Midway Business Podcast

Are You Winning the Wrong Game?

Most leaders spend years chasing growth, hitting targets, and building successful companies, only to realize they are winning the game but not necessarily enjoying it. In this episode, Thomas Edwards Jr., Business and Life Coach and author of The One Up Effect: Gamify Your Life to Win and Have Fun Playing, explores what business leaders can learn from gaming, performance psychology, and human behavior to create stronger cultures, better engagement, and more meaningful success.
The conversation dives into leadership, trust, workplace culture, and why some organizations level up while others keep getting stuck on the same stage year after year. For executives navigating growth, change, and employee motivation, this episode offers a different way to think about business, fulfillment, and building a company where people are excited to keep playing the game.
To contact Thomas Edwards Jr. with The 1up Effect:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/thethomasedwardsjr/ or thomasejr@gmail.com
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-593-5331, butch@elitebenefits.net.

Trust, Transparency, and the Future of Leadership

When things are going well, leadership is easy to talk about. The real lessons show up when pressure rises and decisions carry lasting consequences. Guest Jay Jacobson shares lessons from decades of leadership, mentorship, and helping people navigate difficult situations. Drawing from the principles in his book, Lead by Legendary Example, he explores why so many organizations struggle with communication, trust, culture, and leadership development today.
For business leaders, this episode is a reminder that the biggest challenges rarely show up on a spreadsheet. From retaining talent and managing generational shifts to building stronger cultures, this conversation highlights the leadership habits that help organizations adapt, earn trust, and create workplaces people actually want to be part of.
To contact Jay Jacobson with Professional Staffing, LLC:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayscookies or jujacobson@gmail.com
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-593-5331, butch@elitebenefits.net.

The Mindset Shift That Changes Team Performance

This episode of the Midway Business Podcast features Josh Lifrak, author of Win Today: Six Steps to Mental Resilience, Peak Performance, and a Thriving Life, sharing front line insights from working with elite athletes and business leaders. He also takes listeners inside the mindset shifts that helped transform the Chicago Cubs during their championship run. The conversation digs into leadership, culture, mindset, and why so many companies lose momentum once pressure starts showing up.
For leaders trying to navigate uncertainty, remote work, anxiety, and teams running on fumes, this episode delivers a reality check. It exposes why some companies build cultures that thrive under pressure while others keep running in circles through endless meetings, chasing clarity, and trying to make sense of metrics that somehow change every week. The leaders who create connection, simplicity, and accountability before things break are the ones staying ahead while everyone else keeps scheduling another “quick meeting” to figure out what happened.
To contact Josh Lifrak reach out to him on LinkedIn. For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-593-5331, butch@elitebenefits.net.

Why Leaders Keep Getting Burned at Renewal Season

This episode takes a hard look at why so many companies treat one of their largest expenses alongside payroll and taxes like an afterthought until renewal season shows up with another painful surprise. It challenges the idea that healthcare costs are “just the market” and why leadership and strategy matter more than most executives want to admit.
The conversation also explores why smart companies are rethinking traditional insurance models, challenging rising pharmacy costs, and refusing to accept renewal increases like bad weather reports. For leaders trying to grow revenue while healthcare expenses quietly eat away at margins, this episode opens up a conversation most boardrooms avoid until the panic emails start flying across the company.
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-593-5331, butch@elitebenefits.net.

Why Great Strategy Still Fails in Execution

Most leaders think growth comes from better strategy, but this episode with Zack Zebrowski from Microsoft shows where things actually start breaking down. When roles blur, communication slips, and teams get stretched too thin, even strong ideas lose momentum. The conversation pulls back the curtain on how execution really works when deadlines are tight, priorities shift fast, and decisions are not nearly as polished as they look in leadership meetings.
It also dives into a tension most companies are dealing with right now. Everyone wants more output, faster launches, and bigger results, but fewer leaders want to talk about the strain sitting underneath it all. The companies creating clarity, building trust, and keeping teams moving without burning people out are the ones staying ahead while everyone else keeps holding another “quick alignment meeting” that somehow eats up the entire afternoon.
To contact Zack Zebrowski with Microsoft: ‭708-528-9197 ‬or https://www.linkedin.com/in/zackzebrowski/
 

