Business Roundtable

You built your career on accumulating knowledge, protecting your territory, and holding onto status. That strategy made sense in the old world. In the AI era, it is making you invisible.

Nikki Barua has spent 25 years leading large-scale transformation at Fortune 500 companies and building high-growth businesses as a serial entrepreneur. What she has watched happen in real time is a fundamental shift in how power works. Old power was currency you hoarded it, protected it, and held on tight. New power is current; it flows, it democratizes, and the more you give away, the more valuable you become. AI has accelerated this shift dramatically. And for Gen X leaders like you, that means everything you were taught about success is now working against you.

In this episode, David Carr and Nikki break down why holding on to knowledge, status, and control is making leaders obsolete, what new power actually means in practice, and how to completely reimagine your business and your leadership before the window closes.

In this episode:

• Why Gen X leaders trained on old power principles are at the highest risk of becoming invisible
• The difference between old power and new power, and why AI has fundamentally changed the equation
• Why incremental thinking will destroy your business in the exponential AI era
• How to think in terms of zero resource constraints to unlock exponential vision
• The 90-day sprint methodology for building momentum and collective confidence
• Why waiting for certainty is actively ensuring your failure
• One action item you can take today to stop waiting and start reinventing

About Nikki Barua:
Nikki Barua is a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, keynote speaker, and CEO of FlipWork, a platform transforming organizations into agentic enterprises where people and AI collaborate. With 25 years of experience in digital transformation and organizational change, Nikki has advised Fortune 500 companies and built multiple high-growth businesses. She is the author of Beyond Barriers and is recognized as a thought leader on reinvention, leadership, and the human future in the AI era.

The most powerful technology on Earth is still the human being. But that human has to be visible. They have to be sharing their wisdom. They have to lead with influence, not hoard knowledge. That is what we believe at Steward Your Business.

If this episode made you realize you have been holding on to things that are making you obsolete, that is the conversation to have with yourself right now. Share this with one Gen X leader who needs to hear it.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Nikki Barua on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua
• FlipWork: https://www.flipwork.ai
• Nikki's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.nikkibarua.com/newsletters/reinvention-roadmap/subscribe
• Beyond Barriers book: https://www.nikkibarua.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Most business owners believe they need to get bigger to be successful. Chip Higgins believes the opposite and forty years of banking experience backs him up.

Chip Higgins spent four decades in banking, working directly with thousands of small business owners. What he observed was that size had almost nothing to do with success. Some of the most impressive businesses he worked with were small. What made them exceptional was momentum a real, measurable force that operates according to the laws of physics, not metaphor. In his book The Bizzics Way, Chip distills momentum into one equation borrowed from physics: mass times velocity. The businesses that understood this equation and intentionally built both dimensions thrived. Those that didn't eventually hit a wall.

In this episode, David Carr and Chip break down what momentum actually is, why most business owners confuse activity with progress, and the three variables every leader must get right to build a business that lasts.

In this episode:

• Why momentum is not a metaphor but a real force operating in your business right now
• The energy equation: how to assess where your personal energy is and how it impacts everything else
• What direction means and why clarity about where you are going is non negotiable
• The difference between mass and scale and why small businesses can be massive
• Why leadership is learnable and how developing yourself is the foundation of everything else
• How to identify whether your business is building linear momentum or just spinning in circles

About Chip Higgins: Chip Higgins is the founder of Bizzics and author of The Bizzics Way: Powering Your Small Business to Maximum Momentum. With over forty years of experience in banking and business leadership, Chip has advised thousands of small business owners on strategy, growth, and sustainable success. He is a founding member of the John C. Maxwell Team of certified leadership coaches and continues to blend practical business wisdom with transformational leadership coaching.

Every business needs momentum. Not luck, not timing, not a better product. Momentum. And momentum requires both mass and velocity. That is exactly what we are building at Steward Your Business.

