What if the chaos in your business wasn’t a problem—but a sign of opportunity?

In this episode of Powered by Instinct, host David Kolbe sits down with Chris Ronzio, founder and CEO of Trainual, to talk about entrepreneurship, scaling businesses, and why every company needs a playbook. From his early days running a video production company as a teenager to building Trainual into a platform used by thousands of businesses, Chris shares the lessons he’s learned about operations, leadership, and letting go as a founder.

Chris doesn’t hold back on the tough parts of entrepreneurship either—letting go of control, recognizing when the problem is the person vs. the training, and finding the right balance between chaos and structure. Along the way, he dives into how being an Initiating Quick Start (2594) on the Kolbe A™ Index fuels his energy for big ideas and rapid experimentation, while also creating challenges that he’s learned to solve with the right people and systems around him.

Host: David Kolbe, CEO at Kolbe Corp (Kolbe: 8273) 

Guest-at-a-Glance 

💡 Name: Chris Ronzio, Founder and CEO at Trainual (Kolbe: 2594)

💡 What he does: The creator of Trainual, Chris is “a founder, systems thinker, and storyteller at heart—driven by one core mission: to make business easier by empowering people with clarity, purpose, and scalable tools.”

💡 Company: Trainual
�� Book: The Business Playbook
�� Website: https://www.chrisronzio.com/

Jaw-Dropping Moments 

• Chris sold his first real business—a video production company he started at 14 years old.
• He once had a mom furious at him because his camera operator’s battery died during her daughter’s performance—sparking his obsession with processes that never fail twice.
• Trainual started as a side tool for his consulting clients, and four years later, he ditched consulting entirely to go all-in.
• He uses his assistant as a filter for his flood of ideas so his team doesn’t accidentally take brainstorms as a marching orders.
• Chris predicts that in the near future, businesses will manage not just employees but also AI agents and humanoid robots—and Trainual will be the playbook that tells them all what “good” looks like.

Key Quotes 

“If there’s no chaos in your business, that’s a bad thing. That means you don’t have opportunity coming at you.”

“Every company should have an instruction manual. It’s malpractice to run a business without one.”

“Bad performance is either the wrong person or the wrong training.”

“The good businesses fix problems the first time they happen. The bad ones retreat and try to avoid ever scaling past them.”

“I’m very open to being wrong, but I’ll still throw out crazy ideas—just don’t take every one as gospel.”

“Current best practices—that’s the phrase I use. It keeps everyone aligned today, but leaves room for innovation tomorrow.”

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Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe A™ Index or Kolbe Y™ Index for the youth in your life. Many successful companies work directly with a Kolbe Certified™ Consultant — find one in your area.

Two-thirds of US businesses are family-owned. Most won't survive to the third generation. But what if we've been blaming the wrong people?

In this eye-opening episode, Amy Bruske sits down with family business expert Sara B. Stern to challenge everything you think you know about why family businesses fail. Spoiler alert: it's not the entitled grandkids who kill the company—it's the founders themselves.

Amy and Sara dive deep into the messy realities of mixing blood with business, sharing war stories from the trenches (including Amy's legendary "pizza fight" with Kathy Kolbe that changed everything). You'll discover why hiring your brother might be the riskiest move you'll ever make, how a simple three-circle diagram can save your family relationships, and why most succession plans are doomed from day one.

Whether you're running a family business, thinking about joining one, or just want to understand why your friend complains about working with their dad, this conversation will change how you think about family enterprises forever.

Host: Amy Bruske President at Kolbe Corp (Kolbe: 3583)

Guest-at-a-Glance 💡 Name: Sara B. Stern (Kolbe: 5691)

💡 What she does: Helps family businesses figure out where they're going, how they'll get there, and how to stay healthy while doing it | Expert EOS Implementer® at EOS Worldwide

💡 Company: EOS Worldwide
💡 Book: Start Here: A Guide for Family Business Succession
💡 Website: sarabstern.com

Jaw-Dropping Moments

• The construction company that lost $30+ million because one family member was "too scary to discipline"
• Kathy Kolbe's two-week exit announcement that nobody saw coming
• Why Sara tried to cheat on her own Kolbe assessment (and got caught)
• The breakfast conversation that saved a 50-year family legacy

Key Quotes

Sara: "People like to talk about how the family business is killed by the third generation... I think it's the first. If the first generation creates a business that is not being run thoughtfully, it's like having a sports team where half the people have injuries."

Sara: "I've talked to way too many second, third, fourth generation family business owners who, when I ask them, 'Why do you own the business?' their answer is 'because.' And that answer does not get you through the hard days. It maybe didn't even really get you through the good days."

Amy: "If you can't trust me to order pizza, you cannot trust me to run your business."

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Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe A™ Index or Kolbe Y™ Index for the youth in your life. Many successful companies work directly with a Kolbe Certified™ Consultant — find one in your area.

What makes great leadership teams tick?

Few people understand the answer to that better than CJ DuBe’, an Expert EOS implementer and experienced Kolbe Certified™ Consultant.

In this conversation, she and Amy Bruske bring us into the room where it happens, by exploring the work CJ does in leadership team sessions. They discuss the importance of understanding team member strengths, building intentional cultures, and enhancing leadership team dynamics to optimize performance. They delve into real-world examples of how different Kolbe strengths affect teamwork and problem-solving, emphasizing the importance of open, honest, and vulnerable communication. In addition, CJ shares personal insights from her career, highlighting the need for leaders to advocate for themselves and their teams, and the value of understanding individual strengths in fostering a successful team environment. She also recounts the importance Kolbe played in setting her son up for success, and she and Amy break down the many benefits that come from understanding your instinctive strengths at an early age.

Host: Amy Bruske (3583)

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: CJ DuBe’ (4483)

💡What she does: CJ is a renowned speaker, best-selling author, and Expert EOS Implementer®. She is also the former Global Community Leader at EOS Worldwide®.

💡Company: EOS Worldwide

💡 Where to find them: LinkedIn

Takeaways

• 82% of leaders feel their biggest stress is people.
• Building an intentional culture is crucial for success.
• Genuine care and concern does not mean avoiding tough conversations.
• A weak link on your team affects the culture.
• Open, honest, and vulnerable leadership is key to team success.
• Kolbe helps identify root issues in teams and improve dynamics.
• A leadership team is only as good as their middle management.
• The dream team is made up of diverse strengths and perspectives.

Key Quotes from CJ

" Ultimately we're thinking about how do you build an intentional culture and what does that look like to build an intentional culture? And the reality is, Kolbe is part of that.”

“ Most people say things honestly, but are you willing to be vulnerable?”

“ All of the good research around emotional intelligence shows that teams that have a level of trust thrive. And that is why Kolbe is one of our trust builders.”

“When I finally did my Kolbe, the light bulb went off for me.”

“ That is the biggest gift that we can give our kids, is being able to understand, no, you have these strengths. When you're in a position to work against them, it's not gonna feel real natural and it's gonna be a little bit of a struggle.”

Chapters

01:27 CJ's Background and Expertise

02:49 The Importance of the People Component in EOS

03:33 Building an Intentional Culture

06:55 Challenges in Leadership Teams

08:08 The Role of Kolbe in Team Dynamics

16:00 Balancing Team Strengths and Weaknesses

16:10 Leadership and Middle Management

21:43 Navigating Human Instincts in Business

23:46 The Visionary-Integrator Dynamic

28:20 Personal Insights and Career Journey

38:33 Effective Team Communication

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Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe A™ Index or Kolbe Y™ Index for the youth in your life. Many successful companies work directly with a Kolbe Certified™ Consultant — find one in your area.