The Green Room with Chris
by Chris Green
Welcome to The Green Room.The podcast where business gets real. Hosted by Chris Green, a seasoned facilitator, mentor, and author with 25 years of experience working with family-run and owner-led businesses, this show dives deep into what makes a business tick, and what holds it back.Chris brings practical insight from across industries, helping you solve challenges in leadership, people, systems, promotion, and profit. Each episode is filled with real stories, powerful lessons, and proven strategies to help you build a business that’s sustainable, scalable, and, most importantly, fun.Whether you’re a founder wearing all the hats or a leader ready to grow your impact, The Green Room is your space to learn, reflect, and connect with what really matters in business.
Episodes
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You could build a $100 million business. But why would you?
You Could Build a $100 Million Business. But Why Would You? You could grow your business from $10 million to $100 million. But why would you? After my last episode of The Green Room, a client asked me that very question. And it's a great question, because after 25 years of working with business...
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I found 376 Owner dependencies keeping you stuck and one thing surprised me the most.
It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like interruptions. A customer wants a discount. A supplier puts their prices up. Someone wants Friday off. Each question takes 30 seconds to answer, but every one of them is a decision the business is still waiting for you to make. When I pulled apart the 376...
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How long does it really take to scale from $10M to $100M
How long does it really take to scale a business from $10 million to $100 million? After 25 years of working with business owners and seeing a number of clients make that journey, Chris Green has been thinking about what it practically takes and why simply working harder isn't the answer. In this...
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Experiencing Challenging Markets. You Don’t Have To Face These Headwinds Alone.
Are you feeling the headwinds in business at the moment? You’re not imagining it. Decisions are taking longer. Businesses are being more cautious. Deals that once moved quickly seem to be taking an eternity. And when that happens, it’s very easy to put your head down, work harder and try to push...
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Why Your Best Decision Today Might Be Costing You Your Biggest Payday
Every business owner makes decisions that feel right in the moment. But what if those same decisions are quietly reducing the value of your business over the long term? In this episode of The Green Room, Chris Green explores why so many business owners prioritise today's wins over tomorrow's...
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I Love being too busy to do the things I enjoy... said no one
No business owner sets out to build a life where they're constantly busy, stressed and too time-poor to enjoy the things that matter most. Yet for many, that's exactly where they end up. In this episode of The Green Room, Chris challenges a simple but powerful question: Are you building the...
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Nobody Is in a Hurry... But You
Nobody Is in a Hurry... But You – Why buyers are delaying decisions and what business owners should do instead. In this episode of The Green Room with Chris Green, Chris explores why so many businesses are experiencing slower client decisions despite strong enquiry levels. Learn why discounting...
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Success Gets Quite
From the outside, entrepreneurship can look exciting: freedom, growth, building something from nothing, and being your own boss. But as businesses grow, so does the weight of responsibility. More people depend on you, more decisions rest on your shoulders, and it can begin to feel like fewer…
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The Senior Hire That Changes Everything - And Why Most Businesses Get It Wrong
What if the right senior hire could transform your business and create the freedom you've been working towards? In this episode of The Green Room, Chris Green explores why experienced leaders are becoming more accessible, the mistakes many business owners make when recruiting, and the four…
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What you keep matters more than what you make
In this episode of The Green Room, Chris Green explores one of the most important financial lessons every business owner needs to understand: it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep. Most business owners can tell you what their business turned over last year. Far fewer can tell you what they...
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Is there going to be a recession?
Something I’m being asked every single morning at the moment is, “Is there going to be a recession?” The honest answer… I don’t know. And neither does anyone else. But after years of working with small business owners through droughts, rate hikes, supply chain issues and market slowdowns, one…
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Why Australian Businesses are losing the Price War and How to Fight Back
Are rising costs and price-sensitive customers putting pressure on your business? In this episode of The Green Room Podcast, Chris Green breaks down why Australian businesses are losing the price war and what to do instead. Learn how to protect your margins, communicate price increases…
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The Cost of Doing Business
The cost of doing business is increasing dramatically. It feels like everything is going up, starting with fuel and then rapidly flowing downstream into supplies and overheads. I’m fielding a lot of calls from anxious clients looking for advice on what to do in the current climate. In this…
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What Makes Great Entrepreneurs Great
What actually makes great entrepreneurs great? After 25 years working alongside business owners, Chris has seen a clear pattern. It’s not intelligence. It’s not luck. And it’s not where you started. In this episode, he unpacks what really shows up when it matters most, especially when the…
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I Was Flat Out Last Week but Couldn't Tell You What I Achieved
In this episode of The Green Room with Chris Green, Chris shares a conversation with a business owner who admitted: "I worked 60 hours last week… but I couldn’t really tell you what I achieved." It’s a situation many leaders recognise. Weeks fill with meetings, emails, and operational issues, yet...
