Most People Don't... But You Do!

Josh Zolin was a Hollywood stunt man before he became a CEO. He walked away from the film business, started at the bottom of his father's restaurant equipment company as a field technician on minimum wage, and now runs it as President and CEO of Windy City Equipment.In this conversation with Bart Berkey, Josh explains the thing that made all of it possible. Every level of success he reached required a different version of him to show up, and confronting the old version was the hardest work he has ever done.He talks about why he left the stunt world, and it was not about credit or money. It was that he did not like the person he was becoming in order to succeed. He talks about the ten years he spent in the field, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and working a second job because his father refused to pay him more than minimum wage, and about the line that explains why he stayed: he did not like the work, but he liked who he was when he was working.Then he gets practical. Josh handwrites three notebooks every single day. A wins notebook built on four filters, freedom, presence, impact and love. A universal questions notebook that teaches him how to think. And an excavation notebook, where he writes the hard question, the unfiltered answer, the sentence that starts with "the lie I'm telling myself is," and finally "I am the man who." His claim is simple. Do that for a year and you will not be the same person.He also answers the question the show is named for. Why don't most people do this work? Because they mistake uncertainty for something they need to know, and anxiety comes from two things: what we are uncertain about, and what we feel powerless against.Josh is the author of Blue Is The New White, a case for purpose and real earning in the skilled trades, and the host of Everything They Don't Tell You. Find everything at joshzolin.com.In this episode:The one thing Josh does that Most People Don'tWhy he left the stunt business, and the moment in the mirrorStarting as a technician with no silver spoons and no handoutsWhy fair and the same are not the same thing in a company cultureWhat it means to give someone your present instead of your attentionThe three notebooks, and the four parts of every excavation entryWhy uncertainty and powerlessness are the recipe for intrusive thoughtsBlue Is The New White, and the case for the skilled tradesMost People Don't... But YOU Do! is hosted by Bart Berkey, who spent 16 years as a global executive with The Ritz-Carlton and now builds HUMANALITY™, a system for making people feel cared for rather than processed.Listen, subscribe and share: https://www.bartaberkey.com/podcast

SEASON 4, EP. 248Guest: Ryan Bartlett | Co-Founder & Chairman, True Classic | Los Angeles, CaliforniaWeb: trueclassictees.comLinkedIn: Ryan Bartlett (30,000+ followEPISODE SUMMARY AND KEY TAKEAWAYSRyan Bartlett flunked out of Michigan State, went broke trying to make it as a poker pro in Vegas, worked nightclub VIP rooms in Orlando and LA, and then spent a year quietly researching the most saturated, commoditized category in fashion before deciding to shoot his shot. That company is True Classic, now one of the fastest-growing D2C apparel brands in the world.But this episode is not really about T-shirts. It is about what happens when a founder with a service heart builds a company around the belief that the customer experience matters more than the money. Ryan and Bart connect over Ritz Carlton-level service, the Humanality framework, and a story that started with two canceled orders, a TikTok live comment, and ended with five brand new True Classic shirts showing up at Bart's door unannounced.Ryan talks about the parents who believed in him through every pivot, the stepbrother who reminded him of a promise he made at 19 in the Bahamas, the co-founder who ran with the culture from day one, and why he tells his customer service team to throw the 30-day return window out the window. Every time. No exceptions. At all costs.What You Will Walk Away WithAt all costs means exactly that. Ryan's customer service mantra is simple: the customer needs to have a good experience, period. Even if True Classic loses money on the transaction. The word of mouth from one bad experience costs far more than the refund. His team knows this without being told twice.Ritz Carlton service is not a hospitality concept. It is a business model. Ryan built True Classic's culture around the same standard Bart learned at the Ritz. Surprise and delight. Notice, anticipate, over-deliver. CSAT score of 4.97 at all times. These were not aspirational goals. They were the baseline.Parents who believe in you change everything. Ryan credits his parents more than any business school, course, or mentor. They backed every instrument, every idea, every pivot. That unconditional belief became the confidence that let him walk into the most saturated category in fashion and know he was going to crush it.Most people get into businesses they do not love. Ryan's fill-in-the-blank answer is the throughline of his entire story: most people start businesses for the opportunity, not the passion. And when year two or three gets brutal, the opportunity is not enough to keep you going. The love is what keeps you going.It was never about the T-shirt. It was about giving 6 million guys the confidence to leave the house feeling good about themselves. That was always the North Star. The revenue followed the mission, not the other way around.Optimization never stops. Ryan lives in what he calls optimization mode — constantly scanning for things that are a 7 out of 10 and figuring out how to make them a 10. His next chapter is not another product. It is teaching the next generation of D2C founders how to build and scale a brand using what he actually learned from doing it, not from repackaging other people's advice.

At 16, Matt Ebert wrecked his car twice. The first one was totaled. The second time, he was too afraid to file an insurance claim, certain it would cost him his coverage and with it his newfound freedom to drive. So he found a man in town who worked a day job and fixed cars at night in his garage, and asked to be taught.He has been in collision repair ever since. Today he is the founder and CEO of Crash Champions, with more than 650 locations, 11,000 employees, 60,000 cars repaired every month, and $3 billion in revenue. He calls that 5 percent of his market and says it is nowhere near enough.In this episode, recorded at PodCrash Studios in Chicago, Bart Berkey asks Matt the question this show is built on: what do you do that most people don't? What follows is the conversation most CEO interviews never reach. Kmart clothes and split kids' meals. A paper route that taught him to collect, hold, pay, and keep the difference. One hundred thousand dollars cash advanced on credit cards for four Subway franchises that never made money, and a return to the body shop floor to cover the bills. A mind that has never once treated quitting as an option.Matt is candid about the parts that do not fit on a highlight reel. Why he is most comfortable at the bottom of the rollercoaster and most nervous at the top. Why he still cannot sleep. What the drive has cost his wife and his kids, and why he measures the quality of his time with them rather than the quantity. And why, at Crash Champions, repairing the car is only the ante. The real work is trust, delivered to people on the worst day of their week, across 650 locations he cannot personally stand in.His answer to the closing question is one word longer than you expect, and it reframes everything before it: most people don't get curious enough.Most people fix what is broken and move on. Matt Ebert built a company around leaving things better than he found them.Key takeawaysThink bigger than the room you are in. Matt's answer to "what do you do that most people don't" was immediate: he thinks bigger, and he pushes the people around him to do the same. It was not there at 16. It got built.The wreck was the doorway. Two crashes at 16 and a fear of losing his driving freedom sent him into a neighbor's garage to learn collision repair. The problem he was trying to avoid became the career.He is not naturally good at anything, and that is the advantage. "I can't sing, I can't dance, I don't have athletic ability." What he learned instead was that he can figure almost anything out if he reads about it, asks about it, and practices it.Better is the whole business. Landscaping, construction, collision repair, all of it is transformation. "I want people to think their life has been better for having me involved in it." Bart's frame for it: easy to be, but better to become.Learn more at mattebert.com and crashchampion.com Listen to PodCrash with Matt Ebert wherever you get your podcasts Follow Matt: LinkedIn, Instagram @mattebertcc, X @MattEbertCC, Facebook @MattEbertCC

