What if the fastest way to change your performance is to change the identity you step into?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Todd Herman, author of The Alter Ego Effect, about how high performers use intentional identities to move through fear, insecurity and friction.

Todd's work began in elite sport and mental performance, then expanded into business, leadership and personal reinvention. His core point is practical: when a role creates resistance, you can build an inner ally that helps you bring the traits, energy and decisiveness the role requires.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is CEO Leadership and CEO Evolution at identity level. More effort is not always the answer; sometimes the leader needs a different internal model for the field they are playing on.

You'll learn:

• Why alter egos are performance tools, not gimmicks
• How Todd used Super Richard to move through insecurity in business
• What leaders can learn from athletes who step into a different identity on the field
• Why clear models and symbols can make behaviour change easier
• How to choose the role where an alter ego could unlock better performance

The standout idea: identity is a performance lever when it gives you access to traits you already need.

Resources mentioned:

• Todd Herman: https://toddherman.me/
• The Alter Ego Effect: https://alteregoeffect.com/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What if your purpose is not what you say in the boardroom, but what happens when your customer is most vulnerable?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Stuart Tragheim, CEO of Holloway Friendly, about moving from deal-driven growth to purpose-driven transformation.

Stuart inherited a well-capitalised business that needed sharper direction. The work was not a cosmetic rebrand or a values exercise. It meant going back to first principles, deciding where a smaller specialist could genuinely compete, aligning the board behind a painful transformation, and making the customer claim moment the proof point of the whole strategy.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is CEO Transformation with teeth. Purpose only becomes strategy when it changes what you stop doing, where you invest, how you lead upwards, and what promise the business is built to keep.

You'll learn:

• Why growth for growth's sake can keep a CEO trapped in dealmaker mode
• How a customer promise becomes real at the moment of greatest need
• Why brave transformation beats tinkering around the edges
• How to bring a board with you through staged commitments and clear get-out points
• What it takes to create executive bandwidth for the next horizon

Resources:
Holloway Friendly
https://www.holloway.co.uk/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What if your next category does not come from a plan, but from the problem you cannot stop following?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Wendy Strgar, CEO of Good Clean Love, about the messy founder journey from personal need to product science, biotech possibilities and category creation.

Good Clean Love began with Wendy's own need for products that supported her body and relationships rather than harming them. Over time, that curiosity expanded into a broader biome-health thesis, practitioner education, FDA-related change and a deeper question about how founders hold a vision before the structure is obvious.

For founders and CEOs, this is CEO Evolution and CEO leadership for scaling businesses where the path is not linear. Sometimes the work is not to force the final destination, but to keep asking better questions until the category reveals itself.

You'll learn:

• Why Wendy believes greatness cannot always be planned in advance
• How lived pain can become a clue to a larger market or category
• What biome health means beyond the gut-health conversation
• Why money is not always the best indicator for founder decision-making
• How founders can move from impostor anxiety to trusting the vision they are holding

The standout idea: a defining market can start as an irritation you refuse to dismiss.

Resources mentioned:

• Good Clean Love: https://goodcleanlove.com/
• Wendy Strgar's books: Love That Works and Sex That Works
• Vaginal Biome Science: https://vaginalbiomescience.com/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What does your team learn from you when the pressure rises?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Steve Bilt, CEO of Smile Brands, about purpose, transparency and the cultural precedent a CEO sets through everyday behaviour.

Steve's work at Smile Brands is built around a simple mission: smiles for everyone. But the leadership lesson is not the wording of the mission. It is how consistently that mission appears in meetings, decisions, financial transparency, problem-solving and the way leaders respond when things go wrong.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is a Scaling Culture and CEO leadership conversation about values in action. The organisation copies what the CEO actually does under pressure, not what the CEO says on a good day.

You'll learn:

• Why purpose has to be first on the agenda if it is going to shape culture
• How transparency reduces fear by turning the unknown into something people can handle
• Why CEOs set precedent through their reactions to problems and mistakes
• How a mission can become part of the operating rhythm rather than a slogan
• What it takes to build a culture that makes decisions consistently without the CEO in every room

The standout idea: whatever the CEO does under pressure multiplies through the organisation, for better or worse.

