The Human Connection Podcast

"If you're going to get to know your people better, just get to know them better. The minute you transactionalize it, you start losing the relational aspect and the human humanization of it." – Seung Paik Your leadership strategy is commodifying the people you're supposed to inspire. Seung Paik, retired Air Force colonel and author of Leadernomics, reveals why economics—the study of human behavior...

"Nobody wants to be sold on LinkedIn. But most people are willing to be educated on LinkedIn, especially around pain points that they have." – Colin Hirdman You're burning bridges on LinkedIn and don't even know it. Colin Hirdman, founder of Rainmaker and co-founder of Monkey Island Ventures, reveals why your connection requests are getting ignored—and the counterintuitive strategy that generates...

"When you connect the right person with the right skillset, with the right environment, everybody wins." – Alex Bowden Most scaling companies are bleeding talent because they've automated the wrong parts of hiring. Alex Bowden, founder of People First Talent and Retention Consulting, breaks down why your ATS system is sabotaging your culture—and how to fix it with human-first hiring strategies tha...

"Focusing on the things that are within your control—how you communicate, your tonality, getting your voice heard in meetings—that's what creates real change." Lori Potts knows that women face a likability trap men rarely encounter: be too warm and you're dismissed as incapable; show too much competence and you're labeled aggressive. As a public speaking and career coach who helps mid-level women...

"Listen so much that you're paying attention to what's not being said, what's not being heard—those wells of energy and wisdom guide the path forward." Rick Cram knows that resilience isn't just about surviving challenges—it's about transforming through them. As a resilience coach and creator of the Plan to Be Your Best method, Rick helps leaders navigate organizational stress and personal hardshi...

"The less confident I feel in my ability, the more time I'm reacting out of defensiveness and self-criticism—all of those things take me away from being an effective leader." Tim Smith knows that leadership transitions can make or break scaling companies. As a leadership strategist and succession planning consultant at Baron Ridge Consulting, Tim helps organizations identify leadership gaps before...

"They're disconnected from other people. They're disconnected from themselves. So how do you lead yourself first? How do you get reconnected with yourself in a way that helps you understand what your values are, how you make decisions, how you're choosing to show up?" As AI takes over administrative tasks, the real competitive advantage isn't in technology—it's in how leaders connect with their te...

"People really make decisions on emotion, and then they justify it with logic." Ever wonder why your expertise isn't translating into closed deals? Danny Bobrow, creator of the Persuasion Blueprint, reveals why technical competency alone isn't enough—and what actually builds trust in human-to-human business relationships. In this episode, Danny breaks down the Three C's of persuasive communication...

"When people call us, we don't go straight into 'What's your name? What county?' We say thank you for calling us today. We understand what you're going through." What if the legal industry's biggest problem isn't bad law—it's bad relationships? Jimmy Lai, founder of Lion Turner Law Firm, knows this firsthand. After watching too many clients get treated like case numbers, he built his firm on a rad...

"When AI is applied correctly, it allows your human beings, your frontline people, arguably the most important people in your company because they're the ones who are dealing directly with customers, to be more human." Join host Karl Pontau for an insightful conversation with Rick DeLisi, co-author of Digital Customer Service and The Effortless Experience , and creator of the Customer Effort Score...

"Every mission statement, purpose, destiny, vision, calling comes from our life experiences." Ever wake up "successful" but feeling like something's missing? You're not alone. This week, Karl sits down with Greg Stewart—telehealth counselor, executive coach, and author of the AI Cubed trilogy—to unpack why so many high-achievers feel empty despite crushing it on paper. Greg breaks down the differe...

"Step one is actually focusing and actually considering the customer for the first time." Ever wonder why your customers seem confused by your "improvements"? Ryan Rael breaks down the uncomfortable truth: as companies grow, decision-makers lose touch with what customers actually want. In this eye-opening conversation, Ryan shares why that shiny new AI chatbot might be solving the wrong problem (s...

"Production workers don't just need to know how they do something—they need to know WHY they're doing it." Ever wonder why some companies can't keep employees past their first few months? Danielle Suprick knows exactly why—and how to fix it. As a workplace engineer blending mechanical engineering with industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology, Danielle has transformed chaotic onboarding experienc...

