What happens to your ability to make good decisions when the pressure is on and there is no perfect answer?

In elite sport and business, decisions have consequences. Mistakes become visible, information is often incomplete, and leaders are expected to perform even when everything starts going wrong.

In this episode, I sit down with Silvia Rizzo, who works at the intersection of high-performance sport and business, focusing on leadership, decision-making, error management, and mental resilience.

We explore what pressure does to the way we think, how great leaders should respond to mistakes, how to build cultures where people can admit errors, and what genuine resilience looks like.

We also discuss what business leaders can learn from elite sport and how to make better decisions when the outcome is uncertain.

Because perhaps great leadership isn't about making the right decision every time. It's about knowing what to do when the decision turns out to be wrong.

Learn more about Silvia Rizzo and her work:

https://www.hofmarabuntablog.com/

What if the food sitting in your kitchen had been recalled, but nobody told you?

Most people find out about food recalls through news headlines or social media, often long after the recall was issued. By then, they may have already eaten the product or served it to their family.

In this episode, I sit down with Jordan Robinson, founder of Anxin, a platform designed to close that information gap. Anxin can scan grocery receipts, track household food purchases, and alert users when a product they've bought is recalled.

But the bigger idea goes beyond food recalls. We explore how technology could help families become more proactive about everyday health and safety, from food and restaurant inspections to other risks that often only get attention after something goes wrong.

Jordan also explains the technical challenges behind building a safety-focused platform, why food-safety misinformation spreads so easily, and how companies can earn trust when the information they provide could directly affect people's health.

If you've ever wondered how you'd know whether something in your kitchen had suddenly become unsafe, this conversation offers a fascinating look at what the future of household safety could look like.

Learn more about Anxin and access its searchable FDA food recall database: https://pieceofmind.fyi/

What happens when a company stops measuring its workforce in humans?

In this episode, I sit down with Olga Popova, founder of SpacAd, creator of Treasury, and author of 27 Minutes to the Future. Olga runs a media business with just two humans and 19 AI networks, reaching more than 205,000 people across 39 countries. She calls it “Money with robots’ hands.”

But this conversation goes far beyond AI-generated content and automation.

Olga believes AI could fundamentally change how ordinary people create value, build businesses, and earn money. We explore what happens when one person can coordinate an entire fleet of AI agents, what the new bottleneck becomes when human labor is no longer the limiting factor, and whether AI could make entrepreneurship accessible to almost anyone.

We also tackle some uncomfortable questions: What happens to employment? Does AI strengthen or weaken the case for universal basic income? Will AI create millions of new entrepreneurs, or will its benefits ultimately concentrate among those who know how to control these systems?

Olga also takes us inside Treasury and explains her vision for using AI not simply to work faster, but to participate directly in the economy.

If AI agents are becoming workers, the bigger question may no longer be “What can AI do?” but “How will humans earn in a world where machines can do the work?”

Learn more about Olga and her work:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@olgapopovarobotspeopleglue?si=9lrA9ePz3POzDkLu
Treasury: https://treasury.yournewinvestors.com

What can a lifetime of stories teach us about how to live?

In this episode, I sit down with Faye Roots, an award-winning Australian author and storyteller whose writing journey began when she was just twelve years old. Now in her eighties, Faye continues to write, create, and share stories shaped by decades of love, faith, loss, family, and life experience.

We talk about the power of storytelling, the relationship between faith and creativity, the lessons writing can teach us about human nature, and her deeply personal memoir, Shafts of Gold. We also explore grief, resilience, marriage, aging, purpose, and how to find meaning when life takes us through chapters we never expected.

Faye's story offers a powerful reminder that life doesn't end when one chapter closes. Sometimes, the most meaningful chapters are the ones we haven't written yet.

If you're navigating grief, searching for purpose, or simply wondering what makes a life meaningful, this conversation is a reminder that there is always another story to tell.

Learn more about Faye Roots, her books, and her writing: https://fayerootsauthor.wordpress.com/

What happens when machines become capable of producing enormous amounts of wealth? And who gets to benefit from it?

In this episode, I sit down with Alistair Mukhtar, author of The AI Dividend: Reclaiming Prosperity in the Age of Machines, to explore one of the biggest economic questions of the AI era: if machines do more of the work, what happens to the relationship between work, income, and prosperity?

Alistair argues that AI could give humanity an opportunity to work less, retire earlier, and share more broadly in the wealth created by intelligent machines. We discuss his proposals for a four-day workweek, retirement at 55, shorter university degrees, automation taxes, universal basic income, and a new economic system designed around shared prosperity.

But there's a harder question underneath it all: if AI companies own the machines creating the wealth, how do ordinary people become owners of that prosperity rather than simply consumers of it?

This conversation challenges some of our assumptions about work, wealth, inequality, and what the future of an AI-powered economy could actually look like.

Learn more about Alistair Mukhtar and The AI Dividend:

https://theaidividend.org

What if financial freedom isn't about earning more, but learning how to make the money you already have work harder?

In this episode, I sit down with Lane Kawaoka, a former civil engineer who became a real estate millionaire by 31 and now participates in a portfolio encompassing more than 10,000 rental units and over $2.1 billion in real estate assets.

We explore the ideas behind his book, The Wealth Elevator, including "lazy money," real estate syndications, leverage, debt, tax strategies, passive investing, and the role relationships play in accessing better opportunities.

