In This Episode:

We talk to Jaime Jay about going from the 82nd Airborne to homelessness (more than once), to building a company that helps founders get their time back without blowing up quality, trust, or accountability.

Jaime is a hard-nosed systems thinker and one of the founders of Bottleneck Distant Assistants—where they train "distant assistants" (real humans, not "digital assistants") using a framework he calls Delegation Intelligence. We get into the unsexy truth: delegation isn't "hire a VA and pray." It's building a repeatable system so the business stops pinging you for every micro-decision. We also go deep on category design ("name it / frame it / claim it"), and why the real AI bottleneck isn't the model—it's behavior change inside the org.

What We Cover:

• What the military teaches you about structure, trust, and pain tolerance (and how that maps to founder life)

• How to build a delegation department (not just outsource tasks until everything breaks)

• Jaime's 4-step Delegation Intelligence loop: name it, confirm instructions, review/approve, create the signal

• Category design as a competitive weapon: market the problem, not your product

• AI in ops: why "ChatGPT can do it" is often cope, and where AI burnout shows up fast

• Hiring at scale + vetting trust: what it takes to screen thousands without inviting chaos into your systems

Guest Bio:

Jaime Jay is a military veteran (82nd Airborne), founder, and category-minded operator focused on one thing: helping leaders stop getting crushed by the day-to-day. He's one of the founders of Bottleneck Distant Assistants, where their team trains and places "distant assistants" using a structured delegation framework ("Delegation Intelligence") built to reduce admin drag, improve follow-through, and make delegation actually stick.

Enjoy! This show was Brought to you by Wrench.ai

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Jaime:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimejay/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Bottleneck Distant Assistants: https://bottleneck.online

• Delegation IQ Blueprint: https://bottleneck.online/delegationiq-blueprint/

• Quit Repeating Yourself (book): https://a.co/d/0cUUqYtH

• Military CreatorCon Event: https://www.militarycreatorcon.com/

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Jaime Jay

• Bottleneck Distant Assistants

• 82nd Airborne

• Christopher Lockhead (mentioned as "godfather of category design")

• James Amar (Military CreatorCon)

• Brian Scudamore (1-800-GOT-JUNK; Dragon's Den)

• Whole Foods, Amazon, GoPro (category examples)

• David Goggins (grit example)

Show Notes & Timestamps:

00:08 — Dan's intro: Jaime's background (founder, veteran, systems thinker) 01:34 — Homelessness, Army, divorce, and walking from Rancho Cucamonga to Huntington Beach 04:31 — Why Jaime loved the 82nd Airborne; structure, training, and failing RIP 06:10 — Failure, pain tolerance, and why entrepreneurs keep going 13:57 — What homelessness teaches you about people, pride, and getting a "leg up" 16:48 — Category design: name it / frame it / claim it; "market the problem" 19:33 — "Delegation Intelligence" + the core problem: founders trapped running vs. growing 22:41 — The 4-step delegation system: name it, confirm instructions, review/approve, create the signal 27:09 — Hiring + vetting at scale: 7,000 interviews, 658 presented (Jaime's numbers from interview) 30:03 — "Distant assistants" (not digital); 93-video certification; six roles they support 31:44 — AI shifts roles; calculators-in-class analogy; avoid AI overwhelm/burnout 35:22 — Dan on AI's real challenge: behavior change + implementation, not just "the model" 43:21 — Why "Burn The Map" isn't "ignore the map"—it's "outgrow it" 43:49 — Military CreatorCon + category design intensive with Christopher Lockhead 47:32 — Where to find Jaime; Delegation IQ Blueprint 48:11 — Jaime's book: Quit Repeating Yourself

In This Episode:

We sit down with Monica Marquez, co-founder of Flipwork AI and the unofficial change management therapist every modern exec wishes they had on speed dial. Monica's resume is a "who's who" of places that love an acronym—NYU, Goldman Sachs, EY, Bank of America—so trust me, she's seen every flavor of corporate resistance to tech you can imagine.

Monica calls out the dirty little secret of AI in the enterprise: Buying the tech is easy; getting humans to actually use it (without mangling your workflows and ROI) is the real Olympic sport. She dishes on why middle managers are often the AI adoption bottleneck, how automation at scale can make your mistakes embarrassingly public, and why "working harder" stopped mattering the second AI walked in the door.

