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Leadership gets tested when the stakes are high and failure isn’t an option — and few understand that better than someone who led where decisions carried life-and-death consequences. In this episode of Cut to the Chase, Gregg Goldfarb sits down with Jacob “Jake” Bustoz, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, on how military leadership translates to the civilian business world.

From combat medic to the Medical Service Corps and operations across NATO missions and military medical institutions, Jake brings a perspective that’s equal parts disciplined and deeply human. Now working with organizations in healthcare, technology, and government, he explains why clarity is a leader’s most overlooked strategic asset — and how a company’s handling of complexity, talent, and internal politics determines whether it scales or stalls.

 

Join Gregg and Jake as they explore:

  • Why leadership is “relative and contextual,” not absolute 
  • What’s really behind declining military recruitment and the rise of the trades 
  • Why organizations fail from a lack of visibility, not intelligence or effort 
  • How to navigate difficult personalities and politics strategically 
  • Why the hiring decision may be the most important call a company makes
  • The difference between claiming value and creating it
  • What it means to be a “transformation-focused” leader

 

TIME STAMPS

0:00 — Cold open: the hook (why organizations fail, leadership, hiring, the human side of healthcare)

1:00 — Welcome: leadership tested when failure isn’t an option

2:02 — From the military to enterprise operations: how the transition happened

3:09 — Why the U.S. military may be the best leadership academy in the world (and the Army turns 250)

4:01 — College, trades, AI anxiety, and declining military recruitment

5:35 — Life after retirement: reinventing identity and seeking out discomfort

6:49 — Helping enterprises operate in complexity, and clarity as a strategic asset

8:12 — Why organizations really fail: visibility into how value gets created

8:52 — Taking the personality out of the equation at the top

10:23 — Talent and team building: why hiring is the most important decision 

12:26 — Finding talent in healthcare and remembering it’s still a business

14:27 — Empathy, conviction, and the human dimension of care

15:39 — What to do when the “head honcho” is the problem

16:58 — Being a “transformation-focused” executive and challenging the status quo

18:00 — Closing: how to reach Jake 

 

Jacob Jake Bustoz is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and a transformation-focused operations executive. He began his career as a combat medic before commissioning into the Medical Service Corps, going on to lead across NATO missions, healthcare systems, and military medical institutions — including operations supporting roughly 30,000 patients and 200 staff, alongside colleges, research centers, and faculty.

Today, Jake helps organizations in healthcare, technology, and government sectors design the systems, operating models, and capabilities they need to scale and perform reliably. His work centers on a single idea: that clarity — visibility into how a business truly creates value and makes decisions — is one of the most powerful strategic assets a leader can have. He is also affiliated with Duke University.

 

Contact Jacob Bustoz:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-bustoz-978896161/

Email: jbustoz@icloud.com

 

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