"Money moves toward a certain kind of energy. It does not move toward energy that is victim energy or energy that doesn't have agency or choice." – Amy Kemp Ever feel like you're wearing a backpack full of bricks as you move through your workday? You might be trapped in subconscious thought habits that are holding you back. In this episode, certified Habit Finder coach Amy Kemp reveals how the inv...

"Everybody has a story. You just never know who needs that connection at that moment." - Steve Fales In this heartwarming episode, host Karl Pontau sits down with Steve Fales, founder of AD Services, Inc., to explore the art of building genuine friendships in the workplace. Steve shares his refreshingly simple philosophy: ask questions, actually listen to the answers, and avoid the dreaded "conver...

"How can you buy a company that's been around for 70 years, and you're selling one day and you're closing the door the next day? That means you're a business. You don't care about people." When a beloved 70-year-old Minnesota window company sold to a PE firm and shut down overnight—leaving customers with unfulfilled $50K contracts—it sparked an important conversation about what really matters in b...

"I want to ask all the questions that people are generally scared of asking. And it's not that scary, honestly, when people ask to step up and say the answer." - Jake Wells Ever feel like you're running a business on accident instead of on purpose? Jake Wells, EOS implementer and serial entrepreneur, joins host Karl Pontau to shake up the victim mentality that's holding too many leaders back. In t...

"It's the humans driving the process, not the processes driving the humans." - Sulay Thompson Join host Karl Pontau for an energizing conversation with healthcare operations expert Sulay Thompson, who brings nearly 20 years of experience transforming chaos into clarity in the healthcare industry. In this episode, Sulay shares her unique perspective on balancing efficiency with empathy—a challenge...

"In so many organizations, there's this 'for one to win, someone else must lose' mentality. And it creates this conflict where we should be kind of collaborative, we end up being competitors to one another and that creates all kinds of dysfunction." Former Fortune 10 executive Kyle McDowell joins The Human Connection Podcast to share how he transformed a $7 billion organization by replacing corpor...

"It's not personal, it's just business? Well, my experience working with leaders around the world in all sorts of industries is that that is B.S." In this episode, workplace relationship expert Morag Barrett proves why human connection isn't the "soft, fluffy stuff"—it's your competitive advantage. As founder of SkyTeam and bestselling author, Morag has transformed workplaces across 20 countries,...

"Once you're in a position where you're not smart enough, you don't have enough money in the bank... you have to humble yourself and rely on others and realize that you need help to make it happen." Join host Karl Pontau for an inspiring conversation with Carl Sharperson, a leadership innovation strategist who transformed adversity into his superpower. As a two-time cancer survivor, former Marine...

"People care about their own motivations, not what you have to sell, not what you want to say, not your brand's why." Kevin Perlmutter gets straight to the heart of why so much marketing today falls flat. In this episode, Kevin—chief strategist at Limbic Brand Evolution and author of Brand Desire —joins host Karl Pontau to explore why fear-based marketing is losing its grip and what actually build...

"I've gotten to the point now where I can listen and understand what you explicitly have shared with me. But I've also gotten to a point where I can pick up on things that you didn't explicitly say." – Brian Kurian In this episode, host Karl Pontau sits down with Brian Kurian, a premium ghostwriter who's mastered the rare intersection of sales and copywriting. Brian shares how he helps busy CEOs a...

"The act of asking my team was an act of engagement, and I never thought of that before." This week, Karl sits down with James Warren, founder and CEO of Share More Stories, for a refreshingly honest conversation about the real power of storytelling in business. Spoiler alert: it's not about making your company look good—it's about making your people feel seen. James breaks down why employee engag...

"Authenticity is increasingly the center of almost all trust. We talk about trust in organizations, but what we're really talking about is trust in the people that lead organizations." - Brandon Edwards Join host Karl Pontau for an engaging conversation with Brandon Edwards, a healthcare marketing veteran with 28 years of industry-shaping experience. In this episode, Brandon shares hard-won wisdom...