The Dataliction Podcast

Dataliction
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Business

Dataliction—where data meets action. Too many businesses struggle to move beyond gut instinct, getting lost in guesswork instead of making informed decisions. We’re here to change that. In each episode, we tell real-world stories of how data-driven strategies have transformed businesses, built stronger teams, and led to sustainable growth. We’ll tackle the challenges leaders face, the missteps that derail progress, and the practical steps to turn insights into impact—all with a mindset of courage over fear. If you’re a founder, executive, or decision-maker looking to lead with clarity and confidence, this podcast is for you.

  1. 22h ago

    #107 – Companies Stall Because of Leadership

    Companies die because of cash, but they stall because of leadership. Darren Thompson spent his career at Eli Lilly and Company before a 2017 early retirement package pointed him somewhere else entirely. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub talks with Darren Thompson, president and CEO of Process Alliance, about building a pharmaceutical engineering firm on people other companies overlooked. Darren explains why his team stopped screening for grade point average and started hiring for humble, hungry, and smart, why they turned down a 3.9 chemical engineering graduate, and how a monthly direct connect keeps leadership development from becoming a slide deck. He also tells the story behind RippleWorks Manufacturing, the second-chance manufacturing company he launched to hire people most employers screen out. Leaders walk away with a hiring filter, a retention argument, and a harder question about what they have been given to steward. Chapters: 00:00 Cast the Stone 00:10 Meet Darren Thompson 01:40 Gray Hairs, No Hairs, and the First Campus Hire 03:48 Companies Die Because of Cash, They Stall Because of Leadership 06:37 Hiring Humble, Hungry, and Smart 08:04 The 3.9 GPA They Turned Down 10:57 What Leadership Looks Like to Gen Z 12:08 Where Purpose Enters the Work 13:36 Direct Connects and Pouring Into People 16:45 The Early Retirement Package That Started a Company 19:57 Twelve Chemical Engineers and a Plan 22:49 What's in Your Hand, Moses 24:49 RippleWorks and Second Chance Manufacturing 29:31 Continuous Improvement Starts With Humility Connect: John Staub: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-staub/ Travis Hall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-m-hall/ Darren Thompson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenthompsonpa/ Process Alliance: https://processalliance.com RippleWorks Manufacturing: https://rippleworksmfg.com Mentioned: The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  2. 1d ago

    #106 – Pushed Up, Not Pulled Up

    Trust is a currency, and a company stops growing when the owner refuses to spend it. Eight years ago, Alex Melvin was six months into selling Rural King. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub and Travis Hall sit down with Melvin, owner and chairman of Rural King, America's Farm and Home Store, to talk about the decision that kept him in the chair and how it reshaped the company after. He describes running the business for years without trusting anyone with real decisions, and what that cost in growth Rural King never captured. The conversation covers RK Cares, the associate fund that pays for funerals when families can't, why he looks for leaders who get pushed up instead of pulled up, and the single act of integrity that convinced him to hand a former Tractor Supply executive the CEO title. Chapters: 00:00 The Moment He Almost Sold 01:06 What People First Really Means 02:33 Empowering Stores to Take Care of Customers 04:28 RK Cares and the Associate Fund 05:57 Faith and Doing the Right Thing 07:51 Trust as an Earned Currency 09:43 The Decision Not to Sell the Company 13:42 Family First Makes You a Better Leader 14:58 Integrity Is Consistency in Small Things 18:53 Pushed Up, Not Pulled Up 20:35 The Integrity Test That Made a CEO 22:14 Working on a Leader Who Didn't Want the Role 25:02 The Interview Nobody Knows They're In 27:58 What He's Excited About Now Links John Staub: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-staub/ Travis Hall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-m-hall/ Alex Melvin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-melvin-7b674321b/ Rural King: https://www.ruralking.com Book a free call with Dataliction: https://www.dataliction.com The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  3. Aug 12

