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Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Lane Kawaoka
Not every founder is a natural people leader. Lane Kawaoka, former engineer turned real estate investor and entrepreneur, will be the first to tell you he isn’t.
Lane started his career as an engineer and construction supervisor with one of the largest railroads in the US, leading track crews made up of men his grandfather’s age. He bought his first rental property in 2009 while still in that job. He went on to build a real estate investment business with more than 60 projects and over $2 billion in acquisitions, and today runs it much like a private equity firm. He founded and authored The Wealth Elevator.
In this episode, Lane and Carrie dig into the self-awareness it takes to acknowledge your own gaps out loud, and why Lane builds his team around partners and shared equity instead of salaries. He believes every leadership team needs a balance between someone who drives the vision and someone who brings people along. Lane is candid about the mistake of expecting his team to want what he wants, and why he pays for coaching and peer groups to support his own blind spots.
Lane also challenges whether a leadership promotion is always worth it, and explains the difference between trading time for money and owning a share of the outcome. His financial examples are US-based, and nothing in this episode is financial advice.
If you’re building a team and wondering how to motivate people who don’t think like you, or whether the traditional leadership path fits your goals, this conversation offers a different angle worth hearing.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS:
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
LINKS FROM EPISODE:
Lane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lanekawaoka/
Website: https://thewealthelevator.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewealthelevator/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheWealthElevator
Resources Mentioned:
Free PDF copy of The Wealth Elevator: https://api.teammojo.ca/preview/KxhshEVINBwNyHDWJtvR
Predictive Index (behavioural assessment)
Explore the Lead with Engagement program @ Team Mojo: https://www.teammojo.ca/lead-with-engagement
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Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Andrea Oh
Most entrepreneurs are taught to fake it till they make it. Andrea Oh built her company around removing that need entirely.
A four-time tech founder with two successful exits, Andrea is now CEO and co-founder of Savvy Knowledge, a skills validation platform built for high-risk industries like government, defense, healthcare, and cybersecurity. She is also an entrepreneur in residence at Platform Calgary and a former competitive volleyball player.
Andrea joins Carrie for a deep conversation about the myth that starting a company guarantees an exit, how Andrea defines imposter syndrome, and why she coaches founders as a teammate rather than an expert.
Andrea shares what it takes to build trust, give honest feedback, and ask for help, along with what her years as a competitive athlete taught her about connecting personal goals to company goals. She also talks candidly about losing confidence in her own voice after her second company and what it took to get it back.
The discussion gets deep when they talk about what good coaching actually feels like for the person being coached, why vulnerability builds more trust than having answers, and how trusting her own voice again after a difficult stretch changed the way she leads today.
This episode is a must-listen for leaders and founders who want a more honest look at imposter syndrome, building trust, and bringing out the best in the people you lead.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS:
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
LINKS FROM EPISODE:
Learn more about Savvy Knowledge: https://www.savvyknowledge.com/
Andrea Oh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-oh/
Andrea Oh Instagram: @sixfootcanasian
Resources Mentioned:
Book: Quiet Champions by Ian Chisholm
Founders Podcast with David Senra: https://www.founderspodcast.com/
Take the sales team performance diagnostic: https://api.teammojo.ca/widget/quiz/Ft18WA4QmmbTNieprM6P?notrack=true
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Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Dave Smith
Dave Smith set out to build the company he always wanted to work for. Twelve years later, he's still building and growing it.
Dave started his career as a Master Electrician and has spent more than 25 years in industrial electrical construction, moving through service, operations, and general management roles. He was being groomed to lead a $100 million business inside a much larger company when he was recruited to build a new industrial electrical group at another contractor. In 2014, he co-founded Stratus Electrical & Instrumentation, an employee-owned company that now serves renewable energy, industrial, commercial, mining, agriculture, food and beverage, and power generation clients across Western Canada. He also supports four related ventures, each built around leaders he trusts.
