“Perfect without trust is failure.” Loved this line from Kevin Kissi on the pod recently! @KevinKissi explains why you need transparency over perfection in all facets of your business… and I couldn’t agree more. Full episode with Kevin is live everywhere!

65% of startups fail because co-founders can't get along. Well, we’re happy to consider ourselves in the 35% of those that do. I never planned to interview my own co-founder on this show. But here we are!!! Here's the backstory: @BlakeHudelson and I met at Atomic, a startup studio in San Francisco. A mutual contact introduced us and something clicked. So I did what any totally reasonable person would do… I suggested we work on 3 *companies at the same time* to see what sticks. Blake said yes. Which tells you everything about him. That was six years and roughly a thousand late-night calls ago. We've been through near-death moments, leadership changes that hurt, a Covid basement where I may or may not have screamed into a wall, and more pivots than either of us likes to count. We finally landed on @BoomPopHQ's direction in 2023 and haven't looked back. This episode gets real and raw on our co-founder dynamic and some lessons we’ve learned that hopefully you can apply to your own co-founder relationships (or really ANY relationship, professional or otherwise). Blake tells you exactly what drives him crazy about me (including a habit of mine he's named the "super poop"). I'll admit what I should have done differently. And we share the stuff we genuinely wish someone had told us in year one. What we get into: - The one exercise every co-founding pair should do in their first 30 days - Why our most important pivotal moments have always come from our disagreements - What we learned from hiding problems from our team (spoiler: don't) - The difference between a co-founder who complements you vs. one who mirrors you - How radical transparency became the most powerful thing we ever did for our culture New episode of Don't Be a Jerk with my co-founder Blake Hudelson is live now everywhere you get your podcasts!!!

I've been obsessed with this question lately: how does someone FEEL in the moments after they interact with me? As Maya Angelou famously said: “At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” It turns out this answer matters more than most of us realize. When people feel respected, trust skyrockets. When they feel dismissed, defensiveness kicks in almost instantly. So I did a solo episode on exactly this. 7 things you can do to be a genuinely great person. 5 traps that make you look like a jerk, even when that's not your intent. What you'll walk away with: - Why praising in public and giving feedback in private changes everything - The "three times" name trick that makes people feel instantly seen - Why the most likable people in any room talk the least about themselves - What happens neurologically when you smile at someone (it's a little wild) - How to change someone's mind without ever making an argument This is one I'm really proud of.

1 in 5 people are neurodivergent. @DaveFlink has spent 28 years making sure workplaces and schools stop treating that like a problem to fix. What struck me most about this conversation was just how USEFUL everything he said was. Immediately actionable and oh so wise. David is the founder of the @theNDalliance, a recognized CNN Hero, Bezos Award winner, and one of the most generous thinkers I've had on this show. In this episode of Don't Be a Jerk: - The critical difference between expectations and agreements (and why one quietly destroys teams) - Why "bad employees" almost never exist and what's really going on instead - His simple practice for giving people get-out-of-jail-free cards before you judge them - Why psychological safety has to be rebuilt every time your team changes And so much more. I could have talked to David for hours and hours on end. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. My conversation with David Flink on Don't Be a Jerk is live everywhere you get your podcasts! 🎙️

Full episode is live right here: youtu.be/JXMUvNO80G0