12 Steps to Success: Navigating change, uncertainty, and what comes next
What happens when the old definitions of success stop working? 12 Steps to Success is a long-form podcast about identity, purpose, burnout, and the messy, uncertain middle of building a life and career. It explores moments of transition, pressure, reinvention, and recovery, especially when clarity disappears and familiar paths no longer fit. Hosted by Eric Mackay, a senior music industry executive, founder, author, and recovering perfectionist, the show sits between success stories and self-help. These are not highlight reels or tidy frameworks. They are honest conversations with artists, founders, executives, creatives, and operators who have built things, lost things, walked away from roles that looked perfect on paper, and had to rethink who they were along the way. Each episode examines themes including identity, leadership, burnout, sobriety, creativity, pressure, and the quiet recalibrations that happen when life does not go to plan. The focus is not on how people made it, but on how they kept going when certainty disappeared. Eric is not a neutral interviewer. He brings his own lived experience into the room, asking better questions, challenging assumptions, and staying with discomfort rather than rushing to resolution. The tone is reflective, occasionally funny, sometimes raw, and deliberately unscripted. This is a podcast for people in transition. For anyone questioning success, navigating change, or trying to build something meaningful without losing themselves in the process. New episodes are released weekly during each season, with breaks between seasons. Learn more at twelvestepstosuccess.com and on Instagram @twelvestepstosuccess.
Episodes
This conversation with Jean Gomes is about what it means to stay human when leadership, work, and technology keep pushing us toward speed, cynicism, and performance.
We start with agency, not “positive thinking,” but the practical kind: choosing how you show up, what you feed, and what you participate in. From there, we get into the stories we’re sold about success (and why so many of them collapse in real life), what “leaders worth...
This conversation with Lauren Blitzer-Wright centres on what happens when the community you relied on suddenly disappears - and what it takes to rebuild connection without losing yourself in the process.
We talk about growing up in New York and learning early that even the biggest cities can feel intimate when you find your people. Lauren reflects on building a career in music, creating culture inside corporate environments, and wha...
This conversation with Brian Recker centres on what happens when the belief system you built your life around no longer feels honest or humane.
We talk about growing up inside fear based religion, the cost of belonging to high control systems, and what it means to start questioning ideas that once felt untouchable. Brian reflects on the quiet tension of knowing something is harmful while still being afraid to let it go, and the emo...
This conversation with Nyeesha D. Williams explores what happens when the structures you’ve relied on begin to fall apart, and the work required to rebuild without rushing to make sense of it too quickly.
We talk about setbacks and how disorienting they can feel when the path you were on suddenly stops making sense. About loss, disruption, and the pressure to keep moving forward even when you’re unsure what you’re rebuilding toward...
This conversation with Christopher Brereton centres on what happens when the identity you built your life around no longer fits as cleanly as it once did.
We talk about momentum and how easily it can turn into something you hide behind. About being known for a particular role, skill, or output, and the quiet unease that can surface when you realise you are still moving, still producing, but no longer sure who that movement is reall...
This conversation with Mo Hiromoto sits inside a familiar but often unspoken place. Knowing that something needs to change, without yet having language for what that change looks like.
We talk about what happens when momentum keeps you moving but leaves little room to listen. About staying busy, staying capable, staying productive, while slowly losing contact with what you actually want. Mo reflects on the experience of quieting the...
This conversation with Marni Wandner explores what happens when burnout does not arrive as a breaking point, but as a slow erosion.
We talk about creative ambition, responsibility, and the quiet ways people lose themselves while trying to be useful, capable, and reliable. Marni reflects on building a career in an industry that is supposed to generate joy, and the moment she realised that something essential was missing, even though ...
What happens after the big win - or before anything makes sense?
12 Steps to Success isn’t a podcast about polished success stories or highlight reels. It’s a series of honest conversations about the messy middle - the moments where identity shifts, certainty disappears, and you keep going anyway.
Hosted by Eric Mackay, this podcast explores purpose, pressure, identity, recovery, leadership, and change through real conversations with...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com