The Purpose Matrix

Bo Parfet was told he would never graduate high school. He struggled with dyslexia, ADHD, speech impediments, and years of feeling behind everyone else. But those same struggles became the foundation for everything he’s accomplished today. After building and exiting a successful real estate business, Bo realized success alone wasn’t enough… A conversation with his wife, a hospice chaplain, forced...

Kyle Ahrens spent five years inside Tom Izzo’s program at Michigan State where discipline was expected, accountability was constant, and nobody was allowed to coast. Then injuries hit… He broke his foot, came back too early, broke it again, and lost an entire season after working all summer to earn his spot. That experience reshaped the way he thinks about adversity, preparation, and what actually...

A 22-year-old suddenly passes away in a basement before a night out. No warning. No chance to do anything he planned… That moment never left Matt King. He’s a husband, a father of three young kids, a CEO, and a leader responsible for people, companies, and decisions that don’t slow down. At the same time, he’s training for a 2000-mile ride from Mexico to Canada (despite never being a cyclist). Alo...

A college senior sits with a professor and admits he has no clear career path. The advice is simple: Watch who’s successful and do what they do. Brian Seitz leaves that conversation and starts paying attention to one person in his hometown. It leads to a conversation in a local bar and a job (that he had no experience for). What follows is years of rejection, relationship building, and learning ho...

Two in ten people love what they do. The other eight show up disconnected, going through the motions, or actively working against the team. Jeremy Pietrocini pulls from Gallup data to show how leaders misread this problem. They try to fix teams instead of looking at the energy they bring into the room each day. He and Phil discuss the difference between employees who are simply present and those w...

Tom Burden built the company, got the recognition, and stepped onto Shark Tank at age 26… But it still didn’t settle anything internally. Even at that level, he found himself dealing with imposter syndrome and a persistent sense that something wasn’t adding up. So the question became: what actually changes that? Today, Phil and Tom unpack why success doesn’t resolve unworthiness, and how it often...

Leadership is often pursued through success, but sustained through suffering. Dr. Daniel Tataje joins Phil to trace his path from building a fast growing dental organization to confronting the cost of neglecting his role at home. He describes chasing success until it lost meaning, facing breakdown in his family, and rebuilding through discipline, self denial, and a reframed understanding of love a...

Here’s a question most people don’t actually answer: What level are you leading at? Early in his career, Phil could get work done just by writing instructions and handing them off. The job got done, but not much beyond it. Most leaders never move past that pattern (even when they start getting results). That’s where the ceiling shows up. In this episode, Phil walks through the five levels of leade...

Pat Hiban meets a stranger while tying his shoes before a run in Chicago. That moment turns into a business partner years later. Another introduction leads to the CEO of a company he co-founded… None of it was planned, but those moments stacked. Real estate conventions. random trips. accountability partners. Each connection built into GoBundance and multiple businesses. The pattern is simple but u...

Michael Durant’s helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade over Mogadishu. And if you’ve seen the movie, you know what happened next…  The crash left him with a broken femur, crushed vertebrae, and surrounded by enemy fighters. Within minutes, the crash site was overrun and he became the only surviving crew member. In his conversation with Phil, Durant recounts the events of the Battle of M...

Brian Murray built and managed over a billion dollars in real estate. From the outside, it looked like the pinnacle of business success…. Internally, it felt empty. In his conversation with Phil, Brian explains how reaching a major financial milestone forced him to confront a difficult truth: Professional achievement did not deliver the joy he expected. That realization, combined with a serious ca...

David Osborn built extraordinary success, but real freedom didn’t come from money. It came from trust. In this conversation with Phil Moeller, David reflects on the long process of proving himself to himself. From growing up between scarcity and privilege to raising children in abundance, he shares how purpose, example, and personal responsibility shape the kind of person success can flow toward....

A whopping 70% of the workforce is disengaged…is that you? Is it the people you lead?? Kate Volman, CEO of Floyd Consulting and steward of The Dream Manager framework, believes most leaders are diagnosing the wrong problem because they’re trying to fix performance at WORK instead of asking what happened to someone’s dreams at HOME. Today, Phil and Kate discuss why people check out at work (long be...