Episode SummarySome people you meet feel less like new acquaintances and more like a reunion. That's how Bart Berkey describes meeting Tia Crystal — an internationally recognized artist, author, wellness advocate, clinical hypnotherapist, and founder of Be Wellness Mind — whose work has been shown at the United Nations in Geneva. In this warm, wide-ranging conversation, Tia opens up about growing up with severe dyslexia and the self-worth struggles it fed, a message she received at age ten that she wouldn't understand her purpose until forty, and how she became "the living embodiment" of what she now teaches.Key TakeawaysYou are the success today. Whatever happened before, you go back to old patterns as the empowered adult you already are — not as the wounded child.Safety is the foundation of everything. "If you feel safe inside you, you can do anything." Real change starts by helping your younger self feel safe.Strong is muscle; power is knowing. Strength is effort; power is the quiet certainty of who you already are.Become the observer. ~60,000 thoughts a day, ~90% repetitive, ~80% negative. See a negative thought as a "gremlin" outside you — name the feeling, and it loosens its grip.Stop rereading chapter one. Most people replay the same story to the end, then start it over. It's time to give yourself permission to write a new one.Make peace with worry. You may never delete it — but you can breathe, put your arms around yourself, and lessen its grip instead of numbing it away.Quotable Moments (pull-quotes for the newsletter / social)"Strong is muscle. Power is knowing.""You are the success today, regardless of what happened to you before.""It's time to write a new story. What do you give yourself permission to write?""The more you run from something, the more it runs after you.""You are the microcosm of the macrocosm. The only way to change the world is to change your little corner of it."Quotable Moments (pull-quotes for the newsletter / social)"Strong is muscle. Power is knowing.""You are the success today, regardless of what happened to you before.""It's time to write a new story. What do you give yourself permission to write?""The more you run from something, the more it runs after you.""You are the microcosm of the macrocosm. The only way to change the world is to change your little corner of it."Episode Details:Show: Most People Don't… But You Do!Season 4, Episode 246Host: Bart BerkeyGuest: Tia Crystal, Artist, Author, Wellness Advocate, Clinical Hypnotherapist & Founder of Be Wellness MindBook: The Paintbrush (Amazon & Audible)Also: Creator of the animated children's mindfulness series E Me UniConnect: tiacrystal.com · bewellnessmind.com · bewellnesstravel.com

Guest: Kaye Gitibin, CEO and Founder of Go RentalsCompany: Go Rentals (elite mobility rental serving private aviation, 300+ locations, the only rental company recognized by the Forbes Travel Guide)Host: Bart BerkeyEpisode details: Season 4, Ep. 245Thirty years ago, Kaye Gitibin and his brother Habbas started with seven vans and an idea nobody else in the industry was chasing: what if renting a car felt like checking into a five-star hotel? They called it hospitality on wheels. Today, Go Rentals serves private aviation and luxury travelers across more than 300 locations nationwide, it is the only elite car rental company recognized by the Forbes Travel Guide, and it has never spent a single dollar on advertising. Every bit of growth has come from relationships and referrals.In this conversation with host Bart Berkey, Kaye traces his servant heart back to his mother, who rolled out the red carpet for every guest and cooked what the guest wanted rather than what was convenient. He explains why the answer to every legal and ethical guest request is "yes" (yes, his team once bought a Van Cleef bracelet and sourced an orange G-Wagon on request), why he hires for a "hospitality bone" instead of a resume, and how AI can enhance service by anticipating a guest's needs but can never replace the human touch. Kaye and Bart, a 16-year Ritz-Carlton veteran, connect over a shared belief: in an uncertain, increasingly automated world, the companies that win are the ones that make people feel genuinely cared for. It is a masterclass in noticing, anticipating, and over-delivering, and in taking a client from impressed to obsessed.Key TakeawaysService is the product, not the car. Go Rentals hand-picks its vehicles and keeps every car under 15,000 miles, but Kaye is blunt: guests come for the experience, not the vehicle. A $2,000 hotel room and a $125 room both have a bed. The differentiator is always the service around the thing.The answer is always yes. If a request is legal and ethical, the answer at Go Rentals is yes. That single rule turned a surprise Van Cleef bracelet and an orange G-Wagon into legendary surprise-and-delight moments and lifelong fans.You cannot insert a servant heart, so hire for it. Kaye hires for hospitality instinct over experience. Half the interview is how a candidate treats the receptionist and carries themselves in the lobby. Skills can be trained; a servant heart cannot.Notice, anticipate, over-deliver. Remembering a guest likes red M&Ms, warming the seats before arrival, tracking the plane so the car is already waiting. Small anticipations create outsized loyalty. Their slogan: if the guest has to wait for us, the car is complimentary.Relationships beat advertising. In 30 years, Go Rentals has spent nothing on marketing. Growth has come entirely from referrals and from becoming part of guests' lifestyles, not just their travel day.Learn more about Kaye Gitibin at gorentals.com and follow Go Rentals on LinkedIn.

Seth Berge spent his 30s being comfortable. Good at making money, better than his friend group, never quite pushing past good enough. Then he hit 40, got around the right rooms, and asked himself a question that changed everything: if other people built something great, why not me?Seth is the founder of two regenerative medicine companies: Regenerative Revival, a concierge in-home stem cell therapy service operating in all 50 states, and Precision Biologics, the distribution and contract manufacturing company behind it. He spent eight and a half years giving over 2,000 dinner seminars educating people about regenerative medicine, built a team of 25, and is now scaling both companies after years of finally deciding to go all in.Bart and Seth go deep on what it actually takes to stop half-assing entrepreneurship, what stem cell therapy is and where it actually comes from, why your 43-year-old stem cells are not as good as a newborn's, and how Seth's entire business model is built around three things most people in his industry skip: education, access, and affordability. Bart uses his own neck surgery and ongoing pain management as a real-time case study, and Seth walks him through exactly what a treatment would look like, what it costs, and why the recovery time is almost nothing compared to surgery.This episode is equal parts mindset conversation and health education, and it delivers on both.What You Will Walk Away WithMost people don't go for it. That is the whole problem. Seth spent a decade being comfortable before he realized comfortable was a choice, not a ceiling. The only thing separating him from the entrepreneurs he admired was discipline and experience. One of those he could buy with mentorship. The other he had to earn by showing up.Get in rooms where you are not the smartest person. Seth credits this shift more than any strategy. Paying for coaches, attending David Meltzer events, surrounding himself with people who had done more than him. David Meltzer's line landed hard: be interested, not interesting.Business is a sport. Play it like one. Seth is an ex-athlete who played every sport to win. When he finally brought that same intensity to entrepreneurship, everything changed. He now has 25 people relying on his company. That weight is heavy and motivating at the same time.Your body already knows how to heal. It just needs the right tools. Regenerative medicine is not magic. Stem cells and exosomes from umbilical cord tissue after a C-section birth give the body the youngest, most active healing agents available, ones your own body stopped producing at full capacity decades ago. The science is real, the FDA guidelines are strict, and the results for soft tissue repair are documented.Education, access, and affordability are the three things the industry skips. Most people have heard of stem cell therapy but have no idea what it is, where to get it, or what it costs. Seth built Regenerative Revival around solving all three. Concierge in-home service. All 50 states. Packages starting at $5,000, significantly less than most clinics because Seth controls the manufacturing.The goal is to fix the root cause, not manage the symptom. Cortisone injections mask pain. Surgery replaces parts. Regenerative therapy, at its best, repairs the actual tissue defect so the problem does not come back. One treatment. No brick-and-mortar overhead. A nurse practitioner comes to your home in two to three weeks.Guest: Seth Berge | Founder, Regenerative Revival & Precision Biologics | Minneapolis, MinnesotaWeb: regenerativerevival.com or gutstemcells.comLinkedIn: Seth BergeLearn more about Seth Berge and Regenerative Revival at regenerativerevival.com or gutstemcells.com and connect with Seth Berge on LinkedIn.Most People Don't. But You DO!

