What if leadership stopped rewarding loudness and started rewarding truth?

In this exclusive drop, Sharon Hurley Hall (journalist, author, anti-racism educator, and Co-Founder of The Introvert Sisters) joins Adam W. Barney to unpack impact without exhaustion: introverts as powerful leaders, boundaries that protect your best work, why “resilience” gets misused, and how to build communities that care while you still care for yourself.

You’ll leave with a humane playbook and one EnergyOS move you can run today.

Links

• Sharon: https://sharonhh.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonhh/
• The Introvert Sisters (podcast): https://theintrovertsisters.com/
• Grab a copy of her book, "I'm Tired of Racism": https://www.amazon.com/Im-Tired-Racism-Stories-Existing/dp/9769546917
• Email: hello@sharonhurleyhall.com
• Check out Hiyer: https://www.hiyer.pro/

Work with Adam

👉 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

“Say something true.” In this episode, Aaron Wolpoff (Owner and Fractional CMO, Double Zebra) and I unpack authentic growth: the one-truth positioning pass, when rev-share/partner models beat hourly retainers, and how to set boundaries so generosity doesn’t become unpaid consulting. We also cover making paid media feel human again - and the EnergyOS move that creates momentum today.

Highlights

• One-truth positioning (cut the bloat, earn attention)
• Rev-share done right: incentives, pitfalls, guardrails
• From “free advice” to formalized value
• Paid media with a pulse: people at the center
• EnergyOS: progress from what’s within reach - ship daily

Guest links

• Website: https://doublezebra.com/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingaaron/

• Email: aaron@doublezebra.com

Work with Adam

👉 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Is spatial computing the next real channel...or another metaverse mirage? Adam Ortman (CEO/Founder, Kinetic319) brings operator truth: how to explore AR/VR without gambling the quarter, what the 1990s internet can teach us about adoption curves, and the 70/20/10 test budget that protects your core while finding edge wins. We also cover where the early inventory actually is (Roblox, console placements) and the leadership scripts that keep experiments sane.

You’ll learn

• A simple checklist for “is immersive worth it for us… now?”
• The 70/20/10 play to test bold ideas without blowing trust or budget.
• Channels to try first and how to attribute them sensibly.
• One EnergyOS move to keep curiosity high and hype low.

Guest links

• Site: https://kinetic319.com/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-ortman/

• Email: adam@kinetic319.com

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Matt Anthes (ex-federal campaign strategist, now Founder of Advocators) explains why micro and nano influencers outperform “big name” buys...and how to operationalize an advocate army that actually converts.

We cover fraud in pay-per-view deals, AI’s role from segmentation to virtual creators, and a field-tested flow for activating 20+ localized creators with message variants mapped to sub-audiences.

You’ll learn

• Authenticity > optics: the advocacy model and how to measure real impact.
• The danger of vanity metrics (why per-view pricing gets gamed) and what to track instead.
• Matching creators with 100+ affinity data points and coordinating message buckets.
• AI you can use (audience, creative, VO) vs. AI to avoid (fake faces, fake clicks).
• Why Reddit is rising in discovery and how it ties to search/Gen-AI results.

Connect with Matt

• Website: https://advocators.ai/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewanthes/

• Email: matt@advocators.ai

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Founder/operator Dan Newman breaks down a six-month Meta ads test (spoiler: $5,266 in spend for one sales call) and the lessons that matter for small teams: validate the offer first, track outcomes not optics, and invest in outbound + relationships until the engine is repeatable. We also cover persona pitfalls, “free” messaging traps, and where he’d deploy a fresh $5k right now (search + events).

Takeaways

• Proof over dashboards: engagement didn’t translate to pipeline.
• Persona/offer misalignment beats ad tinkering every time.
• Use paid after you have a validated, repeatable sales motion.
• Practical reallocations: Google search + niche events/sponsorships.

Connect with Dan

• Site: https://www.learntoscale.us/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansnewman/

• Email: dan@learntoscale.us

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call

Brand-side veteran turned collective leader Gabe Wolff makes the case that tidy ROAS and over-engineered account structures distract from what actually scales: a sharp creative angle, a full user journey, and profit-first measurement. We cover misaligned agency incentives, post-iOS14 realities, practical ways to structure campaigns by angle/ICP, and why entry products and retention paths drive LTV more than day-to-day CPA swings.

You’ll learn:

• How outcome-aligned compensation changes behavior and results.
• Why algorithms do the heavy lifting—and how to give them better angles.
• When to keep one “scale” campaign vs. adding controls for inventory/LTV.
• Persona-driven creative that sells (not just formats and hacks).
• The LTV math of entry products, cross-sell, and retention.

Connect with Gabe

• Everything Bagel: https://www.everythingbagel.com/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-wolff/

• Email: gabe@everythingbagel.com

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call

Unpacking real. Ditching noise.

What happens when the glossy leadership myth meets real life - kids, partners’ health, and aging parents? Yasmine de Aranda argues that caregiving is a leadership superpower and that humane companies outperform hustle cosplay. We map marketing’s role as organizational glue, why growth-at-all-cost fails humans and strategy, and how to build flexible, trust-based teams that still deliver. We close with a protect-your-energy cadence any leader can adopt this week.

You’ll learn:

• How to design marketing to serve sales, success, and product (service over silos)
• Policies and practices that support the sandwich generation without losing performance
• Why empathy is an operational advantage—and how pressure erodes it if you’re not careful
• Practical leadership OS: flexibility, clear values, and energy protection habits

Connect with Yasmine

• Website: https://360angle.ca/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminedearanda/

• Email: yasminedearanda@gmail.com

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Check on your people today. Care is strategy.

Exclusive holiday release: 12/19. Unpacking real. Ditching noise.

Agency polish without agency baggage. Jamie Read unpacks how BriteBirch Collective builds project-led, specialist teams that scale up or down fast, why fractional talent creates anti-fragile organizations, and how the commoditization of paid media plus AI content noise makes earned, community-driven attention the smartest bet. We also cover earned-first launches with $0 ad spend, BriteBirch’s BriteStart community for freelancers, and a simple practice for better creative decisions: seek perspective on purpose.

You’ll learn:

• The “freelance collective” operating system (assemble specialists → deliver → unplug)
• Fractional staffing vs. six-month hires (speed, expertise, flexibility)
• When paid helps, when it adds to noise, and how AI should (and shouldn’t) be used
• Earned attention plays: PR, timely cultural moments, and community building
• A perspective-seeking workflow to reduce brand risk and improve creative quality

Connect with Jamie

• BriteBirch Collective: https://britebirch.com/
• BriteStart Community: https://britestart-community.circle.so/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamjamieread/

• Email: jamie.read@britebirch.com

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Unpacking real. Ditching noise.