Grand Slam Journey

In this episode, Klara Jagosova speaks with Katie Calhoun, Founder and CEO of Two-Bridge Growth Insights and Managing Partner at ResonateLab, where she helps organizations use generative AI to facilitate human connections rather than replace them.

Katie's journey begins not in a boardroom but behind a camera lens. With a BFA from Cornell, she started as a photo editor and writer, worked her way up at Forbes, then deliberately walked...

In this episode, Klara Jagosova speaks with Stephen Rose, CEO of Render Networks, former Managing Partner at Nokia Bell Labs, and General Manager of Global Industries at IBM. A 25-year telecommunications and technology leader who served in the British Army 5 Airborne Brigade before building and leading businesses across four continents, Stephen brings a perspective on leadership, AI, and infrastructure that is anything but conventi...

In this episode of the Grand Slam Journey Podcast, host Klara Jagosova speaks with Peter Linder, Head of Thought Leadership Americas at Ericsson, one of the world's leading voices in telecommunications and technology, ranked the #1 technology expert on LinkedIn in 2022, and a 35-year veteran of Ericsson, shaping the global narrative around broadband, 5G, and AI, and now sporting events.

Peter grew up in Anderstorp, Sweden. A small t...

In this episode, Klara Jagosova speaks with Brian Modoff, founder and CEO of MC3 Ventures, Advisory Partner at Summit Partners, and former EVP of Corporate Strategy at Qualcomm. Brian's journey spans enlisting in the US Navy at 17, eight years of night school while working full time, 23 years as one of Wall Street's most consistently top-ranked technology analysts, a pivotal role at Qualcomm leading M&A and venture strategy, an...

In this episode of the Grand Slam Journey Podcast, host Klara Jagosova speaks with John Madura, mechanical engineer, 2x USA Rowing National Team Member, and robotics innovator at Dexterity. John's journey spans from being recruited into rowing over pizza in a college lunch line at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to representing the United States at the World Championships in 2012 and 2015, earning a PhD at UC Berkeley, and now bui...

Klara Jagosova speaks with Josh Simons — musician, songwriter, entrepreneur, and CEO of Vinyl Group — about his journey from touring internationally with indie band Buchanan to leading Australia’s only ASX-listed music company. Josh shares lessons on creativity, performance, and building sustainable careers beyond the stage.

Drawing parallels between music and sport, the conversation explores:

• Growing up in a mu...

Want a front-row seat to how a global CFO blends tennis-honed grit with people-first leadership to rethink telecom’s future? In this episode, Klara Jagosova sits down with Jurgen Arts, Vice President & CFO for Market Area Europe & Latin America at Ericsson, who brings nearly three decades of experience leading M&A, finance transformation, and cross-regional teams.

We trace Jurgen’s path from an introverted Du...

What if we could revolutionize healthcare and other industries by using the untapped computing power that sits idle in hospitals every night? Meet Rani Yadav-Ranjan, Chief AI Officer at Greycloud AI, who's pioneering a breakthrough approach to AI that respects both data privacy and urgency.

After watching her mother's medical journey, Rani had a revelation: doctors function as "databases" of knowledge, but these repositories...

Noah Sturm, Senior Vice President of Sales and Revenue at Augment AI, shares his journey from an unstructured upbringing through professional golf aspirations to becoming a transformative sales leader building AI-powered relationship technology to transform and redefine how B2B sales are done.

• Raised in a dynamic, homeschooled environment that fostered creativity, resilience, and comfort with uncertainty
• Developed ext...

Josh Payne shares his unique journey from musician to tech entrepreneur, exploring how AI is creating a more personalized, adaptive internet experience that could revolutionize how we interact with the internet, websites, and overall digital experiences. 

• Personalization is fundamentally changing the internet, making it more contextual and adaptive to individual users
• Josh sees personalized experiences becoming e...

Abby Davisson shares a comprehensive framework for making life's biggest decisions, from career transitions to family planning, with a clear process that reduces anxiety and builds confidence.

• The Five C's Framework: Clarify what's important, Communicate with those involved, Consider broad choices, Check in with trusted resources, and examine Consequences across time horizons
• Rest is not something earned after work is...

Picture this: a technology salesperson walks into a meeting armed with impressive specs—gigabytes, terabytes, processing power—only to face a small business owner who simply asks, "What will this do for my business?" This fundamental disconnect lies at the heart of why so many technology companies struggle to serve the massive small and medium business (SMB) market effectively.

In this conversation, "Magic" Macie...

This episode was produced by Google Notebook LLM using my latest blog post on my website: https://www.grandslamjourney.com/post/tennis-tuesdays

I'm curious what you think about it. I found this a fun experiment. https://notebooklm.google/

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Unlock the secrets of transforming athletic discipline into entrepreneurial success with our special guest, James Hilovsky, a former minor league baseball player who now helms the FranDream. In this episode, we tackle the myth that franchising is just about food and restaurants, revealing opportunities in diverse fields, from pest control to pickleball clubs. James takes us through his journey of swapping baseball gloves for busine...

Unlock the secrets to maximizing your potential with our special guest, Dre Baldwin, a former Professional Basketball player turned entrepreneur, coach, and speaker. How do skills like communication, energy, and salesmanship multiply your success? Dre takes us through his unique journey from the basketball court to the boardroom, highlighting why mastering the art of selling matters more than just doing. Learn his top strategies fo...

Ever wondered how the discipline of sports can catapult you into a life of entrepreneurial success? Join me as I sit down with former professional basketball player turned entrepreneur Dre Baldwin to reveal how the lessons from the court can translate into boardroom victories. Dre, known for his "Work On Your Game" philosophy, dives into his personal story of grit and determination, demonstrating how mental toughness and the abilit...

Thank you all for tuning in. I share some reflections on the past almost 1.5 years of creating content and releasing episodes on a weekly basis, as well as announcements of what's next.

I would appreciate it if you could share some feedback with me as I think through how to iterate on this podcast.
Send me an email to share your feedback: klara@grandslamjourney.com
Or submit it on my website: https://www.grandslamjour...

Step into the dynamic world of visionary leadership and strategic innovation with Dr. Nicole Wieberneit,  the Managing Director of Sales Strategy and Business Architecture Cross Solutions at Microsoft, whose journey from competitive skiing to global leadership is nothing short of inspiring. Our latest episode reveals how Nicole integrates Key Performance Indicators into her leadership style and the significance of celebrating ...

Discover the intertwined worlds of professional sports and corporate strategy as we sit down with business and tech titan George Mulhern, the former CEO of Cradlepoint. George shares his unique perspective on how the competitive drive and quick decision-making honed on the tennis courts served as the perfect training ground for his meteoric rise in the business world. From his early aspirations of professional tennis to leading Cra...