Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 601 - Your First Team Aug 04, 2026

Show notes

What if the most important team you lead is not the one you actually run?

In this solo episode, Cameron Herold tells the story of coaching a 400-person company that had become the best place to work in its state, then watched politics spread through the leadership team like black mold. Silos, turf wars, and finger-pointing crept in right as the company scaled.

His fix starts with one shift: your leadership team is your first team, not the department you run. Cameron breaks down the exact systems he used at 1-800-GOT-JUNK to keep leaders aligned, from weekly shout-outs and a shared dashboard to a rallying cry, offsite quarters, and even a giant Monopoly board.

If your leaders are protecting their own turf instead of winning together, this one is for you. Listen now.

Sponsored by:

Cadre AI – Helping business leaders identify the highest-impact opportunities for AI and implement strategies that drive greater efficiency, profitability, and revenue.

Learn more: https://cadreai.com

Timestamped Highlights

[01:04] - The leadership idea Cameron spent years figuring out before sharing it
[01:27] - The Florida company he grew 10x, then watched get infected
[01:56] - The black mold that spreads across even the best places to work
[02:34] - Why a wide receiver's most important team is not the offense
[02:59] - The first team rule every 1-800-GOT-JUNK leader lived by
[03:44] - The 15-second weekly habit that quietly kills silos
[05:05] - The rallying cry that pulls leaders out of their own turf
[05:55] - The death zone between 30 and 100 employees, and the trap inside it
[07:23] - Why your best quarterly planning never happens in the office
[08:07] - Why one simple dashboard beats sixty scattered metrics
[09:29] - The giant Monopoly board that turned projects into a team game
[11:30] - Flip your org chart upside down, and see who lands at the bottom

Mentioned Resources

1-800-GOT-JUNK (the company Cameron helped build and scale)
BlueGrace Logistics (the Florida company in the coaching story)
YPO (Young Presidents' Organization)

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Sponsored by:

Cadre AI – Helping business leaders identify the highest-impact opportunities for AI and implement strategies that drive greater efficiency, profitability, and revenue.

Learn more: https://cadreai.com

Ep. 600 - Jarrett Companies COO Mike Wood - The $1M Mistake That Made His Team Stronger Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

Ever wonder what happens when the COO who scaled a company to $100 million realizes he was the problem?

In this episode, Cameron sits down with Mike Wood, COO of Jarrett Companies, who joined a $2 million Nashville construction firm and helped grow it into seven companies doing over $100 million.

They get into the machinery behind that growth: meetings from 6 to 9 a.m., five days a week, a double check on everybody in the building, and profit sharing that turns leaders into owners. Then it goes deeper. Mike opens up about learning to read at 25, the misery that followed his biggest turnaround, and the million-dollar flood where taking full ownership changed his entire team.

If the noise in your head is louder than the problems on your desk, this conversation is your way out. Listen now.

Sponsored by:

STS Capital – A global M&A advisory firm helping entrepreneurs achieve maximum value when selling their business, with a focus on strategic buyers and life-changing exits.

Learn more: https://stscapital.com

Timestamped Highlights

05:30 - Two million to one hundred million: why Mike had to keep replacing himself, over and over

07:38 - Meetings from 6 to 9 a.m., five days a week: the double check habit that ended repeat mistakes

13:16 - The six out of ten rule: why waiting two months on a problem employee costs you everything

15:51 - How to create safety before a hard conversation, so people can actually hear you

18:41 - The science of angry leadership: cortisol, the default mode network, and why exploding makes you dumber

23:26 - More money, happy family, great job, and the most miserable he had ever been: the fish tank moment

24:30 - Learning to read at 25: how a rare form of dyslexia wrote the negative script in Mike's head

30:28 - "This flood is my fault": the $1 million claim that became a masterclass in taking ownership

34:32 - What owners do when nobody is watching, and why every person in the building needs a double check

42:10 - Inside Learn to Love Being You: removing identities, forgiveness, and rewriting the stories that haunt us

About the Guest

Mike Wood is the COO of Jarrett Companies, a Nashville-based commercial construction group spanning site work, paving, concrete, fire protection, and mechanical services. Since joining as an estimator and project manager, he has helped grow the business from $2 million to more than $100 million in revenue across seven companies, including a fire protection company later sold to a private equity firm. Mike is also the founder of Learn to Love Being You, a 10-week program that helps people quiet anxiety and self-doubt through the same inner work that transformed his own leadership.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

Mentioned Resources

Jason Jarrett, CEO of Jarrett Companies
Learn to Love Being You
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
Smartsheet
1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron's book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Sponsored by:

STS Capital – A global M&A advisory firm helping entrepreneurs achieve maximum value when selling their business, with a focus on strategic buyers and life-changing exits.

