318: How Organizations Need to Change Their Narrative In Challenging Times
Release Date: 11/13/2025
324: Avoiding the Biggest Job Application Mistakes Today
Finding Brave
What if you feel you’re doing everything right in your job search and it’s still not bringing you results? In today’s uncertain market, even highly capable professionals are facing longer searches and lower response rates. On this episode of Finding Brave, we explore what is really happening in today’s hiring landscape and why so many smart and capable professionals are struggling. is one of the founding team members of , an AI-powered resume builder and job search platform. Drawing from analyses of over 1.6 million applications and hundreds of one-on-one coaching conversations, he...
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323: How to Negotiate Success in Your Work, Relationships and Career with Scott Tillema
Finding Brave
Our inspiring podcast guest today, , is an award-winning keynote speaker and negotiation expert who helps leaders navigate difficult conversations with confidence, influence, and trust. Drawing on more than 20 years in law enforcement, including his work as an FBI-trained hostage negotiator and a business negotiator trained through the Harvard University Program on Negotiation, Scott brings rare, real-world insight into what it takes to lead effectively in high-stakes moments. His work focuses on showing leaders how to connect first, influence second, and create outcomes that move people and...
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322: How to Powerfully Market Your Small Business with AI
Finding Brave
Are you using AI to its full potential to meet your marketing, small business, and branding needs? Today’s guest, , is a dynamic speaker, DJ, and marketing expert with nearly twenty years of sales and marketing experience in retail and service industries. His passion for helping small businesses thrive translates into practical guidance on how to leverage AI and freemium apps to create a big impact with your marketing on a small budget. Driven by the belief that people buy from a person before they buy from a brand, his unique approach at helps his clients leverage humor and education to...
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321: How to Be a Likeable Badass
Finding Brave
What if the very traits you’ve been told to soften, like being collaborative or agreeable, are actually essential to your success, not obstacles to it? In this episode of Finding Brave, we explore why so many professionals, especially women, feel trapped between being liked and being respected, and what it really takes to be both. In this episode, Kathy Caprino speaks with , an organizational psychologist, professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, and bestselling author of . Drawing on her extensive research on status, power, negotiation, and influence,...
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320: Be Yourself at Work: Show Up, Stand Out, and Lead from the Heart
Finding Brave
What does it really mean to be yourself at work without hiding, performing, or shrinking to fit expectations? In this Finding Brave conversation, we explore why authentic presence is not a soft skill or a personal indulgence, but a powerful leadership practice that builds trust, connection, and impact in today’s fast-moving, emotionally complex workplaces. Today’s inspiring guest is , the world’s first Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX, where she partners with CEO Gary Vaynerchuk to shape culture and leadership at scale. A sought-after speaker and the author of , Claude brings a...
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319: A Talent for Giving: Creating a More Generous Society for All
Finding Brave
The world around us has transformed dramatically—but has philanthropy kept up? For our Finding Brave guest today, , American-British investor and humanitarian and the author of the new book , this question isn't academic—it's deeply personal. His philanthropic journey began humbly, volunteering at a soup kitchen as a teenager. Today, he's recognized globally for transformative work addressing homelessness through London's Passage Day Centre and championing emerging artists through the . In the U.S., he serves on the boards of The J. Paul Getty Trust, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the...
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318: How Organizations Need to Change Their Narrative In Challenging Times
Finding Brave
Everybody wants to believe in something, but the truth is, if you're a leader who shies away from asking tough questions, you're making it harder for people to believe in you. In this Finding Brave episode, we are joined by , known as the Rapid Growth Guy and storytelling expert responsible for five multi-million dollar business success stories. He is the author of and has been featured in Forbes and listed by Global Gurus as one of the Top 30 Sales Professionals. In this conversation, we explore what it truly means to lead through authentic, compelling story, not spin. Matthew unpacks how...
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317: How to Attract Great Investors For Your Products and Business
Finding Brave
Protecting your ideas is a critical step for attracting excellent aligned investors. In this episode of Finding Brave, I sit down with intellectual property expert and attorney , senior partner at , to demystify what it really takes to secure funding and safeguard innovation. Drawing on his extensive experience helping inventors, entrepreneurs, and creative professionals, David shares how a strong IP strategy serves as both protection and proof of your business’s credibility. A registered patent attorney and professor at Temple University, Parsons School of Design, and Radzyner Law School,...
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316: Taking the Brave Leap to Live Your Life Purpose
Finding Brave
Why would someone walk away from a lucrative, 15-year career in software engineering? For , it came down to one thing: learning to prioritize the "spirit mind" over the "material mind.” That perspective shift gave him the inner clarity—and the bravery and courage—to finally move into a life and career of deeper purpose. Jeffrey is a spiritual teacher and energy healer whose work has empowered thousands of people, through ’s Healing Programs and through his own courses, trainings and years of individual and group work with thousands of people around the globe. His mission is to make...
