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In this episode, Eric talks with Bill Blankschaen, founder of StoryBuilders and author of Your Story Advantage, about why so many capable people feel called to do more, yet never take responsibility for acting on it.

Bill shares his own transition from running a thriving private school to stepping into the uncertainty of writing, storytelling, and building a message-driven business. What looks like a career shift on the surface is really a deeper conversation about agency: why waiting for permission quietly drains momentum, and how clarity only emerges once people are willing to move.

At the center of the discussion is the idea that stories don’t begin with tactics, platforms, or tools. They begin with ownership. Bill explains why meaningful messages stall when people underestimate the value of their experience, overestimate the risk of being seen, or look for certainty before taking action.

The conversation also explores how storytelling actually works in practice. Not as clickbait or performance, but as a structured way to create attention, tension, credibility, and action without compromising integrity. Bill walks through the five core elements of effective storytelling, how intellectual property is developed responsibly, and why shortcuts like AI-generated content often weaken authority instead of building it.

They also dig into the difference between creativity and routine, where AI can help and where it cannot, and why originality, effort, and alignment still matter more than speed.

This is a grounded conversation for leaders, creators, and professionals who sense they’re capable of more, but feel stuck waiting for the “right moment” instead of choosing to move.

Topics Covered

• Why most people wait to be picked instead of taking responsibility
• The hidden cost of staying comfortable in “good enough” work
• How clarity only comes after action, not before
• The difference between telling a story and owning a message
• Why credibility is built through effort, not visibility
• A practical five-part framework for effective storytelling
• Where AI helps creative work and where it undermines it
• Why shortcuts often weaken authority instead of accelerating it
• Building a message ecosystem that lasts beyond a single book or launch

Episode Links

• StoryBuilders: https://mystorybuilders.com/
• StoryBuilders Method: https://mystorybuilders.com/story

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Kyle McDowell, bestselling author of Begin With WE and former Fortune 10 executive, about why most culture initiatives fail long before they reach execution.

Kyle argues that culture doesn’t break down because leaders lack frameworks, values statements, or motivation. It breaks down because real change requires personal cost. Political capital. Short-term discomfort. The willingness to be exposed.

The conversation centers on Kyle’s 10 WEs framework, not as a set of aspirational principles, but as daily practices that either show up in behavior or quietly die on the wall. Eric and Kyle explore which of the WEs are most often misunderstood, which ones are hardest to live out personally, and why leaders tend to turn culture frameworks into critiques of others rather than mirrors for themselves.

They also dig into why so many people feel inspired after books, keynotes, and TED talks, yet fail to act, and how responsibility, not motivation, is the missing ingredient. Kyle reflects on decades of leadership experience, what has genuinely changed about work over time, and what hasn’t changed at all.

This is a grounded, no-nonsense conversation for leaders who are serious about culture and honest enough to examine the cost of living it out.

Topics Covered

• Why culture change fails without personal sacrifice
• The difference between values as posters and values as practices
• Which leadership behaviors quietly kill trust
• Why frameworks become weapons instead of mirrors
• The hidden cost of authenticity and vulnerability
• What transactional cultures look like in practice
• How leaders unintentionally block the change they want
• What hasn’t changed about leadership, despite decades of disruption
• The smallest daily behaviors that reshape culture over time

Episode Links

• Kyle McDowell: https://kylemcdowellinc.com/
• Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylemcdowellinc/
• Kyle McDowell Inc. on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kylemcdowellinc/
• Kyle McDowell on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kylemcdowellinc

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Allen Thornburgh, a longtime marketing and fundraising leader who works with purpose-driven organizations to help them create experiences people actually care about.

Allen shares why so many organizations plateau despite doing everything “right,” and how over-reliance on data can quietly suffocate imagination. Drawing on his work across Fortune 500 companies, faith-based nonprofits, and global humanitarian organizations, he explains why growth stalls when leaders treat people as data points instead of human beings with inner lives, stories, and desires.

