In this episode, I break down two reframes that will change how you think about giving feedback. You'll learn why most feedback creates resistance instead of change, what continuous feedback actually looks like in practice, and how to give critical feedback without triggering a defensive reaction. Plus, real examples from founders who've made the shift.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Sarah Fleischer, co-founder and CEO of battery recycling startup tozero. With global lithium demand set to quadruple by 2030, Sarah and her team are on a mission to recover critical raw materials from lithium-ion batteries and reintroduce fresh raw materials back into the supply chain.

Sarah and I talked about:

* making fast decisions based on first principles thinking — and why she’s willing to do a complete 180 when new data changes her worldview

* the counterintuitive pricing move that defied industry norms and customers loved

* her two favorite phrases as CEO — and how she learned (the hard way) to strip away assumptions before making critical decisions

* why she doesn’t believe in luck — and how she capitalizes on opportunities that most people don’t even see

Enjoy my conversation with Sarah!

Learn more about your FounderEQ and get your score for free in 5 minutes here.

If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please consider:

* Subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

* Giving a rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts. (Even a short two-sentence review helps!)

* Want support in leveling up your leadership? Send an email to [email protected] to learn how we can work together.

Today, I’m speaking with Deepak Shukla, serial entrepreneur and CEO at Pearl Lemon Group, a diverse portfolio of 10+ companies, some of them very brick and mortar, like pet transport and event catering.

We talked about:

* why going into business with old friends often doesn’t work

* what the sweet spot for finding business partners and co-founders actually is, and how to align expectations upfront to prevent painful breakdowns later

* how a string of software company failures actually turned out to be good luck

* how persistence, even with two years of zero traction, led to breakthrough success

Enjoy my conversation with Deepak!

Learn more about your FounderEQ and get your score for free in 5 minutes here.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, please consider:

* Subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

* Giving a rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts. (Even a short two-sentence review helps!)

Want support in leveling up your leadership? Send an email to [email protected] to learn how we can work together.

In an age of AI, self-awareness will be a meta-skill. In this episode I zoom out and take a broader look — not as a fluffy “nice-to-have,” but as a practical operating system for how you lead, make decisions, and navigate hard conversations.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Schedule a call to get acquainted and let's see if the High-EQ Founder group coaching program is a fit.

Want to get to Level 3 self-awareness faster?

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What if the key to game-changing partnerships isn’t strategy but emotional mastery?

Too many founders enter negotiations armed with data and ambition but unprepared for emotional dynamics that make or break deals.

In this episode you’ll learn:

✅ Renita Kalhorn’s practical system (FASTT) to anticipate emotional landmines in deals

✅ How to reframe “practice” as the most underused leadership advantage

✅ A high-integrity method for negotiating with power—even if you’re the smaller player

If “growth mindset” is more than a buzzword for you, this episode will change how you partner for growth.

🎧 Listen now to discover the partnership advantage hidden in emotional intelligence.

Share this episode via text, social media or email. Copy and paste this link: https://philhsc.com/interviews/renita-kalhorn

Today, I’m speaking with Raman Ramalingan, a Partner at TalentX,who helps tech founders and their leadership teams hire the right people at the right time so they can scale through critical growth phases — the more complex or borderline impossible the assignment, the better.

We talked about:

* the difference between hiring a “talent investor” versus a “talent trader.”

* the “affordability paradox” and why it’s more possible to attract experienced hires than you think

* the two most common reasons executive recruitments fail — and how to avoid them

* why founders should always be optimizing for effectiveness versus efficiency — and what that looks like in practice

Enjoy my conversation with Raman!

There's a lot of hype around disruption and building a "blue ocean" business:

Where you create new, uncontested market space rather than competing head-to-head in existing markets.

But here’s a reality check: 90% of startups fail and 42% of those fail because they create something nobody wants.

Meanwhile, savvy startups are looking for a "purple ocean" — taking proven ideas and applying them to specific verticals.