When Stacey Lauren was eight years old, a girl who was deaf came to her house and fell in love with her Smurf collection. Stacey gave it away. All of it. Every last Smurf. Her mom was stunned. Stacey did not think twice.That instinct, giving without being asked, never left her. It drove 20 years of running a staffing company with 1,260 combined employees. It drove the identity crisis she fell into when she exited. And it drove the question she could not stop asking: why do so many people know what they want to do and still not do it?The answer she found was not about motivation or mindset. It was about rooms. The right rooms, full of people chasing the same goal, change everything. Not your friends. Not your family. People who are doing the thing alongside you. That discovery became a podcast, a methodology, a movement, and now the Do The Thing Collab Network, a platform connecting people around shared goals, community engagement, and fundraising that ties it all together.Bart and Stacey talk through her Comfort Circles framework live, using Bart's real-life event that evening in Washington DC as the case study. They unpack why most communities think people are connecting when they are not, why vulnerability in a Senate building hallway can outlast the meeting that sparked it, and why the person who needs your message does not care about your shower cap.This episode is for anyone who has been doing the thing alone and wondering why it feels so hard.What You Will Walk Away WithYou need people with the same goal, not just people who love you. Friends and family will cheer for you. But the people who are doing the same hard thing you are doing right now are the ones who will keep you from quitting. Stacey calls it Like Gold. Find your rooms.Horse mode is not failure. It is the first step. The Comfort Circles framework begins with the horse: non-verbal, not yet engaging, camera off or hanging near the bathroom at the networking event. Knowing you are in horse mode means you stay in the room. That is the whole win.Most communities are connecting at the surface. That is the problem. Showing up to events, doing the activities, checking the boxes does not mean people are actually connecting. Real engagement requires a shared goal inside the community, not just shared attendance.Stop doing it for other people. Stacey went live for 80 episodes with her camera off because she was scared of how she looked. The shift happened when she realized the person who needs your message does not care what you look like. Get your voice out. That is the whole job.Education by contribution is the secret to community. When people share their ideas out loud in a room, not just receive information, the room transforms. Stacey calls it the E in her I'm Game framework. Bart saw it live in a Senate hallway when 99 out of 100 people stayed after the panel ended because someone was finally being real.Doing the thing and having your voice in it are two different things. Stacey always did the thing: sold books door to door, co-founded a company at 25, scaled it for two decades. But she did it without her voice for most of it, doing what she thought others needed instead of what she was actually built for. That gap is where most people live. Closing it is the work.Learn more about Stacey Lauren and Do The Thing Collab Network at dothethingcollaboration.com. Connect with Stacey Lauren on LinkedIn and find the Do The Thing podcast on all major podcast platforms.Most People Don't. But You DO!

Episode DescriptionFor 13 years, Craig Siegel measured his life in external wins, the number in the bank account, the apartment in New York City, the next goal. And none of it made him feel like enough. In this episode, the Wall Street Journal bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and founder of CLS (Cultivate Lasting Symphony) tells Bart Berkey how a "dark night of the soul" and a global pandemic forced the pause that changed everything, and why he now trusts "invisible progress" over the visible kind.Craig and Bart who found his own forced pause through a heart attack, dig into a truth most people avoid: we wait until life pauses us instead of pausing on purpose. Craig shares the exact practices that rebuilt his life from the inside out: starting the day with "the most important meeting of your day," flipping the script from consume to create, reframing challenging days as the greatest opportunities for growth, and reinventing yourself before life forces you to. It's a fast, quote-packed conversation about trading the exhausting chase for alignment, where success becomes an expression of who you are instead of something you're constantly chasing.Key TakeawaysPeace creates success — not the reverse. Craig spent years believing success would create peace. The breakthrough was realizing it's the other way around.Trust invisible progress. Track the internal metrics — Am I calmer? more generous? less reactive? more present? Focus on the roots and the fruits follow.Chasing external wins is a losing game. Like a drug, it's a high, then a "bye." It never fills you, because it doesn't measure fulfillment.Most people don't pause voluntarily. They wait until life pauses them — a heart attack, a pandemic, a rock bottom. Don't wait for the crash to reevaluate.Start with the most important meeting of your day. A 10-minute morning check-in sets the tone so you lead the day proactively instead of reacting to everyone else's noise.Before you consume, create. Reaching for the phone first thing asks "World, tell me who I need to be today." Flip it: create before you consume, reflect before you react.Challenging days are the opportunity. Reframed through Kabbalah, the hardest days are where the soul grows, ascends, and transforms.Reinvent before life forces you to. Reinvention isn't becoming someone else — it's becoming more of who you really are. The world needs more aligned people, not more successful ones.

You climb the mountain, the money, the awards, the deals, and then you look around and realize it's not filling you up anymore. So what does?In this episode, Bart Berkey sits down with Brett Kaufman - entrepreneur, advisor, investor, and founder of Inner Space. After nearly 30 years in business and building, managing, and selling billions of dollars of real estate (including The Gravity Project in Columbus, Ohio, described as the world's largest conscious community), Brett hit the wall that so many high performers hit: "not enough-ness." The belief that more money and more things would finally make him feel like enough, and the hard-won discovery that they never do.Brett shares why the real work isn't out there but inside, how his simple framework - awaken, align, expand - helps founders let go of what no longer serves them, and why the people who most need this are often the ones who look most successful from the outside. It's a short, rich first conversation (with a deeper one already promised).Bart welcomes Brett Kaufman, founder and CEO of a real estate development company and the founder and host of Inner Space, for a candid conversation about what happens after you "make it." Brett draws on nearly three decades as a founder, employer, husband, and father, and 15+ years building intentional mixed-use communities, to explain why he now devotes himself to helping high-performing founders and executives navigate life's hard transitions.Key Takeaways:More doesn't make you happier. Brett's pursuit of "more" came from "not enough-ness" — a belief he needed external validation to feel worthy. Accumulation has a diminishing return.The real work is inward. It's called Inner Space, not outer space, on purpose. Clearing out old conditioning and inner chatter is where real growth happens.Money is a tool, not the goal. Brett enjoys money for the freedom, security, generosity, and ease it creates — but it's not what fills him up. Being of service is.Episode DetailsShow: Most People Don't… But You Do!Season 4, Episode 241Host: Bart BerkeyGuest: Brett Kaufman — Entrepreneur, Advisor & Investor; Founder & CEO of a real estate development company; Founder & Host of Inner Space (and the Inner Space Podcast)Notable: Developed The Gravity Project in Columbus, Ohio — described as the world's largest conscious communityConnect with Brett: joininnerspace.com · brettkauffman.comNote: A shorter first conversation — Bart and Brett agreed to record a deeper follow-up.

