Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Bold Business Podcast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENCORE: How to Perform Under Pressure Aligned with Your Goals | 08 Oct 2026 | 00:28:46 | |
Growth is uncomfortable. Amy Anderson didn't plan to become an entrepreneur—a divorce and two young children forced the decision. What she's built since then, scaling from two people to 20 while running a fully dispersed team, offers real lessons in performing under pressure while staying true to your values. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Amy Anderson, Co-Founder at Wild Coffee Marketing, about how to build a culture of accountability that allows teams to perform under pressure and stay aligned with their goals. The real secret to their success is how they've built a high-performance culture internally and help clients do the same. You'll discover: ✓ Why culture is how you do your work, not what work you do Amy shares how she made the intentional decision in 2017 to build a remote-first company so she could hire the best talent. She shares the systems and frameworks that keep a distributed team aligned and accountable. Most importantly, what performing under pressure actually requires: people who think critically, metrics that mean something, and a culture where contribution is expected. It is BOLD to strive for greatness through accountability—in your team, in your relationships with clients, and in the daily decisions about how you do your work. —--------------------------------- If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business.
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| ENCORE: Best Leaders Add Value to Their Team and Business | 01 Oct 2026 | 00:56:15 | |
Your commitment to yourself determines everything else. Most leaders show up for their clients and team with unwavering dedication—yet struggle to honor the same promises they make to themselves. This gap is where potential goes to die. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Paul D. Casey, Coach and Author at Growing Forward Services, about why reflection, intentional decision-making, and personal accountability are the foundation of massive business growth. Intentionally adding value—to your business, your team, your clients—starts with a non-negotiable commitment to yourself. When you know how you want to show up, when you have clear filters for the opportunities you pursue, and when you pause regularly to assess what's working, everything shifts. The discipline of reflection separates leaders who chase shiny objects from those who build lasting momentum. And the secret? It's not about having more time. It's about using the time you have with intention, asking yourself the hard questions, and knowing when things need to end so growth can begin. In this episode, you'll discover: ✓ Why your commitment to yourself directly impacts how you show up for others The depth of your reflection determines the quality of your decisions. Leaders who build breakthrough growth aren't chasing more opportunities—they're getting clearer about which ones matter most. They're asking themselves hard questions. They're pausing to celebrate wins. They're using solitude and structure to access their best thinking. It is BOLD to dedicate time to personal reflection, to commit to yourself the way you commit to others, and to let the discipline of intentionality guide your business forward. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of organization that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Present Retreat, your weekly practice that reclaims executive bandwidth, sharpens business instinct, and replaces reactive goal chasing with strategic compounding, all with measurable reduction in decision-cycle time. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| How Business Instinct and Routine Drive Strategic Success in Scaling | 24 Sep 2026 | 00:44:08 | |
Your growth strategy is already outdated. That's not a failure — it's a reality. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with John Sansoucie, CEO at CogNet, about what it takes to scale from startup to enterprise while staying aligned with a market that never stops changing. CogNet grew 600x. Along the way, John learned that the most dangerous assumption leaders make is thinking their strategy is static. Modern leadership isn't about having all the answers — it's about removing barriers, supporting your team, and adapting fast enough to keep pace with your market. That requires both Business Instinct and disciplined Routine. The challenge of scaling isn't just about technology or headcount. It's about building a culture where people trust their instincts, where experimentation is embraced, and where strategic pauses are valued as much as rapid growth. John shares insider lessons on evolving your tech stack, shifting from people-based to technology-based value propositions, and pacing growth to match your internal capabilities — not your ambitions. What you will discover in this episode:
It is BOLD to declare to your team that staying true to your company's Growth Strategy means uncomfortable acknowledgment that your current strategy is already changing. The leaders who thrive aren't clinging to yesterday's plans — they're building the systems and culture to evolve intelligently, instinctively, and intentionally. If you're a CEO, operations leader, or scaling entrepreneur navigating rapid growth while trying to keep your team aligned and your systems stable, this conversation is for you. —-----------------
If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| How Self-Awareness and Mindset Fuel Bold Moves in Business | 17 Sep 2026 | 00:51:58 | |
Intentionally investing in your own and your team's personal brand is the single most powerful advantage to scale your company—especially during the high pressure and rapid change you face today. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Anne Candido and April Martini, Co-Founders at ForthRight People, about how self-awareness fuels BOLD moves in business and how aligning behaviors with your truest self creates real momentum, even as circumstances shift. Achieving big ambitions requires being bold, vulnerable, and taking responsibility for shaping perceptions and building supportive relationships. It's more important than ever for leaders and managers to show up authentically and harness your unique strengths. From this place of authenticity, you begin to be intentional about cultivating the experience others have of you—specifically, the way you want to be known. The key isn't adopting an external persona; it's embracing and expressing who you actually are, because that's where trust, influence, and lasting relationships are built. In this episode, you will discover: ✓ Why authenticity—not external personas—is the foundation of successful personal branding amidst competition and constant change It is BOLD to prioritize and actively embody your personal brand despite challenges, creating empowered authenticity and inspiring transformation in those around you. —--------- If you're ready to build the organizational foundation that supports real growth, check out the Business Base Camp Consultation designed for owners who need to do the right work and lead growth at the same time, building the processes and market clarity to move from management oversight to systems-led execution. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Deep Story, One Objective: The Secret to BOLD Brands | 10 Sep 2026 | 00:48:12 | |
Find out if your brand is built to last — or just chasing the next trend. Thinking with a longer horizon (even 20 years!) is the edge your business needs to withstand today's constant change. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Bob Rogers, Founder at BRC Imagination Arts and Author of "Deep Story A Masterclass in Experiential Story Making," about how practicing ruthless focus around one objective is what separates BOLD brands from the rest. There is an art to the discipline of editing and removing all except the most essential elements from a project. This includes planning for where you expect the future to be going, and recognizing that true hospitality is helping people find the magic within themselves. The emotional heart of your brand and the people you serve is a timeless element, and designing experiences that speak to that will perform better and last years to decades. In this episode, you will discover:
It is BOLD to let go of linear planning and instead practice focused, ruthless clarity around one objective. The secret of bold brands is their ability to connect to a shared emotional truth with their customers. When you lead with that truth and edit everything else away, you create experiences that last. --------------------
If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Rethinking Hustle: Why Brute Force Work Is Outdated in the Age of AI | 03 Sep 2026 | 00:41:30 | |
In the age of AI, the traditional concept of hustle and brute force work is becoming outdated. Jess Dewell talks with Duncan Brand, Author of Mind the Gap and Effectiveness Advisor, about why it is BOLD to build systems-led execution and make themselves obsolete in day-to-day operations.
Uncover the secret weapon top leaders use to break out of overwhelm, refocus priorities, and drive lasting achievement — without burning out. Your calendar is your biggest tool.
We all have the same amount of time in a day. Planning your week and maintaining a cadence maximize impact. So, if you choose to muster the courage to step back from daily operations, you can further adjust where you add the most value.
Duncan shares insights on the Golden Pause for big decisions, building your week around top priorities, and the three ways you will get in your own way and what to do about it. The discussion also covers prioritising weekly goals and personal passions for effectiveness; the value and practice of intentional listening; the significance of inner core values and self-awareness in leadership; and common leadership identity traps that affect delegation and execution.
In the era of AI, it is BOLD for a CEO to step back and trust a systems-led execution, making themselves obsolete in the day-to-day operations. Tune in to learn how to accelerate achievement towards your 36-month initiatives by leveraging the secret weapon of top leaders and rethinking the outdated concept of hustle in the age of AI. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of business that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program, designed to support leadership teams through high-stakes strategic decisions.
