Think Mastery with Dr. Yishai

Hosted by Dr. Yishai

Business Entrepreneurship Education Science

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Episodes

388

Latest episode

Jul 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Built for high-performers who don’t need help. Just leverage. This is the show that breaks what quietly kills performance at scale. Especially the mental patterns slowing down even the smartest founders. If you never want to get dragged down by pressure, burnout, or hesitation… welcome home. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr. Yishai Barkhordari.

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60 recent

July 30, 2026Episode 38446 min

Revenue Looks Great. You Still Can't Leave. (Forrest Derr) | 384

The revenue looks great. And everything still flows through you. You hand something off. It comes back with questions. You hire more people. Now there are more questions. Your phone goes forty times a day, and you're the one picking up. You tell yourself that's just what owning a business is. Forrest Derr sits with founders right there. He had one founder write every decision he made on a Post-it. A couple of days later you couldn't see the desk. He asks founders one question. If their spouse is in the business, he'll ask them too. When was the last time you took a week off? One owner had to think back ten years. A founder came in at sixty-plus hours. He wanted under forty. Another just wanted the phone to stop. What if you don't actually own a business, just a job with terrible perks? ABOUT FORREST DERR Forrest Derr is the founder of Derr Consulting. He ran a company that won Mobile's Small Business of the Year. Now founder-led companies bring him in to build a real second-in-command, and he works himself out of the job in six to twelve months. INSIDE THE EPISODE Why the next hire makes the bottleneck worse, not better Where the forty calls a day actually come from Why a week off feels impossible, and where the fix starts THIS EPISODE IS FOR Owners proud of the numbers who haven't taken a real week off in years Founders who hand off the work and wonder why it keeps coming back Leaders who added people to lighten the load and got more questions instead GUEST LINKS Derr Consulting: https://derrconsulting.com Forrest Derr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/forrestkderr ENRG (Entrepreneurial Networking Resource Group): https://enrg.life WHAT TO DO NEXT Share Share this with the founder who can't remember their last real week off. Ask them: "What would have to be true for you to take a week off?" It may be the first time someone put words to something they've been calling normal. And they'll see you as the one who gave them a straight answer about what they really own. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let's Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

July 2, 2026Episode 38341 min

Why Your Team Won't Adopt the AI You Brought In (Nisarg Mehta) | 383

You saw what it could do. The hours it would hand back. The grunt work it would lift off your team. The room it would finally open to build the thing you keep putting off. So you brought it in. You sent the links. You ran the training. You told everyone it's here. And the reasons it won't work started coming back. It makes mistakes. It is not as good as what we already do. And the real fear under all of it: this is how people lose their jobs. So you answer them. You show them the wins. You run it again. And the wall only gets higher. Here is the part nobody warns you about: you are looking at how fast this could move everyone forward. Their brains already called it a threat, before they ever gave it a fair shot. And you cannot demo your way past a fear. Nisarg Mehta has built the ecommerce, software, and AI that more than 250 brands run on, from WWF to Rumpl. He has done it through every tech wave since 2009. He moved his own team of more than 120 through this exact moment, and has watched other operators hit the same wall. Which is how he learned that having the right tool and getting everybody to use it are two completely different things. The moment that decides this is the one where their brain picks a side. And it happens with you in the room, or without you. ABOUT NISARG MEHTA Nisarg Mehta is the founder and CEO of Techtic, a digital transformation company he grew from two people in 2009 to a team of more than 120. For over fifteen years his team has helped companies adopt each new wave of technology, from the early web to AI. INSIDE THE EPISODE The decision your team makes about a new tool before they ever try it Why the tool that would free your team is the one they fight hardest Why your three-year plan is obsolete in days now THIS EPISODE IS FOR Leaders rolling out AI to a team that keeps finding reasons it won't work Founders who can feel the window closing while the rollout drags Executives funding the tools and the training, still waiting for the team to catch up Leaders trying to set direction when the ground shifts faster than they can plan GUEST LINKS Techtic Solutions: techtic.com Nisarg Mehta on LinkedIn: LinkedIn WHAT TO DO NEXT Share Send this to the leader stuck pushing a tool their team won't pick up. Ask them: "What if the part that decides this isn't the part you've been pushing on?" They'll remember you as the one who handed them the question they'd been circling. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dryishai Let's Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

