Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM
  • 5.0 (34)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Are you ready to take your personal brand and business development to the next level? Then you won't want to miss the exciting new podcast dedicated to helping you tell your story in the most compelling way possible. Join me as I guide you through the process of building a magnetic personal brand, creating valuable relationships, and mastering the art of networking. With my expert tips and practical strategies, you'll be well on your way to 5-star success in both your professional and personal life. Don't wait - start building your 5-STAR BRAND TODAY!

  1. The 60-Second Rule: Why Trust Infrastructure Is the Real AI Advantage with Naresh Samlal

    5d ago

    The 60-Second Rule: Why Trust Infrastructure Is the Real AI Advantage with Naresh Samlal

    Send us Fan Mail AI is moving faster than most organizations can govern, and that gap is where the real danger lives. From Omaha, I sit down with Naresh Samlal, CEO of Cloud Source, to talk about the side of AI that rarely makes headlines: what happens when employees upload sensitive files into public AI tools, vendors promise the moon, and leadership is left trying to protect data they can no longer see. We break down why AI supercharges both innovation and cybersecurity risk, especially for regulated industries like healthcare, legal, and financial services. Naresh shares what he’s seeing from customers who love the productivity boost but fear giving away their “data gold,” and we explore a different model: bringing AI to your data in a private cloud so it stays containerized, controlled, and governed. We also talk about why the market is shifting back toward privatizing data, how small language models fit into that trend, and what practical guardrails need to exist before you scale anything. Then we go one level deeper into agentic AI. Automation can look perfect on Monday and turn into a mess by Friday if you trust it blindly. Naresh lays out a simple governance reality check: if you can’t shut it down in 60 seconds or less, you’ve got a governance problem. If you care about AI security, private cloud strategy, managed services, and protecting intellectual property while still moving fast, this conversation will sharpen how you think and how you lead. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s rolling out AI at work, and leave a review with your biggest question about AI risk. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    48 min
  2. The Ownership Crisis with Matt Watson & Grant McGaugh

    Jun 29

    The Ownership Crisis with Matt Watson & Grant McGaugh

    Send us Fan Mail If your teams are shipping fast but the business still feels stuck, the problem probably is not talent or tooling. It is ownership. Grant McGaugh talks with five-time founder and Full Scale CEO Matt Watson about why companies quietly trade ownership for activity, then wonder why outcomes stall even when the roadmap stays full. We get practical about personal branding and LinkedIn strategy, too. Matt shares how he built an audience of more than 70,000 followers by showing up with a clear point of view, earning trust, and avoiding the spammy playbook that floods inboxes. If you sell a service, lead a team, or run a startup, you will hear why being “best known” can matter more than being “best,” and how thought leadership turns into a real pipeline when you do it with consistency. Then we go inside the product-driven leadership mindset behind Matt’s book, Product Driven: Reconnect Engineers to Customers, Kill the Assembly-Line Handoffs, and Replace Ticket Management with Business Problem Solving. We also tackle AI in software engineering and why faster code does not equal faster innovation when bureaucracy and unclear decisions create friction. Matt breaks down the leadership essentials of vision, focus, and clarity, plus what it takes to scale through delegation without becoming the hero bottleneck. Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, brand, and growth, share this with a founder or engineering leader, and leave a quick review if it helped. What is the biggest thing blocking ownership on your team right now? Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    37 min
  3. You Are Already Living Inside the AI Era with Darrell T. Black vCIO

