In this episode, Eric talks with Kyle McDowell, bestselling author of Begin With WE and former Fortune 10 executive, about why most culture initiatives fail long before they reach execution.

Kyle argues that culture doesn’t break down because leaders lack frameworks, values statements, or motivation. It breaks down because real change requires personal cost. Political capital. Short-term discomfort. The willingness to be exposed.

The conversation centers on Kyle’s 10 WEs framework, not as a set of aspirational principles, but as daily practices that either show up in behavior or quietly die on the wall. Eric and Kyle explore which of the WEs are most often misunderstood, which ones are hardest to live out personally, and why leaders tend to turn culture frameworks into critiques of others rather than mirrors for themselves.

They also dig into why so many people feel inspired after books, keynotes, and TED talks, yet fail to act, and how responsibility, not motivation, is the missing ingredient. Kyle reflects on decades of leadership experience, what has genuinely changed about work over time, and what hasn’t changed at all.

This is a grounded, no-nonsense conversation for leaders who are serious about culture and honest enough to examine the cost of living it out.

Topics Covered

• Why culture change fails without personal sacrifice
• The difference between values as posters and values as practices
• Which leadership behaviors quietly kill trust
• Why frameworks become weapons instead of mirrors
• The hidden cost of authenticity and vulnerability
• What transactional cultures look like in practice
• How leaders unintentionally block the change they want
• What hasn’t changed about leadership, despite decades of disruption
• The smallest daily behaviors that reshape culture over time

Episode Links

• Kyle McDowell: https://kylemcdowellinc.com/
• Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylemcdowellinc/
• Kyle McDowell Inc. on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kylemcdowellinc/
• Kyle McDowell on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kylemcdowellinc

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Allen Thornburgh, a longtime marketing and fundraising leader who works with purpose-driven organizations to help them create experiences people actually care about.

Allen shares why so many organizations plateau despite doing everything “right,” and how over-reliance on data can quietly suffocate imagination. Drawing on his work across Fortune 500 companies, faith-based nonprofits, and global humanitarian organizations, he explains why growth stalls when leaders treat people as data points instead of human beings with inner lives, stories, and desires.

At the center of the conversation is imagination. Not as a buzzword, but as a practical leadership capacity. Allen describes how transformational work happens when organizations stop optimizing yesterday’s tactics and start designing meaningful experiences that reconnect people emotionally to a cause, mission, or brand.

They explore why direct response and digital marketing are necessary but insufficient, how organizations can fall back in love with their audiences by actually listening to them, and why creating moments of connection matters more than incremental optimization. Allen also walks through his human-centered process for sourcing insight, co-creating with audiences, and building initiatives that evolve over time rather than burn out after a single launch.

This is a grounded, experience-driven conversation for nonprofit leaders, marketers, founders, and executives who sense that growth problems are rarely technical and almost always human.

Topics Covered

• Why imagination matters more than optimization
• How data-driven thinking can unintentionally limit growth
• The difference between treating people as audiences versus participants
• Why most organizations underestimate the power of experience
• Falling in love with your donors, customers, or supporters again
• How to design initiatives that grow over time instead of stalling
• The role of storytelling, fiction, and imagination in leadership
• Why meaningful connection outlasts clever tactics

Episode Links

• Connect with Allen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-thornburgh/
• Allen’s Illumination Community: https://makehistoric.com/community/

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com

In this episode, Eric talks with Matthew Powell, fourth-generation steward of Century Companies, about what it means to build a business designed to last for decades rather than quarters.

Matthew shares his path from Wall Street and investment banking into a 100+ year family enterprise, and how that transition reshaped how he thinks about leadership, success, and responsibility. At the center of the conversation is stewardship: the idea that leaders are temporarily borrowing an organization from future generations, not optimizing it for a quick exit.

They explore why family businesses can think differently about people, profit, and time, and how long-term thinking changes everything from culture and governance to daily decision-making. Matthew explains Century’s operating pillars—stewardship, humanity, and compounding—and how those principles guide the company through growth, tension, and inevitable messiness.

The conversation also moves beyond business mechanics into mortality, meaning, and the role work can play as one of the last true gathering places in modern life. Matthew reflects on loss, urgency, reading as a discipline, and why building a healthy work community may be one of the most practical ways leaders can have lasting impact.

This is a thoughtful discussion for founders, CEOs, family business leaders, and anyone questioning whether success has to mean short-term wins at the expense of people and purpose.

Topics Covered

• What it means to steward a company for future generations
• Why family businesses can play a longer game than public or private-equity-owned firms
• The difference between a business as a financial instrument and a work community
• Compounding as a leadership principle, not just a financial one
• The tension between love and profit, and why both are necessary
• How reading, reflection, and “daily vitamins” shape better decision-making
• Mortality, urgency, and why work is not a dress rehearsal
• Why leaders unintentionally drift into short-term thinking
• What healthy governance looks like in multi-generation companies

Episode Links

• Century Companies: https://www.centurycompanies.com
• Matthew Powell’s website: https://www.matthewpowell.com
• Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewwpowell/
• Related conversation with Greg Bergdorf: https://unfoldingthought.com/greg-bergdorf-from-guitar-riffs-to-real-estate-pitches/

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: eric@inboundandagile.com