Building an AI-Ready Culture with Sagar Pandya
Everyday Business Problems
In this episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler sits down with Sagar Pandya, founder, AI strategist, and cybersecurity expert, to unpack why most organizations are approaching AI adoption the wrong way. After selling his IT and cybersecurity company, Sagar launched Special AI to help businesses adopt AI with confidence, clarity, and real-world results. Together, they dig into why the rush to implement AI tools without foundational readiness leads to wasted spend, failed pilots, and frustrated teams. Using real examples from manufacturing, finance, logistics, and...
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The Mistake Leaders Make When Solving Problems
Everyday Business Problems
In this solo episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler breaks down a root issue that quietly derails improvement efforts across organizations, weak problem statements. Drawing from decades of root cause analysis work in manufacturing and service businesses, Dave explains why vague declarations like “we want to implement AI” or “we have a quality issue” lead teams to chase symptoms instead of solving real problems. Using clear, real-world examples, this episode shows how stronger problem statements create clarity, alignment, and better decisions, before tools,...
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The Real Reason You're Not Moving the Needle
Everyday Business Problems
In this solo episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler dives into a theme that keeps resurfacing across leadership conversations, client work, and personal experience: focus and clarity. Dave explains why many organizations struggle not because of a lack of effort or intelligence, but because attention is scattered, priorities shift too often, and expectations are never fully clear. From lost customers and shiny new initiatives to AI distractions and leadership avoidance, this episode breaks down how a lack of focus quietly compounds problems, and how getting clear can...
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Escalating vs. De-escalating: The Leadership Choice That Shapes Your Culture
Everyday Business Problems
In this solo episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler breaks down a pattern he’s seen over and over again in leadership, defaulting to escalation instead of creating space to solve the real problem. Using real client stories and personal leadership lessons, Dave explores how emotionally charged reactions shut down learning, block root cause analysis, and quietly erode culture. This episode isn’t about avoiding tough conversations. It’s about knowing when escalation actually helps, and when it makes everything worse. What You’ll Discover: Why escalation often...
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Why Slowing Down Is the Fastest Way to Move Forward
Everyday Business Problems
In this solo episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler breaks down a lesson most leaders learn the hard way, going too fast often creates more problems than it solves. Using real examples from client work, technology initiatives, and even a home renovation gone wrong, Dave explains why rushing decisions, skipping steps, and chasing efficiency too early leads to rework, frustration, and stalled results. This episode challenges the instinct to “just move faster” and reframes what it really means to build momentum, align teams, and create lasting impact. What You’ll...
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Best of 2025 Volume 2
Everyday Business Problems
In this episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler continues the Best of 2025 series with a curated set of clips that highlight what really drives sustainable growth. This volume brings together lessons on scaling through systems, choosing effectiveness over efficiency, and having the leadership conversations most people avoid—but shouldn’t. From building one of the fastest-growing franchise systems in the country to unpacking why efficiency without alignment backfires, this episode connects real-world stories with practical leadership insights you can apply...
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Best of 2025 Volume 1
Everyday Business Problems
In this solo episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler pulls together key clips from multiple episodes throughout 2025 to highlight the systems leaders need to drive sustainable growth. From SOPs and custom software decisions to roles, responsibilities, and job clarity, this episode connects the dots between structure, execution, and accountability. Dave revisits his core framework of clarity, consistency, and accountability, sharing practical examples of how these principles show up in real businesses and where most organizations quietly drift off course. What You’ll...
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How to Tell the Difference Between Noise and Real Problems in Your Business with Sean Stormes (Part 2 of 2)
Everyday Business Problems
In this follow-up episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler is joined again by Sean Stormes, founder of the Demand Creation Institute, to go deeper into variation, systems thinking, and why most leaders chase the wrong problems. Building on their first conversation, this episode focuses on how to recognize real signals versus noise, why rushing to solutions makes things worse, and how purpose, culture, and continuous improvement actually work together. Sean shares practical examples from decades of leadership experience, including how Deming’s principles still apply...
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Why Most Growth Transformations Fail and How to Flip the Odds with Sean Stormes (Part 1 of 2)
Everyday Business Problems
In this episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler welcomes Sean Stormes, founder of the Demand Creation Institute and creator of a proven growth advisory framework that helps B2B companies achieve profitable, sustainable growth. Sean shares insights from decades of leading and advising organizations on how to eliminate randomness in results, uncover root causes of underperformance, and build systems that compound value over time. What You’ll Discover: Why most leaders mistake random variation for real growth, and how to fix it. What Deming’s principles reveal...
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Stop Watching the Scoreboard and Start Changing the Game
Everyday Business Problems
In this solo episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler breaks down one of the most common mistakes leaders make, tracking the wrong metrics. He explains why most KPI reports simply “tell the news” instead of helping teams act, and how shifting focus to leading indicators creates real visibility, accountability, and proactive decision-making. What You’ll Discover: The difference between leading and lagging indicators, and why it matters. Why “more data” isn’t better if it’s not actionable. A simple example of how leading indicators can predict...
info_outlineIn this episode of the Everyday Business Problems podcast, Dave Crysler sits down with Sagar Pandya, founder, AI strategist, and cybersecurity expert, to unpack why most organizations are approaching AI adoption the wrong way. After selling his IT and cybersecurity company, Sagar launched Special AI to help businesses adopt AI with confidence, clarity, and real-world results. Together, they dig into why the rush to implement AI tools without foundational readiness leads to wasted spend, failed pilots, and frustrated teams.
Using real examples from manufacturing, finance, logistics, and service businesses, this conversation lays out a practical diagnostic framework and reveals why culture, not technology, is the true make-or-break factor in AI success.
What You'll Discover:
- Why most organizations skip the diagnostic and jump straight to buying AI tools and licenses, and why that backfires.
- The three foundational questions every business must answer before adopting AI: data governance, security posture, and leadership alignment.
- How AI is creating a massive identity crisis inside organizations, and why employee fear and resistance are valid and must be addressed.
- Why the C-suite is often the most disconnected from how work actually gets done, and the risks that creates during AI rollouts.
- Real-world examples of AI use cases across three maturity levels: crawling, walking, and running with AI.
- How a transportation company is using AI to build a dynamic pricing engine with external variables no human team could process at scale.
- Why celebrating failures and lessons learned matters more than showcasing wins during change initiatives.
- The single most important piece of advice for operations leaders heading into 2026: talk to your employees, your AI strategy already lives inside their heads.
If your organization is feeling the pressure to "do something with AI" but doesn't know where to start, this episode will help you slow down, ask the right questions, and build a foundation that actually leads to sustainable adoption.