Being good at the work is not the same as knowing how to run the business.

In part two of Cindi Baldi’s conversation with Kelly Kennedy, founder of Capital Business Development and host of The Business Development Podcast, the discussion moves from podcasting as business development to the realities of entrepreneurship.

They talk through the pricing mistake that sinks most new businesses, the mental gymnastics of going from employee to business owner, and the role of community and generosity in building a business that lasts.

Kelly's rule for service-based businesses is simple: figure out how to be profitable on day one, and start by pricing yourself at what the market charges, not below it.

If you are building a business around your expertise or thinking about leaving employment to start your own company, this episode brings key lessons on making entrepreneurship feasible.

Episode Highlights

• Why version one of your business probably will not be perfect
• The mindset shift from employee to entrepreneur
• Why $30 an hour as a business owner is not the same as $30 an hour as an employee
• How pricing can signal quality before a client ever works with you
• Why community, referrals, and reputation matter more than most marketing
• How generosity can create long-term business value

Watch Part 1 here

About Kelly Kennedy:

Kelly Kennedy is a Canadian business development strategist, founder of Capital Business Development, and host of The Business Development Podcast, a globally recognized show with over 300 episodes and listeners in more than 150 countries.

He is also the creator of The Catalyst Club, a private community for leaders focused on connection and results, and the host of I Used To Work There podcast. With nearly two decades in sales and business development, Kelly helps entrepreneurs, executives, and sales professionals turn strategy into consistent revenue through proven business development systems.

Connect with Kelly:

Linkedin | Instagram

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellykennedyofficial/, https://www.instagram.com/thebusinessdevelopmentpodcast

The Catalyst Club Community: www.kellykennedyofficial.com/thecatalystclub

The Business Development Podcast: www.businessdevelopmentpodcast.ca

I Used To Work There: www.iusedtoworkthere.com

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Rvc0cXRvizM

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Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Burg, Bob and John David Mann. The Go-Giver, Portfolio, 2015, https://a.co/d/05zaxTPw
• Gerber, Michael E. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, Harper Business, 1995, https://a.co/d/01cwxszb

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Employee complaints are often a sign of organizational health. The more dangerous signal may be when people stop complaining altogether.

Complaints often come from people who care deeply about the organization and want it to improve. The challenge for leaders is distinguishing those committed truth-tellers from the person who will remain unhappy no matter what.

In this episode, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin introduce two types of complainers: the “heartbroken lover,” who speaks up because they care, and the chronic scrooge who is never satisfied. They explore how a small number of negative employees can disproportionately influence a team, how leaders can respond without promising to fix everything, and a simple management tactic that turns complaints into ownership.

Whether you manage people or you’re the employee who keeps raising an issue and hearing nothing back, this episode will change how you think about the next complaint that lands on your desk.

Episode Highlights:

• Why complainers are often your most engaged employees, not your biggest problem
• How to distinguish a productive complaint from one that will never end
• What the research reveals about how one unhappy employee can influence 25% of an organization
• The simple question that can turn a complainer into a problem-solver
• Why silence may be the real warning sign inside an organization
• How leaders accidentally train employees to stop speaking up

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VjZTIo4RpiA

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

→ Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook.

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Goldsmith, Marshall, and Mark Reiter. What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful. Hyperion, 2007. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/marshall-goldsmith/what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there/9781401301309/
• Felps, Will, Terence R. Mitchell, and Eliza Byington. "How, When, and Why Bad Apples Spoil the Barrel: Negative Group Members and Dysfunctional Groups." Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 27, 2006, pp. 175–222. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191308506270059

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Why do great entrepreneurs sometimes struggle to become great leaders?

Entrepreneurs tend to be comfortable with risk. They chase ideas, trust their instincts, and see opportunities other people miss. That is often exactly what it takes to get a company off the ground. But once employees, customers, systems, and growth enter the picture, the job changes.

In this episode, Cindi Baldi talks with best-selling author and small-business expert Steve Strauss about one of the hardest transitions in entrepreneurship: going from founder to leader.

They explore what separates great entrepreneurs from great managers, how a founder’s personality can shape company culture for years, why some startups become unnecessarily chaotic, and why successful founders need people around them who complement their weaknesses. Steve shares stories from entrepreneurs including Tommy Hilfiger, Martha Stewart, and Walt Disney to show how risk, partnerships, and management decisions can determine whether a business grows or stalls.

They discuss what good bosses do differently, what leaders should be careful about outsourcing to AI, and why uncertainty may actually make this one of the most exciting times to build something new.

