Level 10 Leaders

Ryan Castle
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Level 10 Leaders is the leadership podcast for CEOs and senior leaders scaling a business from hundreds to thousands. Hosted by entrepreneur, leadership coach, and systems builder Ryan Castle, every episode delivers field-tested tactics, practical tools, and real stories from top founders and execution experts who've actually done it. If you're obsessed with business growth, execution, and building a leadership team that performs without you in every room, this is your show.

  1. 1d ago

    Ep39 – On camaraderie, why relationships come before results with Rajiv Mehta

    Ryan Castle sits down with Rajiv Mehta, aerospace engineer turned product leader turned researcher, founder of the nonprofit Atlas of Care and author of the new book "Camaraderie." Rajiv spent the first half of his career at NASA, Apple, Adobe and Motorola before walking away to spend 20 years on a single question: how do people actually take care of each other? His answer for leaders is blunt. Relationships before results. Without a foundation of real human connection, teams cannot sustain performance through the crises that inevitably arrive. Rajiv also unpacks a three part idea about expertise: you are the expert on your own life, your expertise is far shallower than you think, and you already have the observation skills to close that gap. He introduces the Atlas Care Map, a deceptively simple paper and pencil tool he has run with everyone from Navy Seals to eight year olds, and explains why starting with friends and family is a safer entry point than starting with touchy work topics. Plus why distributed teams have to build deliberately what the office used to give away for free. Useful links:Connect with Rajiv Mehta on LinkedInCamaraderie: A Modern Leader’s Guide to Building Joyful, High-Performing TeamsAtlas CareMapatlasofcaregiving.commappingourselves.com 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

    Ep39 – On camaraderie, why relationships come before results with Rajiv Mehta

  2. Aug 11

    Ep 38 – "A full calendar isn't productivity, it's structural debt," Kenny Cao

    This Level 10 Leaders Power Tip is from Kenny Cao of Cultivator Co, sharing why the decisions you refuse to let go of are the ones capping your ability to scale. Kenny calls it the Sovereignty Trap. As a company grows, complexity increases but the decision architecture doesn't, so ambiguity in the organisation resolves the only way it can: authority concentrates upwards until the leader becomes the cognitive bottleneck. His fix isn't delegation, which he describes as temporary and task based, but sovereignty transfer, giving someone a domain instead of a job. He offers a practical diagnostic called the escalation ratio: track every decision that reaches you for one week, separate the sacred 10% that genuinely must stay with you from the default decisions that only land on your desk because no other pathway was ever designed, then do the maths. Anything over 10% is a design problem, not a capability problem. The shift he's asking leaders to make is from heroic manager to organisational architect, building a system strong enough to survive your own brilliance. Connect with Kenny Cao:LinkedIn"The Cultivator" by Cao, 曹宗轩 Zōng Xuān (Kenny)cultivatorco.net 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

    Ep 38 – "A full calendar isn't productivity, it's structural debt," Kenny Cao

  3. Aug 4

    Ep 37 – How to execute strategy through behaviour with Kyle Harkema

    Ryan Castle sits down with Kyle Harkema, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at KMC Controls, scholar practitioner, and author of the newly released book "Strategic Clarity." Kyle unpacks the idea at the heart of his work: if your strategy isn't changing what people do on a Monday morning, it's not a strategy, it's a slogan. He explains why organisations don't execute strategy, they execute behaviour, and why so many leadership teams leave an offsite aligned and energised only to watch everything drift back to normal within weeks. Kyle also explores why leadership's job is to create clarity, not certainty, and how great companies don't eliminate disagreement but instead build a shared decision framework that lets people make similar decisions even when the leader isn't in the room. He introduces the Strategic Orientation Index, a research-backed diagnostic that acts as both a mirror and a map for organisations, and shares real examples from KMC Controls of turning voice of customer insights into daily behaviour change across every department. Useful links:Connect with Kyle Harkema on LinkedInhttps://www.kylejharkema.com/ 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

