In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we talk with Rob Levin — serial entrepreneur, staffing innovator, and co-founder of Work Better Now, a platform helping U.S. SMBs hire top-tier talent from Latin America.

From executive assistants to marketing and sales, Rob shares how Work Better Now is rethinking remote hiring, retention, and culture — with hundreds of SMBs scaling faster as a result.

💥 Why “most companies suck at hiring” — and how to fix it

📉 The cultural mistake that kills performance and retention

🌍 Why Latin American talent is solving the U.S. talent crisis

🧠 How to spot a toxic team member before they destroy morale

🚀 The small innovations that helped WBN land on the Inc. 5000 list

If you’re scaling a company, struggling to hire, or building culture remotely, this is a masterclass in getting it right.

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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we sit down with Tamara Laine — Emmy-winning journalist turned FinTech founder — now co-founder of Empower, a platform reimagining how creditworthiness is measured in a world of gig work, AI, and financial exclusion.

Tamara brings a bold, justice-centered approach to innovation — not just because it’s timely, but because it’s long overdue.

🏗️ Why the U.S. credit system is still stuck in the 1950s — and who it’s leaving behind

💳 How Empower is creating holistic credit profiles for gig workers and non-W2 earners

🧠 What investigative journalism taught Tamara about innovation and storytelling

⚠️ Why 97% of AI startups are failing — and how to avoid the “wrapper” trap

🔍 How transparency builds trust in financial tech (and mitigates risk more than compliance)

This one’s for every founder building in FinTech, equity-centered tech, or trying to lead with integrity in an AI era.

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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we sit down with Caleb Snow, CRO at UMIT Technologies — a tribally owned MSP and cybersecurity firm. Caleb’s path isn’t typical: he’s a self-taught techie with ADHD, a storyteller with grit, and a builder who now works at the intersection of innovation and Indigenous empowerment.

🧠 Why he believes boredom is more dangerous than failure

⚙️ How tribal ownership enables long-term innovation (vs. private equity churn)

🌱 His obsession with mentoring — and why the next generation should leapfrog us

💥 Lessons from an early internet crash course — and what tech still gets wrong

🔥 What it really takes to scale trust, not just revenue, inside a growing tech firm

Whether you're leading a startup or rebuilding a legacy system, Caleb's story reminds us: the best innovation often comes from outside the spotlight.

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In this high-energy episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we roll into leadership and audacity with Melissa Boggs — the only roller skating keynote speaker on the planet. A former Scrum Alliance executive, Melissa blends movement and mindset to teach leaders how to shift from fear to bold action.

🛼 Why roller skating became a metaphor for innovation and risk-taking

🚫 How fear and “operational memory” quietly shut down progress inside companies

📉 Why reducing risk to zero is a myth — and a leadership trap

📢 The 4-step model to move from caution to curiosity to courage to audacity

🔁 The hidden damage of gaslighting in innovation culture — and how to fix it

Whether you're a leader trying to empower others or someone sitting on a big idea, this episode is your push toward the edge.

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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we speak with Danielle McCombs, a leadership coach and co-host of The Opposite of Small Talk podcast. After a successful 20-year career in commercial real estate, Danielle made the bold move to pursue coaching — and hasn’t looked back.

🎙️ Why she pivoted careers with no formal plan — and how clarity came through curiosity

🏗️ How real estate taught her structure — but coaching gave her freedom and fulfillment

🧠 What most people get wrong about coaching (and how ICF certification really matters)

💬 The power of asking “What if this doesn’t have to be the plan forever?”

🏡 Why she’s now focused on mission-driven work in affordable housing

Danielle’s story is for anyone who's outgrown the old path and is ready to design a more intentional next chapter.

Thanks for tuning in to Breakthrough Innovation! Want to subscribe to the podcast? Have feedback to share? Connect with us on Spotify or iTunes and leave us a review—we’d love to hear from you!

In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we ride through the radical journey of Dom Lévesque — CEO of NextWave, author of Avoiding Avalanches, and former punk rocker turned mountain adventurer turned HR disruptor.