At the center of the conversation is imagination. Not as a buzzword, but as a practical leadership capacity. Allen describes how transformational work happens when organizations stop optimizing yesterday’s tactics and start designing meaningful experiences that reconnect people emotionally to a cause, mission, or brand.

They explore why direct response and digital marketing are necessary but insufficient, how organizations can fall back in love with their audiences by actually listening to them, and why creating moments of connection matters more than incremental optimization. Allen also walks through his human-centered process for sourcing insight, co-creating with audiences, and building initiatives that evolve over time rather than burn out after a single launch.

This is a grounded, experience-driven conversation for nonprofit leaders, marketers, founders, and executives who sense that growth problems are rarely technical and almost always human.

Topics Covered

• Why imagination matters more than optimization
• How data-driven thinking can unintentionally limit growth
• The difference between treating people as audiences versus participants
• Why most organizations underestimate the power of experience
• Falling in love with your donors, customers, or supporters again
• How to design initiatives that grow over time instead of stalling
• The role of storytelling, fiction, and imagination in leadership
• Why meaningful connection outlasts clever tactics

Episode Links

• Connect with Allen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-thornburgh/
• Allen’s Illumination Community: https://makehistoric.com/community/

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Matthew Powell, fourth-generation steward of Century Companies, about what it means to build a business designed to last for decades rather than quarters.

Matthew shares his path from Wall Street and investment banking into a 100+ year family enterprise, and how that transition reshaped how he thinks about leadership, success, and responsibility. At the center of the conversation is stewardship: the idea that leaders are temporarily borrowing an organization from future generations, not optimizing it for a quick exit.

They explore why family businesses can think differently about people, profit, and time, and how long-term thinking changes everything from culture and governance to daily decision-making. Matthew explains Century’s operating pillars—stewardship, humanity, and compounding—and how those principles guide the company through growth, tension, and inevitable messiness.

The conversation also moves beyond business mechanics into mortality, meaning, and the role work can play as one of the last true gathering places in modern life. Matthew reflects on loss, urgency, reading as a discipline, and why building a healthy work community may be one of the most practical ways leaders can have lasting impact.

This is a thoughtful discussion for founders, CEOs, family business leaders, and anyone questioning whether success has to mean short-term wins at the expense of people and purpose.

Topics Covered

• What it means to steward a company for future generations
• Why family businesses can play a longer game than public or private-equity-owned firms
• The difference between a business as a financial instrument and a work community
• Compounding as a leadership principle, not just a financial one
• The tension between love and profit, and why both are necessary
• How reading, reflection, and “daily vitamins” shape better decision-making
• Mortality, urgency, and why work is not a dress rehearsal
• Why leaders unintentionally drift into short-term thinking
• What healthy governance looks like in multi-generation companies

Episode Links

• Century Companies: https://www.centurycompanies.com
• Matthew Powell’s website: https://www.matthewpowell.com
• Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewwpowell/
• Related conversation with Greg Bergdorf: https://unfoldingthought.com/greg-bergdorf-from-guitar-riffs-to-real-estate-pitches/

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Annalee Kruger, founder of CareRight Inc., longtime senior care consultant, and author of The Invisible Patient. Their conversation explores what family caregiving really looks like behind the scenes and why the people providing care often become the most overlooked ones in the system.

Annalee draws from decades of experience working with families in crisis to explain how denial, lack of planning, and misunderstanding of aging and dementia compound stress for spouses and adult children. She shares why waiting until a medical emergency forces decisions almost always leads to worse outcomes, higher costs, and fractured relationships.

They also unpack what an actual aging plan includes, why “aging in place” is more complex and expensive than most families expect, and how caregivers quietly sacrifice their health, careers, and relationships while trying to hold everything together.

