FailCraft

In this episode of FailCraft , researcher, educator, Dean of the HonorsCollege at the University of New England, and author of Certain About Uncertainty , Dr. John Austin, joinsEzekiel to explain why traditional strategic planning fails in chaoticenvironments. Drawing on 25 years of research working with executive teams, Dr. Austin explores how adult conditioning breaks our natural tolerance foram...

In this episode of FailCraft , 15-year sales veteran, mentor, and author of Pitching Sales! , Bryan Charleau, joins Ezekiel tounpack the brutal reality of the first 18 months in a sales career. Startingout pitching car wax on full commission at gas stations, Bryan learned early onhow to dismantle the fear of rejection and overcome crippling impostersyndrome. He pulls back the curtain on why mass-h...

In this episode of FailCraft , former firefighter turned beverageentrepreneur Alex Baumeister joins Ezekiel to share the chaotic reality of launchingDelta Vine, the nation's premier THC-infused wine, with zero prior businessexperience. After serving a decade in the fire service and facing a bilateraldouble hip replacement at just 38 years old, Alex and his wife bootstrapped abrand to fill the...

In this episode of FailCraft , business growth coach and founder of ScalifyOS, James Graham, joins Ezekiel to reveal how founders of $1M–$20M businessescan build owner-independent operations that scale without chaos. After leavingnearly $900,000 on the table when exiting his first company, James spent adecade as an operations executive at 1-800-GOT-JUNK? mastering the systems thatturn founder-depe...

In this episode of FailCraft , podcast mentor, strategist, and host of Say Yes to Podcasting , Anja Lordanić, joins Ezekiel toshare the unvarnished reality of turning ideas into sustainable audioplatforms. Despite recording over 200 episodes across multiple formats andlanguages, Anja didn't start as an effortless broadcaster—she spent two fullyears completely paralyzed by overthinking, perfect...

In this episode of FailCraft , founder of The Cooper Culture, certifiedleadership consultant, and former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Ron Cooper joinsEzekiel to share his 15-year journey from crippling childhood self-doubt tocommanding high-stakes aviation squadrons. Growing up internalizing careless,well-meaning remarks like "you should have knownthat," Ron convinced himself he was inte...

In this episode of FailCraft , Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®),22-year financial advisory veteran, and founder of Progress Solutions LLC,Connor Tyson, joins Ezekiel to unpack why book-smart financial knowledge failswithout emotional and behavioral change. Growing up watching his parents endurethe crushing stress of business failure and debt, Connor vowed to break thecycle by earning a finan...

In this episode of FailCraft , veteran stand-up comedian, actor, and authorDanny Johnson joins Ezekiel to explore what it actually takes to survive thebrutal entertainment grind while fighting hidden battles off-stage. Havingspent more than two decades touring the comedy club circuit, sharing stageswith comedy royalty like Chris Rock, Bob Saget, and Norm Macdonald, andheadlining specials on Dry Ba...

In this episode of FailCraft , adventure novelist, songwriter, and sailorRick Glaze joins Ezekiel to share how surviving mistakes in the wild fuelsgripping fiction. Rather than writing stories from the safety of an armchair,Rick immerses himself in extreme environments—from running unforgiving mountainrapids in solo kayaks to sailing the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the BritishVirgin Islands, divi...

In this episode of FailCraft , ICF accredited coach and 30-year veteran ofcorporate technology transformation Virginia Hitch joins Ezekiel to pull backthe curtain on the exhausting reality of identity masking and the"perfection trap." Having spent three decades in banking and ITenvironments where she was frequently the only woman in the room, Virginiamastered the art of adapting—dialing...

In this episode of FailCraft , grief coach, podcaster, and advocate ChrisWorkman joins Ezekiel to explore the messy, unspoken realities of loss, familyrupture, and emotional survival. Chris carries an extraordinarily complex dualreality: navigating the physical loss of her younger son, Nate, to epilepsy 13years ago, while simultaneously enduring the unresolved agony of estrangementfrom her older s...

In this episode of FailCraft ,self-worth coach, boudoir photographer, and founder of Cloud Cover Photography,Christina Cloud, joins Ezekiel to break down the heavy, exhausting cost ofchronic people-pleasing and self-abandonment. After years of pouring her time, energy, and emotionalbandwidth into everyone else—defining herself solely as a mother, wife,daughter, and sister—Christina experienced a p...

