Revenue's stalled. Teams are misaligned. Trust is eroding.
And your employer brand? It’s whispering when it should be roaring.

In this episode, we introduce a role built for the companies on the edge—where growth feels stuck, but the ambition is still alive. Enter the Chief Experience Architect (CEA): a C-suite powerhouse tasked with designing employee experiences that don't just feel good—they drive the business forward.

This isn’t HR as usual. This is experience as strategy.

We unpack what the CEA owns, how they weaponize HR Tech and people data, and why they may be your most important hire if you're serious about reconnecting your internal culture to external performance.

Because in 2025, culture isn't a vibe—it's a system. And if you don’t design it with intent, your bottom line will feel it first.

In this episode of Culture & Quota, we get brutally honest about what happens when psychological safety issues fester inside your sales and product orgs. We walk you through a practical, no-BS process: how to first admit the problem, measure the financial and productivity drag it causes, and finally—how to decide when and how leadership will address it.

We’ll break down:

• Early warning signs from your AE floor and product sprints

• How to quantify the hidden cost of fear-based silence

• Internal audit strategies to surface what's not being said

• Timing and frameworks for executive intervention

• Proven tactics to rebuild safety without fluff—think trust contracts, fail-forward systems, and leadership modeling vulnerability

This one's for CROs, CPOs, Heads of People, and founders who know culture isn’t just vibes—it’s velocity.

In this episode of E1B2 , we dismantle the outdated, spreadsheet-driven approach to workforce planning and rebuild it around what really matters: the humans doing the work. We explore how great companies don’t just forecast headcount — they forecast humanity. You’ll hear why workforce planning should be rooted in life stages, skill evolutions, and emotional truths — not just business cycles and budgets. We’ll unpack how shifting this lens creates more resilient teams, more trust-filled cultures, and ultimately, better business results. This is for the CHROs, Heads of People, and operators ready to plan for people, not just positions.

If you believe long-term success starts with understanding the humans who build it, this one's for you.

Beyond dashboards and KPIs, some HR tech tools tell stories about us—our blind spots, behavior loops, and culture drift. We unpack how analytics teams can use reflective insights to drive real change, not just surface metrics. Because sometimes the data points back at you.

In this episode, we expose the messy, human side of HR tech buying—from emotional triggers and budget showdowns to timing misfires and turf wars. If you’ve ever pitched a “game-changing” tool and hit a wall, this one's for you. We unpack the friction, the fear, and what it really takes to get buy-in.

In a world spinning faster than ever—burnout rising, trust fraying, attention splintered—the way humans behave at work is shifting... and HR leaders are feeling it in their budgets, buying cycles, and belief systems. This episode dives into the critical need for a reset: not just in tools or tech stacks, but in how we think about value, urgency, and what people actually need. From vendor fatigue to decision paralysis, we explore how emotional turbulence and behavioral chaos are quietly rewriting the rules of HR tech sales—and what both buyers and sellers must do to adapt. If you're in the business of building, selling, or buying HR tech, this one's your compass in the storm.

In a world chasing volume, Ronnie Fieg chose impact. On this episode of The E1B2 Collective Podcast, I break down the creative philosophy and business blueprint behind Kith—a brand that sits at the intersection of fashion, lifestyle, and legacy.

This isn’t a story about selling more hoodies or dropping the next hyped collab. It’s a lesson in restraint, taste, and the art of building something worthy of obsession. From Ronnie’s unapologetic focus on product perfection to his masterful approach to partnership—think BMW, Versace, Coca-Cola, Nike—we explore how Kith doesn’t move fast, it moves right.

Inspired by the same energy you feel when you walk into Apple’s flagship, see Fear of God’s eternal collection, or watch Nike turn a shoe into a symbol—this episode is a call to reimagine what workplace culture, leadership, and product output can really be when you build with legacy in mind.

Kith didn’t just build a brand. Ronnie built a standard. One we all should be chasing.

In this episode of The E1B2 Collective Podcast, host AJ Vaughan challenges sales leaders to confront their biggest barrier to growth—it’s not the market, it’s their mindset.

What worked yesterday is killing deals today. Hero-selling, static playbooks, vanity metrics, fear-based cultures—these habits are deeply ingrained, but dangerously outdated.

AJ unpacks how today’s most progressive sales leaders are rewiring their leadership to thrive in 2025 and beyond—ditching assumptions, leaning into real buyer data, building systems that scale beyond themselves, and creating teams fueled by curiosity, safety, and relevance.

If you’re tired of burning cycles on strategies that no longer land, this episode is your wake-up call. It’s time to unlearn to grow.

Revenue is the result—but what drives it? That’s the question Aj Vaughan, host of The E1B2 Collective Podcast, dares to explore in this powerful new series built specifically for sales leaders, sales teams, and the people who enable them.

Culture Over Quota goes beyond the tactics of prospecting, closing, and pipeline management. It’s a deep dive into the human systems that make sales organizations sustainable, resilient, and built to scale. Aj brings his workforce strategy roots to the high-stakes world of sales, unpacking what most ignore: the leadership gaps, cultural blind spots, and team dynamics that quietly shape performance.

Through unscripted conversations with CROs, enablement leaders, sales managers, and people-first operators, this series explores:

• How to recruit and onboard in ways that build belonging, not burnout

• How team dynamics and internal communication shape execution more than any script

• How trust, feedback, and psychological safety become true competitive advantages

• How leaders can build cultures that hold both people and performance accountable

• Why the best sales orgs treat enablement, coaching, and leadership development as revenue drivers—not HR’s side project

If you believe sales is more than numbers on a dashboard—if you believe real success is built in the conversations inside your team long before they ever reach a prospect—this series is for you.

Welcome to Culture Over Quota. Where human-centered leadership meets high-performance sales.

Innovation shouldn’t crawl—so let’s strap a jetpack on it. Aj Vaughan sits down to fuse three heavy‑hitters into one explosive playbook: Keith Ferrazzi’s Co‑Elevation trust pact, David Rock’s brain‑savvy SCARF model, and Gary Vee’s zero‑BS culture game. In sixty high‑octane minutes we’ll torch dusty “innovation committees” and replace them with:

• Five‑person Co‑Elevation Pods—micro‑teams sworn to ruthless candor and shared upside.

• Neuro‑Driven OKR Sprints—30‑day loops that turn dopamine jolts into shippable revenue.

• A Culture Content Flywheel—mini‑stories that keep product relevance locked on the customer’s pulse.

• Boundaryless Jam Sessions—four‑hour collisions with partners and power users that spark wildcard revenue streams.

• A Radical Open Talent Marketplace—internal gigs where feedback is public, skills flow freely, and innovation outruns headcount.

Expect hard truths, quick laughs, and a blueprint your CFO can love. If your org’s revenue and product mojo feel stale, press play—Aj’s about to rewire the way you work, one brain‑friendly, culture‑first experiment at a time.