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

Scaling looks like success, until your product hits every shelf and you’re still bleeding cash. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with food and beverage strategist Debbie Wildrick about what really happens when growth gets ahead of structure. With decades of experience across the CPG world, from startup brands to overseeing billions in retail at 7-Eleven, Debbie has seen firsthand how com...

A single line of flawed code grounded planes, shuttered hospitals, and crashed cash registers… What would your business do if the emergency was already underway? One year after launching this podcast in the middle of real-life chaos, Maartje breaks down the CrowdStrike debacle that exposed just how fragile even the biggest systems can be, and why most business continuity plans still fall short. Sh...

Public sector leaders are quietly mastering the kind of complex, human-centered change most businesses struggle to get right. Maartje van Krieken is joined by Vijay K. Luthra, a former civil servant and transformation strategist, to talk about why public sector transformation deserves more attention from business leaders facing turbulence. Vijay draws from his experience across government and cons...

AI isn’t some future threat on the horizon. It’s already changing how businesses operate, and the question is whether you’re keeping up or falling behind.  In this 50th episode of The Business Emergency Room, Maartje van Krieken gets real about “AI FOMO” and why so many leaders are stuck thinking instead of doing. Most companies say they’re exploring AI, but only a small fraction have actuall...

Most leadership failures don’t happen because of bad strategy. They happen because we overlook how human we all are when the pressure’s on. Maartje van Krieken is joined by German author, speaker, and former airline pilot Peter Brandl, who brings a pilot’s perspective into the world of business leadership. With years of experience training flight crews in crisis response and communication, Peter t...

Most businesses won’t survive their next big disruption. Not because the crisis is too big, but because their business continuity plan (BCP) was either half-baked or never tested. Maartje van Krieken makes the case for recovery planning that actually works. What would happen if your leadership team was unreachable? If your systems went down? If your staff didn’t know who had authority to make deci...

Most boards don’t fail because of bad people. They fail because the right people aren’t at the table when it counts. Maartje van Krieken sits down with Dr. Keith Dorsey, the founder of Boardroom Journey, to talk about what makes a board truly effective, and why board composition strategy should never be an afterthought. If your company is scaling fast or hitting friction, are the voices in your bo...

A jailbreak in New Orleans becomes a sharp metaphor for what happens when creeping dysfunction goes unchecked inside a business. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken unpacks the hidden costs of ignoring early warning signs in organizations. Broken locks. Budget cuts. Communication breakdowns. The kind of slow decay that builds quietly until a major crisis forces everyone to pay attention. Using th...

Sales problems rarely start loud. They build quietly through messy processes, wishful thinking in the pipeline, the wrong people in key roles, and pricing that no longer makes sense. Maartje van Krieken is joined by Nicholas Loise, the founder of Sales Performance Team, to discuss what really drags sales down, and what it takes to turn things around. He shares a practical framework built around fo...

High-stakes decisions don’t reward the loudest voice; they favor the calmest mind and the clearest why. Maartje van Krieken is joined by Jeffrey Owens, a former police officer, FBI-trained hostage negotiator, and executive leader, for a conversation that connects crisis response tactics to the boardroom. What does facing down an armed man teach you about managing people under pressure? And how can...

Most businesses don't fail from bad decisions; they fail because they never saw the storm coming. This episode is a wake-up call for leaders who are too busy managing today to think about what’s coming next. Maartje van Krieken breaks down the concept of Environmental Scanning and why it matters far more than most executives realize. Are you missing the early warning signals that could shape or sh...

Most businesses overlook cybersecurity risk management until an attack hits, but small moves like the “porcupine strategy” and multi-factor authentication can be the difference between staying safe and facing a major breach. Maartje van Krieken sits down with cybersecurity expert Bryce Austin for a conversation that every business owner needs to hear. They start with a story: a business that lost...

