Sales Culture Unfiltered with Dr. Nadia Y. Brown

Hosted by Dr. Nadia Y. Brown

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Sales Culture Unfiltered was created to have honest, behind-the-scenes conversations about what it really takes to lead, scale, and sustain high-performing sales teams. Hosted by Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, this podcast explores the leadership challenges, people dynamics, and strategic decisions that shape sales success—beyond just hitting quotas. Through candid conversations with sales leaders, enablement experts, and revenue influencers, the show dives into the cultural and operational realities that impact performance, retention, and growth. Whether you're navigating team burnout, misalignment, or scaling pains, you'll walk away with insights, frameworks, and the encouragement to lead with clarity, courage, and intention.

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60 recent

November 4, 2026Episode 7332 min

073: Why Your Biggest Client Is Also Your Biggest Risk

Having a big client can be a wonderful thing. It can provide consistent cash flow, create opportunities to grow your team, and allow you to take on larger projects. I've seen that firsthand. I've also seen what happens when the demands of serving those clients pull founders away from the business development activities that helped them grow in the first place. Today, I'm walking through what revenue concentration actually looks like in practice, what it puts at risk, and why the dollar amount doesn't matter nearly as much as the percentage. We also look at what this means for your team, your capacity, your sales pipeline, and the decisions you may need to make as your business grows. We also factor in how two founders facing similar concentration risks might choose very different paths based on the businesses they want to build. The goal isn't to avoid big clients. It's to understand the risks and make intentional decisions before a major client departure becomes a crisis. The challenge is that when you're inside your own business, this kind of risk is hard to see clearly. You're too close to the relationships, the revenue, and the day-to-day to catch where the dependencies really sit. That's exactly where a second set of eyes helps. My Sales Infrastructure Diagnostic is built for this: a structured look at where your revenue, decisions, and team capacity are concentrated, so you can see what's actually happening underneath a strong-looking year and decide what to do about it before it becomes urgent. If you want a guide to help you see what you can't see from the inside, learn more about the diagnostic here: https://thedoyenneagency.com/diagnostic ---- Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, host of the Sales Culture Unfiltered Podcast and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where we help women founders and sales leaders build the sales infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell in a way that stays aligned with who they are. Let's Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrnadia/ Website: https://thedoyenneagency.com/

October 28, 2026Episode 7242 min

072: Why Your Team Isn't Taking Initiative (It Might Surprise You)

"I don't want to babysit." That's what a client said to me when we started talking about bringing on sales support. In this episode, I'm unpacking why so many founders feel this way about their teams, and why the lack of initiative you're seeing might have less to do with your people and more to do with leadership. I break down the difference between assigning a task and delegating true ownership, the exact decision types your team should be empowered to make without running everything through you, and a story about one of my own biggest mistakes. If you've ever thought "why do I have to tell my team to do everything," this episode gives you five questions to ask yourself before you decide it's a hiring problem. --- Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, host of the Sales Culture Unfiltered Podcast and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where we help women founders and sales leaders build the sales infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell in a way that stays aligned with who they are. Let's Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrnadia/ Website: https://thedoyenneagency.com/

October 21, 2026Episode 7122 min

071: The 5 Step Onboarding Process Every Hire Needs

There's an old playbook for bringing on a new team member: hand them a laptop, a login, and a "good luck." It's been the default for so long that most founders never think to question it, until the new hire underperforms and they wonder what went wrong. I saw this play out firsthand with a VP of sales who wanted training for his team, and the real issue wasn't the people he hired. It was a process that was never built to set anyone up to succeed. In this episode, I'm walking through the five things that actually make onboarding work, so you can onboard your next hire with confidence. ---- Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, host of the Sales Culture Unfiltered Podcast and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where we help women founders and sales leaders build the sales infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell in a way that stays aligned with who they are. Let's Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrnadia/ Website: https://thedoyenneagency.com/

October 14, 2026Episode 7022 min

070: Why Isn't My Team Being Honest With Me

What does it actually look like when a team learns it's safe (or not safe) to bring you disagreements, mistakes, and insights? I think of a brilliant woman on a sales support team I worked with who adored her leader, but slowly stopped contributing entirely because she felt unseen and unappreciated, despite everything she brought to the table. After seeing this within that team, I made a shift in my own leadership that I'm sharing in this episode. If your team is sweeping missed deals or hard conversations under the rug instead of bringing them to you, this episode will help you figure out whether you're the one who taught them that was safer. -- Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, mom, wife, expat, and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where I help women founders and sales leaders build the sales infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell in a way that stays aligned with who they are and the life they actually want to live. Follow my journey on my Substack, Dear Doyenne..., to see the honest look at how I run my business globally while living abroad. https://iamdrnadia.substack.com/ Let's Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrnadia/ Website: https://thedoyenneagency.com/

October 7, 2026Episode 6936 min

069: Navigating The Growing Pains While Growing

Growth sounds like a revenue conversation until you're the one living it, and suddenly you're the bottleneck everyone needs, the keeper of knowledge nobody else has, and the leader who has to have the conversation you've been avoiding. I've sat in that seat, and I've sat across from clients sitting in it too, which is exactly why I'm sharing what's actually happening underneath the surface when your team starts to grow. In this episode, we dive into: The institutional knowledge quietly trapped in you (and a few key team members) Why the "temporary" process you mapped out has a way of becoming permanent What it looks like to finally have the decision-making conversations you've been putting off. I'm bringing you inside my own team, a client situation where we almost let temporary become the norm, and about what happens when leadership stays quiet on performance and favoritism for too long. If you've felt your team's chemistry shift the moment someone new walked in, or you've realized you're still the one everything runs through, I want you to hear this like I'm sitting across from you. Growth is going to ask more of your revenue, yes, but it's going to ask even more of you as a leader. Let's talk about how to meet it. ---- Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, mom, wife, expat, and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where I help women founders and sales leaders build the sales infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell in a way that stays aligned with who they are and the life they actually want to live. Follow my journey on my Substack, Dear Doyenne..., to see the honest look at how I run my business globally while living abroad. https://iamdrnadia.substack.com/ Let's Connect: LinkedIn > Instagram > Website >

