On The Brink Podcast

John A. Brink
  • 5.0 (21)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

“ON THE BRINK” is a top 1% global podcast hosted by John A. Brink - a self-made entrepreneur, best-selling author, ADHD advocate, and North America’s oldest competitive bodybuilder. With curiosity and candor, John sits down with experts, changemakers, and trailblazers from every walk of life to uncover the stories behind their success, struggles, and defining moments.

  1. 2d ago

    Episode #568: Gaylen Wilson

    Gaylen Wilson is a heart transplant survivor, 20-years-sober former alcoholic, relationship author, erectile dysfunction advocate, Certified Thriving Relationship Coach, and founder of The Monument Method Institute with his wife Heather. Gaylen’s life has not been one comeback. It has been a series of forced reinventions. After farm failure, a collapsed stockbroker career, alcoholism, sobriety, career disruption after 9/11, rebuilding as a computer repairman, and later becoming a successful field-service technician, Gaylen faced the largest crisis of his life. In 2014, a virus attacked his heart and left him in end-stage heart failure. For the next three and a half years, he and Heather lived through hospital rooms, fear, financial pressure, uncertainty, lost intimacy, disability, and the reality that without a transplant, he was going to die. On June 19, 2018, Gaylen sat Heather down and told her he likely had only a few months left. About thirty minutes later, the transplant center called. The next morning, he received a new heart. That experience left him with one driving question: What do you do with years you were never guaranteed? For more than five years, Gaylen helped inside two of the largest erectile dysfunction support communities on Facebook, serving roughly 60,000 men and partners. Through thousands of conversations, he saw that ED is often far more than a bedroom problem. It can become a mental-health crisis involving shame, anxiety, depression, avoidance, masculinity collapse, and relationship damage. Those experiences helped shape The Monument Method, a relationship system focused on emotional safety, conflict repair, intimacy restoration, personal responsibility, and protecting the bond under pressure. Gaylen and Heather are also building MVP — Monument Validated Person — a relationship-readiness dating platform designed for people who want to prepare for healthier relationships before they start dating. His mission is simple: to help people build relationships strong enough that neither person has to survive life alone anymore.

    1h 2m

  2. 3d ago

    Episode #567: Elena Komarova

    Elena Komarova is a strategic PR consultant and the founder of After Comma Agency, an NYC-headquartered firm at the intersection of AI, tech, and public relations. Her track record of rapid growth began at age 21, when she built a top-10 national PR agency in Russia—an achievement that later qualified her for a US Extraordinary Ability visa at age 23.   Currently directing a team of 30+ specialists and generating $500K in revenue, Lena combines youth-driven market insights with proven executive leadership.

    55 min

  3. 4d ago

    Episode #566: AJ Bubb

    AJ Bubb has spent the last 15 years helping organizations navigate one of the most difficult challenges in business: turning ambitious ideas into meaningful change. Throughout his career, he has operated at the intersection of technology, leadership, and transformation, working with organizations ranging from global enterprises to rapidly growing mid-market companies. Early roles with Accenture and Amazon Web Services (AWS) gave AJ a front-row seat to some of the world's most ambitious innovation initiatives. Those experiences shaped a perspective that continues to guide his work today: technology alone does not create transformation—people do. Over the years, AJ witnessed both sides of the innovation equation. He saw organizations invest heavily in emerging technologies without achieving meaningful results, and he saw others create lasting competitive advantages by taking a thoughtful, human-centered approach to change. The difference between those outcomes became the foundation of his career. Today, AJ is the founder of MXP Studio, a fractional AI strategy consultancy focused on helping mid-market organizations successfully adopt and integrate artificial intelligence. Working primarily with companies in the $50 million to $500 million range, he helps leadership teams identify practical opportunities for AI, build realistic implementation roadmaps, and execute transformation initiatives without disrupting culture, overwhelming employees, or creating unnecessary risk. In addition to his consulting work, AJ is the host of Facing Disruption, a growing leadership-focused platform with nearly 40,000 followers. Through candid conversations with executives, founders, and innovators, he explores the realities of leading through uncertainty, disruption, and technological change. The show was born from a simple observation: the most valuable leadership conversations often happen behind closed doors. AJ's mission is to bring those conversations into the open, helping leaders learn from one another's successes, failures, and hard-earned lessons. AJ is also a contributor to the Forbes Technology Council and the founder of Convia, an early-stage technology venture. As a strong advocate for hands-on experimentation, he believes leaders should actively use the technologies they discuss. His commitment to learning through building has placed him at the forefront of AI-accelerated development and the emerging world of "vibe coding." In less than 60 days, AJ generated more than 980,000 lines of code on the Lovable platform, earning recognition among the top 1% of users globally. What distinguishes AJ is his pragmatic approach to innovation. He does not chase hype cycles or make exaggerated promises about the future of AI. Instead, he focuses on helping leaders understand both the opportunities and the realities of technological transformation. Having witnessed AI implementations fail, transformation programs stall, and leadership teams struggle under the weight of constant change, he brings an honest and balanced perspective to every conversation. At the same time, AJ has seen what is possible when organizations get it right. He has watched leaders unlock new levels of productivity, innovation, and growth by combining emerging technologies with strong leadership, clear communication, and a people-first mindset. Whether speaking on a podcast, advising executives, or leading strategic discussions, AJ's message remains consistent: successful transformation is not about technology. It is about people. The organizations that thrive in the age of AI will not be those that adopt the most tools—they will be the ones that empower their people to use those tools with purpose, confidence, and clarity.

