James Forrest talks with Chris Chuang, co-founder and CEO of Relay, whose career has moved from McKinsey and venture capital to Bandwidth, Republic Wireless, and now a company bringing cloud software and AI to frontline workers. A central theme is building for the long race rather than the sprint. Chris explains how Bandwidth changed his view of work and why he believes the 9-9-6 schedule carries a hidden cost in attrition. He also shares his view that serial founders succeed by bringing the same people with them from one company to the next. He walks through Relay's pivot from a consumer device for kids to a B2B platform, and why he believes empathy for frontline workers requires walking a steel mill rather than designing from a desk. He also reflects on what he learned from letting culture fragment at Republic. Chris closes with practical hiring advice for candidates, the weight a CEO's words carry, and the role his faith has played in the opportunities that opened along the way.

James Forrest sits down with Jeff Stocks, chairman of the Starboard Holding Companies and Nautical Advisory Services, whose career includes nearly 30 years leading one of the largest Manpower franchises in the country. A recurring theme is Jeff's view that conflict resolution is one of the weakest skills among CEOs, along with the motto his companies use to address it: run to the issue, not from it. He shares an early-career lesson about waiting too long to address a leader who did not fit the culture. He also explains why he considers culture an organization's biggest competitive advantage and why every leadership team in his portfolio holds equity. Jeff covers what first-time sellers should expect emotionally in an M&A process, how he balances facts and intuition when hiring, and how AI helped his firm win a major CEO search proposal. The conversation closes with the values Jeff traces back to growing up on a tobacco farm in eastern North Carolina, including humility, faith, and nearly 50 years of marriage.

On this episode of The C-Suite Exchange, James Forrest talks with Michael Goodmon, Executive Vice President of Capitol Broadcasting Company, whose family's work spans WRAL, the Durham Bulls, and the redevelopment of the American Tobacco Campus. The conversation centers on a belief Michael inherited from his father, that "the future is made of partnerships," and that a company cannot succeed unless the community around it succeeds too. Michael explains why he sees philanthropy as a duty rather than a marketing tool, and what it took for business leaders, Duke University, and city and county officials to take a risk on downtown Durham. He also shares why he believes a fourth-generation family business lasts by keeping ownership tied to the people who actually work in it. He speaks openly about his tendency to avoid difficult conversations, his concern that AI could widen the gap between the haves and have-nots, and the projects he is proudest of, including the American Underground, the Miracle League field, and more.