What does it really take to learn the skills needed to build and scale a business? In this episode, entrepreneur JP Forno, founder and CEO of Meteor, shares his journey from employee to business owner. He explains how curiosity, experimentation, and sustained drive helped him grow into the role step by step

The conversation explores learning as an active process rooted in action and reflection, not passive information consumption. JP discusses how embracing mistakes, staying curious, and executing consistently shaped his leadership style and supported Meteor’s growth.

JP also unpacks his philosophy on hiring: focusing less on credentials and more on qualities like critical thinking, initiative, coachability, and integrity. While technical skills can be taught, mindset and hunger are much harder to instill in your employees.

This episode is a candid look at entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, and building teams that scale—perfect for leaders, aspiring founders, and anyone curious about how skills are truly developed in the real world.

You can learn more about JP Forno and Meteor here: https://www.trymeteor.com/en/

We all say trust matters, but how many of us actually go first? In this episode, we talk with Dr. Michelle Reina about what it really means to build trust, especially when it’s been broken. Michelle challenges a common leadership trap: waiting for others to “prove” they can be trusted. Instead, she argues, trust begins with you — your willingness to take the first step, extend openness, and model the behavior you want to see.

This episode explores what makes trust so fragile in today’s workplaces, and how leaders can build it back stronger. You’ll hear about the three dimensions of trust (Character, Communication, and Capability), why trust is both behavioral and emotional, and how to rebuild it after it’s been lost. Michelle shares real tools and frameworks from her upcoming book The Art of Trust Building, including:

• The Individual Trust Scale, a self-assessment that reveals how your actions build or compromise trust.

• How leaders can measure and strengthen trust to drive engagement and performance.

• The seven steps to healing trust after a breakdown.

• Why vulnerability and courage are inseparable from leadership.

This is a conversation for every leader who’s ever struggled to rebuild a relationship, repair a team, or restore faith after a tough season. Trust isn’t a one-time achievement — it’s a daily practice. And when leaders model it first, the results ripple through entire cultures.

Dr. Michelle Reina is a researcher, author, and co-founder of Reina Trust Building®, where she and her husband, Dr. Dennis Reina, have spent more than 35 years studying the behavioral science of trust. Their work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, CNN, and CNBC. Their forthcoming book, The Art of Trust Building, releases January 2026, with pre-orders available November 2025.

Learn more at reinatrustbuilding.com.

Parenthood is both a personal milestone and a professional advantage. In this episode, authors Mason Donovan and Mark Kaplan share insights from their book "The Parenthood Advantage," and explore how becoming a parent shapes leadership, resilience, and workplace culture.

They unpack the realities many parents face: navigating the “nesting” stage before leave, the emotional challenges of the “fourth trimester,” and the often-overlooked “returnship” back to work. Along the way, they address cultural biases like the motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus, and reveal how supportive policies can turn potential setbacks into powerful opportunities for growth. Mason and Mark also highlight how leaders and companies can reframe parenthood as an asset rather than a liability.

This episode is for anyone interested in creating workplaces that truly support caregivers—and for parents ready to see their experience as a superpower, not a setback.

Mason Donovan and Mark Kaplan are thought leaders, consultants, and co-authors of The Inclusion Dividend and The Parenthood Advantage. Their work focuses on building inclusive workplaces and challenging cultural norms that hold organizations back.

You can find more about their book here: https://theparenthoodadvantage.com/