Jim Johnson coached high school basketball for 30 years, the last 20 at Greece Athena High School in Rochester, New York. In February 2006 he put his team manager Jason McElwain, known to the world as J-Mac, into a varsity game for the first time. J-Mac scored 20 points in the last four minutes, the moment went viral before "viral" was even a word people used and it launched Coach Johnson into a second career as a professional speaker.   J-Mac's incredible feat won him an ESPY Award (over Lebron James that year), a trip to meet the President and widespread media attention.

In this episode Clifford Starks and I talk with Coach Jim about building team culture, leading through adversity and why putting other people first is the fastest way to make your own dreams come true. No script, no prep, just an organic conversation about leadership and human connection.

The Leaders Arena Podcast features unscripted, single take conversations with founders and leaders. No prep, no pre shared questions, just two strangers meeting and talking honestly about what leadership actually costs.

Every episode closes with the same challenge: five minutes of kindness to a stranger. Look someone in the eye, ask how they are doing and mean it.

Follow The Leaders' Arena Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | TheLeadersArenaPodcast.com

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Tri Nguyen is the founder of The Wisdom Tri, a Vistage chair, and an executive coach who works with founder led and privately held businesses. She built her practice around one idea: business is personal. On this episode of The Leaders' Arena Podcast, she sits down with Clifford Starks and Nate Fochtman for an unscripted, one take conversation about what actually happens behind the scenes for founders who look successful on paper.

Tri walks through her own path out of corporate America, the moment her son's illness forced her to confront the life she was actually living, and the framework she now teaches inside her Truth Leadership Courage cohort program. That framework breaks down into three pillars: EQ, building the leader from the inside out. IQ, building the team and hitting the metrics that keep the business alive. MQ, her trademarked mentorship quotient, built around the legacy a leader leaves behind.

Nate gets vulnerable about his own story too, including 18 years as a solopreneur, functioning as a high achieving alcoholic while running a business and a mushroom journey that changed how he sees success. The conversation covers the cost of inaction, the exhaustion of wearing a mask to survive in business, and why leadership without empathy is just solitude with better optics.

This episode is a business show about leadership that turns into something closer to a mental health conversation, because for founders, those two things were never actually separate.

Learn more about The Wisdom Tri Executive Coaching: TheWisdomTri.com

Connect with Tri on LinkedIn

The Leaders Arena Podcast features unscripted, single take conversations with founders and leaders. No prep, no pre shared questions, just two strangers meeting and talking honestly about what leadership actually costs.

Every episode closes with the same challenge: five minutes of kindness to a stranger. Look someone in the eye. Ask how they are doing. Mean it.

Follow The Leaders' Arena Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | TheLeadersArenaPodcast.com

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

What happens when life repeatedly pulls the rug out from under you? In this raw, unscripted episode of The Leaders' Arena Podcast, hosts Clifford Starks and Nate Fochtman sit down with Xavier Smith, Founder of Xcellent Solutions LLC, for a powerful conversation on trauma, resilience and the ultimate power of self-ownership.

Xavier opens up about surviving a near-fatal heart attack at age 29, followed years later by a massive saddle pulmonary embolism that brought him to his knees. He shares how these brush-with-death experiences forced him to confront a "17-year mental prison" of bitterness and blame regarding his childhood, revealing how true forgiveness became his only path to literal and emotional survival.

Nate and Clifford tie these heavy lessons directly back to leadership, business strategy and addiction recovery. Nate reflects on his own journey through sobriety and the radical transparency required to build an efficient business, while Clifford breaks down how the principles of elite athletic training mirror the "reps" needed to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Key Takeaways

• The Trap of Mental Incarceration: How carrying unresolved bitterness acts like a slow-release poison to your physical and professional health.
• Serving vs. Chasing: Why high-impact leaders stop dragging unmotivated clients and focus purely on finding alignment with the right people.
• Mastering Your Demons: Nate shares his unique perspective on maintaining absolute control while working inside the alcohol industry during recovery.
• The Difference Between Choices and Decisions: Understanding why true growth requires "burning the boats" instead of keeping casual options open.

If you are a leader or entrepreneur feeling stuck in your own head, this unfiltered conversation is the wake-up call you need to step out of victimhood and regain control of your life's narrative.

Follow The Leaders' Arena Podcast: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | TheLeadersArenaPodcast.com

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

You can't force change before someone is ready.

That's the truth Laurie Sharp-Page, MS, LPCC-S, CWC dropped in our upcoming conversation on The Leaders' Arena Podcast and it stopped me cold.

Laurie calls them "mental health snacks." Small, intentional moments. Not the pill. Not the quick fix. Just recognizing what state you're in right now. Because here's the thing: the moment you recognize it, you've already shifted something.

We want the big transformation. Laurie teaches the micro one.

This episode is also a personal one for me. Laurie is a high school classmate I hadn't connected with in years. It's proof that it's never too late to reconnect with an old friend and learn something that changes how you see everything.

New episode dropping soon.

Follow The Leaders' Arena Podcast with Clifford Starks: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | TheLeadersArenaPodcast.com

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

"All my friends are at a lacrosse tournament in Ocean City and I'm sitting here setting up a Microsoft Link server with Jordan."

