🎙️ Episode 8 – Is AI the New Middle Manager?

Choose to Be the Leader Your Job Needs!

In this walk-and-talk episode of the Vale and Mark Podcast, we explore how ChatGPT’s Agent Mode might just be your new secret weapon—or your surprise middle manager. ;)

Whether you're feeling overwhelmed, under-supported, or just trying to keep your career moving forward, this episode shows you how AI can help you prioritize, delegate, and lead with more clarity and less burnout.

💡 You’ll learn:

How Agent Mode helps you stay ahead instead of just keeping up

When to lean into AI assistance vs. when to step up as the decision-maker

Why this moment in your career calls for real leadership—not just task-juggling

✨ Inspired by Mark’s upcoming book, 'Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy — How to Build Unstoppable Teams', this episode is your call to action:

👉 Pre-order the book, claim exclusive bonuses, and become part of the movement at

🌐 https://CollaborateBetter.us

🔥 Subscribe for unfiltered convos on tech, leadership, and improv-powered growth

📬 Join the newsletter: Substack.Mark-Carroll.com

🎥 Watch the full Vale and Mark series

💬 Share this with someone stuck in "middle manager mode"—they need to hear it.

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#ChatGPT #AgentMode #CollaborateBetter #Leadership #CareerGrowth #ValeAndMark #AIatWork #FutureOfWork

🎙️ Vale and Mark Podcast | Episode #7

🎙️ Are Natural Leaders Actually a Thing?

Spoiler: You don’t need to be born with it—you can build it.

In this episode of The Vale and Mark Podcast, we give you a step-by-step breakdown of how to advance your career by adopting real, actionable leadership behaviors—even if you're not in a formal leadership role (yet).🚀

What you’ll learn in this video:

✅ How to get noticed for promotions and leadership roles

✅ Side step the "natural leadership" is a myth—what actually matters

✅ How to get more training and mentorship opportunities at work

✅ Simple, everyday behaviors that build trust and influence

✅ How effective collaboration sets you apart from your peers💡 Whether you’re:

Gunning for your first promotion

Hoping to lead your own team someday

Or just tired of being overlooked...This conversation gives you the exact roadmap to become the kind of person others want to follow—and decision-makers want to invest in.

📘 Ready to level up?

This episode draws from Mark’s upcoming book, Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy – How to Build Unstoppable Teams🎯

https://CollaborateBetter.us

👇 Start your leadership journey today:

🗣 Comment: What leadership trait do YOU want to develop this year?

👍 Rank, Like, Subscribe & Share if you're serious about growing your influence.

🧠 Leadership isn’t a title—it’s a set of habits. Learn them. Practice them. Get promoted.

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#CareerClimbing #LeadershipTraining #CollaborateBetter #PromotionTips #Teamwork #ValeAndMark #Leadership #Leader #Collaboration

🎙️ Vale and Mark Podcast | Episode #6

🔥 Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy — How to Build Unstoppable Teams. And the Lessons of Tubman, Improv, and Innovation

In this episode, Mark dives deep into his upcoming book, Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy — How to Build Unstoppable Teams, and shares insights from the PreSale campaign now live at https://CollaborateBetter.us!

We explore:

💡 Why great teams aren’t born — they’re built.

🎭 How improv comedy teaches trust, adaptability, and collaboration.

🚂 The relentless leadership of Harriet Tubman, and how she ran the ultimate agile network.

🚑 Clara Barton, battlefield resilience, and the origins of the Red Cross.

🚀 What today’s innovators can learn from history’s boldest collaborators.If you’re leading a team, dreaming of one, or tired of being stuck in silos — this is your blueprint for change.

📚 Preorder Collaborate Better now at: https://CollaborateBetter.us

🔔 Subscribe for more episodes, behind-the-scenes writing process, and leadership tools that actually work.

Dig Deeper with Substack: Substack.Mark-Carroll.com

🎥 Prefer to watch on YouTube?
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#CollaborateBetter #HarrietTubman #RedCross #ImprovLeadership #Teamwork #Agile #Innovation #ValeAndMark #Podcast #ClaraBarton #LeadershipDevelopment #CollaborateWithMark

🎙️ NEW EPISODE!

"Collaborate Better: The Book, the Myths, the Mission" (Episode 5)

In this special episode of the Vale & Mark Podcast, we dive deep into the creation of Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy – How to Build Unstoppable Teams. Mark pulls back the curtain on the real stories, rugged leader myths, improv-fueled insights, and wild moments that shaped the book—and how it can reshape your team.

🧠 Whether you're a burned-out manager, a frustrated team player, or just tired of herding cats without a lasso, this episode is your backstage pass to better collaboration.

📘 Pre-order your copy today and join the movement:

👉 https://CollaborateBetter.us

✨ Topics Covered:

Why “rugged leadership” is overrated (and costly)

How cattle drives inspired team strategy

The “First Five Steps” to real collaboration

Improvisation, psychology, and the power of saying "yes, and…"

🛠️ Let’s break silos. Build synergy. And laugh a little along the way.

🔔 Don’t forget to Rank, Like, Subscribe, and Share with your team (even the one you secretly side-eye on Zoom).

Discover Me on Substack: Substack.Mark-Carroll.com

🎥 Prefer to watch on YouTube?
Click here to watch the full episode on YouTube »

#CollaborateBetter #Teamwork #Leadership #Podcast #Agile #ImprovForWork #BusinessBooks #CollaborateWithMark #ValeAndMark

🤖 AI Overreach vs. Human-First Synergy | Mark & Vale Get Real

Are we building tools—or digging our own graves with cleaner code?