EPISODE SUMMARY AND KEY TAKEAWAYSTen years in the NBA. Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic. Games overseas in Italy, Greece, Turkey. And when it was all over, CJ Watson sat on his couch and asked himself one question: how do I keep giving back?That question became children's books. A foundation. Free basketball camps. A Black history essay contest with laptops and 529 plans as prizes. And now, a conversation with Bart about what it actually means to be a great human being, not just a great athlete.CJ grew up in Las Vegas with Southern hospitality baked into his bones. Yes sir. No ma'am. Look people in the eye. Give them your name and ask for theirs. He never got drafted, went overseas first, and spent every NBA season knowing it could be his last. That perspective shaped everything. He never saw himself as a celebrity. He saw himself as someone who got lucky enough to do the work.Bart and CJ unpack humanality through the lens of sports, autographs, fatherhood, and the moment a kid at a camp says "we love the book." They talk about what it means to be present, why consistency beats talent most of the time, and how a pair of unwashed orange socks from the University of Tennessee became a lesson about preparation over superstition.This one is warm, grounded, and full of the kind of humanity that makes the MPD audience forward episodes to people they love.What You Will Walk Away WithConsistency beats talent. Every time. CJ's fill-in-the-blank answer came fast: most people don't be consistent. Show up on good days and bad days. Do the work when no one is watching. That is what separates the people who make it from the people who almost did.Humanality on the court. When a fan waits hours to meet you, that moment is not about you. It is about them. Look them in the eye. Ask their name. Use it. CJ named all three steps of Humanality without being asked: I see you, be where your feet are, and just ask.Legacy is not what you keep. It is what you give away. CJ gave away his first NBA jersey. He gave away his time, his stories, his books. He started a foundation so that kids growing up in Las Vegas have resources his family had to figure out alone. You cannot take it with you. That is the whole point.The magic was never in the socks. CJ wore the same pair of unwashed orange socks every time he played well in college. But the real lesson from his children's book is the one he figured out later: it was never the socks. It was the preparation, the film study, the discipline, the showing up. The socks just gave him permission to believe in himself.Your parents are your first coaches. CJ's parents talked him out of quitting overseas. They showed up to games in college, flew to NBA cities, and built the foundation underneath him before he ever knew he needed one. His whole message to his own three daughters comes from the same place: look people in the eye, say please, say thank you, and never stop.Great dads make great leaders. The greatest feeling CJ described had nothing to do with the NBA. It was watching his daughter block a volleyball. Legacy is not built on a court. It is built in the stands.Learn more about CJ Watson and his foundation at quietstormfoundation.org and connect with CJ Watson on LinkedIn.Most People Don't. But You DO!

EPISODE SUMMARY AND KEY TAKEAWAYSWhat does a 36-day water fast, a decade of rebuilding, and 60 years of change research have in common? They are all part of how Jaclyn Orent became one of the most uncommon leaders Bart has ever had on the show.Jaclyn is the co-founder and CEO of the Cultural Catalyst Network, the first infrastructure built for societal-level change, connecting leaders across organizations to create the kind of cultural shift none of them could pull off alone. She joins Bart live from Boulder, Colorado for a conversation that moves fast, goes deep, and does not stay in the comfort zone.They unpack the difference between leading from power and leading from force, why the leaders who have achieved the most are often the loneliest in the room, and what it actually takes to stop performing success and start becoming who you were built to be. Bart opens up about his own story, from panic attacks to a podcast in the top 2 to 5% globally, and Jaclyn reflects back what she hears in a way that reframes the whole journey.This episode is for the leaders who have done everything right and still feel like there is something left undiscovered.What You Will Walk Away WithPower vs. force is not just philosophy. It is a leadership system. The leaders who give to life produce results that grow over time. The leaders who take from life produce results that cost everyone around them. Jaclyn has spent seven years building a research-backed framework to help leaders move from one to the other.The loneliest leaders are often the most successful ones. When you reach a certain level, everyone around you needs something from you. Peers become rare. That isolation is not personal. It is structural. And it is a problem worth solving intentionally.Change happens through resonance, not information. Most organizations try to change culture by rolling out new strategies. But research from intentional change theory tells us that real change requires three things: shared vision, shared compassion, and shared energy. Without all three, the initiative stalls.Most people are comfortable. That is the whole problem. Jaclyn's fill-in-the-blank moment lands hard: most people do not take the level of risk required to find out who they really are. Even high achievers stop short of discovering the greatness still inside them.Transmutation is the real work. Bart shared his story of a botched surgery at 12, years of panic attacks, and the fear of losing control. Jaclyn named it clearly: he transmuted trauma into a platform for empowerment. That is not accidental. That is the work. And it is available to every leader willing to go there.It is easy to be. It is better to become. Bart's line, and it is the throughline of the whole conversation. Staying who you are is comfortable. Becoming who you are meant to be requires action, risk, and the willingness to keep launching off the bridge even when it does not make sense to anyone around you.Learn more about the Cultural Catalyst Network at culturalcatalystnetwork.com and connect with Jaclyn Orent on LinkedIn.

Bart Berkey walked into Strictly EBikes with a broken foldable bike that two other shops had turned away. Ten minutes and $38 later, he walked out with a fixed bike and a future guest. Asif Shakeel spent decades building service stations and car dealerships on one principle: compete on service, not price. Then he retired, bought the wrong e-bike online, crashed it, couldn't find anyone to repair it, and recognized the opportunity hiding inside his own problem.Key TakeawaysOpportunity arrives disguised as a problem. Asif's entire second act came from a bike he couldn't get fixed. Most people just want the problem solved so they can keep moving. If you solve it and notice that others have the same problem, you have a business.You can only go so far on price. Nobody is looking for the cheapest repair on their car. They're looking for honesty, competence, and transparency. Service is the one place with unlimited room to compete.One lie erases every truth. His father's lesson: get caught once and everything you ever said looks like a lie. It doesn't matter how kind you were or how much money they gave you. Trust is not a feature you can add back.When you have to cut, cut what the customer won't miss. In 2008 Asif cut the muzak, the landscaping, and the shelf inventory. Bart's Ritz-Carlton parallel: newspapers moved from every guest door to the elevator landing, saving enormous money with almost no impact on the experience. The skill is knowing which costs are the experience and which just look like it.Delegate so you can do more, not less. Asif's father insisted on doing everything himself and stayed one location. Asif systemized, built teams, and ran three businesses at once.This episode features Asif Shakeel, Founder and CEO of Strictly EBikes, located at 683 North Washington Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 2022, Strictly EBikes specializes in electric bikes and serves the Northern Virginia community. Before launching the business, Asif owned three service stations and a car dealership, has lived in Northern Virginia for over 50 years, and also serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University. The company is currently developing a franchise model and is expanding into the adjacent retail space. Learn more at strictly-ebikes.com, or connect with Strictly EBikes on Instagram and Facebook, or with Asif Shakeel on LinkedIn. You can also reach him directly at [email protected].

