All Episodes
58 episodes on hiring, employer brand, culture, and building a company people actually want to work for.
All Episodes 58 episodes
58
How to Use Your Weekly Team Meeting to Strengthen Team Trust and Engagement
Your weekly team meeting is probably operational. Probably tactical. Probably not generating much engagement. Here's how to change that in about 15 minutes.
57
How To Attract, Engage, and Keep Employees with Kim Leifsen
Kim Leifsen's dad hated his job for 50 years. He wasn't lazy. He worked 12-14 hour days, six days a week. He was just in the wrong fit. That single observation is what built her entire career.
56
The Blessing of Clarity and Alignment in Business (Pt. 2)
Part 1 was about the cost of confusion. Part 2 is about what happens on the other side. When your people align with your mission, when your marketing flows from who you actually are, when your operations stop fighting you, and when you finally stop fighting God.
55
The Cost of Confusion and Misalignment in Business (Pt. 1)
I've rewritten my website more than a hundred times. I've spent thousands of dollars on ads that never converted. I've made wrong hires that wore down my whole team. And the business costs were the easy part. The harder cost is what it did on the inside.
54
The 5-Layer Interview Question Framework for Hiring the Right People
Most interview questions get you the answer the candidate prepared. They don't get you the person who shows up on day 90. The gap between what someone says in an interview and how they actually operate is a wiring problem, and there's a specific framework for closing it.
53
Why Brand Clarity Is the Root of Hiring, Marketing, and Culture Problems
Every business I've ever worked with has the same problem at the root. It doesn't look the same on the surface: some are struggling to hire, some can't get their website right, some have culture problems or turnover. But trace it back far enough and you almost always find the same thing missing: clarity.
52
Addressing Brand Misalignment and Divided Loyalty
For 15 years I followed the formula. Lead with the problem, agitate it, talk about the solution, talk about your process. I wrote it for hundreds of clients and it worked. Every time I wrote it for myself, I felt like a fraud. I finally understand why.
51
The Connection Between Personal Identity and Brand Identity with Matt Steinruck
Most businesses think they need a new website. What they actually need is to answer a question they've never stopped to ask: who are we, really? Matt Steinruck has spent thirty years watching brands try to fix the river when the problem is at the headwaters.
50
Why Authenticity Builds More Trust Than Strategy Ever Will
You can teach all the right things, have all the right frameworks, say all the right words, and still have no real connection. I know, because I did it for years. What I've been learning is that trust doesn't come from strategy. It comes from story. And being willing to share the story first.
49
Hiring in 4K: How to See Candidates Clearly Before You Make the Offer with TJ Kastning
Most hiring decisions are made with one to three hours of conversation and a gut feeling. TJ Kastning calls that hiring in 360p. He's spent years figuring out what hiring in 4K actually looks like, and it's a lot more than finding the best candidate.
48
How to Find Your Unique Abilities and Stop Working Against Your Wiring
For a long time, I didn't know what I was good at. I knew what I was drawn to. I knew what felt thrilling versus what felt like dragging through concrete. But I didn't have a name for it or a framework for it. This episode is about how I found it, and how to find it in the people you hire.
47
Brand Identity, Marketplace Calling, and the Power of Showing Up as Who God Made You with Latricia Morris
Most people think branding is logos and color palettes. Latricia Morris thinks of it as an identity and communication problem. And once you understand that, everything about how you show up in your business starts to change.
46
The Lies That Keep You Stuck with the Wrong Team
You know the person needs to go. You've known it for a while. But you don't do anything about it. Something keeps you there, some story you're telling yourself about why you can't. This episode is about those stories and why they're not true.
45
Hiring With Faith Over Fear
When you feel the pressure to fill a seat, the temptation is to compromise. Someone who's good enough for right now. And then you spend the next six months dealing with the consequences. What drives that decision almost every time is fear. And there's a different way to run this.
44
Story, Identity, and Why the Right Hire Changes Everything
I talk a lot about process. Hiring process, brand process, onboarding. But process only matters because of its connection to people and purpose. And people and purpose only make sense when you understand story: yours, your business's, and the people you're choosing to bring in.
43
Why Hypothetical Interview Questions Don't Work and What to Ask Instead
What would you do if a customer asked you for something you couldn't do? It's a reasonable question. And it tells you almost nothing. Because they're answering for a version of themselves that has never been tested by that situation.
42
Ten Ways to Verify a Candidate Before You Make the Offer
Two interviews and you're still not sure. Most of the time, that uncertainty is the answer. But if you need more before you decide, there are 10 things you can do to verify a candidate's capacity and character before you make an offer you might regret.
