The Growth Mixtape: Chasing Curiosity and Sharing Boundless Insights from Ideas that Matter

Today I talk to Rachel Druckenmiller, keynote speaker, songwriter and recording artist I met at a recent songwriting retreat.  You know those people you meet that seem kind and approachable, and then as you learn more you realize, oh I think she’s a really big deal.  Well, that’s Rachel.  In the 3 short months since we first met, she lived out a childhood dream of singing the nation...

Welcome to another solo episode, where I gather up conversations with friends, clients and guests that won’t go away and keep organizing themselves around specific themes.  This one is about something almost everyone I talk to is wrestling with: how to stand out and become memorable. Whether you're chasing a new job, a promotion, an investor, a creative breakthrough, or just trying to figure...

Today I talk to Rob Szabo — a four-time Juno-nominated (and one-time Juno-winning) musician, producer, and composer who has spent over thirty years making a living doing the thing most of us are told to give up on. He's played in bands since before he was legally allowed to be there, sold thousands of tapes out of the back of a car in the '90s independent music boom, produced some fifty albums, an...

Michelle Grocholsky is back for her second time on the show, and this one's a different format than her first. Instead of a traditional interview, we each brought two topics we were excited to explore, didn't share them ahead of time, and just pressed record to see what happened. Michelle works in equity, diversity, and inclusion, and she's someone I've had dozens of conversations with over the ye...

Welcome to another a solo episode — where I pull together threads from conversations with guests, clients, and friends that keep organizing themselves around a theme, and try to make sense of them out loud so you have space to insert your own stories. Today's thread is the rise of the retreats. They seem to have come out of nowhere — nobody talked about them before COVID, and now everyone I know i...

Today Greg Boyd is back on the show, and this time we tried something different. Greg is a friend and cofounder of Vienna Waits with his wife Whitney, and if you've listened before you know our first conversation went to some deep, tearful places. This one uses a format I've been experimenting with: we each bring two topics, we don't share them ahead of time, we turn off the notifications, press r...

Today we talk to Will Giangrande, founder of The NextGen Playbook and someone who has made it his mission to help bridge the gap between generations in the workplace. I met Will a little over a year ago, and despite being nearly the youngest person in the room, he struck me as an old soul. He's spent the last few years helping leaders better understand Gen Z, but what I loved most about this conve...

Welcome to another solo episode, this time on the collective midlife crisis we’re all going through and how to navigate it with the help of Jim Collins’ new book, What to Make of a Life. Lately, I’ve been having the same conversation over and over again with leaders, founders, and people in every stage of their careers. They’re successful on paper, but something feels off. The things that used to...

Today we talk to Beatriz Zanatelli — entrepreneur, founder, immigrant, and one of the most intentional people I know. Bea and I have known each other for years, but this conversation felt different.  It’s a perfect example of what can happen when people show up with genuine curiosity and no expectations about where it might lead. What came out of it was a conversation about identity, confiden...

Today we talk to Linda Jackson, a self-described OG digital nomad who’s been living and working from a sailboat for over a decade… and not just weekend sailing either — we’re talking about crossing oceans, navigating cyclones, and building a life completely untethered from land. Linda is calling in from Fiji — yes, actually on an 80-foot sailing yacht — and what struck me right away is that this i...

Today I talk to Whitney Boyd as part of a special series where I talk to friends about things I’ve always been curious about.  And they get to do the same.  I bring two topics, they bring two topics and we surprise each other - no notice and no preparing answers in advance.  It takes courage and I give Whitney a lot of credit for going through with it. Truth be told, she wasn’t 100%...

Today we talk to Alan Cross, a legend in the music world and the voice behind The Ongoing History of New Music —a show that’s been shaping how we understand music for over 30 years. If you grew up loving music, there’s a good chance Alan helped you make sense of it—connecting the dots between artists, movements, and moments that changed everything. But this conversation isn’t just about looking ba...

Welcome to another solo episode, and I’m really proud of this one. It’s quite personal. If you’ve ever struggled to get something off the ground, or have started something you loved only to have it turn into a chore, this is for you.   The truth is I’ve been wrestling with what this podcast is actually about - what it’s supposed to be. Somewhere along the way, this thing I loved mos...

