Are you building a profitable company — or a business that actually proves capitalism can be a force for good through conscious capital?

As a CEO, you feel the tension every day: grow the business, deliver profit, develop your people — and do it in a way that's socially responsible and sustainable. Meanwhile, capitalism itself faces a perception problem. Your employees want meaning. Your customers expect integrity. And the market punishes anything that smells short-term or exploitative.

In this episode of The CEO Project, you'll explore how conscious capital isn't about soft ideals — it's about building a company that earns trust, scales profitably, and strengthens its moral authority to exist.

By listening, you'll learn how to:

• Build a high-growth company rooted in trust behaviors that actually change stakeholder perception

• Balance profit and purpose without falling into coercive "check-the-box" stakeholder models

• Lead through crisis with accountability and culture intact — even when tough financial decisions must be made

Press play now to discover how conscious capital can help you grow your business and elevate its impact — without sacrificing performance.

Check out:

06:45 – The Perception Problem in Business
Curtis shares the eye-opening CEO summit moment that exposed the trust gap in the IT industry — and why changing perception became his company's mission.

18:30 – Conscious Capitalism vs. Stakeholder Capitalism
A powerful breakdown of classic capitalism, stakeholder models, and the "big tent" philosophy of conscious capital — including why inspiration beats coercion.

32:15 – Leading Through Crisis Without Losing Culture
A real-world example of navigating COVID, protecting profitability, and strengthening trust when 90 executives voluntarily gave up compensation to keep the company strong.

About Curtis Hite

Curtis Hite is the CEO of Improving – an international software consulting and training company which he founded in 2007. With a focus on Conscious Capitalism, the company has grown to 2000+ employees across 19 offices and greater than $280 million in revenue. Improving has been named 15 times to the Inc. 500/5000, consistently being recognized as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. The company has also received more than 100 local and national best place to work recognitions.

Are you leaving deals on the table because your LinkedIn presence isn't backed by proven strategies that actually build credibility and authority?

If you're leading a company, driving growth, or building your personal brand, LinkedIn isn't optional anymore—it's where buyers, partners, recruits, and even AI engines go to decide if you're legit. And here's the problem: what used to work on LinkedIn (post and hope, chase likes, blast press releases) doesn't work now. The platform has shifted. Reach is down. Algorithms are smarter. And if you're not showing up as a true topic authority, you're invisible—sometimes before you even get the meeting.

This episode breaks down what's actually happening behind the scenes and how you can adapt using proven strategies that align with the new AI-driven reality.

By listening, you'll discover how to:

• Position yourself (and your company) as a credible topic authority that LinkedIn's algorithm wants to reward

• Create content that sparks real conversations instead of getting ignored or "thumbed" into oblivion

• Leverage your team to multiply reach and influence without relying on expensive ads or outdated tactics

Hit play now and learn the proven strategies that will help you turn LinkedIn from a passive profile into a powerful growth engine for your business.

Check out:

• 08:45 – The moment Richard explains why LinkedIn completely changed its algorithm in 2025—and how it now evaluates your credibility before showing your content to anyone.

• 18:30 – A powerful breakdown of why company pages struggle with reach and how to use your people (not just your brand page) to multiply authority and visibility.

• 33:15 – The eye-opening shift from selling to humans to selling to AI engines—and what that means for your LinkedIn content and overall digital strategy.

Richard Bliss is the CEO of BlissPoint Consulting and author of Digital-First Leadership, He helps C-suite executives and sales teams transform digital hesitancy into market authority. He is a global speaker across 22 countries, and former Army Artillery Officer. Richard builds scalable influence systems that turn leaders into recognized voices in their markets.

Your LinkedIn presence should work harder than you do — building authority, attracting opportunities, and making you top of mind in your market. Richard works with executives who understand that in the 21st century, influence isn't just earned in the boardroom — it's built in the feed.

If mastering negotiation could instantly increase your business worth, how differently would you handle your next deal?

You negotiate every day—whether you call it that or not. From acquisition offers and partnership terms to real estate, compensation, and vendor contracts, you're constantly shaping outcomes that affect your company's growth and long-term business worth. The problem? Most leaders treat negotiation like a tug-of-war over price. In this episode, you'll learn why mastering negotiation is really about leverage, psychology, timing, and knowing when to walk away.

By listening, you'll gain:

• A smarter framework for mastering negotiation that goes beyond price and focuses on leverage, certainty, and deal structure

• Proven tactics like "never go first," strategic silence, and the flinch to strengthen your position without creating conflict

• A clearer understanding of motivation and timing so you can spot desperation, avoid overpaying, and protect your business worth

Press play now to sharpen your negotiation edge—and make your next deal one that compounds your business worth instead of quietly eroding it.

Check out:

• 07:45 – Leverage Changes Everything
  A practical breakdown of how leverage actually works in real deals—foreclosures, timing pressure, experience, and certainty of close—and why price is rarely the most important factor.

• 18:30 – The Power of Walking Away
  A sharp discussion on why the best negotiators are willing to walk, how desperation shifts leverage, and why "who comes back first" often determines who really has the power.

• 29:10 – The Flinch, Silence & Controlling the Pen
  Tactical gold: how to use silence to make the other party negotiate against themselves—and why drafting the agreement gives you structural control over the deal.

Onyi Odunukwe is CEO of Glo Tanning Centers, Inc. His specialties are:

• Marshaling limited resources to the most productive uses with the aim of creating maximum value for the company's stakeholders.
• Developing and cascading the organization's strategy/mission statement to the lower-ranking staff, and implementing appropriate rewards/recognition and coaching/corrective practices to align personnel with company goals.
• Planning by prioritizing customer, employee, and organizational requirements.
• Maintaining and monitoring staffing, levels, Knowledge-Skills-Attributes (KSA), expectations and motivation to fulfill organizational requirements.
• Driving performance measures for the operation (including a consideration of efficiency versus effectiveness), often in the form of dashboards convenient for review of high level key indicators