A former single mom, stripper, and felon turned two-time author and VP of Innovative Disruption at Lift Enablement, Dr. V lays out hard lessons and simple truths on resilience, sales talent, and reporting—without the euphemisms. In this episode, we talk about what most teams tiptoe around: who you hire, how you build culture, and why “return to office” means nothing if the office isn’t safe.
This episode is candid, occasionally spicy, and packed with immediately usable hiring and enablement takeaways.
Chapters
00:00 — Cold open & why “Dr. V”
03:00 — From single mom & felon to author and executive
06:10 — Sales lessons from the club: price floors, personas, and conversion
14:20 — The RTO debate: safety, reporting, and retaliation
28:30 — Are remote teams less productive? Training vs. environment
33:40 — Hiring beyond pedigree: what hunger looks like on a sales team
46:30 — What “disruptive innovation” work actually is (and isn’t)
53:10 — Founders: take calculated risks on people
References in the Show:
Quote of the Show:
“Well, I'll be happy to return to work when the workplace becomes safe. What does that mean? Well, women aren't safe in the workplace and they're not free from sexual harassment. 38% of women have reported experiencing sexual harassment. That's one in seven women who have left a job or declined a job because of sexual harassment. 60% of women have said they'd experienced unwanted sexual attention in the workplace. And in some industries, more than nine out of 10 women say they've been harassed sexually. So if you want me to return to work, and 85% of people don't who have experienced sexual harassment don't report sexual harassment, yet we still have these numbers attached to it from a 15% reporting sample. Why would I want to return to work when you haven't made it safe to do so?” - Dr. V
Ways to Tune In:
What is The Cheat Code & Friends?
Serial entrepreneurs and operators Justin Gray, Josh Wagner & Sean Kester combine decades of B2B and GTM expertise with unwavering honesty to unpack the latest news (fake or otherwise) on The Cheat Code & Friends Podcast. Combined with a rotating guest list of founders, practitioners and investors, the no-nonsense forum gathers fortnightly, holding court to translate headlines into reality and discuss the impact for early-stage businesses. The Cheat Code is just that, the trusted folks we look to for advice and insight, and we hope to bring the same to you.
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