Resilient Leadership in an Age of Adversity and AI
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Release Date: 01/23/2026
Resilient Leadership in an Age of Adversity and AI
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Dave Burnett is a serial entrepreneur, former hockey enforcer, and AI-driven marketing strategist who has built and rebuilt businesses through extreme disruption. From taking punches on the ice to navigating a $70K-per-month business loss, and later recovering from a traumatic brain injury that erased nearly two years of memory, Dave’s journey reveals what resilience really looks like when the pressure is real. His work today focuses on helping companies gain visibility in an AI-dominated search landscape — a frontier every entrepreneur must now understand. What You’ll Learn • How...
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Leading Beyond Tradition: Why Modern Leadership Is Replacing Control with Coaching
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Chris Hunsicker is a leadership strategist and culture coach who helps organizations move beyond outdated management models and build teams that thrive in today’s hybrid and AI-driven world. He challenges long-standing leadership assumptions and explains why traditional command-and-control approaches are quietly failing modern businesses — and what leaders must do instead to create sustainable performance, accountability, and trust. What You’ll Learn • Why traditional leadership habits are sabotaging long-term team success • Why performance reviews often fail to produce real...
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Vision & Direction: Building Clarity in an Uncertain World
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Tony DUrso is a veteran entrepreneur, author, and host of The Tony DUrso Show, with over 11 years of conversations with world-class performers and leaders. In this solo episode, Tony steps away from the interview format to speak directly to you about what entrepreneurs are facing right now — uncertainty, noise, and complexity — and how clarity, structure, and intentional thinking create stability and forward momentum when conditions are unpredictable What You’ll Learn • Why lack of clarity — not lack of effort — is the real obstacle for many entrepreneurs • How vision, purpose,...
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How to Scale a Digital Brand Fast (Without Losing Trust or Credibility)
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
In today’s digital economy, anyone can launch a course or automate a business—but very few succeed at scale. In this episode, Tony explores the hard-earned lessons behind building a high-revenue digital brand in a space filled with noise, speed, and skepticism. You’ll learn what it really takes to grow fast, lead with systems, and build trust along the way—even when controversy follows success. What You’ll Learn • The systems behind multi-million-dollar course and product sales • How to grow fast without losing credibility • How to handle public criticism while scaling • The...
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Cold Email Empire: Communicating Clearly to Build Trust, Growth, and Opportunity
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Adam Rosen is the founder of EOC Works, where he helps entrepreneurs rethink how they communicate, connect, and grow through modern outreach. His work focuses on clarity, intention, and building real relationships in a digital-first world. This conversation explores how thoughtful communication—not louder marketing—can open doors, build trust, and create sustainable growth for business leaders. What You’ll Learn • Why most outreach fails before the message is even written • How clarity and intention separate meaningful communication from noise • The mindset shift...
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Turn Your Influence Into Income — and Partnerships Into Power
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Aaron Fraser is the founder of The Action Sports Club and a leading voice in helping athletes transform their passion into a sustainable business. He teaches performers, creators, and entrepreneurs how to structure their brand, position their value, and build partnerships that last. His insights extend far beyond sports—into leadership, influence, and long-term strategic growth. In this episode, he explains why the future belongs to individuals who know how to turn visibility into opportunity, and how anyone can create systems that make their brand sponsor-worthy in any industry. What...
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Break Through Plateaus: The Big Hitter Mindset with Larry Weidel
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Larry Weidel is a renowned business leader, bestselling author, and host of Big Hitters, known for his decades of experience building an award-winning financial organization across North America. In this episode, he shares how top performers break plateaus, sustain momentum, and apply what he calls the Cycle of Winning to achieve long-term success. Entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders will walk away with practical frameworks to elevate their mindset and performance. What You’ll Learn • How elite performers break plateaus and create unstoppable momentum • The mindset shifts that...