Dom blends business, backcountry, and bold thinking to challenge the tired status quo in how we lead transformation.

🏔️ How snowboarding and near-death shaped his model for transformation

🧠 Why most HR teams stay stuck in compliance mode instead of creating real value

🤖 The truth about AI in HR — and why it can’t replace strategy

🎯 The 5 Whys technique and why every HR leader should master it

💡 Why work-life “balance” is dead — and the future is “work-life blend”

Whether you’re leading transformation or just trying not to get buried in the avalanche, this one’s for you.

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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we’re joined by Giorgio Natili, VP of Engineering at Opaque Systems, and author of The AI Advantage and the upcoming The Imperfect Life of an Engineering Manager.

From protecting data privacy in AI to embracing imperfection as a leadership superpower, Giorgio shares lessons learned across Amazon, Mozilla, Capital One, and beyond — all rooted in his fearless, experimental approach to engineering culture.

🤖 Why you shouldn’t build your own LLM — and what to do instead

⚠️ The hidden risk of “shadow AI” in your organization

🧠 How to wrap guardrails, memory, and RAG strategies around open models

🚀 Why perfection kills momentum — and imperfection drives strategic clarity

📉 How to lead from behind, not from the front — and scale without burnout

Giorgio blends technical mastery with humble leadership and radical candor — a must-listen for engineering leaders, AI strategists, and execs building resilient teams.

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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we sit down with Dr. Kelly Kinnebrew — psychologist, executive coach, and co-founder of Minerva, an AI-powered workplace coaching platform.

Kelly shares what 1,100+ executive coaching engagements have taught her about leadership, burnout, bias, and the future of work — and why the next big shift in performance may come from machines working with humans, not instead of them.

🧠 What Colorado’s controversial AI bill gets dangerously wrong

🤖 How AI can support — but not replace — human coaching (and what tools get it wrong)

📉 The #1 pattern she sees in leaders headed for burnout

⚠️ Why some leaders are thriving under narcissists without realizing the cost

💡 What "work-life blend" means — and why balance might be a myth

Whether you're a founder scaling fast, an HR leader navigating burnout, or an exec trying to lead with more insight — this one’s a must-listen.

Thanks for tuning in to Breakthrough Innovation! Want to subscribe to the podcast? Have feedback to share? Connect with us on Spotify or iTunes and leave us a review—we’d love to hear from you!

In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we speak with Loic Potjes, founder of Disruptive Leap and executive coach to over 40 CEOs across 17 countries. A seasoned leader himself, Loic brings clarity to the chaos of scaling — especially in a world moving faster than ever.

We dive into what really stalls growth for CEOs and why “busy” is often just a trap.

🧠 The #1 killer of performance? A lack of clarity on what moves the needle

📊 Why most leaders are addicted to the grind — and can’t see it

🤖 How to stop delegating AI and start leveraging it as “1,000 consultants in a room”

💥 The danger of doing “more of the same” during a period of acceleration

🚀 Why CEOs must work on the business weekly — not just in it

This one is a strategic reset for high-performance leaders drowning in activity — and ready for clarity.

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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we sit down with David J. Bland, founder of Precoil, co-author of the global bestseller Testing Business Ideas, and creator of the EMT (Extract, Map, Test) framework — a practical approach that Fortune 500 teams use to run smarter experiments and reduce risk in real innovation work.

David shares hard-won truths about why most innovation efforts stall, how to build momentum inside bureaucracy, and how to stop treating experimentation like a one-time event.

📉 Why innovation theater is still rampant — and how to spot it

🧪 The real reason most experiments don’t de-risk anything

📊 Why failure needs structure, not slogans (“fail smart” > “fail fast”)

🎃 How “Dead Projects Day” at DuPont changed how leaders saw failure

🎯 How to shift accountability from performance to learning

Whether you're building a venture, running a transformation, or leading a product team, this episode is packed with field-tested wisdom from one of the best in the game.

Thanks for tuning in to Breakthrough Innovation! Want to subscribe to the podcast? Have feedback to share? Connect with us on Spotify or iTunes and leave us a review—we’d love to hear from you!