The Unfolding Thought Podcast

In this episode, Eric talks with advertising author and former agency CEO Bob Hoffman about the incentives quietly shaping the modern digital world. The conversation begins with social media and children but quickly expands into a broader discussion of advertising, platform economics, AI, media buying, creativity, and the concentration of power inside a handful of technology companies. Bob argues...

In this episode, Eric talks with Coach Rory O’Neill about a question that extends far beyond youth soccer: What happens when a system rewards customer satisfaction more than genuine development? Drawing on experience coaching from recreational leagues to MLS NEXT, Rory argues that many of the problems parents blame on coaches or individual clubs are actually consequences of a deeper structural iss...

In this episode, Eric talks with energy strategist Peter Kelly-Detwiler about a question that is quickly moving from the engineering world into everyday life: Will artificial intelligence fundamentally change how we think about electricity? Peter argues that the AI race is not primarily a software race. It is increasingly a race for electrons. As companies invest trillions of dollars into AI infra...

In this episode, Eric talks with futurist and philosopher Eliot Frick about a question that quietly sits beneath many of today’s biggest debates: what if the anxiety, polarization, institutional distrust, and constant sense of crisis are not isolated problems, but signs that an entire way of thinking has reached its limits? Drawing from Thomas Kuhn, Nietzsche, complexity theory, developmental psyc...

In this episode, Eric talks with researcher Dr Ming Ming Chiu about fake news, AI generated deception, creativity, and the hidden patterns inside human communication. Drawing from decades of work across education, statistics, online behavior, and computational analysis, Dr Chiu explains why misinformation spreads so effectively and why the future of trust may become one of the defining challenges...

In this episode, Eric talks with sociologist Dr Kathryn J Edin, one of America’s leading poverty researchers, about what decades of fieldwork reveal that statistics alone can miss. Dr Edin’s work began in living rooms, church basements, public housing communities, and long conversations with families trying to survive on too little money and too little stability. Early in her career, she learned s...

In this episode, Eric talks with growth strategist and former seven-time CMO Rich M. Smith about a problem that quietly undermines many organizations: confusing marketing activity with actual strategy. Rich argues that most companies do not fail because they lack talent, products, or ideas. They fail because they never solve distribution. In crowded and commoditized industries, the challenge is ra...

In this episode, Eric talks with independent patient advocate Lisa Berry Blackstock about a reality few people think about until it is too late: modern healthcare is increasingly difficult to navigate alone. Lisa’s path into advocacy did not begin in medicine. It began with pain. After experiencing debilitating electric shocks in her face, she spent months searching for answers and ultimately unde...

In this episode, Eric talks with speaker, author, and improviser Avish Parashar about a deceptively simple idea that shapes how people respond to uncertainty, conflict, and change: the difference between “yes, but” and “yes, and.” Drawing from decades of improv comedy and corporate leadership work, Avish argues that most organizations misunderstand resistance to change. Leaders often assume people...

In this episode, Eric talks with writer and cultural commentator Helen Pluckrose about a pattern that shows up in universities, organizations, and public life: the slow shift from inquiry to certainty. Helen’s work began with a simple concern about the health of academic debate. Over time, that concern widened into a broader question about how ideas spread, harden, and eventually become resistant...

In this episode, Eric talks with organization expert and educator Lisa Woodruff, founder of Organize 365 and author of Escaping Quicksand , about a quiet assumption many people carry for years: if your home feels chaotic, the problem must be you. Lisa’s work began with closets, paperwork, and clutter. Over time, she noticed something deeper. The people she worked with were not lazy, careless, or u...

In this episode, Eric talks with Kelly Monahan, organizational psychologist and author of Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership , about a reality many organizations are still struggling to face: the workplace changed faster than leadership practices did. For decades, leadership relied on proximity. You could see who was worki...