    57 min

  4. 5d ago

    Episode #565: Bryant Oberg

    Bryant Oberg is the founder of Human Co-Pilot, an AI adoption and advisory company focused on helping business owners, professionals, and organizations navigate the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence with clarity and confidence. His journey into AI began long before it became a mainstream business conversation. In late 2024, Bryant found himself enthusiastically encouraging friends, family, and colleagues to experiment with ChatGPT. His message was simple: "You have to try this." At the time, few people were paying attention. While Bryant could see the transformative potential of AI, most people viewed it as a novelty rather than a practical tool. Recognizing the gap between the technology and everyday users, Bryant launched a series of AI Adoption Sessions—30-minute workshops designed to make ChatGPT approachable, useful, and unintimidating. What began as a simple effort to help people understand AI quickly evolved into a thriving business built around a powerful realization: most people don't need more technology; they need guidance on how to use it effectively. Before founding Human Co-Pilot, Bryant spent years working in finance, restructuring, bankruptcy, and distressed investing. His career involved helping businesses navigate complex challenges, evaluating high-pressure situations, and finding practical paths forward when uncertainty was at its highest. That experience shaped the way he thinks about business, strategy, and decision-making. While finance taught him how to think like a businessman, AI taught him how to think like an entrepreneur. Today, Bryant believes the greatest value of artificial intelligence isn't simply access to more information—it's the ability to create clarity. In a world flooded with tools, content, and constant change, people are overwhelmed by options and uncertain where to begin. Bryant's work focuses on helping clients cut through that noise, identify what matters most, and use AI as a practical extension of their capabilities. Through Human Co-Pilot, he helps organizations implement AI workflows, trains teams on effective AI adoption, and coaches leaders on how to integrate AI into their daily operations. His approach is rooted in a simple philosophy: start with the human, then bring in the AI. Rather than focusing on technology for technology's sake, Bryant emphasizes context, strategy, and practical outcomes. He believes successful AI adoption is fundamentally a human challenge—not a software challenge. The most powerful AI tools in the world are only as effective as the people leading them. Known for translating complex concepts into plain language, Bryant positions AI not as a replacement for human thinking, but as a thinking partner, operating assistant, and strategic amplifier. His goal is to help people think more clearly, work more effectively, and make better decisions while remaining deeply human in an AI-shaped world. At the heart of everything Bryant does is a simple mission: helping people move from confusion to clarity, and from uncertainty to confident action.

    59 min

  5. Jun 18

    Episode #564: Dr. Ben Olmos

    Dr. Ben Olmos brings a rare combination of real-world operating experience, academic rigor, and current hands-on startup building. He spent more than 30 years in the consumer packaged goods industry working with Fortune 500 companies and emerging brands, giving him deep insight into how large organizations actually make decisions, execute strategy, and scale. In parallel, he has spent over 20 years in higher education teaching business students from undergraduate through doctoral levels, which allows him to translate complex ideas into clear, practical frameworks audiences can immediately apply. Today, he is the founder of DissedMedia and The Daily Pitch and the author of 10 Topics to Help Managers, Leaders & Entrepreneurs Get Better at What They Do. He also hosts the podcast DissedMedia: A Startup Story, where he documents the real journey of building a media company while interviewing founders and operators about what works, what fails, and why. This perspective allows him to speak not just from past success, but from current experience in the trenches. Listeners typically gain actionable insights on leadership, execution, decision-making, fundraising, growth, and the realities behind entrepreneurship that are often overlooked in purely motivational conversations. Dr. Olmos is particularly effective for audiences of founders, operators, managers, and professionals who want practical guidance rather than theory alone. He is a strong guest for shows focused on business, leadership, entrepreneurship, career growth, organizational effectiveness, or innovation, and he adapts easily to both strategic discussions and tactical, example-driven conversations.