Resources mentioned:

• Smile Brands: https://www.smilebrands.com/
• Smiles for Everyone Foundation: https://smilesforeveryone.org/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What if empowerment starts with asking a better question?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Elaine Taylor-Klaus, co-founder of Impact Parents, about building the first global coaching organisation for parents of neurodiverse kids and what leaders can learn from that work.

Elaine's journey began with her own family and the gap she saw in support for parents. Impact Parents teaches coaching skills that help adults move from directive control into collaborative problem-solving, agency and independence. That same shift has powerful implications for CEO leadership, especially when leaders want teams to think and act with more ownership.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is a CEO Leadership conversation about empowerment that is practical, not sentimental. The leader's job is not always to give the answer; it is often to create the conditions where the other person can understand themselves and act more effectively.

You'll learn:

• Why Elaine moved from parent looking for help to founder of a global coaching organisation
• How coaching changes the dynamic between adults and neurodiverse children
• Why agency and independence are built through different questions, not more control
• How a founder can scale impact beyond direct service into schools, professionals and systems
• What CEOs can learn about empowering teams without abandoning accountability

The standout idea: empowerment grows when leaders stop managing the other person's brain and start helping them build agency.

Resources mentioned:

• Impact Parents: https://impactparents.com/
• Impact Parents resource for this audience: https://impactparents.com/multiplier
• Parenting with Impact podcast: https://impactparents.com/podcast/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What happens when the community is not a marketing channel, but the growth engine itself?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Haris Pylarinos, CEO of Hack The Box, about building the world's largest cybersecurity community from a hands-on training platform he first shared in a Facebook group.

Hack The Box grew because Haris solved a problem the market felt but existing training did not answer: cybersecurity skills are built through practice, experimentation and out-of-the-box thinking. One link became a viral community because the experience matched how people actually wanted to learn.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is a Scaling Culture and CEO leadership conversation about product-led community, creative problem-solving and the risks of growing too fast. When the user community becomes the engine, the CEO has to protect both the mission and the quality of the system behind it.

You'll learn:

• Why Haris built Hack The Box after becoming frustrated with traditional cybersecurity training
• How out-of-the-box thinking applies beyond ethical hacking and into CEO problem-solving
• Why a bootstrapped infrastructure decision became a long-term strategic advantage
• How a 1.7 million-person community can multiply product adoption without paid advertising
• What CEOs should watch when fast growth starts stretching the organisation

The standout idea: communities scale when the product helps people become the kind of person they already want to be.

Resources mentioned:

• Hack The Box: https://www.hackthebox.com/
• Haris Pylarinos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What if the commitment has to come before you know exactly how you will deliver it?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Matt Hill, CEO of One Tree Planted, about turning a simple idea into a $100M nonprofit that has planted tens of millions of trees around the world.

Matt saw that companies and individuals wanted to help the environment, but the existing options often felt technical, gloomy or opaque. One Tree Planted made the action simple: one dollar, one tree, with enough transparency to help donors trust where their money was going.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is Vision Execution and CEO leadership about bold commitments, practical trust and organisational scaling. A mission can be inspiring, but it only compounds when the operating system makes it easy for people to join in.

You'll learn:

• Why Matt built One Tree Planted around simplicity and transparency
• How a marketing background helped make environmental action easier to understand
• Why trust with donors depends on showing the project, the benefits and the follow-through
• What changed as the organisation moved from founder-led hustle to a larger team
• How a bold public commitment can pull partners, funding and execution into motion

The standout idea: a simple promise can become a large-scale operating model when it removes friction and builds trust.

Resources mentioned:

• One Tree Planted: https://onetreeplanted.org/
• Matt Hill: [email protected]

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What changes when a CEO sees the business as a vehicle for systemic positive impact?

In this short season-opening episode, Richard introduces the Business as a Force for Good series and the leaders featured in it: CEOs and entrepreneurial leaders using commercial acumen, people skills and mission-driven conviction to create a bigger dent in the universe.

