Authority in the Wild

Vaughan Broderick has worked on more than 300 innovation projects and trained over 350 leaders across 20 industries. In all of it, he kept seeing the same thing: good ideas dying before they ever reached the people they were meant for. Not because the ideas were weak. Because of the part of innovation almost nobody teaches.

In this conversation, Vaughan breaks down why organizations jump to solutions before they understand the real problem, the four forces that quietly kill ideas after everyone says yes, and why what looks like resistance is usually something else entirely.

We also get into the question everyone is asking right now: where does AI actually help you innovate, and where does it just help you fail faster?

This is Vaughan's second appearance on Authority in the Wild. Episode 35 aired back in 2023. Since then he has co-authored "Innovation in Action" with Dr. Christian Walsh that you can order it now to unlock exclusive bonuses: https://innovationinactionbook.com

The book is built on the DUCTRI framework refined over a decade and 300-plus projects.

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:30) How to Know If Your Idea Is Actually Useful

(09:17) What People Always Overcomplicate About Change

(14:27) The Barrier Leaders Secretly Underestimate

(18:36) What 'DUCTRI' Really Stands For

(22:57) Where AI Helps Innovation — And Where It Fails

(28:31) The One Thing AI Can Never Replace

(33:11) Where the Best Ideas Actually Come From

(37:05) From Idea to Action: The Real Steps

(43:47) The Belief He's Now Letting Go Of

🟪 Connect with Vaughan Broderick

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughanbroderick

- Website: https://vaughanbroderick.com

- Innovation in Action Book: https://a.co/d/0gSsAIwf

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

- Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca

- X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca

- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

Carolyn Haeler spent nine months losing her hair, going gray, and wasting away before anyone figured out what was wrong. Then she bit into a gluten-free cookie that was barely edible, and decided to fix it herself.

Carolyn is the founder and CEO of Mightylicious Gluten Free, nationally distributed across 43 states, available at Whole Foods, Walmart, Costco, and 2,600+ specialty stores. She was also the first female LGBTQ+ founder to raise $5 million on Republic.co

In this conversation, we get into:

• Why every gluten-free product on the shelf tastes the way it does (and what the industry keeps getting wrong)
• How she taught herself the food science in a tiny apartment with a 24-inch oven
• Why she chose crowdfunding over VC, and what that decision actually costs
• What CPG distribution really looks like when you are not a two-bros startup with venture backing

This is a story about obsession, recoverable risk, and what it means to build something that matters to the people who need it most.

For founders, operators, and anyone who has wondered why "good enough" keeps winning.

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(01:44) When Your Body Turns Against You

(04:53) Gluten it's in Almost Everything!

(09:34) One Bad Cookie. One Big Decision.

(13:25) The Hidden Reason Gluten-Free Tastes Wrong

(17:22) The Ingredient Nobody Else Was Using

(20:24) Why She Skipped the VCs

(23:05) The Moment Everything Unlocked

(39:36) You Don't Need a Master Plan to Start

(44:27) What's Next and What She'd Never Do Again

🟪 Connect with Carolyn Haeler

• Website: https://mightylicious.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mightyliciiousfoods
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpotz/

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

• Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

In 2026, the smartest person in the room is losing. Not to better ideas. To better packaging.

Brian Miller built a 3.7M-view TEDx talk using a framework that fits on one page. He spent twenty years figuring out why brilliant people fail on stage, and it has nothing to do with charisma, voice, or slides. In this conversation, we get into:

• Why asking "what do I want to say?" is the question that kills most talks before they start
• What every audience is silently deciding in the first 60 seconds (and how most speakers fail it)
• The counterintuitive move that makes people beg for your solution
• Why changing someone's mind requires changing their thinking before you offer anything

Brian is a former professional magician turned speaker coach. His clients speak at TED-style stages in rooms where failure is not an option.

🟪 About Brian

Brian Kenneth Miller is a former professional magician turned speaker coach. His TEDx talk "How to Magically Connect with Anyone" has done over 3.7 million views. He's the founder of Conquer the Red Dot, a coaching firm that prepares experts and leaders for TED-style stages, and the principal consultant at Clarity Up Consulting. He's the author of Three New People and the new book The One-Page Keynote: How to Design a Speech That Always Works, No Charisma Required. He also co-founded The SpeakerPath with Francisco Mahfuz.