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Meet Your People Where They’re At
Managing people is often where business leaders experience the most complexity and emotion. In this episode of The Green Room, Chris explores a practical framework for leading people more effectively by meeting them where they’re at. Using two simple lenses – capability and trust – Chris explains...
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The Execution Formula
Great ideas are easy. Execution is where most businesses fall over. In this episode of The Green Room, Chris Green breaks down why so many goals never make it past good intentions and what it actually takes to bring strategy to life. Drawing on 25 years of working alongside business owners, Chris...
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Succession Done Right – How Families Win Twice
Succession isn’t a handover. It’s a shift in identity. For the founder, it can feel like letting go of a limb. For the next generation, it can feel like stepping into a legacy that’s both inspiring and heavy. In this episode of The Green Room Podcast, I walk through the five things I’ve seen that...
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Design a Business by Your Design
In this episode of The Green Room, Chris Green talks about the moment many business owners reach when they feel tired, overwhelmed and stuck under what he calls the entrepreneurial ceiling. He explains why that feeling is not failure, but a signal that it is time to do things differently. Chris...
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Why Doing More Is Often the Thing Holding Your Business Back
Most business owners don’t feel stuck because they’re lazy or unmotivated. They feel stuck because everything feels heavier than it should. More offers. More systems. More meetings. More decisions landing back on the owner. In this episode, Chris explores a pattern he sees repeatedly in growing...
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Design the Structure First: Why Roles Matter More Than People
Most businesses don’t struggle because of their people. They struggle because the structure was never designed properly. In this episode, Chris explores why strong businesses are built by designing roles and responsibilities first, then placing the right people into those roles, not the other way...
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Detach, Experiment, Improve: The Mindset of Exceptional Leaders
What makes a great leader? Yes, great leaders work hard. Yes, they use their strengths well. But the standout trait? They know how to detach from the result and stay curious about what created it. Great leaders don’t get bogged down in whether an outcome was a success or a failure. Instead, they...
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Who's Pushing You to Think Bigger?
Discover how one business grew from $2M to $20M by having someone challenge their thinking. Chris shares why success often comes from being pushed to think bigger – and asks: who’s doing that for you?
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When You Back Yourself, Growth Follows
Today Chris shares a powerful story from rural New South Wales about a fourth-generation family business he’s worked with for more than 13 years. Their success didn’t come from playing it safe. They aggressively entered new markets, formed strong partnerships, introduced new product lines and...
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The 3 Levers From a 41% Growth Story You Can Use Too
In today’s episode, I’m sharing a story about a fourth-generation business that achieved 41% growth in a really tough market. I’ll walk you through the three levers they pulled: building capacity, strengthening their supply chain, and committing to long-term positioning. By the end, you’ll have...
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Balancing Agency and Structure: Helping Your People Thrive
In this episode, Chris Green explores one of the biggest challenges for business leaders - how to balance individual freedom with the right structures that help people thrive. From career pathways and cultural frameworks to personal accountability, Chris unpacks how true agency isn’t about “free...
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What Your Business Needs Isn’t More Hustle - It’s This
In this episode, Chris reflects on how easy it is to get caught on the treadmill of always chasing more - more goals, more success, more stuff. But what if what your business really needs isn’t more hustle, but deeper connection? Chris explores why genuine relationships with your team, your...
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Your Positioning, Decoded: How the World Sees You
In this episode, Chris Green breaks down one of the most overlooked aspects of business growth: positioning. Through a simple yet eye-opening exercise, he shows how quickly people form assumptions based on what they see and how the same thing happens with your LinkedIn, website, Facebook page, or...
