Connecting With Purpose

Founder transitions are often framed as financial or structural events. But long before a succession plan, ownership evolution, or exit is announced, founders carry a hidden layer of pressure that few people see. In this solo episode of Connecting With Purpose, I continue the conversation from last week's episode, Founder Transition: Identity Before the Deal. While that episode explored the identi...

Ownership transition isn't just a financial event. It's an identity shift. In this episode, I explore the part of founder transition that rarely gets discussed — the internal evolution required before structure changes. Whether you're considering succession, employee ownership, partial liquidity, or long-term exit planning, the most important work doesn't begin with valuation models or legal struc...

In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin sits down with Miren Oca, founder of  Ocaquatics Swim School and founder of Ripples of Impact — a nonprofit expanding access to life-saving swim education in Miami-Dade County. Since 1994, Miren has grown Ocaquatics  into a multi-location swim school built on culture, ownership, and purpose.    In 2024, she made a bold move: transitioning 10...

You can be aligned. You can be executing. And still be quietly running out of gas.   In this solo episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark explores one of the most overlooked drivers of sustainable performance: capacity. Most leaders focus on strategy and execution. Few pay attention to the nervous system behind their leadership.    Capacity isn't just about time. It's about energy. When capacity...

In this  Season 4 episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin sits down with Sara Jensen,  CEO and  co-founder of Hugh & Grace, to explore how vulnerability becomes a leadership advantage and how purpose fuels sustained performance at scale.    Sara shares the defining moments that shaped her leadership identity, from navigating 14 years of unexplained infertility to making high-stakes decisi...

High-performing teams don't stall because they lack talent or effort. They stall when belief doesn't turn into alignment. In this solo episode, we explore the often-overlooked bridge between belief, identity, alignment, and trust — and why teams can be full of capable, values-driven people yet still struggle to move forward together. Belief lives inside individuals. Alignment and trust live betwee...

Welcome back to Season 4 of Connecting with Purpose — where we put founders first and share the stories of the humans behind the business. In this episode, Mark sits down with Jasper Van Brakel, President & CEO of RSF Social Finance (Regenerative Social Finance), to explore what happens when purpose, capital, and systemic change come together. If you're an impact-driven founder or leader navigatin...

If you're listening to this in mid-January, you may recognize this moment. You set goals. You clarified priorities. You stepped into the year with intention. And now… you're back in meetings. Back in execution. Back in the reality that can quietly pull you away from what mattered most just weeks ago. In this solo episode, Mark explores why January is not a motivation problem — it's an alignment mo...

In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin sits down with Keith Bearden, CEO of Alter Eco Foods—the company behind some of the cleanest, greenest (and frankly, most addictive) chocolate bars, truffles, granola, and quinoa on the planet. Keith shares how a childhood shaped by a small Tennessee farm and a grandfather who quietly practiced servant leadership set the foundation for a car...

As we step into a new year, most leaders are refining goals, strategies, and growth plans. But beneath all of that sits something far more fundamental — and far less discussed. Belief. and Identity.  In this solo episode, Mark Griffin explores the quiet foundations of Ultimate Performance and why so many founders and senior leaders feel growing pressure even when the business is succeeding. Drawin...

In this episode, Mark Griffin is joined by Adrian Bray, USA CEO of Stellar Consulting, for a deeply honest conversation about growth, resilience, and what founders are rarely prepared for when success accelerates faster than infrastructure. Adrian shares three defining magic moments that shaped his leadership journey. From laying the foundation of his career inside a global organization, to becomi...

In this episode, we explore how leaders can move from pressure to clarity to sustainable, scalable impact. Many founders hit what I call the Performance Precipice—when pressure outpaces clarity, effort drains energy, and success no longer feels fulfilling.  I break down the Ultimate Performance System, a human operating framework that helps leaders shift from Empty Achiever to Purpose-Anchored Per...

Welcome back to Season 4 of Connecting with Purpose, where we put the founder first and explore the human behind the business. In this episode, Mark Griffin sits down with Munir Haddad, Founder and CEO of Kiosk, for a grounded and energizing conversation about resilience, people first leadership and what it really means to grow with purpose. Munir shares three defining magic moments from his life....

