Episode 6: Gary Acevedo

Episode 6: Gary Acevedo

From People-Pleaser to Miracle-Maker: Gary Acevedo on the Inner Game of Leadership What if the "hangups" you criticize yourself for are actually your greatest gifts? In this episode of the Aaxelera Podcast, Montgomery Pruss sits down with Gary Acevedo, founder of Rise Leadership Group in Salt Lake City, for a conversation more than 40 years in the making. At 19, Gary spent three years living in a community led by a mentor he calls "an unrecognizable genius," an experience that rewired his understanding of human potential and set him on a path through more than 30 disciplines, from hypnosis to NLP. What he found was that none of them matched the transformational power of what he'd learned at the very beginning. Gary shares the philosophy behind the breakthroughs he's guided for decades: that there are no true weaknesses, only gifts we haven't learned to own; that defensiveness is simply the flip side of self-criticism; and that the single greatest predictor of how fast someone grows isn't talent or intelligence, but their willingness to stop getting in their own way. Along the way, Gary explains the "moment of choice" that keeps high performers trapped in overwhelm, why the future of corporate training is experiential rather than intellectual, how a "clunk" signals the exact instant a sale is made, and what it means to lead every conversation with the intent to empower. For the founders, CEOs, and leaders who feel like they're busting their ass just to keep their head above water, this one is about learning to move to the center of the river, where the current carries you instead. Guest: Gary Acevedo, Founder, Rise Leadership Group Connect: riselg.com [http://riselg.com] | gary@riselg.com [gary@riselg.com]

Episode 6: Jo Self

Jo Self, founder of Practical Strengths and author of the Practical Strengths book series, joins Monty for a conversation about CliftonStrengths as a second language and the gap between knowing your strengths and actually living them. We cover her path from Yum! Brands to entrepreneurship in Peru, the cancer scare that pointed her toward CliftonStrengths as a full-time calling, why "Communication" as a talent doesn't mean what you think it means, the stories that make the framework click (the kindergarten research debate, empathy in prison populations, toilet paper), and her mission to build a strengths-based generation through the Practical Strengths Foundation. Connect with Jo: Website: https://practicalstrengths.org [https://practicalstrengths.org] Beginner's intro: https://discoverjoself.com [https://discoverjoself.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joself [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joself]

Episode 5: Deb Beroset

The Aaxelera podcast with Deb Beroset, Founder of It's Time for Moxie. Deb is an identity-level coach, neuroscience-informed practitioner, and the creator of what she calls Imaginal Intelligence. Her path runs from journalism (personality profiles for Ladies' Home Journal's "How America Lives" series), to leading Hallmark's internal innovation think tank (the Collaboratory), through twelve years heading public relations for a large company, into the coaching practice she's now run for ten years. She's currently Director of Coaching Content & Client Experience at Aligned Wealth Management, where she's helping fuse financial advisory with deep human coaching. In this conversation we get into: • Identity-level coaching, and why shifting the story you tell yourself changes everything downstream (thoughts, decisions, leadership) • Imaginal Intelligence as the missing piece for leaders who have insight but can't seem to move on it • Emotional contagion, and why a leader's interior state quietly sets the ceiling on what the whole organization can do • The skill of being unbothered, and how to cultivate a calm center in the middle of chaos • How she's using Claude as a pattern-recognition partner in her coaching practice, including her "living portrait" client artifact • Why AI, used right, may actually restore the human connection we've been losing rather than erase it Connect with Deb: Website: https://itstimeformoxie.com [https://itstimeformoxie.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahberoset/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahberoset/]

Episode 4: Dr. Sage Breslin

Dr. Sage Breslin, Ph.D., is the founder of the Sage Wisdom Institute and creator of The ROSE System (Restoring Old Soul Empowerment). Known as America's Narcissist Recovery Expert, she joins Monty for a conversation about the intersection of clinical psychology, spiritual practice, and recovery from narcissistic relationships. We cover her path from trauma psychologist to women's empowerment specialist, the bone marrow cancer diagnosis that became her "divine two-by-four," what soul retrieval actually looks like in practice, her pro bono work with veterans through Give an Hour, and her core message to any woman recognizing herself in this story: you are not alone, and it is not your fault. Connect with Sage: Website: https://sagewisdominstitute.com [https://sagewisdominstitute.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sage-breslin-phd/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sage-breslin-phd/] Sage Wisdom Institute on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sagewisdominstitute [https://www.linkedin.com/company/sagewisdominstitute] ----------------------------------------

Episode 3: Tom Scarda

Tom Scarda, CEO of The Franchise Academy and author of The Magic of Choosing Uncertainty, joins Monty to talk about franchise matchmaking and the mindset shift from employee to owner. We cover how he assesses fit, why he turns away 40% of prospects, the difference between mastering a category and inventing one, the lessons from his own franchise journey (from running multiple Maui Wowi locations to losing nearly everything on a meal-prep concept that was years too early), what's actually hot in franchising right now, and his 3 Seconds of Guts challenge for anyone stuck in the comfort zone. Connect with Tom: Website: https://tomscarda.com [https://tomscarda.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/findafranchise/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/findafranchise/]