Learn more: https://stscapital.com

Ep. 599 - Calix COO John Durocher - Why Your Best People May Be in the Wrong Seat Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

What if the smartest move you can make is to disrupt your own company before a competitor does?

In this episode, Lindsay Smith sits down with John Durocher, the self-described accidental COO of Calix. John never set out to run operations. He came up through consulting and customer success, never managed a supply chain or an IT org, and that is exactly why his CEO wanted him in the seat. His mandate: question everything.

John and Lindsay get into how to lead change when everyone is comfortable, build a leadership team that actually trusts each other, give feedback in the moment rather than at review season, and use AI to take drudgery off people rather than cut headcount. He also shares the directive that shaped his role: go build the company that would beat us.

For any second-in-command driving transformation without breaking their people, this is a playbook. Listen now.

This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.

They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.

If you and your leadership team are ready to operate at the next level, take the Elite Organizations Assessment and receive a free 20-page customized report based on your answers, plus a complimentary one-hour coaching session with a Next Level Growth Partner and Business Guide to begin implementing tools that will help you build an even more elite business.

Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessment

Timestamped Highlights

[00:01:32] The accidental COO: how a late-night phone call rewrote John’s career
[00:08:46] Why the people who succeeded longest have the hardest time changing
[00:10:05] Disrupt yourself, or wait to be disrupted... the directive that built his role
[00:10:59] When your CEO used to work for you: inside an unusually honest relationship
[00:16:11] Why John never waits for a formal review to give hard feedback
[00:18:22] The courageous conversation with his boss that became a breakthrough
[00:21:03] The team reset that exposes how little colleagues really know each other
[00:27:26] Seeing the seams: the bird’s eye view nobody else in the company has
[00:29:28] “Staple yourself to the order form” and other ways to fix the customer experience
[00:33:46] Fast isn’t always good... what moving too quickly does to an organization
[00:36:08] Stop telling your boss why it won’t work. Do this instead.
[00:37:25] The COO’s job is to slow down the CEO, not slam on the brakes
[00:42:43] Does remote work actually work? John’s rebuttal to the water-cooler myth
[00:46:41] What’s next for Calix: AI agents and the smart apartment

About the Guest

John Durocher is the Chief Operations Officer at Calix, where he leads operations across the company, from customer success and commercial operations to supply chain and IT. He joined Calix in 2023 as Chief Customer Officer and stepped into the COO role about a year ago. Before Calix, John spent 17 years at Salesforce leading customer success, where he watched the company grow from $250M to $30B in revenue. He began his career in consulting, including time at Accenture and Arthur Andersen, and describes himself as an accidental COO who treats the job like one long consulting project.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

Mentioned Resources

Salesforce
Accenture
Michael Weening - President and CEO of Calix

About the Co-Host

Lindsay Smith is an experience-driven growth strategist and former Chief Strategy Officer who scaled a new region without a traditional sales team or bloated marketing budget by turning relationships, culture, and execution into revenue. She is the author of No One Needs Another Company Mug. Stop Branding. Start Experiencing and helps leadership teams use experience as a competitive growth lever.

🔗 Connect with Lindsay on LinkedIn

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take Cameron’s leadership course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold and co-hosted by Lindsay Smith. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.

They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.

Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessment

Ep. 598 - What's the point of a COO? Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

What is a COO actually for, and why do so many CEOs never figure it out?

In this solo episode, Cameron Herold tackles a question most CEOs never answer clearly: What is the point of a COO? Working through Chapter 2 of his book Second in Command, he makes the case that there is no single template. The right COO is the one who fits the CEO.

Cameron breaks down the traits that set strong seconds-in-command apart. Inward versus outward-facing roles. Translating between departments without being the expert. Finding shortcuts and building systems, the worst employee on the worst day can still run. He shares hard-won lessons from his years as COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, including the blowup that spread bad energy through the company for a month.

Get the fit wrong, and you get a swamped firefighter. Get it right, and you get real leverage. Listen now.

