The best communication skill David Shaft ever learned didn't come from a book or a seminar. It came from standing at a cold bus stop with his family, figuring out how to smile at a bus driver so six people could ride for the price of one.

In this solo episode, David gets personal. He talks about growing up without a car, what those years taught him about persuasion, teamwork, and reading people, and how those same skills made him a better banker, a better leader, and a better communicator in every room he walks into.

• Why the hardest times in your life are building the exact communication skills and character that money can't buy
• What working with a Wall Street lawyer making $500K a year taught David about solving real problems instead of just selling
• The story of Solomon the Wise and what it reveals about leadership, problem solving, and why no problem should ever be too small for you

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

A $50,000 salary in Detroit, Michigan buys you the same quality of life as $44,500 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That means if you keep your salary and move, you just gave yourself a raise without asking anyone for a dime.

In this solo episode of Conversations That Count, David Shaft breaks down exactly what to research before you pick up and move your family. He walks through cost of living differences, income tax traps, sales tax savings, and why the state you live in might be quietly costing you thousands of dollars every year. Whether you're fully remote, thinking about a career change, or just curious why your paycheck never seems to stretch far enough, this episode gives you a real framework for making a smarter move.

• Why someone in California is paying 13.3% income tax when they could move to Florida, keep the beaches and nightlife, and pay zero, and what that math looks like on your actual paycheck
• The free cost of living calculator from the American Academy of Physician Associates that lets you compare housing, groceries, utilities, healthcare, and transportation between any two cities
• How combining a lower cost of living with no state income tax and lower sales tax can save you over 20% of your current income without earning a single dollar more

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

KEYWORDS:

communication skills, communication podcast, leadership podcast, professional development, career development, workplace communication, cost of living, income tax, personal finance, remote work, real estate, Detroit podcast, podcast for working professionals, moving, financial planning, sales tax

It doesn't matter if Mark Cuban is your mentor. If you're a bad mentee, nothing changes. Most people focus on finding the perfect mentor and forget that mentorship is a two way street with responsibilities on both sides.

In this solo episode of Conversations That Count, David Shaft breaks down what it actually takes to be a great mentee. He shares the time a mentor told him point blank that he was disorganized and bad at holding his team accountable, what he did about it, and why that blunt feedback became a turning point in his leadership. This one is for anyone who has a mentor and isn't getting results, or anyone looking for one and wants to show up ready.

• Why being open to feedback is the first requirement of any mentee, and what happens to your growth when you get defensive every time someone tells you something you don't want to hear
• The seven Ps framework David's mentor gave him (proper preparation prevents piss poor performance) and how building a weekly plan and sending it to his mentor without being asked changed the way he runs his team
• Why your mentor can't give you direction if you don't know what goal you're shooting for, and how figuring out what you actually want is a perfectly valid first goal

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

Vinny Farris has run Link Systems International for 25 years, serving colleges and K-12 programs across the country. His COO will correct you on the spot if you call them a vendor. They're partners. And that one word changes everything about how they do business.

Vinny Farris is the President of Link Systems International, an online tech-enabled services company focused on student achievement and persistence in higher education and K-12. In this episode of Conversations That Count, he sits down with David Shaft to talk about why AI will never replace a good tutor, what 25 years of building real partnerships (not contracts) taught him about communication, and the leadership mistake most people don't unlearn until it's too late.

• The difference between working in your business and working on your business, why the first makes you president and the second makes you CEO, and how that shift let Vinny take a month in Italy without a single crisis
• Why a tutoring session that starts with "I shouldn't even be in this math class" requires empathy and human connection that no chatbot can replicate, and what that means for every industry trying to replace people with technology
• The story of a boss who read Vinny a brutal complaint letter, watched him sweat through it, then laughed and said "this is exactly what I hired you to do," and how that moment shaped how he leads today

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

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TITLE:

A 20-Year-Old Songwriter on Fear, Selling Yourself, and Knowing When to Be Quiet | Savanna Smith

DESCRIPTION:

Savanna Smith had a dream she was on a horse in a Western movie, running from her fear. When she woke up, she heard a guitar loop and turned that feeling into her new single "With Me," dropping August 18th on every platform.

Savanna Smith is a 20-year-old songwriter and model who writes, produces, and performs her own music. In this episode of Conversations That Count, she sits down with David Shaft to talk about what it actually looks like to balance two creative careers, why she tells people she's a songwriter before she says model, and how a conversation with her grandma changed the way she thinks about ambition.