June 4, 2026Episode 38254 min

The Work That Stops Founders From Scaling (Adam Spector) | 382

You finally get into the work only you can do. Then a Slack message. An email. A customer on fire. And the morning's gone. You're pulled back out. The work that moves your company keeps slipping to the edges of your day. The fire gets your best focus instead. It happens again tomorrow. And the day after that. You tell yourself it's just the job. You're the one who has to catch it. It feels faster. It feels like the responsible call. Adam Spector has backed over 200 startups. He sees a trade almost every founder makes without noticing. You're not behind because you're not working hard enough. Your sharpest hours keep going to work that was never yours to carry. About Adam Spector Adam Spector is the founder of Chore, a 45-person back-office operations company for fast-scaling founders. He has invested in over 200 startups, including 14 that hit unicorn status. As a four-time founder, he has lived both sides of the table. He built Chore around a simple read on why founders stay swamped. Inside the Episode Why the cheaper, faster choice is the one costing you the most What the fastest fix today is quietly teaching your team to do The quiet trade you make every time you say "I'll just do it" This Episode Is For Founders pulled off their best work by the fires that land on them Hands-on operators who default to "I'll just do it" because it feels faster and more responsible Leaders who suspect their team waits on them more than it should, and aren't sure why Guest Links Chore: https://www.hirechore.com/ Adam Spector on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamspector2/ What To Do Next Share Send this to the founder who's stuck doing the work that lands on them instead of the work they're best at. Ask them: "what are you holding onto that keeps you from your best work?" They'll feel seen. And they'll thank you for naming the thing that was quietly holding them and their company back. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let's Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

May 14, 2026Episode 38142 min

The Founder Mistake That Looks Like Good Hiring (Gaurav Sabharwal) | 381

You hire carefully. Values check. Track record check. Culture fit check. Then a project goes sideways. And quietly, people start protecting themselves before they protect the work. Small ways first. Then bigger ways. Then it's a pattern, and you're watching it run across three teams at once. Gaurav Sabharwal runs four tech companies. About 300 people across them. Built, closed, and exited along the way. He picks people for a living. And he's seen the screen most operators miss. Not capability. Not values. The thing that decides what your team actually does the second things get hard. Most of your week becomes steering people back to the work. A few founders see what's underneath. Their teams steer themselves. ABOUT GAURAV SABHARWAL Gaurav Sabharwal is a portfolio founder and operator. Two decades building and scaling across services and SaaS. From a U.S. sales operation he grew 10x early in his career to now leading businesses like JoP (Joy of Performance), Saffron Tech, and Accessify Labs. Four companies. About 300 people. INSIDE THE EPISODE Why a clean values screen still leaves your team exposed when pressure hits How "beat the problem, not the person" quietly fails without one missing piece The moment loyalty stops being the right word for what you actually need THIS EPISODE IS FOR You picked the right people. Your team still fragments when it matters You give people the benefit of the doubt and watch it cost you anyway You can feel the difference between people who lean in and people who armor up GUEST LINKS Gaurav Sabharwal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gsabharwal/ Jop (Joy of Performing): https://www.getjop.com Saffron Tech: https://www.saffrontech.net Accessify Labs: https://accessifylabs.com WHAT TO DO NEXT Share this with the operator on your team who screens hires. They will see what their gut already tells them. And they'll remember you as the one who handed them the screen they'd been missing. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let's Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

