Ready Set Exec: The Podcast

In this insightful interview, Dr. Lauran Starr discusses the strategic role of HR, the impact of COVID on organizational culture, and the importance of long-term planning, diversity, and AI integration in the workplace. The perception of HR as a cost center has hampered its ability to influence key business decisions. Traditionally, HR has been relegated to compliance and administrative tasks, but...

Here's an exercise Melih Oztalay wants every business owner to do right now. Go to ChatGPT. Ask it to list the top 10 companies it would recommend in your industry. Your company will not be on that list. Then ask it why. It will give you a to-do list. That to-do list is your entire GEO strategy for 2026. Melih has been in marketing since 1987, from the first IBM PCs to the internet, from SEO to AI...

I treated my team like family. That is a terrible idea. Despite what every leadership book tells you, that is the worst advice ever. Goals first. Team second. Alan Lazaros said that in the first 10 seconds of this conversation. He meant every word of it. Alan is the CEO and co-host of Next Level University, a daily self-improvement podcast with 2,271+ episodes, a 20-person remote team, and coachin...

The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, behavioral scientist, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, and author of eight books including The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work, joins John Pezoulas to unpack why AI rollouts fail even when the technology itself is easy to use. The conversation focuses on the human side of adoption, from fear and identity threat t...

Bill Gates wasn't naturally charismatic. He was dry, not very funny, and didn't come across well on camera. So he hired a comedian not for a week, but regularly, over a long period of time, to teach him how to be more personable and likable. Don Weber knows this because he knows the person who worked with Gates directly. And it's the clearest example he has of something he's believed for decades:...

70% of the workforce finds no meaning or joy in their work. That stat comes from Amy Lucan, Chief Joyologist at Tito's Handmade Vodka and culture strategist Ingrid Hobbs has spent 16+ years in global CPG and spirits brands trying to change it. In this episode, Ingrid breaks down why companies keep destroying the cultures they've spent years building through performative DEI rollbacks, tone-deaf la...

What if your $200,000 a month Google ad budget was doing almost nothing, and the leads would have shown up anyway? Kurt Uhlir turned off exactly that amount in B2B paid media and watched close rates stay flat. That's just one of the things he's learned across 60+ corporate transactions, 20+ patents, and a dozen industries. As CMO of Easy Home Search a Zillow competitor built on consumer data priva...

Most companies measure L&D ROI with two things: course completion rates and "how did you feel about the course" surveys. Josh Cutler says both are nearly worthless With 20+ years in learning design, starting in the chaos of the New York City school system, Josh became known as the person companies call when all their traditional L&D approaches have failed. In this episode, he explains exac...

In the 1970s, CEO pay was roughly 100 times the average worker's salary. Today it's over 1,000 times. And most companies still can't clearly explain to their own employees what their total rewards program even means. Raj Sinha has spent 20+ years advising CEOs, CHROs, and boards across life sciences, financial services, and technology on exactly how to fix this and what happens when organizations...

Marketing leaders are being laid off at record rates in 2026. Philip Kushmaro has watched it happen for 15 years across hundreds of companies - and he knows exactly why. The problem isn't the marketers. It's a fundamental misalignment between what marketing actually does and what CEOs think they're paying for. In this episode, Philip breaks down the real state of the marketing job market, why bran...

In 1999, the Fortune 25 was the most powerful list of companies on earth. By 2024, 21 of those 25 companies were gone shrunk, acquired, or irrelevant. Only four survived. Mark L. Vincent has spent 25 years studying what separates the leaders who build something that lasts from those who don't. As executive advisor, founding member of the Sage Group Collective, and author of the newly released book...

Most founders think HR is just hiring and firing. Adam Reidel has spent 25 years proving that belief is one of the most expensive mistakes a growing company can make. As a senior People & HR executive who has built HR organizations inside fast-growing, complex companies from startup to scale, Adam breaks down exactly what happens when founders treat HR as an afterthought and what it takes to f...

What if your best sales tactic wasn't a CRM sequence or a LinkedIn ad but a tin of gourmet cookies? Corey Quinn was CMO at Scorpion when the company grew from $20M to $200M in annual recurring revenue. He spent $3 million a year sending gifts to cold prospects and generated a 10% send-to-appointment rate when cold calling gets sub-1%. In this episode, he breaks down everything he learned about bui...

