The Business Emergency Room: For Leaders Facing Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity (VUCA)

This conversation on The Business Emergency Room looks at why supply chain resilience often decides whether a company absorbs disruption or stays stuck in recovery mode. Maartje van Krieken and Brent Hagan unpack how dashboards can look healthy while serious operational blind spots grow underneath. What happens when KPIs stay green but systems strain as you start scaling logistics, and who usually...

Most leaders believe they are making data-driven decisions, yet under pressure many are still reacting on instinct with better dashboards layered on top. What changes when leaders stop responding to problems and start choosing real options? Maartje van Krieken speaks with Nissim Titan, CEO and founder of 4Cast, about how AI decision-making can bring clarity in moments of uncertainty. Their convers...

Disruption does not have to break trust when leaders respond with clarity, care, and honesty during uncertainty. Maartje van Krieken sits down with Kim Bohr, President and COO at SparkEffect, to explore how trust in disruption can either erode or strengthen based on leadership transparency and the choices leaders make under pressure. Kim shares insights from her research that connect trust directl...

Most businesses do not break in a single moment. Pressure builds quietly, decisions get heavier, and strategic focus starts to slip long before a crisis forces attention. In this milestone 75th episode of The Business Emergency Room, Maartje van Krieken reflects on why organizations reach a breaking point and what leaders can do earlier to change the outcome. Drawing on her experience in disaster...

Most companies grow by accident instead of design, and this episode reveals how intentional process mapping transforms chaos into predictable value creation through true operational excellence. Maartje van Krieken and Joe Bockerstette, the managing partner of Business Enterprise Mapping, explore why even strong teams struggle when the underlying system works against them. Joe explains how process...

If your title says leader but your voice still sounds like a stressed out project manager, this episode will feel uncomfortably honest in the best way. Maartje van Krieken talks with leadership communication expert Dr. Laura Sicola about executive influence as a long game that builds trust instead of quick compliance. They discuss what it means to speak to lead so your team can hear hard messages,...

Strategic risk, early signals and decision quality sit at the center of this conversation with Maartje van Krieken as she speaks to leaders who feel risk piling up while their systems stand still. Where does your business feel most exposed right now and which “surprises” keep landing on your desk even though you sensed them coming? Maartje invites you to look at those patterns with a clearer lens...

Intellectual property becomes a strategic power tool in this conversation as Michele Baillie reveals how companies can repurpose their inventions, spark high-value collaborations and unlock new growth when markets shift. This episode of The Business Emergency Room shows how intellectual property can shape business value when it’s woven into your innovation strategy. Maartje van Krieken and Michele...

Business momentum becomes far easier to build when you understand the physics behind growth and start seeing your company through a banker’s eyes. This episode breaks down why many entrepreneurs feel busy but stuck and how momentum depends on direction, clarity, and the strength of your internal foundation. Best-selling author, speaker, business coach and mentor Chip Higgins joins Maartje van Krie...

Before you bring AI into your business, ask yourself: are you ready for it, or are you about to automate the chaos you already have? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken breaks down AI readiness through the lens of business triage - a reality check for leaders who want to move fast without making a bigger mess. She explains why success starts with stabilizing your systems and why small, structured...

What if your business could create the kind of loyalty people feel for Disney? Maartje van Krieken talks with former Disney leader and customer experience strategist Vance Morris about what truly sets unforgettable brands apart. He shares the Disney lessons that every company, whether in service, retail, or B2B growth, can use to turn everyday interactions into memorable moments that keep clients...

Many leaders rely on goals and KPIs to measure success, yet how often do those numbers reveal what’s actually working? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Radhika Dutt, the author of Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter, about why so many organizations get caught chasing business growth metrics that don’t always translate into real progress. Radhika shares h...

