The Business Emergency Room Podcast

Many leaders rely on goals and KPIs to measure success, yet how often do those numbers reveal what’s actually working? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Radhika Dutt, the author of Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter, about why so many organizations get caught chasing business growth metrics that don’t always translate into real progress. Radhika shares how “product diseases” like obsessive sales disorder, strategic swelling, and hypermetricemia quietly take root when teams lose sight of their vision and let measurement drive decisions instead of insight. She unpacks the tension between OKRs vs puzzl...

Most businesses don’t crumble from bad strategy but from the hard conversations their leaders never have.

Maartje van Krieken takes an honest look at why conflict avoidance shows up in leadership communication and how it quietly eats away at trust, focus, and performance. Why do so many leaders hesitate to speak up when something feels off? What happens when tension is ignored for months or even years? Through her experience guiding organizations through chaos, Maartje shares how avoiding difficult conversations can cost teams more than money - it costs them momentum and morale.

Maartje br...

When a business starts to stumble, the real problem usually isn’t hidden—it’s just misread.

Maartje van Krieken talks with Elisabeth Vealey, founder of Sophius LLC, about how business diagnostics reveal what’s really happening inside a struggling company. With decades of experience in accounting, CFO leadership, and turnaround strategies, Elisabeth explains how following the cash flow exposes not just financial issues but the inefficiencies, blind spots, and miscommunication that quietly drain performance.

They discuss how financial data reflects overall financial and operational health, why leaders wait too long to ask for help, and how...

Remote leadership works best when people have the space to enter flow states that spark ideas and move projects forward.

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Academy Award winner and entrepreneur Steven Puri about what it really takes to lead distributed teams with purpose. How do you build trust when you can’t walk the halls together? What makes the difference between a team that only trades emails and a team that shows up with insights that shift the direction of a company? Steven shares lessons from his years in Hollywood and tech, showing how vi...

Business valuation is more than a price tag at exit. It’s a running assessment of your company’s health, credibility, and resilience.

Maartje van Krieken shows how valuation can serve as a practical management tool for everyday decision-making. Drawing on lessons from mergers and acquisitions, she explains why external perceptions matter just as much as internal metrics and how they shape financing terms, customer trust, and even employee morale.

Using ten lenses, Maartje unpacks the questions outsiders bring to the table: Are people loyal to the business or just its leaders? Is culture sustainable beyo...

Leadership isn’t always loud, and sometimes the quietest voice in the room is the one that steadies the ship.

Maartje van Krieken sits down with Greg Weinger, SVP of Product Management at SheerID and host of The Powerful Introvert Podcast, to rethink what leadership looks like when a company faces real pressure. Greg shares the story of an introverted CFO who stepped in during a crisis and rebuilt trust through calm, steady presence rather than charisma. Why do so many organizations still assume that the loudest voice is the most effective one? And how much strength ge...

Most business emergencies don’t appear out of nowhere. They build slowly through overlooked financial red flags that leaders often miss until it’s too late. How do you know if your books are truly in order, or if the numbers you’re seeing are hiding deeper issues? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with Ryan McGarghan, founder of Synergy Solutions, fractional CFO and certified exit planning advisor, about the habits and warning signs that reveal the real health of a company. Ryan explains why consistent bookkeeping and payment practices are non-negotiable, how to recognize when your finance team i...

Most business exits fail not because of flawed numbers but because the hidden value of people, culture, and legacy is overlooked. In this episode, Maartje van Krieken explores why exits are among the most personal and emotionally charged moments in business and how treating them as purely financial transactions often leads to broken trust and dissatisfaction. She offers clear strategies to change that outcome, from bringing in trusted support to balance negotiations, to recognizing how relational risk shapes valuation, to addressing “phantom clients” that don’t hold transferable worth. By focusing on hidden value alongside financial metrics, leaders can create...

Most leaders spend far too much of their day answering questions, and Atiba De Souza believes that habit is holding businesses back. How much more progress could you make if your time went into vision and strategy instead of micromanagement?

Joining Maartje van Krieken in this episode, Atiba, a CEO strategist and team productivity expert, shares why he refuses to answer his staff’s questions and how that decision reshaped the way he leads. He explains why delegation skills matter more than many leaders realize, how empowered teams grow stronger when given clarity and autonomy, and why re...

More leads won’t save your business if your revenue systems, lead quality, and sales pipeline health aren’t working the way they should.

Maartje van Krieken talks with Mark Osborne, a fractional chief revenue officer for boutique professional services and B2B firms, about what really drives sustainable growth. If your team is chasing volume, are you missing the chance to focus on the opportunities that truly matter? Have you ever celebrated a deal only to realize later it cost more in time, energy, and margin than it returned? Mark shares why building strong revenue systems matt...