September 30, 2026Episode 6839 min

068: Building A Culture Through Actions, Trust, & Accountability

Every leader thinks they want honesty from their team, but the real test is how you react when someone brings you a hard truth. In this episode, I unpack why teams stay quiet, even in cultures that claim to be open, and what that silence is actually protecting. Culture isn't built by what you say you value, it's built by your willingness to hear the truth and the actions you take once you do. Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, mom, wife, expat, and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where I help founders and sales leaders build the infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell with dignity, class, and grace. Follow my journey on my Substack, Dear Doyenne..., as I share an honest look at how I run my business globally while living abroad: https://iamdrnadia.substack.com/ Let's Connect: LinkedIn > Instagram > Website >

September 16, 2026Episode 6756 min

067: Leading vs. Managing Your Team with Mindy Jones

We've been taught that good leadership means having all the answers, stepping in when your team struggles, and that grit is about pushing through no matter what. What if all three are actually keeping your team stuck? Real estate team owner and leadership strategist Mindy Jones joins us to unpack the real difference between managing a team and leading one, and it's not what most people think. We get into why telling someone to "do it scared" ignores basic biology, how a team culture that treats mistakes as unsafe ends up producing something that looks like productivity but isn't, and what actually separates a team built to produce from one built to lead. Mindy also walks through what's really happening underneath a hard conversation (it's rarely the conversation itself) and the moment that changed how she leads for good. If you've ever questioned whether the way you're leading your team is helping or quietly working against you, this one's worth the listen. Connect with Mindy: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindyejones LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindyjonesaz/ Website: https://www.amyjonesgroup.com/ --- Hi, I'm Dr. Nadia Y. Brown, mom, wife, expat, and founder of The Doyenne Agency, where I help founders and sales leaders build the infrastructure, culture, and confidence to sell with dignity, class, and grace. Follow my journey on my Substack, Dear Doyenne..., as I share an honest look at how I run my business globally while living abroad: https://iamdrnadia.substack.com/ Let's Connect: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrnadia/ Website: https://thedoyenneagency.com/

September 9, 2026Episode 6639 min

066: What is Your Sales Culture Really Telling You?

Your real culture isn't the mission statement on the wall; it's what happens when revenue is down, when someone brings you news you don't want to hear, or when your top performer starts acting like the rules don't apply to them. In this episode, I'm breaking down what makes a real culture, the cues I focus on when assessing a company, and a mistake I made early in my career that almost cost us our client relationship. (That lesson taught me more than any training could ever.) Links: Dear Doyenne... on Substack: https://iamdrnadia.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadia/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrnadia/ Website: https://thedoyenneagency.com/ Email: hello@thedoyenneagency.com

June 9, 2026Episode 655 min

065: Season One Wrap Up: A Special Announcement

Season one is a wrap. Before the podcast goes on break for the summer (or winter, depending on where you are in the world), I want to take a moment to recap our season together. We covered a lot of ground this season, from balancing motherhood in an always-on sales culture to exploring revenue resilience as a strategy. This season had many gems. Which was your favorite? While the podcast may be on break, I am not going anywhere! I will continue to write on Substack . There, I share insights on the intersection of business, life, and the ongoing adventure of relocating from the United States to Mauritius (five months in and still discovering things). If you are not subscribed yet, head over to follow along: iamdrnadia.substack.com Season two will return in August with new guests, fresh conversations, and the same commitment to having real conversations about sales culture. Signing off, Dr. Nadia I f you have a topic you want us to cover, I want to hear it. Email us at hello@thedoyenneagency.com Links: Dear Doyenne... on Substack: iamdrnadia.substack.com LinkedIn: @‌drnadia Instagram: @‌iamdrnadia Website: www.thedoyenneagency.com Email: hello@thedoyenneagency.com

May 27, 2026Episode 6427 min

064: The Misdiagnosis: Why Your Churn Problem Is Actually a Culture Problem Pt3

This is the final episode of the Revenue Resilience series, and we're closing it out with the two areas that often receive the least attention when organizations assess their revenue health: the client journey and the culture that supports it. I often refer to marketing and sales as peanut butter & jelly. The same goes for client delivery. Your client journey doesn't start at the proposal and end at the contract. It starts before your potential client even knows you exist, and it runs all the way through off-boarding and beyond. The handoff from sales to client delivery? Still sales. Off-boarding a client who's moving on? Still sales. The relationships that generate referrals three years after the work is done? Absolutely still sales. When the culture doesn't reflect that, trust can quietly erode. A client senses that the moment the person who understood them leaves, and is replaced with someone new who starts from scratch. That subtle shift can make clients feel uncertain, leading to non-renewals or fewer referrals over time. That's the misdiagnosis. Churn gets labeled a service problem when it's actually a culture problem, specifically, a culture that never decided sales was everyone's job. In this episode, I am breaking down where those gaps actually live, what it takes to close them, and why documentation and culture have to work together for any of it to hold. -Dr. Nadia If you've been quietly wondering whether your revenue is more fragile than it appears, trust that instinct. The Revenue Resilience Diagnostic offers a clear, proactive way to assess and strengthen your revenue stability, with a tailored plan delivered within 72 hours to support your business's growth. Start Your Diagnostic >