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How to Make Success Visible to Everyone in your Team
When your business starts to grow, especially across multiple locations, people often only see their own role, not the bigger picture. That’s when results become inconsistent and messy. In this episode, I share why creating a scoreboard makes all the difference. Just like in sport, when the score...
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Decision Fatigue Is Real. Here’s the Fix.
Lately I’ve been hearing from so many business owners who feel tired and weighed down by constant decision fatigue. I get it - everyday things are coming at you, and it can feel like you have to react to everything. But there’s a better way. I share a story from Derek Sivers’ book Hell Yeah or No...
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Thriving in a Tough Market - Focus on What You Can Control
The truth is, every business will face a tough market at some point. You can’t control external factors like exports, consumption, or the economy, but you can control how you respond. In this episode, I share the story of a winery that’s confronting the brutal facts, cutting costs responsibly…
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How Small Wins Build Big Momentum
Sometimes, business just feels stuck. The to-do list is long, the energy is low, and it’s hard to get moving. In this episode, I talk about momentum and how to build it, not by tackling everything at once but by starting small. Drawing on Jim Collins’ flywheel effect, I share why picking just one...
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Want More Freedom in Your Business?
Hands up if you want more freedom in your business to do what lights you up. The truth is, most of us get stuck because we’re afraid to let go, we rely too heavily on key people, or we fall into the trap of abdicating instead of delegating. In this episode, I share how to build the right systems…
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The Wand Chooses the Wizard: Let Strengths Lead the Way
We’re often told to follow our passion, but that advice can fall flat when we don’t yet know where our strengths lie. In this episode, I share Scott Galloway’s perspective that passion actually grows from talent, from discovering what you’re naturally good at and leaning into it. Just like the…
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Why We Jump to Solutions First (and What to Do Instead)
As business leaders, we’re under pressure to always have the answers. But when we jump to solutions without a real knowledge base, we’re just drawing on our biases and that’s bounded rationality. A better way is to create hypotheses like a scientist: test what could happen, collect some data, and...
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What’s Guiding Your Business Right Now?
Every business needs a clear direction, but a compass alone won’t get you there. What keeps you steady, especially when times get tough, is the scaffolding you build around your business. In this episode, I share insights from Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential and connect them to my Business by…
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Why Some Business Owners Keep Getting Stuck in the Weeds: Delegation vs Abdication
You know what I find when I talk to business owners? They keep getting stuck in the weeds. Sound familiar? Here's the thing - 80% of my conversations with clients is about people stuff, and it doesn't matter what industry you're in. The real problem? Most of us accidentally abdicate…
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The Time Paradox: Why We Feel Like We Never Have Enough
We all have the same 24 hours, so why does it feel like there’s never enough time? In this episode of The Green Room, Chris Green explores the paradox of time, from how people in the 1600s viewed it, to how modern life has us trading time for money with no limits. He challenges you to rethink how...
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Make Tomorrow Easier: Stop Putting Off the Hard Stuff
A nail in the tire, a busy day, and a choice: fix it now or leave it for later. Too often in business, we put off the hard stuff, telling ourselves we’ll deal with it tomorrow. But tomorrow always comes, and that’s when the real stress hits. In this episode, Chris Green shares how “temporal...
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Are You Valuing the Right Things?
In this episode, Chris is coming to you from the middle of a busy Melbourne street — cars everywhere, people everywhere, and it’s got him thinking. As business owners, we often pride ourselves on hard work. We value being busy, digging in, and getting things done. But… is that actually the right...
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Laying the Foundation: What The Green Room Podcast Is All About
Welcome to the very first episode of The Green Room. I’ve worked with business owners for over 25 years, across industries, across challenges, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that every business is different. In this episode, I’m laying the groundwork for what this podcast is all…
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About this show
Welcome to The Green Room.The podcast where business gets real. Hosted by Chris Green, a seasoned facilitator, mentor, and author with 25 years of experience working with family-run and owner-led businesses, this show dives deep into what makes a business tick, and what holds it back.Chris brings practical insight from across industries, helping you solve challenges in leadership, people, systems, promotion, and profit. Each episode is filled with real stories, powerful lessons, and proven strategies to help you build a business that’s sustainable, scalable, and, most importantly, fun.Whether you’re a founder wearing all the hats or a leader ready to grow your impact, The Green Room is your space to learn, reflect, and connect with what really matters in business.
Hosted by
Chris Green
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