A 51-year-old executive was about to be put on a stimulant for the first time in her life. She had spent a decade running things, and suddenly she couldn't focus. Her primary care doctor sent her to a psychiatrist. Instead, she went to STAT Wellness, ran a hormone panel, and found out she was in perimenopause. Nutrients, hormone replacement, a cleaner diet, and the brain fog was gone. No stimulant. She's a Doctor of Nursing Practice, family nurse practitioner, personal trainer, and founder of the nation's first functional medicine and movement practice, with eight locations across Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and two more coming by year's end. While everyone else scales telehealth, she's scaling brick and mortar. Her reason is simple: she wants to hug her patients at checkout.In this live session with Bart Berkey, Kristin talks about the "peace bubble" that keeps her steady while running three kids and ten locations, why her intake goes all the way back to her patient's mother's pregnancy, and the quote that named her podcast and her whole philosophy: little by little becomes a lot.Key Takeaways1. Keep the peace bubble. Kristin's answer to "what do you do that most people don't" wasn't about business. It was internal harmony. Three kids, ten locations coming, constant fires, and she stays aligned through breathing and a deliberate practice she calls her peace bubble. The external chaos is survivable because the internal state isn't.2. Scale the hug, not the app. Everyone is scaling tech and telehealth platforms. Kristin is scaling brick and mortar, on purpose, at 1,000%. She wants to meet her patients, hug them at checkout, and be their third space, the place that's neither work nor home. In a world optimizing for frictionless, she's optimizing for presence.This episode features Kristin Oja, Founder of STAT Wellness and host of the Little By Podcast. STAT Wellness offers telemedicine nationwide and complimentary 15-minute consultations. Learn more at www.statwellness.com, and connect with Kristin through the Little By Podcast.

EPISODE SUMMARYBart reconnects with one of his earliest podcast guests, Gail Lowney Alofsin, speaker, author, URI professor, and founder of Leadership at All Levels, for a conversation that feels less like an interview and more like two old friends solving the world's problems over coffee.Gail shares how a childhood of intentional giving, literacy volunteering at 17, and decades of mission work in Haiti shaped her philosophy of abundance: giving freely without expecting anything in return. She and Bart unpack the difference between customer service (what you do for people) and customer experience (how people feel because of you), and Gail introduces her "Black Napkin Theory," a quietly powerful story about a server who noticed what you were wearing before you even sat down.The conversation moves through resilience, dealing with difficult people, the power of using someone's name, and what it means to notice, anticipate, and over-deliver, not just in hospitality, but in everyday life. Bart shares stories of gratitude stones, United flight attendant Nick Pino, and playing the "how many people can we help right now?" game in a coffee shop line. This episode is a masterclass in Humanality, and proof that small, intentional acts of seeing people can change the room.KEY TAKAWAYSThe Black Napkin Theory. A great experience is never announced. It is felt. When a server silently swaps your white napkin for a black one because you are wearing dark pants, no words are needed. That is the standard. What is your black napkin moment?Customer service vs. customer experience. Service is what you do for people. Experience is how people feel because of you. Know the difference and train for both.Use their name. Names are free. They are the cheapest, most powerful way to make someone feel seen. If someone gives you their name, hand it back.Abundance is a practice. Gail has given introductions, leads, and opportunities freely since day one, not because she expected anything back, but because she genuinely believes in people. Abundance taught early becomes a lifelong reflex.Bless and release. Difficult people, bad managers, arrogant behavior. Gail's answer is always the same: let them vent, stay grounded, and release it. Do not leave your good job because of one bad season.Four touchpoints by 10am. Want to build a human culture? Start small. Know the name of the person cleaning the floor. Ask the overnight front desk staff how their night was. Four meaningful human moments before the workday starts sets the tone for everything after.Notice, anticipate, over-deliver. It is not a hospitality strategy. It is a human one. Anyone, anywhere, can play the game: look around and ask "who could I help right now?"Learn more about Gail Lowney Alofsin and her work at [email protected] and connect with Gail Lowney Alofsin on LinkedIn. To learn more about her book Your Sunday Is Now: What Are You Waiting For? reach out directly at [email protected].

Candice built her framework the hard way. After a stroke and brain hemorrhage in 2018 rerouted a decades-long corporate finance career, she gave herself the "graceful pause" to ask where she really wanted to go, and discovered her true gift wasn't the numbers, but being a bridge and connector of relationships. Out of that came ACE: Align your strategy and structure, Connect to the right systems and people, and Expand intentionally. As she puts it, even a great cup of coffee is useless without a container to hold it.Together they get into relationship capital most people never optimize, why you should be "more interested than interesting," and the mindset shift that changes everything: stop checking boxes and start experiencing life.What you'll take away:1. Alignment before achievement. Most people try to perform their way to growth. Get clear on who you are and what uniquely makes you a blessing to others first, the authentic results follow.2. Be interested, not interesting. Relationship capital is built in the moment. Lead with "How can I help you?" and let the connection evolve organically instead of pitching.3. Structure holds the vision. Opportunities mean nothing without the systems and container to support them. Align the team, then connect strategically.4. Bring in a mirror. You can't see your own "spinach in the teeth." A trusted accountability partner, internal or external, sees what you can't. Refusing feedback is why many businesses stall.5. Check your patterns. Be a continual learner: pause, read the landscape, spot the pattern, and only make moves that open the next door.6. Go through, not around. Every challenge, even a horrific culture or a health crisis, is a place to learn. You don't have to agree with how you're treated to grow from it.7. Stop checking boxes. Living is checking boxes. Experiencing life is staying agile when you end up on a road you never planned to walk.Most people don't realize authentic growth starts with alignment, not achievement. Our listeners do.🎧 Guest: Candice Gaddy, Allegiant Commercial Expert LLC🔗 More: https://mostpeopledont.com📍 Connect with Candice Nicholson-Gaddy on LinkedIn and subscribe to her newsletter, The Strategic Growth Architect, where she teaches leaders how to align strategically, connect to the right opportunities and systems, and expand their impact through the ACE framework.

What if treating people like humans, not transactions, was your biggest business advantage?Bart Berkey welcomes back his friend Kelly Bishop, Senior Director of Experiential Strategy & Organizational Engagement at Blood Centers of America, for a heartfelt conversation recorded live in Los Angeles. Kelly is one of the few guests Bart has ever invited back, and this episode is equal parts friendship and masterclass in human-centered leadership.Together they explore the abundance mindset, why being genuinely happy for others is rare and powerful, and "humanality," Bart's term for making people feel cared for, valued, and seen, rather than processed, managed, or ignored. They dig into why so many experiences have become transactional, why a manager isn't always a leader, and why kindness absolutely moves the bottom line. The episode closes on something bigger than business: the "generosity crisis" and the blood shortage where one in three people will be affected.What you'll take away:Abundance over envy. Being genuinely happy for others is a choice that lets you give instead of compete.Humanality defined: making people feel cared for, valued, and seen. "Emotional intelligence on steroids."The signs of people who truly care: they look you in the eye, they listen, and they don't interrupt to make it about themselves.A manager isn't a leader. We promote too many people who were never built to lead, and teams suffer for it.Kindness pays. Engaged people deliver better service, higher satisfaction, and more referrals.Help someone else win and you win too.Most people don't stop. Stop and look. Stop and ask, "Are you okay?"Timestamps:00:00 Abundance and being happy for others02:00 Spotting people who truly care04:00 Defining "humanality"06:00 The generosity crisis07:00 Managers vs. true leaders09:00 The watered-down soup lesson11:00 Kelly's role at Blood Centers of America17:00 "60 Seconds of BCA" on the trade show floor19:00 The blood shortage and the power of stories21:00 "Most people don't..." Kelly fills in the blankLearn more about Blood Centers of America at bca.coop and connect with Kelly Bishop on LinkedIn.

