Episodes

Can You Color Outside the Lines Without Falling Off the Page? Discover how non-traditional thinking, radical empathy, and proactive "scrumming" can completely transform your approach to business, negotiation, and leadership. About This Episode In this episode, host Jeff Cluff sits down with Sheryl Barecki, a highly successful, non-traditional corporate executive who has carved out a unique career spanning intellectual property law, aviation contracts, and major leadership roles at Boeing and M...

"How hard could it be?" This simple question, rooted in a "free-range" 1970s upbringing, became the foundation for Russ Fletcher’s philosophy on leadership, self-worth, and problem-solving. In this episode, we sit down with Russ Fletcher, a seasoned executive and the former CEO of Xyngular. Russ shares his journey from an "MIT orientation mistake" to becoming a banking systems expert in South America (without being an expert first). He dives deep into "Fletcher’s Laws"—a set of principles devel...

In this episode, host Jeff Cluff sits down with Chris Hadnagy, a world-renowned social engineer, author, and founder of the Innocent Lives Foundation. Chris shares jaw-dropping stories from his career in ethical hacking, explains the psychology behind why we fall for scams, and breaks down how to defend against the rising threats of vishing, smishing, and malicious QR codes. More importantly, Chris shares actionable, life-saving advice for parents navigating the digital age. If you want to unde...

How do you recover when your life's biggest gamble completely falls apart?In this interview, former Microsoft Sales Leader and current 3Cloud Chief Sales Officer Scott Wilson shares his incredible story of overcoming failure and climbing the corporate ladder. Discover the executive leadership strategy, career growth mindsets, and business networking tips that Scott used to navigate a 14-year career at Microsoft and build high-performing sales teams. If you want to know how to fix a broken sales ...

In this episode of The Four Fs Podcast, Jeff sits down with fractional Chief Revenue Officer and Revenue Rascals host Michelle Terpstra to unpack the five reasons X—and the exact revenue systems she uses to take companies to their first $50M ARR.From Costco playbook days and cold-calling in a headset to building BDR teams that manage AI agents, Michelle shares the candid stories, negotiations, and “radical candor” moments that shaped her as a seller and leader.They dive into why “nice to have” o...

Female founders still get a tiny slice of venture capital—and Liana Zavo says the real problem is visibility, not talent.In this episode, refugee kid turned “Mother of PR” and investor Liana Zavo breaks down the 5 things women must do to get funded in the age of AI. From fleeing civil war in Tajikistan and being bullied as an immigrant in Austria and Queens, to selling cars, styling hair on Fifth Avenue, and finally building a global PR firm and a fund that writes checks to female-led tech start...

Superintelligence isn’t science fiction anymore. In this conversation, world‑leading safe AI expert Dr. Craig A. Kaplan explains why AI is already behaving less like a tool and more like a worker – and why the next jump to true superintelligence could change everything about how humans live, work, and make decisions.We talk about how AI went from clunky 1980s experiments to today’s large language models, why “machine learning” is only one part of a much bigger AI story, and what it really means ...

"If the answer you're given doesn't resonate, keep pushing." Tiffanie Janowitz spent a year pushing back on doctors who told her she was fine — until they finally ordered the test that confirmed she had breast cancer. That moment didn't come out of nowhere. She'd spent years building the discipline, voice, and self-trust to recognize when something wasn't right. And when life came at her, she was prepared. In this conversation, Tiffanie — CEO of Limitless Society, former investment professiona...

Most people don't hate their job. They just feel invisible in it. In this episode, David Mead — leadership expert, co-author of Find Your Why with Simon Sinek, and author of Lead With Uncommon Sense — breaks down why so many workplaces have lost their humanity, and what leaders can do right now to get it back. David spent a decade traveling the world on Simon Sinek's team, speaking to thousands of leaders across every industry. What he found was always the same: we already know what great lead...

How a Federal Reserve red‑teamer uses psychology, deception, and education to fight scams, stop predators, and keep kids and families safe. Plus: The psychology behind hacking — and how to protect yourself & Why humans — not firewalls — are the real frontline of security. Note: This episode includes brief discussion of online child protection and the work of the Innocent Lives Foundation. There are no graphic details. What actually goes on inside the mind of a hacker? In this episode, cyberse...

COO and fractional operations leader Bryan Baker joins the show to break down how founders can escape being the bottleneck, scale from low-7 figures to 8+ figures, and build operations that actually support growth instead of killing margins. We walk through his experiences 5x-ing a niche contact center, 10x-ing a window cleaning company from $1M to $10M in two years, and why most sub-$10M founders should not hire a full-time COO. Bryan shares the lessons he learned moving from biology major and...

From $2/Day Factory Worker To AI PioneerManuj Aggarwal went from making two dollars a day in a small Indian factory to building AI systems praised by President Obama and backed by the Gates Foundation. Today, he’s warning that a coming wave of AI will either be the greatest opportunity of our lives—or a tsunami that buries us. In this conversation, Manuj shares how he dropped out of college, got into drugs, and was forced to work in his father’s factory before discovering computers and ranking ...