    #105 – Let Your Leaders Actually Lead

    Hiring leaders is easy. Letting them lead is the hard part. Most founders hit a ceiling that has nothing to do with the market. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub and Travis Hall talk with Luke Jacobs, co-founder and CEO of Encamp, about building a leadership team that can run without you. Luke bootstrapped Encamp past a million dollars in revenue and found the business could not grow past his own hands. He walks through hiring in phases, why early leaders have to be doers, and how one-way and two-way door decisions determine what stays on his desk. He also gets specific about hiring too senior too early, growing a CTO and a CRO into their seats, and treating AI as a force multiplier instead of a way to cut headcount. Chapters: 00:00 Meet Luke Jacobs of Encamp 01:00 Building a Leadership Team in Phases 03:45 One-Way and Two-Way Door Decisions 04:48 The Home Renovation Approach to Leadership Gaps 06:27 Sync Cadence as a Trust Signal 09:00 Vetting Executives Through Your Network 11:33 Hiring Too Senior Too Early 14:49 Hungry, Humble, and Smart 17:29 Outgrowing Founder-Led Sales 20:42 Zone of Genius Versus Zone of Competence 24:18 The Enterprise Deal That Almost Broke Us 28:10 AI as a Force Multiplier, Not a Cost Saver 35:41 The Founding Story Behind Encamp 43:05 Own the Decision Yourself The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  4. Aug 11

    #104 – Your Title Is a False Positive

    Your industry knowledge and your title are not a sales process. Most founders sell well long before they sell repeatably. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub and Travis Hall talk with Jenny Vance, founder and CEO of GrowthJen, about why a founder's own track record is a poor blueprint for the team. Jenny explains that deep industry knowledge and the top title in the company are false positives: they let a founder win without following the fundamentals everyone else needs. She uses Michael Jordan's court vision and a Picasso painting to separate what can be taught from what cannot, then gives founders a practical order of operations. Replicate the highest-volume stage first, prove repeatability, then move down the funnel toward business cases and executive meetings. She also defines BANT and MEDDPICC, and makes the case against calling a deal advanced just because you sent a contract. Chapters: 00:00 The Orange Rectangle Problem 00:25 Welcome and Introducing Jenny Vance 01:53 The Founder's False Positives 02:51 Michael Jordan and the Triangle Offense 04:46 Picasso, Paint Class, and Scale 07:51 What Founders Get Wrong About Letting Go 10:22 Replicating the Easiest Stage First 12:22 Simplicity as Foundation, Not Limit 13:41 Over-Engineering the Messaging Handoff 16:18 When to Invest in Sales Talent 18:55 Choosing a Sales System 20:24 The Problem With Action-Based Progression 23:13 BANT and MEDDPICC Explained 26:32 Life Outside the Process 29:29 Closing Thoughts The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  5. Aug 5

    #103 – Hire the Person, Not the Role

    Most businesses don't fail because the idea was bad. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub and Travis Hall talk with Tim Jensen, founder and president of The Veridus Group, Inc., about why culture decides whether a company survives. Tim defines culture in plain terms: how it feels in this moment, and how people actually engage with each other inside the office. He explains why he hires the person rather than the role, what it has cost him the few times he got that backwards, and how one firm grew into three companies without splitting into three cultures. He also talks about measuring success by whether his people are living out their purpose, and about protecting the personal call as AI makes his office more efficient. Chapters 00:00 Culture Is Why Businesses Fail 00:14 Introducing Tim Jensen 01:34 How Does It Feel in This Moment 02:03 Coaching Players Versus Coaching Culture 04:55 Hiring People Who Fit the Culture 06:33 One Company Becomes Three 10:15 Confusion in the Market 14:34 Why Relational Comes First 17:59 Advice for New Founders 20:43 People Before Product 23:07 Keeping the Personal Touch With AI 24:16 Building Their Own Software 29:26 Coaching Basketball and Leading People 32:41 Heard, Seen, and Loved Connect with the hosts and our guest: John Staub: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-staub/ Travis Hall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-m-hall/ Tim Jensen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmjensen/ The Veridus Group: https://theveridusgroup.com/ Still running your business across spreadsheets and six different tools? Book a free call with our team: https://dataliction.com The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  6. Jul 29

