The Uncommon Minds Experience

Susan Bortone is the Founder and CEO of Noble Talent Group, a boutique female-founded recruitment firm that works with clients nationally to scale their agencies and brands. She is a Forbes Contributor, a Board Member for the She Runs It mentorship committee, and Harvard Certified in Change Management.

But her story starts somewhere else.

She was a former Ad Agency creative who joined the recruitment space 15+ years ago. She spent years growing teams and processes for other people. Then COVID happened. She was laid off, like so many others.

She took that shift as an opportunity to bet on herself.

Now she helps Founders and CEOs scale their brands and teams, both with talent and with the right processes and operations in place to succeed. She is passionate about supporting others, building strong cultures, and helping leaders advance in their careers.

In this episode, we talk about:

· What it really takes to transition from employee to founder

· How to scale a startup smartly (beyond just hiring talent)

· The key traits of a good leader and a strong culture

· How to attract and retain top talent in today's market

· What the hustle mindset is and when it serves you—and when it doesn't

· How to balance being a mom, a founder, and a human being

· What someone can do to stand out in today's job market

Susan is proof that the best time to bet on yourself is when no one else is betting on you.

Connect with Susan:

Website: Noble Talent Group (link in show notes)

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Short Description (For Spotify mobile)

She was laid off. She built a business. Susan Bortone on scaling, culture, and betting on yourself.

Patricia Grenelle spent over 40 years as a therapist. A forensic psychologist. She sat across from survivors of abuse. She testified in courtrooms. She helped countless people heal from trauma.

Then she wrote her own story.

Her memoir is called We Were a Nice Normal Family. It is about childhood sexual abuse. About narcissistic trauma. About what happens when the family that looks perfect from the outside is quietly breaking people on the inside.

She is 74 years old. She has nothing left to prove. She wrote the book because she wanted to. Because the story was ready. Because someone out there needs to know they are not alone.

In this episode, we talk about:

· What it is like to help others heal for decades before telling your own truth

· The gap between how a family looks and how it actually functions

· Breaking the silence after years of carrying a secret

· What it means to reclaim your voice and your power

· Why "nice normal families" are often the ones hiding the most

· The role of faith in healing and reclaiming identity

Patricia is brave, honest, and deeply human. Her story is not easy to hear. But it is one that needs to be told.

Connect with Patricia:

Website: PatriciaGrenelle.com

Your life is being built one thought, one decision, one action, and one habit at a time. And eventually, those choices become your reputation. That is the foundation of leadership.

DR Rawson is the founder of the CIC Initiative—Character, Integrity, Credibility™. He has launched more than 30 companies, written 19 children's books and 7 adult books, and published more than 700 articles on entrepreneurship, leadership, ethics, and personal responsibility.

He is also the creative force behind TinyTalesLand.com, a storytelling universe designed to teach children emotional strength, responsibility, kindness, and courage—values often missing from modern education and entertainment.

His work is rooted in a simple but increasingly rare idea: what people do matters. Not just publicly, but privately. Not just when people are watching, but when no one is watching. Leadership is not reserved for titles or positions. It exists anywhere responsibility exists.

He says credibility is discussed long before someone enters a room—and long after they leave it. And he believes that crisis does not create character. It reveals it. Leadership under pressure is where true character is tested.

In this episode, we talk about:

· Why credibility is built long before opportunity arrives

· The difference between reputation and true credibility

· What crisis reveals about leadership and emotional discipline

· The hidden cost of compromising integrity in leadership and life

· How small daily decisions shape reputation, trust, and legacy

· Why storytelling may be the most powerful tool for shaping future generations

· What happens when someone asks themselves: "What do I stand for?"

· How leadership exists anywhere responsibility exists—from the boardroom to the living room

DR challenges audiences to think more deeply about the kind of leader and person they are becoming—not just the image they project. Because success without character eventually collapses. Integrity often requires sacrifice. Credibility must be earned. And legacy is being written long before history remembers the name attached to it.

Connect with DR:

Website: mycicscore.com

CIC Initiative: Character, Integrity, Credibility™

Joe Edgar grew up on a Native American reservation in Chiloquin, Oregon. Very poor roots. One of 13 children.

He bought his first investment property at 14. Now he has a portfolio of over 1,000 doors.

