On The Brink Podcast

David Lengyel has spent more than four decades studying one of the most important—and often misunderstood—questions in business: Why do some teams thrive while others struggle, even when they have talented people, strong intentions, and plenty of resources?

As the founder of Venture Up, David has built his career around finding the answer.

Since 1983, he has designed and facilitated team-building and leadership development programs for more than 8,000 groups and 500,000 participants, working with organizations across North America and in more than 12 countries. His experience spans Fortune 500 companies, healthcare systems, manufacturers, government agencies, military organizations, educational institutions, and small businesses.

What makes David's perspective distinctive is that he hasn't simply studied leadership and teamwork from the sidelines—he has spent 40 years watching them unfold in real time.

Jay Bourgana is an entrepreneur, investor, and father who built a real estate services platform to roughly $350M in revenue before selling control to a strategic buyer 

Today, he leads Acquisition Collective and Kids Business School, where children ages 8 to 14 build and operate real businesses.

Jay speaks about acquisitions, founder independence, leadership transitions, AI for small businesses, youth entrepreneurship, and how real responsibility develops capable, resourceful kids.

Dr. Steve McGough is the cofounder of Women and Couples Wellness, inventor of the hi® massage system, and holder of six US and international patents.

For over sixteen years he's worked with several thousand women and couples on nervous system regulation, pelvic floor health, intimacy and fertility 

His background is neuroscience research at Wake Forest School of Medicine, followed by a doctorate in sexology, and he works closely with urologists, pelvic floor physical therapists and fertility specialists.

Lifespanning named him a Global Top 50 Innovator. He shows individuals and couples why recovery fails when the nervous system never gets the signal to stand down, and what to do about it.

Steve also helps couples in high stress businesses find ways to strengthen their relationship while growing their business.  He and his wife Wendy have been married over 25 years, running three startup companies.  They practice what they teach.

Scott Bloom is a comedian, keynote speaker, podcaster, and author who has spent three decades as the go-to name for business humor, hosting and keynoting hundreds of events for some of the world's biggest companies, who keep bringing him back. 

He's the author of the self-help satire The Atomic Morning Miracle: The Not-So-Obvious Quantum Paradox Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (The Secret: Wake Up 2 Hours Before You Go to Sleep). It's the self-help book for people who hate self-help books, a send-up of productivity culture that lets you laugh at the pressure to optimize every minute of your day while realizing you might not need fixing in the first place.

Guiding readers through it is actor Scott Bakula, who wrote the foreword and appears throughout the book as a fictionalized version of himself. Yes, THAT Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise, NCIS: New Orleans). No, really. The actual guy.

Scott also hosts No More Bad Events, a podcast that goes behind the scenes of the world's best-run conferences and meetings.

In this solo episode, John Brink dives into the challenges facing the forest industry and explore the broader economic and social issues impacting communities across Canada and around the world. From mill closures and market uncertainty to global economic pressures and shifting policies, this conversation takes an honest look at what these changes mean for workers, families, businesses, and the future of resource-based communities.

David Gottfried is the founder of the U.S. Green Building Council and the World Green Building Council, now spanning 85 countries. He's a Stanford-trained engineer, four-time author, and has spent four decades building the systems and institutions behind the global green building movement.

His new book, Regen360: An Operating System for a Regenerative Earth (Morgan James, October 2026), lays out an 18-code framework for aligning how we live, build, lead, and measure wealth with what actually sustains life.

David helps listeners rethink what's broken in the operating system we're all running — personally and planetarily — and what it takes to rewire it.

Dr. Nneka Oluoha is a Nigerian American physician, novelist, and speaker whose work explores the intersection of mental health, culture, family, immigration, faith, and resilience. Drawing from her experience in medicine and her passion for storytelling, she helps audiences better understand the hidden emotional struggles people often carry behind outward success 

She is the author of Live for Me, Nkem, a literary novel that examines depression, marriage, motherhood, family relationships, and the immigrant experience through a deeply human story. Her work encourages honest conversations about mental health while exploring how culture, identity, and family expectations shape the way we experience emotional pain and healing.

Born and raised in Nigeria before immigrating to the United States, Dr. Oluoha offers a unique perspective on navigating two cultures, balancing tradition with personal identity, and fostering empathy across different communities.

Whether discussing mental health, medicine, writing, culture, or the creative process, she brings the insight of a physician and the heart of a storyteller. Audiences leave with a deeper understanding of mental health, renewed compassion for others, and practical insights into how stories can break stigma, build empathy, and inspire meaningful conversations.

Ellie is an educator, podcast host and founder of Ellie AuDHD. Through honest conversations, lived experience and practical education, Ellie helps neurodivergent people better understand themselves and feel less alone. 

She is the host of the AuDHD and Then Some podcast, where she explores ADHD, autism, trauma, burnout, masking, relationships and the realities of living as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent adult.

She prides herself on supporting her Facebook community of over 50,000.

Ellie is passionate about making neurodiversity conversations relatable and accessible, bringing warmth, humour and honesty to every discussion and sometimes a little swearing.

She’s passionate about sharing the bad parts of AuDHD Aswell as the funny parts and she’s not afraid to laugh at herself.

She has come through childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence and drug dependency but she doesn’t like to call herself a survivor as she sees it as all being a blessing to bring her where she is today.

The BC forest industry continues to face significant challenges, from changing markets and mill closures to trade disputes, duties and tariffs affecting Canadian forest products.In this episode of On The Brink, we take a closer look at the current state of British Columbia’s forest industry and discuss some of the major issues facing forestry workers, communities, businesses and the broader provincial economy.

Matt Meredith (CFP) is the founder of Meridian Legal Advisors, a next-generation law firm focused on estate planning, tax strategy, and asset protection. With over 15 years of experience, Matt blends legal insight, tax expertise, and investment strategy to create plans that go far beyond traditional, cookie-cutter approaches that stop at the surface.

Before founding Meridian, Matt spent four years leading his own practice, The Law Office of Robert M. Meredith, where he guided clients not only in planning their estates but also in navigating the challenges of probate and trust administration. Having seen firsthand how difficult it can be for families to close estates and for trustees to carry out complex instructions, Matt designs plans with administration in mind, ensuring they work in practice, not just on paper.