    #102 – Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Focus

    Pro athletes get a coach for their mind. Founders get nothing. Most founders walk into the highest-stakes environment of their careers with no training for the one instrument they use all day. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub and Travis Hall talk with Kevin Bailey, co-founder and CEO of Dreamfuel, about why the same person can solve anything on Monday and stare at a screen on Tuesday. Kevin traces it back to his first startup in Indianapolis, where he sat down and charted his own mental states to figure out what was happening. He walks through the four states a nervous system moves between, fight, flight, freeze, and focus, and the centered state he calls equanimity, where a leader actually has a choice to make. He gets specific about what to do when a meeting turns on you, and then names the one habit most executives should cut first. Chapters 00:00 Same Person, Two Different Days 01:36 The Highest-Stakes Psychological Environment 02:33 What Happens in a Mental Performance Demo 03:41 The Chart That Started Dreamfuel 07:04 Step One Is Awareness 08:03 Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Focus 11:20 Equanimity and Where Agency Lives 13:04 Caught Off Guard in a High-Stakes Meeting 15:02 Keep Breathing, Relax Your Stomach 16:20 The Cognitive Reframe 18:45 Why the Category Is Hitting a Tipping Point 21:51 What to Stop Doing After the First Million 23:30 Sleep, Dopamine, and Micro Jet Lag 25:58 A Serotonin Day Every Week The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  7. Jul 22

    #101 – Papa John's Founder on People-First Leadership

    The next storm is always coming. The only question is whether your business gets stronger when it hits. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub and Travis Hall sit down with John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John's, who built a global brand out of a broom closet on two ideas: take care of your people and make a great product. Schnatter walks through the decision to build leaders instead of just pizzas, why he treats calculated risk as running the probability on both the upside and the downside, and how he made his companies anti-fragile so pressure made them stronger instead of breaking them. He explains why the person running the restaurant matters more than anyone in the C-suite, how profit-sharing keeps a team honest, and what it takes to run a business clean enough to survive the next downturn. Direct, practical, and grounded in four decades of building. Chapters 00:00 The People Business, Not the Pizza Business 00:55 Energy, Integrity, and Quieting the Mind 02:26 Culture First: Building Leaders, Not Just Pizza 03:21 The Broom Closet and Beating Domino's 04:37 Two Premises and Learning Risk From Family 06:30 Core Beliefs and What Makes a Leader 08:43 Simplify, and Trust Your Nonsense Meter 11:04 Fragile, Robust, Anti-Fragile 13:00 Why Nothing Past a Year Is Predictable 14:47 Trial, Error, and the Value of Tinkering 17:13 A Clean Company and Win-Win-Win 17:55 The Most Important Person Runs the Store 18:52 Freedom, Attitude, and Seeing It First 22:26 Closing: Built for the Storm The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

  8. May 4

    #100 – The Data Told Us to Do This

    100 episodes later, one thing is clear—growth doesn’t happen by accident. In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John and Travis reflect on the journey to 100 episodes and the lessons learned along the way. From data-driven decision-making to the power of systems over sparks, they unpack the principles that consistently drive real business growth. This conversation highlights how data becomes meaningful when it’s connected to leadership, storytelling, and execution—and how AI is now accelerating that process for teams willing to use it well. Chapters 00:00 Celebrating 100 Episodes 04:03 The Journey of Podcasting 06:51 Learning and Growth Through Conversations 10:08 Top 10 Episodes Countdown 12:58 Emotional Intelligence in Leadership 13:24 Data Storytelling and Its Impact 14:46 Trusting Your Gut vs. Data 17:42 Sales Process Fundamentals 21:03 The Right Data at the Right Time 24:01 AI and Business Efficiency 26:58 Transforming Data into Actionable Insights 29:43 Systems Over Sparks 34:13 Key Takeaways and Insights The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!

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About

Dataliction—where data meets action. Too many businesses struggle to move beyond gut instinct, getting lost in guesswork instead of making informed decisions. We’re here to change that. In each episode, we tell real-world stories of how data-driven strategies have transformed businesses, built stronger teams, and led to sustainable growth. We’ll tackle the challenges leaders face, the missteps that derail progress, and the practical steps to turn insights into impact—all with a mindset of courage over fear. If you’re a founder, executive, or decision-maker looking to lead with clarity and confidence, this podcast is for you.

Information

  • Creator
    Dataliction
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    107
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Dataliction Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Dataliction Podcast