If this episode made you realize your business is spinning in circles instead of building forward momentum, that is the conversation to have. Share this with one leader who needs to hear it. Links mentioned in this episode:

• Chip Higgins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiphiggins-072a754
• Bizzics: https://www.chiphiggins.com
• The Bizzics Way book: https://www.chiphiggins.com
• Energy Check resource: https://www.chiphiggins.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Your business is demanding everything you have. Your body is paying the price. And by the time you realize how much damage you've done, it may be too late to avoid the crash.

Bryan Hardy nearly died at eighteen from a ruptured appendix and spent his twenties rebuilding his health from the ground up. What he learned in that process — and what he has spent the last decade helping other high-performing men discover — is that energy, digestion, mental clarity, and physical vitality are not luxuries. They are the foundation that everything else in your life is built on. When your body breaks down, your business, your relationships, and your leadership all break down with it.

In this episode, David Carr and Bryan break down why men in their forties and fifties are running on empty, what's actually causing the fatigue and brain fog that feels permanent, and the micro-aligned habits that create real change without requiring you to become obsessed with optimization or rigid protocols.

In this episode:

• Why your body has been sending you warning signs for years and what you have been ignoring
• The three biggest mistakes high-performing men make that keep them stuck in cycles of fatigue, digestion issues, and burnout
• How gut health directly impacts brain fog, energy, motivation, and even your ability to lead
• Why sleep is the one thing that moves the needle faster than anything else
• The science behind isolation and why connection is as critical to your health as what you eat
• Two action items you can implement today that will create real change without requiring perfection

About Bryan Hardy: Bryan Hardy is the founder of Revitalized Man, a coaching program that helps fathers, founders, and professionals reclaim their energy, fix their digestion, and rebuild their vitality without extremes. A Certified Holistic Nutrition Practitioner with over a decade of experience, Bryan has personally overcome severe health challenges and now works with men who know they are capable of more but are being held back by fatigue, brain fog, and burnout.

You cannot lead what you will not steward. And you cannot steward your business if you are not stewarding your body. That is what we believe at Steward Your Business.

If this episode made you realize your body has been trying to tell you something you have been ignoring, that is the conversation to have. Share this with one man who needs to hear it. Links mentioned in this episode:

• Bryan Hardy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-hardyb4662875
• Revitalized Man: https://www.revitalizedman.com
• Bryan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revitalizedman
• Bryan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revitalizedman
• Bryan on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/revitalizedman

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Most leaders believe they are credible. Most have never actually tested that assumption — and the gap between how they see themselves and how others experience them is costing them trust, influence, and opportunity.

Mitchell Levy has spent decades in Silicon Valley coaching executives, writing 65 books, founding 20 companies, and interviewing hundreds of thought leaders to answer one deceptively simple question: what does it actually mean to be credible? What he found is that credibility is not just about being trusted. It is about being trusted, known, and liked — and most leaders are quietly failing on at least one of those three dimensions without knowing it.

 In this episode, David Carr and Mitchell break down the Executive Abundance framework, the Clarity Formula, and why the first step to becoming a more credible leader has nothing to do with your marketing and everything to do with how you show up before the camera turns on.

In this episode:

• Why credibility is defined as being trusted, known, and liked and what most leaders get wrong about all three
• The Clarity Formula: how to articulate where you are executing on your purpose in ten words or less
• Why 90 percent of people never find their purpose and what to do instead
• How Executive Abundance reframes leadership success across five stakeholder groups beyond just investors and revenue
• The connection between AI, human empathy, and why replacing people with bots is a credibility problem not just a technology decision
• Two things you can do today to immediately become more credible as a leader

About Mitchell Levy: Mitchell Levy is a 2x TEDx speaker, executive coach, Global Credibility Expert, and international bestselling author of 65 books. A member of Marshall Goldsmith's exclusive 100 Coaches program, Mitchell has founded over 20 companies in Silicon Valley, coached hundreds of executives, and helped more than 1000 leaders and organizations articulate their purpose in ten words or fewer. He is the creator of the Executive Abundance framework and is currently completing his doctorate. 

