First Check Calls Game
The Cred Podcast
Most people think they’re not qualified to make investment decisions. Cheryl Kellond thinks that’s exactly the problem. A 3x founder, 3x Ironman, 4x mom, and CEO of PlayMoney, Cheryl is on a mission to open up early-stage investing to the people who actually understand the problems worth solving. In this episode, she challenges the outdated model of capital allocation and makes the case that the real barrier isn’t money, expertise, or access. It’s a system built for a world that no longer exists. At its core, this is a conversation about decision-making as a skill. Cheryl breaks down...
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Question the Question with Pam Scott & Di Tompkins
The Cred Podcast
Feel stuck on a decision? Try interrogating the question. Pam Scott and Di Tompkins have been solving hard problems together for decades, and their first move is almost always to question whether someone is solving the right problem. As co-founders of The Curious Company, they bring outside perspective to mission-driven leaders who've hit a wall: a different color to paint with, a reframed question, and the kind of honest conversation most organizations aren't having internally. On this episode of The Cred Podcast, Mack sits down with two genuinely curious women who listen for a living,...
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Lana Kerr: Lead with Conviction, Execute with Consensus
The Cred Podcast
In this episode of The Cred Podcast, Lana Kerr joins Mack McKelvey for a candid conversation about decision-making as a founder, CEO, and leader. From trusting instinct in the early stages of growth to learning when to slow down and bring in more voices, Lana reflects on how her approach has evolved over time. She talks about the difference between making business decisions and people decisions, the importance of starting with the desired outcome, and why culture fit is just as important as credentials. The result is a thoughtful look at what it really means to lead: making the call, owning...
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Making Decisions Like a Musician
The Cred Podcast
Bill Shafton spent nine years as the legal backbone of Grindr, navigating a Chinese acquisition, a national security divestiture, and a Wall Street IPO. In this episode, he breaks down his philosophy on decision-making: how research sets the boundaries, but instinct drives the performance. Tune in to learn how Bill operates in the gray areas, making high-risk decisions with incomplete data, and why “technical correctness” doesn’t shield you from reputational fallout. If compliance is the baseline, trust is the real metric. He also shares why the legal function is less like a gatekeeper...
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Why Consensus Is the Wrong Signal With Steven Rosenblatt
The Cred Podcast
In this episode of The Cred Podcast, Mack talks with Steven Rosenblatt, co-founder and General Partner at Oceans, about how decisions really get made when you’re building companies, backing founders, and choosing what to stand behind before the outcome is obvious. Steven reflects on the early mobile days, helping Apple launch iAd, and his time at Foursquare, where survival meant rethinking the business entirely. Those experiences now shape how he invests at Oceans: why it’s all about the people, how he evaluates founders, and why consensus can be dangerous in venture investing. More...
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Making Decisions in the Gray with Tess Michaels
The Cred Podcast
On this episode of The Cred Podcast, Tess Michaels, Founder and CEO of Clasp, joins Mack McKelvey to talk about making decisions while building a new category at the intersection of education, healthcare, and workforce retention, where there is no established playbook to follow. Tess breaks down how customer signals shape better decisions, why pattern recognition beats perfect data, and how learning when to say no is critical to scaling without distraction. Listen in on a sharp conversation on leadership, focus, and navigating the gray.
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Instinct, Ownership, and the Discipline of Decision-Making
The Cred Podcast
Rafat Ali doesn’t take notes. And he makes decisions on instinct. In this episode, the founder and CEO of Skift breaks down how he actually makes decisions as a global operator, committing to a choice, avoiding second-guessing, and never falling in love with a single option. He explains how visualization helps him pressure-test hires, products, and acquisitions, why early yellow flags almost always turn red, and the defining mistake early in his career when he sold his first company. Rafat looks for two signals when decisions are being made. First, is there a clear owner who will carry it...
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The Power of Contextual Decision-Making with Lisa Pillette
The Cred Podcast
“I’ve probably seen more erroneous decision-making by over-reliance on data than by over-reliance on gut.” In this episode of The Cred Podcast, Mack McKelvey sits down with Lisa Pellette, a global CMO and transformation leader whose career spans Levi’s, Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Casper, and Fossil Group, to talk about how data, context, and gut converge to inform decisions. Drawing on her background in psychology and decades of experience leading iconic brands and major transformations, Lisa unpacks the importance of defining a clear North Star, relying on contextual decision-making, and...
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Sliding Doors Decisions with Sarah Pousho
The Cred Podcast
What happens when a lifelong fascination with space collides with a 30-year career in building complex commercial deals? This week, Mack McKelvey sits down with Sarah Pousho, Co-Founder and CEO of Space Bridge Partners, to explore the unconventional decisions that shaped her career and how she now helps fund some of the most ambitious space missions in the world. Sarah traces her path from aspiring astronaut to consumer products executive, and ultimately back to the space sector, where she leads a new model for funding exploration, science, and education missions. The conversation dives into: ...
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Head, Heart, Wallet: Inside Marci Weisler’s Decision-Making Framework
The Cred Podcast
Marci Weisler didn’t build her career by following a script. She followed her curiosity. From analyst to mobile pioneer, from co-founding SWSI Media (which became Viacom’s Queen Boss) to leading a major line of business at T-Mobile and now advising companies as a managing director in investment banking — Marci has made a career out of stepping into what’s new before it’s obvious. In this episode, she talks with Mack about why she’s always chased the “bright, shiny” emerging ideas, how her Head, Heart, Wallet framework keeps her grounded when the stakes rise, and what she’s...
info_outlineIn this episode of The Cred Podcast, host Mack McKelvey sits down with Gina Bianchini, founder and CEO of Mighty Networks. With an impressive background in the tech world, Gina shares her distinctive approach to decision-making, underscoring the importance of self-care, taking bets, and building a culture that’s safe to fail.
At Mighty Networks, Gina and her team harness the OODA Loop Framework—observe, orient, decide, act—to make decisions, continually cycling back to observation. This iterative process strips away emotional biases from decision-making and is most effective when executed with speed.
For Gina, effective leadership ultimately hinges on managing your own psychology to make better decisions. As she puts it, “If I work so hard that I’m not in a position to make good decisions, I’m gonna’ fail.” Rejecting the hustle culture that is so prevalent in the Silicon Valley, Gina emphasizes the importance of effective delegation, which allows her to prioritize essential elements that fuel sound decision-making: nutrition, exercise, and adequate rest. “I think it’s very difficult to make good decisions on four hours of sleep.”
Gina is passionate about cultivating a culture where it’s safe to fail, encouraging teams to experiment and take strategic bets. She believes that the interplay of these bets often leads to the best discoveries.
In the end, Gina’s approach reminds us that successful decision-making thrives on self-care, a solid framework, and creating a culture where innovation can flourish.