The Cred Podcast

Decisions fail in the gaps, not the strategy. In this episode of The Cred Podcast, Denise Graziano (Founder and CEO of Graziano Associates) breaks down why smart teams still make costly decisions. It's not a lack of data or intelligence. It's misalignment, not thinking two steps ahead, or treating communication like an afterthought instead of a strategic tool. Denise has spent 30 years as a trusted advisor to CEOs, CFOs, and boards and she's watched the same pattern repeat itself: leadership teams who think they're aligned but aren't even defining the problem the same way. Meanwhile, speed driven by AI, investor pressure, and shrinking ROI runways pushes decisions forward before they're fully pressure-tested. And the fallout rarely looks like a bad strategy. It's simply a gap nobody closed.

Most people think they're not qualified to make investment decisions. Cheryl Kellond thinks that's exactly the problem. A 3x founder, 3x Ironman, 4x mom, and CEO of PlayMoney, Cheryl is on a mission to open up early-stage investing to the people who actually understand the problems worth solving. In this episode, she challenges the outdated model of capital allocation and makes the case that the real barrier isn't money, expertise, or access. It's a system built for a world that no longer exists. At its core, this is a conversation about decision-making as a skill. Cheryl breaks down why small checks, consistent reps, and learning by doing matter more than waiting until you're "ready." She and Mack get into the math behind portfolio building, the reality that losses come before wins, and why the only thing that actually predicts success is how many decisions you make. If you've been sitting on the sidelines, consider this your push: first check calls game.

Feel stuck on a decision? Try interrogating the question. Pam Scott and Di Tompkins have been solving hard problems together for decades, and their first move is almost always to question whether someone is solving the right problem. As co-founders of The Curious Company, they bring outside perspective to mission-driven leaders who've hit a wall: a different color to paint with, a reframed question, and the kind of honest conversation most organizations aren't having internally. On this episode of The Cred Podcast, Mack sits down with two genuinely curious women who listen for a living, challenge with warmth, and have built a 26-year partnership by celebrating what makes them different. It's a conversation about creativity, decision-making, and what happens when you finally stop trying to answer the wrong question.

In this episode of The Cred Podcast, Lana Kerr joins Mack McKelvey for a candid conversation about decision-making as a founder, CEO, and leader. From trusting instinct in the early stages of growth to learning when to slow down and bring in more voices, Lana reflects on how her approach has evolved over time. She talks about the difference between making business decisions and people decisions, the importance of starting with the desired outcome, and why culture fit is just as important as credentials. The result is a thoughtful look at what it really means to lead: making the call, owning the consequences, and keeping the team moving with momentum in the same direction. As Lana puts it, leadership is often 80% psychology and 20% strategy because a team's mindset and energy shape outcomes just as much as the plan itself.

Bill Shafton spent nine years as the legal backbone of Grindr, navigating a Chinese acquisition, a national security divestiture, and a Wall Street IPO. In this episode, he breaks down his philosophy on decision-making: how research sets the boundaries, but instinct drives the performance. Tune in to learn how Bill operates in the gray areas, making high-risk decisions with incomplete data, and why "technical correctness" doesn't shield you from reputational fallout. If compliance is the baseline, trust is the real metric. He also shares why the legal function is less like a gatekeeper and more like an institutional liver (not glamorous, but essential to keeping the whole body running).