Welcome to Exceptional Companies Podcast

Most business owners don’t fail because they made bad decisions. They fail because they never paused long enough to make the right ones.

What happens to your company if you’re suddenly unavailable for 30 days? Who signs payroll? Who makes decisions? Who protects the value you’ve spent decades building?

In this conversation, I sat down with Paul Manson to unpack the blind spots most founders don’t see until it’s too late—and why building a business that outlives you starts long before you think you “have time” to plan.

What if no one is coming to save your business. Would you still build it. What would you change today. In this episode I ask Mike McLain why effort is not enough, how identity beats anxiety, and what happens when you stop selling and start serving. We dig into the moment he left a safe career, the hidden lever in employer healthcare, and the mindset that turns setbacks into traction. If your team wants a different life in 2026, what will you change now. Where are you still buying eight dollar gas when two will do.

What if the success you’re chasing isn’t about working harder, but about solving better problems? In this conversation, I sat down with Logan Brodine to explore how discipline built in the gym, lessons learned alongside elite military units, and hard-earned experience in real estate all point to the same truth: growth follows complexity. How do relationships shape who we become? Why do most people stall just before things get interesting? And what does it actually take to build something that lasts, in business and in life?

What happens when your identity gets wrapped in the wrong things — a job, a sport, even your business — and life rips them away? In this episode, Tanner Johnson shares how losing everything he thought defined him forced him to rebuild his life, his work, and his faith from the ground up. It’s the kind of conversation that makes you ask: what am I actually building my life on?

What happens when an attorney refuses to treat clients like case numbers?

In this episode, I sit down with a lawyer who walked away from big-firm comfort to build something radically personal. Why did he leave a secure path? What did he see behind the scenes that pushed him out? And how is he winning cases the big shops couldn’t touch?

This conversation might change how you think about “personal injury law.”

What happens after you sell the business that defined your identity? When the grind finally ends, and the silence sets in—who are you without it? In this episode, I sit down with Ian Noble, a second-generation business owner who went from burnout to breakthrough, and discovered that real freedom doesn’t come from control—it comes from letting go.

What if solving society’s biggest problems didn’t start with money or policy—but with a table? In this episode, I sit down with Stu Davis of COSILoveYou to unpack how churches, businesses, and community leaders are reshaping Colorado Springs through partnership, faith, and action. Can listening be the most powerful leadership tool we have? And what happens when we stop trying to fix everything—and start stewarding what we already have?

What if the secret to closing more deals isn’t about selling harder—but listening better?

What if your brand has nothing to do with your logo, and everything to do with how people feel when they meet you?

In this episode, I sat down with H.B. Pasley—a musician turned business advisor—to talk about authentic connection, trust, and why the best business strategy might just start with a conversation that isn’t about business at all.

What if the culture inside your company is working against you—and you don’t even know it?

Heather Smith thought she’d made it in corporate leadership, until she realized success without impact felt hollow. In this episode, we talk about the truth behind company culture: why values on a wall mean nothing, how systems shape behavior, and what happens when you look behind you as a leader… and no one’s following.

What does it take to build something that lasts 120 years—and still feels worth coming back to? What if the key to generational success isn’t control, but letting go? In this episode, Jen Livsey shares how her family built a ranching legacy across five generations, why she believes in raising kids “worthy of empire,” and how faith, failure, and family shape her leadership. If you’re building a business meant to outlive you… this one’s for you.