Today we talk to Anne Bonney, speaker, author and self-described discomfort zone guide. I loved this conversation because it pushed on something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. We hear all the time that growth happens outside our comfort zone, but Anne gives that idea a fresh twist. Instead of just leaving comfort, she talks about learning how to dance with discomfort — and more importantly...

Today we talk to three incredible women on a mission to completely reimagine healthcare, with community and the whole person at the centre. This was our first recording in front of a live studio audience, and the energy in the room was incredible. Maddi Kolberg , Dr. Tina Sestin, and Carmen Sutherland share how a chance meeting in a sauna, years of clinical burnout, and a deep belief in community...

Today we invite back Alyx Parks, a great friend, conviction coach, writer, fly fishing guide, and one of my favourite people to have unhinged conversations with. This episode is a bit of an experiment. We both brought 2 topics to discuss, but didn’t tell each other ahead of time.  No research, no prepared answers, no performance. What came out was a wide-ranging, honest, funny, and surprising...

Today, we talk to Sensi Graves and Brandon Scheid - extreme athletes, parents, partners, and now the subjects of a powerful new documentary - Windfall . Two years ago, Brandon was in a speed flying accident that nearly took his life.  In the days immediately following, Sensi learned she was pregnant with their first child.  Together, they share their incredible journey of recovery, and h...

Today, we talk to John U. Bacon, bestselling author of The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald . This story gripped me in a way I didn’t expect. Like a lot of people, I knew the Gordon Lightfoot song — I’d sung it around campfires and strummed it on my guitar — but I had no idea how much more there was to the story until I picked up John's book. He spent years talking to t...

In this mini-solo episode, we tackle a problem I’ve always had - setting goals.  I talk about why it doesn’t work, and how we can conduct mini-experiments to overcome our fear of failure.  Just saying, “it’s an experiment”, makes everything feel less risky, less scary.  If we do that enough, before you know it we’ve intentionally stumbled into a long list of amazing things we’ve alw...

Today we talk to Peter Katz — award-winning singer-songwriter, speaker, and creator of the “keynote concert.” Now, if that term caught your ear like it did mine, you’re about to see why. Peter just released his new album, and while that’s exciting on its own, what really struck me was how it came to be — through friendship, nature, first takes, and a complete letting go of outcome. It's a lesson i...

Today we talk to Greg Bennick—writer, speaker, punk rocker, coin collector, juggler, and the first ever returning guest on the podcast. Greg is one of those people whose passion is contagious. He can make anything interesting—coins, kindness, counterstamped nickels from 1860—and somehow ties it all back to living a life that actually means something. Our first conversation was the episode I recomm...

Today we talk to Lacey Heels —writer, creative strategist, and the author of The Rebirth Rituals . This wasn’t a planned conversation. In fact, a few short weeks ago, we’d never even met. But after a few chance encounters (and some beautifully-timed serendipity at a retreat in the woods), Lacey’s book landed in my hands—and I couldn’t put it down. We talk about that strange, messy, powerful space...

Today we talk to Dr. Aimie Apigian, a trauma physician and bestselling author of The Biology of Trauma, that just landed on #6 on the USA Today Bestseller List. Now, I’ll be honest — when I first saw the title of her book, I thought, oof, that sounds heavy. But then I got into it, and it wasn’t at all what I expected. This book completely reframed what I thought I knew about trauma. It’s not just...

Today we talk to Emily O’Brien, founder of Comeback Snacks , a company she launched while serving time in federal prison for drug smuggling.  And if that alone isn’t enough to get you to listen, I give up. Emily is raw, funny and vulnerable about the choices she made that landed her behind bars.  She talks about the moment she saw her parents in the courtroom for the first time, the sham...

Welcome to a solo episode on the fear of starting over. I talk to people for a living, here on the pod but also in my coaching and speaking career.  And in virtually every conversation, I talk to people that want to do something new. And it’s scary as hell. But in these conversations, something new emerges.  It’s this fear of judgment that so many guests have talked about here on the pod...