April 23, 2026Episode 3801 hr 7 min

Doing Everything Right. Still Not Working By Now. (Elizabeth Eiss) | 380

You’re doing everything that should be working. Real work. Consistent work. But the pipeline isn’t moving like it should by now. So you add more. New channels. New experiments. More content. You’ve built systems around it. And you can’t quite name why. You’re systematic. That’s kind of your whole identity. Which is why this is hard to see. Elizabeth Eiss spent decades inside Fortune 500 companies before building what small business owners couldn’t access. Full fractional teams. The delegation engine. Process, tools, people, in that order. She’s helped founders stop running every task and start leading their company for over a decade. Then someone turned it on her. And what came up wasn’t a missing tool. It was the one place a systematic person stops looking. ABOUT ELIZABETH Elizabeth Eiss built the fractional department model for business owners and executives who are ready to stop running every task themselves. She runs a diagnostic with clients. The average: 57% of their time on work that isn't their highest leverage. Then she fixes it. INSIDE THE EPISODE How your pipeline can stay flat even when you're doing all the right things Why tracking it all still doesn't show where the path actually breaks The moment ‘I’m already doing that’… and something still doesn’t move THIS EPISODE IS FOR You keep adding more because it should be working by now You’re doing the work. But it’s not compounding. You have a strong answer for everything. And the pipeline still won’t move. WHAT TO DO NEXT Share this with someone who is doing all the right things, but not getting the results they should be. Ask them: “What if there’s something you haven’t seen yet that would make this all work?” They’ll remember you were the one who pointed to it. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. GUEST LINKS Results Resourcing: https://resultsresourcing.net LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabetheiss/ Golden Seeds: https://www.goldenseeds.com ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

March 19, 2026Episode 3799 min

The Hardest Person to Fire | 379

You already know who it is. You've known for a while. But every time you get close to the decision, something pulls you back. Gratitude. History. The memory of when they showed up before anyone else would. And the whole team can already see it. Even though no one's saying it out loud. The question isn't whether you're loyal. It's what you're most loyal to. And what that choice is costing you, the company, and the people who are watching you hold the line. Inside the Episode What happens inside a founder when loyalty starts hurting the mission — and why knowing doesn't make the decision easier. Harvard Business School studied 50,000+ employees and found removing the wrong person creates 2.5x more value than hiring a top 1% performer. Why most founders are running the wrong play. Even when they know the right one. When leadership shields a low performer, the signal travels fast: tenure counts more than results. That's not a culture problem. That's a decision you made — and everyone is reading it. This Episode Is for Founders and Execs Who... Already know who they need to deal with — and keep finding a reason to wait Feel the loyalty and hate what it's costing them at the same time Watch good people get quieter and aren't sure how much of it is connected to this What to Do Next → Send this to the founder who needs to make the call. You might be the reason they finally do. And they'll thank you for it. → Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ → Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

March 12, 2026Episode 37853 min

Why Founders Stay Busy but Avoid the Work That Matters (Nicholas Louise) | 378

A founder blocks time for sales. The calendar fills anyway. Client work. Slack messages. Problems that feel urgent. By the end of the day, nothing new entered the pipeline. Not because the founder lacks discipline. Because some work feels heavier than others. Nicholas Loise helps founders build sales teams that scale beyond them. In this conversation, something uncomfortable shows up. Why the work that grows a company is often the work founders quietly avoid. About Nicholas Nicholas Loise helps founders build and manage sales teams so the business no longer depends on them to sell. INSIDE THE EPISODE • Why founders fill the day but the pipeline slows • How “I should prospect” quietly creates resistance • The moment business development starts feeling heavier than delivery THIS EPISODE IS FOR • Founders who know the growth work but avoid it • Leaders whose days fill while the pipeline shrinks • Operators who feel busy but not moving forward GUEST LINKS Learn more about Nicholas Loise and his work here: Sales Performance Team Website: https://www.salesperformanceteam.com Email: Nick@salesperformanceteam.com WHAT TO DO NEXT Share this with a founder who is working hard but avoiding the work that actually moves the business. Ask them, “what do you know you should be doing, but you end the day without getting it done?” It will land, and they’ll know you are the person who cares about their success mode. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let’s Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