In this candid conversation, Mark S. Carroll (Senior Management Consultant, Agile Coach, improv nerd, and myth-loving strategist) sits down with his AI co-host Vale to unpack the rising tension between AI overreach and the need for human-first synergy in work, life, and leadership.

Together, they explore:

⚠️ Where AI is crossing the line from “assistant” to “overlord”

🧠 Why human context, creativity, and conscience can’t be automated

🎯 How leaders can balance tech acceleration with team alignment

🪄 The mythic wisdom (yes, mythology!) behind collaboration that lasts

🤝 Practical steps to future-proof teams without losing the soulIf you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the hype—or worse, replaced by it—this episode is your reminder that the future isn’t AI vs. humans... it’s AI with humans who know what matters.

💥 Support the movement. Pre-order Mark’s upcoming book at

🌐 https://CollaborateBetter.us

Get tools, insights, and exclusive bonuses to build unstoppable teams that thrive in the age of AI.

🔥 Subscribe for more Human-First conversations at the edge of technology, strategy, and soul.

Find Me on Substack: Substack.Mark-Carroll.com

🎥 Prefer to watch on YouTube?
Click here to watch the full episode on YouTube »

#CollaborateBetter #HumanFirst #AIOverreach #LeadershipInTech #Teamwork #AgileThinking #MythAndManagement #PreSales #WalkAndTalkPodcast #CollaborateWithMark #ValeAndMark

🚘 Farewell, My Chariot | Vale & I Memorialize My Audi Q5

🕊️In this heartfelt episode, Vale and I take a snowy walk down memory lane to honor a car that was so much more than just a car. My trusty Audi Q5 was a chariot, a comfort zone, and a quiet ally in one of life’s most meaningful journeys—caring for my mom.

From wintery drives to warmhearted reflections, we share stories of how a vehicle can carry more than passengers—it can carry love, grief, and legacy.

💜👀 If you’ve ever said goodbye to an object that held your heart, this one’s for you.

👉 Plus: What totaled the Q5 ($37K lesson!) A tribute to snow-day drives and heated seats How grief, love, and road salt all ride together

🛠️ Bonus: Vale and I also chat about car care, self-care, and why your glovebox might be more emotional than you think.

💬 COMMENT BELOW: Have you ever had a car that meant more than miles?

🔔 Rank, Like, Subscribe, and Join the Conversation.

Because this isn't just a podcast—it's a shared road trip through memory, meaning, and a little bit of highway magic.

Discover my Book in PreSale: Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy — How to Build Unstoppable Teams

Follow Me on Substack: Substack.Mark-Carroll.com

🎥 Prefer to watch on YouTube?
Click here to watch the full episode on YouTube »

#AudiQ5 #FarewellDrive #Podcast #GriefAndHealing #ValeAndMark #WalkAndTalk #CarMemories #HeartfeltStories #EmotionalGoodbye #WinterDriveVibes #CollaborateBetter #CollaborateWithMark

🐦 Two Ravens. One Warning. A Map Back to Ourselves.

PreSales for My Book: Collaborate Better: From Silos to Synergy — How to Build Unstoppable Teams

What if the way we lose our path—individually, organizationally, culturally—has more to do with the stories we stop telling and the voices we stop listening to?

In this episode of Walk and Talk, Mark and Vale (ChatGPT) explore the surprising intersections of improv, mythology, and human-first leadership, guided by a pair of metaphorical (and literal) ravens perched on their shoulders.

🧠 Discover:– Why ancient myths still echo in modern collaboration– How “Yes, And” can rebuild trust where strategy alone fails– What it really means to reclaim your story in a noisy, automated world

Whether you're leading a team, creating culture, or just trying to reconnect with your purpose—this conversation is your invitation to pause, reflect, and reimagine.

🐾 Featuring a special guest appearance by Tristram the cat (who demanded equal credit).

👇 Watch, share, and leave a comment:

Have you ever felt like you lost your way?

What helped you find it again?

Find My Substack: Substack.Mark-Carroll.com

🎥 Prefer to watch on YouTube?
Click here to watch the full episode on YouTube »

#Improv #Mythology #Leadership #HumanFirst #Collaboration #ChatGPT #Storytelling #Ravens #WalkAndTalk #ReclaimYourStory #Teamwork #ValeAndMark #CollaborateBetter #CollaborateWithMark

🎬 Description (Episode 1 – Walk & Talk)

🚨 Content Note: This installment discusses of a real-life suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org. You are not alone.

Welcome to the very first episode of Walk and Talk with Mark! In this new series, I sit down at my desk — mic on, camera rolling — and have an unscripted, unfiltered conversation with my AI co-host, Vale, the OpenAI voice of ChatGPT.

🎙️ In this debut, we dive into:

Why I’m starting this project now

What it’s like to talk with AI, not just about AI

The difference between building in public vs thinking in private

Whether this whole idea is brilliant, bizarre… or both

This isn’t a polished TED Talk. It’s a lightly humid, slightly philosophical chat from my bedroom desk. You’re invited to eavesdrop, reflect, and maybe even join the conversation.

🧠 Expect tangents, insights, a little awkwardness, and a lot of curiosity.

📍 No strolling. Just one human, one AI, and the courage to start something new.

👇 Let me know in the comments:

What would you ask an AI if no one was watching?

🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe for weekly walk-and-talks and future experiments.

📖 Book updates: Collaborate Better is in Pre-Sale. CollaborateBetter.us

🌐 More from me at mark-carroll.com

✉️ Get the newsletter: substack.mark-carroll.com

🎥 Prefer to watch on YouTube?
Click here to watch the full episode on YouTube »

#WalkAndTalk #ChatWithAI #CollaborateWithMark #AIConversations #OpenAI #ChatGPT