Most leaders know they should be building trust with their teams and clients. The harder question is whether the way you show up every day is actually earning it. That is the work we do at Steward Your Business.

If this episode made you think about how your team and your clients actually experience you, share it with one person whose honest feedback you have been avoiding. Links mentioned in this episode:

• Mitchell Levy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchelllevy
• Website: https://mitchelllevy.com
• Executive Abundance: https://www.executiveabundance.com
• Credibility Nation: https://www.credibilitynation.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Most leaders think they know what's happening inside their organization. Most are wrong and the gap between what they believe and what's actually true is where talent exits, projects stall, and money quietly disappears.

Polly Watt and Mike Vos are the co-founders of WattNext.ai and the creators of ViVo Pulse, an AI-powered organizational diagnostic tool that interviews your entire team in the time it takes a consultant to talk to eight people. What comes out the other side is something most business owners have never had: the actual truth about what is working, what is broken, and who is holding things together or quietly tearing them apart.

In this episode, David Carr sits down with Polly and Mike to break down why most leaders are solving the wrong problems, what organizational friction is really costing companies, and how AI is making deep organizational diagnostics accessible to businesses that could never afford traditional consulting.

In this episode:

• Why leaders consistently overestimate their organization's health and what the perception gap between executives and frontline staff actually looks like
• How ViVo Pulse interviews up to 60 people an hour with full anonymity and turns those conversations into 134 scored data points
• The four most common breakdowns in growing companies: systems, processes, leadership, and knowledge management
• Why the cost of unresolved organizational friction almost always dwarfs the cost of diagnosing it
• How private equity, VCs, and banks are using organizational diagnostics as part of due diligence
• Who this tool is built for and the minimum company size that makes it work

About Polly Watt and Mike Vos:
Polly Watt is the CEO and co-founder of WattNext.ai, with a background in global learning and development spanning Microsoft, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and EY. Mike Vos is co-founder of WattNext.ai, an accomplished business strategist and senior executive with a track record of driving growth and operational excellence. Mike blends deep marketing acumen with a passion for elegant problem-solving through AI-driven solutions, helping leadership teams unlock hidden potential, align strategy with execution, and create lasting organizational transformation. Together, they built ViVo Pulse to give leaders the organizational truth that traditional consulting has always promised but rarely delivered.

When your people have the answers and no safe way to share them, the organization pays the price. Getting to the truth faster is what Steward Your Business is built around, too.

If this episode made you wonder what your team would say if they could really speak freely, that is worth exploring. Share this with a fellow leader who is flying blind. Links mentioned in this episode:

• Polly Watt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollywatt
• Mike Vos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeavos
• WattNext.ai: https://www.wattnext.ai
• ViVo Pulse Sample Report: https://wattnext.ai/doc/ViVoPulseDiagnostic_ExampleFullReport_TechScaleInc.pdf
• Friction Calculator: https://friction-wattnext.netlify.app

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Most business owners have goals. Very few have a plan. And according to Marc Daniels, that difference is costing them everything.

Marc L. Daniels has spent over 45 years building, turning around, and scaling companies across 16 countries. He helped grow Diligent from a two-customer startup to a $941 million acquisition. He turned a bankrupt company into $80 million in revenue. He has seen every version of a business that runs on ambition alone and no strategic foundation. What he finds every single time is the same problem: smart, talented people running companies without a real plan.

In this episode, David Carr and Marc break down why most business plans fail before they start, what the nine components of a real strategic plan actually look like, and how to build a weekly execution rhythm that keeps your strategy alive all year long rather than collecting dust after January.