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You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Building, Buying, and Scaling Businesses for Modern Entrepreneurs | 27 Aug 2026 | 00:49:53 | |
You hired the best team, invested in the latest tools, and built what looks like a scalable operation. And nothing changed. Not because your people aren't talented — but because you're still playing the wrong role. You're still doing work that someone else could do better. The future of scaling isn't about building bigger teams or buying the next tool. I''s about knowing yourself — truly knowing where you drive the most value. And what actually matters to scaling — your clarity on role, your willingness to learn constantly, your ability to attract complementary talent — has been invisible to most entrepreneurial playbooks for too long. Jess Dewell talks with Tracy Holland, Founder at InnerFifth and Goodwillbrands, on how entrepreneurs can stop trying to do everything and start building businesses designed around their greatest strengths. Tracy has scaled multiple businesses by knowing exactly what she does best — and what to delegate, buy, or hire for everything else. In this episode, you'll discover:
The entrepreneurs scaling successfully know exactly what only they can do — and they've built everything else around that clarity. They partner strategically based on integrity, not just enthusiasm. They invest in personal brands because they understand it's a business asset. Growth accelerates when you stop trying to be CEO, operator, salesperson, and strategist all at once. If your business feels stuck despite your hard work, if you're wondering whether you're in the right role, or if you're ready to scale by design, this conversation will show you what's possible. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of business that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program, designed to support leadership teams through high-stakes strategic decisions.
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You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Eliminating Strategic Debt and Boosting Team Productivity | 20 Aug 2026 | 00:33:42 | |
Align your actions with desired business outcomes, even when it requires challenging current habits. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Chris McShanag, CEO and Founder at Virtual Teammate, about boldly confronting distraction debt and using growth levers to scale. He shares proven strategies that help owners and executives ditch low-value work, redeploy talent, and fuel business growth — while delivering real client results. Today it is necessary to actively shape your company because there are challenges you must face to create the future relevance of your business. Prioritizing impact, and ensuring you have time to think before taking action, guarantees you are designing a path forward that puts decision-making and execution responsibilities with the right people on your team. In this episode, you will discover:
It is BOLD to confront your own strategic debt and leverage your current leadership to grow and scale. Managing distraction debt directly impacts your ability to lead effectively and scale intentionally. By removing what doesn't serve your vision and empowering the right people with the right responsibilities, you create the foundation for sustainable growth and real business transformation.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Achieve More by Doing Less: Effective Processes and Smart Financial Choices | 13 Aug 2026 | 00:38:30 | |
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Scenario planning isn't just for financials. Whether markets drop or your business faces adversity, having thought about the worst-case lets you operate with confidence. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Jack Oujo, Founder at Oujo Wealth Strategies, about why it is BOLD to embrace the concept of less is more — especially in today's fast-changing world. The toughest leadership calls are often the ones we delay. Welcoming peer feedback and brutal self-assessment catapults businesses to top-tier success. Embracing worst-case scenarios in decision-making and strategic planning is necessary to navigate recessions, market crashes, and disruption. You'll discover:
Success is determined by how you choose to use the extra time you have. What you choose to carry forward from your biggest learning experiences shapes how you take calculated risks and move forward with intention. Take this work and focus on your client experience for connection and retention through change. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of business that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program, designed to support leadership teams through high-stakes strategic decisions.
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You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| From Self-Doubt to Bold Impact: Lessons in Leadership and Industry Disruption | 06 Aug 2026 | 00:36:46 | |
Stepping up is essential for you, your team, your customers, and your service to create real impact. In this episode, Jess Dewell talks with Heather Gibson, Owner at Big Hearted Breeders, about how recognizing self-doubt is necessary for self-acceptance in the process of facing industry disruption. She shares that she is BOLD in order to meet the self-doubt that arises by remembering her purpose.
More than challenging misconceptions, outdated traditions, and external judgment is your dedication to your work. And that your work has value. Profit is not a dirty word. It is survival. You can indeed run a profitable business, stand in your power, and share your passion with on-purpose work.
In this episode, you will discover:
Remembering your purpose is a powerful ally when self-doubt shows up. The way to create real change is to find commonality with others as you move along your path. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of organization that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Present Retreat, your weekly practice that reclaims executive bandwidth, sharpens business instinct, and replaces reactive goal chasing with strategic compounding, all with measurable reduction in decision-cycle time. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Rewarding Hidden Contributions: The Future of Talent Measurement | 30 Jul 2026 | 00:34:35 | |
You just invested in the latest feedback tool, the best collaboration platform, the smartest productivity software. And nothing changed. Not because the tools are bad — but because you're still measuring the wrong things. You're still rewarding the visible. You're still missing the people who quietly hold your organization together. The future of work isn't about better tools. It's about measuring what actually matters. And what actually matters — reliability, leadership, attitude, the intangibles that move teams — has been invisible to your reward systems for too long. Jess Dewell talks with Jacob Chase, Founder & CEO of The INFIN, on how organizations can stop chasing innovation for innovation's sake and start measuring the human contributions that technology can't replace. Jacob has built systems that capture what traditional evaluation misses: the peer-recognized strengths that drive real organizational change. In this episode, you'll discover:
The organizations winning today aren't the ones with the fanciest tools. They're the ones measuring what matters. They're recognizing contributions that numbers alone can't capture. They're willing to look beyond job titles and formal roles to see who's actually driving value. They've built systems where peer recognition and transparent rewards amplify the strengths that move culture forward. The disconnect between tools and culture is growing. Companies invest heavily in platforms for feedback but still rely on outdated evaluation methods. They claim to value collaboration but reward individual achievement. They say culture matters but measure only output. That gap is costing you talent, innovation, and resilience. If your feedback systems feel disconnected from reality, if your best people aren't getting recognized for their true contributions, or if you're wondering how to measure the intangible qualities that are actually holding your team together, this conversation will reorient what's possible. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of business that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program, designed to support leadership teams through high-stakes strategic decisions.