That one line from Mason Viener tells you everything you need to know about what it actually looks like to grow up inside a family business.

Not the highlight reel. 

The Saturday mornings. 

The summer breaks. 

The years you don't fully understand what's being built around you, until one day you do.

Mason and Jordan Viener sat down with me on The Leaders' Arena Podcast to talk about their father Wayne, who started VienerX in 1991, and what it really meant to be raised inside an entrepreneurial household with two business-owning parents who poured everything they had into their kids, their companies and their craft.

Check out VienerX at VienerX.com and follow them on all platforms at @VIENERX.

Listen to The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to The FreeMind Group on YouTube

The Leaders’ Arena Podcast is produced by The FreeMind Group

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

Mason and Jordan Viener grew up watching their father Wayne build an IT firm from the ground up in 1991. Now they're running it themselves, and the company looks nothing like it did then.

In this episode of The Leaders' Arena Podcast, Nate Fochtman sits down with the brothers behind VienerX, an industry-agnostic enterprise technology management firm serving multi-location brands across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. We get into what it was really like growing up in an entrepreneurial household, the unglamorous truth about IT infrastructure, why bad processes get worse when you add software, and why Jordan thinks AI might be doing more harm than good.

No script. No agenda. Just two guys who were setting up computers over summer break while their friends were at lacrosse tournaments, talking about what it actually takes to build something worth handing down.

Topics covered:

• Wayne Viener's origin story: from CPA to IT pioneer
• What it's like growing up with two entrepreneurial parents
• Why IT is the foundation of every business, not just a cost center
• Multi-location brand consistency and the tech behind it
• AI, hallucinations, and why "I don't know" is more valuable than a confident wrong answer
• Data strategy before dashboards: what most companies skip
• Why software amplifies bad processes instead of fixing them

Check out VienerX at VienerX.com and follow them on all platforms at @VIENERX.

Listen to The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to The FreeMind Group on YouTube

The Leaders’ Arena Podcast is produced by The FreeMind Group

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

In our latest episode of The Leaders' Arena Podcast, Rob Tracz MS, CSCS joins Clifford Starks and I for a raw conversation on what it actually takes to scale without losing your soul in the process.

Rob shared his powerful transition from the world of elite strength coaching to high-performance strategy. We talked about "robot mode" - that state where you’re financially successful but completely disconnected from your family, your health and yourself.

If you’re a founder feeling the weight, this one is for you - TheLeadersArenaPodcast.com

Connect with Rob Tracz:

Website: RobTracz.com

Listen to Surviving the Side Hustle Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch Surviving the Side Hustle Podcast | Subscribe to Surviving the Side Hustle on YouTube

Listen to The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to The FreeMind Group on YouTube

The Leaders’ Arena Podcast is produced by The FreeMind Group

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

High performance often comes at a high price. In this episode of The Leaders' Arena, hosts Clifford Starks and Nate Fochtman sit down with Rob Tracz, a former strength and conditioning coach turned high-performance strategist.

Rob opens up about his journey from "robot mode,” working 16-hour days and losing touch with his family - to the wake-up call of losing his father to cancer. We dive deep into the "rugby mentality" of leaving it all on the field, the transition from side hustle to CEO, and why the ultimate goal of business isn't just money - it's connection and freedom.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The danger of staying in "robot mode" for too long.
• Why you must connect with yourself before you can lead others.
• The unique camaraderie of rugby and what it teaches about vulnerability.
• Reality checks for anyone looking to quit their job for entrepreneurship.
• How to stop people-pleasing and start setting firm boundaries.

Connect with Rob Tracz:

Website: RobTracz.com

Listen to Surviving the Side Hustle Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to Surviving the Side Hustle on YouTube

Listen to The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to The FreeMind Group on YouTube

The Leaders’ Arena Podcast is produced by The FreeMind Group

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

The glory of business isn't found in your bank account - it is found in the autonomy and agency you gain over your life. 

In this clip from The Leaders' Arena Podcast, we discuss why shifting your mission from profit to freedom changes everything. Nate Fochtman & Clifford Starks break down the importance of the "becoming" process and why the ultimate game is about connection: with yourself, with others and through the experiences you create.

Listen to The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to The FreeMind Group on YouTube

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com

We all love a good vision board, but putting a picture on a wall doesn't magically turn you into the person capable of sustaining that reality.

There is a massive gap between identifying what you want and actually becoming the leader, founder or parent who can execute it.

This was a powerful conversation from a recent episode of The Leaders' Arena Podcast with Leonne Sherr and Clifford Starks.

Here is the hard truth from the episode about personal growth and leadership development: it is an inside job first. It happens completely out of sight. You have to build the internal infrastructure before the external reality ever shifts.

If you are frustrated that your outside world doesn't match your goals yet, this is a must-read.

- Why sustainable success and mindset shifts can't be hacked.

- How to build the exact tools you need when the market (or your current season of life) doesn't provide them.

- Why the internal problems you solve today become the exact playbook someone else needs tomorrow.

Stop waiting to be saved and start building. 

Listen to The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Watch The Leaders’ Arena Podcast | Subscribe to The FreeMind Group on YouTube

Support the show

Produced By The FreeMind Group - FMGStrategy.com