What We Cover:

• The very real gap between AI purchase and AI adoption—why executives fret and middle management digs in its heels

• How Monica's "Duolingo meets Deloitte" approach gets humans and agents collaborating, not colliding

• Why your old playbook is officially dead, and how agentic humans will reshape the org chart (bye, endless middle management layers)

• The sneaky cultural reasons why some employees see AI as "cheating" (and how to flip that mindset)

• How to AB-test workflows and build custom agents your team will actually use—because shelfware isn't a KPI

• Behind-the-scenes stories on avatars in HR, bias in screening, and why writing an erotic Victorian cover letter won't get you that ML ops job (but it might make you laugh)

• Monica's tactical stack of must-have AI tools: what she actually uses, what's just hype, and why you still need to get your hands dirty

Guest Bio:

Monica Marquez is the co-founder of Flipwork AI—a company that specializes in getting humans and AI to work together without burning the place down. A recovering head of talent and champion for diversity in tech, Monica spent 20+ years wrangling people problems everywhere from big banks to Big Four consultancies. She sits on the board of ALFA (Association of Latin Professionals for America, for Latinas in Tech) and publishes the "Ay Ay Ay AI" newsletter—because yes, she's always the first to kick the tires on new tools, and she's not afraid to tell you what actually works. If you want tips, tough love, and truths about closing the gap between AI hype and real change—Monica's your person.

Enjoy! This show is brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/

X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Monica:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themonicamarquez/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast

Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Monica's site/newsletter: themonicamarquez.com

• Flipwork AI

• "Ay Ay Ay AI" Newsletter

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Monica Marquez

• Flipwork AI

• EY, NYU, Goldman Sachs

Show Notes & Timestamps: 00:00 — Why "implementing AI" will break you if you skip change management 06:00 — The hidden ROI-killers nobody benchmarks 13:00 — Psychological barriers: cultural myths, effort vs. impact, and why your team thinks using AI is cheating 20:00 — Reinventing workplaces: agentic humans, clones, and eliminating monotony 30:00 — Bias in hiring, avatars in interviews, and why everyone suddenly has a "perfect" resume 40:00 — Tools Monica actually uses—and which ones are overrated 46:00 — Why middle management is now an endangered species 49:00 — How to find Monica, and why you'd better DM with something interesting

In This Episode: We sit down with Elizabeth Bieniek: accidental innovator, corporate plane-repairer at 30,000 feet, and author of Cake on Tuesday, a book for people who like their business advice with more real talk and less corporate fluff. Elizabeth walks us through her unpredictable path—from getting an MBA at Babson and tumbling into the tech world, to launching a stealth startup inside Cisco, and then finally distilling years of chaos into 25 lessons for unlocking corporate innovation. Why Cake on Tuesday? Because frankly, what's the point of slogging through strategy sessions if you're not enjoying the ride (and the cake)?

What We Cover:

• How to build a "startup inside the mothership" when corporate just wants you to stop asking why

• Why communication—not just coding—makes or breaks innovation

• The hard (but hilarious) truth about decision-making, feedback, and why you shouldn't listen to every single "mentor"

• Stories from the trenches: flying the plane while building it, collecting callouses (not just LinkedIn endorsements), and why you need to laugh, especially when everything's on fire

• How Elizabeth's book, Cake on Tuesday, became a survival guide for intrapreneurs, founders, and anyone allergic to syrupy corporate motivational posters

Guest Bio: Elizabeth Bieniek, author of Cake on Tuesday and host of the Cake on Tuesday podcast, is the kind of leader who asks "why"—loudly, persistently, and (let's be honest) a bit annoyingly—for the good of slapping sense into business as usual. A veteran of making new things happen inside giant corporations, she's passionate about helping real doers cut through the noise and actually get things done. Find her at CakeOnTuesday.com

Enjoy! This show was brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Elizabeth:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethbieniek/

Cake On Tuesday LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cake-on-tuesday/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast

Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Cake on Tuesday

• ElizabethBieniek.com

• "Cake on Tuesday: 25 Lessons to Unlock Corporate Innovation"

• Wrench.ai

People and Organizations Mentioned in This Episode:

• Elizabeth Bieniek

• Dan Baird

• Cisco, WebEx Hologram

• Cake on Tuesday

• Wrench.ai

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• (00:17) How an ex-holography expert became the go-to for founders who don't want to crash their planes (or their projects)