    Jun 21

    You Are Already Living Inside the AI Era with Darrell T. Black vCIO

    Send us Fan Mail AI is finally in everyone’s hands, and that’s exactly why it’s getting risky. Grant McGaugh sits down with veteran tech leader Darrell T. Black (CIO, CTO, CDO) to discuss what it really takes to bring AI into a business without compromising trust, compliance, or the back office. We get into the difference between experimenting with a chatbot and deploying AI inside the systems that run payroll, HR, finance, and customer data. Darrell shares a grounded view of AI readiness: understand your current processes, map the real workflow (not the version on paper), define the future state, then conduct a gap and impact analysis before you automate anything. We also unpack why AI hallucinations matter, how probabilistic AI differs from deterministic technology, and why “it sounds good” is not the same as “it’s accurate.” If you’re thinking about agentic AI, this is where the conversation gets practical about audit trails, human oversight, and governance that can scale. We also tackle the bigger societal layer: bias in algorithms, safeguards in hiring and healthcare, and why policy often sets the tone for enterprise behavior. And Darrell leaves us with a simple warning you’ll remember: you might think you’re adopting an AI puppy, but you’re responsible for the full-grown AI dog. If you’re a founder, operator, or IT leader trying to use AI to scale responsibly, this one is for you. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a friend building with AI, and leave a review with the biggest AI risk you want us to tackle next. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    39 min
  4. Five More Steps with Jason W. Gallo

    Jun 14

    Five More Steps with Jason W. Gallo

    Send us Fan Mail A lot of leaders talk about resilience. Far fewer can explain how to turn resilience into something a whole team can actually use when the pressure is on. Grant McGaugh sits down with Jason Gallo to trace that shift from a “power through it” mindset to authentic leadership built on tools, trust, and empowerment, shaped by Jason’s Brooklyn upbringing and a Grand Canyon moment where the only goal was “five more steps.”  From there, we zoom out to the biggest workplace shift many of us will ever live through: artificial intelligence. Jason lays out why AI will surpass the impact of the internet and cloud, how agentic AI changes the way work gets done, and why trust infrastructure matters as much as technical infrastructure. We talk candidly about the anxiety people feel when new tools show up overnight, the adoption curve that follows every major platform change, and what leaders can do right now with training, communication, and the humility to say, “We don’t have all the answers.”  Jason also shares a practical story from inside Cisco: “corporate camouflage,” the stuffed elephant that gave a room full of executives permission to be heard, and how that kind of vulnerability can unlock real innovation. We dig into mentorship as a “board of directors” (including devil’s advocate mentors), representation in tech, and how Cisco is transforming its ecosystem through the Cisco 360 partner program using co-design with roughly 35,000 partners worldwide. We close with a personal reminder on prostate cancer awareness and prevention.  If you found this helpful, subscribe, share the episode with a leader navigating AI change, and leave a review. What’s one trust-building move your team needs to make this month? Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    34 min
  5. The Invisible Gap: Why Prevention Is the Next Healthcare Revolution with Corlette Deveaux

    Jun 7

    The Invisible Gap: Why Prevention Is the Next Healthcare Revolution with Corlette Deveaux

    Send us Fan Mail A stroke or heart attack rarely happens in a doctor’s office, it happens on an ordinary day when nobody is watching the subtle warning signs. We sit down with healthcare innovator and RM2.ai CEO Corlette to talk about the invisible gap between appointments and why that gap is where preventable crises quietly build. If you’re caring for aging parents, managing chronic disease, or simply trying to stay independent longer, this conversation is a practical look at how prevention can finally come before panic.  We get personal about caregiving, the “sandwich generation,” and the cost of waiting until there’s a fall, a missed medication, or a sudden ER visit. Corlette explains how an early warning health intelligence platform integrates with select wearables to pull vitals like blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen, and temperature and then turns those readings into trend-based visibility and alerts. We also dig into how a shared care team dashboard can assign different alerts to different family members, plus why geofencing and location monitoring can be life-saving for loved ones at risk of wandering with dementia.  We also tackle the big question: should people be afraid of AI in healthcare? Corlette makes the case for AI as an enhancement, not a replacement for human care, and introduces live vital intelligence for telehealth so clinicians can see real-time vitals during a virtual visit and review months of trends without relying on handwritten logs. Along the way, we connect prevention back to everyday lifestyle choices and why “know your numbers” matters for hypertension and other chronic conditions.  If this resonates, subscribe, share this episode with a caregiver or family group chat, and leave a review so more people find tools and ideas that help prevent the next crisis before it starts. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    43 min
  6. Men Die in Garden Moments with Derek Jackson