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You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Prioritize, Ship, Repeat: Mastering Efficiency and Team Happiness | 23 Jul 2026 | 00:49:59 | |
Your team is tired. Not because they're working hard — it's because nothing finishes. Projects linger. Code stays half-baked. Strategy documents gather dust. Trust frays. And the worst part? Nobody can name what's actually wrong. Because the real problem isn't the work itself. It's that half of it never ships. It just sits there, unfinished, invisible, draining energy from everyone who touches it. Efficiency isn't about doing more. It's about finishing what matters. Team happiness isn't a perk you add on — it's what happens when people see their work actually ship, when they're focused on one thing instead of scattered across ten, when they know their contribution landed. The resistance you're sensing isn't that your team doesn't want to move fast. It's that they can't see progress. Because progress isn't a milestone. It's evidence of successful, ongoing delivery. What creates capacity while making progress are small, iterative cycles so that goals remain relevant in disruptive environments. Making work visible can transform your organization's internal strengths into real competitive advantage. In this episode of the BOLD Business Podcast, Jess Dewell talks with Thanos Diacakis, CEO and Chief Troublemaker at Cosmic Teacups, about why the teams moving fastest aren't the ones chasing arbitrary milestones — they're the ones who learned to name what's unfinished and architect a resilient delivery system. In this episode, you'll discover:
The teams that scale fastest aren't the ones with the best plans. They're the ones who can see where work actually gets stuck and aren't afraid to name it. They've learned that conflict isn't dysfunction — it's how you surface what teams actually need. They've discovered that when people finish work and see it shipped, everything changes. Efficiency goes up. Happiness goes up. Energy returns because there's forward momentum. Thanos has spent years on the frontlines where this plays out every single day. He's seen what happens when leaders try to do everything themselves and what shifts when they instead create space for teams to own completion. He's watched rigid plans crumble and resilient delivery systems take their place. The lesson: stop chasing arbitrary milestones. Start shipping real work. If your team is stuck in half-finished mode, if you're wondering why efficiency initiatives aren't creating happiness, if momentum has stalled and you're unsure whether the problem is strategy or delivery, or if you're ready to move from managing chaos to architecting a system that lets teams actually finish what matters, this conversation will reorient what's possible. --------------------
If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Scaling Smart: Why Executive Bottlenecks Erode High-Growth Companies | 16 Jul 2026 | 00:25:05 | |
Growth plateaus aren't inevitable — they're a signal. In this episode, Jess Dewell, Growth Strategist at Red Direction and host of the BOLD Business Podcast, reveals why even high-performing CEOs and founders hit a ceiling and how to break through it. The cycle of hustle is real, but scaling with intention requires more than speed — it demands strategy, self-awareness, and the courage to evolve. Jess explores the hidden bottlenecks and comfort zones that sabotage teams, keep decisions reactive, and erode competitive advantage. What makes it BOLD: Being BOLD means transforming your proven business practices through Business Instinct — the fusion of data-driven logic, emotional intelligence, and intuitive leadership. It's the courage to step back, challenge what's working, and align your company with evolving markets before disruption forces your hand. What You'll Hear:
Learn how to unlock your team's next level of performance, command strategic clarity, and build lasting business relevance — without burning out. Perfect for: Founders, CEOs, and ambitious leaders ready to move beyond the hustle cycle and scale with intention. | |||
| Leadership Transitions: From Change and Resistance to Resilient Teams | 09 Jul 2026 | 00:44:19 | |
The resistance your team is showing isn't about your direction. It's about being left out of the story. You have the vision. You have the answers. You know exactly where this needs to go. And that's precisely where you're losing them. Because a vision that lives only in your head isn't a company vision. It's a founder's private project. And teams don't sign up to be passengers in someone else's story. Leadership transitions aren't about pivoting strategy or restructuring org charts. They're about inviting your team into the narrative so they actually own the outcome. The resistance you're feeling? It's not a sign you need better answers. It's a sign you need better listeners, and you need to be one of them. Jess Dewell talks with Nellie Lester, Advisor at WS & Co. Advisory, on how founders can move from being the hero of the story to being the architect of collective success. Nellie has seen what happens when leaders try to control every answer and what shifts when they instead create space for others to step into their strengths. In this episode, you'll discover:
The leaders navigating change successfully aren't the ones with all the answers locked in their heads. They're the ones who stepped back enough to see that everyone at the table builds the organizational story together. They invited strengths they didn't have. They admitted what they didn't know. They created space for others to lead. Resistance to change often isn't resistance to the direction, it's resistance to being excluded from shaping it. The teams that move through transitions with resilience aren't the ones that follow orders. They're the ones that co-create the path forward. That's the human side of leadership. That's what builds organizations that endure. If your team is stuck in resistance mode, if momentum has stalled and you're wondering whether the problem is the strategy or how it's being communicated, or if you're ready to move from managing everything yourself to leading a team that owns the outcome, this conversation will reorient what's possible. —--------- If you're ready to build the organizational foundation that supports real growth, check out the Business Base Camp Consultation designed for owners who need to do the right work and lead growth at the same time, building the processes and market clarity to move from management oversight to systems-led execution. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| CEO Confessions: Loneliness, Building the Right Team & Bold Growth | 02 Jul 2026 | 00:41:25 | |
You started your company because you were exactly what it needed. Then your company grew, and suddenly you became the problem. No one tells founders this part of the story — not in the highlight reels, not in the fundraising pitch decks, not until you're standing alone at 2 a.m. wondering if you're the one holding the business back. Scaling isn't just an operational challenge. It's a personal reckoning. The skills that got you here won't get you there. The team that was scrappy and loyal will need to be rebuilt. And the exhaustion you're feeling? That's not a weakness. That's a signal you're not supposed to ignore. Jess Dewell talks with Alexis Sikorsky, Founder at Sikorsky Consulting and KnightScale Partners, on the confessions founders rarely make and the hard truths about what it actually takes to scale. Alexis has walked founders through the $5-15 million inflection point — where self-transformation becomes non-negotiable, and the cost of staying the same exceeds the cost of changing. In this episode, you'll discover:
The founders scaling successfully aren't the ones chasing the next funding round or surrounding themselves with resume stars. They're the ones willing to get uncomfortable. They're the ones who looked in the mirror and changed. They're the ones who built leadership teams based on trust, not credentials. They controlled their burn. They said no more than they said yes. Loneliness in entrepreneurship is real. The pressure to do more, raise more, prove more — it's relentless. But the founders who make it through aren't the ones who pretend the exhaustion isn't there. They're the ones who claim it, get strategic about it, and use it as information instead of a weakness. If you're at that inflection point where something needs to shift, if you're wondering whether the problem is the team or you, or if you're feeling the weight of scaling in a way nobody prepared you for, this conversation will give you permission to get honest about what's actually required. —---------
If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business.
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You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| ENCORE: How To Avoid The Hidden Costs Of Growing Your Business | 25 Jun 2026 | 00:50:35 | |
Are you your own biggest roadblock to success? In this episode, Jess Dewell (Managing Partner and Growth Strategist at Red Direction) , Christy Maxfield (President and CEO at Purpose First Advisors), and Dean Barta (Founder and CEO at Barta Business Group, have a candid conversation about what growth really looks like — and what it costs.
Growth isn't just about revenue. It means building infrastructure, developing talent, entering new markets, and making hard choices — planned and unplanned. But before any of that, it starts with mindset.
Your inner dialog has real-world consequences, and knowing where you're being held back — by external forces or by yourself — is the first step toward designing intentional action.
Together, Jess, Christy, and Dean explore:
If you're ready to transform challenges into opportunities and build a business that is both successful and sustainable, this episode is for you.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Clarity, Fairness, and Care: The Secret to High Trust Organizations | 18 Jun 2026 | 00:41:41 | |
Here's what kills growth quietly: not bad strategy or tired teams, but leaders who stop showing up with intention. When you're busy, when uncertainty rises, when the pressure mounts — that's exactly when trust starts to leak. And by the time you notice, it's already become your biggest liability. Trust isn't an intangible value or a soft skill. It's measurable, concrete operational infrastructure. And when leadership is stretched thin, self-care gets deprioritized, and uncertainty becomes the norm, the organizations still standing are the ones who never let trust get blurry in the first place. Jess Dewell talks with Kim Bohr, CEO at SparkEffect, on how high-trust organizations outpace uncertainty and build the resilience that allows businesses to scale. Kim has seen what happens when managers are left to navigate change alone, and what it takes to rebuild credibility with teams that have grown skeptical of leadership. In this episode, you'll discover:
The organizations winning when uncertainty rises aren't the ones with the most sophisticated systems or the largest budgets. They're the ones with trust and discipline. They resisted the pressure to chase every new initiative. They invested in their frontline managers. They built credibility through intention, not volume. Distrust in organizations is growing, and the companies feeling it most are the ones that prioritize tactical execution at the expense of people's investment. Trust is the competitive advantage that holds. And in a landscape increasingly driven by change and complexity, choosing to slow down and develop your managers is itself a bold business decision. If your organization's growth has plateaued, your team is reacting to changes instead of leading with strategy, or you're wondering whether your current manager development investment is actually moving the needle, this conversation will reorient your thinking. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of organization that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Present Retreat, your weekly practice that reclaims executive bandwidth, sharpens business instinct, and replaces reactive goal chasing with strategic compounding, all with measurable reduction in decision-cycle time. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Productive Struggle and Joyful Leadership: Redefining Success in Business | 11 Jun 2026 | 00:45:33 | |
What if your routines are quietly stifling your company's growth? In this episode of the BOLD Business Podcast, host Jess Dewell sits down with Dr. Jennifer Berry, CEO of SmartLab, to explore a rebellious mindset shift that disrupts burnout and drives fresh thinking in today's fast-changing business landscape.