• (03:29) Sneaking into Cisco as an English major: No, you don't have to write code to shake up big tech

• (07:18) Building startups inside the belly of the beast—less "special projects," more "just fix it already"

• (10:41) Writing post-mortems (the good kind, not the HR kind): How Cake on Tuesday became a book for people who'd rather laugh than cry

• (14:53) Why innovation is 90% persuasion and 10% trying not to strangle a "waffler"

• (18:49) The chapter everyone quotes: Don't Be a Flat Squirrel (you know who you are)

• (22:16) Reframing disagreement: Be disagreeable, just not a jerk

• (24:29) How to spot—and work with—actual doers (Hint: They're busy, but they'll still answer your call)

• (35:21) Staying sane: mantra walls, daily stoicism, and refusing to take yourself too seriously

In This Episode: We sit down with Dr. Craig A. Kaplan, the PhD-wielding brains behind Predict Wall Street (and, apparently, the patron saint of retail investors everywhere). Craig walks us through 14 years in the financial trenches, building tech to turn the "dumb money" crowd into a collective force that could actually beat Wall Street at its own game—at least until the hedge funds caught the scent and crashed the party.

Brace yourself for a story that's equal parts "wisdom of crowds," collective intelligence research, and "what happens when the little guy dares to play with the big boys." If you still think your hot stock tip has a shot, prepare to have that illusion gently (okay, not-so-gently) shattered.

What We Cover:

• How Craig built Predict Wall Street out of pure force of will (and maybe a touch of ignorance-is-bliss)

• Why smart money and dumb money aren't as predictable as you think

• How to use crowd signals, sentiment, and psychology for an actual edge (no, really)

• Why everyone else told him this was "impossible" (spoiler: Nobel laureates are not always right)

• The only three real ways to make money in the stock market—and why almost everyone gets it wrong

• What collective intelligence really means when the crowd is full of both geniuses and, well... not-geniuses

Guest Bio: Dr. Craig A. Kaplan isn't your average Wall Street whisperer—he's a pioneer in collective intelligence and the founder of Predict Wall Street, the platform that gave retail investors their brief moment in the sun before the hedge funds rained on the parade. Craig's research and tech have changed how people think about market signals, crowd psychology, and "dumb money" (newsflash: it isn't always so dumb). When he's not upending financial orthodoxy, you'll find him connecting the dots between AI, data science, and what's actually possible when you trust a million random brains more than a dozen "experts."

Enjoy! This show was brought to you by Wrench.ai

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Craig:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigakaplan/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Dr. Craig Kaplan LinkedIn

• Predict Wall Street

• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Dr. Craig Kaplan

• Dan Baird

• TD Ameritrade

• Schwab

• NASDAQ

• "Dumb money" (sorry, retail investors—it's a Wall Street thing…)

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• The myth and math of "wisdom of crowds"

• Getting 14 years' worth of scars in fintech

• Why Wall Street's "smart money" can be its biggest liability

• How to mine "dumb" opinions for real alpha

• The limits of quant funds and why the real edge never lasts

• Financial luck, stubborn optimism, and the fine art of not giving up (even when everyone with a Nobel tells you not to bother)

• Why you should never underestimate the power of a good old-fashioned jelly bean guess

In This Episode:

We sit down with Dr. Craig Kaplan—the guy who was building AI before your favorite "disruptor" learned to tie their shoes. Dr. Kaplan takes us on a wild ride from the OG days of artificial intelligence (when data lived on floppy disks and having a "machine learning" project meant you had actual machines to move) to his current crusade: making sure superintelligence doesn't wreck the joint for the rest of us.

Kaplan lays out what everyone's too scared—or too clueless—to admit: if you wouldn't leave your wallet with a random LLM, why are you ready to entrust the future of humanity to black-box mega-brains? Spoiler: the answer isn't "more GPUs." Dr. Kaplan's been in the room with the legends, built systems Wall Street still wishes it could copy, and now he's here to torch lazy thinking about AI safety, collective intelligence, and why your Marcus Aurelius quotes aren't enough to save you from an existential AI oopsie.

What We Cover:

• The difference between "tool" AI and "worker" AI (yes, there's a difference—catch up).

• Why "superintelligence" doesn't need another buzzword conference, it needs democratic crowdsourcing (and a human in the loop so we don't all end up starring in a low-budget Skynet reboot).

