Some conversations aren't meant to be private
Today, Ashlee Berghoff and I are launching something we've been quietly building all year – a podcast miniseries called The Inner Work of Business.
But first, the story of how it started.
At the beginning of this year, I was catching up with Ashlee, a close friend and colleague in the operations space. Heading into a new year, we opened up about what was on our minds and in our hearts. The more we shared, the more it felt like we were paddling down the same stream.
Over nearly a decade of friendship, Ashlee and I have created a space where we can vulnerably share our struggles, feel supported, and gain new perspectives.
Somewhere along the line, it felt like the private conversation we were having wasn't meant to be private.
It didn't just feel deep. It felt deeply relatable.
The tension between ambition and sustainability. Growth and control. External success and internal experience.
So often in the business world, there's a gap between how a business looks from the outside and how it feels on the inside. We're both far more interested in how a business feels to run – and so are the business owners we support.
They’re smart, driven, and intellectually curious. They invest in themselves and their businesses. But no matter how much they grow or achieve, there's still a dissatisfaction deep down.
With the problems they face each day. With a sense that their time and attention aren't where they truly belong. With the weight of carrying their business not just operationally, but emotionally.
We feel called to create a space for those conversations. So we did.
Each episode starts with a real scenario inspired by a real founder, and you get to listen in as Ashlee and I think through it out loud. No generic advice. No cookie-cutter tactics. Just the kind of honest conversation you'd want to be a fly on the wall for.
The first three episodes are live now:
In episode 1, we dig into why a founder has hired three different people for the same role in two years and watched every one of them fail – and why the answer might not be about who she hired at all.
In episode 2, we help a CEO of a 10-year old business figure out why years of reinvesting in her company haven't changed how it feels to run – and how to tell the difference between real progress and just staying busy.
In episode 3, we borrow a lesson from the power grid to help an agency owner stop swinging between panic in the slow months and overwhelm in the busy ones.
Start with episode 1 below.
You can also listen on Spotify or watch on YouTube. A new episode drops every Friday for the next three weeks. Sign up for my email list and you’ll be the first to know.
Episode 1: The Role Nobody Can Keep: Why does the same position keep burning people out?