Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley

I help founders & executives generating more than $10M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley

I was 17 years old. Kitchen table my mom bought at a garage sale. I hand-wrote 17 letters to college baseball coaches with a message no teenager should have the nerve to send: my family is broke, whoever gives me the most money, that's where I'm going.

George Mack calls what happened at that table high agency. Three wheels: clear thinking, bias to action, disagreeability. This episode breaks down why high agency is not a trait you're born with. It's a state you access. And the fastest path to that state is what I call Easy Mode.

I also make the argument that most people are using AI backwards. They're speeding up hard mode. That's the low agency move. The real play is building an AI layer that protects your zone of genius so you can operate at full high agency by default.

Ryan Hanley is the host of Finding Peak, author of the forthcoming book Easy Mode, and founder of the PEAK coaching framework for founders and executives generating $10M+ in revenue.

If this episode connected with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. That's the best way to support this work.

Follow Ryan:

Website: https://ryanhanley.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryan_hanley

This is the way.

Hanley.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I help founders & executives generating more than $10M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley
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We are facing an epidemic of intellectual laziness. Leaders are handing over their creative output to machines. They are letting their problem-solving muscles atrophy. This is a massive mistake.
Ryan Hawk joins me to break down the real cost of outsourcing your thinking. We dig into why curiosity is the ultimate competitive advantage. We cover the brutal truth about excuses and how they soften your character. We get into why being coachable is the single most intoxicating trait a leader can possess.
If you want to build long-term success, you cannot be closed off to feedback. You need truth tellers in your corner. You need to pay the price of becoming.
Ryan Hawk is the host of The Learning Leader Show and author of The Price of Becoming. He has interviewed hundreds of the world's most brilliant minds on leadership and high performance. He is one of the sharpest thinkers I have had on this show.
Subscribe to his Mindful Mondays newsletter at learningleader.com.
Connect with Ryan Hawk:
Website: https://learningleader.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhawk12/
Book: The Price of Becoming: https://amzn.to/4fz6nYt

Follow Ryan Hanley:
Website: https://ryanhanley.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryan_hanley
X: https://x.com/ryanhanley_com

This is the way.
Hanley.

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I help founders & executives generating more than $10M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley
What got you here will not get you there.
The world is moving faster than any of us expected. Jobs are disappearing overnight. Industries are getting rebuilt from scratch. And the people who are winning are not the ones with the highest IQ or the most emotional intelligence. They are the ones who can handle change, disappointment, and uncertainty without losing their footing.
That is AQ. Your Agility Quotient.
In this episode, we break down why hustle culture is a lie. We explore the difference between taste and pastiche in an AI-driven world. We dig into the four archetypes of agility and how to figure out which one you are. We talk about the end of history illusion and why your past success might be the biggest threat to your future growth.
This one is a gut check. Take notes.
Liz Tran coaches the CEOs and founders of the fastest-growing companies on the planet. Her clients have raised more than $1 billion in funding from firms like A16Z, Sequoia, and Y Combinator. She spent a decade in tech, including four years as the only female executive at one of the largest venture funds in the world. She is the author of "The Karma of Success" and "AQ: A New Kind of Intelligence for a World That's Always Changing" (Penguin Random House, 2026 ).
Take the AQ Quiz: https://aqquiz.com/
Connect with Liz Tran:
Website: https://liz-tran.com/
AQ (Book ): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786825/aq-by-liz-tran/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liztranwrites/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liztran1/

Follow Ryan:
Website: https://ryanhanley.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryan_hanley

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I help founders & executives generating more than $10M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley
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You’ve been lied to.
Open up any business podcast and you’ll hear the same tired advice: Burn the boats. Swing for the fences. Bet it all on a moonshot.
According to Sir Richard Harpin, that’s a fantastic way to bankrupt your company.
In 1993, Richard took £50,000 and started a home emergency repair business called HomeServe. Thirty years later, he sold it to Brookfield Asset Management for £4.1 billion. He didn’t do it by being a cowboy. He did it through ruthless discipline, small bets, and a willingness to admit when he was the bottleneck in his own company.
In this episode, Richard breaks down his exact 9-step playbook: why you should copy your competitors, how to buy a "boring" business with vendor finance, the 15% rule for global expansion, and why hiring your replacement is the ultimate Easy Mode.
If you want to build a massive business without the ego, this episode is your blueprint.
This is the way.
— Ryan Hanley
Connect with Sir Richard Book
Book — How to Make a Billion in 9 Steps: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-make-a-billion-in-nine-steps-richard-harpin/1147872744?ean=9780349445403
Website: https://www.richardharpin.com/
Business Leader: https://businessleader.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rharpin/

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I help founders & executives generating more than $10M in revenue find their Easy Mode. Start here: https://ryanhanley.com/subscribe
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/ryanmhanley
You’ve been doing it wrong.
You think negotiation is a battle across a boardroom table. You think it’s about being the loudest, the hardest, the one who refuses to budge.
Here is the truth: The most expensive negotiation you will ever lose is the one happening inside your own head before you even open your mouth.
Today on Finding Peak, I sit down with Attia Qureshi—former MIT faculty, U.S. State Department consultant, and author of Never Settle. We break down why your "hard shell" is actually costing you money, power, and relationships.
We cover:
Why 40% of men under 30 have never asked a woman out in person (and what it means for the future of business).
The "Lemonade Strategy" that turned a hostile neighbor into a massive real estate asset.
How to stop negotiating with yourself and adopt the Mamba Mentality.
The exact script to guess someone's hidden motives without setting off a landmine.

If you are tired of leaving money on the table and walking away from conversations wishing you had asked for more, this episode is your playbook.
Grab Attia's new book
Never Settle: https://amzn.to/3P8YAWs
Get her free Emotion Wheel tool: https://www.attiaqureshi.com/archetypequiz

This is the way.
Hanley

This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators.
👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.