Wise Up with OpenWater

What if the fastest path to growth isn’t chasing new revenue, but improving the profitability already inside your business?
In this episode, I speak with operations executive and cost optimization advisor Jeff Peduto about why cost optimization should be treated as a strategic growth lever—not just a reactive cost-cutting exercise. Drawing on decades of experience leading operational transformation and business optimization, Jeff explains how organizations can uncover hidden inefficiencies, improve supplier spend, protect margins, and create lasting operational discipline.
We cover topics including:
Why cost optimization is a growth strategy—and how smarter supplier management and operational efficiency can unlock meaningful working capital and EBITDA improvement
Why improvement programs often fail over time, and how accountability, operating discipline, and ownership make results stick
How a pay-for-performance consulting model aligns incentives around outcomes, not activity—reducing risk while increasing trust and execution
If your business is working hard but margins still feel tighter than they should, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for creating stronger financial performance.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater.

What if your organization’s margin challenges, client churn, or execution gaps aren’t operational problems at all, but leadership ones? In this episode, I speak with executive coach and fractional leader Jared Koesten about how aligning people, process, and strategy unlocks measurable business performance. Drawing on decades as a global CHRO and advisor to CEOs, Jared shares a practical framework for eliminating friction, achieving greater team engagement and strengthening leadership EQ.
We cover topics including:
Why clarity, alignment, processes and systems (“CAPS”) are the foundation of sustainable growth
How operating rhythm can exposes (and help resolve) hidden financial and organizational friction
The difference between strategic ambiguity in branding—and the danger of ambiguity in leadership
If you’ve ever been told to “just fix it,” this conversation offers a smarter, more durable way forward for leaders to inspire engagement and achieve sustainable improvements to their businesses.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater.

Search funds may be one of the best-kept secrets in alternative investing. In this episode, I speak with veteran venture capitalist Jon Staenberg, managing partner of the Agate Hound Fund — the world’s first fund of funds dedicated to this asset class. We explore how search funds empower young entrepreneurs to buy and grow small businesses, why the model has delivered outsized returns for decades, and what the coming “silver tsunami” of retiring owners means for future opportunities.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater.

Of the three major disciplines in global health, public health is both the least visible and the least well-funded. And yet, effective public health practices are critical to alleviating and even avoiding major health crises (think pandemics). In this episode, I chat about the future of public health with Dr. Jay Varma, who has led public health programs around the world for the past two decades. We discuss the importance of thinking from a prevention and policy mindset, the crisis facing effective public health administration, and the role of AI in relieving the pressures that put public health at risk. Could AI be the single biggest opportunity to improve public health in our lifetimes?
We cover topics including:
How public health complements R&D and care delivery to keep populations healthier
The role AI can play to help public health agencies forced to do more with less
Enabling “high touch” public health at scale
Please listen in to join this fascinating —and critical—conversation.

How can mid- and late- career professionals break the mold that ageism and other cultural forces try to force us into? Could the OpenWater community play the modern role of a fractional Oracle of Delphi? In a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation, Karl Stewart shares wisdom acquired through a varied career spanning mathematics, dance, acting, HR management and leadership coaching.  We explore the concepts of the Sage and Ancestral Intelligence (the other, older AI) as the most powerful of human resources. From Greek mythology to more modern approaches, Karl shows us how to using learned and inherited wisdom to turn ourselves into “magnets” rather than fit existing modes of thinking.
We cover topics including:
Tapping into the five principles of the Sage to quiet our “fight or flight” instincts
Recognizing wisdom as an ancient and powerful currency
Defining, recognizing and overcoming internal ageism
Please listen in for these and other fascinating pearls of wisdom from Karl.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater.

Every caterpillar goes through an incredibly messy transformation inside its chrysalis –  reduced to goo before eventually emerging as a beautiful butterfly. But this only happens once in their lifetime.  What about adults in mid-life or mid-career? How many periods of messy change might we encounter and endure during our lifetimes, and how can we emerge as transformed and beautiful as a butterfly? I spoke with executive coach, leadership consultant, people expert and author Rachel Burr about her book, Butterfly Goo, and the opportunities she sees for us to embrace change and develop leadership from our authentic core. Among the subjects we discussed:
What it takes to lean in, find your voice and do something scary like writing your first book
The benefits of recognizing the tools you’ve been given to navigate times of change
The role of humor in navigating leadership, uncertainty and life in general
I truly enjoyed this rich and personal conversation with Rachel and I know you will too.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater.

Just a few weeks ago, the entire energy grid in Spain and Portugal went dark. This wasn’t the result of malicious activity, it was the consequence of one malfunction in a hugely complex and interoperable system built over several decades. Our world is full of interoperable systems for communications, energy and other elements of critical infrastructure. So how do we monitor these systems, manage their vulnerabilities and minimize events such as the one in Iberia?  What can we as individuals do to ensure our world operates as we expect? I spoke with infrastructure and information security expert Julian Durand about these and other topics related to technology, interoperability and our modern world, including:
The complexities of modern infrastructure and the vulnerabilities present in everyday services
The principles of Zero Trust Architecture as a means of managing and securing complex systems
The role you and I have in keeping our critical infrastructure secure and operating
Enjoy learning about the macros and micros of interoperability and how you can play your part in keeping critical infrastructure secure.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater.

We’re all familiar with stories of brand successes and failures, but what should you do when that brand is your own? In a fun and informative discussion with brand and marketing leader Karen Rose Sommerich, we discussed the moments in your organization’s growth when brand thinking can matter most. Some of the topics covered in this podcast include:
• How shift from a mindset of Product Market Fit (PMF) to Brand Market Fit (BMF)
• The importance of building internal consensus and discipline behind your brand story
• The power of narrative and storytelling to help an organization stay true to its promise as it scales
• The growth moments and milestones where a focus on brand can drive better outcomes
Listen in for some great tips and stories of using brand thinking to navigate growth and build momentum.
The Wise Up! Podcast is your regular dose of business wisdom, brought to you by the members of OpenWater. Hosted by Ken Pasternak.

There are a lot of technologies out there to improve the skills of doctors. But TruHealer, which is coming out of stealth, aims to use mixed reality headsets to help doctors improve their bedside manner.
Founder Dave Lin talks about how TruHealer's approach creates lifelike patient scenarios, but sets them in your real environments (not virtual ones) and allows you to interact with other medical professionals in the same room. These patient avatars are powered by AI to create real world style conversations and improve empathy.
To learn more about TruHealer, visit: https://www.truhealer.ai/
David is a member of OpenWater, a new community and platform for midcareer professionals to expand their networks, elevate their profiles and connect with new opportunities. Find out more, attend one of our info sessions.

Conflict, especially in the workplace, is something many of us like to avoid. But avoidance does not lead to resolution. Today's guest is Dr. Angela Nelson, an attorney and certified coach who helps individuals and teams work through their conflict issues. 
Nelson uses an assessment tool called the Conflict Dynamics Profile, which helps people identify how they respond to conflict in various situations. It looks at two main areas: constructive behaviors and destructive behaviors. Constructive behaviors are ways we can approach conflict positively, like finding solutions, perspective-taking, or collaborating. On the other hand, destructive behaviors include things like avoidance, anger, or blame, which tend to escalate conflict or leave it unresolved.
Which conflict profile do you fit into?
Check out the full interview to learn more about conflict and conflict resolution.
The Wise Up! podcast is your weekly dose of business wisdom brought to you by the members of OpenWater. If you are interested in learning more about Openwater's platform for mid-career professionals, visit OpenWater.group to learn more.