Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen

The Data and Humanity Behind Great People Decisions with Brandon Kinsey, Co-Founder of Kinsey Management

When financial pressure rises, even the best leaders can fall into the “layoff trap”—cutting too quickly, hiring too emotionally, or keeping the wrong person in the right seat.

In this powerful conversation, Kristyn Drennen and Brandon Kinsey challenge how founders make people decisions when it matters most. They explore how behavioral strategy and data-driven insight can help leaders move from reaction to reflection—pairing heart with hard truth.

Brandon shares how Predictive Index helps identify alignment, resilience, and pressure-handling styles within teams, while Kristyn brings an operational and leadership lens to show how structure and data work together to create clarity.

Listeners will learn how to:

• Avoid emotional bias when restructuring or hiring
• Diagnose leadership health and team fit
• Use behavioral data to strengthen decision-making
• Balance courage, clarity, and compassion in moments of pressure
• Create alignment around vision, communication, and credibility

If you’ve ever wrestled with a tough leadership call, this episode will help you see people decisions through a more courageous, strategic lens—one grounded in both data and humanity.

Key Highlights

• The hidden cost of the “layoff trap” and how founders can avoid it
• Why gut-based decisions often create long-term culture damage
• Five alignment anchors every healthy team needs
• The right time to use behavioral assessments in hiring or restructuring
• How to combine emotional intelligence with objective data
• Why courageous clarity is the ultimate leadership multiplier

Links & Resources

• Learn more about Kinsey Management: https://kinseymgmt.com
• Connect with Brandon Kinsey on LinkedIn
• Explore leadership transformation with TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Stay Connected

If this episode resonates, share it with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. And if you’re ready to unlock your capacity and lead from your zone of genius, book a conversation with Kristyn and the TCXO team.

🎧  👉 Subscribe to Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube — and share this episode with a visionary leader who needs to hear it.

Learn more about TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Connect with Kristyn Drennen on LinkedIn: Kristyn’s LinkedIn 

Follow Kristyn on Instagram: @kristyndrennencxo 

Entrepreneurs pour everything into their business — but when it comes to their personal wealth, even the most successful leaders often find themselves disorganized or exposed.

In this episode of Unlocked, host Kristyn Drennen sits down with Tiffany Charles, Chief Growth Officer at Destiny Capital, to explore why every entrepreneur needs a Personal Wealth Operating System™ — and how aligning your personal and business goals creates true financial freedom. Together they unpack:

• Why your business should be your wealth engine, not your retirement plan
• How to bridge the gap between business success and personal financial clarity
• The emotional side of money and why vulnerability is a leadership strength
• What to do when your personal wealth feels messy, scattered, or reactive
• Simple ways to start building structure and intentionality into your financial life

Resources Mentioned:

• Song: “Regulate” by Warren G & Nate Dogg — Tiffany’s ultimate walk-up anthem
• Sphere Rocket Virtual Assistant Company – Kristyn’s go-to recommendation for virtual assistant support
• Learn more about Destiny Capital: www.destinycapital.com
• Connect with Tiffany Charles on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tiffanycharles
• Email: [email protected]

Stay Connected

If this episode resonates, share it with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. And if you’re ready to unlock your capacity and lead from your zone of genius, book a conversation with Kristyn and the TCXO team.

🎧  👉 Subscribe to Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube — and share this episode with a visionary leader who needs to hear it.

Learn more about TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Connect with Kristyn Drennen on LinkedIn: Kristyn’s LinkedIn 

Follow Kristyn on Instagram: @kristyndrennencxo 

Are you spending your best energy on the right things—or are you buried in tasks that drain you?

In this solo episode, Kristyn Drennen breaks down the Delegate & Elevate strategy, a simple yet transformative exercise that helps leaders reclaim their time, focus on their zone of genius, and unlock capacity for what truly matters.

Kristyn walks through the five steps of the framework:

• Find your 100% — define the hours you’re willing to work and still feel balanced
• List everything you do — get it all out of your head and onto paper
• List everything you should do — surface the strategic work that keeps getting pushed aside
• Evaluate your list — use the four quadrants to see where your time really belongs
• Delegate and elevate — free yourself from tasks that don’t serve your genius

You’ll learn how to spot what belongs on your plate, what your team can take on, and how to elevate yourself back into the leadership role your business truly needs.

Why it matters:
When leaders make these shifts, they don’t just lighten their workload—they rediscover their energy, strengthen their teams, and fall back in love with their business.

Resources & Links

• Download the Delegate & Elevate Worksheet
• Learn more about how TransformCXO helps leaders elevate at transformcxo.com
• Schedule a Discovery Call with Kristyn's preferred VA Company: SphereRocket

Stay Connected

If this episode resonates, share it with a fellow leader who needs to hear it. And if you’re ready to unlock your capacity and lead from your zone of genius, book a conversation with Kristyn and the TCXO team.

🎧  👉 Subscribe to Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube — and share this episode with a visionary leader who needs to hear it.

Learn more about TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Connect with Kristyn Drennen on LinkedIn: Kristyn’s LinkedIn 

Follow Kristyn on Instagram: @kristyndrennencxo 

High performers love to push, grind, and go — but what if the missing link to greater results isn’t more effort, but better rest?