41
Interview Red Flags You Should Never Ignore
You see something in the interview and you ignore it because everything else seemed fine. Three months later you're living with the consequences of that decision. Red flags don't go away. They get more expensive.
40
How to Get Past Vague and Rehearsed Answers in an Interview
They said all the right things in the interview. They said they were a hard worker, a great communicator, someone who takes ownership. And 90 days later, none of that matched who showed up. The problem was you had claims without proof.
39
How to Create an Interview Experience So People Actually Open Up
Most interviews are stressful, stale, and feel like interrogations. So candidates perform. They rehearse their answers, manage their nerves, and show you their most polished version. And you make a hiring decision based on that. The way you run the interview determines whether you see the real person or the prepared one.
38
How to Build a Hiring Process That Verifies Role Fit and Character Alignment
Hiring has one job. The whole process is built to accomplish this one goal: reveal the truth about a person before you make the offer. Not the person who shows up on interview day. The person who shows up 90 days in.
37
The 3 Things Every Interview Must Reveal
Most interviews feel productive and still produce the wrong hire. You had a good conversation, they gave good answers, and 90 days later you're realizing none of that was the person you actually brought on board. The problem isn't the interview. It's what you were trying to find out.
36
Why You Should Always Do Two Interviews Before Hiring
One interview only ever scratches the surface. The person who shows up prepared and polished in a first interview is not the same person who shows up on the job six months later. Getting to the real person requires a second one.
35
The 6 Objectives of Interviewing to Hire with Confidence
Most interviews end and you still don't know if you should hire the person. Not because you didn't talk long enough, but because you weren't clear on what you were trying to find out. Here are the six things every interview needs to accomplish.
34
The Real Cost of Hiring the Wrong Person
You felt the pressure to fill the seat fast and you did it. Now six months in you're coaching someone who isn't getting it, or managing drama from someone who is. This is the real cost of hiring the wrong person, and most businesses never add it up.
33
Why Hiring Is the Most Important Process in Your Business
Most business problems trace back to a people problem. And most people problems trace back to a hiring problem. The good news is that the hiring process is something you actually have control over.
32
How to Build a Clear Vision for Your Life
Most people set goals for the business without ever asking what they actually want their life to look like. The business ends up driving the life instead of the other way around. This episode is about flipping that.
31
Rhythms and Habits to Find Clarity in the Chaos
You can't hear God when you never stop. The day-to-day of running a business and a family will fill every hour you give it, and then some. The only way I've found to stay clear is to build the space in before the chaos arrives.
30
The Idol of Fear: How to Fight for Hope When the Storm Feels Unending
Fear steals hope. Every time I turn on a mic, the anxiety is there. I'm terrified of giving it everything I have and having it not be enough. That hasn't changed. What's changed is what I do with it.
29
The Idol of Comfort: What God Strips Away Before He Builds Something New
Twenty years in the same place. Same church, same community, same friends, same job. I thought I was happy. My soul was suffocating and I didn't know it.
28
The Idol of Money: Breaking a Scarcity Mindset and Learning to Give Before You Feel Ready
I told myself I'd be generous when I had enough. Enough never quite arrived. Life was going by. The opportunities to give were passing. And God sent Elijah to a widow who had one meal left.
27
The Idol of Ambition: Building for Yourself Instead of God's Glory
I wanted to be significant. I wanted to be valued. I wanted stages and recognition. And for years I wanted all of it for me, not for God. That's the idol of ambition.
26
The Idol of Pride: When Accomplishments Harden Our Heart
Pride doesn't feel like an idol because it comes from real things. The more accomplished I became, the more confident, the more disconnected. The faster I judged. I didn't see it happening.
25
The Idol of Advice: When Business Experts Drown Out God's Voice
One course. Then a webinar. Then a masterclass. Then a three-day challenge. Six months in, I couldn't tell you what I believed about any of it. I had lost myself completely in everyone else's answers.
24
The Idol of Approval: When Metrics and Likes Matter More Than Obedience
Six months of posting every day across five platforms, running ads, doing all the things the algorithm said to do, and getting nothing back. I didn't even deserve the engagement, because what I was putting out wasn't actually me.
23
The Idol of Control: Trying to Force God's Plan on Your Timeline
I had a God-given calling and I pursued it entirely in my own strength, on my own timeline, for my own reasons. God didn't open those doors. Not because the dream was wrong. Because the heart behind it was.
22
The Idol of Your Own Strength: Relying on Hustle Instead of God
You can be praying every day and still be relying entirely on yourself. I did it for six months after moving to Alaska: grinding 12-hour days, trying every platform, running ads, attending online conferences, crying out to God for answers while steamrolling ahead in my own strength.