Most business failures can be traced back to weak or rushed due diligence, and that gap often turns into costly business risk. When the stakes are high, whether you are hiring a key leader, buying a company, or entering new partnerships, how do you really know what you are agreeing to? What signs should you pay attention to, and what details are easy to miss?

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks about the risks that come when leaders treat due diligence as an afterthought. She shares clear numbers that show how often deals fall apart and...

Entrepreneurial coach and author David J. Greer opens up about the side of success most people never see: the quiet reality of high-functioning leaders living with addiction. Maartje van Krieken talks with David about how he built a global software company while privately battling alcoholism for more than 20 years and what finally pushed him toward lasting sobriety. How many leaders keep going at full speed while carrying that kind of hidden weight? And how much does it cost them both personally and professionally?

This episode looks at how entrepreneurial addiction can hide in plain sight, often normalized...

Most startup founders don’t realize they’ve become accidental CEOs until their own success turns into the biggest reason they can’t scale.

Maartje van Krieken and Pete Steege discuss the “founder’s fog,” that frustrating place where a vague vision, scattered execution, and unclear roles quietly start choking a growing business. Pete shares stories of technical founders who are brilliant at their craft but end up stuck because they’re trying to lead the company the same way they built it. Is it possible that being good at everything has become the reason things aren’t moving forward...

A startup with cutting-edge tech and global momentum collapsed in under four years because no one stopped to build the structure needed to sustain it. 

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken reflects on the rise and fall of Hyzon Motors, a hydrogen fuel cell startup that looked like a sure thing. The technology was solid. The market was ready. The company had funding, partnerships, and a compelling vision. So how did it all fall apart?

Drawing from her direct experience inside the organization, Maartje walks through the kind of operational breakdown that often gets overlooked i...

Scaling looks like success, until your product hits every shelf and you’re still bleeding cash.

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks with food and beverage strategist Debbie Wildrick about what really happens when growth gets ahead of structure. With decades of experience across the CPG world, from startup brands to overseeing billions in retail at 7-Eleven, Debbie has seen firsthand how companies unravel behind the scenes. What causes a business to stall even after it secures funding, distribution, and shelf space? Why do so many founders miss the early signs of a CPG breakdown?

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A single line of flawed code grounded planes, shuttered hospitals, and crashed cash registers… What would your business do if the emergency was already underway?

One year after launching this podcast in the middle of real-life chaos, Maartje breaks down the CrowdStrike debacle that exposed just how fragile even the biggest systems can be, and why most business continuity plans still fall short. She shares five hard-earned lessons from the outage, including how American Airlines recovered faster than Delta, what crisis readiness really requires, and why your frontline team, not your tech stack, might be the biggest va...

Public sector leaders are quietly mastering the kind of complex, human-centered change most businesses struggle to get right.

Maartje van Krieken is joined by Vijay K. Luthra, a former civil servant and transformation strategist, to talk about why public sector transformation deserves more attention from business leaders facing turbulence. Vijay draws from his experience across government and consulting to challenge assumptions about innovation, revealing how public institutions have become experts at navigating constant disruption and ambiguity. Centered on what he calls the “Fifth Industrial Revolution,” the episode explores how the pace of technological change is creating a futu...

AI isn’t some future threat on the horizon. It’s already changing how businesses operate, and the question is whether you’re keeping up or falling behind. 

In this 50th episode of The Business Emergency Room, Maartje van Krieken gets real about “AI FOMO” and why so many leaders are stuck thinking instead of doing. Most companies say they’re exploring AI, but only a small fraction have actually changed how their business runs. So what’s holding them back? And what might it cost to keep waiting?

Maartje shares examples that go way beyond marketin...

Most leadership failures don’t happen because of bad strategy. They happen because we overlook how human we all are when the pressure’s on.

Maartje van Krieken is joined by German author, speaker, and former airline pilot Peter Brandl, who brings a pilot’s perspective into the world of business leadership. With years of experience training flight crews in crisis response and communication, Peter talks through the concept of human factors in leadership, how the real risks come from misjudged decisions, flawed communication, and the stress responses we don’t always notice in ourselves or others.

The...

Most businesses won’t survive their next big disruption. Not because the crisis is too big, but because their business continuity plan (BCP) was either half-baked or never tested.

Maartje van Krieken makes the case for recovery planning that actually works. What would happen if your leadership team was unreachable? If your systems went down? If your staff didn’t know who had authority to make decisions?

The stats are rough. Nearly 95% of companies without a recovery plan after a major data breach go out of business within a year. And yet, most organizations either don’...

