AI is changing everything, but not in the way most leaders think. In this episode, Rishad Tobaccowala breaks down how we got here, from the early days of broadcast marketing to today’s fast-moving, AI-powered world. He explains why the current moment is different, what’s actually changing and what still matters more than ever. If you’ve been hearing about AI strategy and wondering where to start, this conversation will shift your perspective. Rishad makes the case that focusing on AI alone is a trap and instead challenges leaders to rethink their entire organization, their role and how they create value. He also shares a powerful framework for moving from control to inspiration and why imagination is becoming one of the most important leadership skills.
You’ll walk away with practical ways to think about talent, structure your team and stay competitive in a world that’s evolving faster than ever. Whether you’re leading a team or just trying to keep up, this episode will give you a clearer way forward.
Ravi Venkatesan took Cantaloupe from nearly $400 million in accumulated losses to profitability in three years, grew the stock from $2.75 to $11.20, and is now completing a take-private exit. Before all of that, he tried to make it as a cruise ship chef and spent four years playing guitar in jazz bands — which, it turns out, says everything about how he thinks. On this episode of Success Beneath the Surface, Ravi and Deborah Fell get into what actually drives that track record: how he thinks about business model disruption before it arrives, why successful companies quietly stop taking the risks that made them successful, and why isolating innovation in a special department almost always backfires. They also don’t avoid the hard conversation. Ravi’s prediction on AI and workforce displacement is not a soft one. Neither is his advice to the CEOs listening about what leading through it actually requires.
When Liza Buck followed a stranger’s car down a dirt road into the Maine woods as an 18-year-old, she had no idea she was headed to a grief camp. She thought she was going to lifeguard. That accidental detour became her life’s work. Liza is now on staff full time at Experience Camps, a nonprofit founded in 2009 that provides free week-long programs for children who have lost a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. What started with 27 kids in Maine now serves nearly 2,000 children a summer across 16 programs in 8 states. In this conversation, Liza and Susan talk about what grieving children actually need, why the first question you ask matters more than almost anything else, and how a camper’s fishbowl analogy captures something most adults spend years trying to articulate. They also talk about anger as a legitimate part of grief, the value of saying the words “death” and “dying” out loud, and what it looked like when a Binky Patrol blanket showed up on a 30-degree May night in Connecticut.
Chris and Corey are joined by Blackpearl Group’s CTO, Sam Daish. In this episode, he’s dousing us with the reality of why most sales AI tools are basically expensive cat toys. Blackpearl has built Bebop.AI, a tool that makes sense as an addition to a sales pro’s tech stack. It could probably replace several nonsensical shiny AI tools they are currently batting around instead of making calls. Corey’s firing questions about AI fatigue (because let’s face it, we all have it), while Chris goes full mathematician on us with this brutal insight: sales reps are like cats chasing laser pointers with AI. Lots of movement, lots of fascination, but nobody’s actually catching anything. You may wonder how this fits in with BeBop.ai. It will make more sense after you hear the origin story – they almost called it “Hot Pipe” until someone pointed out the, uh, alternative interpretations. Instead, they went with a full bebop jazz vibe in the function and tone because they wanted sales to feel like improvisation, not a pile of dated rigid playbooks. As the real kicker, Chris breaks down why most AI implementations fail: false negatives. You’re not just calling the wrong people – you’re missing the right ones entirely. And Sam’s nodding along because BebopAI tackles this by making the entire Internet your database instead of some limited proprietary dataset. The feature that gets reps most excited? Not the fancy prospect data. It’s the objection handling. Turns out confidence beats information every time.
Emergency room visits are one of the most misunderstood and expensive drivers of employer healthcare spend. In this week’s episode of The Granite List.Live, Sally is joined by Al Lewis, Founder and Quizmeister-in-Chief of Quizzify and longtime health policy veteran, to uncover how smarter member education leads directly to smarter utilization. Al breaks down why ER visits now account for roughly 6% of employer health spend, when in reality they should be closer to 3%, and how employers can close that gap through better literacy, consent awareness, and validation.
For executives and boards alike, this episode of What’s Your Edge? is a powerful reminder that growth without focus often creates complexity, margin pressure, and operational drag. Profitable growth, on the other hand, requires discipline, clarity, and sometimes the courage to say no. Laura’s guest is Alfonso Aramburo, Founder, Brecher Manufacturing.
Deacon Brett talked about what we are filling our ears, heads and heart with. He says, “When I find myself short on patience, anxious, angry, or eager to judge, I ask myself: ‘Whose voice have you been listening to lately, the serpent’s or the Lord’s? What’s been shaping your heart: prayer, scripture, and the Liturgy; or the news and internet, my ego or insecurities?’.” Who we listen to shapes how we see other people, the world around us, the events of our lives — even God Himself.
We hope you enjoy this playlist of our favorite episodes of the week.
