement, and what he's learned from spending thousands of hours tru...

Sales and communication expert & founder of the Art of Sell , Richard Moore , joins Jeff Abracen to dig into why most people are selling the wrong way, how to stop chasing vanity metrics, and what really drives business growth in 2025. They discuss why content and engagement won’t pay the bills, how to ditch the spray-and-pray approach to sales, the power of deep, meaningful conversations over...

Presentation Coach, Creative Director, and Author , Ben Levy joins Jeff Abracen to break down the art of creative agency presentations, why the best idea doesn’t always win, and how to structure a story that sells. Dig into the biggest mistakes people make in presentations (and how to fix them), why reading slides out loud is killing your pitch, how confidence in public speaking is built through p...

Albany-based Alana Sparrow , Brand Strategist, Visual Storyteller, Founder of The VIB , and Chief Brand Officer & Co-Founder of The Foundry for Art, Design + Culture , joins Jeff Abracen to dig into why storytelling is the ultimate tool for branding success, the rapid rise of personal brands in corporate spaces, how confidence is built through action, scaling a business without sacrificing fre...

In this extended episode, Darren Lee , Founder & CEO of Voics , and Podcast Host of Kickoff Sessions , joins Jeff Abracen to dig into how he built a 7-figure podcasting business from scratch, the importance of creating your own universe, how focus fuels success, learning through failure, why you should sell before you build, the importance of trust, the power of metrics, niching down and maste...

Kasey Jones , Growth Strategist, Personal Brand Coach, Founder & CEO at The Solo CEO , joins Jeff Abracen to talk about how self-compassion is a superpower, turning hardship into strength and opportunity, how finding your ‘One Thing’ brings clarity and magnetism to your brand and business, why your insecurities might be your biggest differentiator, how personal branding creates meaningful conn...

Dhaval Bhatt , Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Courage Inc. , joins Jeff Abracen to share how he co-built Courage into one of Canada’s top and most awarded in under three years - crafting work for clients like KFC, CIBC, Kit-Kat, Taco Bell and Skip. They chat about treating clients as collaborators, how to present big ideas & moving at the speed of culture, why the human-to-human approac...