Most boards don’t fail because of bad people. They fail because the right people aren’t at the table when it counts.

Maartje van Krieken sits down with Dr. Keith Dorsey, the founder of Boardroom Journey, to talk about what makes a board truly effective, and why board composition strategy should never be an afterthought. If your company is scaling fast or hitting friction, are the voices in your boardroom equipped to help you grow? Dr. Dorsey shares why defaulting to well-known CEOs and CFOs can backfire, and how to identify the real gaps in expertise that...

A jailbreak in New Orleans becomes a sharp metaphor for what happens when creeping dysfunction goes unchecked inside a business.

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken unpacks the hidden costs of ignoring early warning signs in organizations. Broken locks. Budget cuts. Communication breakdowns. The kind of slow decay that builds quietly until a major crisis forces everyone to pay attention.

Using the lens of operational risk escalation, Maartje explains how small process failures can snowball into full business process failure, often without anyone noticing in time. Did you know it takes most organizations 84 days to...

Sales problems rarely start loud. They build quietly through messy processes, wishful thinking in the pipeline, the wrong people in key roles, and pricing that no longer makes sense.

Maartje van Krieken is joined by Nicholas Loise, the founder of Sales Performance Team, to discuss what really drags sales down, and what it takes to turn things around. He shares a practical framework built around four core elements: process, pipeline, people and pricing. Each one either helps move deals forward or quietly holds them back.

Are your salespeople chasing deals that were never real? Is...

High-stakes decisions don’t reward the loudest voice; they favor the calmest mind and the clearest why.

Maartje van Krieken is joined by Jeffrey Owens, a former police officer, FBI-trained hostage negotiator, and executive leader, for a conversation that connects crisis response tactics to the boardroom. What does facing down an armed man teach you about managing people under pressure? And how can the rules of hostage negotiation help leaders make better decisions in chaotic moments?

Jeff shares the hostage negotiation lessons that shaped his career, including a story where listening, not authority, saved his li...

Most businesses don't fail from bad decisions; they fail because they never saw the storm coming.

This episode is a wake-up call for leaders who are too busy managing today to think about what’s coming next. Maartje van Krieken breaks down the concept of Environmental Scanning and why it matters far more than most executives realize. Are you missing the early warning signals that could shape or shake your business? Are you confusing busyness with foresight?

Maartje introduces the SCAN framework (Signals, Context, Alignment, Navigation) as a way to build strategic foresight in business. Sh...

Most businesses overlook cybersecurity risk management until an attack hits, but small moves like the “porcupine strategy” and multi-factor authentication can be the difference between staying safe and facing a major breach. Maartje van Krieken sits down with cybersecurity expert Bryce Austin for a conversation that every business owner needs to hear. They start with a story: a business that lost over $100,000 to a wire fraud scam and ended up declaring bankruptcy. What would you do if your company faced a loss like that? Could you survive it?

Bryce explains how cybersecurity risk management has shifted in a wo...

When a crisis hits, the leaders who move fastest aren’t the ones clinging to the org chart. They’re the ones who know exactly who their people really are.

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken shares a look at crisis leadership and what it truly demands. When volatility takes over, can you still see the emotional and mental state of your team? Or are you relying on titles and job descriptions that no longer fit the situation? Maartje explains why spotting who has the energy, trust, and alignment to step up can make or break your reco...

Conflict doesn’t kill momentum. Our silence around it does.

Maartje van Krieken makes a case for why conflict resolution in growing businesses should be a core leadership skill, not something we save for when things get bad. She shares a bold truth: most workplace conflict comes from fear. Fear of being left behind. Fear of failure. Fear of losing control. And when those fears go unspoken, they don’t just slow teams down. They damage trust, communication, and performance.

What happens when leaders let tension linger? How much collaboration is lost when no one want...

When the market tilts without warning, leadership means stepping up even when the chaos wasn’t your fault.

What do you do when geopolitical tension, tariffs, or broken supply chains knock your business off course? In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks about responding to global market disruptions and why waiting to see how things shake out can cost you more than you think.

Maartje walks through the first move every leader needs to make: building situational awareness. How do you get a clear picture of what’s happening, what you don’t know yet, and wh...

Waiting out the chaos might feel safe, but in business, standing still during a storm is often the fastest way to lose your course entirely.

When a crisis hits, why do so many leaders freeze? What makes waiting feel safer than steering, even when we know the storm won’t pass anytime soon?

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken digs into what happens when leadership inertia during uncertainty takes hold and how it quietly erodes momentum, clarity, and confidence. Drawing from her experience as a skipper, she shows how business leaders often hope for conditions to...