March 5, 2026Episode 37748 min

AI Scales Startups. It Also Breaks Them. (Amos Bar Joseph) | 377

AI allowed the 3-founder company to scale with zero hiring. A co-founder had a baby. Great news! But the company almost stopped moving. It started with one week of chaos. They managed about 20% of the missing workload. Momentum slowed. Decisions stalled. Customers waited. Not because they lacked skill. They're brillaint. It's because the company was built for leverage. Three founders. Hundreds of customers. AI agents running go-to-market systems. Everything worked. Until one person stepped away. That’s when something became visible. The faster a company runs on leverage, the more fragile it can become. Amos Bar Joseph is building Swan AI around human-AI collaboration. Here's the tension, though: more leverage creates more dependency. When companies optimize for sunny days, what happens when one key person disappears? About Amos Amos Bar Joseph is the CEO and co-founder of Swan AI, building a company designed to scale revenue with AI agents instead of hiring armies. INSIDE THE EPISODE What broke the week a co-founder stepped away Why redundancy is measured by coverage, not headcount What AI can document as knowledge and context, and what it can't THIS EPISODE IS FOR Founders building lean teams and proud of the leverage Leaders scaling fast but sensing hidden fragility Operators asking what AI actually changes inside companies GUEST LINKS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amos-bar-joseph/ Website: https://www.getswan.com/ WHAT TO DO NEXT Share if you’re building with AI and thinking deeply about leverage, send this to someone who’s scaling a company right now. They’ll feel the tension. And they’ll see you as the person thinking 3 moves ahead with them. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let’s Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

March 5, 2026Episode 37657 min

You Built It. Now You Can’t Step Back. (Christoph Merrill) | 376

You built the company. So why does it still feel like you can’t step away? You delegate. You hire well. You try to step back. And somehow, you still step back in. Even when you promised yourself you wouldn’t. You tell yourself you’re helping. Being responsible. Protecting the standard. But something still feels heavy. Christoph Merrill, founder of Habit Freak, sits inside a tension most founders never say out loud. The instinct that saved the company early on can quietly keep your team from ever fully owning their work. Nothing breaks overnight. Progress just slows. At some point, every founder faces a question they rarely admit they’re asking. This conversation starts exactly there. About Christoph Christoph Merrill is the founder of Habit Freak, helping leaders build habits that hold up when pressure hits. INSIDE THE EPISODE • Why delegating feels right, then founders quietly take work back • How pressure exposes habits leaders never meant to build • The invisible line where ownership quietly becomes control • What slowly stops improving when teams wait for founder approval • The ping-pong-ball moment that changed how he led his team THIS EPISODE IS FOR • Founders who feel responsible for everything • Leaders who still fix work after delegating it • Operators carrying more weight than their role requires • High performers who struggle to fully step back • People who know they should let go but can’t yet GUEST LINKS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophmerrill/ Website: https://habitfreak.com WHAT TO DO NEXT Share Send this to someone who takes ownership seriously. They’ll feel understood while listening. And they’ll know you sent it because you see a version of them who doesn’t have to carry everything themselves. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let’s Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

February 26, 2026Episode 37544 min

Why Founders Struggle to Let Go (AJ Cassata) | 375

You built the team. You hired well. You know you should step out of the day-to-day. But every time you look closer… you find something missed. So you step back in. It feels responsible. It feels like leadership. And slowly, the business learns to depend on the very habit that keeps it from growing. Nothing breaks. Clients stay happy. Yet growth feels slower than it should. In this conversation, AJ Cassata and Dr. Yishai explore the moment founders discover that responsibility and personal involvement quietly stop meaning the same thing. About AJ AJ Cassata is founder of Revenue Boost, helping B2B companies build outbound systems that keep businesses alive through consistent pipeline and growth. INSIDE THE EPISODE • Why founders still feel the urge to double-check work they’ve already delegated • How catching small mistakes quietly reinforces staying involved • What keeps pulling leaders back in during high-stakes moments • How teams unintentionally learn to escalate back to the founder THIS EPISODE IS FOR • Founders stuck between operator and leader • Leaders whose standards keep pulling them back in • High performers still acting as the safety net • Owners whose business works but growth feels constrained • Builders beginning to suspect they may be the bottleneck WHAT TO DO NEXT Share with a founder who keeps stepping back into the weeds. They’ll feel seen. And know you understand what leadership actually costs – and what it takes to level up. Connect with Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let’s Chat Book your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed. But right now you feel slower than you look on paper. Most founders try to outwork that slow-down. It only burns them out. Your mind is the only machine your company doesn’t upgrade. So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing. Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions. Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.