Timestamped Highlights

[00:36] – Why there’s no single template for a great COO, only fit
[02:16] – Inward or outward facing: which COO does your CEO actually need
[04:52] – The role a COO almost always plays, even when nobody sees them
[06:05] – Why being a chameleon beats being the smartest expert in the room
[08:29] – Empowerment over rescue: the parenting rule that reframes the job
[10:36] – The department feud Cameron refereed without taking over the work
[11:29] – The burned-out Starbucks sign that exposes a leadership question
[13:07] – The currency bet that saved $100,000 a year for every penny
[14:13] – The Buffalo snowstorm test for whether a system truly works
[15:20] – Strategy or tactics: the Sun Tzu line every COO should sit with
[19:07] – The blowup that spread bad energy through the company for a month
[19:50] – Why the best COO might be 27, not 57

Mentioned Resources

Free PR by Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Shopify (Harley Finkelstein, Tobias Lütke)
1-800-GOT-JUNK and O2E Brands (Erik Church)
Apple (Steve Jobs)
Tesla (Elon Musk)
Ben & Jerry’s (Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield)
Starbucks (Greg Johnson)
Dell (Michael Dell)
Meta (Facebook) (Sheryl Sandberg)

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Ep. 597 - You.com COO Alex Triplett - How To Make or Break a COO in The First 90 Days Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

What if walking away from the CEO seat was the smartest career move you could make in AI right now?

Cameron Herold sits down with Alex Triplett, COO of you.com, the company quietly powering web search for AI agents behind brands like Salesforce, Anthropic, and Harvey. Alex turned down the chance to be a CEO to take the second-in-command seat at a fast-moving AI startup, and he explains exactly why.

They get into the operator work most leaders avoid: walking into a 135-person company, making a brutal focus call, and rebuilding the team around a single mission. Alex breaks down his first 90 days, the listening tour that validated his biggest decision, how he sells to enterprise without getting strung along, and the system that keeps him out of the minutiae.

Skip this one, and you risk what most new executives do: the right idea at the wrong time, and broken trust. Listen now for the unfiltered COO playbook on focus and timing.

Timestamped Highlights

10:16 – “Google for AI agents,” explained: the invisible layer your favorite LLM cannot work without

13:18 – You might be using you.com right now without knowing it. Here is where it hides in the AI stack

15:08 – How to tell a real enterprise deal from a buyer who is just keeping you busy

19:56 – The COO superpower hiding in plain sight, and why it gets you a seat at the C-suite table

23:08 – Chief of staff or glorified executive assistant? The title too many companies get wrong

25:24 – Three companies, one founder: how Richard runs you.com while raising $650M for a frontier lab

33:34 – 135 people on day one: the focus call that cut the team to 110, then built it back stronger

38:01 – One mission, one North Star, and the moment focus “just exploded” the company

39:23 – The first 90 days that make or break a COO: the listening tour that validated everything

47:23 – Why this COO leaves messages unread on purpose, and what it taught him about good decisions

50:09 – The one-sentence piece of advice he would give his 22-year-old self

About the Guest

Alex Triplett is the Chief Operating Officer of you.com, the leading web search API for AI agents, serving customers like Salesforce, Anthropic, and Harvey. An investor turned operator, Alex spent the first decade of his career in private equity before moving to the operating side. He served as Global Head of Corporate Development at ION Group, where he helped grow the business from $150 million to $3 billion in revenue, and later as CFO and COO of Appfire. He also chairs the board of the travel app Pangea and holds a degree from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

Mentioned Resources

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Timestamped Highlights

[00:00] – The question-asking habit that separates growing companies from stuck ones
[00:52] – Why most CMOs are interchangeable, but no two COOs share the same job
[01:40] – The only non-negotiable requirement for any COO
[02:31] – The research that uncovered the seven main categories of COO
[04:30] – When a change agent should come from outside the company
[05:34] – Why changing a company’s culture is like dealing with teenagers
[07:30] – The mentor move that shaped Facebook’s earliest years
[08:30] – The marriage test every CEO-COO pairing has to pass
[13:18] – The leadership meeting comment that earned Cameron the COO title
[18:57] – The homeowner and contractor rule for splitting the what from the how
[23:20] – Why the CEO, not the COO, should be the tiebreaker

Mentioned Resources

Riding Shotgun: The Role of the COO by Nate Bennett and Stephen A. Miles
Second in Command: The Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer by Nate Bennett and Stephen A. Miles (Harvard Business Review)
Double Double by Cameron Herold
High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil
Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Claim your FREE* copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

*Valid only for CEOs or COO/Second in Command based in the US or Canada at companies wih $2M + revenue.