Most CEOs don’t plan their own exit. What happens when the person who built the company isn’t the right one to scale it?

Scott Calderwood joins Maartje van Krieken to talk about CEO transition strategies, scaling leadership challenges, and executive hiring mistakes. When a company reaches a breaking point—whether at Series C funding, IPO, or another growth stage—how do leaders know if they’re still the right fit? And more importantly, what happens when they aren’t?

Scott shares hard-earned insights from decades in executive search, and reveals why cultural fit matters as m...

​​When your leadership team can’t evolve with your business, scaling challenges become even harder to navigate. How do you know when it’s time to make tough decisions about key positions in your organization?

In this episode, Maartje van Krieken talks about the uncomfortable reality that the leaders who helped you get to where you are may not be the ones who can take you further. As businesses grow, the need for leadership change becomes more evident. So, how do you spot the signs like decision bottlenecks or a shift from proactive to reactive thinking before they der...

Trust is everything in leadership. Lose it, and investors won’t think twice about making a change.

Maartje van Krieken takes a hard look at investor trust in scaling businesses as she breaks down why half of founder-CEOs don’t last three years after investment. When trust erodes, misalignment creeps in, and investors start questioning whether leadership can take the company to the next stage.

This episode explores founder-CEO transitions, the growing tension between long-term vision and investor demands, and the red flags that make investors lose confidence. Maartje shares what founders can do to stre...

Most businesses think they know why customers choose them until they realize they’ve been focusing on the wrong thing all along.

Maartje van Krieken sits down with Orly Zeewy for a sharp, no-nonsense look at brand messaging strategy and why so many businesses miss the mark. Orly shares how companies can stop marketing what they think matters and start focusing on what actually drives customer loyalty. She breaks down a case study of a business that spent decades highlighting the wrong thing, only to turn everything around with the right message.

How do you kn...

Most leaders could free up nearly half their workload but refuse to let go. Why is delegation so hard, and what’s the cost of holding on too tightly?

Maartje van Krieken unpacks why so many leaders become the bottleneck in their own organizations. Fear of mistakes, trust issues, and the belief that no one else can do the job quite as well keep leaders trapped in a cycle of overwork and micromanagement. But real leadership isn’t about doing everything but about creating the right structures so decisions flow to the right people at the right time...

Scaling a business comes with big decisions, tough conversations, and the challenge of building a team that can grow with you. How do you know when it’s time to shift roles, implement structure, or step back so others can take the lead?

Maartje van Krieken sits down with Jennifer Cresswell, a growth strategist and the founder of Thoughtgro, to break down the realities of scaling in entrepreneurship. They dig into the people dynamics that make or break a growing business. When the team that got you here isn’t the team that will get you there, how...

Hesitation under pressure costs more than a bad decision. This season 2 kick-off episode of The Business Emergency Room unpacks how to make fast, confident calls when the stakes are high.

When everything is unfolding fast, how do you make the right call without second-guessing yourself? Host Maartje van Krieken shares a real-world example of decision-making gone wrong, turning a simple family outing into a mess of miscommunication and last-minute scrambling. The parallels to business are clear: disruption happens, and leaders who hesitate risk bigger problems.

This episode breaks down how to define the decision at...

Scaling a business isn’t just about strategy—it’s about navigating chaos, making fast but sound decisions, and keeping teams aligned under pressure. The Business Emergency Room helps leaders, founders, and decision-makers sharpen their decision-making mechanics, master people dynamics, and build resilience in uncertain markets. Host Maartje van Krieken shares battle-tested frameworks to eliminate bottlenecks, avoid analysis paralysis, and turn turbulence into traction. Tune in weekly for real-world insights to lead with confidence and thrive in turmoil.

For leaders facing: High-stakes decisions, VUCA market conditions, crisis management, and rapid business growth pains.

In the dynamic world of business growth, the transition from entrepreneur to CEO is often fraught with challenges that can either propel a company forward or lead to burnout. This episode sheds light on the pivotal strategies that help business owners navigate rapid growth, avoid common pitfalls, and build sustainable success. The conversation uncovers the importance of strategic planning, effective delegation, and the mindset shifts required to lead with clarity and purpose.

Key insights from this discussion:

Disruptions are an inevitable part of both life and business, but how we respond to them can make all the difference. In this episode, we explore the structured crisis response strategies used by the Red Cross Disaster Action Teams and how these same principles can be applied to business disruptions. With clear decision-making, effective communication, accountability and escalation definition, and a focus on immediate priorities, businesses can strengthen their resilience and navigate crises with confidence. Whether you're a leader, entrepreneur, or part of an organization facing unexpected challenges, this episode will equip you with actionable insights to stay prepared...