All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 in total
Why Krishna Iyer Left Big Tech for a 170-Year-Old Railroad
He spent two decades at the frontier of tech. Then he chose a 177-year-old railroad instead. In this episode, I talk with Krishna Iyer, head of software engineering at...
The 100 Day Plan Is a Lie. Here's What Actually Works.
A new CEO's hundred day plan sounds smart. The research says it's mostly fiction. In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten traces the hundred day myth back to its real o...
Group Intelligence Beats Individual Genius with Lexy Franklin
Loneliness and bad fit can feel identical, but they are not the same thing at all. Lexy Franklin, founder of Sidebar and former Facebook product leader behind Messenge...
Don't Cast a Halo: Why Great Leaders Get Blamed for Bad Luck
One stock price swing can turn the same leader from visionary genius to reckless failure overnight. In this solo episode, I break down the halo effect, the century-old...
Why Your Best Salesperson Makes Your Worst Manager
Your best salesperson just got promoted to manager. Here's why that's often a mistake. In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten unpacks the Peter Principle, the half-cen...
Why Busy Leaders Still Don't Control Their Own Calendar
If time is your most valuable asset, who's actually deciding how yours gets spent?In this solo episode, I unpack a paradox I see constantly in the leaders I work with:...
Why the Obvious CEO Hire Is So Often the Wrong One
What if the same leader, running the same playbook, could fail in one place and win big in another?That's the question at the heart of my conversation with Jim Citrin,...
Beyond Employee Engagement: How Mattering Transforms Leadership and Executive Search
What if the thing quietly undermining your team's performance isn't strategy, compensation, or culture decks, but whether people feel like they matter? Jennifer Wallac...
The Boardroom Is Broken: How AI Changes Executive Leadership Forever
The boardroom is the last line of defense for AI governance — and most directors aren't ready.Steven Wolfe Pereira has spent 30 years at the intersection of technology...
Your Schedule Is Your Job — How AI Affects Job Fit
What if the job you have today quietly becomes the job you never agreed to take? In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten breaks down one of the most underestimated ris...
The Spikiness Principle: What Executive Search Gets Wrong About Talent and Fit
The investors closest to the best founders have a front-row seat to what great fit really looks like. In this episode of Fit Happens, I sit down with Laela Sturdy, Ma...
Is Your Job Worth It? The Hidden Cost of Being in the Wrong Role Too Long
You have roughly 4,000 weeks. Are you spending them on work that actually deserves them? In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten — senior partner and executive search s...
From Google to the Grill: Dan Gertsacov on Career Fit and Leading Big Green Egg
Dan Gertsacov, CEO of Big Green Egg, has built a career by saying no to money and yes to fit — four times over. In this episode, we dig into his non-linear path from s...
CEO Burnout Is Destroying Your Judgment — Here's How to Stop It
Most executives aren't failing loudly — they're quietly eroding from the inside out. Nearly a quarter of CEOs report feeling burned out daily. But burnout isn't just ...
How Scott Pulsipher Found His Fit as CEO of a 200,000-Student University
What does it really take to find the role you were built for — and lead it at scale?In this episode of Fit Happens, I sit down with Scott Pulsipher, CEO of Western Gov...
The One Sentence Every Executive Should Write Before Day One
Most executives fail not because they lack talent — but because they're solving the wrong problem. In this solo episode of Fit Happens, I'm breaking down the single mo...
Career Fit Beyond VC: Kara Nortman's Path to Women's Sports Leadership
She left a dream job at peak success — because she finally discovered what true alignment feels like. In this episode of Fit Happens, Jason Baumgarten sits down with ...
What Is Fit? The Science of Finding Your Place in the Workplace
Most people are winging one of the most important decisions of their lives. What's the difference between someone who springs out of bed Monday morning and someone wh...