Spartan Leadership with Josh Kosnick
Good and Great Are the Enemies of Possible™️ Leadership and business coach Josh Kosnick has conversations with some of the greatest minds in leadership both in business, community, and politics. Guests provide insights from years of experience, delivering powerful messages to help you live a more inspired and impactful life.
Episodes
Trey Roth spent ten years being called a failure before the world called him a success.
He founded YayStack in September 2014. Raised money. Failed. Raised again. Failed again. Facebook killed his API access and forced a full rebuild. He watched other founders zoom past him with cleaner product-market fit and shorter timelines. Two weeks before the ten-year anniversary of the company — the deadline he and h...
Nick Hutchison walked into his senior year of college with a 0% homework average and zero interest in reading. Ten years later, he's read over 1,000 personal development books and built BookThinkers into a seven-figure book marketing agency serving hundreds of authors a year.
In this conversation, Josh and Nick break down:
• The reading system Nick uses to actually implement books instead of just consu...
Ken Rusk was 15 years old when he walked through a hole in the fence behind his high school, into an industrial park, and asked a construction company what they did. Their answer: we dig ditches and fix wet, smelly basements. Ken said, “I thought I was qualified for that,” and took the job. He never went to college. In 1986, he founded Rusk Industries in Toledo, OH with six ditch diggers.
Today it&r...
In-N-Out took 80 years to become a legend. Raising Cane's did it in 36 — with worse chicken and a better marketing team. Two founders sat down with Josh at the Book & Bourbon Club fly-in to debate what actually wins in 2026: the slow, silent build or the personal-brand turbocharge.
Guests: Dennis Leis (investor, MetPro, LRT, Whole Body Fitness) and Trace Miller (founder/CEO of Konala — high-pr...
Chris Welton was born with one hand. He's a performance coach, TEDx speaker, and international bestselling author of One Jordan — and he built his entire professional network by mailing strangers a single Jordan sneaker with a note: want the other one? Give me a call.
It worked on Damon West. It worked on Ben Newman. It worked well enough that John Maxwell built a keynote around the strategy and started...
Most people think legacy is something you build at the end — a monument, an inheritance, a name on a building "someday." That's the first lie. The second one is even more common: legacy is what you leave behind.
In this solo episode, I break down the two lies about legacy almost everyone believes — and why both of them are keeping you from building one right now.
Inside this episode:
People don’t change.
It sounds wise… until it quietly wrecks your life.
In this episode, Josh makes the case against one of the most common lies in our culture: that you’re stuck with who you’ve always been. He breaks down why that belief feels safe, how it kills growth in real time, and what the science and lived stories say about actual transformation.
You’ll hea...
What does it really look like to go from a $2,500 bet to a 9‑figure beverage brand?
In this episode of Spartan Leadership, Josh Kosnick sits down with Adam Kroener, co‑founder and president of Carbliss, to break down how he went from putting a drink “in a can” and “selling the shit out of it” to building a massive ready‑to‑drink cocktail company. Adam shares how a backyard idea t...
AI isn’t here to replace you. It’s here to multiply you.
In this Spartan Leadership episode, Josh sits down with entrepreneur and operator Matt Schmitt to break down why his core thesis is simple: AI + humans = superpowers.
Matt shares how he went from an IT grad in the Great Recession, to buying cans for Anheuser-Busch, to building and exiting e‑commerce brands, and now to building AI too...
What do you do when the business, career, or life plan you built your identity on suddenly disappears?
In this episode of Spartan Leadership, Josh Kosnick sits down with Dr. Christine Whelan, the “purpose professor,” to talk about why purpose is a verb—something you do every day with your gifts and values—rather than a job title or a single life calling.
They unpack what happens...
In this solo episode of Spartan Leadership, Josh Kosnick tackles a problem that’s quietly wrecking our society, our homes, and our boardrooms: the inability to hold two truths at the same time. From Memorial Day to the boardroom to your marriage, he breaks down how binary thinking masquerades as conviction while quietly destroying wisdom, trust, and culture.
You’ll hear why being “for”...
Thomas Massie is facing a $35 million AIPAC-funded primary challenge—the most expensive congressional race in history. Why? Because he stood on principle instead of party loyalty. In this Leadership In Review episode, we break down what’s really happening in American politics, Trump’s broken promises on gas prices and America First, and the business lessons you need to hear.
Jason Smith (con...
Most conversations about Vortex Optics focus on the products. This one is about the people and the principles behind the glass.
In this Spartan Leadership episode, Joe Hamilton, CEO of Vortex Optics, gives an inside look at what truly drives the brand — from his father’s original vision to the employee‑owners in Barneveld who show up like it’s their company, and the front‑line team that lives out &l...
World Series rings don’t come from hype—they come from how you think when everything is on the line.
In this conversation, Josh Kosnick sits down with Joshua Lifrak, Director of Performance and Coaching at Limitless Minds and former Chicago Cubs Mental Skills Coach, to unpack the mindset systems behind the 2016 World Series run and how those same tools translate directly into the boardroom, the ho...
No one sets out for a mediocre life. We drift there—one delayed decision, one small compromise at a time.
In this solo episode of Spartan Leadership, Josh Kosnick shares the real story behind buying 80 acres, walking away from comfort, and deciding his best days would not be behind him, but built in front of him. You’ll hear the raw driveway moment, the tension between “good enough” an...
In this episode of Spartan Leadership, Josh sits down with Andy Clark — bestselling author, business strategist, and creator of The Whole PIE System™, a framework that helps small-business owners build companies that are more profitable, more impactful, and actually enjoyable to run.
Josh and Andy go beyond the “business framework” and dig into the man behind it: the tradeoffs, breakdowns, and convi...
What’s really happening with Iran, political corruption, and the growing collapse of leadership?
In this episode of Leadership in Review, we break down the real issues behind global conflict, media narratives, and the erosion of trust in leadership.
This isn’t surface-level commentary.
This is a direct conversation about:
• The Iran situation and rising global tension
&nb...
Most people rely on motivation. High performers rely on structure.
In this episode of the Spartan Leadership Podcast, Josh Kosnick sits down with Alan Stein Jr., former elite basketball performance coach to NBA athletes, to break down what it really takes to perform at a high level—especially when you don’t feel like it.
They dive into discipline, the “next play mentality,” and ...
In this solo episode of the Spartan Leadership Podcast, leadership coach and entrepreneur Josh Kosnick explains why founders and CEOs often become the bottleneck in their own business growth and what it takes to break through that ceiling.
Many entrepreneurs build their companies through hustle, control, and relentless execution. Those traits create early success. But as organizations grow, the leadership ski...
In this episode of Spartan Leadership, Josh sits down with Kevin Hohe — leader, altruist, and self-described “brilliant failure” — to talk about what actually builds resilient leaders: public failure, ego management, risk tolerance, and the lost art of bringing people together.
If you’re a business owner or executive who feels the weight of responsibility and wants to grow withou...
Popular Podcasts
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.
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.
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 official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Former Bachelor Clayton Echard’s casual one-night fling turned into a paternity nightmare. When the news broke about the scandal, no one believed Clayton at first. He was a reality TV star, and an unpopular one at that. Clayton found himself trying to prove the truth, while trapped in a web of lies, manipulation, and threats. He would soon discover he was not the only one. At its core, this is a story about who you believe and why. It’s an epic battle that would take a group of strangers, citizen sleuths from across the world, to crack the case and finally hold someone accountable. New episodes of Love Trapped are released every Thursday, starting February 26th, 2026. If you would like to reach out to the Love Trapped team, email us at lovetrappedpod@gmail.com and follow along on Instagram @glasspodcasts.