Episode Summary:

In this episode of Automate or Die Trying, host Wil Ramos sits down with Meade Kincke, better known as The Recalibrator, a keynote speaker, transformation coach, and trusted advisor to elite veterans, former agency professionals, founders, and Fortune 500 executives from companies like AT&T, eBay, and Yum! Brands.

Meade shares his unconventional journey from hacking in basements to becoming a strategic coach for some of the most disciplined minds in the world. For more than two decades, he has helped special operations veterans transition into meaningful civilian careers, guided executives through high-stakes leadership challenges, and supported entrepreneurs seeking clarity, purpose, and performance at scale.

The conversation dives deep into identity, reinvention, and the psychological reset required to shift from one intense chapter of life to the next. Meade breaks down the emotional realities veterans face when leaving service, describing it as a strange kind of death, and explains how he helps them rebuild purpose, confidence, and direction.

He also unpacks his philosophy on simplicity in engineering and leadership, arguing that the most resilient systems and the most resilient people are the ones built on boredom, consistency, and disciplined fundamentals. Flashy tools do not build trust; predictable systems do.

Meade discusses the importance of environment when working with top performers, explaining why he uses his Pint Test to evaluate whether people should actually work together. Talent matters, but trust, compatibility, and emotional safety matter more. When those elements align, teams move faster, make smarter decisions, and prevent burnout before it starts.

The episode also explores veterans in tech, how companies can better support high-pressure transitions, and why automation, compliance, and security often fail when leaders assume the work is set and forget. Meade emphasizes that real security, whether technical or personal, requires relentless recalibration, not checkboxes.

Finally, Meade shares practical advice for executives, veterans, and founders who are looking to make major shifts in their lives. Whether navigating identity loss, career pivots, or overwhelming leadership responsibility, Meade’s framework helps people slow down, reassess, and rebuild from a place of clarity and strength.

• Why elite veterans struggle with identity loss after service and how recalibration restores purpose
• How disciplined curiosity and boring consistency build stronger engineering and leadership systems
• Why simplicity is more secure than complexity, especially in high-stakes environments
• How the Pint Test helps leaders build trust-based, high-performance teams
• Why more companies are hiring fewer people and paying them more to get better results
• The difference between compliance checkboxes and real security
• Why major life transitions require psychological decomposition before reconstruction
• Practical steps for leaders, veterans, and founders seeking clarity, confidence, and direction

Golden Nugget:

“Recalibration is not about starting over. It is about stripping away what no longer serves you so you can rebuild with purpose, discipline, and clarity.”

Connect with Meade Kincke:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/meadekincke
• Website: https://therecalibrator.com/
• Substack: https://meadekincke.substack.com/
• YouTube:

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Automate or Die Trying, host Wil Ramos sits down with Bob Fabien “BZ” Zinga, a trusted cybersecurity executive, servant leader, boardroom strategist, and Navy Commander whose career spans defending global military networks and enabling hypergrowth inside AI and SaaS companies. Ranked in the Top 3% of LinkedIn worldwide and the #1 U.S. content creator for #GlobalLeaders and #RiskandResilience, BZ brings a rare blend of military discipline, startup speed, and human-centered leadership.

BZ shares his journey from commanding Navy cyber operations and safeguarding mission-critical global systems to adapting his leadership style for engineering-driven Silicon Valley environments. He opens up about the culture shock of transitioning from authority-based leadership to influence-based leadership and explains why security only matters when it enhances speed, predictability, and trust.

The conversation dives deep into how BZ built security programs that empower developers rather than block them, embedding guardrails directly into engineering workflows to support rapid innovation. He breaks down how he helped an AI automation startup scale 50x in revenue, shorten sales cycles by 39 days, and use security as a competitive advantage to win enterprise customers.

Finally, BZ reflects on the personal evolution required to lead across radically different cultures, balancing mission assurance, business outcomes, relationship-building, and resilience. He shares why the safest path must also be the fastest path and how security becomes a true multiplier for growth when leaders focus on clarity, collaboration, and customer trust.

Key Takeaways:

• Why modern security must function as a velocity engine, not a barrier
• How to lead engineering teams through influence, empathy, and credibility
• The power of embedding security guardrails into high-speed development workflows
• How security can accelerate sales cycles and drive enterprise revenue
• A practical framework for risk modeling based on impact, velocity, and blast radius
• Why relationship-building is a core competency for security leaders
• How evidence automation and trust signaling create measurable business value
• Lessons from leading at global military scale and in high-growth startups
• Why “the safest path must be the fastest path” for responsible innovation

Golden Nugget:

“Security should give your organization the confidence to move faster, not slow it down. When you build the right guardrails, you unlock velocity, trust, and sustainable innovation.”

Connect with Bob Fabien “BZ” Zinga:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bobfabienzinga
• Website: bobfabienzinga.com
• Linktree: linktr.ee/bobfabienzinga
• Creator Spotlight: spotlight.favikon.com/bobfabienzinga/

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Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or find us wherever you get your podcasts.

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Automate or Die Trying empowers leaders to adopt AI securely, move faster with confidence, and transform the future of work.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Automate or Die Trying, host Wil Ramos sits down with Sunil Sharma, CTO and CEO at a stealth-mode AI MedTech startup focused on XR and data science. Sunil shares his journey from leading data science and platform engineering at companies like Thermo Fisher Scientific and ADP to building systems that scale, innovate, and save lives.

The conversation dives into how his team is transforming the “golden hour” into “golden minutes” for trauma victims, enabling first responders, even non-medical personnel to triage patients effectively in high-stakes environments. Sunil discusses predictive models, XR-enabled glasses that monitor vitals remotely, and hybrid AI systems designed for safety, speed, and accuracy. He also reflects on lessons learned scaling enterprise systems, implementing agile transformations, and building high-quality, actionable AI data pipelines.

Finally, Sunil shares practical advice for leaders developing AI-driven medical solutions, emphasizing collaboration, context-aware AI, and rigorous testing to ensure life-saving impact.

Key Takeaways:

• How AI and XR compress the “golden hour” in trauma care
• Designing AI systems for high-stakes environments with robust fail-safes
• Scaling enterprise-grade systems for speed, precision, and reliability
• Ensuring data quality and context-awareness in hybrid AI models
• Lessons from leading innovation labs and accelerating product development cycles
• The role of humans in AI-assisted decision-making and emergency triage

Golden Nugget:

“Technology can save lives, but it works best when humans remain in the loop. The right AI, in the right hands, can turn minutes into miracles.”

Connect with Sunil Sharma:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sunil-sharma-leader

Listen Now & Subscribe:

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or find us wherever you get your podcasts.

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Automate or Die Trying empowers leaders to adopt AI securely, move faster with confidence, and transform the future of work.