    1h 3m

  6. Jun 12

    Episode #563: Colin Corby

    Colin Corby is the CEO and Founder of Technology Wellbeing Ltd, creator of The Digital Detox Coach, a TEDx speaker, digital wellbeing expert, technologist, and accomplished endurance athlete. Since founding The Digital Detox Coach in 2018, Colin has helped individuals and organizations around the world develop healthier, more productive, and more sustainable relationships with technology in an increasingly connected world.   With a career in technology spanning more than three decades, Colin’s personal journey began in the early 1990s when chronic stress started taking a toll on his health. Despite a successful career and involvement in groundbreaking technology projects, he found himself facing a critical turning point. Determined to regain control of his wellbeing, Colin committed himself to improving his fitness, discovering firsthand the profound connection between physical resilience, mental strength, and overall performance.   What started as a personal challenge evolved into a lifelong pursuit of excellence. Through years of disciplined training, Colin progressed from rebuilding his health to competing in masters swimming and triathlon events, ultimately completing four Ironman triathlons. Along the way, he became deeply fascinated by the psychology and neuroscience of high performance, studying the mindset that enables endurance athletes to overcome adversity, build resilience, and achieve extraordinary goals.   This exploration led Colin to a new and urgent area of focus: the intersection of technology, psychology, and human behaviour. Recognizing the profound impact digital devices were having on attention, wellbeing, productivity, and relationships, he dedicated himself to understanding how people can thrive in an increasingly digital world.   Today, Colin is recognized as a leading voice in digital wellbeing, helping audiences navigate the challenges and opportunities created by modern technology and artificial intelligence. Through keynote presentations, coaching programs, and thought leadership, he empowers people to take back control of their time, focus, energy, and mental wellbeing without disconnecting from the benefits of innovation.   Colin’s work is driven by a powerful belief: technology should enhance human potential, not diminish it. His mission is to help individuals and organizations create healthier digital habits, build greater resilience, and unlock peak performance in a world that is more connected than ever before.

    52 min

  7. Jun 11

    Episode # 562: Alan Lazaros

    Alan Lazaros is the Founder and CEO of Next Level University, a global personal development company and Top 100 podcast dedicated to helping individuals reach their full potential in health, wealth, and love. His journey into personal growth was shaped by profound life experiences. At just two years old, Alan lost his birth father in a tragic car accident. Then, at age 26, after surviving a nearly fatal car accident of his own, he was forced to confront a life-changing question: despite achieving what appeared to be success from the outside, was he truly fulfilled on the inside? Having followed the traditional path toward what many consider the American Dream—earning undergraduate and graduate degrees and building a successful career in corporate America—Alan discovered that external achievement alone could not provide lasting fulfillment. This realization launched a relentless pursuit of self-improvement, personal development, and human potential. Today, Alan leads a global team of 23 professionals and has built Next Level University into a thriving seven-figure business with a worldwide impact. Through more than 2,300 podcast episodes and over one million listens across 180+ countries, he has inspired audiences around the globe to pursue greater purpose, performance, and personal growth. With more than 12,000 hours of coaching, training, speaking, and podcasting experience, Alan has spent over a decade helping individuals and organizations unlock higher levels of success. His message is rooted in a powerful belief: people are capable of far more than they realize, and with the right mindset, habits, and guidance, they can achieve extraordinary results over the long term. Alan’s mission is simple yet transformative: to help others elevate every area of their lives and reach their own unique next level.

    56 min

  8. Jun 9

    Episode #561: Eric Robinson

    Recently retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after 24 years as a special agent, Eric Robinson worked a range of crimes including white collar, counterterrorism, crimes against children, gangs, drugs, and public corruption. He served as a SWAT operator, a firearms instructor, and a tactics instructor.  Eric will soon release his first book, a collection of the humorous, surprising, and intriguing moments from his career. The memoir combines his years in law enforcement with his career prior to the Bureau.   Eric joined the FBI after 12 years in Christian ministry, to include pastoring a Baptist church in Western NY.   With a background as a pastor and years of experience in HUMINT, recruiting and developing informants, Eric is a gifted and easy speaker. He uses humor to disarm and a quick wit to win people over.

    1h 1m
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5
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

“ON THE BRINK” is a top 1% global podcast hosted by John A. Brink - a self-made entrepreneur, best-selling author, ADHD advocate, and North America’s oldest competitive bodybuilder. With curiosity and candor, John sits down with experts, changemakers, and trailblazers from every walk of life to uncover the stories behind their success, struggles, and defining moments.

Information

  • Creator
    John A. Brink
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    567
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © John A. Brink
  • Show Website
    On The Brink Podcast

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