Episode Overview In this solo episode, Mark explores one of the most important — and misunderstood — challenges facing founders, CEOs, and high-performance leaders today: How do you sustain elite performance without burning out… and build teams and cultures that do the same? Drawing from PurposeFused's Ultimate Performance methodology, elite sport principles, and real patterns from growth-stage co...

I f you've ever wondered how elite competitiveness transfers from the rugby pitch to the trading floor, this one's for you. Founder and CEO Timothy Furey of Tradeview Markets joins host Mark Griffin for a candid, founder-first conversation about channeling pressure into performance, building truly scalable businesses, and leading a te am that loves to win.   Tim traces his nearly 30-year journey f...

In this solo episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin opens up about a personal shift that changed the way he leads, lives, and creates impact — reframing money not as a finish line, but as essential fuel for purpose. For years, Mark viewed money as a byproduct of meaningful work. Impact first. Everything else would follow. But the truth? Some of his most stressful seasons came from not ha...

In this episode, host Mark Griffin sits down with Brad Stevens , Founder/CEO of Outsource Access and Brad Stevens Training, for a powerful founder-first conversation on resilience, disciplined leadership, and scaling with offshore talent and software excellence. A lifetime entrepreneur, Brad has built multiple companies across industries, scaled Outsource Access to 450+ employees in the Philippine...

How do you scale your business without losing alignment? As your company grows, clarity often drifts. More people, more meetings, more complexity—yet alignment and focus don't automatically scale with size. In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin explores one of the biggest challenges facing founders and leadership teams of growth-stage businesses: how to scale without losing alig...

In this episode, host Mark Griffin sits down with Jonathan Smith, author, negotiation instructor with the Black Swan Group, and Expert EOS Implementer®, for a powerful founder-first conversation on strategy, negotiation, and leadership at the intersection of purpose and performance. Jonathan has spent his career helping high-achieving founders and CEOs navigate the growth curve without losing them...

Are you performing at a high level — but feeling emptier inside? You're not alone. In this solo episode of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin breaks down 5 subtle signs that high performers, founders, and leaders often miss on the way to burnout — what he calls the Performance Precipice. Drawing on the PurposeFused Leadership and Leadership Aperture frameworks, Mark reveals how to recognize the...

In this episode, host Mark Griffin sits down with Naveen Khugputh, Co-Founder & COO at APiRO and Co-Founder & COO at Werqwise, for a powerful founder-first conversation on resilience, leadership, and reimagining the future of work. From his start in private equity to launching multiple ventures across London, New York, Hong Kong, and San Francisco, Naveen shares three defining "magic moments" that...

Welcome to Season 4 of Connecting with Purpose! 🎙️ This season, we're putting founders first—exploring the human stories behind the businesses, from their magic moments and entrepreneurial roller coasters to the possibilities ahead. In this solo kickoff episode, host Mark Griffin sets the stage by answering the same questions he usually asks founders: Magic Moments – the deeply personal story of h...

In the season finale of Connecting with Purpose, Mark Griffin sits down with former NFL wide receiver and accomplished coach Phil McGeoghan for a powerful conversation on mindset, resilience, and finding purpose beyond sport. Phil's journey is filled with defining "magic moments"—from his first varsity catch in high school, to breaking records at the University of Maine, to running out of the tunn...

In this powerful episode of Connecting with Purpose, Jacob Brown shares his transformative life story of overcoming adversity and developing a "fail forward" mindset. From being cut from the NFL to battling personal challenges including alcoholism, Jacob demonstrates how resilience and intentional living can turn setbacks into stepping stones. Highlights include: —His emotional moment at 25 when h...

In this episode of Connecting with Purpose, we're joined by Don Yaeger—hailed as one of America's best storytellers, a twelve-time New York Times bestselling author, nationally recognized keynote speaker, and host of the top-ranked Corporate Competitor Podcast, which I've been hooked on since hearing Don speak in person just two months ago. Don's career spans decades of interviewing and working al...