Business Builder's Playbook

What happens when a CEO finally hits the brakes instead of running the business redlined? In this episode of Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Eric Smith, a C12 chair who spent years in HR leadership walking companies through mergers, acquisitions, growth phases, and brand transitions before dedicating his career to helping Christian CEOs build businesses that don't run them into the ground. Eric shares the framework behind what he calls the CEO's pit stop, a planned,

What if the best person for your next hire isn't sitting in your local job market at all? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Charlie Dino, a global hiring veteran with 30 years of experience at GE, ADP, and now Griffin Global Technologies, to break down the seven secrets behind building offshore teams that actually perform. Charlie has hired across the U.S., India, Mexico, and Brazil, and for the last six years has helped companies build offsho

What does it actually cost to win in business if you lose your marriage, your family, and your peace along the way? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Greg King, a retired Army Colonel, executive coach, and C12 peer advisory chair, for a live Q&A on staying anchored to what matters most while building a company that succeeds. Greg spent decades learning the hard way what it costs to lead a business without a plan for leading a life, and now h

Why do talented, hardworking teams still feel stuck? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Cheri Kuhn, a certified EOS Implementer who has run close to 500 sessions with leadership teams and now coaches other implementers at EOS Worldwide. Cheri breaks down exactly what keeps strong teams stuck and what it actually takes to break through. Here's what you'll learn by watching or listening to this full episode: • How to spot the real reas

What's the real problem leaders are running into with AI? According to David Hickman, it's overwhelm: too many tools and too many opinions about which one is right. In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with David Hickman, expert EOS Implementer and author of the new book The Intelligent Business, to talk about how leadership teams can move past the noise and start using AI with intention. David has spent almost 10 years helping companies get clear o

What does it take to build a sales team that actually sells? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Walter Crosby, founder of Helix Sales Development and creator of the Sales Hiring Secrets framework. Walter brings 40 years in sales and direct experience inside 27 EOS-driven organizations to identify the eight blind spots that cause founders, CEOs, and revenue leaders to repeatedly hire the wrong salespeople. This conversation goes deep into the spe

What if the reason your AI investment hasn't paid off has nothing to do with the tools you picked? In this episode of Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Abigail Merrill, AI consultant, speaker, and founder of Business Growth Partners, who has been working in generative AI since before ChatGPT existed. Abigail breaks down why most businesses are drowning in tools and seeing zero return, and walks through her AI for ROI framework: a three-phase, pilot-based system for t

What happens when the expert who spent a career studying how the mind breaks down finally has to face her own? In this episode of Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Nino Fincher, a mental performance coach, licensed counselor, and TEDx speaker who works with CEOs and executives stuck at ceilings they can't quite name. Nino's path into this work started with her own experience with depression after years of counseling others through it. The four-step MOVE method she bu

What if the thing holding you back from your biggest impact isn't skill, money, or connections? What if it's just that you haven't found the right room yet? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, hosts David Bush and Jeff Bush sits down with Stacey Lauren, founder of the Do the Thing podcast and community, former staffing company owner with a successful eight-figure exit, and creator of the Billion Dollar Impact Marketplace. Stacey has spent years mapping the patterns of what

What happens when the founder who built a business to $10 million becomes the very thing keeping it from reaching $50 million? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Maria Trysla, a former two-time CEO and multi-year CMO of fast-growing technology companies who now works as a revenue architect and go-to-market executive advisor. Maria specializes in helping companies in the $5M to $50M range diagnose what's quietly stalling their growth and build th

What if the exit planning conversation you've been avoiding is actually the one that unlocks your next level of revenue? In this episode of the Business Builder's Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Mark L. Vincent — founding member and facilitator of the Sage Group Collective, executive advisor, and one of the most experienced guides for organizational succession and business continuity in the game. With more than 30 years of helping owner-founders, C-suite leaders, and partnership s

In this episode of the Business Builders Playbook, host David Bush sits down with Rich Chiarello — sales leadership strategist at Sandler Training and a nearly two-decade veteran of building high-performance sales cultures for some of the world's most competitive technology companies. Together, they tackle the number one fear of today's CEOs, CROs, and senior revenue leaders: hitting a growth plateau and not knowing how to break out of it. David draws out Rich's most battle-tested framewor