Explore every episode of the podcast The Next Moves

Most organizations assume their AI transformation is being slowed down by technology, tools or employee skill gaps. But after speaking with 16 senior leaders across organizations ranging from 50 employees to more than 100,000, Joe Diubaldo and Kevin Lau found something very different. 

The biggest barriers weren’t necessarily technical. They were structural, organizational and human. 

In this episode of The Next Moves, Joe steps into the guest chair as Kevin walks through the findings from Clarity Recruitment’s AI research. They unpack why company size doesn’t predict AI adoption, why simply training employees on new tools isn’t enough, and why the organizations making the most progress are creating small teams built around curiosity, experimentation and execution. 

They also explore one of the biggest hiring problems emerging from AI transformation: companies are searching for a “unicorn” who understands business strategy, functional expertise, AI technology and organizational change — a person who rarely exists in a single hire. 

Instead, Joe argues that organizations should think differently about the capabilities they need, identify the curious problem-solvers already experimenting inside their teams, and build AI transformation around real problems rather than technology mandates. 

If your organization has invested in AI but still feels stuck, this episode will help you diagnose where the real bottleneck is — and determine what to do next. 

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Watch the full interview and subscribe for more conversations with the operators behind the world’s most resilient businesses. 

Connect with Kevin Lau on LinkedIn ➡️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinhlau/ 

Connect with Host Joe Diubaldo on LinkedIn ➡️  https://www.linkedin.com/in/joediubaldo/ 
 
Check out the FULL Report | We Asked 16 Senior Leaders Where AI Is Stuck 

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🔔If this conversation resonated with you, like the episode and subscribe to stay up to date on future conversations with founders and operators. 
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Joe Diubaldo, host of The Next Moves and Founder of Clarity Recruitment, has made it his life to help people build better careers and better companies. Along the way, there’s been one lesson that always stands out… We all get stuck. The Next Moves podcast has been curated to help you get unstuck; to help you plan the next move and then the move after that. 

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CHAPTERS 

00:00 – Why AI Is Really Stuck 
01:51 – Inside the 16-Leader Study 
03:36 – AI at the Front of the Business 
05:54 – What the Research Got Wrong 
08:55 – The Four AI Bottlenecks 
10:37 – Why Skills Aren’t the Problem 
12:39 – Curiosity and Frustration 
16:20 – The AI Hire Everyone Wants 
18:20 – Why the Unicorn Doesn’t Exist 
20:22 – Building the Right AI Team 
24:31 – What Leaders Should Do First 
27:11 – Where AI Is Stuck at Clarity 
31:36 – What Clarity Changed 
33:15 – How Teams Should Use AI 
36:16 – What Recruiters Need to Rethink 

AI is not going to rescue a team that lacks curiosity, accountability or the willingness to change. It will simply amplify what is already there. 

Luciano “Luch” Miranda, VP, Analytics and AI, has spent years building and scaling high-performing teams while navigating some of the biggest shifts in analytics and technology. His experience offers a firsthand look at what it actually takes to turn AI from an impressive tool into something people use to create real business value. 

In this episode, Luch joins Joe Diubaldo to explain why successful AI adoption begins with mindset—not technology. They discuss how leaders can build curious teams, create space for experimentation, identify high-potential employees and connect AI investments to real business outcomes. 

If your organization has purchased powerful AI tools but employees are not using them—or you are unsure how AI should influence your hiring and leadership decisions—you need this episode. 

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Watch the full interview and subscribe for more conversations with the operators behind the world’s most resilient businesses. 

Connect with guest Luciano Miranda on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/luciano-miranda-78291b/  

Connect with Host Joe Diubaldo on LinkedIn ➡️  https://www.linkedin.com/in/joediubaldo/  

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🔔If this conversation resonated with you, like the episode and subscribe to stay up to date on future conversations with founders and operators. 
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Joe Diubaldo, host of The Next Moves and Founder of Clarity Recruitment, has made it his life to help people build better careers and better companies. Along the way, there’s been one lesson that always stands out… We all get stuck. The Next Moves podcast has been curated to help you get unstuck; to help you plan the next move and then the move after that. 

