Get Unstuck & On Target

Mike O'Neill

We're interviewing inspiring business leaders to uncover tips - and tools - to help you break down the barriers that are keeping... you.... stuck.

  1. Aug 20

    Ep245 Dave Crysler—Stop Buying Tools to Fix a System Problem

    Is your business actually growing, or is it just getting busier? There's a difference. In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Dave Crysler, principal operations consultant at the Crysler Club and host of the Everyday Business Problems podcast. For more than 25 years, Dave has helped small- to mid-market manufacturers fix the systems quietly eroding their margin, slowing their throughput, and stalling their growth. His clients typically see 5 to 10% margin improvement without adding headcount or buying new tools. Dave and Mike get into what happens when growth comes through acquisition and two companies' systems have to coexist or collapse into one, why business owners keep buying new technology to solve problems that were never about technology, and what it actually looks like when a business is stuck: the same problem resurfacing no matter what you throw at it. Dave walks through two client stories, a custom manufacturer that cut its lead time from 4 to 6 weeks down to 4 to 6 days, and a product quality issue that had quietly been going on for almost a decade, and explains the free cost of chaos calculator he built so leaders can put a real dollar figure on what's not working. Three key topics to look out for: - Why most operational problems are system problems, not people problems, and what a system actually includes: planning, people, process, and technology - The real story behind a business owner who thought a new ERP would fix his team's follow-up problem, and what was actually broken - How to quantify the cost of chaos in your own business before you try to fix it Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/245

    Ep245 Dave Crysler—Stop Buying Tools to Fix a System Problem
  2. Jul 23

    Ep243 Jeannette Seibly—How Senior Leaders Overcome Fear, Stop Stalling, and Build the Legacy They Actually Want

    Ever notice how the leaders who seem the most decisive can freeze the moment it's time to actually commit? In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Jeannette Seibly, known as the leadership results coach, to unpack why so many senior leaders end up sitting on the fence and what it costs them when they stay there. Jeannette, who has spent decades coaching executives through hiring, promotion, and succession decisions, walks through what she calls the Remy effect (named after her fearless-until-the-door-opens cat) and why fear, not indecision, is really driving the delay. Mike and Jeannette dig into the job fit triangle, why relying on the interview alone to hire or promote someone can cost a company millions, and how validated assessments like the PXT Select help leaders get real about who they and their people actually are. They also cover how to tell a genuine strategic move from a shiny object and what it takes for a leader who has been stuck for months or years to finally get off the fence. Three key topics to look out for: - Why the Remy effect explains why confident leaders freeze when it's time to commit - How relying only on the interview to hire or promote costs companies millions - What it actually takes to get off the fence when you've been stuck for months, or years Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/243

    Ep243 Jeannette Seibly—How Senior Leaders Overcome Fear, Stop Stalling, and Build the Legacy They Actually Want
  3. Jun 25

    Ep241 Billy Mullins—Break the Seven-Second Chain and Lead with Intention

    Ever made a decision under pressure that didn't reflect who you actually are as a leader? You've done the reading. You know what good leadership looks like. And still, in the moment that matters most, you react before you can catch yourself. In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Billy Mullins, author of Salt Your Thoughts and a lifelong student of the neuroscience behind human behavior. Billy has mapped a five-step sequence he calls the chain, a process that runs in just seven seconds and takes leaders from information overload straight to reactive behavior. Understanding why willpower alone can't stop it changes how you think about leadership development entirely. Billy and Mike trace each step of the chain from the information overload that starts it to the reactive behavior that ends it and then get into the practical tools Billy built specifically to interrupt it. Billy shares the story behind the reset button, a tactile tool born out of his own darkest personal and professional season, and introduces SALT seeds, a daily positive programming practice designed to point your reticular activating system toward what you actually want to see. Three key topics to look out for: - Why willpower fails under pressure and what the neuroscience says actually happens inside your brain in those seven seconds - The five-step chain from information overload to reactive behavior, and how each step feeds the next - The reset button and SALT seeds, two practical tools you can use to interrupt the chain before the wrong decision comes out Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/241

    Ep241 Billy Mullins—Break the Seven-Second Chain and Lead with Intention
  4. Jun 11

    Ep240 Mark Mixer - Take Back Control of Your Health Benefits and Lead Like a Fiduciary

    Ever feel like your annual benefits renewal is a negotiation you're not allowed to walk away from? In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Mark Mixer, CEO of Health One Alliance and Alliant Health Plans, who has spent 40 years helping employers stop handing off their benefits strategy and start owning it. Mark works with companies to move away from the passive, broker-dependent renewal cycle toward a model that actually fits the way employees live and work. Mark walks Mike through how ICHRA (Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements) works as a defined-contribution alternative to traditional group health plans. The comparison to the 401k is direct: instead of picking a plan for everyone, employers give employees a dollar amount and let them choose coverage that fits their family, their doctors, and their budget. In seven years of running this model, Mark says he has never had a client go back to traditional coverage. Three key topics to look out for: - How ICHRA shifts the benefits decision from employer-picks to employee-chooses, and why companies that make the move stay with it - The compliance exposure hiding inside level-funded plans and why most small employers have no idea they're carrying it - Mark's own getting unstuck moment: the culture shift from "we can't do it for everyone" to "if we can do it for one, we do it" Find all the show notes and links here:  https://www.unstuck.show/240

    Ep240 Mark Mixer - Take Back Control of Your Health Benefits and Lead Like a Fiduciary
  5. May 28

    Ep239 Nick Bennett—Bridge the Recognition Gap and Turn Your Expertise Into Predictable Growth

    Do you know the exact problem you solve? And can you say it in a way that makes the right people stop and take notice? In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Nick Bennett, co-founder of Duo Consulting, who works with solopreneurs and independent consultants stuck below their growth ceiling because their value isn't clearly recognized, packaged, or claimed. Nick, with experience working alongside more than 100 solopreneurs and micro-agency owners, introduces a concept he calls the recognition gap: the distance between the value an expert actually creates and the value the market clearly sees. In a grounded, practical conversation, Nick and Mike dig into why capable professionals stay trapped in referral dependency loops, why expertise alone doesn't create market recognition, and what it actually takes to build a business where the right clients find you. Three key topics to look out for: - The CP3 framework: why clarifying the problem you solve, the person you solve it for, and the process you use is the foundation of everything else - How mindset and limiting beliefs quietly determine who breaks through the revenue wall, regardless of their follower count or bank balance - What "marketing the problem" actually means, and how it creates a categorical difference that removes comparison shopping entirely Find all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/239

    Ep239 Nick Bennett—Bridge the Recognition Gap and Turn Your Expertise Into Predictable Growth
4.7
out of 5
13 Ratings

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We're interviewing inspiring business leaders to uncover tips - and tools - to help you break down the barriers that are keeping... you.... stuck.