Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley
The $2.5M CEO Problem: Why Leaders Who Make Millions Create Employees Who Quit | Mita Mallick
23 Oct 2025
Join our community of fearless leaders in search of unreasonable outcomes... Want to become a FEARLESS entrepreneur and leader? Go here: https://www.findingpeak.com Watch on YouTube: https://link.ryanhanley.com/youtube In this episode of Finding Peak, Ryan Hanley sits down with Mita Mallick, USA Today bestselling author of The Devil Emails at Midnight, to expose the leadership crisis driving the Great Resignation. The conversation cuts through the corporate BS to reveal why employees aren't just leaving for better pay—they're fleeing leaders who demand sacrifice while hoarding wealth and refusing to show basic human decency. Connect with Mita Millick The Devil Emails at Midnight: https://amzn.to/3Wjk2bw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mita-mallick-2b165822/ Website: https://www.mitamallick.com/ Key Insights: The compensation hypocrisy is killing companies. CEOs making $50-70 million are laying off thousands of employees instead of taking reasonable pay cuts. Mallick and Hanley dissect how this wealth gap destroys trust and drives top talent out the door. When leaders won't sacrifice anything but expect employees to sacrifice everything, loyalty evaporates. Bad bosses are manufactured by broken systems. Mallick reveals the three moments that create toxic leaders: environmental stress (tariffs, economic uncertainty), leadership emulation (new managers copying bad behavior because it's all they know), and personal crises (grief, divorce, illness) that leaders try to compartmentalize but can't. The system creates these monsters, then acts surprised when employees quit. "Healthy vulnerability" vs. "toxic vulnerability" is the line between trust and manipulation. Leaders who admit they don't have all the answers build loyalty. Leaders who weaponize their personal problems to justify abusive behavior destroy teams. Mallick explains how to spot the difference and what to do when your boss crosses that line. Flexibility isn't charity—it's competitive advantage. Hanley shares how he built a powerhouse team by hiring talented mothers other companies threw away because they couldn't punch a time card from 8:30 to 4:30. These women outperformed everyone because they were given autonomy and trust. Meanwhile, rigid leaders are bleeding talent and wondering why. The Great Resignation is a leadership referendum. Employees aren't leaving jobs—they're leaving leaders who treat them like disposable resources while enriching themselves. The data is clear: people will tolerate a lot, but they won't tolerate hypocrisy and disrespect forever. Recommended Tools for GrowthOpusClip: #1 AI video clipping and editing tool: https://link.ryanhanley.com/opusRiverside: HD Podcast & Video Software | Free Recording & Editing: https://link.ryanhanley.com/riversideWhisperFlow: Never waste time typing on your keyboard again: https://link.ryanhanley.com/whisperflowCaptionsApp: One app for all your social media video creation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/captionsappGoHighLevel: It's time to take your business workflow to the Next Level: https://link.ryanhanley.com/gohighlevelPerspective.co: The #1 funnel builder for lead generation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/perspectiveEpisodes You Might Enjoy:From $2 Million Loss to World-Class Entrepreneur: https://lnk.to/delkFrom One Man Shop to $200M in Revenue: https://lnk.to/tommymelloIs Psilocybin the Gateway to Self-Mastery? https://lnk.to/80upZ9 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Full Episode
Why do people micromanage? You're under pressure from your boss. You think you can do it faster. The number one job of leaders is to grow more leaders. If you're doing someone's job for them, they're not learning.
Mita, it's great to have you on the show today. Thanks so much for taking the time.
Thanks for having me on. I'm excited for our conversation.
Yeah. And congratulations, USA Today bestseller. That's tremendous.
Yes. Amazing. I was celebrating with mom. We've been celebrating all week. Yeah. Wonderful. Yes. Wonderful.
Wonderful. Well, we are here to talk about your book in particular, because I think The topic is so incredibly timely. It's something that a lot of people deal with. And, you know, essentially there's a premise in there that I think is very intriguing to me, which is bad bosses are made. So I'm very interested in the idea of how are they made? Because I think a lot of people might just think,
this guy's a dick, he's always been one, you know what I mean? Like that's the way he is, he was born that way, you know, whatever. But I don't think, and this is what really intrigued me about your work was, I don't think people think that they can be actually created, right? Like someone could be maybe a normal person and somehow become a bad boss because they're made into that.
So maybe we can start there.
Sure. I believe we're all a product of our circumstances and experiences and backgrounds. And when I think about bad bosses not being born and being made, I think about three moments when bad boss behavior shows up. The first moment I think about is there's some stress on the environment and stress in the business.
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