• The messiness of teaching ethics to machines—and why handing off responsibility to Silicon Valley's overcaffeinated 20-somethings is, frankly, a terrible plan.

• The not-so-humble history of AI: mentoring with Nobel laureates, building for Wall Street, and knowing when the hype cycle is actually a warning sign.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Craig Kaplan—founder of superintelligence.com, patent-holding AI risk-mitigator, and straight-up legend in the AI world. He's been in the game since the 1980s (seriously, he worked with Herbert freakin' Simon), has built AI that beats Wall Street's "best," and still has the patience to explain to the rest of us why we should care before it's too late. Want to know what's coming next for AI? He's been calling it for decades.

Enjoy the episode. This show is brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Craig:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigakaplan/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• superintelligence.com (Craig's digital lair)

• Wall Street collective intelligence

• Jensen Wang's "AI is workers" GTC speech

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Craig A. Kaplan

• Herbert Simon

• Jeff Hinton

• Marvin Minsky

• Anthropic and "the chosen 20 at Google"

• Nvidia

• Wall Street's unfortunately clueless quant crowd

Show Notes & Timestamps:00:04 — Dr. Kaplan invents "AI before it was cool" 06:15 — The limitations of everyone's favorite LLMs 17:50 — A sharp left turn into AI ethics and why Danbot needs therapy 31:00 — Why your future coworkers might be called "bots" (and outsmart you) 39:16 — The AI flywheel, the AGI endgame, and how to not get flattened 41:09 — How collective intelligence saved billions (and Dan's blood pressure)

"I was the daughter of a mechanic and a librarian—I know a thing or two about fixing things, building things, and making sense of way too much information." —Dr. Lisa Dieker

In This Episode: We talk to Dr. Lisa Dieker about why the future of learning isn't robots replacing teachers—it's humans and AI teaming up (with a little extra caffeine and a lot of biometric gadgets thrown in). As the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas and Director of the FLITE STEM Center, Lisa's on a mission to hack how we teach, learn, and support every kind of mind out there.

She takes us for a walk through her real-life MacGyver childhood, her family's journey navigating disability, and her relentless pursuit to democratize access to education technology. If you've ever wondered whether "second brains" (read: AI copilots, fancy wearables, and those heart rate monitors you pretend you understand) actually help kids learn, or just give parents more to stress about—yeah, she'll set you straight. Why are so many teachers burning out? Why can't schools just teach to everyone's strengths? And are spelling tests just baby boomer torture devices at this point?

What We Cover:

• How to blend AI, gritty human teaching, and biometric feedback to finally move the education world out of the floppy disk era.

• Why kids with learning differences (dyslexia, ADHD, neurodivergence—you name it) shouldn't have to hack their own school success.

• What today's "second brain" tools like AI copilots and wearables are actually good for (hint: not just tracking your steps).

• The future of classrooms: predictive dashboards, teacher biohacks, and why we should all be a little more forgiving with ourselves (and our kids).

• How Lisa's own story—first-gen college kid, sibling with disabilities, mom to one helluva creative gymnast—shapes everything she does.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Lisa Dieker is the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas and heads up the FLITE STEM Center, where she's busy making education accessible, equitable, and just a little less stuck in the 1980s. Lifelong advocate for students with disabilities, simulation geek, and accidental expert in the hacking of biometric gadgets, Lisa's here to make you rethink everything you thought you knew about learning.

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Lisa:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisadieker/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• FLITE Center at University of Kansas (Flexible Learning Through Innovations in Teaching and Education)

• Project RAISE - https://www.ucpcfl.org/projectraise

• DeBruce Foundation – Agilities Workforce Curriculum

• Conmigo AI Tutoring (Affordable, AI-driven support tool for learners)

• Diffit for Teachers (AI-powered educational content platform mentioned as a resource for differentiated, individualized instruction)

• https://flite.ku.edu/ai-advocates-podcast

• https://specialedu.ku.edu/people/lisa-dieker

• https://aai.ku.edu/centers/flite

People and Organizations Mentioned in This Episode:

• The DeBruce Foundation (Agilities curriculum)

• Google Vision Team (referenced for their work in computer vision, mentioned in collaboration context)

• Meta (for metaverse glasses/hardware experiments)

• Polar (wearable biometric devices)