🟪 Connect with Brian Miller

- The One-Page Keynote Book: https://a.co/d/08tE3hmA

- Clarity Up: https://www.clarityupconsulting.com

- Conquer the Red Dot: https://conquerthereddot.com

- The SpeakerPath: https://thespeakerpath.com

- Personal website: https://www.brianmillerspeaks.com

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmillerspeaks

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brianmillerspeaks

- TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cV8yfgNyI

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

- Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca

- X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca

- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

The founder who seems fine is often the one who needs this most.

I sit down with Dr. Margaret Rutherford, clinical psychologist, author, and TEDx speaker, to walk through Perfectly Hidden Depression, the form of depression that doesn't look like depression at all. It hides behind high performance, emotional control, and the identity of being someone who handles things. And it's disproportionately common among entrepreneurs and founders who have turned perfectionism into a management style.

The through-line of the conversation is the framework shared by Dr. Margaret's new workbook that came to life after 30 years of clinical practice?

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(01:01) What is the Perfectly Hidden Depression

(04:25) Perfectionism as a Prison

(09:45) The 10 Telltale Signs of PHD

(16:58) When PHD Traits Become Dangerous

(22:12 )The Cost of Loneliness

(30:33) From Awareness to Change

(33:38) The Compartmentalization Exercise

(39:59) Beyond Awareness to Cha

🟪 About Dr. Margaret Rutherford

Dr. Margaret Rutherford is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience. She is the author of Perfectly Hidden Depression (November 2019), Perfectly Hidden Depression Workbook (April 2026) the host of the Self-Work Podcast that has over 5 million downloads. Her TEDx talk on emotional transparency has surpassed two million views. She works with high-functioning individuals who carry depression beneath a surface of apparent success.

🟪 Connect with Dr. Margaret Rutherford

- PDH Workbook: https://a.co/d/021PCO99

- PHD Book: https://a.co/d/05pmllEo

- Website: https://drmargaretrutherford.com

- Self-Work Podcast: https://drmargaretrutherford.com/selfwork/

- TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXZ5Bo5lafA

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmargaretrutherford

- LinkedIn: https://www.facebook.com/DrMargaretRutherford

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drmargaretrutherford

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

- Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca

- X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca

- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

Andrej Persolja built a product with a 4.9-star rating and real clinical proof it worked. He launched in one market and it took off. He then launched to the US and nothing happened. No customers. No conversions.

Four years and tens of thousands in ad spend with almost nothing to show for it. He eventually figured out why. Then he ran a structured test. One thing changed. Revenue went up 200%. His cost to acquire a customer dropped by more than half. He left the startup and built a consulting practice around what he learned.

He then went on to take another company from $200K to $2M in annual revenue in five months. And in this episode we cover the startup growth playbook, From research to market positioning to client acquisition.

This conversation covers:

• what he learned about why products stop selling
• how he identifies growth levers most teams miss
• what customer research actually looks like when it works
• and what he did when things were at their worst

Enjoy!

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(00:48) Building his First Startup

(05:02) Positioning is Killing Great Products

(12:41) What Makes a Product Valuable

(16:45) How to Get Your Customers

(22:43) The Growth Playbook

(26:22) Growth Tests And KPIs

(29:28) AI Workflows & Life Design

(38:26) Systems, Life and Opportunities

(43:09) Connect with Andrej

🟪 About the Guest

Andrej Persolja is a positioning strategist and growth marketer from Slovenia who has worked with 100+ tech companies, from early-stage startups to 50M EUR revenue companies. He co-founded 2 startups, including a dyslexic learning app where he discovered the power of positioning after lowering CAC by 52% and doubling growth. He now runs We Fix Boring, helping B2B SaaS companies communicate their value through strategic repositioning. A 2023 YTILI Fellow (U.S. Department of State), NextMBA alumnus (under Philip Kotler and Seth Godin), and keynote speaker at Startup Disrupt, Andrej lives at the crossroads of logic and psychology.

🟪 Connect with Andrej Persolja

• Website: https://apersolja.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV5Evx39NVsWc1z8ofGBY9g
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apersolja/
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/apersolja
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apersolja/
• Newsletter: https://apersolja.com/the-best-positioned-newsletter-in-marketing/
• Nail Your Positioning: https://nailyourpositioning.com/
• We Fix Boring: https://www.founderat.com/andrej-persolja/

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

• Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

This is not a "do less" conversation. Erika Coleman built a million-dollar company, lost her mother, and then collapsed on her couch the day she finally finished her to-do list.

