What animal has nine brains, eight arms, three hearts, adapts rapidly, and possesses exceptional intelligence?

Yes, the description applies to octopuses. But according to Stephen Wunker, managing director of New Markets Advisors, it is also an apt description of business owners and CEOs who harness artificial intelligence to transform their companies into super-high-performing organizations.

Steve and his colleagues advise companies and organizations, including Microsoft, Meta, Nike, and the World Bank, on innovation strategy and capabilities. His latest book, co-authored with futurist Jonathan Brill, is AI and the Octopus Organization: Building the Superintelligent Firm.

Steve, who previously was a guest on this podcast in April 2024, sees the cephalopod’s decentralized decision-making, lightning-fast problem-solving, and hyper-responsive behavior as an ideal model for AI-empowered leadership.

As he explains, winning with AI doesn’t mean squeezing new tools into old systems. It requires leaders to rethink — even rewire — how their organizations operate so they can swim with the intelligence and adaptability of an octopus.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Stephen Wunker, New Markets Advisors
Posted: December 1, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 44:44
Episode: 14.26

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Eveline Shen, an award-winning leadership and social change strategist, is the principal at Leading Courageously, a for-profit company where she teaches her “Courageous Operating System” to help leaders of color face their challenges with courage, confidence, and strength.

Previously, she spent 22 years as the executive director of Forward Together, building it into one of the country’s largest multi-issue organizations led by women of color.

Eveline, who goes by “Ev,” helps leaders rewire the limiting patterns that hold them back — including perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and people-pleasing — and replace them with what she calls “courageous” actions.

She is the author of Choosing to Lead Against the Current: The Courageous Operating System for Changemakers.

Her target audience — both at Leading Courageously and for her book — is primarily mission-driven individuals and groups advocating for social change, many of whom instinctively view business leaders and entrepreneurs not as partners, but as adversaries.

Yet, many of the core elements of Ev’s “courageous operating system” apply universally, whether you’re in the nonprofit or the for-profit world.

Moreover, listeners to this episode will likely discover they have more in common with Ev and her followers than they imagined.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Eveline Shen, Leading Courageously
Posted: November 24, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:50
Episode: 14.25

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Sébastien Page is the Chief Investment Officer of T. Rowe Price, overseeing an astounding $500 billion of the firm’s $1.79 trillion in assets — a sum on par with the market caps of Exxon Mobil, Mastercard, or Netflix.

Widely acknowledged as a global investment expert, Sébastien is also a deeply informed thinker on leadership. Managing a “portfolio” of high-performing analysts, investment managers, and support staff has taught him that the traits behind exceptional investors closely mirror those behind exceptional people managers.

Drawing on research across positive psychology, sports psychology, and personality science, Sébastien has written a groundbreaking book, The Psychology of Leadership, that details 18 core principles that consistently produce high-performance leaders.

This week, Sébastien shares the practical behaviors, frameworks, and insights that can transform how leaders think, act, and inspire. 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Sébastien Page, T. Rowe Price
Posted: November 17, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 54:28
Episode: 14.24

The Sébastien Page Library

• The Psychology of Leadership: Timeless principles to improve your management of individuals, teams… and yourself!

• Beyond Diversification: What Every Investor Needs to Know About Asset Allocation 

• Factor Investing and Asset Allocation: A Business Cycle Perspective

Visitors to a Vi Wickam-crafted website may not immediately see what sets it apart from an ordinary e-commerce or informational site. But they feel it. They stay longer, engage more deeply, and are far more likely to become — and remain — loyal customers.

A master of the digital domain, Vi is among the elite global Wizard of Ads Partners, celebrated for more than two decades of helping business owners achieve remarkable revenue growth.

Whether optimizing keywords, managing pay-per-click campaigns, or reimagining a company’s web presence, Vi takes a holistic approach that goes far beyond surface-level functionality. His designs and strategies are built on two essential pillars: authenticity and alignment.

Authenticity, Vi says, is today’s most powerful digital differentiator. Alignment ensures that wherever customers encounter your brand — in-store, through advertising, or online — they instantly recognize its voice and spirit. Every touchpoint reflects the same DNA.

Vi’s strategic playbook can be distilled into these central priorities:

• Build trust through authenticity.

• Infuse all of your digital marketing — and especially your website — with your unique culture and values.

• Be real. Be kind. And overdeliver. 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Vi Wickam, Wizard of Ads Online
Posted: November 10, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 57:10
Episode: 14.23

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When Brian and Sally Krichbaum bought Gilbert Chocolates in 2012, they had zero experience making or selling candy. Brian was a seasoned automotive engineer and consultant, while Sally was a freelance writer and stay-at-home mom. What they shared was a taste for challenge — and for good chocolate.

Founded in 1893 and beloved by generations of Jackson, Michigan, residents, Gilbert Chocolates was a hometown treasure in need of fresh energy. The Krichbaums took on the task of modernizing operations and expanding distribution while preserving the small-batch, Belgian-style quality that defined the brand.

Their journey wasn’t easy. “I thought retail would be simple,” Brian admits. “It’s not — selling is hard.” Sally adds that learning the rhythms of retail, hiring and training staff, and mastering the art of tempering chocolate all came with a steep learning curve.

Today, Gilbert Chocolates is thriving, with multiple locations, a booming e-commerce business, and budding national partnerships. For the Krichbaums, success tastes sweet — not just because of the chocolate, but because they’ve proven that passion, persistence, and purpose can turn even the most unlikely entrepreneurs into hometown heroes.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Brian and Sally Krichbaum, Gilbert Chocolates
Posted: November 3, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 57 minutes
Episode: 14.22

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