Dr. Berry challenges the "go it alone" approach to leadership, making the case that lasting impact is built through collaboration, belonging, and the willingness to face discomfort together. From her Stop, Walk, and Think process to the power of tiny acts of rebellion, she offers practical ways to break mental ruts, spark innovation, and reconnect with what truly matters.
You'll walk away understanding how celebrating effort fuels both immediate momentum and long-term goals, why joy isn't forced positivity but a practice worth designing into your culture, and how productive struggle — for your team and your clients — is one of the boldest moves a leader can make.
In this episode:
If you're ready to redefine success to include joy and productive struggle, this conversation is your starting point.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business.
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| Surviving Algorithm Shifts: Clear Messaging and Smart Advertising | 04 Jun 2026 | 00:35:59 | |
Most companies don't lose ground because their product weakens or their team stops working. They lose ground because the message drifted - gradually, quietly - while everyone was busy chasing the next platform update. A clear message isn't a marketing asset. It's operational infrastructure. And when algorithm shifts, shrinking social ROI, and an AI-saturated ad landscape all arrive at the same time, the companies still standing are the ones who never let the message get blurry in the first place. Jess Dewell talks with Rihab Abouzaki, Expert in GCC–US Advertising at This N That Communications, on advertising strategies that hold up when conditions change. She's seen what happens when businesses outsource their message clarity to whatever platform is trending, and what it takes to rebuild trust with audiences that have grown skeptical of everything digital. In this episode, you'll discover:
The businesses winning in today's advertising environment aren't the ones with the most sophisticated tools or the largest ad budgets. They're the ones with message discipline. They resisted the pressure to chase every algorithm update. They built credibility through consistency, not volume. Distrust in the online world is growing, and the companies feeling it most are the ones that chase reach at the expense of message. Clarity is the competitive advantage that holds. And in a landscape increasingly driven by automation and AI, choosing to prioritize human connection over algorithmic optimization is itself a bold business decision. If your advertising results have plateaued, your team is reacting to platform changes instead of leading with strategy, or you're wondering whether the ROI on social spend is still worth defending, this conversation will reorient your thinking. —--------- If you're ready to build the kind of business that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program, designed to support leadership teams through high-stakes strategic decisions.
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| Workplace Legal Issues Every Company Leader Needs to Know | 28 May 2026 | 00:38:56 | |
Growing companies often sacrifice the foundation while chasing the finish line. Culture gets built later. HR systems get installed when problems surface. Employee protections feel like a luxury for bigger budgets. And somewhere in the scaling sprint, leaders realize they've created the perfect conditions for workplace disputes, legal exposure, and the very chaos they were trying to outrun.
But here's what separates companies that thrive from those that get blindsided: the ones who treat people's systems as core infrastructure from day one.
"It is BOLD to say that you are for the people and mean it." — Jesse Weinstein, Partner at Phillips and Associates, PLLC
Jess Dewell talks with Jesse Weinstein who has spent his career untangling the mess that happens when intention and practice split apart. From startups racing to scale to established organizations with public missions focused on inclusion, he's seen where the gaps appear — and what it costs to ignore them.
In this episode, you'll discover:
The companies winning at scale aren't the ones outworking chaos — they're the ones who built systems that prevent it. They invested in culture when it felt optional. They made communication channels visible before crises forced their hand. They aligned their words with their actions. This episode isn't about compliance theater. It's about recognizing that your people, your culture, and your legal foundation are inseparable from your growth strategy.
When leadership commits to getting this right, the payoff is both immediate and compounding: reduced turnover, stronger collaboration, and the kind of organizational stability that actually accelerates scaling.
If you're building a company that's growing faster than your systems can keep up, or you're realizing that your internal practices don't match your external promises, this conversation is for you. —----------------- Ready to build the foundation that supports real growth? The Business Base Camp Consultation is designed for owners who need to do the right work and lead growth at the same time, building the processes and market clarity to move from management oversight to systems-led execution. It's where strategy meets culture, and where sustainable scaling actually begins. —----------------- You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| The Business Evolution Roadmap: Bridging the Gap from Here to There | 21 May 2026 | 00:51:23 | |
If you picture your role two years from now, what would need to change? That's the question Christy Maxfield (President and CEO at Purpose First Advisors), Dean Barta (Founder and CEO at Barta Business Group), and Jess Dewell (Managing Partner and Growth Strategist at Red Direction) explore in this It's Your Business episode. These three business advisors talk about the mindset shifts and practical moves that actually matter in the next 24 months. Whether you're running a boutique firm, scaling mid-market, or managing a larger operation, reducing operational friction and getting real-time visibility into your data is something you can influence right now. The conversation moves through three key areas: the Reality Audit (really owning where your business stands), Design 2+ Years Ahead (working with your existing productivity rhythms), and the Execution Bridge (how to stack priorities and actually move forward). They talk about why perception often doesn't match reality, how conversation can feel like progress when it isn't, and what it takes to shift from talking about change to making it happen. Key Takeaways:
—----------------- Ready to build the foundation that supports real growth? The Business Base Camp Consultation is designed for owners who need to do the right work and lead growth at the same time, building the processes and market clarity to move from management oversight to systems-led execution. It's where strategy meets culture, and where sustainable scaling actually begins. —----------------- You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Guiding Growth: How to Keep Your Team, Tech, and Strategy Relevant | 14 May 2026 | 00:41:15 | |
"Stamina is a trap." Most small business owners already know it. But knowing it and actually building a business that doesn't depend on your constant intervention are two very different things.
We've normalized the grind, the packed schedule, the heroic push through chaos, the belief that if you just work harder, longer, the growth will come. And somewhere in all that muscling through, we stopped asking the more important question: are we doing the right work, or just a lot of it?
"If you are relying on your ability to outwork the chaos, you are already losing."
Jess Dewell, Growth Strategist at Red Direction and host of the BOLD Business Podcast, introduces the Business Basecamp framework, a three-part approach designed to get you off the plateau and back into the growth zone without burning out in the process.
What emerges isn't a productivity hack or a planning template. It's a rethinking of how leaders show up — moving from constant intervention to systems-led execution, from reacting to leading, from surviving the pace of change to setting it.
In this episode:
"Growth isn't about doing more. It's about becoming a responsive decision maker."
This is one of those episodes that reframes the whole game, not by adding more to your plate, but by helping you finally work on the right things.
Jess also shares the 11 Essential Resources for Dynamic Growth, a free curated collection of podcasts and articles covering everything from mastering the Intentional Pause to building your own Present Retreat.
Designed for self-starters and lifelong learners, these are the actual tools Red Direction uses to help businesses break through their strategic ceilings. You can download it here.
It is BOLD to stop muscling through and build the foundation instead. This episode shows you how.