On the latest episode of The High-EQ Founder, I spoke with Melissa Kwan, serial entrepreneur and CEO of eWebinar, who did exactly this by applying existing webinar technology to customer success teams tired of repeating the same demos and trainings.

Melissa’s been on the entrepreneurial journey for 14 years. Here’s what she shared:

🌊 The trap of trying to be completely original, and why entrepreneurs should aim for "purple oceans" instead

🚀 How bootstrapping chose her when venture capital wasn't an option—and the many benefits she’s discovered

🧠 The unexpected way success started triggering self-sabotage behaviors that nearly derailed her progress

It’s a playbook in scrappiness and turning limitations into competitive advantages.

Connect with Melissa on her Substack the founder next door and on Linkedin.

Want to know your Founder EQ? Take the (free) 3-minute assessment here.

Did you know companies 'lose' 10-15% of their physical assets every year?

That's thousands of chairs, computers, mobile devices and specialized equipment that just get moved around or disappear.

So what happens? Operations managers end up buying replacements for stuff they already have. No wonder the asset tracking market is on track to hit $55.1 billion by 2026.

On the latest episode of The High-EQ Founder, I sat down with Nadine Cino, CEO and co-founder of TygaSmart, which specializes in sustainable moving, storage and asset tracking solutions.

Nadine and I covered a lot in this 20-minute convo:

* The pitfalls of being the first-mover and when to make the painful decision to quit a product that’s not working

* Learning the hard way that companies won’t pay attention until there’s an impact on their bottom line (and the magic number that gets companies to make a change)

* How persistence and pivoting helped TygaSmart evolve from reusable moving boxes to comprehensive asset tracking technology

* Her approach to relationship-building that has sustained her business through 30 years of economic ups and downs

Connect with Nadine on Linkedin here.

Connect with Renita on Linkedin here.

Want to know your Founder EQ? Take the five-minute quiz here.

Ever been on a cruise? If not, no doubt you know someone who has.

Because the global cruise industry is big business and growing steadily: There are about 323 cruise ships out there right now, and each one is serving over 20,000 meals a day.

That's a ton of food on board these floating cities. And with all that food comes a serious question: how do you manage the supply chain and minimize waste?

On the latest episode of The High-EQ Founder, I sat down with Robert Buchanan, the CEO and co-founder of Adhere Gear. His company is on a mission to transform single-use cardboard boxes into "smart" reusable containers. Containers that can actually collect important data about environmental impact, cargo conditions and how efficiently the supply chain is running.

Robert and I talked about:

▶️ That age-old question: to be a specialist or a generalist — and how it affects the way you build your team.

▶️ How he was faced with a sudden health scare - with doctors giving him just a 7% chance of recovery - a year and a half into building his startup.

▶️ His belief in creating his own luck and the incredible lengths he goes to prepare when opportunity knocks.

It's a conversation filled with grit, determination, and some serious wisdom.

Connect with Robert on Linkedin here.

Want to know your Founder EQ? Take the five-minute quiz here.

Most of the news you hear about startups is about how much VC funding they raised.

But what if VC rejection is exactly what your startup needs to succeed?

That’s what happened to one of the biotech startups launched by CAOS Focado, a venture builder that helps deep tech founders survive the brutal early days of building a business.

In the latest episode of The High-EQ Founder, I dive into the backstory with Diogo Dutra, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Caos Focado.

He shares:

▶️ How he navigated the strategic decision to bootstrap a biotech startup, and what made him trust his technical co-founder was in for the long haul.

▶️ The trap of being too attached to Plan A — and when to move on to Plan B.

▶️ The unexpected benefits of bootstrapping and how missing out on VC funding created unexpected opportunities to generate revenues, improve their moonshot technology and become a stronger, well-functioning team.

Connect with Diogo on Linkedin here.

Want to know your Founder EQ? Take the five-minute quiz here.