The question underneath the season is simple but demanding: how do leaders multiply their impact by transforming themselves, their businesses and ultimately the world around them?

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is CEO Leadership in its broadest sense. It is about moving beyond a narrow definition of success and asking what the business could make possible for customers, teams, communities and systems.

You'll hear:

• Why Richard created a season around business as a force for good
• What distinguishes leaders who want systemic positive impact from those pursuing ordinary growth
• The origin-story questions the season explores with each guest
• Why the next level of impact usually requires both personal and business transformation
• How the season connects inspiration with the practical CEO work of scaling a mission

The standout idea: the biggest business question is not just what you can grow, but what your growth is in service of.

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

How do you lead through disruption without letting panic become the strategy?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Jason Feifer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur and author of Build For Tomorrow, about adaptability, reinvention and how smart people move through change.

Jason's work is built around a simple but powerful observation: people often resist change because they are trying to protect a familiar answer. The leadership opportunity is to ask better questions, build a bridge from what people already understand, and discover the new value that eventually makes them say they would not go back.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is CEO Transformation and Strategic Leadership in uncertain markets. The goal is not to wait for crisis, but to keep asking what the current model is really for and what customers now need it to become.

You'll learn:

• Why panic narrows your ability to respond to disruption
• How to build a bridge from familiar language to new behaviour
• Why customers often prefer better versions of old things to entirely new things
• What the "wouldn't go back" stage teaches about lasting change
• How Jason thinks about partnerships, reinvention and his own next chapter

The standout idea: adaptability improves when leaders ask what the current thing is really for now.

Resources mentioned:

• Jason Feifer: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/
• Build For Tomorrow: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/book/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast

What does a lifetime of entrepreneurship teach about work that still feels meaningful?

In this episode, Richard speaks with Dan Miller, author of 48 Days To The Work You Love, about opportunity, reinvention and building a life where work, contribution and creativity are not separate compartments.

Dan's story runs from a poor farming family in rural Ohio to decades of writing, coaching, communities and entrepreneurial experiments. The through-line is his belief that people can choose a different trajectory by controlling what they think about and by seeing opportunities others miss.

For scaling founders and CEOs, this is CEO Evolution and CEO leadership for the later chapters of impact. The question is not only how to succeed, but how to keep choosing work that is alive, aligned and useful.

You'll learn:

• Why Dan believes optimism and opportunity are choices leaders can cultivate
• How books became entry points into higher-engagement work, not just royalty streams
• Why he deliberately cuts activities to make room for the next wave
• What founders can learn from moving beyond workaholism without losing creative energy
• How meaningful work changes across different seasons of life

The standout idea: the work can stay alive when you keep cutting what has gone stale and creating room for the next contribution.

Resources mentioned:

• 48 Days: https://www.48days.com/
• 48 Days To The Work You Love: https://www.48days.com/48-days-book/

---

BONUS RESOURCE – ACCOUNTABILITY CHARTER

Turn your leadership team into a strategic growth engine, without micromanaging or drama. Download and implement the Accountability Charter today.

https://xquadrant.com/go/accountability/

---

GO DOWN THE XQUADRANT RABBIT HOLE

📧 The Leverage Letter

https://xquadrant.com/letter

📒 The 10X Reckoning

https://xquadrant.com/reckoning/

📕 Making TIME For Strategy

https://xquadrant.com/time/

🎧 The Defining Move Podcast

https://xquadrant.com/podcast/

---

NEW SHOW BRAND & FORMAT

This episode was released as part of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast. We’ve now rebranded the show to The Defining Move, and upgraded the format.

The Defining Move is a podcast about CEO leadership for scaling businesses, and the CEO transformation that drives the next level of growth.

Check out our newest episodes, in which Richard Medcalf hands one of the world's most accomplished leaders a fictional defining move, already made, that changes the trajectory of their business.

You’ll learn from how they think and how they lead when the stakes rise. And you’ll discover the hidden sources of leadership leverage that take them to their next level, and will take you to yours.

https://xquadrant.com/podcast