What happens when a seasoned entrepreneur takes a 15-month trip around the world with his family only to come back and build an AI-driven powerhouse? In this episode of Show Your Value, Lee Benson sits down with Jason Smith, co-founder and CEO of Klue, to discuss the seismic shift toward "AI-first" business models and the timeless importance of human connection.

Jason shares the origin story of Klue, which was born from a "scratching an itch" moment when he realized sales teams were losing credibility by winging it against competitors. They dive deep into how AI is acting as both a "nuclear reactor" of productivity and a competitive threat that companies must embrace to survive.

Key Topics Covered:

• The "AI-First" Mandate: Why starting a company today means starting with agents first and why small, AI-leveraged teams are the future.
• The 1-9-90 Rule of AI: How to move from being a "voyeur" to a "tinkerer" and eventually a power user of tools like Claude and ChatGPT.
• Training Your "AI Interns": A CEO’s perspective on overcoming the fear of "training your replacement" and instead building a personal competitive advantage.
• Global Perspectives on Value: Jason reflects on his 15-month family sabbatical, teaching his daughters about privilege, poverty, and the universal nature of human connection.
• The Future of Purpose: Why the "AI revolution" makes human-to-human interaction more valuable than ever and how to find purpose in a world of increasing automation.
• Embracing Discomfort: Why Jason seeks out the "edge of discomfort" to drive growth and how to handle the skeptics when you’re building something new.

About Jason Smith

Jason Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Klue, a competitive enablement platform that helps companies collect, curate, and deliver market insights. A serial entrepreneur and former president of Vision Critical, Jason is a leading voice on leveraging AI to outmaneuver the competition while maintaining a focus on creating real-world value.

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

What if the struggle you're running from is the exact thing that makes you who you're meant to be?

In this episode of the most powerful insights from the Show Your Value podcast, Lee Benson brings together six world-class thinkers on leadership, value creation, and what it really takes to build something meaningful. From the butterfly cocoon metaphor that will change how you see every hardship you're facing, to the counterintuitive pricing strategy behind a $250,000 coaching program, to why the CEO with the "cool break room" has the worst culture in the company this episode is packed with ideas you can use today.

You'll hear why revenue is a byproduct of value (not the other way around), how to start a business from literally nothing, what the Blue Zones reveal about why we're so disconnected, and the three needs every team member has that almost no leader meets.

If you've ever felt stuck, afraid to start, or like you're playing the wrong game, this one's for you.

Featured guests:

- Ken Coleman — Bestselling author, host of The Ken Coleman Show, and career expert at Ramsey Solutions. Author of From Paycheck to Purpose.

- Robin Waite — Founder of Fearless Business, bestselling author of Take Your Shot, and business coach to clients in 20+ countries.

- Gary Arnold — Veteran operator behind Amazon Pay, GoDaddy's Professional Web Services, and PayPal's merchant marketing organization.

- Ellen Petry Leanse — Silicon Valley innovator, former Apple and Google leader, Stanford instructor, and author of The Happiness Hack.

- Michael Watkins — Thinkers50 Hall of Fame inductee, IMD professor, and author of the million-copy bestseller The First 90 Days and The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking.

- Bruce Cardenas — Former LAPD officer, US Marine, and early team member at Quest Nutrition who helped scale the company from zero to a billion-dollar exit.

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

In this episode, Lee Benson sits down with David Simnick, co-founder and CEO of Soapbox. David shares the incredible journey of building a mission-driven personal care brand that competes with industry giants while creating measurable global impact.

From brewing soap in his college kitchen to reaching nearly $100 million in annual revenue, David unpacks the raw realities of scaling a consumer business. He reveals a hard truth about social enterprises: a great mission builds massive long-term loyalty, but it simply cannot compensate for a subpar product.

Key Takeaways

• The Origins of Soapbox: Hear about David's early mistakes, branding missteps, and the sheer grit required to push through constant setbacks.
• Product Over Promise: Discover why consumers buy for the product quality first and the charitable mission second.
• David vs. Goliath: Learn about the terrifying but thrilling reality of fighting for retail shelf space against multi-billion-dollar conglomerates like P&G and Unilever.
• The "Job to be Done": David shares a multi-million-dollar lesson learned from a failed sustainable baby product line and explains why you can never ignore the customer's actual daily needs.
• Leadership and Culture: Find out why Soapbox strictly hires for "humble, hungry, and smart" candidates and cultivates a flat culture where radical candor thrives.
• The Hope Code: Learn how Soapbox turns everyday buyers into philanthropists by allowing them to scan their products and track exactly where their hygiene donations are going.

Special Listener Offer: Head over to soapbox.co and use the code show your value at checkout to receive 20% off your first purchase!

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

Is your business "heavy" or "high-value"? In this episode of Show Your Value, Lee Benson sits down with Adam Callinan, the founder of Bottle Keeper and Pentane, to discuss the radical efficiency required to build a $10M+ business with a skeleton crew. Adam shares his journey from "working his face off" in a 80-person medical device company to mastering the art of the lean startup.

We dive deep into:

- The "No Employee" Model: How Adam hit $8 million in revenue in year three with zero employees.

- The Shark Tank Effect: What really happens when Mark Cuban tells you that you don't need his money.

- The AI Trap: Why "outcome without effort" is a dangerous path for the next generation and how to use agentic systems to compress 5-year roadmaps into 5 weeks.