Then she went to Harvard to figure out what went wrong.

In this conversation, we get into:

- Why effort is not the same as achievement, and how that confusion creates burnout

- The Olympian who won gold by stepping back, and the one who shattered her leg by giving everything

- Why your nervous system treats you as the enemy when you push too hard

- The Harvard research that proves doing good things can hurt you

Erika calls herself a recovering overachiever, and she has built a methodology she calls "even achieving" for people who refuse to stop reaching but want to stop breaking.

If you are stuck in the loop of working harder, getting more efficient, and somehow ending up with more on your plate, this episode names what is happening to you and what to do instead.

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(00:52) It's possible to succeed without sarcifice?

(07:14) Momentum Myth

(11:36) Do Less Misconception

(14:33) Intentional Excellence

(19:08) Fear Brain Chemistry

(21:54) Pace Like Pro Athletes

(26:09) Stop Working to Depletion

(31:03) Renegotiate After Overdoing

(36:11) Be Your Own Champion

(42:42) Small Actions Big Dreams

(48:17) Ask for Help to Win

(50:18) Harvard Lesson

🟪 About the Guest

Erika is a speaker, consultant and recovering overachiever. She believes most successful people are getting accomplishment wrong. Erika founded a million-dollar virtual training company that serviced some of the top organizations in the world. Her curiosity about stress, motivation, and well-being led her to a master's degree in industrial-organizational psychology from Harvard University. Erika imagines a world where no one needs to choose between achieving their goals and building a life worth living.

🟪 Connect with Erika Coleman

• TEDx Talk: https://erikastedtalk.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-coleman-1591b435/
• The Even-Achieving™️ Team Assessment: https://balanceyourteam.com/

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

• Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

Scott Proposki spent 28 years photographing the White House, National Geographic shoots, and celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and Robin Williams. Then COVID hit, and a 28-year career disappeared in 24 hours.

In this conversation we get into:

• What actually happens when your identity dies overnight
• Why $1 million in sales paid him less than $200K solo
• The 3 words from Bill Belichick that restarted his career
• Why AI is not the death of photography (or any creative business)

This is not a "how I bounced back in 30 days" story. Scott went silent for three years before he could even start rebuilding. That detail matters. If you have ever felt trapped by the business you built, watched your industry shift overnight, or wondered whether scaling is actually worth it, this one is for you.

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(00:35) Pandemic Shockwave

(04:08) Letting Go to Rebuild

(11:08) Coaching Room Mic Drop

(16:13) Finding Vision Again

(22:03) Basement Entrepreneur Mindset

(28:30) Celebrity Shoots and Daily Emails

(37:02) When Money Runs Out

(42:56) Connect with Scott Proposki

🟪 About the Guest

Before the pandemic, Scott Proposki spent 27 years behind the camera as an event photographer for National Geographic, The White House, HBO, Microsoft, and celebrities like Robin Williams and Miley Cyrus. He built a seven-figure photography business with 52 team members and over $25M in lifetime sales. Then he lost it all when the world shut down in 2020. Three years of depression, rebuilding, and rediscovering his identity followed. His book Camera Focus became the roadmap that helped him rebuild. Today, Scott teaches photographers how to build unshakeable businesses through the Camera Focus Method.

🟪 Connect with Scott Proposki

• The Focus Daily Email: https://scottproposki.com
• Camera Focus Book: https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Focus-Photography-Teaches-Business/dp/1947341553
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottproposki/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottproposki/

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

• Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

Miriam Katz coaches executives at Google or Deloitte on public speaking. She also hosts Ex Appeal, a podcast where she interviews every person she's ever been romantic with.

In this conversation, we get into:

• Why the real fear behind speaking has nothing to do with being polished

• How improv exercises expose defense mechanisms we've carried since childhood

• What interviewing her exes taught her about herself

• Why she believes the stories we tell about ourselves are the biggest obstacle to growth

This is not a typical communication episode. Miriam brings the same radical honesty she demands from clients, and the conversation goes places neither of us expected.

If you've ever held back from saying what you really mean, this is the one.

🟪 Important Moments:

(00:00) Trailer

(01:02) Why Speaking Feels So Scary

(10:08) Can Comedy Actually Make You Braver?

