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Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh
Are you ready to take your personal brand and business development to the next level? Then you won't want to miss the exciting new podcast dedicated to helping you tell your story in the most compelling way possible. Join me as I guide you through the process of building a magnetic personal brand, creating valuable relationships, and mastering the art of networking. With my expert tips and practical strategies, you'll be well on your way to 5-star success in both your professional and personal life. Don't wait - start building your 5-STAR BRAND TODAY!
Episodes
268 episodes
The 60-Second Rule: Why Trust Infrastructure Is the Real AI Advantage with Naresh Samlal
AI is moving faster than most organizations can govern, and that gap is where the real danger lives. From Omaha, I sit down with Naresh Samlal, CEO of Cloud Source, to talk about the side of AI that rarely makes headlines: what happens when emp...
The Ownership Crisis with Matt Watson & Grant McGaugh
If your teams are shipping fast but the business still feels stuck, the problem probably is not talent or tooling. It is ownership. Grant McGaugh talks with five-time founder and Full Scale CEO Matt Watson about why companies quietly trade owne...
You Are Already Living Inside the AI Era with Darrell T. Black vCIO
AI is finally in everyone’s hands, and that’s exactly why it’s getting risky. Grant McGaugh sits down with veteran tech leader Darrell T. Black (CIO, CTO, CDO) to discuss what it really takes to bring AI into a business without compromising tru...
Five More Steps with Jason W. Gallo
A lot of leaders talk about resilience. Far fewer can explain how to turn resilience into something a whole team can actually use when the pressure is on. Grant McGaugh sits down with Jason Gallo to trace that shift from a “power through it” mi...
The Invisible Gap: Why Prevention Is the Next Healthcare Revolution with Corlette Deveaux
A stroke or heart attack rarely happens in a doctor’s office, it happens on an ordinary day when nobody is watching the subtle warning signs. We sit down with healthcare innovator and RM2.ai CEO Corlette to talk about the invisible gap between ...
Men Die in Garden Moments with Derek Jackson
Most men don’t collapse all at once. They drift, they numb out, they get busy, and then one day they realize they’ve been “fine” for years while quietly losing their edge, their joy, or their family. Grant McGaugh sits down with Derek Jackson, ...
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Closing the Authority Gap in the AI Era
If your content is consistent but your opportunities are not, you might be dealing with a problem most leaders cannot name: the authority gap. I define it as the distance between looking visible online and being genuinely trusted by the people ...
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Why Storytelling Is the Antidote to AI-Generated Sameness with David Ebner
AI can generate a thousand posts before lunch, but it cannot manufacture empathy. That’s the tension we dig into with David J. Ebner, founder of Content Workshop, as we talk about what actually makes brand storytelling work when buyers are skep...
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THE VILLAGE DOESN'T WAIT FOR PERMISSION
AI is already deciding who gets surfaced, summarized, and recommended, and that reality changes personal branding and business development in a way most leaders have not fully faced. I walk through the moment that broke something in me, when a ...
The Authority Gap: Why Your Expertise Isn’t Worth What It Should Be
Cold outreach is louder than ever, yet most of it still feels like cardboard in the mail. Host Grant McGaugh sits down with mortgage professional, networking coach, and speaker Sarah Hubbard to get real about what actually drives growth in a cr...
AI-Ready Nonprofits Will Outscale Everyone Else. The Window to Act Is Now with Sharon Elefant
A nonprofit can have the purest mission in the world and still fail if it’s run like a hobby. We sit down with Dr. Sharon Elefant, CEO of The Nonprofit Plug, to talk about what it really takes to operate a “business with a cause” with the same ...
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Why Founders Miss the Moment with Craig Elias and Brandy Old
Most founders don’t lose deals because they lack hustle. They lose because they show up at the wrong moment, pitching someone who is still “happy enough” with the status quo. We sit down with Craig Elias, creator of Trigger Event Selling, and B...
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The Authority Asset Sprint Build the Sales Tool That Works While You Sleep
Your personal brand is already selling for you or silently costing you deals. In a world where B2B buyers can compare options instantly and AI can generate endless content, the only way to stand out is to be unmistakably real, specific, and pro...
From $350 in Year One to $150 Million in Year Twelve | Erik Huberman on Follow The Brand
Most marketing advice sounds confident right up until you try to turn it into revenue. We sit down with Eric Huberman, founder and CEO of Hawke Media and founding partner of Hawke Ventures, to talk about what actually holds brands back and why ...
Your Business Called. Nobody Answered. How AI Is Saving Small Business
AI is everywhere right now, but most small business owners are still asking the same hard question: when does it actually turn into cash? We sit down with Andy Stoyer and Andrew Lippman from WeLevel to break down what it looks like when AI is c...
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Agentic AI Is Not a Technology Problem. It’s a Leadership Problem with Michael Fauscette
AI hype is loud, but what’s happening inside real enterprises is much more interesting and much more practical. We talk with Michael Fauscette, founder and CEO of Ariane Research and author of Building the Digital Workforce, to get specific abo...
Build A Five-Star Brand
The fastest way to waste money on “branding” is to start with the website and skip the story. On The Diaspora Show, we talk with Grant McGaugh, CEO of Five Star BDM and a globally ranked brand strategist, about what actually creates a five-star...
The Agent Has an Identity with Mark Lynd and Grant McGaugh
Agentic AI stops being “just software” the moment it can take actions across your systems and that’s where leadership, cybersecurity, and trust collide. We sit down with Mark Lynd, a globally recognized cybersecurity and AI thought leader and f...
When AI Stops Being a Tool and Starts Becoming a Teammate with Daniel Hindi
Imagine a teammate who never sleeps, never burns out, and never forgets a playbook. That’s the promise of modern AI agents, and we brought on Daniel Hindi, founder and CEO of Noem.ai, to unpack how teams move beyond clunky chatbots and into hum...
Then Is Now: How a Black Technologist Is Using AI to Reclaim What History Tried to Erase
Want to see your PDFs think like a database and your chatbots answer with context, not guesses? We sit down with technologist and entrepreneur Max Riggsbee Jr., co-founder of Gadget Software, to unpack how compute-ready documents—what he calls ...
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Healthcare AI Readiness, Without The Hype with Carole Kamangu
Healthcare keeps moving, even when budgets shrink and teams burn out. We sat down with strategist Carol W. Kamangu to unpack how leaders can align infection prevention, operations, and technology to build safer, more resilient systems—and make ...
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The Human Algorithm: Five Experts Turn AI Into a Brand Authority Engine
Tired of AI that adds noise instead of value? We open the doors to the ICABA AI Accelerator, a four‑week sprint designed to help professionals reclaim 20+ hours a month, scale content that sounds like them, and build authority through human‑led...
You Can't Govern What You Can't See: The Shadow AI Crisis with Daniel Ikem
Responsibility breaks where AI moves fastest, and that’s exactly where we go today. Grant sits down with Daniel Ikem—strategic operator at the intersection of emerging technology, intellectual property, and public policy—to unpack how shadow AI...
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When AI Stops Taking Orders and Starts Making Decisions: The Leadership Revolution Nobody Saw Coming with Dr Jamila Amimer
The ground is shifting under our feet as AI moves from answering questions to taking action. We dig into what that transformation really means for leaders: how operating models evolve, where risk compounds, and what it takes to capture speed wi...
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From AI Literacy to Leverage: Building AI-Powered Assets with Kellen Coleman
What if the gap between talking about AI and profiting from it is only one habit wide? We sit down with Kellen Coleman—PR strategist, government contracting pro, and builder of AI-powered tools—to unpack how creators and small teams turn brand ...