- Financial Literacy for Founders: Why most $20M+ companies don't actually understand how they make money (and why platform-level ROAS is a lie).

- The Comfort Crisis: Why seeking "uncomfortable" physical challenges is the ultimate cheat code for business resilience.

About Adam Callinan:
Adam is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and the co-founder of Pentane, a financial intelligence platform that helps e-commerce brands understand their true profitability. He is also the host of the Growth Mavericks podcast.

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

Are you leading your team through chaos, or are you just trying to survive it?

In this episode of Show Your Value, Lee Benson sits down with Wall Street Journal bestselling author and Vanderbilt professor Patrick Leddin to unpack the reality of constant disruption in business and life.

Drawing from his book Disrupt Everything (co-authored with legendary writer James Patterson), Patrick reveals why we need to stop running from struggle and start leveraging it. They discuss the danger of sleepwalking through your career on a never-ending treadmill, the difference between a positive and negative disruptor, and why sometimes the most disruptive thing a leader can do is simply to say "no."

Whether you are navigating the rise of AI, making high-stakes decisions, or trying to figure out how to be "productively vulnerable" with your team, this conversation provides a proven framework to turn adversity into massive material, emotional, and spiritual value.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• The 5 Crisis Roles: The specific roles leaders must choose from when disruption hits.
• Productive Vulnerability: Why forced or fake vulnerability is actually destructive to your team.
• The Anatomy of a Disruptor: The 16 behaviors of highly effective positive disruptors.
• The "Edge" Factor: Jack Welch’s concept of "Edge" and the exact way to handle tough conversations.
• The Disruption Loop: A four-step process (Discern, Behave, Achieve, Refine) to navigate any curveball life throws your way.

Connect with Patrick Leddin:

• Website: patrickleddin.com
• Book: Disrupt Everything by Patrick Leddin and James Patterson

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

Is your nervous system hitting its breaking point? As AI accelerates, our biological capacity to process data is being tested like never before. In this episode, Lee Benson sits down with AI visionary Manuj Aggarwal to discuss why the real danger of AI isn't job loss, it is the internal breakdown of the human mind.

Manuj shares his incredible journey from a factory floor in India to becoming a global leader in AI. He reveals how most people use AI as "crude oil" that clutters their brain, rather than "gasoline" that fuels their purpose.

In this episode, we explore:

• The Physical Limit of Humans: Why global anxiety and stress are direct results of our nervous systems failing to keep up with AI.
• Firing Yourself as CEO: How Manuj appointed an AI "Digital Twin" to run his business priorities and reduce his personal stress.
• The 90% Rule: Why nearly all of your internal monologue is negative and how AI can help you rewrite that narrative in your own voice.
• Purpose in 15 Minutes: A roadmap for using AI as a mirror to find your true calling and identity.
• The Great Homogenization: How to avoid the trap of looking and sounding like everyone else in an automated world.

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

Why do the vast majority of companies die within 15 years, while tens of thousands in Japan last for over a century?

In this episode of Show Your Value, Lee Benson sits down with Eric Becker, co-founder of Cresset Capital. Eric took a simple philosophy about building 100-year organizations and used it to scale his firm to $240 billion in just eight years.

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to build generational wealth, a leader trying to fix a toxic culture, or a parent wanting to raise resilient kids, Eric shares actionable strategies you can apply today. He breaks down why culture is your actual operating system, how to use "constructive tension" to accelerate growth, and the single daily question that will completely change the trajectory of your life.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• The exact blueprint for building a 100-year organization.
• How to scale rapidly by embracing "constructive tension."
• The strategy behind designing your own family office to protect your time and wealth.
• Why creating "constructive hardships" is the ultimate parenting hack for raising capable kids.
• The critical question you need to ask yourself every single day.

Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about Cresset Capital at cressetcapital.com
• Read Eric's book "The Long Game" to dive deeper into building 100-year organizations and families.

Connect with Lee Benson: If you got value out of today's episode, please leave a rating and review! Subscribe to Show Your Value to continue exploring how to intentionally create holistic value in business and in life.

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/

Are you leading your team, or just managing them? In this episode of Show Your Value, Lee Benson sits down with Mark C. Crowley to dismantle the myth that leading from the heart is a soft skill.

After a highly successful 25 year career in financial services, Mark walked away from a major bank acquisition because of a repelling corporate culture. That pivotal moment sparked a journey to discover the hard science behind human performance. Through his research with the Institute of HeartMath, Mark found a staggering truth: feelings and emotions drive 95% of human behavior.

If you want your organization to achieve impossible goals, you have to understand the science of reciprocity. People are hardwired to go above and beyond for leaders who genuinely care about their growth and well being.

In this conversation, Lee and Mark break down the exact formula for high performance leadership. Whether you are navigating the future of AI or trying to fix a broken company culture, this episode provides the blueprint for building a resilient, highly engaged team.

In this episode, we cover:

- The toxic corporate culture that forced a top executive to walk away.

- The scientific proof that emotions drive 95% of employee performance.

- Why caring for your team is not a bolt on strategy, but a core driver of ROI.

- The 6 step formula to build, train, and hold high performing teams accountable.

- How to secure your value as a leader in the age of AI.

For more free videos, tools, and resources about the MIND Methodology go to https://etw.com/