His mom arrived in America with $4. His dad came with $10 and two shirts. Together they built a life — and passed down a philosophy that would eventually help their son lead a $1.3 billion exit. Sujey Edward grew up first-gen in PG County, Maryland watching his father run gas stations, tobacco farms, video stores, and a Peruvian chicken restaurant — all with one belief: "The math is the math." (The kanakku is the kanakku) Sujey took that mindset into tech, pivoted from chemistry to IT by spott...

Venture capitalist, founder, and author Jeff Burningham believes AI is a “judgment day for humanity” — and that the real differentiator now is wisdom, not intelligence. In this episode we talk success that feels empty, losing a governor’s race, meditation, psychedelics, and how to live “the new rules for a human life” in an age of smart machines. Jeff Burningham has built billion‑dollar companies, run for governor, and written a national bestselling book, The Last Book Written by a Human: Becom...

What if fear isn't the problem — it's the answer? In this profound and wide-ranging conversation, therapist, combat vet advocate, and former river guide Richie Landward joins the show to explore one of the most misunderstood forces in human psychology: fear. Richie brings over two decades of experience working with homeless veterans, PTSD survivors, and wounded warriors, and what he shares will completely reframe how you think about anxiety, trauma, and what it means to heal. We open in the rap...

Join host Jeff Cluff as he sits down with geophysicist, volcanologist and host of the award winning Whimsical Wavelengths podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Zurek for a deep dive into the hidden systems of our planet . From growing up in a tiny Canadian forestry town to conducting advanced PhD research on the slopes of Mauna Loa, Dr. Zurek shares his fascinating journey into the world of science. Viewer Warning: There is a discussion of medically assisted death in the episode. Begins at the 49 minute mark an...

My Mother Was Stabbed 32 Times: From the "SteelCity" to Microsoft Executive "I watched my mom get kidnapped while watching TheCosby Show." Andrew Nathan’s childhood in Newcastle, Australia, readslike a movie script—but it was his reality. Born to 19-year-old parents, Andrew grew up in the shadow of drug raids, biker gangs, and a traumatic event at age eight that would change his life forever. In this episode, Andrew reveals how he channeled that earlytrauma and anger into a high-performance car...

Jason Ellis is a CEO/Founder. He sold his companies Spring Mobile and Simply Mac to GameStop in 2019. He now leads Matter Brands (Gadget Guard, Ultrahuman) and 3Park Advisory. This interview with Jason Ellis is a masterclass in buildinga billion-dollar business through grit, "servant leadership," andstrategic discipline. From his humble beginnings in a South Dakota trailer park to orchestrating massive exits and M&A deals for GameStop, Jason shares the raw truth about what it takes to scale a co...

What if the future of labor isn’t about replacing humans with robots, but augmenting them with invisible tech? Arnaud Daurat joins us to reveal how 1.8-pound exoskeletons are saving the workforce from a lifetime of physical pain. Arnaud Daurat is a Mauritian-New Zealand entrepreneur and philanthropist who transitioned from a 25-year career in landscape engineering to leading the global movement in wearable robotics. As the founder of Exxovantage and Astelia Robotics, he champions "compassionate...

Don Winner is a former Military Intelligence Officer, Investigative Journalist for 48 Hours, Dateline, Nightline, Discovery Channel, the BBC and more. He's solved countless murders, studied thousands of NDEs (Near Death Experiences) and is on the Four Fs podcast to tell you the full story. To get you started, a little background: At 18 years old, Don Winner left small-town New York and stepped into the United States Air Force. What followed was a 20-year career in signals intelligence during th...

Stop chasing the "next big thing" and start mastering the systems that actually run the world. Join us as tech veteran Laudon Williams reveals how to measure organizational complexity and scale human expertise using AI. In this episode, host Jeff Cluff sits down with Laudon Williams, a visionary technologist whose career spans from Army Intelligence in Korea to building mission-critical systems at Microsoft and RSA. Laudon shares his unique journey, emphasizing the roles of discipline, systems ...

What does it take to walk away from security, status, and legacy — and start over again and again? In this bonus episode of the Four Fs Podcast, Bev McCoy shares her extraordinary journey from working in corporate law in Los Angeles to becoming a ski instructor at Mammoth Mountain — where she met and married Olympic downhill skier Dennis “Pancho” McCoy, son of Mammoth founder Dave McCoy. Together, they made a bold decision: walk away from the mountain and build a cattle ranch from scratch in D...

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Aparna Natarajan, a technology leader whose journey spans spiritual education in India, career risk-taking, burnout, meditation, and leadership in big tech. Raised in a spiritually rooted environment and educated at a monastery-based university in India, Aparna shares how early exposure to service, meditation, and global cultures quietly shaped her approach to leadership. From quitting a soul-draining job with no backup plan to navigating burnout, imposter s...

Is the legal profession ready for the AI revolution? In this episode, we sit down with Eric Vogeler, a seasoned attorney and entrepreneur, to pull back the curtain on how high-stakes legal deals actually work. From using ChatGPT for due diligence in multi-million dollar transactions to the "superpower" of issue spotting, Eric shares the insider secrets that every business owner and professional needs to know. We dive deep into: AI & Legal Tech: How tools like large language models are uncoveri...