They cover:

• Why most families wait too long to plan and what triggers crisis mode
• What adult children commonly misunderstand about dementia and caregiving
• The hidden emotional, physical, and financial toll on family caregivers
• Why denial is often the biggest barrier to action
• What an aging plan really includes beyond paperwork
• How caregiver burnout shows up and why it’s so often ignored
• The role of neutral third parties in preventing family conflict
• How planning restores dignity, agency, and sustainability for everyone involved

This is a grounded, practical conversation for anyone caring for aging parents, supporting a spouse, or trying to understand what caregiving actually demands over time.

Episode Links

• Annalee Kruger’s company, CareRight Inc.: https://carerightinc.com
• Connect with Annalee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaleekruger/
• The Invisible Patient by Annalee Kruger: https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Patient-Emotional-Financial-Caregivers/dp/B09QC9D1PM/

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Axel Burlin, author of Beyond Brain Rot, about internet addiction, algorithmic feeds, and why so many well-intentioned attempts to “use your phone less” quietly fail.

Axel shares his own experience growing up online, from video games and forums to endless scrolling, and how a breaking point during college led him to rethink not just his habits but the assumptions behind them. Rather than relying on willpower, blockers, or dopamine detoxes, Axel outlines a mindset-level shift that reframes algorithmic feeds as something fundamentally misaligned with how we want to live.

The conversation explores how modern platforms quietly replace boredom, reflection, and community with hyper-stimulating content that feels productive in the moment and hollow afterward. Eric and Axel also discuss responsibility versus system-level blame, how brain rot differs from ordinary distraction, and what it looks like to keep the useful parts of the internet while removing the rest.

They cover:

• What “brain rot” actually refers to, both the content and the outcome
• Why algorithmic feeds are different from intentional internet use
• How gaming, social media, and short-form video hook attention differently
• Why most screen-time fixes fail after a few days
• The hidden opportunity cost of scrolling
• How feeds contribute to loneliness and the erosion of community
• Practical ways to remove algorithmic entertainment without going offline
• What a healthier relationship with technology looks like day to day

This episode is a grounded conversation for anyone who senses they’re spending too much time online but hasn’t found an approach that actually sticks.

Episode Links

• Axel Burlin: https://www.beyondbrainrot.com
• Follow Axel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/axel.burlin/
• Beyond Brain Rot (Axel’s book): https://www.beyondbrainrot.com
• The Anxious Generation (Jonathan Haidt): https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/B0C9N2L56X
• Bowling Alone (Robert D. Putnam): https://www.amazon.com/Bowling-Alone-Robert-D-Putnam-audiobook/dp/B01N94FW0P
• Alienated America (Timothy P. Carney): https://www.amazon.com/Alienated-America-audiobook/dp/B07MDLH6WB

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Ken Boynton—storyteller, communication consultant, former actor and voiceover artist, and co-founder of Message Glue. Ken has spent decades helping leaders, teams, and organizations communicate more clearly and more humanly across stages, screens, meetings, and moments that matter.

The conversation explores what “storytelling” actually means in real organizational life, why most communication fails before it ever reaches the slide deck or script, and how performance anxiety, rigid frameworks, and over-engineered systems often get in the way of genuine connection.

Ken shares stories from his career in theater, voice acting, corporate events, and executive coaching, including how near-death illness reshaped his sense of meaning and led to the creation of Message Glue. Together, he and Eric unpack why being thoughtful matters more than being polished, why listening is harder than speaking, and how effective communication starts with allowing people to be themselves.

They cover:

• Why storytelling is less about structure and more about perspective
• The difference between performing and communicating
• How over-reliance on slides, scripts, and systems breaks human connection
• Why “being yourself” is not vague advice but a practical discipline
• What theater, improv, and acting teach us about leadership communication
• How virtual and live events have changed attention and expectations
• Why good communication often means removing friction, not adding tools
• How fear, self-consciousness, and power dynamics distort messages
• What it means to swing the camera and see from another point of view

This is a thoughtful, grounded conversation for leaders, communicators, marketers, facilitators, and anyone who spends time trying to help ideas land with other humans.

