The Corporate Couch: Work Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Join me with the great Jonathan Jones as we talk about how he pivoted from 12 years working for churches to a successful career in corporate America. You will love the insights from him on building a great company culture! Jonathan Jones ( linkedin.com/in/jonathanjoneskc ) joined DEMDACO ( demdaco.com  ) in the fall of 2006 to give leadership to the company’s focus and intentionality about its cul...

Join my conversation with Jane Deterding as we talk about her experience working for the legendary Bob Dole, becoming a lawyer, and her pivot to running her 101-year-old family bank! Jane Deterding is a fourth-generation banker at Citizen Bank of Kansas (CBK), Jane’s ties to banking started at an early age. She currently serves as Chairman of the Board, with other roles including General Counsel a...

You will love my conversation with Kristen Ragusin ( www.kristenragusin.com/ )! Her book "The End of Scarcity: The Dawn of The New Abundant World" (Amazon: https://a.co/d/0nyU1cX ) will be one of the most important books you will ever read. She has such great energy and is on a mission to change our world by implementing a new system of exchange to create and sustain a life worth living. About Kri...

Aaron Fulk ( www.aaronfulk.com ) is the CEO and founder of Lillian James Creative ( https://lillianjamescreative.com/ ). You are going to enjoy this conversation with Aaron in this wide-open chat about her unconventional upbringing and career journey.  Here is the bio Aaron gave me to use for the episode: In 2016, as a single mom without a college degree, Aaron (spelled like a boy) founded Lillian...

Please enjoy this mini-course on leadership with Baron Lukas!   Baron Lukas is an executive leader, advisor, coach, and retired Marine Corps Colonel. He has 42 years of leadership, management, and mentoring experience. His professional career spans a diverse spectrum of positions: fighter pilot, instructor, strategist, intelligence officer, professor, commander, and finally, business executive, en...

Enjoy my conversation with the magnificent Maki Moussavi as we get into some deep topics about work and fulfillment. Her book is fantastic!   Maki Moussavi ( www.makimoussavi.com ) is a mindset and executive coach, as well as the author of The High Achiever’s Guide ( Amazon ). She helps high achievers catalyze empowering change through deep examination of their conditioning to identify limiting pa...

Welcome to the first special edition of the Corporate Couch Podcast! These episodes will be more of a loveseat and will range from 15 to 30 minutes in duration. In each special edition episode, I will ask one or more exceptional executives how they deal with the challenges that face corporate America today. This first special edition episode is about a topic near and dear to my heart, corporate cu...

Mary Messner  (www.marymessner.com) is a professional speaker, an advocate for women and girls, a mother, and a wife (not necessarily in that order). She has dedicated her career to approaching challenges with creativity, refusing to accept the status quo, and leading with a determination to grow others. Mary partners with organizations to provide inspiration, offer knowledge, and identify solutio...

Jy Maze is the President of award-winning Maze Freight Solutions (https://mazefreightsolutions.com/). She has been in transportation and supply chain management for over 12 years. Her sales success with large and small companies, along with the lack of diversity in the industry led to the founding of Maze Freight Solutions in 2017. The company, which emphasizes integrity, quality, and superior cus...

Kristin Herman ( LinkedIn Profile ) is a wealth management advisor at Northwestern Mutual. Her wealth management philosophy: In the world of wealth management, there is a lingering misconception about what financial advisors are and do. Many feel that financial advisors are only out to collect a fee or to transact a result. They believe that transparency is the last thought of the financial adviso...

Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Allison as we discuss how to build a great corporate culture, leading with emotional intelligence, the pandemic's impact on leadership, and his one interview question. Mike Allison ( linkedin.com/in/mike-allison-connect )is the Vice President of Talent and Culture at Spotlight where his focus is on talent acquisition, employee growth/engagement, and leadershi...

Joel Goldberg (https://joelgoldbergmedia.com/meet-joel/ ) is an Emmy Award Winning Broadcaster. Keynote Speaker. Published Author. Joel began dreaming of a career as a sportscaster at a young age, always wanting to deliver news of the previous night’s game to his grade school teachers. He’s spent over a quarter century on television, relying on relationship-building to tell athletes’ stories. Joel...