Most people see opportunity and hesitate. Nik Agharkar sees it and jumps - even when the timing looks insane. In this episode, Bart sits down with the founder and CEO of Crown Point Tax & Wealth Council, a tax attorney who quit his job with a three-month-old at home, built 122 clients in nine months entirely alone, and eventually discovered that the real gap in the market wasn't just tax strategy - it was someone who actually cared enough to explain it.Nik unpacks the business philosophy he built Crown Point around: client first, always. Not as a slogan, but as a system - every process engineered from the client's perspective, every call returned even when the news is bad, every strategy explained so thoroughly that clients never wonder why they're doing something. He traces that ethos back to law school, to a fiduciary duty he took seriously when others didn't, and ultimately to his parents, who instilled a simple principle that stayed with him: think about the next person in the room.The conversation deepens when Bart asks Nik about what he's learned from working with the ultra-wealthy. Nik introduces the concept of "resulting" - the mistake of judging a decision by its outcome rather than its process, and warns that many people who rode the wave of a hot industry confused luck with skill. Then he flips it: for the person doing everything right but not yet seeing the financial results, his message is equally clear. Time is undefeated. Keep going. Consistency is the strategy.The episode closes on something rare, a conversation about identity, manifestation, and the inner voice. Nik challenges listeners to stop borrowing their parents' programming and start asking what they actually want. His version of manifestation isn't about timelines or vision boards; it's about identity. Who are you? What does that person's life feel like? And are you willing to believe, especially when the evidence disagrees, that you are the kind of person things always work out for? Most people don't believe that. Nik does. And it shows.Key Takeaways1. See the canoe. Get in the canoe. Nik's signature move is taking action when others hesitate. Opportunity doesn't wait - and most people let it pass by waiting for perfect conditions.2. Client first isn't a value - it's an engineering principle. Like Apple designing the iPod from the user's perspective out, Crown Point builds every process, every touchpoint, and every communication strategy around what the client needs - not what's easiest for the firm.3. The inner voice was programmed by someone else. Reclaiming your own thoughts, separate from your parents', your culture's, your industry's -is the work that leads to a life that's actually yours.For more information, contact [email protected] or www.crownepointtax.com

EPISODE SUMMARYFor 18 years, Shawn Walchef has run Cali BBQ in San Diego -three restaurant locations including a spot at Snapdragon Stadium and the local Navy base. But the story most people know isn't about brisket and peach cobbler. It's about the media company he built on top of his barbecue business after he sent a press release to 14 San Diego writers celebrating Cali BBQ's five-year anniversary and got zero replies. Crickets.That moment was the pivot. Shawn stopped waiting for legacy media to tell his story, started telling it himself, and 13 years later runs Cali BBQ Media - producer of 15 different shows including Digital Hospitality (nine years running) and Restaurant Influencers (with Entrepreneur Magazine), with brand partners that include Toast, Pepsi, US Foods, Amazon, and Google.In this conversation, Shawn and Bart dig into the courage it takes to look stupid on the internet, the "digital flash mob" metaphor for building an audience from zero, the grandfather lessons that shaped everything (stay curious, get involved, ask for help), why every business - yours included - is secretly in the hospitality business, and the truth that took Shawn five years to learn: no one is coming. If you build it, they will NOT come. The Field of Dreams is the biggest lie ever told to entrepreneurs.You'll also hear Bart's story about Storyville Coffee in Seattle - the $13 coffee where someone's entire job is bringing water to seated customers, and where they ask "What can we create for you today?" - and a tease about Bart's personal "humanality" framework for inserting human kindness into transactional moments.If you've been waiting for the perfect moment to start telling your story, or thinking "no one would care anyway" - this is the episode.

Most people pick a lane. Jesse Sieff built a whole intersection.He's a Pittsburgh-raised classical percussionist who taught himself piano at age six, trained for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in gymnastics, earned a civil engineering degree, and spent five years studying music at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before driving down to Washington, DC, to audition for the United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps — "The Commandant's Own." He won the spot with a composition called Chopstakovich, which is currently the #1 best-selling snare solo in the world with over 700,000 YouTube views.Four years active duty and two reserve years later, Jesse founded Sieff Studios in Annapolis, Maryland — a Veteran-owned media production firm built around a single question: "Who is the most important person in your ecosystem, and how do you need them to feel?"In this conversation recorded live at Sieff Studios, Bart and Jesse dig into the non-linear path (engineering → music → Marines → entrepreneurship), the difference between drive as a push and drive as a pull, what 87 miles to Mount Everest Base Camp does to your relationship with control, the science of vibration and the Schumann frequency, and Jesse's philosophy for high-performers everywhere: the playful pursuit of perfection.You'll also hear Bart's powerful Invisible Backpack exercise for releasing guilt about distant family, and Jesse's vision for using drum circles to rewire audience attention at keynote events.If you've ever made a radical career pivot, struggled with perfectionism, or felt like you were watching life from the audience instead of being on stage, this one's for you.CHAPTERS:00:30 Welcome to the Studio: Introducing Jesse Sieff of Sieff Studios02:25 What Most People Don't Do: The Posture of a Student04:45 Pittsburgh Roots: How Music Found Jesse First08:52 Hearing the World Differently: How Musicians Perceive Sound11:37 "Chopstakovich": The World's #1 Snare Solo and a YouTube Phenomenon14:06 From Drum Corps to the Marines: Auditioning for The Commandant's Own18:34 Olympic Gymnastics Training and the Physical Test of Boot Camp20:00 Ambassadors in Uniform: Representing the Marines Around the World21:44 What Really Drives a Polymath: Pull vs. Push and the Growth Mindset25:47 87 Miles to Everest Base Camp: Fear, Altitude, and Transformation31:40 The Invisible Backpack: Letting Go of Guilt and Doing Your Best37:56 The Playful Pursuit of Perfection: A Philosophy for High Achievers42:43 What Is Sieff Studios? Feeling Through Media and the Humanality Framework46:08 Who Sieff Studios Serves: High-Trust B2B and Why Authenticity Beats Credentials52:42 Drum Circles as a Business Tool: Jesse's Vision for Keynotes That Rewire the BrainCONNECT WITH JESSE SIEFF:Sieff Studios: https://sieffstudios.comJesse on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesse_sieffJesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessesieff"Chopstakovich" snare solo: Search "Chopstakovich Jesse Sieff" on YouTubeCONNECT WITH BART BERKEY & THE PODCAST:Most People Don't... But YOU Do!Email: [email protected] this episode resonates with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you'd like to be a guest or know someone who would, reach out — we'd love to keep these conversations going.#MostPeopleDontButYouDo #JesseSieff #SieffStudios #Podcast #Leadership #Music #Marines #Everest #Perfectionism #Humanality