Better Leadership Inside Creates Better Service Outside

Every leader says they trust their team until something goes sideways and suddenly everyone is back in the weeds. In this episode, John Eby from Toledo Integrated Systems joins the conversation to dig into the gap between what leaders say and how they actually operate when pressure shows up. The discussion challenges the idea that control creates results and instead explores why trust, honest conversations, and giving teams ownership is what keeps companies moving when things get difficult.
At the same time, the episode calls out the reality most leaders are quietly dealing with right now. The workforce has changed, expectations have shifted, and the old leadership playbook is getting exposed fast. Companies that balance accountability with flexibility and keep Customer Experience human continue to pull ahead while others sit through another meeting wondering why employees disengage and customers slowly disappear.
To contact John Eby with Toledo Integrated Systems: ‭419-867-4170 x274‬ or jeby@ttoledo.com, www.ttoledo.com
 

You Are Not Stuck, Your Patterns Are

Every company says they want better performance, but most are just running cleaner versions of the same habits that got them stuck in the first place. Good habits can build momentum, but they can also box you in when the business outgrows them. Bad habits are easier to spot, but just as easy to ignore when they have been part of the routine for years. Either way, once something feels normal, it becomes invisible, and that is where most leaders lose control without realizing it.
This episode cuts into that blind spot. It shows how the same pattern that drives discipline and consistency can also limit growth if it goes unchallenged. The real tension is not knowing what is right or wrong. It is recognizing that both good and bad habits will run your business on autopilot if you let them. The leaders who win are the ones willing to question what feels normal before it starts costing them.
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-535-3006, butch@elitebenefits.net

The Hidden Breakdown Behind Rising Benefits Costs

Most companies think their employee benefits problems start when the costs show up. They don’t. They start months earlier when NOBODY owns the process, decisions get pushed off, and everyone assumes they will deal with it later. Then suddenly it is crunch time, options shrink, and leadership is forced to approve decisions they don’t fully understand. If that sounds familiar, it should.
This episode calls out what’s quietly failing and why SMART companies keep running the same expensive play every year. Working harder at renewal time is not the fix. It challenges how delegation actually works inside leadership teams, exposes how pressure destroys decision quality, and forces a question most executives avoid: Is your process built to produce outcomes or just to get through another year?
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-535-3006, butch@elitebenefits.net.

Why Hard Working Teams Still Fall Behind

Most companies are not struggling because of the market, they are struggling because they confuse effort with progress. This conversation challenges how businesses drift into chaos as they grow, where teams stay busy, decisions get fragmented, and leaders unknowingly create the very bottlenecks they are trying to solve.
It also forces a harder look at how ownership, accountability, and strategy actually show up inside an organization. When the wrong people are driving decisions and the right ones stay on the sidelines, the outcome is predictable. The real question is whether your business is built on a system that produces results, or just a collection of activity that looks productive on the surface.
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-535-3006, butch@elitebenefits.net.

More Meetings, More Messages, Same Problems

Most companies think they have communication problems, but what they really have is a system problem wearing a communication costume. This conversation digs into how information gets buried under meetings, messages, and assumptions while teams stay busy trying to fix things that should not have been broken in the first place. It challenges how organizations rely on memory, noise, and good intentions instead of building a structure that actually keeps people aligned and moving.
It also takes a closer look at how roles, ownership, and accountability quietly determine whether communication works or fails. When everyone is talking but no one truly owns anything, the outcome is inevitable. Missed details, duplicated work, and frustration that somehow turns into more meetings. The real question is whether your organization is designed to communicate clearly, or just hoping it all lands in the right place at the right time.
For more information about Midway Business Podcast, please contact us at 708-535-3006, butch@elitebenefits.net.