Carrie and Dave dig into the leadership decisions most founders don't talk about openly, like choosing business partners, recognizing when a partnership no longer fits, and acting on it before it hurts the team. He shares when they opened a new Edmonton office just before its anchor project was cancelled.
Dave talks about why he believes employee ownership changes how people think about their work, and how he uses DISC to build a leadership team with a real mix of perspectives.
If you're a founder figuring out how to share ownership, build culture, or step back from the day-to-day while still supporting your people, Dave's stories offer a practical look at what that takes.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS:
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
LINKS FROM EPISODE:
Learn more about Stratus Electrical and Instrumentation @ Website: https://www.stratusei.com/
Dave Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-smith-113a3b44/
Stratus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stratus-electrical-&-instrumentation/
Stratus on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stratus_ei/
Resources Mentioned:
YPO (Young Presidents' Organization)
Extended DISC — mentioned in episode. See also: Suits & Sneakers Episode with Markku Kauppanen
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ZA79RJWfrTZCtROBE7LHw?si=mwmt_9i2SQicxuoA5Ai_ZA
Leading With Engagement program @ Team Mojo: https://www.teammojo.ca/lead-with-engagement
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Like What You Heard?
Don't forget to subscribe or follow us on YouTube or your favorite podcast service, so you never miss an episode!
Interested in being a guest on Suits & Sneakers? APPLY HERE
Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Tony McGrath
Most entrepreneurs treat failure as something to hide. Tony McGrath lives his life around embracing and learning from it.
Tony McGrath, an entrepreneur, business leader, speaker, and strategic advisor with experience spanning financial and legal services, business development, and the arts in Canada and the United Kingdom, joins Carrie for a deep conversation about building, losing, and rebuilding, and why he believes good people, not perfect plans, make a business work.
A former senior banking executive and past CEO of Calgary's The Grand theatre, Tony has led organizational transformation and helped build high-growth businesses, including Arch Title, a significant player in the Canadian title insurance market, and today, he is founding partner of Surge Strategies Group.
Tony shares the ride of building a Canadian title insurer with his wife Marcy, from landing major pension fund backing to watching the stock market collapse weeks later. From there, they co-founded Fuckup Nights Kelowna, where local entrepreneurs gather and break the taboo of failure!
We dig into ego as the biggest obstacle to good decisions under pressure and how 28 years in recovery from alcohol addiction taught him to spot denial in life and in leadership, and the important role of mentorship.
Whether you're leading your first team or carrying every decision on your own shoulders, this conversation is an honest reminder that asking your team for input is part of the job, and that people notice whether you walk the talk.
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LINKS FROM EPISODE:Tony McGrath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymcgrath/
Fuckup Nights Kelowna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuckupnightsylw/
Mentioned in episode:
Barn Owl Brewery, Kelowna https://www.barnowlbrewing.ca/
The Grand YYC https://www.thegrandyyc.ca/
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Leading your first sales and revenue team? Learn more about the Lead With Engagement program: https://teammojo.ca/Revenue_Leadership
Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
Like What You Heard?
Don't forget to subscribe or follow us on YouTube or your favourite podcast service, so you never miss an episode!
Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Ben Smith
Most leaders are trained to lead from the neck up. Ben Smith spent the first half of his career doing exactly that.
Ben Smith, a seasoned President and CEO with over 20 years of executive leadership experience, joins Carrie for a deep conversation about leading beyond the mind, and how learning to listen to more than just his intellect changed the way he leads.
Now focused on board and executive advisory work, Ben has led organizations through growth, complexity, and transformation, managing large portfolios, major budgets, and diverse teams across Canada and internationally in the new home real estate development industry. He split his career between running his own consulting firm and serving as CEO of a VC-backed software company.
Ben shares what happened when his industry fell off a cliff, his clients dropped to a tenth of their previous volume, and how he held a senior leadership team together while people were being let go. He explains his framework for “four intelligences”: the mind that thinks, the heart that emotes, the body that senses, and the soul that knows, and why integrating all four helps leaders build trust and make steadier decisions.