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| ENCORE Mindfulness and Creativity: Unlock Your Business Potential | 07 May 2026 | 00:49:15 | |
"Good ideas come to me easily." It sounds almost too simple. But what if your creativity isn't actually the problem - what if it's the way you've been trained to chase it?
We've built entire careers around productivity systems, packed calendars, and the belief that output is the measure of value. And somewhere in all that busyness, we lost the thing that actually drives innovation: the ability to slow down and let ideas find us.
"You're not going to get good ideas if you're running around on the hamster wheel with your hair on fire. They just don't have any place to be."
Jess Dewell brings together three practitioners who approach this problem from very different angles - Catherine Morgan (business consultant and transitions strategist), Claire Uncapher (intuitive life coach), and Dr. Janice Campbell (acupuncturist and somatic practitioner) - for a conversation that's equal parts practical and perspective-shifting.
What emerges isn't a case for self-care. It's a case of rebuilding your relationship with time itself. For trusting the pause. Recognizing that the traits you've spent years working around - the slowness, the tangential thinking, the need for space - might be exactly where your best ideas live.
In this episode
"Mindfulness is life. Not just self-care." It's "the ultimate productivity hack". This is one of those conversations that quietly shifts how you see your own work.
It is BOLD to intentionally build the conditions for creativity. This episode shows you how.
If you want to reclaim your strategic clarity, break free from reactive operations, and ensure you're focused on the right priorities for growth, explore the Present Retreat™ approach. This will help you lead with intention and make the time you already have more impactful — so you can see and seize your next big opportunity. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Why Talent Alone Isn't Enough for Success | 30 Apr 2026 | 00:54:26 | |
The leap from leading yourself to leading others is one of the most underestimated transitions in business. The self-awareness, discipline, and clarity that made you effective as an individual contributor don't disappear — they evolve. And the leaders who thrive are the ones who learn to extend those qualities outward. In this episode, Jess Dewell sits down with Tim Fortescue, Founder of 40 Watt Coaching, to explore what it really takes to build a team that moves with purpose. They dig into how honest self-knowledge becomes the foundation for trust, how the way you communicate your vision determines whether your team feels aligned or adrift, and why slowing down to reflect is often the fastest way forward. You'll also discover how to uncover your grandest ideas and plan for them — planting seeds for the future, knowing your key performance levers, and finding what keeps you going when things get hard. Because the small wins matter: they build momentum, reinforce how your company does its best work, and deepen relationships through shared success. This episode is a practical and honest look at what truly drives performance — in yourself and in the people around you — and how to build the kind of momentum that compounds over time, one small win at a time. --------------------
If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Scale and Pivot: How Hard Decisions Shape Business Evolution | 23 Apr 2026 | 00:43:47 | |
Scaling a business isn't just a strategy — it's an act of faith. It demands the willingness to change course, challenge ingrained habits, and make decisions that are uncomfortable but necessary.
What really happens when things get hard? The answer lives in the decisions most business owners avoid: narrowing focus, eliminating bottlenecks, and making bold pivots before the market forces your hand. The shift to specialization, the ability to read and respond to market signals, and the discipline to leverage systems for clarity and execution — these are what separate businesses that survive from those that scale.
Long-term business ownership is built on recognizing what others overlook. Team alignment, having the right people in the right roles, and anticipating changes in customer needs aren't soft advantages — they're the foundation of a business that remains relevant over time. And when business models must evolve to keep pace with the market, the owners who endure are those who move with intention rather than reaction.
Jess Dewell talks with Erik Dodier, EOS Implementer, about being in business long term, the Business Instinct required to remain relevant, and why it is BOLD to be ruthlessly focused on scaling from $10M to $100M.
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If you're ready to build the kind of business that doesn't just survive uncertainty but leads through it, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program, designed to support leadership teams through high-stakes strategic decisions.
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| Why Guilt and Shame Affect Your Business Strategy | 16 Apr 2026 | 00:51:11 | |
Past successes can provide valuable insights, but it's important to recognize that they belong to a different time. While experience is beneficial, the ever-changing business landscape means that relying solely on past achievements can be misleading.
It's essential to understand that perfection is not a realistic goal and can sometimes become a barrier in your leadership journey. By accepting this reality, your approach to growth can transform, allowing you to focus on what truly matters. This discussion invites you to reevaluate your perspective on risk, failure, and self-advocacy.
In this program, you will hear that undesired results are justified by numbers and metrics, that decisions are always flexible and not irreversible, and that past successes don't guarantee future achievements.
In a conversation with Jess Dewell, Coach Kevin Voisin, CEO of We Live Legend, LLC, highlights the significance of continuous learning, adaptability, and honest self-reflection. These practices help to eliminate hidden feelings of guilt and shame, ultimately paving the way for future success and exploring how to move beyond past successes and open up new possibilities, even when the outcomes are uncertain.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business.
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| ENCORE: Trust Your Purpose Through Times of Change | 09 Apr 2026 | 00:34:33 | |
We often think of innovation as loud—the flashy announcements, the social media hype, the constant spotlight. But the most profound changes happening right now are quietly being built behind the scenes.
The real disruptors aren't chasing notoriety; they are chasing root problems.
When you align a team around a mission that actually matters, you create an invisible force. That culture of shared purpose becomes the leverage needed to challenge industry giants who have benefited from the broken system for years.
The most valuable work isn't always visible. It's the daily, intentional effort to chip away at complex issues, build technology that works seamlessly in the background, and prioritize substance over facade.
In this Bold Business Podcast episode, Jess Dewell spoke with Sufian Chowdhury, CEO and Co-Founder at Kinetik, about what it really takes to disrupt an industry. If you want to make a real impact, look for the quiet, difficult problems. That is where the future is being shaped.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Commit to Yourself: Defy Norms to Reach Your Goals | 02 Apr 2026 | 00:50:04 | |
Stop attempting to fit into a mold that was never intended for you. Your dreams may need a reality check to prevent them from slipping away, ensuring you don't unintentionally drift further from them.
Following a plan, establishing habits, and achieving goals may seem straightforward, but if you're not genuinely engaged in the journey, you're likely confined by standards that don't serve you.
This discussion focuses on demonstrating your commitment to yourself and the people around you. It emphasizes the importance of embracing your truth and building a life that reflects your core values. The foundation of strong self-discipline may begin with the promises you make to others.
It involves letting go of the acceptable, mastering the subtleties of time and energy management, and cultivating the skills essential to success. The resulting advantage is reaching your most significant long-term objectives while remaining authentic to yourself throughout the journey.
Jess Dewell talks with Bolanle Williams-Olley, CFO of Mancini Duffy, about the significance of challenging 'norms' to achieve one's ambitions and why it takes courage to break away from them.
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Is the Daily Grind Clouding Your Business Instinct? Check out Present Retreat: a repeatable leadership practice designed to strengthen business instinct and strategic clarity, Download your FREE GUIDE here. --------------------
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| Stop Future-Proofing: The Mid-Market Guide to Future-Making | 26 Mar 2026 | 00:51:39 | |
Many mid-market companies tend to hit a wall around the eighth year. The very processes that helped you get to this point are now what's holding you back from moving forward. This panel discussion aims to break the cycle of 'future-proofing' and focus on what it takes to stay relevant.
Introducing your Future-Maker panel:
- Christy Maxfield, President and CEO of Purpose First Advisors - Dean Barta, Founder and CEO of Barta Business Group - Jess Dewell, Managing Partner and Growth Strategist at Red Direction
Tune in to explore the differences between playing defense and offense, the unintentional growth throttling that can occur, the power of curiosity, and how true accountability fuels progress.