He has built numerous companies and is worth nine figures. He has degrees from the University of Oregon, UT Austin, and Cornell. He lived in the Australian outback with Aboriginal people for a couple of years in his late teens.

He worked under Governor Rick Perry and the Obama administration. He was a venture capitalist investing in clean energy. He is still an angel investor.

He has started companies in Ukraine and has been going there for the last 10 years, even throughout the invasion. He speaks some Ukrainian and knows the politics there well.

Now he is the founder and CEO of Loca, a platform that empowers local businesses to connect with customers through cash-based rewards.

He writes for Forbes Business Council. He has been featured in MarketWatch, the Washington Post, and Entrepreneur.

His story is proof that where you start does not have to be where you finish.

In this episode, we talk about:

· Growing up on a reservation with 12 siblings

· Buying his first property at 14 and how he pulled it off

· Living in the Australian outback with Aboriginal people

· Working for both Rick Perry and the Obama administration

· Building businesses in Ukraine during the invasion

· Why he does not own a car (even though he is worth nine figures)

· What he learned about money from being poor and becoming wealthy

· How Loca is helping local businesses survive and thrive

Joe is proof that nobody is coming to save you. You have to build something yourself.

Connect with Joe:

Website: loca.us

LinkedIn: (link in show notes)

Kate Markland was a physiotherapist for twenty years. Her whole career was built on one skill. Listening to the story beneath the symptom. Not what was broken. What was being carried.

Then she lost access to her son.

A court-ordered separation left her with one hour of FaceTime contact with Gabriel each week. One hour. Instead of filling the silence with grief, she asked him a question.

"Do you want to be the hero of your own story?"

He said yes.

What followed were adventures in a world he invented. A bustling seaside village called Coral Cove. An electric platypus named Platy who had no respect for the idea that some things were impossible. A two-headed sea monster called Tentaculus that a ten-year-old boy defeated not with magic but with courage.

Gabriel told the stories. Kate wrote down every word. She corrected nothing.

Those stories became two Amazon #1 bestselling books. Gabriel was ten.

Then Kate asked: could this work for every child? She took the same question into schools. Children described as reluctant, resistant, disengaged. Children the system had written off. Every single one engaged. 100%. Nine schools. 465 children. Not one exception.

Her methodology has been reviewed through Classic Grounded Theory research across 318 children's own words. Presented to the British Psychological Society. Considered by UNICEF for global distribution. Covered by BBC News. Her evidence has been accepted by UK Parliament.

A mother seal does not petition the orca. She teaches her pup to swim so well the orca cannot catch it. That is the principle on which Kate built StoryQuest.

In this episode, we talk about:

· What happens when you ask a child "do you want to be the hero of your own story?"

· Why the blank page is not a literacy problem. It is a voice problem.

· What children reveal when no one is correcting them

· How one hour of constraint became a global movement

· What the system misses because it does not listen to children's voices

· Why a mother seal does not beg the predator for mercy

Kate is warm, fierce, and full of hope. Her story will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about education, voice, and what children actually need.

Connect with Kate:

Website: storyquestglobal.com

Reuben Butterfield builds brands for heart-led businesses. He is the founder of Round 3 Agency. He helps people clarify who they are, design how they show up, and grow with intention.

But that is not why I wanted to talk to him.

In 2025, Reuben lost his co-parent. The mother of his kids. And his own mother. Inside a very short period of time. He does not talk about grief like someone who read a book. He talks about it like someone who is living in it.

He is a dad to teens. A man in progress. And he keeps asking one question. What does it actually mean for a man to show up well? With his kids. With women. In his work. In the life he is responsible for building.

In this episode, we talk about:

· What humble grief looks like (and how it is different)

· What his kids need from him when he is not okay

· The difference between performing strength and actually being present

· What healthy masculinity means to a man still figuring it out

· Why the small moments are the big moments

· How losing people changes what you care about

Reuben is honest. He is hurting. And he is still showing up. That is the work.

Connect with Reuben:

Website: round3.ca

Substack: (link in show notes)

Saw Myint is a mother of two. A 52-year-old Burmese-Australian woman. She is a CPA-qualified finance broker and property developer. She also runs a charity called Wake Up Ltd. She has been supporting people in need since she was 20 years old.