In this episode of FailCraft , former petroleum geologist, counselor, andcertified yoga therapist Cecelia Baum Mandryk joins Ezekiel to tackle thedeeply frustrating gap between intellectual self-awareness and actualbehavioral transformation. After spending nearly a decade analyzing complexgeological data on offshore oil rigs in the North Sea, Qatar, and Brazil,Cecelia walked away from a lucrative...

In this episode of FailCraft , executive leadership expert, keynotespeaker, executive coach, and host of Rachel’s Leadership Lounge ,Rachel Bolton, joins Ezekiel to break down what actually happens when highachievers reach the pinnacle of corporate ambition only to realize the summitisn't what they expected. Having designed enterprise leadership developmentsystems inside Fortune 500 and Fortun...

In this episode of FailCraft , hip-hop artist, Amazon bestselling author of Heroin Heroine , and founder of the nonprofit RaceTowards Recovery, Chelzzz Henson, joins Ezekiel to pull back the curtain on theraw, unspoken realities of addiction, trauma, and identity reconstruction. After battling through the deepest valleys of severe heroin addiction, Chelzzztransformed her survival into national adv...

In this episode of FailCraft , licensed professional counselor, principalof Brown's Leadership Consulting, and author of A Beautiful Challenge ,Michael T. Brown, LPC, joins Ezekiel to explore the psychological toolsrequired to de-escalate crisis, build authentic resilience, and heal systemicfractures. Drawing on more than 25 years of counseling experience—from workingas a trainer with the DC O...

In this episode of FailCraft , author, speaker, and resilient survivorAlicia Baca Rush joins Ezekiel to share the raw, unfiltered reality ofsurviving medical trauma, malpractice, and profound personal abandonment. Whendiagnosed with thyroid cancer, doctors repeatedly brushed off her conditionwith the dismissive phrase: "Don't worry, you've gotthe good kind of cancer." But after b...

In this episode of FailCraft , performance psychology authority, creator ofNeurostrategy, and CEO of Orchestraight, Jake Stahl, joins Ezekiel to revealwhy relying too heavily on scripted words causes high-stakes presentations tofail. Holding seven patents in sales and performance technology and havingtrained corporate leaders across 47 states and six countries, Jake proves anundeniable psychologic...

In this episode of FailCraft , global transformational practice leader,human systems architect, and author Jill Delgado joins Ezekiel to unpack whyenterprise digital transformations consistently collapse under the weight ofhuman resistance. With more than twenty years advising Fortune 500 executivesthrough high-stakes overhauls, Jill reveals a staggering industry reality: theaverage top-500 organi...

In this episode of FailCraft , celebrated choreographer, theater director,educator, and author Alexandra Beller joins Ezekiel to pull back the curtain onthe messy, vulnerable, and often painful reality of making art. With more than25 years inside the creative trenches—from performing with the legendary BillT. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to directing Alexandra Beller/Dances andteaching somatics...

In this episode of FailCraft , 25-year mortgage lending veteran and founderof Next Wave Mortgage, Philip Ganz, joins Ezekiel to break down how real estateinvestors can scale their portfolios past the dreaded personal Debt-to-Income(DTI) wall. Having personally originated and closed over $1 billion in loansthrough extreme regulatory shifts and economic cycles, Philip exposes whytraditional Fannie/F...

In this episode of FailCraft , real estate investor, private money lender,and author of The 45-Day Investor , Kevin Amolsch, joins Ezekiel topull back the curtain on the mechanics of real estate financing and privatelending. After serving four years in the United States Army and earning hisfinance degree, Kevin worked on Wall Street in 2005 and 2006 analyzing subprimemortgage bonds—right before th...

In this episode of FailCraft , marketing strategist, fractional CMO, andhost of The Virtual CMO and Beyond Expertise ,Eric Dickmann, joins Ezekiel to confront the unspoken identity crisis thatstrikes when high-achieving corporate leaders step away from traditionalladders. After nearly two decades at Oracle and climbing senior executiveranks, Eric made the leap in 2019 to launch his own consulting...

In this episode of FailCraft , author, legal nurse consultant, formereducator, and hospice specialist Nancy Jasin Ensley joins Ezekiel to share apoignant, eight-decade life journey marked by profound adversity, frontlinecompassion, and radical healing. Having spent decades caring for patientsduring life's most fragile threshold—the transition between living anddying—Nancy reveals how putting p...

In this episode of FailCraft , behavioral scientist, former senior wealthmanagement executive, and author of The Uncertainty Edge ,Sam Sivarajan, joins Ezekiel to unpack why highly capable leaders consistentlyfreeze during major business crises. Having built and led three major wealthadvisory firms overseeing $80 billion in assets, transitioned across careers inlaw and investment banking, and atte...