Why this CEO chooses discomfort over comfort every time

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Most people build their careers by hunting for stability and a predictable path. But today’s guest has spent nearly 20 years doing the exact opposite. He calls himself the "Chaos Hunter" because he deliberately takes the jobs that are messy, broken, and have no template for success.

In this unfiltered episode, I sit down with Puneet Raj, the CEO of Fieldwire by Hilti. Puneet’s journey is wild. At just 25 years old, he took over a brand at Unilever that was losing $8.50 for every $10 it made. He shut down three factories and rebuilt the business from scratch. From there, his addiction to fixing corporate messes took him through INSEAD, Amazon, and eventually to Hilti, where he raised his hand to steer Fieldwire through a massive corporate storm after the founders walked out.

We dive deep into what it takes to lead through structural panic , the unique career compromises he makes with his spouse to relocate across eight countries , and why traditional business school curriculums are failing the next generation in the age of AI. If you want to learn how to blast through massive business obstacles, you need to hear Puneet’s framework.

Episode Chapters:

[00:00] - Introduction
[01:51] - Raised by Chaos
[03:52] - Rebuilding Unilever at 25
[11:57] - The Death of the 40-Year Career
[16:56] - Are MBAs Outdated?
[19:59] - Leaving Amazon
[25:26] - The 1.5 Career Household
[35:23] - The Post-Founder Exodus
[41:52] - Bouncing Back and Punk Rock
[48:49] - Firing with High Care
[55:46] - Working Backwards
[01:02:54] - The Lightning Round


#ChaosHunter #CorporateTurnaround #LeadershipMindset #ScaleUpCEO #BusinessStrategy #RadicalCandor #MorkUnfiltered

If this episode moved you or gave you a different lens on adversity and growth, I want to invite you to go deeper.

I wrote Step Back and Leap for people exactly like us. People building through chaos. People trying to find meaning inside uncertainty. People choosing purpose over comfort. You can get it here:
 https://a.co/d/e4nd8RT

And if you want practical tools you can use today to strengthen your resilience, I created a short, tactical guide you can download immediately. It’s called The Mork Guide to Resilience and it is designed to help you build inner strength, recover faster, and lead from a grounded place:
 https://aa5c-ea.systeme.io/resilience

Because sometimes the most powerful leaps forward start with stepping back, grounding yourself, and reconnecting to why you are here in the first place.

— Patrick