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Ep. 595 - Rythmia CMO Dr. Jeff McNairy – How to Lead a Visionary Founder Without Choking the Dragon Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

What does it take to keep a brilliant, unpredictable founder from burning down the very thing he built?

In this episode, Cameron Herold sits down with Dr. Jeff McNairy, Chief Medical Officer and second in command at Rythmia, the only medically licensed ayahuasca facility in the world. Jeff gave up his psychology license to help build something the medical world said could not exist.

He and founder Jerry Powell turned a jungle dive into a 245-person operation that has guided roughly 23,000 guests through a seven-day program. Jeff gets into the two-year fight for a medical license, the indigenous partnership, and the daily work of bridging a medical team with a shamanic one.

Most of all, he explains the real job of a second-in-command to a wild founder: not running the strategy, but keeping the person steady enough to keep the company alive. Listen now.

Timestamped Highlights

[00:07:09] – What Rythmia actually is, and why it calls itself the only one of its kind in the world.
[00:08:31] – How many guests have come through the doors, and what the week demands of you before you ever arrive.
[00:10:36] – The medical reason a single “healthy” supplement can turn dangerous with ayahuasca.
[00:12:42] – Where ayahuasca comes from, and the two plants that have to be combined to make it work.
[00:13:56] – The three moments in life your body floods with DMT all on its own.
[00:17:02] – How a rehab patient ended up becoming the founder of a company.
[00:19:14] – The flaw Jeff kept seeing in Western medicine that sent him looking for something else.
[00:21:10] – The addiction that nearly ended Jerry Powell before Rythmia ever existed.
[00:24:37] – The decision to build something safer and cleaner than what they first found.
[00:31:18] – The license Jeff knew he would have to surrender to go all in.
[00:33:44] – How he convinced a conservative government to allow this on the books.
[00:36:14] – The hunt for an indigenous lineage still living in the mountains.
[00:40:53] – The hardest balancing act in running Rythmia today.
[00:43:51] – Why the body absorbs stem cells differently after a week of ceremony.
[00:44:37] – The community Jeff and Jerry are building beyond the resort walls.
[00:47:37] – How to lead a visionary founder without choking the dragon.
[00:51:52] – The advice Jeff would give his 21-year-old self.

About the Guest

Dr. Jeff McNairy is a doctorate-level psychologist (Psy.D., M.P.H.) and the Chief Medical Officer and second-in-command at Rythmia, the only medically licensed ayahuasca facility in the world, located in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. He spent decades in clinical care, from training at UCLA Medical Center to running a drug and alcohol rehab in Malibu, before co-building Rythmia with founder Jerry Powell. Jeff led the two-year effort to secure Rythmia’s medical license with the Costa Rican Ministry of Health and now oversees its medical team of doctors, nurses, and a paramedic alongside the center’s shamanic team, guiding the safety and clinical side of a program that has served guests from all over the world.

🔗Website | Company

Mentioned Resources

Rythmia Life Advancement Center – the medically licensed ayahuasca facility in Costa Rica
MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), founded by Rick Doblin
Agape International Spiritual Center, founded by Michael Beckwith
Passages
UCLA Medical Center
Bulletproof, founded by Dave Asprey
Joe Rogan
Tim Ferriss

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance – The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Sponsored by:

Redirect Health - Affordable healthcare benefits designed to make traditional insurance optional, with 24/7 access to primary care and Rx support that helps businesses reduce costs while keeping employees covered.

Learn more: http://www.redirectcoo.com/

Ep. 594 - Dark Side of Scaling Jul 07, 2026

Show notes

What if the parts of building a $100 million company nobody posts about are the ones you most need to hear?

In this recast episode, Cameron Herold drops the highlight reel and tells the truth about scaling. The near-bankruptcy at $100 million. The $9 million fraud. The nervous breakdown on an elevator floor. The stuff entrepreneurs never post about until years later, if ever.

Cameron walks through the crises that actually shaped him, why cash is oxygen, why he stopped chasing balance, and how losing his identity to a logo nearly cost him his health, his marriage, and his closest friendships.

It is raw, funny, and uncomfortably honest, and it is the conversation most founders are too scared to have. Revisit it or hear it for the first time. Listen now.