In this episode:

• Why a spreadsheet forecast is not a strategy and what the difference actually costs you
• The four core components every strategic plan must have to survive contact with reality
• How to identify and ride emerging market trends before your competitors see them coming
• Why your plan needs to be rebuilt every quarter in today's business environment
• How to run a weekly execution meeting that drives accountability without destroying morale
• The one thing you can do today to stop drifting and start building a business with direction

About Marc L. Daniels: Marc is a globally recognized business strategist, executive coach, and the founder of MarcLDaniels.com. Known as the Billion Dollar Coach, Marc has guided hundreds of companies through strategic planning and hands-on execution across more than 16 countries. He is the co-founder of Diligent, which sold for $941 million, and has served as COO, CMO, and CEO across more than a dozen companies since launching his first business at age 19.

Most leaders know what they want their business to become. The hard part is building the system that actually gets you there. That is the work we do at Steward Your Business.

If this episode hit close to home, share it with the leader on your team who keeps saying they will get to the plan next quarter. 

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Marc L. Daniels on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-ldaniels-231456a3
• Website and Entrepreneurial Readiness Assessment: https://www.marcldaniels.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Is your business working for you, or have you become its most underpaid employee?

Alan Franks has spent 15 years working with business owners who are successful by every external measure and quietly trapped. Trapped by time, by decisions only they can make, by a financial life that's been entirely reinvested back into the machine they built. As a Certified Financial Planner and founder of the Business Planning Institute, Alan helps business owners reverse-engineer a plan that puts their life back at the center before they're forced to.

In this episode, David Carr and Alan break down the Freedom Framework: a practical system for moving from entrepreneur as prisoner to entrepreneur as owner, and why the most important financial decisions most business owners keep postponing are the exact ones that determine whether their business ever actually sets them free. In this episode:

• Why successful business owners are often broke in ways that don't show up on a balance sheet
• The E.X.I.T. framework: how to build a business that's ready to sell before you think you need to
• Why your professional team of advisor, attorney, and accountant may be working in silos and costing you more than you know
• The one number every business owner needs to know: what your business is worth, what it could be worth, and what it needs to be worth for you to be free
• Three things you can do this week to stop surviving your business and start designing your exit

About Alan Franks: Alan Franks is a Certified Financial Planner, author of Empowered Money, and founder of the Business Planning Institute. Based in Atlanta and working with clients nationwide, Alan specializes in helping business owners build enterprise value, protect what they've built, and create a financial life that outlasts the business itself.

Building a great company is only half the work. The other half is making sure it actually pays you back. That's the conversation we have at Steward Your Business. If this episode described your situation, share it with the person who needs to hear it most: your business partner, your spouse, or the version of yourself that keeps putting this off. Links mentioned in this episode:

• Alan Franks on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanfranks
• The Mill Financial Partners: https://www.themillfp.com
• Book: Empowered Money by Alan Franks
• Business Planning Institute: https://www.businessplanninginstitute.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Your team isn't the problem. The system around them is — and most business owners never see it until it's already costing them clients, cash, and good people.

Thanos Diacakis has spent 25 years inside software teams at companies like Uber, scaling from zero to 2M+ monthly trips. What he found everywhere, from scrappy startups to global organizations, is the same pattern repeating: smart teams trapped in broken systems, doing half of what they should, just not the same half. He now coaches business owners and their teams to ship faster, reduce burnout, and build the kind of operational clarity that turns a stressed team into a competitive advantage.

In this episode, David Carr and Thanos break down why the business-to-engineering interface is where most delivery problems actually start and what leaders can do about it this week. In this episode:

• Why the breakdown between business and engineering is the root of most delivery problems, not the people
• How starting too many things at once kills momentum, and what to do instead
• The flow framework: balancing features, defects, investments, and technical risk
• Why cross-functional teams eliminate the handoff bottlenecks slowing your delivery
• The counter-intuitive truth about planning: execute first, earn the right to plan later
• Two things any leader can do this week to start moving the needle

About Thanos Diacakis: Thanos is a Software Engineering Effectiveness Coach and founder of Cosmic Teacups, Inc. With 25+ years of scaling engineering teams, including as Technical Lead for Bikes & Scooters at Uber, he now helps business owners fix the systems that keep good teams stuck. Organizational health isn't just a people problem; it's a systems problem. That's the work we do at Steward Your Business. If this episode hit close to home, share it with the one person on your team you've been meaning to have a hard conversation with. 
Links mentioned in this episode:

• Thanos Diacakis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thanosdiakos
• Cosmic Teacups: https://www.cosmicteacups.com
• Book mentioned: Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

Why does so much marketing activity fail to generate real revenue? In this episode of the Business Roundtable Podcast, host David Carr sits down with Stephanie Curtis, founder of Pace Creative and an experienced fractional Chief Marketing Officer, to unpack why many businesses struggle to see ROI from marketing — and how performance-driven strategy changes everything.

Stephanie brings nearly two decades of experience working with highly technical, regulated, and complex B2B organizations, including Fortune 500 companies and seven- and eight-figure manufacturing, engineering, and industrial firms. She explains the critical differences between creative marketing, corporate marketing, product marketing, and performance marketing — and why confusing these roles leads to wasted spend and missed growth opportunities.

This conversation explores how leaders can move beyond vanity metrics and shiny objects by aligning marketing directly with business goals, sales cycles, and measurable outcomes.

Stephanie shares how she approaches her role as a fractional CMO, why strategy must come before execution, and how focused channel selection, consistent messaging, and data-driven decision-making create sustainable revenue engines. If you’re a CEO, founder, or executive leading a B2B organization and frustrated by marketing that “looks good” but doesn’t perform, this episode provides clarity, structure, and a smarter way forward. In this episode:

• Why most marketing efforts fail to deliver ROI
• The difference between creative, corporate, product, and performance marketing
• How to align marketing strategy with business and sales goals
• Why fewer channels — executed well — outperform scattered tactics
• What executives should expect from a fractional CMO
• How data, metrics, and consistency drive long-term growth

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business

What if fear isn’t holding you back—but quietly shaping every decision you make as a leader?

In this episode of the Business Roundtable Podcast, David Carr sits down with Jacqueline Wales, creator of the Fear Intelligence™ framework, to explore how fear operates beneath the surface of leadership, communication, and business growth.

Most leaders assume their challenges are rooted in strategy, execution, or people. But as Jacqueline explains, those are often symptoms of something deeper. Fear—unexamined and unspoken—can drive hesitation, control, misalignment, and breakdowns in trust across organizations.

Drawing from decades of experience coaching executives and working with leadership teams around the world, Jacqueline introduces a different way to understand fear—not as something to eliminate, but as a signal to interpret.

At the center of this conversation is her F.E.A.R. framework: Face, Explore, Act, Rise. A practical model that helps leaders move from reaction to intention, from avoidance to clarity, and from control to trust. This episode is not about removing fear.

It’s about learning how to lead with it. If you are a business owner, executive, or leader navigating growth, uncertainty, or pressure, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership—and what may actually be driving your decisions. In this episode, we explore:

• Why fear is often misdiagnosed in leadership
• How self-identity influences decision-making and performance
• The connection between fear, control, and trust in teams
• Why many leaders avoid the deeper question of “Who am I?”
• How to shift from reactive leadership to intentional leadership
• Practical ways to begin recognizing fear patterns in yourself and others

About Jacqueline Wales: Jacqueline Wales is a TEDx speaker, author, and founder of Fear Intelligence™, a framework designed to help leaders turn fear into clarity, trust, and decisive action. Her work focuses on helping executives build psychological safety, improve communication, and create high-performing cultures grounded in trust and self-awareness.

Learn more: https://fearintelligence.co
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinewales
Watch her TEDx Talk: https://youtu.be/_1LfhkKEY4k?si=z2v-bcuNMZuJjcC_
Fear Intelligence Book: https://a.co/d/0gTFJg89

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.

Connect with Steward Your Business:

• Book a Leadership Clarity Call: https://calendar.stewardyourbusiness.com/cc
• Call: +1 909.404.9865
• Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr

Watch more episodes  and subscribe on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business