In this episode of Unlocked, host Kristyn Drennen sits down with David Shrum, a Meta Performance™ Executive Coach and former EMS Director, to unpack why rest is not a luxury, but a critical discipline for leaders. Together they explore:

• The difference between passive breaks and active rest
• How to uncover and rewrite the limiting stories leaders carry about rest
• What to do when you feel overwhelmed by vision — or starved for it
• Why protecting your “furnace” of energy fuels better leadership, better families, and better results

Resources Mentioned:

• Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Pang
• Sleeping At Last’s Enneagram Album (especially songs 6 & 8)
• Connect with David Shrum on LinkedIn or via email.

Reference Correction: Using furnace as a description for our energy reserves and the necessity to protect it comes from Jason Jaggard in his book Beyond High Performance.

🎧  👉 Subscribe to Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube — and share this episode with a visionary leader who needs to hear it.

Learn more about TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Connect with Kristyn Drennen on LinkedIn: Kristyn’s LinkedIn 

Follow Kristyn on Instagram: @kristyndrennencxo 

Summary:
What happens when loyalty clashes with leadership? In this episode of Unlocked, host Kristyn Drennen sits down with powerhouse real estate leader Tina Caul to explore the messy middle of growing a business: wrong seats, tough calls, team misalignment, and the freedom that comes from making the hard decisions faster.

Listeners will hear:

●      How to navigate wrong person/right seat dilemmas

●      The politics of titles, silos, and fragile egos

●      The turning point that forced Tina to change course

●      How finding her perfect integrator unlocked freedom and growth

●      Tina’s “Extra 10%”: the one soul-check question every visionary should ask

Call to Action:

Follow Tina on Instagram @tina_caul and on Facebook at Tina Caul.

 👉 Subscribe to Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube — and share this episode with a visionary leader who needs to hear it.

Learn more about TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Connect with Kristyn Drennen on LinkedIn: Kristyn’s LinkedIn 

Follow Kristyn on Instagram: @kristyndrennencxo 

High performers often pride themselves on their ability to grind—but at what cost?
Andrew Hartman knows this story firsthand. As a scaling COO, he pushed himself to the breaking point, sacrificing his health, relationships, and sense of presence until burnout forced a change. That journey led Andrew and his wife, Kelly, to create Time Boss, a system designed to help leaders and teams run at their highest sustainable pace.

In this conversation with host Kristyn Drennen, Andrew shares:

• His personal story of stress-induced health struggles and how burnout reshaped his career.
• Why “time is cash, not credit” and how leaders should budget it wisely.
• The simple weekly practices that unlock clarity, focus, and productivity.
• Why personal commitments like workouts, date nights, and family time must be non-negotiable.
• How companies can set healthy communication norms to reduce chaos and increase deep work.

Kristyn and Andrew also dive into practical takeaways—how to stop letting your inbox run your day, how to reframe your calendar as a reflection of your values, and why leaders must move beyond tolerating life to choosing the life they want.

Whether you’re a visionary business owner, an overwhelmed executive, or simply someone who wants to reclaim their time, this episode will leave you with tools and encouragement to step into a new way of working and living.

Key Highlights

• Andrew’s raw story of burnout and recovery.
• The danger of “sprinting a marathon” in leadership.
• Why personal commitments should be treated like fixed costs.
• The Time Boss system: backlog, calendar, and daily list.
• Practical tips to reset, recover, and lead with clarity.

Links & Resources

• Learn more about Time Boss: https://timeboss.us
• Connect with Andrew Hartman on LinkedIn: Andrew Hartman LinkedIn
• Watch the free Time Boss Masterclass: https://timeboss.us/masterclass

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. 

Explore Kristyn’s work with TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com

Welcome to the debut of Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen—a podcast for visionary leaders ready to discover what’s next.

In this opening conversation, producer Jon Ekstrom interviews Kristyn to set the stage for the episodes ahead. Kristyn shares her story of building TransformCXO, where she and her team of fractional executives help business owners prepare for scale and high-value exits. She reflects on her philosophy of combining horsepower and joy in business—a fresh alternative to hustle culture—and why aligning values with execution is the key to lasting success.

You’ll also hear:

• The personal story behind Kristyn’s drive to help owners prepare for business transitions.
• A candid look at why 90% of business owners regret selling their companies—and how to avoid it.
• The importance of intangible capital (people, processes, customers, culture) in building real enterprise value.
• A powerful framework for shifting from working in the business to working on the business.
• Kristyn’s commitment to leaving every listener with something tactical and actionable.

This episode also features the first Unfiltered segment—a fun look at Kristyn’s walk-up song, guilty pleasures, and the experiences that humanize her beyond the boardroom.

Key Highlights

• Why Kristyn launched Unlocked and what listeners can expect.
• The difference between transactional leadership and relational impact.
• Case studies of two mergers—and why one thrived while the other failed.
• The “Delegate & Elevate” mindset shift every leader needs.
• Kristyn’s belief that better businesses create stronger families and communities.

Links & Resources

• Learn more about TransformCXO: https://transformcxo.com
• Connect with Kristyn Drennen on LinkedIn: Kristyn’s LinkedIn 
• Follow Kristyn on Instagram: @kristyndrennencxo 

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow Unlocked with Kristyn Drennen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. 

For more tools and insights, visit TransformCXO.com