
Discipline, servant leadership, entrepreneurial success
| Publishes | Twice weekly | Episodes | 19 | Founded | 10 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Category | Business | |||

Ever wonder why some leaders build unbreakable teams while others fuel endless conflict? In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn explores how true civility comes from one essential skill: seeing through the other person’s eyes—strengthens relati... more
You’ve probably heard people say that morality is declining — but is it really? And what’s the real difference between being a moral person versus an amoral one? In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn cuts through the noise with clear thinking ... more
You have heard it said many times, but most people get it wrong. In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn uses smart business logic not magic to demystifying the proverb “Trust But Verify.”
Rob Artigo: I’m Rob Artigo, joined once again with Ray,... more
THIS PODCAST WAS RECORDED BEFORE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS WITH THE US AND IRAN. IT REMAINS RELEVANT.
Can an entrepreneur succeed and staying profitable even when some much seems out of control? In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn has a reali... more
I enjoy this podcast because I always get practical advice. Ray Zinn’s direct style allows each episode to pick a punch in just a couple of minutes.
It’s great to hear wisdom from such a successful CEO and hear the best practices of corporate culture!
There is an alternative to the VC route in Silicon Valley. Love it!!
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.








Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
The show centers on disciplined leadership, practical entrepreneurship, and straight-talking strategy grounded in decades of Silicon Valley experience. Episodes commonly explore themes like disciplined thrift, delegation, honest communication, and doing the hard things first, often framed through personal anecdotes and guidance from a veteran CEO and author. Its value proposition lies in clear, actionable leadership principles, tested tactics, and book-backed frameworks that aim to improve performance, accountability, and organizational culture for founders, executives, and teams navigating growth or downturns. A notable strength is the guest's consistent emphasis on honesty, measurable routines, and long‑term thinking over short‑term hype,... more
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Tough Things First. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Tough Things First and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Tough Things First, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Tough Things First, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers Tough Things First has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with Tough Things First:
Tough Things First launched 10 years ago and published 19 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Tough Things First from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Tough Things First. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on Tough Things First include:
1. Ray Zinn
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.