Episode Links

• Connect with Ken on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenboyntonmessageglue/
• Message Glue: https://www.messageglue.com
• Message Glue storytelling video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml03wwZ1LFA
• Ken’s book Blip: https://amzn.to/4oMO3wv
• Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up special I’m Telling You for the Last Time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Telling_You_for_the_Last_Time

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Peter Greer—President & CEO of HOPE International, longtime practitioner in global poverty alleviation, and author/co-author of eighteen books including Mission Drift, Rooting for Rivals, and How Leaders Lose Their Way. The conversation goes deep into what poverty really is, why traditional aid often fails to produce lasting change, and how dignity-centered development can transform individuals and communities.

Peter shares how HOPE International focuses on long-term job creation, savings groups, and microenterprise rather than handouts, and why understanding the full “four domains of poverty”—material, social, spiritual, and internal—shapes more effective solutions. He and Eric also talk about how people change, what most donors misunderstand about impact, and why genuine transformation has to be built with communities rather than for them.

They cover:

• The pitfalls of short-term aid and why jobs are essential to lasting change
• Why poverty is about far more than lack of money
• How dignity, agency, and community alter long-term outcomes
• The tension between simple fundraising messages and complex development models
• Why “external engineering” fails without local ownership
• How to stay hopeful while working in places of deep need
• Practical ways individuals can engage without becoming overwhelmed
• What it means to match compassion with critical thinking

This is a grounded, clear-eyed discussion for anyone interested in meaningful impact—leaders, donors, nonprofit professionals, and anyone thinking about how change really happens.

Episode Links

• Peter Greer: https://www.peterkgreer.com
• HOPE International: https://www.hopeinternational.org
• Follow Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkgreer/
• The conversation with Coach Rory O’Neill: https://unfoldingthought.com/rory-oneill-inside-the-matrix-of-american-youth-soccer/
• The White Man’s Burden (William Easterly): https://amzn.to/4nlBmr9
• Jeffrey Sachs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs
• The conversation with fundraising copywriter Jeff Meredith: https://unfoldingthought.com/jeff-meredith-the-stories-behind-homelessness/
• The conversation with nonprofit executive director Andy Bales: https://unfoldingthought.com/20-andy-bales-from-poverty-to-purpose/
• Timothy P. Carney’s Alienated America: https://amzn.to/4rqSfnA

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Tamsen Webster—message designer, strategist, speaker, and author of Find Your Red Thread and Say What They Can’t Unhear. The conversation explores how ideas spread, why so many messages fail at the point of first explanation, and what it takes to create understanding and lasting change without coercion.

Tamsen explains her work as an “English-to-English translator,” helping leaders, founders, and thinkers transform complex or technical ideas into something others can understand, believe, and act on. She and Eric dig into dual-process thinking, accelerated perspective shifts, how adults actually learn, and why messaging must speak to both the analytic and automatic parts of the mind.

They cover:

• Why most ideas break at the moment they’re first explained
• The role of intuition, felt experience, and the “automatic brain” in making meaning
• Why storytelling works, and why it’s not enough without a clear underlying argument
• How foundational principles (axioms, first principles, endoxa) create common ground
• Why leaders and founders need a reasoning model (ITBA) and a narrative model (Red Thread)
• What Tamsen is learning from her doctoral research in adult learning and accelerated perspective change
• How to avoid triggering resistance while preserving agency, transparency, and consent
• Why some changes happen instantly while others require long processes—and what makes the difference

This episode is a deep look at how people understand new ideas, how belief shifts happen, and how to communicate change in a way that sticks.

Episode Links

• Tamsen Webster: https://tamsenwebster.com
• Message Design Institute: https://messagedesigninstitute.com
• Find Your Red Thread: https://amzn.to/3Kn9yVW
• Say What They Can’t Unhear: https://amzn.to/49MFWf3
• Follow Tamsen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamsenwebster/
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: https://amzn.to/48FMHif
• Owen Fitzpatrick: https://owenfitzpatrick.com
• How Minds Change by David McRaney: https://amzn.to/49bMMKD
• The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself by Robin Reames: https://amzn.to/3IUtBur

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com