Lane also breaks down how investors should evaluate real estate deals, the concept of Accredited Investor Banking, and the financial lessons he wishes he had known before making his first investment.

If you're serious about building long-term wealth, protecting your capital, and eventually creating financial freedom, this conversation offers a different way to think about where your money goes and how it works.

Learn more about Lane Kawaoka and The Wealth Elevator: https://thewealthelevator.com

What happens when a connection feels completely real, but isn't?

In a world where we can become emotionally attached to someone through a screen before truly knowing them, where does genuine intimacy end and emotional dependency begin?

In this episode, I sit down with Catherine Crestani, author of My Virtual Obsession, a psychological novel exploring loneliness, technology, attachment, and the complicated ways modern relationships are formed.

We explore why loneliness can make us vulnerable to unhealthy connections, why emotional intensity is often mistaken for intimacy, how social media and dating apps can shape our perception of other people, and what happens to our judgment when we desperately want a relationship to work.

Catherine also shares the ideas behind My Virtual Obsession and what writing the novel revealed about human behaviour, attachment, and our desire to feel connected.

If you've ever wondered whether you're truly connected to someone or simply attached to the version of them you've created in your mind, this conversation will make you think differently about modern love and relationships.

Learn more about Catherine, her work, and her books: https://willowhealing.org/

What if the habits that helped you succeed in business are the same habits slowly destroying your health?

In this episode of The James Ibezim Podcast, I sit down with Brian Parana, a health and lifestyle coach who has spent more than 20 years helping busy men over 40 lose fat, improve their health, and regain their energy without turning fitness into a second job.

Brian has owned two CrossFit gyms, coached thousands of people, and worked with everyone from busy fathers to elite athletes, Olympians, and CrossFit Games champions. Today, he works with executives, entrepreneurs, and driven dads who want to build sustainable systems around strength training, nutrition, movement, sleep, and accountability.

We go beyond simply talking about workouts and diets.

What actually changes in a man's body after 40? Why do some people repeatedly start over while others build habits that last? Can you look fit on the outside while your metabolic health is deteriorating internally? And how can a busy executive maintain his health while dealing with demanding work, travel, meetings, and family responsibilities?

We also explore protein-first nutrition, fat loss, maintaining muscle with age, discipline, consistency, metabolic health, and the uncomfortable truths successful men need to hear about their health.

Because building a successful career means very little if your body eventually prevents you from enjoying the life you worked so hard to create.

If you're approaching 40, already over 40, or simply want to build a body that will still serve you decades from now, this conversation is worth paying attention to.

Call to action:

https://thecalltorise.com/

Listen to the full conversation on The James Ibezim Podcast and discover why getting older doesn't have to mean accepting a weaker, less energetic version of yourself.

What if the biggest limitation of AI isn't technology, but the people trying to use it?

In this episode of The James Ibezim Podcast, I sit down with Jon Wolheim, a talent and AI executive who spent two decades building teams at Apple and Amazon before moving into the world of AI startups.

Jon helped build the talent function that took SoundHound AI public and later became the founding HR executive at a Cambridge AI unicorn now valued at more than $10 billion.

But one conversation helped change the direction of his own career.

In 2019, Jon interviewed Jeff Bezos and asked what a college freshman should study. Bezos told him: machine learning. That conversation eventually pushed Jon deeper into the AI world, where he now helps executives become fluent in AI without needing to become programmers through Wolheim Group and AIfluent.Dad.

In this conversation, we explore the human side of the AI revolution.

Why might people, rather than compute or capital, become the biggest constraint on AI adoption? What separates exceptional teams from average ones? Should companies prioritize decades of experience or younger talent with greater technical fluency? And can a 55-year-old executive who learns to use AI effectively actually have an advantage over someone who grew up with the technology?

We also discuss shadow AI, AI-native organizations, hiring, leadership, company culture, the future of work, and what companies are getting wrong about artificial intelligence.

And if you were 23 years old and starting your career today, what would you do differently?

This isn't just a conversation about AI. It's a conversation about the people who will determine what AI becomes.

Connect with John Wolheim:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonwolheim

Listen to the full conversation on The James Ibezim Podcast and explore what it really takes to build people, teams, and organizations for the AI era.

What if the technology designed to connect us is quietly changing the way we think?

In this episode of The James Ibezim Podcast, I sit down with Cody Sisco, a cyberpunk author and literary producer whose work explores technology, identity, cognitive science, and the future of society.

His novel Broken Mirror imagines a fractured near-future America where a young bioinformatics prodigy’s cognitive condition has been criminalized by the state. Forced to run from authorities, he must uncover a conspiracy while trying to understand his own identity in a society determined to erase it.

But the questions behind the story extend far beyond fiction.

We discuss technology and attention, the algorithms designed to keep us scrolling, where engagement ends and manipulation begins, what society misunderstands about the human brain, and what happens when people who think differently are treated as problems to be fixed.

We also explore the future of creativity in the age of AI, whether artificial intelligence will amplify human creativity or make it harder for human creators to stand out, and the most important thing we can do to protect our ability to think independently.

If technology can predict what will capture our attention, how much control do we really have over where that attention goes?

And if the future is already being shaped by the technologies we use every day, who gets to decide what that future looks like?

Guest: Cody Sisco
Get Cody's book, Broken Mirror: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/codysisco/broken-mirror-a-science-fiction-novel-in-a-cyberpunk-world

Listen to the full conversation and join us as we explore the ideas, technologies, and stories that could shape the future.