The Authority Company

What happens after you build one of the largest privately held automotive groups in America? In Part 2 of this conversation, Rick Ford joins Joe Pardavila to break down the next phase of his entrepreneurial journey, including the sale of RFJ Auto Partners to Sonic Automotive, the realities of growth capital, and the emotional side of stepping away from the company he spent decades building. Rick e...

Rick Ford went from growing up in a one-stoplight Texas town to building one of the largest privately held automotive groups in America. In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Rick shares the real story behind RFJ Auto Partners, including how he started selling cars at 17, survived a heart attack at 39, learned leadership from mentors inside the auto industry, and eventually built a mul...

What if the future of business is not about replacing people, but building around them? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Glenn Bostock, founder and CEO of SnapCab and author of A Human Business: The People-First Model for Lasting Success. After more than four decades in business, Glenn shares why he believes companies exist to serve people, not the oth...

What separates high performers from everyone else? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with entrepreneur, executive strategist, and author to talk about one of the most overlooked business skills: follow-up. Todd shares the philosophy behind his new book, Follow-Up Freak, and explains why responsiveness, persistence, and professionalism have become rare advant...

Why do so many small businesses fail, even when they have great products and loyal customers? In this episode of Entrepreneur | Authorities, Joe Pardavila sits down with entrepreneur, investor, and JBS CEO Robinson Aquino to break down the hidden financial systems that separate struggling businesses from scalable ones. Drawing from his new book, The Small Business Money Game, Robinson shares lesso...

What separates leaders who truly connect from leaders who just sound polished? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with executive communication coach and author Cathy Bonczek to unpack the real reason so many smart leaders struggle to connect. Drawing from years coaching executives at Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, and major financial institution...

What happens when you achieve the career success you always wanted… and still feel unfulfilled? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with executive coach and author Brad Lekang to explore identity, reinvention, burnout, coaching, leadership, and the challenge of building a meaningful next chapter after corporate success. Brad shares lessons from his time workin...

What really happens after a founder sells their company to private equity? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with veteran CEO, operating partner, and author Tyrone R. Johnson to unpack the realities most leaders never see coming after the deal closes. For many founders, selling their company feels like the finish line. Tyrone explains why it’s actually the b...

What happens when a founder nearly loses everything? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and Clinilabs founder Dr. Gary Zammit to discuss the emotional reality of entrepreneurship, surviving the Great Recession, building elite teams, and the future of AI in medicine. Gary shares brutally honest stories about nearly losing his...

What is business actually for? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with entrepreneur and author Rick K. Jones to challenge the way most leaders think about profit, growth, and responsibility. After decades building successful companies, Rick now focuses on a bigger question: what does success mean if it doesn’t lead to something greater? Rick introduces his co...

What if one of the most common fashion accessories was secretly causing skin problems for millions of people? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with entrepreneur Haley Barber, founder of RDV NINES, to talk about the three-year journey of reinventing the baseball hat. What started as Haley’s personal struggle with acne and dirty hats turned into a patented pr...

What does it really take to retire with confidence? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with financial advisor and author Randy L. Thurman, CFP, CPA/PFS, CEO of Retirement Investment Advisors, to break down the biggest questions people face as they approach retirement. With nearly four decades of experience guiding clients through one of life’s most important...

What happens after the war ends, and why are so many veterans left behind? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Dr. Chrisanne Gordon, physician, brain injury survivor, and founder of the Resurrecting Lives Foundation, to unpack the hidden reality of traumatic brain injury and the broken systems veterans face when they return home. After suffering a traumat...

Most leaders think AI is about tools, but Matt Domo says that is where businesses go wrong. In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Matt Domo, a founder of Amazon Web Services’ database division and author of Everybody Wins, to break down why AI transformation is not a tech problem, but a leadership one. They cover why companies are stuck in “AI washing,” why...

Most people think working harder leads to promotions. It doesn’t. In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Jissan Cherian, author of Hack the Corporate Learning Curve, to break down what actually drives career growth inside organizations. They cover why high performers get overlooked, how perception shapes your career, and what you need to change if you want t...

What do you do when every door in your life is closed? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Lintao Lu, known as LT, author of In Through the Window. His story starts in extreme poverty during China’s Cultural Revolution and spans four countries, multiple industries, and decades of leadership. LT shares what it was like growing up during famine and politica...

What does it mean to think like a judge in a world full of noise, opinions, and competing narratives? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Roy K. Altman, a U.S. District Judge and author of Israel on Trial, explores how legal reasoning helps clarify complex and emotionally charged issues. This conversation focuses on how to evaluate evidence, separate fact from opinion, and approach d...

Crisis communication has changed. Most leaders have not. In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with crisis communications expert Bradley Akubuiro, former Chief Spokesperson for Boeing and partner at Bully Pulpit International, to break down how modern crises actually work in a world shaped by AI, social media, and declining trust. Bradley explains why the old PR...

Most people live for Friday. But what if that mindset is costing you your life? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with the authors of TGIM: Love Your Work. Love Your Life. Love Your Mondays, Missy Forlani and Melisa Soydinc.  They break down why so many people dread Mondays, how burnout really happens, and what it takes to align your work with your purpose....

How do you make the right decision when the future is uncertain? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila speaks with Parul Somani, author of The Path of Least Regret: Decide with Clarity, Move Forward with Confidence. After a cancer diagnosis at age 31, Parul faced a life altering decision about treatment. Data, research, and expert opinions could not provide a clear answer...

Why do so many companies struggle with hiring and retention? In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with John William Wright II, managing partner of one of the most successful firms in the Northwestern Mutual network and author of Recruiting to Retain: A Principle Centered Strategy to Win the War for Talent. Drawing on more than three decades of leadership experi...

In this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with Kris Erickson, cofounder of Workforce Science Associates and author of The Enduring Impact: The Art and Science of Crafting an Exceptional Employee Experience, to explore what engagement at work truly means and why it shapes far more than productivity. Drawing on 30 years of research and one of the largest global employ...

Matt Domo joins Joe Pardavila for a direct talk on how founders and senior leaders build what does not exist yet, then scale without breaking trust, teams, or customers. As a co-founder of Amazon Web Services, Matt helped launch the first cloud computing database and shape the DBaaS market.  Today, as CEO of Fifth Vantage, he works with leadership teams to turn AI strategy into real execution. In...

Most leaders think they need more marketing. Adam Witty says you need more authority. In this episode, Adam Witty, founder of Advantage Media Group and Forbes Books, breaks down how entrepreneurs and CEOs build credibility, stand out online, and turn their expertise into real business growth. He shares how he started his company from a spare bedroom, why most people never write a book, and the exa...

On this episode of The Authority Company Podcast, Joe Pardavila sits down with venture investor and author Jonathan Hung to explore why trust, not capital, drives long term success in venture. Drawing from decades of investing in more than 250 companies, Jonathan explains why relationships outlast returns, how ego and fear shape investment decisions, and why founders often misunderstand what ventu...