Carrie and Ben dig into what it really means to “embody” leadership, how to build psychological safety so teams tell you the truth, and why he believes business should exist to serve people, not the other way around.
This episode is a must-listen for leaders who want to thrive through the inevitable uncertainty of business.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS:
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
LINKS FROM EPISODE
Ben Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensmithinc/
Website (Soulful CEO): https://www.soulfulceo.org/
Leading your first sales and revenue team? Learn more about the Lead With Engagement program.
Tell us a topic you'd like to hear more about in the comments.
Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Luticia Miller
Do you wait for permission before taking on something big or do you go for it? Today’s guest really goes for it!
Luticia Miller is President and Managing Partner of DRIVE Workforce Lodging, an award-winning camp company serving major projects across Canada. She started as a welding apprentice in northern Alberta, became a project controls leader on a billion-dollar industrial build, and moved into executive strategy, capital, and governance after completing her Executive MBA at Queen's University.
Luticia is a multi-startup founder and co-founder, an advisor in clean energy and Indigenous industry participation, and sits on the board of Alliance Trust Company. For more than 20 years, her answer to almost every opportunity has been the same: say yes, then figure it out.
This episode digs into shifting from high-context communication to being more direct, the discipline of over-communicating so people can act with confidence, and her two non-negotiable team rules.
Luticia is candid about the moment she had to raise her hand and stop a founder she was advising, even when she was the only one in the room with doubts.
This conversation holds great advice, contextual stories, and a reminder that trust is built when a team takes accountability together.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
LINKS FROM EPISODE
Luticia Miller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luticia-miller-emba-2a160a36/
Drive Workforce Lodging - finalist, Emerging Scale Up of theYear (Mount Royal University - Scale Up program): http://www.drive-mod.com/
Atmos Renewable Recycling: https://atmosgroup.ca/
Mentioned in episode:
Atlas Shrugged — Ayn Rand
Brené Brown — referenced on standing your ground
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Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Mike Cameron
Most leaders learn to manage tasks long before they learn to manage emotions, and some never really learn. Mike Cameron believes the gap is costing companies more than anyone realizes.
Mike is a three-time TEDx speaker, Canadian author, ultramarathoner, and a leader with more than 30 years of experience, including 16 years as a CEO. After the murder of his girlfriend in 2015, Mike walked away from the company he built to focus on what he now considers the most underestimated threat to organizational performance: the emotional disconnection of men in leadership.
Mike joins Carrie to talk about the difference between emotional intelligence and emotional competence, and why theory means little without practice. They dig into practical experiments any leader can try, like the two-word check-in, the SOAR framework, and asking people whether they want strategy or empathy.
As the founder of Connect'd Men, a community built around emotional connection and men's well-being, Mike has his own experience with burnout and what it really means to move from success to significance.
Whether you lead a team, a family, or just yourself, this conversation offers grounded frameworks, honest stories, and a reminder that connection starts with how you show up for yourself first.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
LINKS FROM EPISODE
Mike Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecameron-ca/
Connect'd Men: https://connectdmen.com
Email Mike: [email protected]
Mike Cameron's website: https://mikecameron.ca/
Mentioned in episode:
Don't Change Much podcast: https://menshealthfoundation.ca/dont-change-much-podcast/Canadian Men's Health Foundation (Mike is co-host) June is Men's Health Month
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Like What You Heard? Don't forget to subscribe or follow us on YouTube or your favourite podcast service, so you never miss an episode!
Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Courtney Johnston-Naumann
Can you name someone who has mentored 10 or more people? I can.
Courtney Johnston-Naumann is the founder of Weave Strategy and a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO) who has led brand and marketing teams at Edmonton Economic Development, Service Credit Union, and CashCo Financial. She helps organizations move from scattered marketing efforts to focused, purpose-driven growth.
