The Above The Bar Podcast

🎙️ Coming Up on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, August 26
🕗 8 PM EST

This week’s guest is Rhonda Shader, entrepreneur, public servant, and candidate for California State Senate District 34.

Rhonda served on the Placentia City Council, including two terms as mayor, where her work focused on fiscal responsibility, public safety, local business growth, and community leadership.

Her story is rooted in service at the local level and the belief that strong communities are built through accountability, involvement, and practical leadership.

We’ll discuss:
• Local government and public service
• Leadership at the city level
• Public safety and community priorities
• Supporting local business growth
• Fiscal responsibility
• Civic involvement and staying connected to the people you serve

💡 Tonight’s big question:

What does real leadership look like when the decisions directly affect your community?

Pull up a stool and join us live Wednesday, August 26th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #RhondaShader #PublicService #Leadership #CommunityLeadership #LocalGovernment #CivicLeadership #SmallBusiness #PublicSafety

🎙️ Coming Up on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, August 19
🕗 8 PM EST

This week’s guest is Frank Mesa, author, leadership strategist, and creator of the E-R-D Framework: Evolve, Revolve, Devolve.

Frank brings more than three decades of executive leadership experience to a conversation about self-leadership, behavior, accountability, and the choices that keep people stuck.

His work asks a simple but uncomfortable question:

Why do intelligent, capable people keep making decisions that lead them back to the same place?

Frank is also the author of Alchemy - It’s As Easy As E-R-D, Turning Pain into Power, where he shares his own journey through difficult relationships, self-discovery, and transformation.

We’ll discuss:
• The E-R-D Framework
• Turning pain into power
• Self-leadership and accountability
• Breaking repeated patterns
• Making intentional decisions
• Looking honestly at “the receipts on ourselves”
• How leaders can create better results in life and business

💡 Tonight’s big question:

Are you making choices that move you forward, or repeating the patterns that keep you stuck?

Pull up a stool and join us live Wednesday, August 19th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #FrankMesa #Leadership #SelfLeadership #Accountability #PersonalGrowth #Transformation #IntentionalLiving #BusinessLeadership

🎙️ Tonight on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, August 12
🕗 8 PM EST

Tonight’s guest is Doug Crandall, West Point graduate, leadership educator, author, and Head of Teaching at The Referent Group.

Doug’s new book, Building or Diminishing, starts with one powerful idea:

With every interaction, we are either building the people around us or diminishing them.

Drawing on nearly three decades of leadership development work, from West Point to Walmart, Doug explores how expectations, communication, and everyday conversations shape the people we lead.

We’ll discuss:
• Building people instead of diminishing them
• The four leadership archetypes: Builder, Driver, Cheerleader, and Belittler
• Military leadership vs. corporate leadership
• Why everyday conversations matter
• Lessons from West Point for business, family, and life

💡 Tonight’s big question:

Are you building the people around you, or diminishing them without realizing it?

Pull up a stool and join us live tonight, Wednesday, August 12th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #DougCrandall #BuildingOrDiminishing #Leadership #WestPoint #BusinessLeadership #MilitaryLeadership #PersonalGrowth

🎙️ Tonight on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, July 29
🕗 8 PM EST

Tonight’s guest is Clifford Sosamon, Marine Corps veteran, entrepreneur, writer, speaker, and host of Tailgate Chat.

Cliff’s work focuses on one powerful idea:

Execution Under Pressure.

After serving six years in the United States Marine Corps, including overseas assignments supporting diplomatic security operations, Cliff moved into leadership roles across business, nonprofit management, operations, and veteran advocacy.

His message is about helping people take action when pressure, fear, uncertainty, and hesitation cause most people to stall.

But this conversation is not just about leadership.

It’s about identity, consistency, purpose, and learning how to move forward when things are unclear, uncomfortable, or difficult.

We’ll discuss:
• Execution under pressure
• Leadership after military service
• Moving through fear and uncertainty
• Veteran transition, identity, and purpose
• Building consistency when pressure is high
• His Action Under Friction method
• The mission behind Tailgate Chat

💡 Tonight’s big question:

What does it take to act decisively when pressure is at its highest?

Pull up a stool and join us live tonight, Wednesday, July 29th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #CliffordSosamon #ExecutionUnderPressure #Leadership #MarineCorpsVeteran #Veterans #Purpose #TailgateChat #Entrepreneurship #ActionUnderFriction

🎙️ Coming Up on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, July 22
🕗 8 PM EST

This week's guest is **Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein**, an internationally recognized positive psychologist, author, filmmaker, and storyteller whose work focuses on identity, resilience, self-discovery, and the power of personal narrative.

Dr. Holstein is continuing her mission to uplift and empower through storytelling with the release of her two newest books, **Women's Freedom: The Dawn of Possibilities** and **Women's Freedom: Unfinished Love Stories**.