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The Domain Grandmaster: Strategic Moves for Building an SEO Empire
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Kalin Karakehayov is a digital strategist, investor, and founder of SEO.Domains, where he oversees an extraordinary portfolio of over 150,000 SEO domain names. His approach fuses the precision of a chess grandmaster with the foresight of an entrepreneur — turning digital assets into strategic instruments of leverage and long-term value. In this conversation, Kalin and Tony explore how mental models, strategic patience, and clarity of purpose can redefine how entrepreneurs build wealth and freedom in the digital age. What You’ll Learn • The mindset and systems behind owning 150,000...
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The New Leadership Advantage
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Spencer Williams is the visionary CEO behind West Paw — the first Certified B Corp in the pet industry and one of the most respected purpose-driven manufacturers in the world. He transformed a small Montana pet toy company into a global brand centered on sustainability, innovation, employee culture, and the “quadruple bottom line”: people, pets, planet, and profits. In this episode, Spencer reveals how mission-led leadership creates competitive advantage, how to innovate in a mature industry, and why long-term thinking is now the ultimate entrepreneurial superpower. This is a masterclass...
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Stand Out Online: How Leaders Build Trust & Authority in 2025
The Tony DUrso Show - Journey to Success!
Jess Jensen is a communications strategist and digital leadership expert who has spent more than 20 years helping global executives clarify their voice and inspire their teams. Her work across Microsoft, Adidas, Nestlé, and Qualcomm gives her a rare perspective on how leaders can show up online with clarity, confidence, and authenticity. What You’ll Learn • Why your digital presence is now a core part of your leadership • How to elevate trust and influence in under 30 days • Simple ways to humanize your brand without spending big money • The six reasons digital media is...
info_outlineDave Burnett is a serial entrepreneur, former hockey enforcer, and AI-driven marketing strategist who has built and rebuilt businesses through extreme disruption. From taking punches on the ice to navigating a $70K-per-month business loss, and later recovering from a traumatic brain injury that erased nearly two years of memory, Dave’s journey reveals what resilience really looks like when the pressure is real. His work today focuses on helping companies gain visibility in an AI-dominated search landscape — a frontier every entrepreneur must now understand.
What You’ll Learn
• How early experiences in high-performance sports shape entrepreneurial discipline
• The hard decisions required when a business suddenly drops to zero revenue
• Why resilience is built through structure, not motivation
• Lessons from recovering after a traumatic brain injury
• How entrepreneurs can reclaim time as their most valuable asset
About Dave Burnett
Dave Burnett is the founder of AOK Marketing and PromotionalProducts.com. He began his career as a hockey enforcer in Canada before transitioning into entrepreneurship, building multiple companies including an early digital rewards platform later acquired for over $100M. After surviving a traumatic brain injury, Dave re-engineered how he works, structures time, and builds businesses. Today, he helps organizations adapt to AI-powered discovery, reputation management, and digital visibility.
Sponsors & Partners
- Imagine you’re a business owner relying on a dozen different software programs to run your company — each one more complicated than the last. Odoo solves that by bringing CRM, accounting, HR, marketing, inventory, and more into a single, simple, scalable platform. Streamline everything with Odoo at odoo.com.
- Shopify gives entrepreneurs everything they need to start and grow a business — online and in person. With beautiful templates, built-in AI tools, and integrated marketing features, Shopify makes launching and scaling simple. Start your business with a $1 per month trial at shopify.com/tony.
• For sponsorship opportunities, email ad-sales@libsyn.com.
Resources & Links Mentioned
- 🔗 Connect with Dave Burnett: www.aokmarketing.com
- 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://tonydurso.com/apple
- 🎵 Tony’s Music: https://tonydurso.com/music
- 📧 Join the Newsletter: https://tonydurso.com/news
- 🎥 Watch the Video: https://tonydurso.com/videos
Tony’s Closing Words
Use this and let’s help you Move on YOUR Journey to Success!
Just Take Action. – Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode.
#EntrepreneurMindset #BusinessResilience #LeadershipDevelopment #AIinBusiness #DigitalTransformation #FounderJourney #TimeManagement #StartupLessons #BusinessRecovery #FutureOfWork
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