Timestamped Highlights

[00:01:02] The crises Cameron lived through in 40 years of building companies, and why he never talks about them
[00:04:06] The pizza-and-beer night that flipped 12 employees from jealous to terrified
[00:05:32] How $5 million in cash drained to zero in nine weeks at 1-800-GOT-JUNK
[00:07:15] The bank meeting that exposed how little they understood their own business
[00:11:53] A $9 million fraud hidden inside a company everyone loved working for
[00:17:00] The elevator floor, the sobbing, and the breakdown nobody saw coming
[00:18:26] The doctor's test that put Cameron at a 90%-plus heart attack risk
[00:20:51] The podcast invite that turned into an elaborate account takeover
[00:27:24] The four words from an employee that changed how Cameron lived
[00:30:46] The 17-hour-day math behind the biggest lie Cameron told himself
[00:36:12] Why 60% and 57.6% are not the same thing, and what it quietly costs you
[00:39:42] The grapefruit at breakfast that signaled Cameron was about to be fired
[00:46:27] What a rich life actually looks like to Cameron now
[01:11:00] The vacation rule Cameron will fire an employee for ignoring

Mentioned Resources

Important Links

Connect with Cameron. Website and LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Ep. 593 - Cowboy Space Corporation COO & CLO Joe Yaffe - The Leadership Secrets Powering a $2B Space Revolution Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

What would you risk to build something that’s never been done, like beaming energy from orbit or launching football-field-sized data centers into space?

In this raw conversation, Cameron Herold sits down with Joe Yaffe, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of Cowboy Space Corporation. They dig into the grit, tension, and daily chaos of scaling a $2 billion startup that’s disrupting the commercial space sector. Joe shares his path from buttoned-down law firm partner to space industry executive, revealing the secret levers behind talent acquisition, relentless execution, and leadership in a market obsessed with moonshots.

Skip this episode and you may miss the playbook for outpacing ten times bigger rivals. Listen now for a rare, inside-out look at operational leadership under real pressure. This is not the usual founder hype.

This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.

They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.

Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessment

Timestamped Highlights

00:47 – Why Cowboy Space Corporation had to kill its first name

04:51 – The phone call that forced a total company rebrand

08:44 – Turning sci-fi into reality with orbital energy grids

13:04 – Football-field-sized data centers…the inside story

18:27 – How a lawyer actually becomes a high-performing COO

20:59 – Why top-tier talent flocks to Cowboy despite fierce competition

27:58 – The unspoken rules for hiring (and keeping) world-class engineers

34:40 – The real cost of prioritizing in chaos as a second-in-command

49:17 – The advice Joe Yaffe would give his 21-year-old self

About the Guest

Joe Yaffe is the COO & CLO of Cowboy Space Corporation, a $2B commercial space startup building orbital energy grids and advanced data centers. Previously, Joe spent 31 years as an M&A and founders’ counsel at top law firms, advising Silicon Valley’s elite. Now he’s translating legal precision into operational strategy at one of the West Coast’s boldest tech companies.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

Mentioned Resources

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.

They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.

Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessment

Ep. 592 - Your Employees Can’t Read Your Mind: The Vision Gap Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

Are you really wired to scale, or just bracing for endless chaos?

Cameron Herold, the relentless "Business Growth Guru," rips open the playbook on what actually drives proven, sustainable hypergrowth in today's world. With stories from building global brands like 1-800-GOT-JUNK and years in the trenches with top COOs, Cameron refuses to let leaders settle for mediocrity. He dives brutally deep into the operational and psychological traps choking your ambitions, then hands you a clear, actionable path out.

Miss this episode, and you risk falling behind a tidal wave of companies finally nailing what you keep saying is “impossible.” Listen now if you’re done with excuses and ready for the real, unfiltered edge on systems, talent, and culture. Nobody else is mapping the way out of the chaos like this.

Timestamped Highlights

00:59 – The poll that instantly exposes entrepreneurial wiring

03:14 – The $100M leap: inside systems that really scale

09:04 – The Vivid Vision rewiring that most leaders get wrong

17:12 – Why your vision should repel, not just attract

22:01 – The underused firing muscle that speeds up growth

25:57 – The “A Player” myth that’s costing you millions

39:01 – Brutal truth: why you’re investing all your energy in the wrong people

51:01 – Delegation, coaching, AI… why you won’t survive unless you develop these now

Mentioned Resources

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

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Timestamped Highlights

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Timestamped Highlights

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Timestamped Highlights

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Timestamped Highlights

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Timestamped Highlights

About the Guest

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Sponsored by:

Timestamped Highlights

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Timestamped Highlights

About the Guest

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Timestamped Highlights

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