Ep248 Cathy Holt—Close the Recognition Gap and Keep Your Top Talent

Good people keep walking out the door, and most leaders can't say why.In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Cathy Holt, a women's influence strategist and author of Unstoppable Women who has spent 40 years in political campaigns, boardrooms, and the United Nations.Cathy explains why capable women stall out and leave, tracing it to a recognition gap in how organizations see them. She puts the cost of replacing a leader at about two times that leader's salary. Mike digs into the system issues behind it, and Cathy shares what happened to a senior manager who turned a negative department into one producing four times its previous output, then was told to hit $7 million before anyone would consider her for VP.From there, Cathy walks through her Zone of Greatest Influence framework and what good sponsorship looks like in practice. Mike adds what he has seen in his own work: leaders who champion others see their influence grow because people want to join their teams.Three key topics to look out for:- Why capable women stall out when organizations measure them on the wrong things, and what it costs to lose them- How to move from flashlight to laser beam with the Zone of Greatest Influence so the right people know your strengths- What good sponsorship looks like in practice: talking about your people when you're in other rooms, and why leaders who champion others see their own influence growFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/248

Every leader wants someone else to own AI: a vendor, a new hire, or the IT department. But the leaders who actually get ahead treat this as the one thing they can't hand off.In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Kim Resch, author of AI Due Diligence and So You Want to Learn AI, who has spent 25 years helping Fortune 500 and high-growth companies adopt and govern new technology.Kim walks through why AI is different from past shifts like the cloud or mobile, why leaders need to sit down with their own teams before calling in a vendor, and how her three-word framework, clarity, control, and confidence, gives leaders a starting point even when they don't have all the answers yet.Three key topics to look out for:- Why AI is a company-wide decision that leaders can't push down to IT- How to build an AI positioning statement and set boundaries before bringing in outside vendors- Why mid-market, regulated companies (5 million to 500 million) are often best positioned to get this right, and why experienced employees are essential to keeping a human element in the processFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/247

Do you already think you're networked just because you sit in the same meetings with the same people every week?In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Frank Agin, president of AmSpirit Business Connections and host of the Networking Rx podcast, who has spent nearly three decades helping entrepreneurs and professionals turn relationships into referrals.Frank points that same expertise somewhere he rarely talks about: inside the four walls of a company. He and Mike dig into why relationships alone don't produce referrals, what it actually takes to help the people around you look good without losing yourself in the process, and why anthropologist Margaret Mead's discovery of a healed femur explains the human wiring behind trust and loyalty. Frank also shares how a simple habit, what he calls his Giving Journal, keeps him in the practice of noticing chances to help colleagues without keeping score.Three key topics to look out for:Why "it's not who you know, it's what you do with those relationships" is the real lesson behind networking inside your own companyThe healed femur story Margaret Mead used to explain the first sign of human civilization and what it reveals about who earns trust and who gets left behindHow to start small, give without expecting anything in return, and let reciprocity work on its own timeline instead of chasing an instant paybackFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/246

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 itFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/245

Ever feel like the same drive that got you to the top has quietly become the thing boxing you in?In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Celinne Da Costa, founder of Story Atlas and author of The Burning Ground, to talk about what happens when the story that built a leader's success stops fitting. Celinne has spent the last decade helping high-achieving leaders figure out whether the identity that got them here is still serving them or quietly holding them back.Celinne walks through the four phases leaders move through when they outgrow an old story: waking up to what no longer fits, finding the certainty to let it go, crossing what she calls "the burning ground," and stepping into a new way of leading and living. She and Mike dig into why so many high performers get stuck at the hardest phase, what fear is really driving the resistance, and what it actually feels like in the body when a new direction is right.Three key topics to look out for:- Why "autopilot" leadership habits stop working even when they used to drive real success- The four-phase framework for consciously rewriting the story that shapes your decisions- How to tell the difference between fear of loss and a genuine signal that something needs to changeFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/244

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 yearsFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/243

Ever hit 9pm and asked yourself what you actually got done today?In this episode of Get Unstuck & On Target, host Mike O'Neill sits down with Flo Esho, founder of Easy Flow Life, a US-based executive assistant agency that helps founders and senior leaders get out of the day-to-day and back into real leadership.Flo breaks down the hidden cost of doing everything yourself: the cognitive overload that turns founders into overwhelmed project managers instead of CEOs. She and Mike walk through what a good executive assistant actually handles, calendar, invoicing, inbox, project management, and personal logistics; the difference between task execution and true ownership; and the trust transfer that has to happen before a leader can really let go.Three key topics to look out for:- The real cost of never delegating, and why it compounds every single day- How to tell the difference between an assistant who completes tasks and one who owns outcomes- Flo's three-step framework for vetting an assistant before you ever hand off real trustFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/242

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 outFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/241

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

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 entirelyFind all the show notes and links here: https://www.unstuck.show/239