Could your drive to succeed actually be the thing keeping you stuck? Phil sits down with clinical psychologist and author Dr. Kelly Flanagan, whose work has resonated most with an unexpected audience: high-achieving entrepreneurial men. Dr. Flanagan breaks down the difference between guilt and shame, and how shame quietly hijacks careers, marriages, and parenting. He explains why achievement does...

Most of us don’t feel stuck because we’re failing. We feel stuck because we were trained to be. Trained to stay busy. To do it alone. To worry about how it LOOKS instead of who we’re becoming. That realization led to one word that kept resurfacing: broken. Not as a flaw to hide, but as a starting point that we all have in common. In this episode, Phil reflects on the ways society shapes our habits...

Dreamers don’t fail because they lack ideas. They fail because they don’t have a Driver owning execution. Today, Phil talks with Stephanie Brackett, COO of Gobundance and a lifelong operations leader who has spent decades turning vision into finished work. From her early years at Home Depot to scaling real estate teams and executive partnerships, Stephanie has thrived in the second-in-command seat...

When Jason Duff returned to his hometown, 80% of downtown was vacant. So what did he do? Bought a building, opened a restaurant, and started learning…fast. Today, he runs Small Nation, a real estate company focused on rebuilding small towns by backing the entrepreneurs who make them thrive. In this episode, Jason breaks down the business model behind Bellefontaine’s transformation, including how t...

What separates good leaders from great ones? Today’s guest says it comes down to purpose and authenticity…and most people are missing both. In this episode of The Purpose Matrix, Phil sits down with Tim Cole, veteran corporate exec turned founder of The Compass Alliance, to explore what truly makes leaders worth following. From confronting disengagement in the workplace to building a “career compa...

Fear has a way of feeling real…even when it isn’t. Today Phil sits down with Kyle Brandon, founder of Second Flight Capital, to explore why the right decisions often scare us first, and how that initial fear is usually fooling us. Kyle shares his journey from missionary work to founding a people-first investment firm, including the moment he quit his job (with six kids at home!) and no clear path...

Some of the most thoughtful and impactful leaders shaping the world of business, mindset, and personal growth came by The Purpose Matrix last year. These are more than just high achievers…they’re people asking better questions, taking real risks, and aligning their work with what truly matters. In this special reflections episode, we revisit some of the most powerful moments of 2025 from five stan...

Most people don’t fail at goals because they lack discipline. They fail because their goals are misaligned with their life. In this special episode of The Purpose Matrix, Phil sits down with two of his closest friends and trusted advisors, Pat Flynn and Bryan McFarland, for a 2026 planning session that quickly turns into something much deeper: A conversation about alignment, presence, self-leaders...

This year brought some unforgettable conversations on The Purpose Matrix, with several that hit especially close to home for Phil: Ohio leaders whose lives are absolutely transforming our local community. These are business leaders, coaches, and culture-shapers who aren’t chasing headlines, but whose influence is felt every day in the people they lead and the legacy they’re building. In this speci...

Today Phil Moeller sits down with one of the most interesting men in the world:  Entrepreneur JoBen Barkey, who went from barefoot in the Amazon to leading a multi-million dollar business and launching a life-changing nonprofit in West Africa. JoBen shares how he built Soccer Shots of Orange County, scaled a business that runs without him, and redefined success (not by revenue, by peace).  Big tak...

From chasing money (successfully) to building a generational legacy, Logan Zuber has undergone quite the transformation………... This week Phil Moeller sits down with Logan, a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and father who spent years grinding for achievement before a series of wake-up moments forced him to rethink everything. In just two years, he’s gone from a self-proclaimed atheist and money-...

This episode is a little different. After a father-son trip to the mountains, a few reflections came back down from 14,000 feet…freezing temps, no electronics, and some VERY real physical and emotional challenges… Turns out, it was about a lot more than getting to the summit. From scheduling what matters, to doing hard things with people you love, to learning how fear and clarity often walk hand-i...