If you know what you do but struggle to talk about it in a way that lands - this podcast is for you. Most founders, creators, and leaders have the expertise…but not the story, clarity, or communication skills to express it with confidence, conviction, and influence. Disruptive Influence is the storytelling, communication, and executive presence podcast for founders, solopreneurs, and LinkedIn-era leaders who want to communicate with more clarity and power - in meetings, in pitches, in content, and in everyday conversations. Learn how to: turn lived experience into clear, compelling stories communicate with clarity, confidence, and executive presence build a strong POV that attracts the right people sell your ideas, your value, and your vision with conviction unlock the mindset shifts behind real influence and high-performance communication Hosted by Jeff Abracen - executive storytelling coach, former agency VP, Creative Director, and creator of the Disruptive Influence™ system - each episode reveals how exceptional thinkers shape narratives, build presence, and communicate in ways that create opportunity. Through a mix of solo tactical episodes and deep conversations with founders and creators who are disrupting and influencing their industries in their own way, you’ll learn how real leaders think, speak, and tell stories that move people. If you're building a company, growing a personal brand on LinkedIn, leading a team, or simply want to communicate with more confidence and conviction - this podcast gives you the tools and perspective shifts to become the most influential person in the room. ➞ Subscribe and learn how to tell stories that sell - and speak with clarity, confidence, and conviction. ➞ Connect with Jeff Abracen on LinkedIn to continue the conversation.
Joel Holtby believes creativity should be the most exciting part of any business — not something optimized into submission.
As Founder & Global Co-CCO of Courage, one of Canada’s most awarded creative agencies, Joel has helped build work for brands including KFC, KitKat, CIBC, Nescafé and more.
In this conversation, Joel & Jeff get into why creativity and efficiency often sit at opposite ends of the spectrum, why ...
What if the secret to building a better business isn’t being slightly better than everyone else - but becoming impossible to compare?
Josh Lowman is the founder of Gold Front, a category design studio that helps companies create, define and own their categories.
In this conversation, Josh explains why differentiation usually gets ignored, how category strategy can align an entire company and why founders need a simpler place in...
What if selling wasn’t about convincing someone to choose you - but helping them confidently make the right decision?
In this episode of the Disruptive Influence Podcast, Jeff Abracen speaks with Alli Rizacos about selling with more structure, confidence and humanity - without the pressure, manipulation or ick traditionally associated with sales.
Alli explains why buyers need three things before they are ready to act: awareness...
What if the goal wasn’t to build the biggest business possible - but to intentionally design one that gives you enough?
In this episode of the Disruptive Influence Podcast, Jeff Abracen speaks with Jacob Pegs, a writer, marketer and architect of freedom-based businesses, about creating a highly leveraged one-person business without sacrificing your health, creativity or family...
Agency owner, speaker, and author Ron Tite breaks down why most companies get purpose completely wrong - and how to turn it into a real driver of growth, decision-making, and differentiation.
Ron is the author of The Purpose of Purpose and has worked with leading brands to help them align what they believe with how they actually operate and grow.
In this episode, Ron explains:
-Why most purpose statements are performative (and why peo...
Jake Karls, Co-Founder & Rainmaker at Mid-Day Squares, joins Jeff Abracen for a fast, fun, and deep conversation on building brands by building out loud. Jake breaks down the origin story behind Mid-Day Squares' “act like a boy band” strategy, why story > features, and how humanization is an unfair advantage in a world obsessed with scale.
They also unpack the behind-the-scenes reality of growth: therapy as a non-...
Most brands aren’t failing.
They’re just fading into the background.
In this episode, Jeff sits down with David Brier, one of the sharpest and most unapologetic minds in branding, to talk about why so much marketing today feels polished, competent… and completely forgettable.
David calls it the Wall of Beige: what happens when brands optimize for speed, safety, and scale - but quietly lose their nerve, their tas...
In this episode, I sit down with designer, educator, founder, and category creator, Nick Broekema, the mind behind the booming discipline of Content Design and one of the most recognizable visual brands on LinkedIn™.
Nick has built something rare: a business that’s 100% inbound. No outreach. No cold emails. No chasing. Just magnetic, systematic content that compounds.
We go deep on:
This is a conversation about what it really takes to build a business, stand out in a sea of sameness, and recover when the hustle turns into burnout.