Most People Don't… But YOU Do! with Erik MeltzerBart sits down face to face with Erik Meltzer in a community room in Old Town Alexandria for a conversation that starts with an unusual career path and keeps opening into something deeper. Erik traces his journey from a kid who talked his way into covering President Clinton at age 14, through journalism school and TV news, to writing newscasts for a dissident Chinese station that was literally saving lives, to a dozen years training TV stations around the world, and finally into entrepreneurship: blockchain-backed real estate through Plutus Properties and a heart-centered networking group called The Salon Circle.The thread running through all of it is curiosity, and Erik is refreshingly clear about where his comes from. A hard childhood led him at fifteen to find a free meditation practice he has now kept for 26 years, one that reshaped how he handles adversity. That sets up the heart of the episode: a shared belief that every hardship, good or bad, is raw material for becoming better.Bart and Erik trade stories on mindset, the mentors and friends they both learn from, why most people never ask a single question about anyone else, and what it actually takes to be a connector who gives without keeping score. It is a warm, honest conversation about curiosity, humility, and the quiet power of making other people feel seen.What you'll take away from this episode:Curiosity is a muscle, not a personality trait. Being interested in others is intentional. Left on autopilot, everyone defaults to "me, me, me."Disarming beats impressive. Erik gets access to remarkable people by being non-threatening, sincere, and genuinely uninterested in extracting anything. People feel safe, so they open up.Every hardship is raw material. Gold gets forged through heat. The skill isn't avoiding hard times, it's shrinking them, taking it from minutes to moments."What do you do" is a weak opening. "Why do you do it" is the real one. The upgrade isn't avoiding the question, it's going one layer deeper.Connecting is the strategy. Business and meaning both flow out of relationships, not the other way around.Moments worth remembering:"Being curious is an intentional behavior. If I am not being intentionally interested, then I will default back to me, me, me.""People find me not terribly threatening, and I'm a pretty good listener. I don't really have anything that I'm trying to gain from other people.""Everything that happens in life, whether it be good or bad, is a good thing, because it can lead to self-improvement.""It's not 'will I never be upset?' It's, can I turn it from minutes to moments?""It's okay to know what people do for a living. Where it gets real is, tell me more about why you do what you do."Connect with Erik Meltzer:Instagram: @theerikmeltzerLinkedIn: Erik MeltzerThe Salon Circle: joinsaloncircle.comConnect with Bart and the show:If this episode resonated with you, do three things. Follow the show so you never miss an episode. Share it with one person who needs the reminder that curiosity and connection change everything. And leave a rating and review, it helps more people find these conversations.Learn more about Bart's keynotes, training, and book at mostpeopledont.com.

A Kitchen With a Mission; Waioli Kitchen and Bake Shop Ross Anderson — Co-founderRestaurant veteran of 30+ years (formerly ran Hawaii's largest restaurant company). Now leads a mission-driven cafe on the Salvation Army property in Manoa that hires women coming out of the prison system. Co-founded with his wife Stephanie, a pastor who served at the women's prison.The One-Sentence StoryA seasoned hospitality leader thought he could fix lives with checklists and tight supervision — then discovered that the real transformation only began when he stopped trying to give the women jobs and started helping them become who they were created to be.The Big IdeaRelationship over Transaction. Waioli's entire model is built on the premise that human beings heal in community, not in process. Ross and Stephanie set out to open a restaurant on a mission — and discovered that mission only worked when they put the person before the program.Story → Insight → ApplicationThe StoryStephanie volunteered at the women's prison and watched the same painful loop repeat itself: women who thrived inside the walls would walk out the gate, fall back into broken relationships, and return. Recidivism was staggering. She told Ross, "We can do better."In 2018 they opened Waioli Kitchen and Bake Shop on Salvation Army property — alcohol-free by design ("My restaurant friends said don't do it, you're losing your big profit driver"). They expected to do what Ross had always done: hire, train, supervise, repeat. The first three years their recidivism rate was nearly 80%.Then COVID hit. The neighborhood rallied around them. They stayed open. And on the other side of it, Ross changed the entire approach — from teaching women a trade to helping them discover their identity. For the last three years, recidivism has been zero.The InsightMost well-meaning programs try to fix people with systems. What actually changes a life is being seen — by a boss, a coworker, a customer, a community. Ross stopped running a restaurant that helped women and started running a community that happened to serve breakfast.The ApplicationLead with why, not with process. Ross opened by saying, "We're a restaurant on a mission." The mission is the product; the food is the proof.Replace checklists with conversation. The pre-shift huddle is now 15–20 minutes of reading and discussing scripture together — not because every business should do that, but because the principle holds: invest in the person before you deploy the worker.Make people visible to one another. Customers now know the staff by name, ask about their kids, celebrate their milestones. Visibility is the antidote to invisibility.Be willing to throw out what worked before. Ross's 30 years of restaurant expertise didn't change these women's lives. Letting go of "what I know" was the unlock.Memorable Quotes "We're a restaurant on a mission.""Anybody can — you give me a dollar, I give you a donut, and we're on our way. But now we're starting to have relationship. And that's what it is.""It takes a community to heal the community.""It's harder than getting something to go viral. It's harder than getting a bunch of clicks — but it matters, and it's gonna last when the next shiny penny shows up.""We started focusing on helping them be who they were meant to be, rather than trying to get them to go into their next career.""Our first three years our recidivism rate was almost 80%. For the last three years it's been zero."Connection to HumanalityRoss is a living case study for humanality — making people feel cared for, valued, and seen in a world that defaults to transactional. He named it without using the word:"Most of the girls that come out of prison are invisible to this neighborhood. They would walk right by them, not even see them. But now they've become visible to each other."Instagram: @waiolikitchenFacebook: Waioli Kitchen & Bake Shop#waiolikitchenandbakeshopWebsite: waiolikitchen.com

The Generosity Crisis — with Mike Parejko & Benjamin PrijatelMost People Don’t… But YOU Do!  |  Episode #228 recorded live at the Blood Centers of America Annual Conference, Universal City  |  Released: May 2026What happens when 97% of the country opts out of an act that takes 40 minutes and saves three lives? Two blood center CEOs name the real shortage — and it isn’t blood. It’s generosity.Recorded live at the Blood Centers of America annual conference in Universal City, Bart sits down with Mike Parejko (CEO, ImpactLife) and Benjamin Prijatel (CEO, Shepeard Community Blood Center, Augusta, GA) to unpack what most people don’t know about the blood supply that quietly props up American healthcare. Only 3% of the population donates blood — and just 1% of that 3% provides the type-specific products needed for pre-hospital trauma transfusions. May, Mike notes, is the kickoff of “trauma season.”Beyond the numbers, the conversation lands on something larger: what Mike calls “the generosity crisis.” More money is coming from fewer people. Devices distract us from the people in front of us. Younger donors are disappearing. But the path back is simple, and the guests offer the language and stories to walk it — Benjamin’s “force the choice,” Mike’s “you don’t have to, you get to,” and the story of an executive assistant who is alive today because strangers showed up. This episode turns a topic most people avoid into one they want to talk about at the dinner table.Most people don’t think about blood until they need it.Most people don’t write five handwritten thank-you notes a week to strangers.Most people don’t reframe obligation as privilege.Mike and Benjamin do — and that’s why the system holds.The generosity crisis is real. Only 3% of Americans donate blood, and the post-pandemic reset has shrunk that pool further. “More money from fewer people” is the trend across nonprofits — blood is no exception.Trauma season starts in May. Warmer weather brings more accidents, more pre-hospital transfusions, and more demand for type-specific products that only 1% of donors can provide.“Force the choice.” Benjamin spent eight years asking others to donate before he was eligible himself. The day the rules changed, he removed “choice” from the equation. Most action problems are really permission problems.“You don’t have to — you get to.” Mike’s reframe to his college-aged kids becomes a tool any leader can borrow tonight: same task, same effort, completely different identity.The path matters more than the pitch. Donatingblood.org. 40 minutes. No appointment. Walk in, walk out. People don’t refuse because they’re selfish — they refuse because no one ever asked, and no one ever showed them the path.“There’s a little bit of what I would call a generosity crisis that we’re facing.”— Mike Parejko  |  [00:08:00]“It wasn’t a choice. I had to do it. If people who are listening didn’t think it was a choice, they could do it, too.”— Benjamin Prijatel  |  [00:39:00]“You don’t have to do that — you get to do that. That little spin on the words makes a big difference.”— Mike Parejko  |  [00:42:00]Mike Parejko — President & CEO, ImpactLife (Iowa). Chair, Blood Centers of America. 40+ years in transfusion medicine.Benjamin Prijatel — President/CEO, Shepeard Community Blood Center (Augusta, GA). Former journalist, AARP board member, 12 years in blood banking.Guest contact detailsBenjamin Prijatel — President/CEO, Shepeard Community Blood Center  |  [email protected]  |  Mike Parejko — President & CEO, ImpactLife  |  [email protected]  | 

