In this episode, Kate Crane — founder of Direction Over Perfection and former DoorDash and OpenTable exec — joins us to share the job search skills no one taught you but everyone needs. We learn how she teaches young people to “fish”, the art of asking for advice instead of help, why professional development should start sophomore year of college, and how you really should be using AI in your job search. These are skills for your first job search, your fifth, and every pivot in between.

Most brands don't lose because they're inferior. They lose because they're indistinguishable. In this episode, Kelly sits down with John Gumas, President of Commit Agency and one of the country's leading authorities on Challenger Brand Marketing® — to talk about the one thing most marketing skips entirely: real Discovery. Not research that produces data, but the kind of deep, uncomfortable questioning that surfaces why customers actually choose one brand over another. If you've ever inherited...

Neal Foard breaks down the human psychology of persuasion, why people buy on emotion and justify on logic, and how the fundamentals of great advertising storytelling apply to every pitch, presentation, and conversation you'll ever have. We talk about why life gets easier when people like you, why the best brands celebrate their customers instead of themselves, and why in the age of AI, storytelling isn't just a nice-to-have — it's your greatest competitive advantage. Plus, Neal shares his pla...

The career ladder was never a guarantee — but for a long time, it was a map. Now the map is gone. McKinsey estimates 375 million workers will need to switch occupational categories by 2030. The World Economic Forum says 44% of core skills will be disrupted within five years. The world of work evolved. The systems we use to evaluate careers didn't. That gap is where capable people get stuck. In this episode, author and career coach Samantha "Sam" Sloan Alvita walks us through her four-part fra...

They built the careers. They climbed the ladder. And then, at 50-something, they walked away — and started something of their own. Gen X women now make up 69% of women business owners in America, and research shows that founders over 50 are nearly twice as likely to build successful companies as founders in their 30s. So what's driving this wave, and what does it actually take to make the leap? Brand strategist Sue Kirchner has spent 25+ years building her own independent practice. In this ep...

Christine Blosdale — The Expert Authority Coach™ — joins Kelly Callahan-Poe to tackle the real reason talented marketing and advertising professionals stay invisible: not lack of skill, but lack of positioning. With 25+ years of experience building brand visibility for entrepreneurs and thought leaders, Christine shares her 5-step Expert Authority Framework to help you go from best-kept secret to unmistakable. No hustle required — just clarity, confidence, and a few smart moves.

In this episode, Kelly sits down with Javier Lozano, Jr., Founder of Bolder Media Co. and Fractional CMO. Javier breaks down exactly what "going fractional" means, how it differs from consulting or agency work, what kind of companies need it and when they finally make the call, and what senior marketers need to have in place before they can make the leap — including the non-negotiable skills, and why right now might be the best window yet to build a career on your own terms.

Zander Sprague — TV host, award-winning author, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, and self-described "God of Enthusiasm" — has built his life's mission around helping people make the EPIC choices that create an EPIC life. For Zander, EPIC isn't just a buzzword: it stands for Every Pilgrimage Involves Commitment, and his own pilgrimage began in the most painful way imaginable — with the murder of his sister. Rather than letting that tragedy define his limits, he let it define his purpo...

What happens when a marketer walks into a boardroom speaking the wrong language? Behavioral marketing strategist and CMO Rich M. Smith unpacks why the gap between marketing and the C-suite isn't a personality conflict — it's a predictable cognitive phenomenon. Rich breaks down how loss aversion, outcome bias, and WYSIATI quietly sabotage marketing budgets, and what it takes to translate your strategy into the language of revenue, risk, and growth. From his 6-part CEO Translation Layer to the ...

What if your audience personas told you not just who people are, but how they actually make decisions? In this episode, Kylee Ingram, co-founder and CEO of Wizer, explores decision intelligence, cognitive diversity, and the seven decision profiles that shape how people process information, weigh risk, and act. She unpacks why traditional personality tools fall short, how bias and groupthink weaken decisions, and what marketers can learn from understanding the different ways people decide. It’...