This episode offers practical insights—from empowering teams and celebrating small victories to building a business that supports succession and growth. You'll find valuable tips to shift your mindset, prioritize effectively, and cultivate a culture that embraces the future.
Your business's success hinges on the decisions you make today. Each small victory, combined with a commitment to accountability, accelerates your momentum. Whether you're focusing on staying competitive or planning an exit strategy, this episode provides a bold perspective and actionable strategies to help you become a true future-maker.
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If you want to move from daily uncertainty to unwavering confidence, lead with clarity, make sharper decisions, and build a business that not only survives but thrives through change, check out the Driving Solutions Strategic Intensive program.
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| ENCORE Business Mindset: Learning From Your Experience | 19 Mar 2026 | 00:35:03 | |
Making decisions is more than just picking an option; it's an art that influences your path forward, impacts your relationships, and challenges your values. By embracing your unique personality and strengths while being mindful of your leadership weaknesses, you can discover the best ways to support your company and uplift your team.
In this exciting episode, you'll explore whether you're truly taking the right risks.
Get ready to uncover three vital steps for managing mistakes, understand the feeling of being poised to take bold action, and learn about three critical areas you need to watch to protect your business from potential failure.
Join Jess Dewell and her guest, Bew White, Executive Chairman of Summer Classics/Gabby, as they discuss the crucial role of decision-making in business.
They explore the ups and downs of valuable experiences, revealing that while the journey may be tumultuous, the rewards can be incredibly satisfying!
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| From Vision to Execution: Why CEOs Must Rethink Success in the Age of AI | 12 Mar 2026 | 00:49:05 | |
The era of having all the answers is over. Today, it is becoming the norm for founders and management teams to lead without knowing exactly where they are headed. Change is occurring across every aspect of business and how we conduct it, and it will continue to impact the workforce.
This transformation isn't solely about achieving efficiency and cutting costs. It also involves adopting new mindsets not only to survive in business, but also to significantly increase your impact in the years to come.
In this program, you will learn about the traits necessary to grow your business 300 times with AI, the three steps to embrace and integrate AI into your operations, and the importance of understanding what NOT to do amidst a multitude of choices.
Jess Dewell speaks with Steve Brown, an AI futurist, about why humility, experimentation, and vision have become essential superpowers for modern executives. They discuss how small and mid-sized companies can lead in an AI-first economy rather than keep up, and how to be BOLD and strategically prepare for the next evolution of your company, even when it feels unimaginable.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the ""Growth Framework Reset"" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| From Friction to Growth: How Self-Reflection Drives Success | 05 Mar 2026 | 00:45:28 | |
Your character and skills often outweigh your credentials in today's ever-evolving world.
True growth stems from the challenges of difficult conversations, and effective leaders can use these moments of discomfort to tap into the potential that already exists within their systems, processes, and teams.
Honest self-reflection is essential for setting goals, adapting to changes, and navigating uncertainty. A crucial takeaway from this discussion is that the concept of "enough" is a personal measure rather than a comparative one.
In this program, Jess Dewell engages with Marnie Stockman and Nick Coniglio, Co-Founders and Co-Authors of "The Business of You," as they explore the tough questions that drive growth. They emphasize strengthening your connection to core values and using your character skills to address uncertainty head-on.
You'll discover how to take greater ownership in times of challenge, how to lead yourself effectively, and what it truly means to be BOLD as you navigate friction to propel your success forward.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Make Decisions with Imperfect Information | 26 Feb 2026 | 00:46:34 | |
In a world where every choice is navigated with limited information, you may find yourself stepping into the unknown, missing key insights, or even underestimating potential risks. However, the clarity of your vision and your commitment to your goals will ultimately dictate your journey to success.
Your business strategy should be aimed at the long-term — fostering growth and profitability while embracing whatever challenges and opportunities come your way.
Building a robust network of peers is crucial. Whether it's through a mastermind group or a board of directors, surrounding yourself with trusted allies allows you to brainstorm ideas, share experiences, and seek expert guidance when trying to steer your growth journey.
In this program, Jess Dewell sits down with Geneve Huxley, the Founder and CEO of Huxley CPA Consulting. They discuss the common obstacles companies face and explore how to harness powerful financial insights to overcome them.
Tune in for practical advice on how to track what truly matters, discover three dynamic tools to amplify the effectiveness of your decisions, and learn how to firmly establish your business goals.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Empower Teams and Lead Innovation in the Age of Automation | 19 Feb 2026 | 00:53:00 | |
Transform complaints into golden opportunities and bring enthusiasm to your customers by empowering your team to swiftly address friction points.
Embracing change is essential, and it's perfectly fine to reconsider past decisions. Flexibility is key to successfully navigating today's growth landscape. Take proactive steps by delegating responsibilities, launching experiments, and truly listening to your customers — even if you haven't established a perfect system yet.
In this episode, you'll discover that managing energy is just as crucial as having the right systems in place, how to eliminate barriers, and the importance of letting go of processes that hinder growth.
Jess Dewell welcomes Solomon Thimothy, Co-founder and CEO of oneIMS, exploring his journey to uncover BOLD growth opportunities within his company and to redefine the CEO growth strategy through continuous adaptation.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| UNCHARTED: The Real Power of Knowing What You Can Control and Influence | 12 Feb 2026 | 00:52:53 | |
Are you underestimating your actual level of control? Learn why redirecting your attention from the obstacles you can't change to the factors you can influence can transform your business growth.
"Control the controllables" is more than just a saying; it's a powerful mindset. Not only does it help you excel in your field, but also it reveals the best path forward. By recognizing how to use your resources effectively in any situation, you gain greater control over your circumstances.
In this episode, you'll discover the importance of acknowledging what you want to avoid, allowing you to eliminate unproductive tasks. When faced with situations beyond your control, shift your focus to how you can influence outcomes. You'll also learn to reframe setbacks, using them as opportunities to strengthen your foundation and achieve your goals.
Jess Dewell welcomes Apollo Emeka, Managing Director of Apollo Strategy Group, to discuss how to infuse fulfillment into your major decisions and why it's BOLD to master the basics, ultimately leading to a sense of satisfaction as you act on your aspirations.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Cut Through the Noise and Build Resilience as an Entrepreneur | 05 Feb 2026 | 00:46:12 | |
True sacrifice involves letting go of distractions and negative influences, rather than letting go of the people or things you truly care about. Our personal stories — both the ones we share and those we keep to ourselves — play a crucial role in shaping our leadership.
Establishing boundaries and being ruthless in your priorities, even if it means stepping outside your comfort zone or distancing yourself from loved ones, is essential for determining your success.
Remember, who you were yesterday doesn't dictate who you need to be to fully embrace life and take action toward your biggest dreams.
In this episode, you'll discover the power of sharing your story, even while you're still living it. You'll learn that releasing what doesn't serve you makes room for gratitude, and that sacrifice isn't about what you lose — it's about filtering out the noise.
Jess Dewell chats with Benny Mobley, a Legacy Coach, about the importance of reclaiming your authority through small, consistent daily efforts. They explore how to overcome limiting beliefs and embrace authenticity to build the resilience needed to thrive as an entrepreneur.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| The CEO Evolution: Re-Engineering Your Role to Unlock 10x Value | 29 Jan 2026 | 00:46:59 | |
If your job as CEO hasn't changed in three years, your company might be outgrowing you. To elevate your business 10x, it's essential to reassess your role as CEO, make tough calls, and prioritize with unwavering focus. These are the key areas where you can unlock significant value for yourself, your team, and your customers.