Most businesses don’t crumble from bad strategy but from the hard conversations their leaders never have. Maartje van Krieken takes an honest look at why conflict avoidance shows up in leadership communication and how it quietly eats away at trust, focus, and performance. Why do so many leaders hesitate to speak up when something feels off? What happens when tension is ignored for months or even y...

When a business starts to stumble, the real problem usually isn’t hidden—it’s just misread. Maartje van Krieken talks with Elisabeth Vealey, founder of Sophius LLC, about how business diagnostics reveal what’s really happening inside a struggling company. With decades of experience in accounting, CFO leadership, and turnaround strategies, Elisabeth explains how following the cash flow exposes not...

Remote leadership works best when people have the space to enter flow states that spark ideas and move projects forward. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Academy Award winner and entrepreneur Steven Puri about what it really takes to lead distributed teams with purpose. How do you build trust when you can’t walk the halls together? What makes the difference between a team that only...

Business valuation is more than a price tag at exit. It’s a running assessment of your company’s health, credibility, and resilience. Maartje van Krieken shows how valuation can serve as a practical management tool for everyday decision-making. Drawing on lessons from mergers and acquisitions, she explains why external perceptions matter just as much as internal metrics and how they shape financin...

Leadership isn’t always loud, and sometimes the quietest voice in the room is the one that steadies the ship. Maartje van Krieken sits down with Greg Weinger, SVP of Product Management at SheerID and host of The Powerful Introvert Podcast, to rethink what leadership looks like when a company faces real pressure. Greg shares the story of an introverted CFO who stepped in during a crisis and rebuilt...

Most business emergencies don’t appear out of nowhere. They build slowly through overlooked financial red flags that leaders often miss until it’s too late. How do you know if your books are truly in order, or if the numbers you’re seeing are hiding deeper issues? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Ryan McGarghan, founder of Synergy Solutions, fractional CFO and certified exit plannin...

Most business exits fail not because of flawed numbers but because the hidden value of people, culture, and legacy is overlooked. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken explores why exits are among the most personal and emotionally charged moments in business and how treating them as purely financial transactions often leads to broken trust and dissatisfaction. She offers clear strategies to change...

Most leaders spend far too much of their day answering questions, and Atiba De Souza believes that habit is holding businesses back. How much more progress could you make if your time went into vision and strategy instead of micromanagement? Joining Maartje van Krieken in this episode, Atiba, a CEO strategist and team productivity expert, shares why he refuses to answer his staff’s questions and h...

More leads won’t save your business if your revenue systems, lead quality, and sales pipeline health aren’t working the way they should. Maartje van Krieken talks with Mark Osborne, a fractional chief revenue officer for boutique professional services and B2B firms, about what really drives sustainable growth. If your team is chasing volume, are you missing the chance to focus on the opportunities...

Most business failures can be traced back to weak or rushed due diligence, and that gap often turns into costly business risk. When the stakes are high, whether you are hiring a key leader, buying a company, or entering new partnerships, how do you really know what you are agreeing to? What signs should you pay attention to, and what details are easy to miss? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken t...

Entrepreneurial coach and author David J. Greer opens up about the side of success most people never see: the quiet reality of high-functioning leaders living with addiction. Maartje van Krieken talks with David about how he built a global software company while privately battling alcoholism for more than 20 years and what finally pushed him toward lasting sobriety. How many leaders keep going at...

Most startup founders don’t realize they’ve become accidental CEOs until their own success turns into the biggest reason they can’t scale. Maartje van Krieken and Pete Steege discuss the “founder’s fog,” that frustrating place where a vague vision, scattered execution, and unclear roles quietly start choking a growing business. Pete shares stories of technical founders who are brilliant at their c...

A startup with cutting-edge tech and global momentum collapsed in under four years because no one stopped to build the structure needed to sustain it.  In this episode, Maartje van Krieken reflects on the rise and fall of Hyzon Motors, a hydrogen fuel cell startup that looked like a sure thing. The technology was solid. The market was ready. The company had funding, partnerships, and a compel...