Better Together

95% of AI initiatives fail to achieve their goals. Not because the technology doesn’t work - because most businesses apply it to the wrong problems. In this episode of Better Together, John Michael Thomas - fractional Chief AI Officer and problem-solving expert - breaks down exactly why most AI projects fall flat, what the 5% who succeed do differently, and how leaders can cut through the hype to...

Most small business owners become leaders by accident. Nobody hands you a playbook when you hire your first employee - and the gap between managing people and actually leading them is where most businesses quietly lose their best people. Pamela Fritz spent years in corporate HR watching that gap cost companies more than they realized. So she left - and built Savvy Resources to fix it for small and...

Most businesses hire based on experience and gut feeling. Jeff Sophiea built an entire company around proving why that's the wrong approach. In this episode of Better Together, Jeff - co-founder of Ideal Traits - breaks down why emotional intelligence consistently outperforms IQ in predicting job success, how AI-driven assessments are transforming the way small and mid-sized businesses find and fi...

Everyone has lost five minutes of their life trying to find the end of a packing tape roll. Doug Bard decided to fix it. In this episode of Better Together, Doug shares the origin story behind Wave Tape - a deceptively simple product solving one of the most universally frustrating problems in packaging. From the first idea to market validation, Shark Tank application, and everything in between, Do...

Most people assume professional athletes are set for life. The reality is far more complicated - and far more costly when nobody's paying attention. In this episode of Better Together, Zac O'Brien pulls back the curtain on what managing the financial lives of professional athletes actually looks like. The mistakes nobody warns them about, the tax planning opportunities most high earners miss compl...

Valerie Bowden backpacked across Africa, fell in love with Ethiopia, stayed for eight years - and built a thriving outsourcing company that's changing how the world thinks about global talent. In this episode of Better Together, Valerie shares the story behind Cradle - how she started it while pregnant, scaled it to explosive growth, and built a team of talented women across Africa that's outperfo...

Jeff Burningham sold his first tech company at 26. Ran for governor. Built and exited multiple businesses. And then hit a wall that no amount of external success could fix. In this episode of Better Together, Jeff gets honest about what happens when you achieve everything you thought you wanted - and realize it wasn't the point. He shares his journey through what he calls the dark night of the sou...

Most small businesses don't need a full-time COO. They need the right person, at the right time, for exactly as long as it takes to fix what's broken and build what's missing. That's exactly what Fred Garlington does. In this episode of Better Together, Fred - fractional COO and founder of Zero Point Creations - breaks down what fractional leadership actually looks like in practice, how he builds...

Chris Papin is both a CPA and a licensed attorney - and he built that dual expertise specifically to serve small business owners who need someone who can see the full picture, not just one side of it. In this episode, he breaks down what it actually means to behave like a business owner, why resilience is built through hard seasons, not around them, and why everything you need to succeed is alread...

David McKee got laid off and instead of letting it break him, he let it build him. In this episode he shares the mindset tools, neuroscience-backed routines, and resilience strategies that took him from that moment to building a thriving coaching practice helping entrepreneurs do the same. 🔗 Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mckee-a9966514/ Better Together is the 2026 Best Pod...

Most people spend a career building expertise. Very few spend 42 years doing it accumulating over 32,000 hours of client work and coming out the other side with something most consultants never develop. A genuine understanding of why people resist change and what actually moves them. In this episode of Better Together, John Deel shares his journey through IT and organizational change management, t...

There's a moment a lot of high-achievers reach where the career that looks perfect on paper starts to feel completely wrong on the inside. Emily Chapman hit that moment and instead of staying comfortable, she left a successful corporate career in commercial editing to build something entirely her own. The Testimonial Collective. In this episode of Better Together, Emily shares the real story behin...

Most people's path to building a consulting business doesn't start in remote Alaska. Emily Berliner's did. In this episode of Better Together, Emily founder of EBO Consulting shares a journey that spans Bethel, Alaska to London, and everything she learned along the way about resilience, leadership, and what it actually takes to build organizations that work. Growing up in one of the most remote co...

There's a voice most entrepreneurs know well but rarely talk about. The one that shows up right before the big decision. The one that whispers you're not qualified, not ready, not enough. The one that keeps you playing small under the cover of being realistic. That's imposter syndrome. And in this episode of Better Together, James Black gets into exactly what it is, where it comes from, and how to...

Leaving a stable corporate career to build something from scratch takes more than ambition. It takes clarity, systems, and an unwavering belief that the market will show you the way if you're willing to listen. In this episode of Better Together, Beau Groover, founder of the Effective Syndicate, shares his journey from corporate consulting to building a business ecosystem rooted in lean principles...

Most business owners start with a vision. Freedom, impact, something built on their own terms. But somewhere between the early hustle and the day-to-day grind, that vision gets buried under decisions that only they can make, problems that only they can solve, and a business that quietly stops growing the moment they step away. In this episode of Better Together, Scott Raven, founder of Corvus Solu...

Most leaders are never taught how to truly communicate. They're taught what to say but rarely how to say it in a way that actually moves people. In this episode of Better Together, communication specialist and UCLA professor Dimitrios Loukakis breaks down what separates leaders who simply speak from leaders who genuinely connect. With a background that spans acting, academia, and executive communi...

Building a successful business isn’t about doing everything yourself. It’s about knowing when to let go, building systems that work, and creating the kind of structure that allows both your business and your life to grow. In this episode of Better Together, Jamie Jay shares his journey through business struggles, hard-earned lessons, and the mindset shifts that helped him turn challenges into oppo...

In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, Kelly and Shawn Sundsvold sit down with Rich Bornstein, a seasoned media professional with experience at major studios like Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to explore what truly makes storytelling powerful in business. Rich brings a unique perspective shaped by years in media and entertainment, breaking down why most brands...

In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, Shawn and Kelly Sundsvold sit down with Grant Wasch and PJ Sawchuk of Epic Solution Partners to explore what it really takes to scale a business successfully. Drawing from their experience helping organizations navigate growth, Grant and PJ break down the critical connection between people, process, and technology and why true business transformation...

In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, Shawn and Kelly Sundsvold sit down with Caleb Zimmerman and Katie Sandquist to explore what it really takes to build businesses designed for long-term success. Drawing from their experience building and managing multiple ventures, Caleb and Katie share their philosophy of creating “overnight decades” the idea that meaningful, lasting success is rarel...

In today’s Better Together Podcast, Kelly and Shawn Sundsvold are joined by David Lusk, Managing Partner of Evergreen Sales Group, to unpack what really happens when you step out of corporate structure and into entrepreneurship. After a post-COVID corporate shakeup, David made the decision to build something of his own launching Evergreen in 2021 with a clear mission: to give small and mid-sized b...

In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, Shawn and Kelly Sundsvold sit down with Jay Breeden, systems architect and business growth strategist, to explore how founders can move from operational chaos to sustainable, scalable growth. Drawing from his experience as both a CEO and COO, Jay shares why many growing businesses fall into the trap of “management by heroics” where everything depends...

In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, Shawn and Kelly Sundsvold sit down with Jim Schleckser, founder of the CEO Project, to unpack what separates busy leaders from truly effective CEOs. Drawing from years of coaching high-performing executives, Jim shares practical insights into the mindset shifts required to scale a business successfully. The conversation explores why effective leaders...

In this episode of the Better Together Podcast, Kelly and Shawn Sundsvold sit down with Max Lowy, co founder of Attention Trading, to explore what it really takes to grow a business from the ground up. Max shares his journey from organizing college events to building a full service marketing agency, offering a practical look at how early experimentation and taking action helped shape his path. Rat...