21
When Your Business Becomes an Idol
If you can just get the business working, everything else will fall into place. That's what I believed, and it cost me more than the business was worth.
20
Idols in Entrepreneurship: When Good Things Take God's Place
You can be praying every day, reading the Bible, doing all the right things, and still be running your business on the wrong foundation. I've done exactly that, more times than I want to admit.
19
How to Know When God Is Preparing You for a New Season
You can be aligned, growing, producing real fruit, and still feel something shift underneath you. That quiet awareness isn't anxiety. It might be God preparing you for what's next.
18
Why Contribution Determines Whether Employees Stay or Leave
You did everything right. You hired well, the culture fit, the role fit, the person thrived. And then one day they told you they were leaving. That's not a failure of the system. It might be the system working exactly the way it's supposed to.
17
Why Capacity Alignment Determines Excellence and Growth
You can have all the right values, the right work style, the right traits, and still end up with someone who's just okay in the role. Okay is a slow drain. Here's what determines whether someone will be excellent, not just adequate.
16
How Defining What You Won't Tolerate Protects What You Value
You've defined your values. You've said what you believe and how you want your team to operate. But have you said what you won't allow? Because culture is not just the behaviors you promote. It's also the behaviors you tolerate.
15
Why Traits Alignment Determines Who Thrives in Your Business
You can train for skills. You can coach for behavior. You cannot manufacture character or change someone's personality. Which means if you're not hiring for traits, you're leaving the most important part of alignment to chance.
14
Why Work Style Alignment Impacts Employee Engagement and Performance
You can hire someone who shares your values, fits your culture, and is great at the job, and still watch them burn out. Work style is the dimension most businesses never define. Here's why it matters and how to get it right.
13
Why Defining What You Believe Is Key to Team Alignment
Most businesses have values. Almost none of them use those values to make decisions, coach behavior, or screen candidates. Here's what real values look like and what it takes to make them work.
12
Creating Alignment With Your People
Most hiring problems aren't hiring problems. They're clarity problems. You can't consistently bring the right people in if you haven't defined what right means first. This series is about how to do that.
11
How to Handle Opposition When Implementing Change
You're trying to move something forward. Someone is trying to stop it. Here's how you stay on mission when that happens.
10
How to Implement Change and What to Expect in the Process
You announce the change. A few people nod. A week later, nothing has shifted. A month later, you're wondering if you should just give up. You're not doing it wrong. You just don't know what to expect. Here's what it actually looks like.
9
The First Step to Implementing Real and Lasting Change
You can pick the right software, the right process, the right framework, and still watch it fail. The reason change doesn't stick almost never has anything to do with the thing you're trying to change to. It has to do with how you go into it.
8
Build a Brand People Believe In
Most businesses talk about trust and loyalty as something you earn from customers. But the businesses that actually have it built it from the inside out, starting with the people who work for them, long before any customer ever got involved.
7
What Meaningful Work Really Is and Why It Matters
You can work for a great company, make decent money, have reasonable hours, and still feel like something is slowly dying inside you at work. That feeling has a name. And it's telling you something important.
6
My Journey to Building an Authentic Brand
Clear Authentic Brands wasn't born because I had authenticity figured out. It was born because I didn't. This is the story I was afraid to tell, and why I finally stopped trying to build a business that left that story out.
5
How to Build Accountability to Protect Your Brand and Culture
Most businesses don't fall apart from one big failure. They drift. One small compromise at a time, so slowly you don't feel it until you look up one day and the business you built doesn't feel like yours anymore. That's what accountability is designed to prevent.
4
How to Align Your People, Processes, and Messaging for a Clear Authentic Brand
You can have your brand completely figured out on paper and still have a business that doesn't feel like it. That gap between what you say and what people actually experience is an alignment problem. Here's how to close it.
3
Why Clarity Is the Foundation of a Clear Authentic Brand
I spent a decade redoing the same work over and over. New website. New messaging. New niche. New strategy. I thought I had a marketing problem, a sales problem, a people problem. It was none of those things. It was a clarity problem.
2
The Framework to Build a Clear Authentic Brand
You can have a great strategy, the right tools, and a solid team, and still feel like the business is fighting you. Nine times out of ten, the problem isn't any of those things. It's that nobody ever built the foundation first.
1
Called to Build a Clear Authentic Brand
Most business owners I know are grinding harder than they ever imagined, and still feel like something is off. This podcast exists because I've been that person, and because nobody was having the conversation I needed to hear.