• Biopac (biometric ring for physiological data collection)

• University of Kansas (Lisa's academic affiliation)

• U.S. Department of Education (funding source for portions of Lisa's research)

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• 6:00 - Why your "second brain" might be a game changer if you're bored (or neurodiverse)

• 12:00 - The myth (and reality) of AI replacing teachers

• 22:00 - Biometric trackers: cool for athletes, secretly more useful for stressed-out teachers

• 35:00 - Why the real education revolution starts by hacking the system, not just the software

• 49:00 - Lisa's secret sauce for making learning accessible, plus why some spelling rules are made to be broken

In This Episode:

We talk to Brenda Novak, co-founder of the Connecticut Amputee Network and champion for anyone told they're "too expensive to fix." Brenda breaks down her wild ride from business school grad to accidental activist, gives us the unvarnished scoop on the cutthroat world of prosthetic coverage (hint: it's more 'Shark Tank' than 'Grey's Anatomy'), and shows us that sometimes, you've got to pass whole new laws just to get back on your feet—literally.

What We Cover:

• How Brenda and her fellow "pirates" rallied lawmakers to pass legislation making medically necessary prosthetics actually attainable for humans, not just trust funds.

• The mind-boggling cost (and insurance shenanigans) behind getting a leg that actually lets you walk, run, or—if you're feeling spicy—surf.

• Why living with limb loss means a constant hustle, from learning how to live all over again to fighting to make basic mobility accessible.

• The reality behind "bionic" prosthetic tech, the quiver of legs nobody tells you about, and why peer-support trumps any medical pamphlet.

• Brenda's battle-tested approach to resilience, and what it's really like to lose a limb, find your new balance, and start pulling others up with you.

Guest Bio:

Brenda Novak is the co-founder of Connecticut Amputee Network, a grassroots force behind legislative wins for amputee rights. She's an above-the-knee amputee (thanks to a freak accident), peer-mentor, and eternal realist who figured, "If no one's going to fix the system, I guess I'll have to do it myself." When she's not wrangling politicians or training new peer visitors, she's out living her best life—whether that means kayaking, testing out her newest "water leg," or reading up on trailblazing women like Victoria Woodhull. Brenda's mission? Make sure nobody ever feels like they have to go it alone.

Enjoy! This show was brought to you by Wrench.ai

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Brenda:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan0vak/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

• Brenda Novak's LinkedIn: Connecticut's Own

• CT Amputee Network: ctamputeenetwork.org

• Amputee Coalition: amputee-coalition.org

• So Everybody Can Move legislation: soeveybodycanmove.org

• Brenda Novak

• Herb Kaladny (pirate partner-in-crime)

• Lindy Mitsu, University of Hartford

• Ted Kennedy Jr., American Association of People with Disabilities

• Connecticut Amputee Network

• 00:08 — Brenda vs. Dan: Who's aged worse? (Spoiler alert: Dan owns the gray)

• 03:19 — Why found the Connecticut Amputee Network? The insurance coverage clown show.

• 06:05 — Civics 101, or: How Brenda learned legislative sausage is made

• 07:28 — Getting a law passed when you don't know what you're doing (hint: bring friends)

• 09:10 — Life with $100K legs, "K levels," and sassy insurance denials

• 13:12 — The "quiver" of specialty legs (and why Brenda doesn't name hers—tsk tsk, Brenda)

• 18:05 — There's no map: Navigating drastic life changes with side-eye and stubbornness

• 23:07 — Peer visiting, real talk about loss, and getting "high" on actual connection

• 29:37 — Finding Brenda (and why she won't do another cruise, ever)

"If you're worried your kid hates reading, maybe start by showing them you can sit down with a damn book. Kids do what we do, not what we say." —Rae Foote

In This Episode: We talk to Rae Foote, the unicorn who went from running logistics in military manufacturing (yes, actual missiles) to wrangling the chaos of marketing tech at Hachette Book Group in NYC—all while moonlighting as a champion for children's literacy. Rae's journey is less "lifelong calling" and more "epic faceplant after faceplant, but make it fashion"—falling into publishing, falling for NYC, and now rallying adults to stop outsourcing kids' education to TikTok.