When a crisis hits, the leaders who move fastest aren’t the ones clinging to the org chart. They’re the ones who know exactly who their people really are. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken shares a look at crisis leadership and what it truly demands. When volatility takes over, can you still see the emotional and mental state of your team? Or are you relying on titles and job descriptions that...

Conflict doesn’t kill momentum. Our silence around it does. Maartje van Krieken makes a case for why conflict resolution in growing businesses should be a core leadership skill, not something we save for when things get bad. She shares a bold truth: most workplace conflict comes from fear. Fear of being left behind. Fear of failure. Fear of losing control. And when those fears go unspoken, they do...

When the market tilts without warning, leadership means stepping up even when the chaos wasn’t your fault. What do you do when geopolitical tension, tariffs, or broken supply chains knock your business off course? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks about responding to global market disruptions and why waiting to see how things shake out can cost you more than you think. Maartje walks throu...

Waiting out the chaos might feel safe, but in business, standing still during a storm is often the fastest way to lose your course entirely. When a crisis hits, why do so many leaders freeze? What makes waiting feel safer than steering, even when we know the storm won’t pass anytime soon? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken digs into what happens when leadership inertia during uncertainty takes h...

Most CEOs don’t plan their own exit. What happens when the person who built the company isn’t the right one to scale it? Scott Calderwood joins Maartje van Krieken to talk about CEO transition strategies, scaling leadership challenges, and executive hiring mistakes. When a company reaches a breaking point—whether at Series C funding, IPO, or another growth stage—how do leaders know if they’re stil...

​​When your leadership team can’t evolve with your business, scaling challenges become even harder to navigate. How do you know when it’s time to make tough decisions about key positions in your organization? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks about the uncomfortable reality that the leaders who helped you get to where you are may not be the ones who can take you further. As businesses gro...

Trust is everything in leadership. Lose it, and investors won’t think twice about making a change. Maartje van Krieken takes a hard look at investor trust in scaling businesses as she breaks down why half of founder-CEOs don’t last three years after investment. When trust erodes, misalignment creeps in, and investors start questioning whether leadership can take the company to the next stage. This...

Most businesses think they know why customers choose them until they realize they’ve been focusing on the wrong thing all along. Maartje van Krieken sits down with Orly Zeewy for a sharp, no-nonsense look at brand messaging strategy and why so many businesses miss the mark. Orly shares how companies can stop marketing what they think matters and start focusing on what actually drives customer loya...

Most leaders could free up nearly half their workload but refuse to let go. Why is delegation so hard, and what’s the cost of holding on too tightly? Maartje van Krieken unpacks why so many leaders become the bottleneck in their own organizations. Fear of mistakes, trust issues, and the belief that no one else can do the job quite as well keep leaders trapped in a cycle of overwork and micromanage...

Scaling a business comes with big decisions, tough conversations, and the challenge of building a team that can grow with you. How do you know when it’s time to shift roles, implement structure, or step back so others can take the lead? Maartje van Krieken sits down with Jennifer Cresswell, a growth strategist and the founder of Thoughtgro, to break down the realities of scaling in entrepreneurshi...

Hesitation under pressure costs more than a bad decision. This season 2 kick-off episode of The Business Emergency Room unpacks how to make fast, confident calls when the stakes are high. When everything is unfolding fast, how do you make the right call without second-guessing yourself? Host Maartje van Krieken shares a real-world example of decision-making gone wrong, turning a simple family outi...

Scaling a business isn’t just about strategy—it’s about navigating chaos, making fast but sound decisions, and keeping teams aligned under pressure. The Business Emergency Room helps leaders, founders, and decision-makers sharpen their decision-making mechanics, master people dynamics, and build resilience in uncertain markets. Host Maartje van Krieken shares battle-tested frameworks to eliminate...

In the dynamic world of business growth, the transition from entrepreneur to CEO is often fraught with challenges that can either propel a company forward or lead to burnout. This episode sheds light on the pivotal strategies that help business owners navigate rapid growth, avoid common pitfalls, and build sustainable success. The conversation uncovers the importance of strategic planning, effecti...