For the past decade, her Buddhist practice has guided her own mental health journey. She now shares insights from self mental healthcare and stress relief practices. The Buddha Way. Backed by science. Evidence-based. Accessible to anyone open-minded and willing to face life's realities.

She helps people navigate stress, depression, addiction, workaholism, and relationship challenges. She also uses these techniques in her work as a mortgage broker. Clearer mind. Better decisions. Less stress.

The essence of her teaching is simple. Our feelings, happiness and unhappiness, are fleeting. They are often shaped by memory, reflection, or imagination. Not the present moment. When we see that, we suffer less.

In this episode, we talk about:

· Why feelings are not facts

· How to pause before reacting to stress

· The simple practice that can change your relationship with anxiety

· What Buddhism and science agree on about mental health

· How a finance broker uses mindfulness to help clients make better decisions

· Why you do not have to believe everything you feel

Saw is warm, wise, and deeply practical. She does not ask you to believe anything. She just invites you to try.

Connect with Saw:

Facebook: facebook.com/likesawkmyint

Calendly: calendly.com/ospf/home-loan-strategy-session-with-saw

Jill Delgado spent over 20 years inside global organizations. Microsoft. GE. HP. American Express. She watched brilliant strategies fail. Millions of dollars wasted. Not because the plan was bad. Because people resist.

She realized something uncomfortable. Corporate America spends millions trying to retrofit adults with agility, empathy, and innovation. But we are starting twenty years too late.

So she wrote a children's book.

The Bibba & Bubba series teaches kids something she calls "cultural buoyancy." The ability to adapt, innovate, and thrive. And here is the genius part. When parents read these books to their kids, they absorb the same lessons. A Trojan Horse for adult development.

In this episode, we talk about:

· Why culture is not a poster on the wall. It is how people actually act

· The difference between surviving change and growing through it

· How a children's book can make you a better leader by tomorrow morning

· What "cultural buoyancy" means for a five-year-old and a CEO

· Why resistance is not the enemy. It is information

· Where real leadership starts. Spoiler. Not the boardroom. The backyard.

Jill is warm, brilliant, and completely original. She does not give you corporate buzzwords. She gives you a new way to see.

Connect with Jill:

Website: https://www.b2we-jilldelgado.org/

Book: Bibba & Bubba series

Most companies talk about innovation. Very few actually profit from it.

Bruno Pešec is one of the rare advisors who has helped senior leaders unlock €1 billion in new revenue and open doors to €28 billion in new market opportunities. Not by preaching theory. By rolling up his sleeves inside organisations across defense, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and more.

He has been trained by Toyota in corporate value creation. He co-founded Norway's largest Lean Startup community. He co-authored Augmented Strategy. He created an award-winning board game called Playing Lean. He is currently completing a doctorate in organizational change, focused on why large enterprises consistently struggle to innovate.

In this episode, we talk about:

· What "profitable innovation" actually means

· Why most companies confuse activity with progress

· The structural reasons large organisations fail at innovation

· How to spot "innovation theater" (and what to do instead)

· Why training employees to innovate is pointless without the right systems

· What Toyota taught him that he could not have learned anywhere else

· How to build an innovation capability that does not collapse when you stop championing it

Bruno is direct, provocative, and grounded in real results. No buzzwords. No innovation theater. Just what actually works.

Connect with Bruno:

Website: pesec.no

John Zachary is not a preacher. He is not a theologian. He is a former engineer and data analyst who started asking a very unusual question.

What if history is not random?

What if ancient timelines, astronomical cycles, and historical events contain measurable patterns that we have been missing because we separate science and faith into different boxes?

He calls his framework Data-Driven Theology. He applies mathematics, reliability engineering, and astronomical modeling to ancient records. Not to prove a religious doctrine. Just to see what the data says.

In this episode, we talk about:

· What happens when an engineer starts reading ancient texts like datasets

· The difference between finding real patterns and seeing what you want to see

· How astronomy and ancient calendars might reveal structures in time

· What skeptics get wrong about his work (and what believers get wrong too)

· Why he is more interested in asking better questions than offering final answers

John is not here to convince you of anything. He is here to invite you into a way of thinking. To look at the information already in front of you. And to decide for yourself.

Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, his process is fascinating. And his questions will stick with you.

Connect with John:

Website: authorjohnzachary.com