Episode Highlights:

• How a person’s tolerance for risk and uncertainty shapes their career choices
• Why the skills that make someone a great founder can make leadership harder
• How a founder’s personality becomes embedded in company culture
• What the most successful franchise owners do differently as leaders
• The billboard stunt that helped turn Tommy Hilfiger into a household name
• Why most family businesses don't survive a third generation, and the one that did
• What Walt Disney, Martha Stewart, and other iconic entrepreneurs understood about complementary partnerships
• Why this is the best time to start a new business and resources to help

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NJiNn3MKCo4

About Steve Strauss:

Steve Strauss is the country's leading small business expert. A non-practicing attorney and author of 18 books, including the bestselling Small Business Bible, Steve is also an in-demand speaker and brand ambassador.

Connect with Steve:

Website | Newsletter: Notes to An Entrepreneur | Latest book

*Bonus resource: Find a free mentor: https://www.score.org/

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

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Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Stanford Seed. “It Starts With You: Evolving Your Leadership as Your Company Grows,” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 28 Sep. 2022, https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/it-starts-you-evolving-your-leadership-your-company-grows
• Zook, Chris. “Founder-Led Companies Outperform the Rest – Here’s Why,” Harvard Business Review, 24 Mar. 2016, https://hbr.org/2016/03/founder-led-companies-outperform-the-rest-heres-why

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Leaders often confuse three different things: a goal, a strategy, and motivation.

A goal describes the result. A strategy explains how the organization will achieve it. Motivation may help people execute the plan…but it cannot replace one.

In this episode, Cindi and Geoff examine why ambitious targets, pep talks, and motivational speakers can backfire when employees are not given a credible path forward. They discuss how leaders can connect strategy to employees’ daily decisions, reduce uncertainty, and create genuine motivation through clarity and useful ideas.

They then turn to individual career strategy and the limitations of the advice to “follow your passion.” Passion can support persistence, but competitive dreams also require a real advantage and a parallel plan.

The conversation offers a practical test for organizations and individuals alike: Do you have an advantage and a plan, or are you hoping enthusiasm will carry you?

Episode Highlights:

• The mistake leaders make when setting growth targets
• Why bringing in a motivational speaker may signal a deeper leadership problem
• How to tell whether inspiration is creating real value or just a temporary high
• What “follow your passion” leaves out of the career equation
• How leaders can make strategy feel relevant to an employee’s everyday work
• The advantage successful organizations and individuals have that motivation alone cannot produce

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cFY9iwIiPA

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

→ Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook.

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Rumelt, Richard. Good Strategy Bad Strategy, Crown Currency, 19 Jul. 2011, https://a.co/d/013vvcgF
• Ordóñez, Lisa et al. “Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting,” Academy of Management Perspectives, Jan. 2009, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1332071

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You can be excellent at your job and still be overlooked if you cannot communicate your ideas when it matters.

Speaking skills affect far more than stages and TED Talks. They shape who gets heard in meetings, trusted with responsibility, remembered by decision-makers, and considered for the next opportunity.

In this episode, former Procter & Gamble communications trainer and filmmaker turned public speaking coach Nausheen Chen joins Cindi Baldi to explore what helps people communicate clearly and confidently under pressure.

Together, they break powerful communication into three separate skills: confidence, messaging, and delivery, and discuss why learning to communicate under pressure can change the trajectory of a career. Nausheen shares the speaking techniques she uses with overthinkers and perfectionists, how to pull a distracted audience back, and the Stanford research that explains why some people build confidence faster than others after the exact same experience.

Whether you are leading a meeting, presenting to executives, appearing on camera, or stepping onto a stage, this episode offers practical tools to help you sound as capable and credible as you already are.

Episode Highlights:

• Why confidence and speaking skill must be built separately
• How improv helps perfectionists stop overthinking
• What to do when you realize you have lost the audience
• What body language reveals and the first steps to mastering it
• The one question every speaker should ask themselves about the audience
• How to turn past speaking experiences into future confidence

About Nausheen Chen:

Nausheen I. Chen is a 3-time TEDx speaker, a Public Speaking instructor for the Executive MBA program at Central European University and Wesleyan and a content creator with 500,000+ followers across LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

Nausheen coaches leaders at Google, Amazon, NASA and the UN as well as startup founders to speak fearlessly. Her clients have raised more than $115 million through winning investor pitches and successful exits.

Connect with Nausheen: Website | Linkedin

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gK7racEvoW0

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

→ Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook.

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Monarth, Harrison. "The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool." Harvard Business Review, March 2014. https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-irresistible-power-of-storytelling-as-a-strategic-business-tool
• Stephens, Greg J., Lauren J. Silbert, and Uri Hasson. "Speaker-Listener Neural Coupling Underlies Successful Communication." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 107, no. 32, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1008662107

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A team finally clicks. People trust each other. Communication flows. Performance increases.

So why can that same team eventually start getting worse?