Her latest works blend history, psychology, and deeply human storytelling to explore the emotional journeys of women navigating independence, identity, love, sexuality, and self-expression during one of the most transformative periods in modern history.

But this conversation is not just about books.

It’s about the stories we carry, the freedoms we fight for, and the way storytelling can help us better understand who we are and who we are becoming.

In **Women's Freedom: The Dawn of Possibilities**, readers are taken back to the 1960s through the lives of Madison and Ginger as they step into college life, romance, uncertainty, and life-changing decisions during a time of major cultural change.

In **Women's Freedom: Unfinished Love Stories**, Dr. Holstein continues that exploration through the lives of three young women confronting desire, purpose, personal identity, and the complicated search for autonomy.

Her work reminds us that the questions women faced then are still deeply relevant today.

We’ll discuss:
• The quiet revolution young women helped lead in the 1960s
• Identity, independence, love, and self-discovery
• Why the fight for personal freedom still matters today
• The emotional truths found in coming-of-age stories
• How positive psychology shifts the focus from what is wrong to what is right
• Why storytelling can heal, inspire, and build resilience
• Her new books: **Women's Freedom: The Dawn of Possibilities** and **Women's Freedom: Unfinished Love Stories**

💡 Tonight's big question:

**What can the stories of the past teach us about freedom, identity, and becoming who we are meant to be?**

Pull up a stool and join us live Wednesday, July 22nd at 8 PM EST.

Learn more about Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein:
http://www.enchantedself.com

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #BarbaraBeckerHolstein #WomensFreedom #PositivePsychology #Storytelling #WomenAuthors #SelfDiscovery #Identity #Resilience #ComingOfAge #Leadership

Here’s the updated **tonight** version.

🎙️ Tonight on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, July 15
🕗 8 PM EST

Tonight’s guest is **Raymond E. Foster**, a retired **Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant**, **U.S. Coast Guard veteran**, author, educator, and public safety consultant with more than four decades of leadership experience.

Raymond’s career has taken him from patrol and investigations in Los Angeles to international justice reform, higher education, civic leadership, and moral philosophy.

He has served in law enforcement, taught criminal justice and leadership, consulted on public safety reform, and written extensively on policing, service, ethics, and character.

But this conversation is not just about a career in uniform.

It’s about leadership, integrity, service, and the lifelong work of building character from within.

Raymond is also the author of **The Temple Within**, a philosophical exploration of Freemasonry as a system of moral architecture, self-mastery, discipline, reflection, and personal responsibility.

His work challenges us to look at leadership not simply as authority, but as something built through conduct, restraint, accountability, and service to others.

We’ll discuss:
• Raymond’s career with the LAPD and service in the U.S. Coast Guard
• Lessons learned from decades in law enforcement and public safety
• Ethical leadership and decision-making under pressure
• The connection between service, discipline, and character
• His work in education, consulting, and justice reform
• Freemasonry, symbolism, and the meaning behind **The Temple Within**
• Why true leadership starts with the person you are when no one is watching

💡 Tonight’s big question:

**What does it take to build the kind of character that can carry the weight of leadership?**

Pull up a stool and join us live tonight, Wednesday, July 15th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #RaymondEFoster #Leadership #LawEnforcement #PublicService #Veterans #Freemasonry #TheTempleWithin #EthicalLeadership #Service #Character

🎙️ Tonight on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, July 8
🕗 8 PM EST

Tonight’s guest is **Peter McCarroll**, founder of **The AI Accountant** and owner of **Fuel Accountants**.

Peter is a Chartered Accountant in New Zealand, a CPA in Canada, a Certified Profit First Professional at the Mastery level, and has spent more than 20 years in public accounting.

But this conversation is not just about accounting.

It’s about the future of business, the rise of artificial intelligence, and what happens when industries stop experimenting with AI and start being reshaped by it.

Peter works directly inside the accounting world, helping firms move from theory to real operational transformation. Through Fuel Accountants, he has spent the last two years deploying AI across real client workflows, giving him a practical, ground-level view of what is changing and what business owners need to understand.

His message is direct:

AI itself may not be your competition.

The companies using it to replace what you do might be.

We’ll discuss:
• How AI is changing the accounting profession
• Why business owners should pay attention before disruption hits
• The difference between AI hype and real operational use
• Where companies should actually deploy AI
• How teams can build confidence using new tools
• Why advisory, judgment, and human expertise still matter
• What an AI-enabled business looks like on Monday morning

💡 Tonight’s big question:

**Are you using AI to strengthen your business, or waiting until someone else uses it to compete against you?**

Pull up a stool and join us live tonight, Wednesday, July 8th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #PeterMcCarroll #TheAIAccountant #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Accounting #Business #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #SmallBusiness #FutureOfWork

🎙️ Tonight on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, July 1
🕗 8 PM EST

Tonight's guest is **Ed Wilson**, author of a three-book investigation into a lost NASA Gemini XI image and what he believes may be one of the most overlooked pieces of space history.