With nearly 20 years of experience in corporate well-being, Haley Prophet ( linkedin.com/in/haleyprophet ) brings a multi-dimensional approach and authentic presence to her strategies for fostering an atmosphere where individuals, organizations, and community relationships can thrive. She creatively evaluates and implements well-rounded, multi-dimensional whole-person well-being opportunities thro...

Doug Morse knows small hospitals and clinics are the healthcare and economic engines driving rural life. 30+ years of leadership as critical access hospital CEO, healthcare system executive, and entrepreneurship instructor. His first CEO position was in a small rural hospital system in Iowa. In his role as an educator teaching budding entrepreneurs, he was named "Teacher of the Year" twice. Doug i...

Jennifer Rome describes herself as on a mission to make a positive impact on all she crosses paths with.  She serves as a mortgage advisor for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation and is the co-founder and president of a local non-profit called The Giving Professional KC.  She is a mother to two incredible young men and is proud to be a Kansas City native.   In 2019 and 2020, her world was tur...

​In this episode, we explore Pamela Norton's journey as an American entrepreneur and visionary who believes in the interdependence of business and social impact. Join us as we delve into her groundbreaking work at Borsetta and TitleChain, where she utilizes blockchain, AI, and micro-electronic chip solutions to revolutionize the digital asset and Intellectual Property landscape. Learn how Pamela's...

Henning ​​Schwinum is a creative and results-driven global founder and executive with extensive domestic and international experience in Sales, Supply Chain, and General Management, both in a corporate and entrepreneurial setting. He​nning launched Vendux in 2019 as the matchmaker, the agency for fractional and interim sales leadership. And almost four years later, Vendux is the only matchmaker fo...

Amy Bradshaw recently joined Capitol Bridge, LLC, and is the company’s Chief Financial Officer. In her role. Amy is responsible for scaling the organization’s financial and accounting infrastructure to support the growth of the overall company. Before joining Capitol Bridge, Amy worked with technology and services companies to evolve the accounting and finance functions. She has experience buildin...

Mark Mears is a #1 Best Selling author, keynote speaker, consultant, and visionary business leader. He has a significant track record of building shareholder value—driving innovation and profitable growth among world-class, high-profile brands such as PepsiCo/Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, JCPenney, NBCUniversal, and The Cheesecake Factory. Today, Mark serves as Chief Growth Officer for LEAF Gr...

​Valerie Jennings is CEO of Jennings​  Social Media & MarTech (JSMM​ - ​https://jsmmtech.com.​), which she founded in 2003 and has grown into a highly competitive ​Martech agency. The agency specializes in paid media, SEO, content strategy, and influencer marketing, working with clients in the automotive industry, transportation, ​logistics, healthcare, beauty, financial services, travel and t...

​Lisa Seim has traded and sold treasury products for various financial institutions in Austria, Germany, and NYC in the mid-80s and 90s. In July 2011, she realized the markets were lost and stuck between the new regulatory mandates of Dodd-Frank regulatory reform and coming to terms with the fact that legacy technologies had little capacity to handle the new regulatory environment. Transparency an...

Lori Saitz is the founder and CEO of  Zen Rabbit  ​​and host of the podcast “ Fine is a 4-Letter Word. ” An award-winning author, speaker, and broadcaster, Lori is on a mission to teach the world to be calm and grounded no matter what’s going on.​ ​High achievers come to her because they have a strong drive to be productive, but at the end of the day never feel accomplished enough. As a nationally...

​Megan Galloway is on a mission to make our workplace a more authentic and human place for current and future generations to thrive. She works with Campfire ( https://www.getcampfire.com/ ) to help managers be the best versions of themselves through innovative, community-based learning. She's spent over a decade building learning and development programs from the ground up for companies that have...

When Dan Hurst ( www. DanHurst.com ) was born in Texas, his parents moved. To Honduras. They thought he wouldn't find them. He grew up speaking Spanish. Well, “grew up” might be stretching it a bit. When he was 14 years old he got his first job in radio.  The radio station changed its locks on him. His parents sent him to reform school.  He got kicked out. He finally graduated from High School alt...

When Dan Hurst ( www. DanHurst.com ) was born in Texas, his parents moved. To Honduras. They thought he wouldn't find them. He grew up speaking Spanish. Well, “grew up” might be stretching it a bit. When he was 14 years old he got his first job in radio.  The radio station changed its locks on him. His parents sent him to reform school.  He got kicked out. He finally graduated from High School alt...