In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin unpack the surprising downside of team stability. One mechanism behind this is group polarization: the tendency for a group's distinctive characteristics and beliefs to become more extreme over time. What begins as a constructive team identity can eventually become an "us versus them" worldview that makes newcomers harder to integrate, collaboration harder to sustain, and contrary information easier to dismiss.

Drawing on examples from fire departments, elite military units, office design, and consulting engagements, Cindi and Geoff illustrate why longevity doesn’t automatically produce better teamwork. Tune in to learn how organizational silos form, and what leaders should do to stop separate teams from becoming separate realities.

Episode Highlights:

• The surprising point where team stability can stop helping performance and start working against it
• The high-performing “go-to” team that became so protective of its reputation that its members stopped catching each other’s mistakes
• Why the characteristics that make a team distinctive can become more extreme over time
• The overlooked role of office layout and proximity in creating organizational silos
• What elite military units and fire departments reveal about organizational tribalism
• The question leaders need to ask themselves to stop the “us vs. them” mindset in its tracks

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/h2EPEVPBlTA

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

→ Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook.

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• General Stanley McChrystal et al. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, Portfolio, May 2015, https://a.co/d/0fJrwKxG
• Wise, Sean. “Can a team have too much cohesion? The dark side to network density,” European Management Journal, 32 (5), Oct. 2014, pp. 703-711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2013.12.005

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Most leadership problems are framed too narrowly.

A culture problem gets handed to HR. AI becomes a technology initiative. Operations get optimized in a vacuum of spreadsheets. But organizations don’t experience strategy, culture, technology, or people separately…and that may be exactly why so many well-intended transformations fail.

This week, Cindi Baldi talks with Dr. Timothy Tiryaki, systems leadership expert and author of Leading with Strategy, about what changes when leaders stop treating organizational challenges as isolated problems and start leading the tensions between them.

They explore why the hardest leadership challenges are often dilemmas rather than problems, why organizations need stability management alongside change management, and why AI adoption becomes dangerous when it is treated as a headcount exercise.

If you’re trying to lead through disruption without destabilizing your team, culture, or strategy in the process, this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights:

• Why the hardest leadership problems often exist between sectors
• How to recognize when you are facing a dilemma instead of a problem
• Why change management fails when leaders ignore the equally important work of stability management
• Why purpose statements are losing meaning with employees and what to focus on instead
• How authenticity, inclusion, and empathy can become liabilities when leaders use them without judgment

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/B7v8oKoX_kk

About Timothy Tiryaki:

Dr. Timothy Tiryaki is a venture-building entrepreneur, author, and executive advisor helping leaders think strategically about AI, culture, and transformation. As founder of Maslow Research Center and co-founder of Strategy.Inc, he developed research-backed frameworks including the Big 5 of Strategy assessment to elevate strategic clarity across organizations.

He is the author of Leading with Strategy and Leading with Culture, bridging rigorous research with practical leadership tools. Drawing on experience across Fortune 500 companies, government institutions, and entrepreneurial ventures, Dr. Tim equips executive teams to align strategy, culture, and technology, moving from complexity to clarity in the AI era.

Connect with Dr. Tim:

Linkedin | Website

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

→ Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook.

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Free Press, 2004, https://a.co/d/0j9eJWoA

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We have a controversial opinion: we don’t believe in volunteering.

At least, not the kind that allows organizations to avoid paying people for work they genuinely depend on.

In this episode of Management Muse, Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin challenge the assumption that volunteer labor is always a win-win. We discuss how underpaying mission-driven employees can create long-term staffing problems, why critical work is difficult to build around people who aren’t formally accountable for it, and how organizations can unintentionally take advantage of the very people most committed to the mission.

If your organization depends on people giving more than they’re formally paid or accountable for, don’t miss this episode. It’s a useful challenge to the idea that goodwill can substitute for compensation, structure, and accountability.

Episode Highlights:

• When volunteering crosses the line into unpaid labor
• The hidden organizational cost of relying on volunteers
• What inflation exposes about organizations built on below-market wages
• What to watch out for with mission-driven employees
• Why “free” changes the expectations and accountability on both sides
• The rare case where a volunteer becomes indispensable

Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pPCD3iggEgI

Get your copy of The Uncertainty Playbook: 14 Strategies for Work Success in a Chaotic World here.

→ Use code PLAYBOOK20 for 20% off.

Get Science-Backed Insights and Exclusive Perks Straight to Your Inbox:

→ Sign up for our newsletter and get a FREE chapter of The Uncertainty Playbook.

Want to Go Deeper? Check Out Our Recommended Reading:

• Pallotta, Dan. Uncharitable, Brandeis University Press, Oct. 2022, https://a.co/d/03CkgwMe
• Ton, Zeynep. The Good Jobs Strategy, New Harvest, Jan. 2014, https://a.co/d/0iLwWUEz

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