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Chapters  

00:00 AI Is Changing the Value of Expertise 
01:11 Why AI Tools Go Unused 
02:50 The Fear of Becoming Obsolete 
08:05 Mindset, People, Structure, Then AI 
15:38 Why AI Implementations Fail 
20:00 What Curious Teams Do Differently 
24:17 How Leaders Build Curiosity 
28:58 Leadership and Ownership 
33:14 Finding the ROI in AI 
39:25 Teaching AI Your Business 
40:43 Giving People the Opportunity to Adapt 
43:43 AI Should Enhance Your Thinking 
44:55 Finding the Eagles on Your Team 
46:23 Protecting Your Culture 
47:46 The AI Habit That Compounds 

If you’ve ever wondered why some companies consistently make great hires while others struggle to attract and retain top talent, this episode is for you.

In this special flipped-format episode, Ana Garcia interviews Joe Diubaldo, Founder and CEO of Clarity Recruitment, about what’s broken in the recruitment industry and what the best hiring organizations do differently.

Joe shares why most recruiting firms are built backwards, how Clarity approaches hiring through data, feedback loops, and long-term relationships, and why they’ve even advised candidates not to take jobs when the fit wasn’t right.

Whether you’re a hiring manager, CFO, finance leader, recruiter, or talent acquisition professional, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on recruitment, leadership hiring, and building stronger teams.

Chapters 

00:00 Intro Clip
01:07 Welcome
01:59 What Recruitment Gets Wrong
04:14 Rethinking the Role
05:40 When Candidates Should Say No
07:03 Coaching the Client
08:15 Building Clarity Over 15 Years
09:20 Leadership and Culture
11:44 What Makes Clarity Different
13:58 Long-Term Candidate Relationships
19:00 Recruiter Ownership
23:38 Trust Inside the Team
26:03 Roles and Clients
28:22 What Makes a Great Recruiter
33:42 Rapid Fire

Watch the full interview and subscribe for more conversations with the operators behind the world’s most resilient businesses.

Connect with guest Ana Garcia on LinkedIn ➡️https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana03garcia/ 

Connect with Host Joe Diubaldo on LinkedIn ➡️  https://www.linkedin.com/in/joediubaldo/ 

🔔If this conversation resonated with you, like the episode and subscribe to stay up to date on future conversations with founders and operators.

Joe Diubaldo, host of The Next Moves and Founder of Clarity Recruitment, has made it his life to help people build better careers and better companies. Along the way, there’s been one lesson that always stands out… We all get stuck. The Next Moves podcast has been curated to help you get unstuck; to help you plan the next move and then the move after that.

If you’re a finance professional questioning your next move after public accounting, this episode will completely change the way you think about career growth.

In this episode of The Next Moves, Joe Diubaldo sits down with Ana Garcia, former KPMG auditor turned recruiter at Clarity Recruitment, to unpack the hidden realities of career transitions in finance. From work-life balance and burnout to curiosity, company context, and why titles alone don’t guarantee fulfillment, Ana shares what finance professionals consistently overlook when making career decisions.

They explore the difference between chasing the “logical next step” versus building a career aligned with your strengths, lifestyle, and long-term goals. Ana also reveals what recruiters actually look for in Big 4 candidates, the resume mistakes most professionals make, and why understanding company context matters more than most people realize.

If you’re a CPA, senior accountant, finance manager, or someone feeling stuck after a busy season, this episode will help you think differently about your career path and what truly makes a role the right fit.

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Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:40 Ana’s Career Pivot

03:08 The Big 4 Career Myth

06:07 Why Ana Left Accounting

08:21 What Recruitment Is Really Like

11:23 What Holds Careers Back

13:33 Making a Nonlinear Career Move

16:15 Career Advice for Finance Professionals

18:14 The #1 Trait Hiring Managers Want

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Watch the full interview and subscribe for more conversations with the operators behind the world’s most resilient businesses.