Jess Dewell from Red Direction, Christy Maxfield of Purpose First Advisors, and Dean Barta from Barta Business Group have an open discussion about how you might be the bottleneck hindering your business growth.
Here are key notes you don't want to miss:
** Assess and sharpen your focus - The greatest obstacle to growth often lies in avoiding tough decisions. Failing to make a choice is still a choice — and it can dilute your impact. Set aside dedicated time (like a focused retreat) to review your priorities, clarify the true value you provide, and eliminate the "busywork" that distracts from strategic advancement.
** Differentiate your roles for clarity and growth - Many business owners find themselves unintentionally wearing the CEO hat, which can pose challenges. Ask yourself: would you hire yourself for this role? Establish clear job descriptions for both CEO and Owner to define your responsibilities, promote effective delegation, and identify where you can add the most value — then focus relentlessly on those areas.
** Unleash your greatest asset: YOU - Sustainable and exponential growth begins when leaders evolve authentically, delegate tasks that no longer align with their strategic vision, and cultivate habits that keep them in their zone of genius. Keep in mind: the value you realize for yourself directly influences the value your company delivers to customers and prospective buyers.
After the discussion, your expert panel shared their biggest takeaway:
Dean Barta: Separating the roles of owner and CEO: Assess whether you would hire yourself to be the CEO of your company.
Christy Maxfield: This about making sure that you can unlock more value for your customer, about unlocking more value for you as an owner, about unlocking more value for a future buyer.
Jess Dewell: Your ability to make decisions will get easier, stronger, and clearer. That ensures that you are evolving and assessing as you go.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Investor Insights: Business Scaling, Conflict, and Operational Excellence | 22 Jan 2026 | 00:44:09 | |
A fuzzy strategy comes with real costs, and that lack of clarity can diminish true value. Think you're scaling well? Think again. It's crucial to support a bold vision with clear direction and regular reality checks.
Identifying your unique growth factor while staying focused on the core problem can be quite a challenge, particularly as your company faces new constraints and friction points.
You, your team, and your investor partners will achieve the most significant milestones by collaborating through difficulties.
In this program, you'll learn how to address the "stay in your lane" mindset that might be holding you back, why it's essential to disrupt your own company before the market does, and how to achieve strategic clarity.
Jess Dewell and Melanie Nabar, Vice President at Volition Capital, unpack how unclear objectives and scattered initiatives can waste resources and opportunities. They provide actionable steps to help maintain your momentum and emphasize how BOLD founders challenge themselves as leaders to embrace continuous learning and transformation.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| UNCHARTED: Energize Your Team: The Power of Curiosity and Brave Belonging | 15 Jan 2026 | 00:43:16 | |
Being curious and stepping into new dynamics are tangible signs of bold leadership. It requires committing to courageous practices that ultimately make the greatest impact both in business and beyond. And it starts with you, as an authentic individual. Bringing more of yourself to every moment of your day will give you MORE energy.
You can have "space" in your meetings, conversations, or company culture to unlock your team's best ideas. It is the intangible connections that transform how your business scales, grows, and belongs together.
Embrace experimentation — after all, we all do it already. Be intentional about tuning in to the people around you, and work to overcome any feelings of shame or embarrassment that may hold you back from acknowledging how interesting each person is.
Jess Dewell talks with Heather Hester, Founder of More Human More Kind, about being BOLD and acting with courage even when it feels uncomfortable or risky, and about being brave and honest about mistakes and strategic challenges to reach your growth potential.
Tune in to explore what you're already doing successfully, which will help you enhance those efforts and demonstrate positive energy management and trust-building behaviors. You'll also learn about the concept of "Brave Belonging" and how cultivating curiosity can energize your team.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Embrace Endings and Create Powerful Beginnings | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:44:20 | |
Endings often go unnoticed. It's easy to push back project deadlines and adjust our expectations for results, but calling for a definitive stop to review our progress can be much harder. We might feel the urge to dive right into tactics to achieve results, yet what we're truly after is a clear, overarching goal—whether that's increasing something or changing the status quo.
When launching a product, crafting your business's narrative, or entering a new market, a lack of clarity makes it challenging to recognize when we've hit our desired outcome. It's crucial to step back, evaluate our plans, the actions we've taken, and the results we've achieved to decide whether to move forward or make necessary tweaks. We need to acknowledge when we've arrived, even if the path we took wasn't what we originally envisioned.
In this episode, you'll discover the significance of milestones for tracking your progress, how endings can pave the way for new beginnings, and that the journey from executing a plan to reaching our goals is rarely a straight line.
Jess Dewell hosts Pam Didner, the Founder of Relentless Pursuit, LLC, and Mickie Kennedy, President of eReleases, to explore why it's bold to reflect on how endings can actually help us thrive.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Modern Leadership Development (Goal Chat) | 01 Jan 2026 | 01:04:30 | |
This episode originally aired on GoalChat, hosted by Debra Eckerling, a goal strategist and the creator of The DEB Method.
The panel features Jess Dewell, Managing Partner at Red Direction, who specializes in operations and strategy; Jeannette Seibly, a results-driven leadership coach; and Isioma Utomi, a consultant focused on leadership and productivity. Together, they explore modern leadership development and share their views on past and current leadership trends.
Each expert brings their unique flair to the discussion: Jess passionately advocates for the significance of purpose in leadership, Jeannette shares her insights on the art of effective communication and the power of self-promotion, while Isioma focuses on achieving impactful results that truly matter.
Whether you lead a department, are a valued team member, operate as an entrepreneur, or work as a consultant guiding others, this conversation will highlight the essential role you play in your leadership journey.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Leverage Your Expertise to Grow Profitable Businesses | 25 Dec 2025 | 00:41:29 | |
The depth of your knowledge opens up new opportunities. The more you learn, the more you realize there's so much left to explore, which is why curiosity is key. Asking questions like, "What's going on behind this process?" or "What discoveries can help our industry improve?" is crucial. Also, consider what we might be doing that could inadvertently create new problems for our customers.
Sometimes, the way our industry works can be frustrating, which might motivate us to develop solutions to address its shortcomings. To make this happen, it's super important to have a team that's not only knowledgeable but also curious about new ways to do things. Even with a great team, we need to commit to using the info we have, looking for knowledge gaps, and connecting with experts who have a deep understanding of the field. This teamwork can highlight areas that are ready for product and process innovation.
In this podcast episode, you'll find out how to build a successful business by shaking up the foundation repair industry and pushing for better solutions for those who need them. You'll also see how a curious mindset has led to patents and inventions that have changed the game in this sector.
Your host, Jess Dewell, chats with RK Bob Brown, Founder of Spatial Vision, to discuss the importance of focusing on one solid idea and using that strength to drive growth.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Leading Through Uncharted Territory: Lessons for CEOs in Fast-Changing Markets | 18 Dec 2025 | 00:49:49 | |
Yesterday's playbook is useless for tomorrow's problems. Smart companies evolve their people, keep clarity around priorities, navigate uncertainty and grow.
The Gauntlet of Growth for sustainable growth has six parts: sharpening focus, calibrating culture, strengthening leadership, elevating talent, aligning structures, and amplifying communication. These insights are derived from hands-on work with high-growth companies that help founders and leaders scale their organizations.
In this episode, you will learn what it truly means to navigate change, how your role as a CEO evolves alongside your company, and the importance of aligning your actions throughout the organization to create a stronger company.