Only 31% of US employees are engaged at work, an 11-year low. The other 70%? Checked out, actively disengaged, or job-hugging while waiting for something better. It's costing the global economy $8.9 trillion a year. And the root cause almost always traces back to leadership and communication. Linda Carlisle is a seasoned communications strategist and founder of Comm. Ext, where she helps organizat...

Most people think webinars are boring. Ryan Ross thinks they're the most underrated growth engine in business, and he's got Mark Cuban and the founder of Netflix on his webinar roster to prove it. As Head of Marketing at BrokersBlock and author of Benefits with Friends, Ryan has spent over a decade helping professionals in highly regulated industries build authority, trust, and a real pipeline fro...

CEO posts generate 7x more impressions than company pages. Most CEOs aren't posting. That gap is costing them trust, talent, and revenue. Alan McLaren is the co-founder of Strata Originals, the leadership branding firm that has coached more than 600 CEOs to clarify their leadership signal - the way their voice, presence, and perspective land with authority in every room and on every platform. With...

AI isn't what most people think it is. And the threats it's creating are ones most companies have no plan for. Dr. Steven Wright is a globally experienced technology strategist, educator, and lawyer with over three decades of leadership across telecommunications, IT, and emerging digital ecosystems. He has contributed more than 50 patents, negotiated international technology agreements, and serves...

Most businesses are handing thousands of dollars a month to marketing agencies that start from scratch every time, run ads at 2 am to nobody, and load 1,200 keywords when 50 would do the job. Joshua Ramsey has spent over 20 years as a fractional CMO running campaigns across 15 industries, and he's seen every way a marketing budget gets quietly wasted. In this episode, we break down how to hold age...

Navigate the complex world of private equity with insider secrets from Justin Freishtat. Discover how to structure, fundraise, and protect your fund amidst market volatility. Learn the importance of legal structures like 506(c) vs. 506(b), third-party administration, and audits to safeguard against fraud. Justin shares strategies for raising capital, building a personal brand, and identifying qual...

Most sales teams track their close ratio and quota attainment. Jim Carlough's team went from 15% to 70% by measuring everything else first. Jim Carlough is a transformational executive and leadership identity architect with 30 years of driving growth across healthcare and technology. As Chief Sales Officer at Impulse, he leads AI-powered engagement strategies delivering over one billion healthcare...

In 2026, there are two types of people: those who work for AI, and those who have AI work for them. A book is one of the fastest ways to end up in the right category. Aurora Winter is a thought leader, launch expert, media coach, and bestselling author of 10 books. A former film and TV executive, she helps entrepreneurs and executives turn their expertise into books, powerful messages, and lasting...

Most businesses hand over 90–95% of their revenue stream to a payment processor they've never properly vetted, and that processor is counting on you never looking too closely at the bill. Joe Zahaitis has spent 32 years in payments working for Bank of America Merchant Services, SPS Payment Systems, and now Bank Card International Group and Manirpay. He's seen every trick in the book. In this episo...

Most businesses are burning cash on AI tools that will disappear overnight - and they don't even know it. James Lang (Managing Partner, Overlang Venture Partners) reveals the exact AI growth funnel used by multi-million dollar brands, and why owning your own AI infrastructure is the #1 competitive edge in 2026. In this episode, we get into the AI-powered quiz funnel used by top brands, why your of...

Your company values mean nothing if you're not willing to enforce them when it's hard. Liz Weber is a Leadership Advisor to Boards, Owners, and C-suite teams with 33 years in business. She's a strategic and succession planning consultant, keynote speaker, author, and former chair of the IMC USA Ethics Committee. She works with organizations to build cultures that actually reflect what leadership s...

Most companies think their hiring process is fine. It's not. And a 20-year veteran of one of the world's top executive search firms will tell you exactly why. Brandon Diehm is a senior talent acquisition leader who built and led end-to-end TA functions at PwC, RSM, and, most recently, as Director of Talent Acquisition at Heidrick & Struggles, one of the world's most prestigious executive searc...