What We Cover:

• How military manufacturing makes you chill in a tech "crisis" (spoiler: it's not that deep, Karen)

• Rae's "accidental" road into publishing and why napalming the five-year plan is sometimes the only way forward

• The literacy crisis no one wants to talk about—adults reading less, kids getting dumber (the stats are brutal, sorry)

• Why your Kindle obsession doesn't count if your kid never sees you with a book—and how Hachette's Raising Readers project is about to call everyone out

• Life lessons from screwing up, not coddling kids, and why "fuck around and find out" is elite parenting

Guest Bio: Rae Foote is Senior Manager, Marketing Technology Ops at Hachette Book Group, where she MacGyvers book-selling systems, translates between marketers and engineers, and leads bold new initiatives like Raising Readers. She's also on the Associate Board for Reading Partners NYC, advocating for kids' literacy because, frankly, someone has to give a damn. A California native turned New Yorker, Rae is allergic to empty platitudes, swears by paperbacks, and has never met a broken process she couldn't fix (or roast).

Enjoy! This episode is brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/

X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Rae:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rae-foote/

New York Junior League: nyjl.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenyjl/

Reading Partners NYC: https://readingpartners.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rpnewyorkcity/

Hachette Book Group: https://hachettebookgroup.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hachetteus/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Rae Foote on LinkedIn

• Reading Partners

• Hachette Book Group

People & Organizations Mentioned:

• Rae Foote

• Dan Baird

• Hachette Book Group

• Reading Partners NYC

• Brett Easton Ellis (author, collector's item in Rae's dating life)

• Andy Weir

• Lois Lowry

• Mark Danielewski

• NY Junior League

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• 00:08 — Welcome, Rae: Dan was a kindergarten teacher in China (no, really)

• 01:13 — Rae's convoluted career: "tripping, falling, and stumbling" into publishing

• 03:37 — How tech "emergencies" are not real emergencies (Military vs. Startup Panic)

• 07:54 — The myth of the business degree—just start doing the work

• 10:11 — Publishing's digital mess, why Rae loves solving problems that shouldn't exist

• 13:20 — Are we actually getting dumber? Declining literacy, social media, and how nobody reads anything longer than a LinkedIn post

• 19:15 — Hachette's Raising Readers initiative: Kids mimic what you do, not what you tell them

• 22:13 — Why men read less, and WTF that means for raising boys

• 23:32 — Book club trauma, lending books to dates, and always getting them back

• 36:55 — It takes a village: Advocating for kids with New York Junior League & Reading Partners

• 41:53 — Parenting, participation trophies, and the fine art of failing well

• 45:46 — Teaching kids they can do hard things and not just whine about it

• 48:34 — Show up, get wet, don't wait for perfect—life advice, or just podcasting as usual

• 50:45 — Links Reading Partners, Hachette Book Group, and yes, go read a book, not just this web page

In This Episode:

We talk to Joel McKay Smith—a guy whose "Rolodex" literally stress-tested the Wrench platform—about why real power isn't in the LinkedIn follower count, but in the relationships you actually maintain. From rural Utah dairy farms to industrial parks, Joel's journey is a hilarious, head-spinning tour straight through the heart of economic disruption and small-town resurrection. You think you're a "super-connector"? Please. Joel remembers your name, your birthday, and probably your lactose intolerance from a conversation in 1997, all while masterminding a carbon-neutral Olympics bid and hustling for tech that lets seniors outsmart scammers.

What We Cover:

• How networking actually works (and why most people still get it so, so wrong)

• The unlikely perks—and headaches—of a memory wired for deep connection

• Building tech that transforms rural economies and gives Main Street a shot at Silicon Valley relevance

• The art (and science) of running unforgettable events—yes, booze helps, but forcing people to talk is the real secret sauce

• What it'll take to make Utah ground zero for the first real carbon-neutral Olympics, and why he's stubborn enough to try

Guest Bio: Joel McKay Smith is that rare breed—equal parts super-connector, entrepreneur, and small-town disruptor. If you're in Utah and don't know Joel, you're probably new here or you just don't get out much. Joel's professional Rolodex is the stuff of urban legend: 125,000 contacts deep and more engaged than half the "thought leaders" on LinkedIn. He's stress-tested new tech, built some of the largest community groups in the region, and still remembers your name, your dog's birthday, and probably what you were wearing at that luncheon in 2009—thanks to a brain wired for deep connection and a dash of neurodivergent genius.

