How do you rebuild your life when everything changes?
In this episode of Adding Context, Michael Bollentin sits down with award-winning author, speaker, coach, and brain tumor survivor Risa August to explore resilience, personal growth, and the power of reinvention. After navigating a brain tumor, a rare disease, the end of an 18-year marriage, and a solo 1,845-mile bicycle journey from Canada to Mexico, Risa shares how one simple question—"What CAN I do?"—helped transform adversity into purpose.
Together, they discuss overcoming life's unexpected challenges, redefining identity, embracing change, and finding hope through uncertainty. If you're interested in resilience, mindset, healing, self-discovery, and turning setbacks into opportunities for growth, this conversation offers practical wisdom and an inspiring perspective on what it means to keep moving forward. Follow Risa at www.risaaugust.com
4 Jul 2026
In AI we Trust?
In this episode of Adding Context, Michael Bollentin sits down with Jack Myers to explore one of the defining challenges of our time: the growing erosion of trust. Their conversation examines why skepticism has spread beyond the media into government, healthcare, education, business, and other institutions, while unpacking the difference between authority and legitimacy, why trust is a relationship rather than a metric, and what today's leadership challenges reveal about the systems we've built.
Michael and Jack also discuss the changing expectations of younger generations, the role of authenticity and transparency in leadership, and how artificial intelligence is reshaping communication, decision-making, and human connection. From collaboration under pressure to the future of media and technology, this episode offers a thoughtful look at what it will take to rebuild trust in an increasingly complex world.
Follow Jack at www.jackmyers.com for all of his books, shows, and content.
13 Feb 2026
Code 3!
In this episode of Adding Context, we sit down with Patrick Pianezza - former paramedic, screenwriter, and co-creator of the film Code 3 - for an unflinching conversation about the realities of emergency medical services, burnout, and why authentic storytelling matters.
Drawing from more than a decade on the truck, Patrick shares how Code 3 became a “love letter to EMS”: a project rooted in lived experience rather than Hollywood myth. Patrick explores the emotional toll of first response, the stigma surrounding mental health in EMS, and the cultural tendency to avoid uncomfortable truths about violence, death, and exhaustion.
This conversation goes beyond film. It’s about orientation—how first responders survive the weight of the job, how storytelling can impose a societal cost on ignoring burnout, and why changing your mind, asking better questions, and adding context may be the most honest way forward.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
8,150,385
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
14 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
47
Social presence
0
YouTube
93
Engagement
77
Contact Adding Context
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Adding Context?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