Ed’s work focuses on a Gemini XI image that he identifies not simply as a photograph, but as a sanitized intelligence briefing document derived from mission film.

His research brings together NASA mission photography, more than 16,000 frames of Gemini XI film, forensic analysis, and Top Secret-era CIA/NRO memoranda that raise questions about how mission film was handled, reviewed, and selectively returned.

But this conversation is not just about UFOs.

It’s about history, government secrecy, space exploration, intelligence review, and how information may have been controlled during one of the most important eras of American spaceflight.

Ed’s approach is built around documentation, not speculation.

He lays the story out step by step, showing how one image connects to a much larger question:

What happened to the information the public never clearly got to see?

We’ll discuss:
• The lost NASA Gemini XI image at the center of Ed’s investigation
• Why Gemini mission film may not have remained fully under NASA control
• CIA/NRO-era documents and what they reveal about film review
• How intelligence handling may have shaped what was returned or released
• The difference between a photograph and a briefing reproduction
• Why this story still matters as Artemis brings space exploration back into focus

💡 Tonight's big question:

**What happens when documented history raises more questions than answers?**

Pull up a stool and join us live tonight, Wednesday, July 1st at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #EdWilson #NASA #GeminiXI #SpaceHistory #GovernmentSecrecy #UFOHistory #IntelligenceHistory #Artemis

🎙️ Coming Up on The Above The Bar Podcast

📅 Wednesday, June 24
🕗 8 PM EST

This week's guest is **Dave Munson**, founder and CEO of **Saddleback Leather Co.**, one of the most recognized leather brands in the world.

What started with a hand-drawn sketch in a small leather shop in Mexico became a global company known for creating over-engineered, full-grain leather goods backed by a **100-year warranty**.

Dave's philosophy was simple:

**"No breakable parts. I want my grandkids to fight over it when I'm dead."**

That commitment to quality helped build Saddleback Leather into an internationally known brand with partnerships including Toyota, Major League Baseball, Martin Guitar, and the Texas Rangers.

But this story isn't just about leather bags.

It's about entrepreneurship, adventure, faith, family, and using business as a force for good.

Together with his wife Suzette, Dave has built companies that not only create world-class products but also help support vulnerable communities around the world through initiatives like Love 41.

We'll discuss:
• Building a global brand from a simple idea
• Why quality still matters in a disposable world
• Entrepreneurship, risk, and perseverance
• Using business to create lasting impact
• The lessons learned from more than 20 years of growth and leadership
• His new book: **"They'll Fight Over It When You're Dead"**

💡 Tonight's big question:

**What would happen if you built everything to outlast you?**

📖 Learn more about Dave's new book:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/theyll-fight-over-it-when-youre-dead-dave-munson/1147277060?ean=9781637634202

Pull up a stool and join us live Wednesday, June 24th at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #DaveMunson #SaddlebackLeather #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Business #SmallBusiness #Legacy #PurposeDrivenBusiness

🎙️ Tonight on The Above The Bar Podcast

🕗 LIVE at 8 PM EST

Tonight's guest is John R. Bradford III, CEO of PetScreening and a lifelong entrepreneur who has built a business at the intersection of technology, property management, compliance, and innovation.

Most people see regulations as obstacles. John saw an opportunity.

Through PetScreening, John has transformed the way housing providers manage pet policies, assistance animals, and compliance requirements. What started as a solution to a growing industry challenge has evolved into a platform that helps property managers make better decisions, improve operations, create more pet-friendly communities, and uncover new opportunities for growth.

John's background combines entrepreneurship, public service, technology, and business leadership, giving him a unique perspective on how innovation can solve real-world problems while creating value for everyone involved.

💡 Tonight's big question:

What if compliance could actually make you money?

We'll discuss:
• How entrepreneurs find opportunity where others see obstacles
• Turning compliance into a competitive advantage
• Building a technology company that solves real problems
• The future of pet-friendly housing and property management
• Leadership, innovation, and scaling a mission-driven business

Whether you're a business owner, entrepreneur, property manager, pet owner, or simply curious about how technology is changing traditional industries, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

🔗 Follow John and PetScreening:

LinkedIn (PetScreening): https://www.linkedin.com/company/petscreening/
LinkedIn (John Bradford): https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-r-bradford-iii-b519184/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petscreening
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PetScreening

Pull up a stool and join us live tonight at 8 PM EST.

#TheAboveTheBarPodcast #BeSureToPushYourStoolIn #JohnBradford #PetScreening #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Innovation #PropertyManagement #BusinessGrowth #Technology