In this energetic conversation, Bart sits down with Richard Dolan — investment banker, family office veteran, and trusted advisor to three former U.S. presidents, Oprah, Ellen, and a long list of athletes and artists including Juwan Howard, Drake, The Weeknd, and Ice Cube.Richard explains how a chance moment sharing a stage with President Bill Clinton turned into a career advising icons not just on their money, but on what he calls "celebrity equity" — the often-overlooked value of name, image, and likeness. He unpacks why the people closest to the top need advisors who think beyond the balance sheet, and why his real superpower is being a futurist: helping legends and leaders "cause and create what comes next" when the game, the tour, or the spotlight ends.The conversation then turns to a looming crisis Richard is determined to solve: a baby boomer turns 75 every seven seconds, with trillions of dollars in motion — yet there are only about 100,000 financial advisors for the more than two million people retiring each year. His mission now is building the next generation of financial thought leaders to fill those empty chairs.When Bart asks the signature closing question, Richard's answer lands hard:Most people don't forgive themselves, forgive others, or forgive life itself — and just roll with the punches.The episode wraps with a genuine, heartfelt exchange of gratitude, including a Tiger Eye stone, a surprise on-camera endorsement from Richard, and a reminder that proximity to creators — not takers — shapes who you become.Major Takeaways / LearningsAdvising goes beyond money. True advisory includes brand, image, reputation, and long-term legacy.Celebrity is equity. Name, image, and likeness are assets that must be managed like investments.Success creates a new problem: “What’s next?” High performers often need guidance after their primary career peak.Proximity shapes outcomes. The people around you influence your direction more than you realize.Great advisors create the future. They don’t just react—they help design what comes next.Listening is a strategic skill. Understanding both the person and their desired future is key to effective advising. Memorable Quotes“Experience is everything.”“What feels effortless is never accidental.”“Details create the difference.”“Execution is what separates good from great.”“Consistency builds trust"

In this mind-expanding and futuristic conversation, Bart sits down with Dr. Fernando de la Peña Yaka—visionary entrepreneur, aerospace innovator, and CEO of AEXA Aerospace—to explore how technology is redefining human connection. From enabling the first two-way holographic communication with astronauts aboard the International Space Station to building accessible holographic AI tools for everyday businesses, Dr. Fernando shares how imagination, belief, and focused thinking can turn impossible ideas into reality. This episode dives into space, artificial intelligence, quantum theory, and the future of human interaction—challenging listeners to think bigger, act faster, and embrace the technologies shaping tomorrow.Major Takeaways / LearningsImagination drives innovation. What you believe is possible shapes what you create.Technology should be accessible. Breakthrough tools only matter if people can actually use them.AI is a mirror, not a replacement. It amplifies your thinking, not replaces it.Human connection still matters. Even in a tech-driven world, relationships remain foundational.Focus changes outcomes. What you pay attention to—and believe in—can influence results.Speed matters, but clarity matters more. Fast technology without purpose creates noise.We have limited time—use it well. Thinking on a universal scale changes how you prioritize your life.Adopt or fall behind. People who embrace new technology move forward; those who don’t get left behind.Memorable Quotes“We are just dust in the universe.”“If you believe something will happen, you can make it happen.”“AI will not replace you—someone using AI will.”“Everything starts with a plan and belief.”“We have a very small timeframe to do something meaningful.”“Most people don’t try new technology.”Why It Matters / How to Use ItThis episode challenges how you think about the future—and your role in it. Dr. Fernando’s story proves that innovation doesn’t start with resources; it starts with belief, vision, and action. Whether you’re a leader, entrepreneur, or simply curious about what’s next, the message is clear: the future belongs to those willing to adopt, adapt, and think beyond current limitations. By embracing new technology while staying grounded in human connection, you position yourself not just to keep up—but to lead.

In this sharp and thought-provoking conversation, Bart sits down with David Dean to explore how artificial intelligence is changing not just how we work but how we see ourselves at work. David argues that AI isn’t just a productivity tool; it’s a mirror that reflects our clarity, thinking, and decision-making. He explains why AI doesn’t fix bad processes or unclear thinking,it amplifies them. From prompting to problem-solving, this episode breaks down the real skill behind leveraging AI effectively: self-awareness. This conversation challenges listeners to rethink their relationship with technology and shows that the future of work belongs to those who think clearly, not just those who use tools quickly. Major Takeaways / LearningsAI is a mirror, not a solution. It reflects the quality of your thinking and inputs.Clarity is the real advantage. Better prompts come from better thinking, not better tools.Garbage in, garbage out—faster. AI accelerates both good and bad processes.AI doesn’t replace skill—it exposes gaps. Weak strategy and unclear direction become more obvious.Thinking is the differentiator. The people who win with AI are those who understand problems deeply.Tools don’t fix broken systems. AI can’t compensate for poor workflows or lack of direction.Speed without clarity creates chaos. Faster output isn’t useful if it’s misaligned.Self-awareness is a competitive edge. Understanding how you work improves how you use AI. Memorable Quotes“AI is a mirror, it shows you how you actually think.”“Better prompts come from better thinking.”“Garbage in, garbage out, just faster now.”“AI doesn’t fix bad system, it exposes them.”“Speed without clarity is just noise.”“The real skill isn’t using AI, it’s thinking clearly.” Why It Matters / How to Use ItThis episode reframes AI from a tool into a lens for self-improvement. David Dean’s perspective highlights a critical truth: technology doesn’t create excellence, it amplifies what’s already there. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, leader, or knowledge worker, the takeaway is clear: the better you think, the better AI performs. Instead of chasing tools, focus on clarity, structure, and understanding your own workflow. When you improve how you think, AI becomes exponentially more powerful, not because it changed, but because you did.