• Why priority management matters more than time management, and how Savanna decides which opportunities to take when everything feels urgent
• The two sides every creative has to live with: the conqueror version that gets on stages and the quiet version that sits in the studio for 14 hours, and why you need both to build anything real
• What Savanna means when she says confidence culture has become a cult, and why admitting you feel stuck is the first step to actually getting unstuck

Connect with Savanna: https://www.instagram.com/imsavannas/ | https://linktr.ee/savanna.com Listen to "With Me" and "Mamacita" by Savanna on Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere music is found.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

52% of realtors wait four to eight hours to call a fresh lead. By then, someone else already helped them. A new client is like an ice cream cone on a hot summer day in Texas. If you don't grab it now, it melts.

In this solo episode of Conversations That Count, David Shaft breaks down speed to lead, why it matters in every industry, and shares the time he lost a client he'd helped before simply because he wasn't fast enough on a Friday evening. He connects Blockbuster's failure to pivot, TikTok's rise, and the real lesson from the tortoise and the hare that most people get wrong.

• Why Blockbuster didn't die because of bad products but because they couldn't move fast enough when the market changed, and what that means for anyone serving clients today
• The real story David tells about losing a client to a coworker at the same company because he said "hang tight" instead of "I'm on it right now"
• Why slow and steady does not win the race, and the combination of speed plus consistency is what makes clients call you first every single time

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

You didn't choose where you started. You didn't choose the poverty, the injury, the illness, or the family situation you were born into. None of that is your fault. But what you do with the rest of your life? That part is entirely on you.

In this solo episode of Conversations That Count, David Shaft shares lessons from John Eldredge's Wild at Heart, a knee injury that derailed his athletic career in middle school, and the moment someone told him to stop making excuses and join the debate team. He connects it all back to one idea: the day you stop being a prisoner to your past is the day your future actually becomes yours.

• Why holding onto blame keeps you stuck in the worst moment of your life, and how forgiveness (including forgiving yourself) is the only way to move forward
• The Bill Gates quote David expands on: "If you are born poor, it's not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is." And why that applies to happiness, relationships, and fulfillment, not just money
• How David went from blaming a knee injury for two lost years to becoming captain of the debate team once he accepted that what happened next was his responsibility

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

You want people to find you interesting? Stop talking. The most interesting person in any room is the one who's actually listening, and most professionals don't know the difference between being quiet and truly hearing someone.

In this solo episode of Conversations That Count, David Shaft breaks down why silence is the most underrated communication skill in business and relationships. He walks through the Socrates three question test for anything you're about to say, what a barber taught him in college about saying less, and why the professionals who listen first are the ones who solve the most problems and build the most trust.

• The three questions Socrates used before he'd hear anyone out, and how to use them to filter everything you say at work and in life
• Why most conversations go nowhere because both people are just waiting for their turn to talk instead of actually listening
• How active listening turned David from a salesperson into a problem solver, and why that shift is the fastest path to building credibility in any industry

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

The best baseball hitters in history miss the ball seven out of ten times. That record gets you into the Hall of Fame. So why are most professionals terrified of failing even once?

In this solo episode of Conversations That Count, David Shaft makes the case that failure is the single fastest way to become a better communicator, a more interesting person, and someone people actually want to talk to. He shares the story of a colleague who followed life's playbook perfectly, lost everything, and came back as the most interesting person in the room. Plus what golfing for the first time taught David about connecting with people he never would have met otherwise.

• Why the person who's never failed has nothing interesting to say, and how trying new things gives you stories, empathy, and relatability that no amount of playing it safe ever will
• The Denzel Washington speech that changed how David thinks about regret, and why the scariest thing isn't failing but living with dreams you never chased
• How failure in one area of life builds communication skills in every other area, from reading people to solving problems to knowing when to laugh at yourself

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media

Free Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708

A bad car accident took David Shaft off his feet for months. No conversations, no team, no daily interactions. That silence made one thing clear: most people have already stopped communicating, and they didn't need a crash to get there.

In this solo episode, David shares the real story behind Conversations That Count. Why a director of banking who leads 40 people and built his career on communication decided to start a podcast, and what he wants every listener to walk away with.

• How months of isolation after a serious accident revealed a communication problem most professionals don't realize they have
• Why David believes nothing meaningful has ever started without one person communicating with another, and what that means for your career, your relationships, and your daily life
• The mission behind every episode: learn from professionals across sales, healthcare, politics, and every industry about what it actually takes to communicate at a higher level

Connect with David: instagram.com/davidshaftofficial | linkedin.com/in/davidshaft

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThatCount-CTC

New episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.

Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.media