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315: FAWNING: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves
Finding Brave
On the surface, you may look like the model employee, partner, or friend: always dependable, always agreeable. But beneath the surface, you may be carrying a lifetime of survival strategies that keep you invisible in your own life. This is the story knows both personally and professionally, and it’s the story she helps so many of us begin to rewrite. Dr. Ingrid Clayton is a licensed clinical psychologist with advanced degrees in transpersonal and clinical psychology. She has maintained a thriving private practice for more than fifteen years and writes the popular Psychology Today blog, ,...
info_outlineEverybody wants to believe in something, but the truth is, if you're a leader who shies away from asking tough questions, you're making it harder for people to believe in you. In this Finding Brave episode, we are joined by Matthew Pollard, known as the Rapid Growth Guy and storytelling expert responsible for five multi-million dollar business success stories. He is the author of The Introvert’s Edge and has been featured in Forbes and listed by Global Gurus as one of the Top 30 Sales Professionals.
In this conversation, we explore what it truly means to lead through authentic, compelling story, not spin. Matthew unpacks how great leaders don’t just communicate vision; they shape a living narrative that helps their people see themselves in it. From uncovering the real problems beneath the surface, to crafting stories that evolve and help scale growth through the organization, Matthew shares a framework for growth rooted in empathy, iteration, and truth.
We discuss how data can illuminate emotion, why so few leaders understand the why behind disengagement within their teams and workforces, and how fear often blocks the path to authenticity. Ultimately, Matthew shows that leadership isn’t about control; it’s about giving your people something real to believe in.
In today’s economy, leaders owe it to their teams to inspire growth and risk-taking, challenge the status quo, and use the power of a compelling story playbook to unite everyone behind a shared purpose they’re proud to support.
Key Highlights From This Episode:
- The role of leaders in shaping a strong narrative within their organizations. [04:00]
- Matthew’s method of supporting leaders to identify key problems and tell their story. [06:52]
- How stories grow in impact through iteration and an organization-wide playbook. [13:58]
- Using data points as a strategic tool to understand people’s emotions. [19:20]
- Why there often a gap in knowledge about the emotional reasons employees leave an organization. [25:20]
- Understanding how crucial it is to lead with humanity and empathy. [29:18]
- How Matthew deals with a fearful response leaders have to creating authentic experiences. [34:43]
- What it looks like to give your people something they can truly believe in. [38:35]
For More Information:
Matthew Pollard
The Introvert’s Edge
Matthew Pollard on LinkedIn
Matthew Pollard on Instagram
Matthew Pollard on X
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Episode 69 with Matthew Pollard: 7 Ways to Leverage Your Introvert Edge in Business
Episode 159, where Kathy and Matthew discuss Networking: The Introvert's Edge to Networking
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ARE YOU FACING A BIG DECISION IN YOUR LIFE OR CAREER RIGHT NOW?
Join Kathy Caprino and David Jurasek in their FREE online workshop “Making Your Big Life Decision: A Workshop and Map For Brave Action” - November 21, Noon to 1:30 pm EST
Are you standing at a crossroads right now with a big decision to make — wondering which path would be best in your career, relationship, or life?
I’m truly thrilled to invite you to a brand-new FREE live online workshop on November 21 that I’m leading with my esteemed colleague and deeply powerful therapist and community leader, David Jurasek, on “Making Your Big Life Decision: A Workshop and Map For Brave Action.”
We’ll be sharing empowering tools and strategies (and a proven map) to navigate the terrain in making a critical decision in your life or career, and help you move from confusion and self-doubt to clarity and confident action — so you can finally pursue the direction that’s right for you. And we’re happy to take your questions and work with you directly, right on the call.
Join us to receive support in taking the next powerful step in your life. Learn more and register at IntegrityTherapy.org/biglifedecision. Spots are limited. Hope to see you there!
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Quotes:
“As leaders, we need to inspire people to not just be extrinsically motivated, but intrinsically motivated.” — @matthewpollard_ [0:04:59]
“A lot of times, people don’t know the problems that they have until they see things slightly differently.” — @matthewpollard_ [0:06:57]
“People remember up to 22 times more information when embedded into a story, so because of that, you can actually anchor to these stories so people actually walk away remembering more.” — @matthewpollard_ [0:10:45]
“Because somebody comes up with a bad idea the first time, they then get hammered for it and then they’re too scared to bring up another idea the next time.” — @matthewpollard_ [0:22:41]
“If you want to stay a senior leader and you want to make sure that you’re always on the edge, you need to introduce more humanity into what you do.” — @matthewpollard_ [0:31:56]
“If you’re not willing to take risks to get somebody to start to build momentum, then your organization is just going to fade.” — @matthewpollard_ [0:36:33]
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