In this episode, Eric talks with Kari Schneider, performance coach and co-author of The Human Algorithm, about a question that is becoming harder to ignore: what happens when technology advances faster than our ability to lead ourselves? Kari began her career coaching Olympic and professional athletes, where performance was measurable and the margin for error was small. Over time, she discovered t...

In this episode, Eric talks with Chris Dyer, leadership expert and author of Moments That Matter, about a simple idea that most leaders miss: not every moment carries the same weight. Organizations often try to treat everything as urgent. Every meeting matters. Every email matters. Every interaction matters. The result is exhaustion and noise. Yet when people look back on their careers, their team...

In this episode, Eric talks with Lindsay McGregor , co-founder of Factor , about why most performance problems are not caused by individuals, but by the systems surrounding them. Lindsay has spent years studying motivation, culture, and performance inside organizations ranging from startups to global enterprises. Her work challenges a deeply ingrained instinct in leadership: the tendency to attrib...

In this episode, Eric talks with Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, about what leadership actually requires when the stakes are high and the pressure never stops. Lee’s path to running one of the most complex organizations in the world did not begin at Disney. He grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, worked as a banquet waiter, got fired, had his furniture...

In this episode, Eric talks with Bob Pritchett, founder of Logos Bible Software and longtime CEO of Faithlife, about what it actually takes to build something that lasts. Bob started writing and selling software in high school, launched Logos at 19 while working at Microsoft, and helped grow the company over nearly three decades before bringing in outside investors. Along the way, he navigated fin...

In this episode, Eric talks with Coach Hill, founder of Financial Footwork and author of Train Your Money , about the hidden beliefs and behavioral patterns that shape our financial lives. Coach Hill approaches money the way a coach approaches movement: most problems are not about information, they are about habits. Drawing from her work as a financial coach, she explains why budgeting apps and sp...

In this episode, Eric talks with Barbara Wittmann, founder of the Digital Wisdom Collective, about why digital transformation so often fails despite good intentions, smart leaders, and expensive technology. Barbara argues that most change initiatives don’t collapse at the top or the bottom of organizations. They collapse in what she calls “the juicy middle” — the layer where strategy meets executi...

In this episode, Eric talks with Jesse Sprague, founder of EchoSpectra, about why wildfire risk isn’t primarily a firefighting problem, but a data, process, and decision-making problem. Jesse’s work sits at the intersection of geospatial science, field investigation, and real-world accountability. What begins as a conversation about wildfire mapping quickly expands into a deeper examination of how...

In this episode, Eric talks with Bill Blankschaen, founder of StoryBuilders and author of Your Story Advantage, about why so many capable people feel called to do more, yet never take responsibility for acting on it. Bill shares his own transition from running a thriving private school to stepping into the uncertainty of writing, storytelling, and building a message-driven business. What looks lik...

In this episode, Eric talks with Paul Slater, author of The AI Ready Human, about what it actually takes to stay valuable as AI quietly reshapes how work gets done. Paul has spent three decades at the intersection of humans and technology, from teaching people how to use their very first computers to writing more than twenty technical books at Microsoft. Today, his focus is on a harder question: w...

In this episode, Eric talks with Kyle McDowell , bestselling author of Begin With WE and former Fortune 10 executive, about why most culture initiatives fail long before they reach execution. Kyle argues that culture doesn’t break down because leaders lack frameworks, values statements, or motivation. It breaks down because real change requires personal cost. Political capital. Short-term discomfo...

In this episode, Eric talks with Allen Thornburgh, a longtime marketing and fundraising leader who works with purpose-driven organizations to help them create experiences people actually care about. Allen shares why so many organizations plateau despite doing everything “right,” and how over-reliance on data can quietly suffocate imagination. Drawing on his work across Fortune 500 companies, faith...

In this episode, Eric talks with Matthew Powell , fourth-generation steward of Century Companies , about what it means to build a business designed to last for decades rather than quarters. Matthew shares his path from Wall Street and investment banking into a 100+ year family enterprise, and how that transition reshaped how he thinks about leadership, success, and responsibility. At the center of...