Jess Dewell talks with PeopleCap Advisors, Co-Founders Meg Crosby, Principal, and Howard Cleveland, Leadership Coach and Confidante, about how to lead in uncharted territory amid rapidly changing markets. They discuss what it means to be BOLD in your willingness to adapt as a founder, emphasizing the value of experimenting, failing, and learning to make confident decisions in new situations.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| UNCHARTED: The Role of Gut Feelings: Transforming Shame into Strength and Assertive Action | 11 Dec 2025 | 00:47:28 | |
Are you responsible FOR your team or TO them? It takes courage to confront and transform the internalized shame and disgust that can affect our ability to harness anger as a force for good.
The next time you experience feelings of anger or shame, take a moment to pause and ask yourself, "Is this truly mine, or did I absorb it from someone else?" You may be surprised by what you find. This reflects the underlying myths society holds about anger. Any unresolved feelings of anger or shame could negatively impact your well-being, hinder your focus, and affect your business's bottom line. Self-accountability starts with recognizing and channeling your emotions as fuel for growth.
In this program, you will learn that you are only responsible for your own feelings, how to distinguish between healthy and reactive anger, and the importance of doing the necessary self-work (behind the scenes) to become whole. This enables you to show up fully in the world.
Jess Dewell speaks with Bronwyn Schweigerdt, a psychotherapist and host of the "Angry at the Right Things" podcast, about the role of emotions, how to transform shame into strength, and how to be BOLD by building self-trust and using emotions for assertive action.
-------------------- If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Become a Conscious Creator: Elevate Your Life and Business With Positive Belief | 04 Dec 2025 | 00:51:21 | |
Business teams thrive or struggle based on the attitude of their leadership. As a leader, you have the power to influence and uplift your team's environment, creating a significant impact through clear internal communication and a strong external presence.
Are you building an opportunity or obstacle into your company culture? Both conscious and unconscious beliefs shape self-image, behavior, and relationships. By managing your self-talk, you can control your outcomes. It's possible to take action that shifts your mindset so you—and your organization — can bounce back stronger each time.
In this episode, you will learn that it's okay to return to familiar strategies to achieve progress. Your beliefs shape and dictate your actions, and we will discuss the steps to becoming a conscious creator.
Join Jess Dewell and Coach Cudjo, President of Human Optimization 3.0, as they explore what it means to be BOLD in tapping into your full potential.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Seeds of Wisdom: Power is the pause | 27 Nov 2025 | 00:38:35 | |
In the pursuit of success, many people become fixated on future goals, often missing a vital ingredient for achievement: the power of taking a pause. How we manage our time dramatically influences what we can really accomplish.
Welcome to an exciting ENCORE episode of the BOLD Business Podcast! This conversation originally aired on Seeds of Wisdom by author Rachael Wolff.
Jess Dewell, a strategic growth consultant, dives deep into the transformative concept of pausing in the world of business, unravelling what pausing truly means, the incredible power it brings, and how it serves as a strategic tool for more thoughtful decision-making, heightened creativity, and more decisive leadership.
By shifting from reactive to responsive behaviors, you'll discover how a simple pause can pave the way for greater success. Don't miss this opportunity to rethink your approach and embrace the art of the pause!
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter, LinkedIn or Red Direction website. | |||
| Prepare Like a Pro: How to Reflect, Reorient, and Re-engage for 2026 | 20 Nov 2025 | 00:52:02 | |
Unlock your competitive edge by planning earlier than everyone else. Strategic planning is more than an annual box to check; it is a time to reflect, reorient, and reengage your company with its long-term objectives, and to align today's priorities with them.
The true cost of distraction goes beyond just affecting mental focus; it impacts your bottom line. It's not only about lost productivity; on average, it takes about 23 minutes and 15 seconds to switch between business activities. Even though we are working effectively, the time lost hinders our company from maximizing its available resources.
In this episode, you will hear how not to overthink reflection, the importance of taking time to understand your current position before moving forward, and tips for conducting productive deep work sessions.
The panelists in this "It's Your Business" conversation are all business advisors: Christy Maxfield, President and CEO of Purpose First Advisors; Dean Barta, Founder and CEO of Barta Business Group; and Jess Dewell, Growth Strategist at Red Direction. They discuss a three-part framework designed to unlock your business's growth potential and explore pathways for strategic re-engagement.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| ENCORE: Skyrocket Your Business with Strategic Prioritization | 13 Nov 2025 | 01:01:15 | |
Your success relies on your ability to continually grow over time by ensuring that what you do today aligns with your long-term goals. It can be tough, and let's be honest, the word "preparation" often gets a dull reaction. However, without it, you won't fully understand how your current resources can impact the results you're seeking.
Three key factors really drive sustainable growth. First, what are your nonnegotiables? When two things are equally important, one must always take precedence. That shows your priorities and how everything gets done. Second, carve out protected time each week just for strategy—ideally, at least two uninterrupted hours. Third, being adaptable gives you a competitive edge. It's not just about individual adaptability; it's the team's collective response to change that really makes a difference.
In this program, Jess Dewell, a Strategic Growth Consultant at Red Direction and host of the BOLD Business Podcast, shares valuable insights on how to pinpoint your business's core to drive sustainable growth. She discusses strategies for managing growth while navigating the uncertainties associated with complex business issues.
Additionally, Jess explores how a well-defined growth strategy can help your company remain competitive in the market. She breaks down the three main ideas behind an effective growth strategy, highlighting the essential components for managing change and overcoming obstacles.
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| Bold Moves and Hard Lessons: Success and Surviving Mistakes | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:41:21 | |
There are invisible signals that differentiate bold business moves from costly mistakes. Calculated risks — financial, emotional, and strategic — unlock opportunities. In today's fast-paced environment, modern businesses need to embrace rapid change, particularly with the rise of AI. Start by focusing on what you know best: the strengths of your business, yourself, and your partners. Then, analyze how AI is impacting your industry and how your customers' needs and purchasing behaviors are evolving. In this episode, you will learn how to identify clues that indicate success or failure. You'll discover the importance of honing your skills to recognize when you're out of your depth and learn how to determine what results signify success. Remember, business success today is not defined by the same paths as in the past. The saying "don't judge a book by its cover" holds truer today than ever. Jess Dewell speaks with Scott Kelly, CEO of Black Dog Venture Partners, about how to navigate mistakes by listening for your next big opportunity and what it truly means to be BOLD and committed to big moves. --------------------
If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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| The Art of Controlled Risk: Navigating Entrepreneurship's Challenges | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:46:59 | |
How do you dare to innovate when there are mouths to feed and mortgages looming? It's time to cut through the theory — real, practical risk-taking is not just bold, it's smart and can lead to significant gains.
Life comes with constraints, but by embracing them, you can shift your perspective and unlock innovative solutions that go beyond the standard "workable" options. It's absolutely possible to pursue your biggest dreams while taking calculated risks that maintain your stability. While pragmatic risk-taking may not have the flashiest reputation, its potential for substantial, long-term rewards is undeniable.
In this episode, we dive into the reality of situational decision-making. Discover how to stay in tune with your business even from afar and learn how to rethink constraints to make the best choices for your next step.
Jess Dewell sits down with Rich Kahn, CEO and Co-Founder of Anura Solutions, LLC, to explore the art of controlled risk, the power of being BOLD, and the clarity needed to achieve your goals. Don't miss this opportunity to be inspired to take your risks strategically!
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If you want to identify business bottlenecks, the necessary skills, the initial actions to take, the expected milestones, and the priorities for achieving growth, try the "Growth Framework Reset" approach. This will help you to keep learning and growing while working strategically on your business. --------------------
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