Tough Things First

Starting a company will keep you up at night — Ray Zinn just won’t let you waste that energy on things you can’t fix. In this episode of Tough Things First, he draws a hard line between concern you can act on and worry that only drains you, and why confusing the two will sink a founder before the product […]

On this episode of The Tough Things First Podcast, Ray Zinn argues that a goal should do more than nudge last year’s number. It should make you look up, lengthen your stride, and reach past what you already know how to do.  Rob Artigo: Today we’re talking about ambitious but smart goal setting. The standard is not a little bit […]

Hewlett and Packard didn’t just build HP in a garage—they built it because a Stanford professor saw what they could become and pushed them to start before they felt ready. In this The Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn shows why the fastest way to become the founder you admire is to find that kind of mentor early and then […]

Most people file repentance under religion and then keep repeating the same expensive mistakes at work, at home, and in the mirror. In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn talks about how it is a leadership skill to own the miss, change course, and make it right. Rob Artigo: Ray, today’s topic is, usually you think of this as […]

In this Tough Things First podcasts, Ray Zinn discusses treating your own time, health, and focus as strategic assets rather than unlimited resources. Rob Artigo: Today we’re talking about something many leaders treat as an afterthought, but is actually one of the most important disciplines they can ever do, personal energy management. Why should leaders treat their own health and focus […]