Louis Butterfield is the co-founder of Awesome Business Videos & Video Heroes, an agency, program & community helping founders create videos that actually get watched on LinkedIn. Known for his playful “videos in the park” format, Louis has carved out a reputation ...
What does it really take to stand out as a speaker in a noisy world?
The zesty and unapologetically real, Annelise McCarthy, founder of Her Speaking Coach, joins Jeff to explore what speaking with confidence really means.
From overcoming a childhood lisp to building a thriving global coaching business, Annelise shares powerful and counterintuitive lessons on communication, presence, and self-belief. This episode isn’t about tip...
Priya Chopra reveals the secret ingredient behind her cross-border PR and creator agencies - a blend of vibes, intuition, and a relentless Momentum Mindset that keeps brands, and teams, sweetly winning.
Priya Chopra is the founder & CEO of 1Milk2Sugars and double shot, where she mixes her “Sugar Factor” - a unique recipe of psychic intuition, empathy, and entrepreneurial grit - to help brands and creators amplify imp...
Curtis Matsko turned a pink diary and a garage startup into a $180 million leather-goods empire - then doubled it year after year by unleashing what he calls “founder magic.” He shares how leaning into your strengths and embracing the unknown can turn every setback into a launchpad for growth.
Curtis Matsko is the CEO and co-founder of Portland Leather Goods, one of North America’s fastest-growing DTC and retail br...
Jasmin Alić, LinkedIn's king of comments, content & community, shares how to turn content into conversations, stories into sales, and profile views into paying clients. We dive into warm outreach, offer alignment, and why connection beats content every time.
Jasmin is a brand strategist and community builder who’s helped thousands of creators turn personal brands into real businesses. As the founder of LinkUp and LinkBound...
Aaron Spivak co-founded Hush, turning a weighted blanket into a Kickstarter smash and selling to Sleep Country for eight figures - all before his 26th birthday. He joins Jeff to unpack the real juice behind:
Filling Your Four Buckets – his health / friends & family / business / integrity framework
Giving Before You Take – the counter-intuitive first rule powering his invite-only Founders Club
Cooling the Market...
Shoaib Ahmed, Founder, Brand Storyteller, Ghostwriter, and Digital Nomad, joins Jeff to talk about building a business that actually works for you.
We get into personal branding that drives results, solopreneur freedom, the reality behind it, and how Shoaib curates what he calls his “little life”, for more freedom, flow, and focus. He shares how he approaches content, and what it’s like to ghostwrite for everyone f...
Mike Fata is a founder, investor, health advocate, and builder of movements. After losing 100 pounds, he co-founded Manitoba Harvest and grew it into a $100M+ hemp foods powerhouse, later guiding its $419M sale to Tilray. He’s now the CEO of Fata & Associates, host of the Founder to Mentor podcast, and an advisor to world-class natural product brands. Whether he’s mentoring founders or plunging into ice baths, Mike ...
Aransas Savas, motivational strategist and coach, joins Jeff to explore the real drivers behind creativity, influence, and personal growth.
They dive into why healthy conflict is essential for innovation, how to transition from chasing positional power to embodying personal power, and why authenticity, not conformity, is the real superpower.
Aransas shares how embracing play, curiosity, and even our perceived limitations can unlock n...
Rob Lawless set out to meet 10,000 strangers for one hour each. 7,000+ conversations in, the project has become more than a social experiment - it's a masterclass in empathy, presence, and the untold power of human connection.
In this conversation, we go deep into what drives Rob, how he turned a bold idea into a global movement, and what he's learned from spending thousands of hours truly listening. From growing up in a big family,...
Sales and communication expert & founder of the Art of Sell, Richard Moore, joins Jeff Abracen to dig into why most people are selling the wrong way, how to stop chasing vanity metrics, and what really drives business growth in 2025.
They discuss why content and engagement won’t pay the bills, how to ditch the spray-and-pray approach to sales, the power of deep, meaningful conversations over mass outreach, why client acqui...
Presentation Coach, Creative Director, and Author, Ben Levy joins Jeff Abracen to break down the art of creative agency presentations, why the best idea doesn’t always win, and how to structure a story that sells.
Dig into the biggest mistakes people make in presentations (and how to fix them), why reading slides out loud is killing your pitch, how confidence in public speaking is built through preparation—not pe...
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.