How can leaders put people first while building a stronger, more resilient organization?

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Kathleen Quinn Votaw, CEO of TalenTrust, author of Solve the People Puzzle, and professional speaker, about the importance of people continuity in today’s business environment.

Kathleen shares insights on how leaders can support employee health, strengthen company culture, and prepare their organizations for recovery and long-term success. This conversation is especially valuable for business owners, executives, and leadership teams focused on talent retention, culture health, workforce planning, and sustainable growth.

Topics include:

people continuity

putting people first

employee health and engagement

culture assessment

leadership during recovery

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Why is business valuation a moving target, and what does that mean for your buy-sell agreement?

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Z. Christopher Mercer of Mercer Capital about why business value can change over time and why business owners should regularly review and stress-test their buy-sell agreements.

Chris explains how shifts in performance, market conditions, risk, and ownership expectations can affect valuation, and why outdated assumptions can create problems when a transition event occurs. This episode is especially relevant for owners, partners, advisors, and family businesses focused on succession planning, shareholder alignment, and long-term exit readiness.

Topics include:

business valuation

buy-sell agreements

ownership transition planning

valuation risk

succession and exit strategy

Learn more from Z. Christopher Mercer:

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What causes conflict in a family business, and how can owners address it before it damages the company or the relationships behind it?

In this episode of Exit Coach Radio, Bill Black talks with Vince Mastrovito, owner of Prometis Partners Inc., about the most common sources of family business conflict and the practical steps leaders can take to manage those challenges effectively.

This conversation explores how communication breakdowns, unclear roles, succession issues, and competing expectations can create tension inside a family-owned company. Vince shares insights that can help business owners strengthen alignment, improve decision-making, and protect both business continuity and family relationships.

Topics include:

family business conflict

succession planning

communication and leadership

business coaching

exit planning for family-owned companies

Listen for more conversations on leadership, growth, succession, and exit planning through Exit Coach Radio.

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Read the 5-minute summary for this episode and many others at owl.ceo. The OWL (Owner Wisdom Library) turns insights from more than 1,200 Exit Coach Radio interviews into short, practical lessons for business owners on growth, leadership, operations, and exit planning.

Mike Koenigs is an unemployable serial entrepreneur with a high-school education whose obsession with taking apart gadgets to figure out their inner workings started as soon as he could crawl. He quickly learned he has the attention span of a bag of gnats on amphetamines. His curiosity in tech, psychology, entertainment, storytelling, entrepreneurship, marketing,

Steve Medland is a Certified Financial Planner and co-founder of TABR Capital Management, an independent, fee-only financial planning firm based in Orange County, California. Today, he is going to talk about issues that the Millionaire Next Door faces.

Wayne knows websites - and how to measure their success.

Questions we discuss:

Contact at www.uglymugmarketing.com

Skip Weisman is in the business of improving workplace communication so that small business owners can create a more positive, productive and profitable company.

Questions Asked: 

1) You typically work with small businesses with between 6-60 employees, why do you focus on that size/type of business?

2) How, specifically, does communication kill company profits in small businesses?

3) What are the biggest communication mistakes small business leaders make in leading their employees?

Contact Info

Website: www.YourChampionshipCompany.com

Email: [email protected]

Joe Bertotto of CU Services, LLC, is a consultant who helps develop high care, high performance, and high accountability cultures in the workplace. Joe’s work in this field began 25 years ago and his expertise is in leadership and culture development. His goal is to help leaders create a work environment where employees feel they get to come to work, instead of feeling they have to come to work. While everyone has their own unique strengths, we all can be exceptionally bad at identifying what they are. 

Joe shares valuable insight on metrics for measuring strengths and weaknesses, as well as how this knowledge can be used to benefit the company and employees. He also explores the idea that individual well-roundedness may not be as important as we make it out to be. While weaknesses can’t be ignored, cultivating unique strengths can be potentially more fruitful. Joe’s tried and true process of helping coworkers understand, tolerate, appreciate, and eventually leverage one another is indispensable information for anyone who hopes to be a stronger team member.

Carolyn Rosenblatt, Co-Founder of AgingParents.com and Author of "The Baby Boomers Guide to Aging Parents" (available on our website through Amazon.com), discusses the Three Pillars of  Healthy Retirement, expanding your Health Span, and their unique combination of skill sets to help their clients deal with family aging issues.

Kristen Allott is the owner of Dynamic Brains, a company that optimizes brains for high stake events for better decision making, creative problem solving and health.