The Cort Brady Podcast

Cortland Brady
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This podcast is about how I, and thousands of other founders, extracted ourselves from our companies without selling them—making our people wildly successful while still owning profitable, growing businesses. I built my business for freedom—but ended up trapped inside it. Every decision, every problem, every fire—it all came back to me. The more we grew, the more I worked. Until I realized: the path to freedom wasn’t more more hours—it was elevating my people. I went from 80-hour work weeks & 20 employees to 80 employees and 8-hour work months. Raise your people up so you can step out.

  1. 10/11/2025

    Episode 201 - Fundamental Attribution Error

    Founders, we fall into the same trap over and over—what psychologists call fundamental attribution error. We misdiagnose the problem, so we chase the wrong solutions. When we fail, we blame the market. When someone else fails, we blame their character. In business, this mistake kills us because we keep attributing the wrong inputs to the outcomes we want. In this episode, I share a conversation with a founder doing millions in revenue but stuck with no profit and no freedom. The issue wasn’t revenue, projects, or customers—it was people. Wrong people in the wrong seats. And when asked how much time he spent fixing that? His answer was zero. If you want growth without chaos, stop misattributing your outcomes. Focus on the only three levers that matter: • People: Right talent in the right seats • Strategy: Clarity and direction • Execution system: Coaching, accountability, and rhythm Get these right, and everything else gets easier—or unnecessary.

    6 min

  2. 10/03/2025

    Episode 200 - Ignore everything else

    After 200 straight days of recording, I’ve learned one truth: business growth isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing fewer things better. In this milestone episode, I share the biggest lessons from the journey so far: • Why timing matters in each stage of growth (learning → selling → leading a team). • The two things every CEO must own—culture and strategy. • How people, strategy, and execution systems determine your company’s destiny. If you’re ready to scale with less drama and more freedom, this episode is the playbook.

    11 min

  3. 10/02/2025

    Episode 199 - The 7 lies we tell

    As founders, we often operate on beliefs that feel true —but are dead wrong. These logical fallacies quietly limit growth, drain energy, and keep you stuck in founder prison. In this episode, I share the 7 biggest fallacies I believed while building Aspen-and how breaking them unlocked profit, freedom, and balance. From "If I build it, they will come" to "Success is linear," I'Il show you the lies we tell ourselves and the truths that actually build self-sustaining, profitable companies.

    8 min

  4. 10/01/2025

    Episode 198 - How to Actually Work on Your Business (Not In It)

    Every founder has heard the advice: “Work on your business, not in your business.” But what does that actually mean in practice? In this episode, I break it down into four clear targets: 1. Build and align the right team (100% A-players in leadership, 90% company-wide). 2. Craft a differentiated, customer-centric strategy that everyone in your company can repeat in one phrase. 3. Install an execution rhythm that drives accountability, accurate data, and consistent coaching. 4. Make emotionally difficult decisions with clarity and conviction. This is the blueprint for scaling without drama—so you can step out of the weeds and build a business that thrives without you.

    8 min

  5. 09/30/2025

    Episode 197 - How to get Rocket Fuel 🚀

    Behind every great visionary is an integrator who makes the dream real. In this episode, we break down Gino Wickman’s Rocket Fuel concept with famous examples — Jobs & Cook at Apple, Walt & Roy Disney, Ray Kroc & Fred Turner at McDonald’s, Gates & Ballmer at Microsoft, and more. You’ll see how the right combo of dreamer + doer can transform chaos into unstoppable momentum. If you’ve ever felt like your ideas outpace your systems, this is the episode you need.

    4 min

  6. 09/29/2025

    Episode 196 - The Leadership Trap That Destroys Teams (The Peter Principle

    Have you ever promoted your top performer—only to watch them and their team crash? That’s the Peter Principle in action. In this episode, I break down what it is, where it came from, and why it quietly kills morale, performance, and culture in growing companies. More importantly, I’ll give you the four steps to avoid it—so your best people keep winning and your business keeps scaling. This is the episode I wish I had at 8, 20, and 40 employees.

    8 min

  7. 09/28/2025

    Episode 195 - The Sunk Cost Fallacy

    Why do we keep bad hires, bad clients, or bad strategies alive long after they’ve failed us? It’s the sunk cost fallacy—our brain’s trick that makes us double down just because we’ve already invested time, money, and energy. In this episode of The Cort Brady Podcast, I break down what the sunk cost fallacy is, how it keeps founders stuck, and the exact framework I use to cut losses, pivot faster, and make clean decisions. If you’re holding onto something just because of what you’ve already spent, this episode will help you let it go—and free your business to grow.

    4 min

  8. 09/27/2025

    Episode 194 - The trouble with accountability

    Every CEO struggles with the same tension: how do you hold your team accountable without turning into an interrogator—and still show up as a supportive coach? In this episode, I share the biggest mistakes I’ve made, like failing to define success up front or letting weeks go by without looking at the metrics. I’ll walk through a simple prevention system: set clear definitions of great, good, and poor performance from the start, track the numbers weekly (even when it feels boring), and use that consistency to coach instead of react. The goal isn’t catching problems after the fact—it’s building a rhythm that lets you support your people and avoid blindsides. This one is just as much for me as it is for you.

    4 min
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About

This podcast is about how I, and thousands of other founders, extracted ourselves from our companies without selling them—making our people wildly successful while still owning profitable, growing businesses. I built my business for freedom—but ended up trapped inside it. Every decision, every problem, every fire—it all came back to me. The more we grew, the more I worked. Until I realized: the path to freedom wasn’t more more hours—it was elevating my people. I went from 80-hour work weeks & 20 employees to 80 employees and 8-hour work months. Raise your people up so you can step out.

Information

  • Creator
    Cortland Brady
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    201
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Cortland Brady
  • Show Website
    The Cort Brady Podcast