Some leaders treat marketing as an art form. Courtney has spent her career proving it's also math. Courtney explains how she built a bridge between marketing and sales, why she says every strategy starts with intention before it touches a spreadsheet, and what it really takes to lead a team through a founder-to-management transition.
The juiciest part of this episode is when Courtney shares her approach to mentorship, including the concept of a personal mentorship board. She sets the expectation that mentees own the relationship before they start and believes in having a framework.
You’ll walk away with a clearer picture of how to lead people through ambiguity without losing them, and why the words you choose at work matter more than you think.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
LINKS FROM EPISODE
Courtney Johnston-Naumann on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjohnstonnaumann/
Brené Brown — brenebrown.com
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Like What You Heard? Don’t forget to subscribe or follow uson YouTube or your favorite podcast service, so you never miss an episode!
Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
Host: Carrie Tuttle
Guest: Rebecca Wood
Most leaders are handed the keys to their first team without a roadmap. Rebecca Wood has been there. She is a leader with over 25 years of experience as a former National Director of Sales and a Director transforming membership models at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Now, the founder of Romeo Whiskey Consulting, Rebecca has built teams from scratch and coached executives navigating the real loneliness that comes with senior leadership.
She joins Carrie to talk about what it takes to build a dream team. They dig into the key ingredients, like trust, communication, clarity, mindset, and the courage to have hard conversations before things fall apart.
Rebecca shares a practical approach to using communication tools like DISC to help leaders adapt how they deliver messages, and she's candid about the moments her own high-D drive got in the way of the very results she was chasing.
Whether you're stepping into your first people leadership role or a seasoned leader who has lost momentum with your team, this conversation offers real frameworks, honest stories, and a grounded reminder that you don't have to figure it all out alone.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
LINKS FROM EPISODE
Rebecca Wood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccawoodyyc
Rebecca Wood's website: https://www.romeowhiskey.ca/
Books mentioned:
Radical Candor — Kim Scott
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team — Patrick Lencioni
Start With Why / other titles — Simon Sinek
Extended DISC — mentioned in episode. See also: Suits & Sneakers Episode with Markku Kauppinen https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ZA79RJWfrTZCtROBE7LHw?si=mwmt_9i2SQicxuoA5Ai_ZA
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Like What You Heard? Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast service, so you never miss an episode!
Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
Host: Michael Dargie
Guest: Carrie Tuttle
What does AI mean for leaders — and what does it not replace?
Carrie Tuttle, founder of Team Mojo, invites Michael Dargie (Make More Creative / RebelRebel podcast for entrepreneurs) to host.
We keep this one short and sweet, with Carrie sharing how technical founders are embracing AI, why revenue teams should consider using it to draft messaging sequences and communication templates, and exactly where it falls short.
She also talks candidly about her own use of AI in her coaching practice, including the honest admission that first drafts aren’t her strongest suit! With AI changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up. So much so that her business use has changed in the months between recording and publishing this episode. Send her a note if you want to compare notes on what else she is using AI for with revenue teams.
Walk away with some ideas of what AI can carry for you and what still needs a human leader in the room, specifically around empathy, challenging blind spots, and keeping your team accountable.
Listen up for when Carrie reframes the AI speed conversation entirely and makes a case for humans to slow down and think. Enjoy!
P.S. Check out similar topics, like “Data Therapy First, Then AI with Ian Tell” and “Succeed at Recruiting in an AI World with Serge Boudreau”.
QUOTE-WORTHY MOMENTS:
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
LINKS FROM EPISODE
Carrie Tuttle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1carrietuttle/
Team Mojo website: https://www.teammojo.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carrieatuttle/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@teammojo_ca
FREE Ultimate Delegation Playbook: https://lp.teammojo.ca/ultimate-delegation-playbook
Michael Dargie website: https://makemorecreative.com/
The RebelRebel Podcast : https://rebelrebelpodcast.com/
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Like What You Heard? Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast service, so you never miss an episode!
Want to be an expert guest? APPLY HERE
From the publisher's feed