Connect with guest Ana Garcia on LinkedIn ➡ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana03garcia/

Connect with Host Joe Diubaldo on LinkedIn ➡ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joediubaldo/

If this conversation resonated with you, like the episode and subscribe to stay up to date on future conversations with founders and operators.

Joe Diubaldo, host of The Next Moves and Founder of Clarity Recruitment, has made it his life to help people build better careers and better companies. Along the way, there’s been one lesson that always stands out…

We all get stuck. The Next Moves podcast has been curated to help you get unstuck; to help you plan the next move and then the move after that.

What does it really take for a finance leader to step into a private equity-backed company and turn it around fast? 

In this episode of The Next Moves, Joe Diubaldo sits down with Ashley Dafel for a candid, high-level conversation on what senior finance leaders need to assess before accepting a PE-backed role and what separates successful operators from those who get stuck in execution. If you are a CFO, finance leader, operator, or executive considering a PE-backed opportunity, this episode is a must-listen. 

Ashley breaks down the importance of understanding the private equity firm’s mandate, evaluating governance, clarifying your role beyond the spreadsheets, and building alignment across ownership, leadership, and the board. He also shares real examples from turnaround situations where cash was tight, teams lacked critical capabilities, and major decisions had to be made quickly. From customer profitability to leadership vulnerability, this episode is a practical playbook for leaders navigating high-stakes change. 

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Chapters  

00:00 Intro  

01:01 Why the mandate comes first 

03:09 What to assess before taking a PE-backed role 

06:23 How urgency changes in private equity 

09:05 Walking into a turnaround crisis 

12:10 The first priority: cash flow 

15:29 Missing capabilities inside struggling teams 

20:35 Customer profitability changes everything 

25:49 How fast a turnaround can happen 

29:38 From CFO to Chief Business Officer 

37:05 Why alignment matters across leadership and ownership 

49:33 Vulnerability, trust, and stepping into bigger roles 
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Watch the full interview and subscribe for more conversations with the operators behind the world’s most resilient businesses. 

Connect with guest Ashley Dafel on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-dafel  

Connect with Host Joe Diubaldo on LinkedIn ➡️  https://www.linkedin.com/in/joediubaldo/  

Read the Full Blog Summary ➡️Before You Touch the Spreadsheet: Ashley Dafel on What Actually Decides a PE-Backed Turnaround - Clarity Recruitment

🔔If this conversation resonated with you, like the episode and subscribe to stay up to date on future conversations with founders and operators. 

Joe Diubaldo, host of The Next Moves and Founder of Clarity Recruitment, has made it his life to help people build better careers and better companies. Along the way, there’s been one lesson that always stands out… We all get stuck. The Next Moves podcast has been curated to help you get unstuck; to help you plan the next move and then the move after that. 

If you’re leading a team where communication feels off and momentum keeps stalling, this episode is a must-listen. Joe Diubaldo sits down with Giselle Kovary, Head of Learning and Development at Optimus SBR and co-founder of NGen People Performance, to break down what actually causes generational friction at work and how leaders can turn it into clarity, engagement, and performance.

They unpack what generational intelligence really means, why it is not about stereotypes or labels, and how five generations working side by side can either slow organizations down or become a serious competitive advantage. Joe and Giselle explore why communication is the biggest friction point inside growing companies, the real cost of disengagement, and how leaders can adapt without creating perceptions of unfairness.

This conversation is especially relevant for founders, CEOs, and executives navigating growth, integration, or tension across teams. You will also hear Giselle share her journey from building and selling NGen People Performance to stepping into an intrapreneur role at Optimus SBR, along with what the future of work, learning, and leadership demands next.

The organization you’re building today won’t look the same 12 months from now — and that’s exactly why leaders need to hire for the future, not just the present.