    Jun 1

    Men Die in Garden Moments with Derek Jackson

    Send us Fan Mail Most men don’t collapse all at once. They drift, they numb out, they get busy, and then one day they realize they’ve been “fine” for years while quietly losing their edge, their joy, or their family. Grant McGaugh sits down with Derek Jackson, a longtime healthcare leader and the author of Men Dying Garden Moments: The Hidden Crisis of Masculinity and the Journey Back to Life, for a direct conversation about men’s mental health, masculinity, and what accountability actually looks like when nobody’s watching. Derek introduces the idea of “garden moments,” those decision points where the consequences outlast the emotion. We talk through the four areas where men often start to check out: stature (how we respond to changing roles and expectations), spirituality (having an anchor and core beliefs), physical health (including lifestyle and finances, not just the body), and relationships (the growing friction and mistrust between men and women). Along the way, we dig into authenticity, the influence of algorithms and culture, and why “perform, provide, protect” isn’t enough if you never learn to process. We also get practical: how to build a safe circle of men, Derek’s “board meeting,” where mentorship happens and accountability becomes normal. If you want to lead better, love better, and live with fewer regrets, this conversation is a strong starting point. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review. What’s one “garden moment” you’re facing right now? Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    41 min

  7. May 27

    Closing the Authority Gap in the AI Era

    Send us Fan Mail If your content is consistent but your opportunities are not, you might be dealing with a problem most leaders cannot name: the authority gap. I define it as the distance between looking visible online and being genuinely trusted by the people who can hire you, fund you, or partner with you. After 30 years in healthcare technology and now building an AI-powered business accelerator for underserved entrepreneurs, I keep seeing the same pattern: brilliant experts and founders with real solutions still get overlooked because the market cannot quickly recognize their authority signals.  AI is accelerating that pain. Tools can produce polished marketing in seconds, which means the internet is filling up with generic ideas and copycat expertise. Buyers are responding with tougher reputation due diligence: they search your name, scan your LinkedIn, review podcast appearances, and look for proof that holds up. Trust is becoming the scarce resource, and digital discoverability is now inseparable from leadership reputation, personal branding, and business brand growth.  I break down my Brave Authority Index, a practical authority-building framework built on five connected pillars: Boldness, Resilience, Authenticity, Vision, and Execution. You will hear how to sharpen a specific market position, build durable credibility across platforms, show real human coherence without oversharing, publish future-facing ideas your audience can use, and create follow-up systems that turn visibility into revenue. I also walk through a case study where a B2B firm moves from commodity IT vendor to inbound demand by connecting thought leadership to clear next steps and measurable pipeline.  If you want to stop sounding like everyone else and start getting believed, subscribe, share this with a friend who is “visible but stuck,” and leave a review so more leaders can find it. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    57 min
  8. Why Storytelling Is the Antidote to AI-Generated Sameness with David Ebner

    May 17

    Why Storytelling Is the Antidote to AI-Generated Sameness with David Ebner

    Send us Fan Mail AI can generate a thousand posts before lunch, but it cannot manufacture empathy. That’s the tension we dig into with David J. Ebner, founder of Content Workshop, as we talk about what actually makes brand storytelling work when buyers are skeptical and content feels interchangeable. We break down the practical difference between story-first marketing and content-first output. A strong brand story doesn’t spotlight the company, it makes the customer the hero and gives them a believable path from problem to progress. David explains why emotional connection is the real driver of recall, how testimonials capture a transformation arc, and why better word choice and tighter editing can separate you from the sea of sameness that AI has amplified. Then we zoom out from words to full brand experience. We talk about where stories live (especially on your website), why mismatched web experiences weaken even great messaging, and how experiential marketing at events can create memorable moments without relying on expensive gimmicks. Finally, we land on leadership: setting values, living them visibly, and using a simple filter for every deliverable: who does this help and how does it help them? Subscribe for more conversations like this, share this with a founder or marketer who needs a sharper brand voice, and leave a review with the one story you think your audience actually remembers. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    37 min
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About

Are you ready to take your personal brand and business development to the next level? Then you won't want to miss the exciting new podcast dedicated to helping you tell your story in the most compelling way possible. Join me as I guide you through the process of building a magnetic personal brand, creating valuable relationships, and mastering the art of networking. With my expert tips and practical strategies, you'll be well on your way to 5-star success in both your professional and personal life. Don't wait - start building your 5-STAR BRAND TODAY!

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