Get the CEO Leadership Collection: Five curated conversations in a private podcast, each under ten minutes, on the decisions and pressures that define the role.

Visit listentophil.com

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

What if your biggest growth opportunity isn’t inside your business, but outside it?

Most leaders are stuck trying to scale in isolation: Hiring more, building more, pushing harder. But growth doesn’t happen in silos. It happens through partnership, ecosystems, and aligned incentives and today’s guest, serial entrepreneur and venture investor, Wayne Gerard has lived it.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to rethink your approach to growth:

1. How to turn partnerships into a scalable growth engine
2. Why collaboration beats competition in modern markets
3. The leadership mindset required to unlock ecosystem-driven growth

If you’re serious about building sustainable growth through partnership, this conversation will change how you think.

👉 Listen now and rethink how you grow.

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

Get the Partnership Kickstart: In less that 30 minutes learn how to identify your best partnership opportunity, start the right conversations, and close deals.

Visit philhsc.com/close-better-deals

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Why does your CEO still not fully understand how your revenue engine actually works?

Because most GTM leaders either over-explain or under-communicate and both leave the system unclear.

In this episode learn how to:

• Reframe your role from “reporting up” to shaping how your CEO sees growth
• Identify the one GTM concept that’s quietly driving misalignment
• Use a simple narrative to create consistent, repeatable clarity

Pick one misunderstood concept and build a two-minute business story you can repeat across every strategic conversation this month.

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

Get the CEO Leadership Collection: Five curated conversations in a private podcast, each under ten minutes, on the decisions and pressures that define the role.

Visit listentophil.com

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Are you changing strategy when the real problem is execution?

One of the most expensive mistakes CEOs make is misdiagnosing performance issues — pivoting too early or pushing harder on the wrong plan.

• A simple 3-part diagnostic to separate strategy problems from execution gaps
• The “three-quarter rule” to avoid premature pivots
• Clear language to lead high-stakes board conversations with confidence

Before your next strategic review, run the test: have you fully resourced and consistently executed this strategy for three full quarters?

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

Get the CEO Leadership Collection: Five curated conversations in a private podcast, each under ten minutes, on the decisions and pressures that define the role.

Visit listentophil.com

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Nick Astwick is one of those leaders who feels deeply grounded in purpose and never disconnected from performance. He’s spent more than 25 years across financial services and healthcare — from National Bank to UBS Warburg, through to becoming COO at Kiwibank and then CEO of Southern Cross Health Society in 2017.

And what makes his story so compelling is that it doesn’t read like a classic CEO narrative. In fact, Nick once thought he’d become a detective. Instead, a temporary banking role turned into a career that has taken him right to the centre of some of New Zealand’s most important institutions.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. How to use partnership as a core lever for scalable growth
2. Why “good decisions” beat perfect ones in uncertain environments
3. How culture alignment determines whether your strategy actually works

If you want to scale faster, make better decisions, and build a business that stays relevant—this conversation will change how you lead.

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

Get the Partnership Kickstart: In less that 30 minutes learn how to identify your best partnership opportunity, start the right conversations, and close deals.

Visit philhsc.com/gtm

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Why does a full pipeline still fail to convert?

Most GTM teams misdiagnose pipeline problems — and apply pressure in the wrong place.

• The one question that reveals why deals really stall
• How to separate ICP, champion, and positioning issues fast
• A 90-minute diagnostic to uncover the real pattern in your top deals

Before your next pipeline review, shift the question — and diagnose what the buyer actually believes.

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

Get the CEO Leadership Collection: Five curated conversations in a private podcast, each under ten minutes, on the decisions and pressures that define the role.

Visit listentophil.com

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Are you hiring the best person — or the one you feel safest leading?

The moment a candidate makes you slightly uncomfortable might be the most important signal in your hiring process.

• Why discomfort in senior hiring is often a sign of capability, not risk
• How unclear leadership design turns strong hires into “control problems”
• A simple 3-question framework to separate real risk from ego-driven hesitation

Review your last three senior hires and decide — did you hire for comfort, or for elevation?

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

What if growth isn’t about better ideas—but better choices?

Most leaders chase shortcuts—faster growth, easier wins, predictable playbooks. But real growth, especially through partnership, doesn’t work like that.

In this episode, Georgie Holt, CEO at Flightstory, home of the second largest podcast in the world, Diary of the CEO, breaks down what actually separates good from exceptional—and why most people quit before it compounds.

You’ll learn:

1. How consistent decision-making drives long-term partnership growth
2. Why obsession—not balance—is often the real differentiator
3. How to build a culture that sustains high-performance growth

If you’re serious about building meaningful partnerships and sustainable growth, this episode will challenge how you think—and act.

👉 Listen now to rethink how growth really happens.

New episodes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

More from Phil Hayes-St Clair

Subscribe to my weekly Leadership Letter (and get immediate access to my Frameworks Vault)

FOR CEOs

If you’re stepping into bigger leadership moments and want support at the CEO level, explore my CEO Coaching.

FOR GTM LEADERS

If you're ready to build a repeatable GTM system that actually closes deals and creates leverage for your organisation, apply to join The Partnership Lab

Find me on LinkedIn

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.

Can you clearly tie every active partner to revenue in the last 90 days?

Most partner programmes look productive — but they’re built on activity, not revenue design.

• Why partner programmes default to relationship management (and how to spot it)
• The structural difference between activity and revenue architecture
• The 90-day test to reset your programme around pipeline and deals

Pick your top three partners and define one time-bound revenue action for this quarter.

New episodes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

More from Phil Hayes-St Clair

Subscribe to my weekly Leadership Letter (and get immediate access to my Frameworks Vault)

FOR CEOs

If you’re stepping into bigger leadership moments and want support at the CEO level, explore my CEO Coaching.

FOR GTM LEADERS

If you're ready to build a repeatable GTM system that actually closes deals and creates leverage for your organisation, apply to join The Partnership Lab

Find me on LinkedIn

The Partnership Playbook is the podcast for leaders who want to grow with clarity, create leverage through partnerships, and lead their teams with meaning. Each episode gives you practical insights drawn from two decades of building and backing companies, coaching CEOs, and closing high-value partnerships across industries. You’ll learn how to scale yourself as a leader, choose partners that help you grow faster, and turn trust, alignment, and first wins into momentum that lasts.

PS - Have a CEO guest recommendation for the show? Share this link with them.