In this interview, we discuss building social capital (and the importance of actually giving a damn), the state of economic development, and why rural communities are one innovation away from rewriting their fate. Joel spills on power grids, nuclear moonshots, masterminding events, and how he's turned his own experiences—as a neurodiverse leader and the child of a swindled senior—into launching tech solutions for the next wave of aging Gen Xers. If you're here for pretty talk, keep scrolling. If you want real talk about legacy, innovation, and how the "give first, get later" philosophy actually pays off, settle in.

Enjoy! This show was brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Joel:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelmckaysmith/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Silverguard: https://silverguard-deck.lovable.app/ , https://silverguard.lovable.app/

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Joel McKay Smith

• Dan Baird

• Dean Lundberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanlundberg/

• Spencer Cox: https://www.linkedin.com/in/govcox/

• Matthew Webster: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewfischer2018/

• Michael Baghoomian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebags/

• Vance Jackets (Oticon US)

• Utah Port Authority

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• 00:08 — Intro to Joel McKay Smith: Super-connector, Rolodex legend, and stress-tester of all things tech.

• 01:17 – 06:41 — Neurodiversity, accidental savant memory, and networking superpowers.

• 07:36 – 10:05 — Embracing neurodiversity, Oticon, and why Vance Jackets is a Utah tech legend.

• 10:30 – 17:34 — Rural roots, economic disruption, and building communities that don't suck.

• 17:34 – 20:24 — Carbon-neutral moonshot: Utah's Olympic dreams, industrial parks, and advanced nuclear.

• 20:24 – 26:07 — Data centers, clean energy, and the economics of "smart" water.

• 26:07 – 32:14 — Salt domes, micro-politan communities, visionary rural growth, and government shenanigans.

• 32:14 – 33:12 — Main Street lessons, throwing parties worth attending, and why networking is everything.

• 33:12 – 35:04 — Personal story: Elder scams, Silverguard, and fighting for senior safety.

In This Episode: We sit down with Gabi Barragan—strategic advisor, organizational change whisperer, and the go-to for real talk about taming the AI beast in business. Gabi ditches the 'thought leader' theatrics and gets honest about what it really takes for companies to stop talking about AI adoption and actually get their hands dirty—without blowing the lunch budget on useless software.

She walks us through the mess and magic of wrangling data chaos, the power of fierce internal experimenters (yes, she thinks your employees are already using ChatGPT behind your back), and how a little skepticism can save you from a lot of "hot takes" gone sideways. There are plenty of eye-roll-worthy AI promises out there, but Gabi's here to call the bluff and offer a no-nonsense blueprint for culture change, customer engagement, and ROI that doesn't require a PhD (or a fortune teller).

What We Cover:

• How to cut through AI FOMO and focus on what actually works (spoiler: most teams aren't ready for full-blown AI, and that's okay).

• The critical role of curiosity and early adopters—plus how to unleash them without sending the C-suite into cardiac arrest.

• Why your data is probably messier than your kitchen junk drawer, and what to do about it before you "go AI."

• The underrated value of blunt customer feedback, behavior-based personas, and, yes, calling out industry nonsense where you see it.

• Real talk about community, connection, and using AI to get back more of your actual life—not just your inbox.

Guest Bio: Gabi Barragan is the quietly legendary operator behind the scenes of some of tech's sharpest AI rollouts and digital transformations. She specializes in helping companies turn noise into clarity, rally teams around smart experiments, and actually—gasp—listen to their employees and customers. When Gabi isn't advising boards or stirring the LinkedIn pot, you might catch her on Reddit sifting signal from noise or championing tools that make working smarter not just a slogan, but real-life sanity.

Enjoy! This show was brought to you by Wrench.ai

Follow Dan:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Gabi:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielabarragan/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Gabi Barragan on LinkedIn

• Wrench.ai

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Gabi Barragan

• Dan Baird

• Wrench.ai

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• 00:02: Lightning round on AI news and the old-school "read, watch, listen" grind

• 00:12: On why AI LinkedIn posts are usually fluff and nobody wants to say it

• 00:20: The good, bad, and ugly of company AI adoption—employee edition

• 00:34: Data silos, dirty secrets from the world of CRMs, and why you should just stop (seriously)

• 00:41: How to actually make your new product launch not suck: the Gabi method

• 00:46: Why behavior-based personas are the only ones that matter (and why your legacy personas aren't cutting it)