the podcast
Ryan Castle sits down with founders, operators, and people leaders to talk about what it really takes to lead: the decisions behind the wins, the habits that hold up under pressure, and how they close the gap between a good plan and real execution. Real stories, not just theory. If you lead people and want your strategy to actually land, this is your show.
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Power tip: "How to rebuild trust after you get it wrong", Jen Hamilton
Jen Hamilton on why an apology only lands once the other person feels heard, and how a promise for something new is what actually rebuilds trust.
How to build a culture of excellence, not a wall of values. Kyle McDowell
Kyle McDowell, author of the bestselling Begin With WE and a thirty year corporate leader, joins Ryan Castle to reveal why values on the wall change nothing, how ten observable behaviours reset a culture, and what it takes to set, model and hold the standard.
Power tip: "Get the structure right from Day One", Gretchen Heinen
Gretchen Heinen on why founders who skip the legal groundwork stall later, and how an early cap table decision let her build without hitting a ceiling.
Why AI coaching fails without human intelligence. Dr Mike Ashby
Mike Ashby, founder of Level 10 Leaders, shares why AI coaching stalls in the content layer of the 10/20/70 model, what the great training robbery really costs organisations, and how Dr Mike AI supplements human coaching instead of replacing it.
Power tip: "Don't forget the person behind the skills," Alex Franklin
Technical competency is eligibility for a role. Behavioural competency is suitability. Alex Franklin on why leaders keep confusing the two.
On camaraderie, why relationships come before results. Rajiv Mehta
Rajiv Mehta, the NASA and Apple engineer who spent 20 years studying how people care for each other, joins Ryan Castle to reveal why relationships come before results, how simple paper and pencil tools build camaraderie in distributed teams, and why self-discovery beats being told what to fix.
Power tip: “A full calendar isn't productivity, it's structural debt," Kenny Cao
Kenny Cao of Cultivator Co on why a packed calendar signals a design problem, and how the escalation ratio reveals which decisions to hand over.
How to execute strategy through behaviour. Kyle Harkema
Kyle Harkema, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at KMC Controls and author of Strategic Clarity, joins Ryan Castle to reveal why organisations execute behaviour, not strategy, how leaders create clarity over certainty, and how decision frameworks turn strategic plans into daily action.
Power tip: "Where to focus for team growth," Dr Mike Ashby
Developing your team isn't one size fits all. In this Level 10 Leaders Power Tip, Dr Mike Ashby explains where to focus your energy for team growth, giving stars autonomy, limiting drag from the bottom 20%, and moving the middle, plus how to adapt to each stage of the growth S-curve.
How to make HR a strategic driver. David Alsop
David Alsop, CHRO at Ultradent Products, shares how to align HR strategy with business outcomes, build a total wellness proposition, and create the conditions where people and results thrive together.