    Ep 37 – How to execute strategy through behaviour with Kyle Harkema

  4. Jul 28

    Ep 36 – Power tip: "Where to focus for team growth," Dr Mike Ashby

    This Level 10 Leaders Power Tip is from Dr Mike Ashby, sharing where leaders should focus their energy to drive real team growth. Mike explains that developing a team isn't one size fits all. Give your top performers autonomy and high impact challenges, limit the drag from your bottom 20%, and pour your energy into the middle, where the biggest opportunity for progress sits. He also lays out how growth follows an S-curve, with beginners needing structure, intermediates needing balance, and experts needing fresh challenges. The result is a development approach that meets people where they are and keeps the whole team moving forward. Connect with Dr Mike Ashby:LinkedIn 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

  5. Jul 21

    EP 35 – How to make HR a strategic driver with David Alsop

    Ryan Castle sits down with David Alsop, Chief Human Resources Officer at Ultradent Products, a founder-led dental manufacturing company ranked in Fortune's top ten Best Workplaces for large manufacturing and production for five consecutive years. David shares the philosophy behind his book "Making HR Matter," co-authored with Ted Forbes, and unpacks what it actually means to build HR strategy around business outcomes rather than HR tradition. He explores why the best leaders facilitate the room rather than dominate it, and how humility and feedback create the conditions for teams to innovate and grow together. David also breaks down Ultradent's total wellness proposition, explaining why pay-led retention is little more than bribery, and what the convergence mindset looks like when individuals and organisations finally meet at their ignition point, where engagement and results come together. Useful links:Connect with David Alsop on LinkedInMaking HR Matter 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

    EP 35 – How to make HR a strategic driver with David Alsop

  6. Jul 14

    Ep 34 – "You can't automate what you don't understand," Sara Reece

    This Level 10 Leaders Power Tip is from Sara Reece of Workmind, sharing why understanding your operations has to come before any decision to automate them. Sara explains that automation doesn't fix broken processes, it amplifies them, and that the real problem is usually leadership not understanding how the work actually gets done day to day. Her advice is to go to where the work happens, observe with humility, and map the real process before adding any technology. The result is smarter automation decisions, leaner workflows, and in some cases the realisation that no automation was needed at all. Connect with Sara Reece:LinkedIn 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

  7. Jul 7

    EP 33 - Why the best leaders play the long game, Tanner Kinzler

    Ryan Castle sits down with Tanner Kinzler, CEO of Kinzler Corporation, a multi-generational, partially employee-owned construction services business operating across the United States. Tanner shares three interconnected leadership principles that have shaped how he builds for the long term: structure for alignment, ask for help and give it generously, and play the long game. He unpacks why the best outcomes rarely come from brilliant moves, how asking for help with humility creates a flywheel of generosity, and why walking away from misaligned customers is one of the clearest tests of whether your values are real. Useful links:Connect with Tanner Kinzler on LinkedInKinzler Corporation 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

    EP 33 - Why the best leaders play the long game, Tanner Kinzler

  8. Jun 30

    Ep 32 – Power tip: "The one meeting habit that keeps your team on track," Adam Law

    This Level 10 Leaders Power Tip is from Adam Law, sharing a practical approach to managing your issues list so your team meetings stay focused and productive. Adam explains that reviewing the issues list before the meeting, resolving quick wins in advance, and filtering out topics that don't require full team discussion keeps meeting time locked on what actually moves the organisation forward. The result is fewer derailed meetings, sharper team focus, and a more intentional use of everyone's time. Connect with Adam Law:LinkedInSOS Care 👉 FREE Resource: level10.us/execution - Execution Strength Diagnostic Discover if your managers are driving results or letting commitments drift. 👉 Got a Level 10 Leaders podcast tip? - Submit your tip at lvl10.us/submit-tipWhere else you can find us Website: https://www.level10leaders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/level10leaders/

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About

Level 10 Leaders is the leadership podcast for CEOs and senior leaders scaling a business from hundreds to thousands. Hosted by entrepreneur, leadership coach, and systems builder Ryan Castle, every episode delivers field-tested tactics, practical tools, and real stories from top founders and execution experts who've actually done it. If you're obsessed with business growth, execution, and building a leadership team that performs without you in every room, this is your show.

Information

  • Creator
    Ryan Castle
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2019 The Breakthrough Company
  • Show Website
    Level 10 Leaders