In this episode of  @TheNextMovesPodcast  Joe sits down with Adam Kozak (CFO at PRT Growing Services) to break down how strong operators think about risk, talent, decision-making, and transformation across wildly different environments — from Loblaws (retail + supply chain at scale) to the cannabis industry (high ambiguity, high volatility) to private equity-backed business transformation.

We cover what separates leaders who protect the business from those who run toward burning buildings, and how to build teams when you don’t have unlimited budget, time, or perfect conditions.

🔥 In this conversation, we cover:

✅ How to make talent decisions when the business will change fast

✅ The “utopia → reality” method for hiring under constraints

✅ Why finance leaders must start with the business (not spreadsheets)

✅ How to avoid analysis paralysis and course-correct quickly

✅ Navigating ambiguity across industries and operating models

✅ Loneliness in senior leadership (and how to fix it)

✅ What Adam learned from one role that wasn’t what he signed up for

✅ The one low-cost move that creates massive value: communication

If you're a leader, founder, CFO, COO, or hiring manager trying to build the right team in an uncertain market - this one will hit.

🎧 Listen, subscribe, and share this with someone building through change.

Connect with guest Adam Kozak on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkozak1/

Connect with Host Joe Diubaldo on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joediubaldo/

Joe Diubaldo, host of The Next Moves and Founder of Clarity Recruitment, has made it his life to help people build better careers and better companies. Along the way, there's been one lesson that always stands out... We all get stuck. The Next Moves podcast has been curated to help you get unstuck; to help you plan the next move and then the move after that.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Hiring for the future (not today)

00:24 Adam’s background: CFO + COO operator mindset

01:12 From Deloitte to Loblaws to cannabis + PE transformation

05:03 Start with the business, then work backwards (finance leadership)

06:57 Best-in-class thinking + solving the “Rubik’s cube”

09:15 When the role isn’t what you expected

11:46 Turning failure into learning

13:09 Staying 11 years at Loblaws

16:40 Breaking silos + earning trust cross-functionally

19:12 Loneliness at senior levels

25:29 Building teams under constraints

28:30 Why every org looks different in 12 months

30:20 Macro uncertainty + looking inward to improve

32:43 Rapid fire leadership questions35:54 The scrappiest value creator: communication

One lunch changed Aaron Watson’s life. What followed was a rapid rise from senior accountant to CFO IQmetrix and several high-growth SaaS businesses.In this episode, Aaron breaks down the exact systems they used to expand into new verticals, evolve from SMB clients to enterprise carriers, manage capital with discipline, and operate multiple companies under one unified structure.If you're scaling a SaaS business, a founder running multiple entities, or a finance leader building a stronger operating model, this episode delivers practical, battle-tested insight.Chapters:00:00 Intro01:20 Aaron’s journey from accountant to CFO07:45 When the wireless market shifted13:10 Moving upstream to enterprise18:35 Launching new verticals24:50 How they run multi-entity P&Ls30:25 Capital allocation without VC38:40 Building shared ownership culture46:55 Aaron’s rapid-fire insightsWatch the full interview and subscribe for more conversations with the operators behind the world’s most resilient businesses.

What does it really take to lead in a world reshaped by AI, hybrid work, and constant change? Dessalen Wood has some answers – and they start with people. As Chief People Officer at Syntax, Dess is helping shape how leaders navigate the biggest shifts in today’s workplace: hybrid work, AI, and the evolving expectations of employees everywhere. Tune in for a refreshingly human perspective on the future of leadership.

Michael Edelman’s career has spanned chemistry labs, high-growth tech, billion-dollar licensing deals, and now leading a Canadian semiconductor materials company through rapid global expansion. In this episode, Michael shares how he’s built businesses at the intersection of science and strategy. From hiring people smarter than himself, to navigating high-stakes patent battles, to scaling Polar’s team and culture, Michael brings candid insights on leadership, resilience, and turning big ideas into thriving companies.

Brendan White’s path from Big 4 accounting to leading finance and ops at a high-growth fintech was shaped by curiousity, adaptability, and a willingness to take leaps. In this episode, Brendan sits down with Joe to talk about what it takes to succeed in founder-led, fast-moving environments. From building credibility in new industries, to scaling processes without losing agility, to how AI is changing the operator’s toolkit, Brendan shares practical lessons on leadership, trust, and asking the right questions.

Jimmy Tristovski’s journey from pursuing engineering to people analytics is anything but typical, and that’s what makes his perspective so interesting. In this episode, Jimmy breaks down how data, culture, and systems thinking come together to build high-performing teams. From scaling culture at The Score to rethinking capacity models at PolicyMe, he shares lessons on hiring, employee experience, and why role players often win over superstars.

Trish Saltys’ career is a masterclass in leadership through complexity. From stabilizing crisis-stage companies to scaling founder- and PE-led organizations, Trish has built a reputation as the go-to operator for high-stakes transformation. In this episode, she shares lessons from her journey, including how she’s led teams through chaos, built trust in turnaround environments, and learned to grow into roles that felt just beyond reach.

Rob Cherun’s journey from finance to entrepreneurship is a masterclass in scaling, leadership, and strategic growth. As the former CEO of Stealth Monitoring, he transformed a $5M company into a $150M industry leader. In this episode, Rob shares insights on search fund investing, building high-performing teams, and the key decisions that drive business success.

Alex Kaju’s journey from aspiring CFL athlete to behavioural scientist reveals how psychology shapes hiring, business, and everyday choices. Now an Assistant Professor at HEC Montréal, he explores how decision-making biases impact recruitment, corporate strategy, and consumer behaviour.

AI experts John Stroud and Jen Schellinck from AI Guides discuss how businesses can prepare for AI’s rapid evolution. They talk about the rise of AI "agents," the importance of in-house AI expertise, and how leaders can foster AI adoption strategically. With real-world examples and actionable insights, this is a must-listen for anyone looking to harness AI’s potential and stay ahead of the curve.

Cyriac Alappat, Principal @ Cross-Border Impact Ventures talks about his inspiring journey from public accounting to venture capital, sharing insights on on leveraging risks, resilience, and a global mindset to succeed in finance and venture capital.

Rich Appiah, Principal & Lawyer at Appiah Employment Law, discusses key employment law considerations for growing businesses. He shares insights on navigating workplace challenges, fostering compliance, and creating policies that protect both employers and employees in dynamic environments.

Abe Alappat, Sr. Technical Product Manager at Odaia discusses the potential of AI across various industries and how it can give a competitive edge. He talks about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way businesses approach candidate selection, productivity, and decision-making in dynamic environments.

Ateet Patel of Vencora shares insights on leadership, team building, and career growth. With experience at top firms like Bell and Accenture, he emphasizes the importance of continuous employee development and overcoming career challenges.

Shawn Wilson began his career as a CA and became a CFO at 29. In private equity-backed companies, he stresses the need for alignment with stakeholder expectations and maintaining a clear strategic focus. His leadership style is based on transparency, accountability, and respect for colleagues, offering valuable lessons for C-level executives.

Craig Hudson shared his career journey, starting at KPMG and Indigo, where he developed key analytical and strategic skills. He led Knix through the challenges of the pandemic, resulting in a $320M acquisition by Essity. At LumiQ, he scaled the company through strategic planning and automation. Now at Tulip, he aims to drive the company’s growth to new heights.

Mumin Al-Shawaf talks about his transition from software engineering to executive leadership, stressing the importance of strategic growth, leadership development, and blending technical skills with business acumen. His insights provide a valuable blueprint for aspiring leaders looking to navigate their careers and contribute to their organizations.

Rikesh Shah emphasizes adaptability and leadership through challenges, including taking OverActive Media public. This episode features Rikesh's career journey and his advice for company leaders to embrace change, leverage team strengths, and maintain a long-term perspective to succeed.