(15:59) The Perfectionism Trap (and the Accent Myth)

(21:13) Interviewing Your Exes On a Podcast

(27:28) What Years of Dating Really Taught Her

(36:44) Where Vulnerability Meets Strategy

(40:57) Who Needs a Speaking Coach (Hint: Maybe You)

🟪 About the Guest

Miriam Katz is a public speaking coach and the host of the “Ex Appeal” podcast, for which she is interviewing every person she’s ever been romantic with on any level. As a coach, she works a lot with humor as a way to loosen up her clients and allow their natural charisma to emerge. Katz also works as a journalist and ghostwriter, and performs as an actor and improviser. Yes she is busy.

🟪 Connect with Miriam Katz

• Free 20 minute mini class / exploratory coaching session: https://calendly.com/miriamkatz/new-meeting-2 
• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ex-appeal-podcast/id1815156860 
• Podcast website: https://www.exappealpodcast.com/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theexappealpodcast/?hl=en 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-katz-b53ba828b/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@exappeal 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@exappeal

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

• Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

Mike Montague got fired by Billy Idol on stage in front of thousands of people. He now runs  Avenue9  a human-first AI marketing agency that has worked with LinkedIn, Uber, and the Kansas City Chiefs, and his podcasts have 3.7 million combined downloads.In this episode:- Why producing more AI content can actually weaken your authority- The three types of work and which one AI makes worse when you apply it- How to turn one human conversation into a full marketing system- Where AI use crosses into territory that destroys trust instead of building it Mike has a framework that most AI marketing advice ignores: trust moves at human speed regardless of how fast your tools produce content. This episode is for anyone building authority and wondering whether their AI use is helping or quietly working against them.

About the Guest:

Mike Montague is a leading voice in Human-First AI Marketing. His company, Avenue9, is an AI-powered marketing agency helping small businesses scale without burning bridges or blowing out their budgets. Mike has worked with giant brands like LinkedIn, Uber, Zoom, Bud Light, and the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s authored two books: LinkedIn The Sandler Way and Playful Humans, and his podcasts have over 3.7 million downloads. Now, he uses his decades of past marketing experience and the AI tools of the future to help small businesses amplify their marketing impact.

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Full Episode

(00:37) Fired by Billy Idol

(06:11) Practice Makes Authority

(09:56) Human First With AI

(14:14) Failing in Public

(19:08) Speed Versus Trust

(23:41) Work Types Framework

(30:52) Sales Call To Deck

(37:57) AI Avatars And Trust

(40:51) Ethical AI Boundaries

(47:03) Seven Day Tool Stack

(51:16) Where To Find Mike

🟪 Connect with Mike Montague:

- Website: ⁠https://avenue9.com⁠

- YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@avenue9ai⁠

- LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedmontague

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

- Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca

- X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca

- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

Greg Heilers recounts spending nearly seven years on organic farms and conservation projects worldwide before abandoning a planned culinary internship in Rome to move to Beijing after meeting his now-wife in Guatemala, shifting from “voluntourist” nomad life to building a home and transitioning into digital work.

He describes adapting to China as a foreigner, starting with English and cultural localization editing, then moving into writing and realizing he had entered the SEO content ecosystem, later specializing in offsite SEO and journalist outreach.

Greg contrasts “black hat” ROI-driven tactics with sustainable brand-focused strategies, discusses the costs of manipulating consumers, and explains how AI and platform deals (Google-Reddit, Reddit-OpenAI) reshaped SEO, pushing toward “SEO plus AI search.”

He shares how he manages learning and building time as a business owner, the realities of running an agency, contingency plans if the business failed, misconceptions about living in China, and practical earned-media steps, maintaining consistent brand identity and EEAT signals.

🟪 Timestamps

(00:00) Choosing Beijing over Rome?!

(01:23) Leaving the Nomad Life

(05:22) Culture Shock in China

(07:36) Falling into SEO

(11:01) White Hat vs Black Hat

(14:27) AI Reshaping Search

(20:20) Time Blocking for Building

(25:19) Problem Solving Reality

(29:03) If The Business Vanished

(32:50) China Opportunity And Safety

(39:06) Earned Media First Steps

(41:41) EEAT Explained Simply

(46:21) Connect with Greg Heilers

🟪 About the Guest

Greg Heilers is the co-founder of Jolly SEO, an agency that specializes in earned media. Jolly SEO has helped more than 500 clients earn over 25,000 brand mentions and backlinks, and is now offering Reddit services in 2026 as well!

🟪 Connect with Greg Heilers

• Website: https://jollyseo.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregheilers/

🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca

• Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/
• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca