Alan McLaren: The Silent Leadership Signal Destroying Your Team | Ready Set Exec S01E33

Corey Quinn: How to Build a Business Everyone Wants to Buy | Ready Set Exec

What if your best sales tactic wasn't a CRM sequence or a LinkedIn ad but a tin of gourmet cookies? Corey Quinn was CMO at Scorpion when the company grew from $20M to $200M in annual recurring revenue. He spent $3 million a year sending gifts to cold prospects and generated a 10% send-to-appointment rate when cold calling gets sub-1%. In this episode, he breaks down everything he learned about building a category-dominating brand, escaping founder-led sales, preparing for an acquisition, and why the marketing rules most founders follow are killing their business value. About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate. Chapters: 02:10 Category kings: why one brand wins 70-80% of any market 08:59 What percentage of revenue should go to marketing? 13:12 Cost per acquisition: the right way to measure marketing 24:56 Gift-based outbound: $3M/year on cookies and what happened 37:37 What multipliers PE firms will pay (and why) 48:44 The two forks: commodity vs. premium consultative path 51:13 Will AI eliminate the entry-level sales grinder? Connect with Ready Set Exec: * John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/] * Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/] * Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec [https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec] * Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g [https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g] * Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413] Connect with Corey Quinn: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyquinn/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyquinn/] #B2BMarketing #AgencyGrowth #ContentMarketing #MarketingStrategy #GiftBasedOutbound #CategoryKing #Specialization #AgencyMandA #FounderLedSales #ExitStrategy #BusinessPodcast #Podcast2026 #MarketingKPIs #EnterpriseValue #AnyoneNotEveryone

Linda Carlisle: Your Turnover Rate is Secretly Killing Your Margins | Ready Set Exec S01E35

Only 31% of US employees are engaged at work, an 11-year low. The other 70%? Checked out, actively disengaged, or job-hugging while waiting for something better. It's costing the global economy $8.9 trillion a year. And the root cause almost always traces back to leadership and communication. Linda Carlisle is a seasoned communications strategist and founder of Comm.Ext, where she helps organizations navigate their most critical moments from shaping culture and employer brand to guiding teams through M&A integrations, reorgs, and high-impact change. With decades of experience leading internal and external comms, Linda specializes in turning strategy into clear, human-centred messaging that keeps employees informed, aligned, and engaged. In this episode, Linda breaks down why most companies are getting communication completely wrong, why the trend back to command-and-control leadership is going to cost companies dearly, and what the real difference is between a culture problem and a communication problem. About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate. Chapters: 01:32 The Full Employee Lifecycle 05:22 Why Command-and-Control Leadership Fails 08:50 AI's Impact on the Talent War 13:29 Intentionally Designing Company Culture 21:53 Empathy During Crisis and Layoffs 39:48 Fixing the 70% Disengagement Epidemic Connect with Ready Set Exec: * John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/] * Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/] * Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec [https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec] * Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g [https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g] * Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413] Connect with Linda Carlisle: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindakcarlisle/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindakcarlisle/] #employeeengagement #companyculture #internalcomms #HRleadership #leader

Ryan Ross: Why B2B Founders Must Build a Media Empire in 2026 | Ready Set Exec

Most people think webinars are boring. Ryan Ross thinks they're the most underrated growth engine in business, and he's got Mark Cuban and the founder of Netflix on his webinar roster to prove it. As Head of Marketing at BrokersBlock and author of Benefits with Friends, Ryan has spent over a decade helping professionals in highly regulated industries build authority, trust, and a real pipeline from content that most people ignore. In this episode, we break down how to turn one webinar into 30 pieces of content, why CE-approved events triple your registrations, how to get celebrity guests to say yes, why you should stop calling yourself an influencer, and how the Dream 100 framework could change the way you think about your entire market. About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate. Chapters: 0:00 Intro: Who is Ryan Ross? 1:42 Webinars as a growth engine: The Tree of Life framework 6:21 The celebrity guest framework: how Ryan got Mark Cuban 8:51 CE-approved webinars: why they triple your registrations 13:43 Post-webinar nurture: turning attendees into pipeline 18:00 Best practices: length, polling, Zoom settings, and landing pages 31:38 Focus, delegation, and saying no as a founder 38:33 The Dream 100: why niching down beats going broad 44:06 Why known brands win in a down market 44:54 Benefits with Friends: writing a business novel to learn an industry 50:32 How Ryan used AI to write the book (and where it helped most) Connect with Ready Set Exec: * John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/] * Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/] * Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec [https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec] * Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g [https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g] * Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413] Connect with Ryan Ross: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrossnow/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrossnow/]

Alan McLaren: The Silent Leadership Signal Destroying Your Team | Ready Set Exec S01E33

CEO posts generate 7x more impressions than company pages. Most CEOs aren't posting. That gap is costing them trust, talent, and revenue. Alan McLaren is the co-founder of Strata Originals, the leadership branding firm that has coached more than 600 CEOs to clarify their leadership signal - the way their voice, presence, and perspective land with authority in every room and on every platform. With 30 years in executive roles across public companies, partnerships, and entrepreneurial ventures, Alan helps leaders understand why being felt is more important than just being seen. In this episode, Alan breaks down everything: why your leadership brand matters more than ever in the age of AI, why 90% of sales reps are doing social selling completely wrong, what the Coldplay CEO scandal teaches us about visibility and values, and how to frame your communication so it builds trust instead of triggering partisan walls. About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate. Chapters: 00:00 Who is Alan McLaren? 600 CEOs coached, 30 years in exec roles, Strata Originals 01:24 Leadership branding vs. personal branding 06:37 What to do if you're a CEO who hates being in front of cameras 08:00 The basic assets every executive should build to start their leadership brand 15:03 The loneliness of leadership: why even CEOs need mentors and community 22:58 What "leadership signal" actually means in the Mensa CEO story 26:00 How to frame content so it starts conversations instead of creating partisan divides 28:14 Why CEOs should never talk politics online Connect with Ready Set Exec: * John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/] * Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/] * Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec [https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec] * Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g [https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g] * Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413] Connect with Alan McLaren: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanmclaren [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanmclaren] #CEO #leadershipbranding #personalbranding #LinkedInmarketing #socialselling #executiveleadership #thoughtleadership #podcast #ReadySetExec #trustbuilding

Dr. Steven Wright: The 3 AI Threats Your Company Isn't Protecting Against | Ready Set Exec

AI isn't what most people think it is. And the threats it's creating are ones most companies have no plan for. Dr. Steven Wright is a globally experienced technology strategist, educator, and lawyer with over three decades of leadership across telecommunications, IT, and emerging digital ecosystems. He has contributed more than 50 patents, negotiated international technology agreements, and serves as faculty at multiple universities, driving innovation in AI, network architecture, and technology law. In this episode, we unpack the full landscape of what's actually happening at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, law, and ethics - including why politicians can't regulate what they don't understand, the three AI-enabled threats most companies aren't protecting against, and when quantum computing will actually break the internet's current security infrastructure. About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate. Chapters: 00:00 Who is Dr. Steven Wright? 01:04n The different ethical frameworks and why they matter for AI 05:30 Why calling it "AI" is the problem 07:36 Autonomous vehicles and the trolley problem 11:51 Who pays when an AI makes a mistake? 15:13 Why politicians can't regulate what they don't understand 20:30 Data suppression: how information is censored, hidden, and manipulated at scale 23:36 Deepfakes - CEO impersonation, blackmail, and why your company is the target 31:56 Quantum computing, when is it actually coming, and what will it break? 36:23 Post-quantum cryptography - the Y2K-scale challenge already underway 38:25 Blockchain, the GENIUS Act, and stable coins where crypto law actually stands in 2026 48:23 NFTs, practical blockchain use cases, and what actually worked Connect with Ready Set Exec: * John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/] * Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/] * Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec [https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec] * Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g [https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g] * Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413] Connect with Dr. Steven Wright: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drstevenawright/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drstevenawright/] #AI #cybersecurity #deepfakes #datapoisoning #quantumcomputing #blockchain #techlaw #AIethics #podcast #ReadySetExec