Laser Focused

Mark Alcazar

Laser Focused is a 30-minute podcast that cuts straight to the defining moments of leadership - those crucible experiences when everything is on fire and you are the one holding the extinguisher. Unlike traditional business podcasts that celebrate victories from a safe distance, the focus is on the raw, specific moments when leaders did not know what to do next. No frameworks. No theory. Just honest conversations about what it feels like leading through crisis - and what works. The mission: Making leadership a little less lonely by sharing the truth about what it costs and what it takes.

Episodes

  1. 5 DAYS AGO

    Know Your Line Before You Walk In | Rebecca Norlander

    Rebecca Norlander is a renowned technology leader and Chief Product Officer at Verific.AI. Rebecca tells her story from when she was a Group Manager running the release of Windows XP SP2 during a white-hot security crisis. A senior executive demanded she withhold the update from millions of users. She said no - in a room full of people who outranked her, with her job on the line. Rebecca talks about what it takes to stand your ground when the stakes are real: knowing where your line is before you walk into the room, being clear on your principles, building executive air cover in advance, and accepting that sometimes you'll be wrong - and that's okay. Plus: being one of the few women in a 50-person engineering team, why fit matters more than cool projects, and what her mother's mechanical heart valve taught her about falling in love with technology.

    33 min

  2. 25 JAN

    Trailer

    Laser Focused is a podcast for founders and tech leaders navigating the hardest moments of leadership—the ones you can't talk about with anyone. Host Mark Alcazar sits down with operators who've been through the fire to share what they actually did when everything broke. 30 minutes or less. No frameworks, no theory—just honest conversations and practical wisdom. New episodes coming soon.

    1 min

Trailer

About

Laser Focused is a 30-minute podcast that cuts straight to the defining moments of leadership - those crucible experiences when everything is on fire and you are the one holding the extinguisher. Unlike traditional business podcasts that celebrate victories from a safe distance, the focus is on the raw, specific moments when leaders did not know what to do next. No frameworks. No theory. Just honest conversations about what it feels like leading through crisis - and what works. The mission: Making leadership a little less lonely by sharing the truth about what it costs and what it takes.

Information

  • Creator
    Mark Alcazar
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Mark Alcazar