The Art of Pause - Why Burnout is an Injury, Not a Fatality | Jean Batthany | Part II | Volume 4

Former Disney COO and CFO Tom Staggs was widely expected to become Disney's next CEO. Then, in his words, Bob Iger decided he didn't want him there. At 10, Tom got fired from delivering penny savers after dumping a stack of them in a dumpster, and he decided he would never betray someone's trust again. The day before he joined Disney, someone from Disney's legal department gave him one piece of advice at a barbecue: trust no one. He spent his career doing the opposite. Under Michael Eisner, he became Disney CFO at 37. He was CFO through the Disney Pixar acquisition and the Marvel acquisition, deals Wall Street said Disney overpaid for. He then went on to run Disney Parks and Resorts and champion the MagicBand. Today he leads Candle Media with former Disney colleague Kevin Mayer. This is a conversation about leadership lessons from Disney, why candor won over Steve Jobs, why confidence and humility aren't opposites, how to build trust at work, and what happens when the job you love stops being yours. Through all of it runs one idea: if you're genuinely dedicated to the success of the people around you, they will trust you.

One of our Co-host, Shruti's mentor, and former boss, Claire Kwon landed in America at 24 with an art history degree and almost no English. A professor told her an Asian woman had no business studying American art. She had no friends, read 20-plus books a week in three languages, and finished her master's in two years. Regardless, Claire rebuilt herself again into one of the most respected product-design leaders in the country, and into the kind of mentor who pushes you until you cry, but will thank her later. This is a conversation about starting over, about becoming a leader when no one gives you permission, about fighting for representation and equal pay from the inside, and about one idea that carried her through all of it: you make a decision, and you make it work.

Description:

Neal Schore didn't just build a company, he built an entire category, then walked away to solve a completely different problem: himself. For over a decade, Neal was the founder and CEO of Triton Digital, the technology backbone of the digital audio industry, steering it through three major strategic moves involving Oaktree Capital Management, Vector Capital, The E.W. Scripps Company, and iHeartMedia. He chaired Westwood One through its NASDAQ sale, sat on the board of GAP Broadcasting through its acquisition by Townsquare Media, and spent years as Managing Partner & CEO of MMG, advising private equity firms and operating companies across tech, media, manufacturing, gaming, hospitality, and healthcare. Along the way, Ernst & Young named him Entrepreneur of the Year for Greater Los Angeles. But the résumé isn't the story, it's what he learned building it. After 20+ years advising executives, boards, and PE firms across the country, Neal became convinced that the biggest thing standing between high performers and their next level isn't the market, the competition, or the clock. It's themselves, specifically the worry, the fear, and the obsessing over what other people think that quietly eats entire days. That idea became The 25th Hour Group, the executive coaching and leadership firm he now leads as CEO, and it became his new book, The 25th Hour: How to Thrive (And Gain Ridiculous Amounts of Time) by Getting Out of Your Own Way (Simon & Schuster). His thesis: we don't lose time to tasks — we lose it to our reactions. Neal is a Michigan State grad, a Harvard Business School Executive Education alum, and a longtime member of the Young Presidents' Organization. He lives in LA with his wife and three adult sons — and on this episode, he's handing over the playbook for finding a 25th hour in every single day

Shrey Bhagat is an Indian wedding photographer and co-founder of Raabta Studios. With 14 years of experience and 450+ weddings across 30 countries, he shares his approach to Indian wedding photography, destination weddings, storytelling, and building a global creative business.