Amber Kaset

Amber Kaset – How Emotional Intelligence and Fairness Drive Smarter Business Decisions

Amber Kaset is the Founder of AK Investigations, a private investigation firm specializing in criminal defense and high-stakes legal cases. She is also the Founder of the Investigative Expert Method, a comprehensive online training platform for criminal defense investigators, paralegals, and attorneys. For over 22 years, Amber has worked on complex criminal and civil cases nationwide, including capital murder, sex offenses, federal charges, Title IX, and wrongful death.

Here's a Glimpse of What You'll Learn

[2:19] Amber Kaset talks about accidentally becoming an investigator after working at the Nashville Public Defender’s Office
[4:55] How Amber builds rapport with people who may not want to open up
[7:29] The origin story of AK Investigations
[10:49] How business leaders can use investigative due diligence to vet potential partners or employees
[12:14] Amber’s lessons on building a business while pregnant and handling diverse cases
[25:18] How joining EO Nashville transformed Amber’s leadership
[30:18] The importance of emotional awareness in EO forums and how personal trauma influences business decisions

In This Episode

Every business leader faces tough decisions that test judgment, integrity, and resilience. Some of those choices play out in boardrooms while others unfold in real-world investigations that demand courage and empathy. How can you uncover the truth when people would rather hide it?

As a seasoned criminal defense investigator, Amber Kaset built her career on curiosity, empathy, and persistence. From working at the Nashville Public Defender’s Office to handling death penalty cases across state lines, she’s learned that justice isn’t about guilt or innocence; it’s about fairness. Balancing motherhood, entrepreneurship, and emotionally heavy work allowed her to transform challenge into purpose. Amber believes that when you give people the opportunity to be heard, truth and compassion follow.

In this episode of The Decision, Robert Hartline and Eric Jackson sit down with Amber Kaset, Founder of AK Investigations, to discuss how investigative work reveals both truth and humanity. Amber shares how she built trust in difficult conversations, turned adversity into growth through leadership and motherhood, and developed training to empower future investigators.

Quotable Moments:

“It doesn’t really matter if someone is guilty or not. It’s about giving them fairness.”
“We’re not law enforcement. We have no power to get inside. It’s about earning trust.”
“I was juggling a baby, my business, and death penalty cases in Texas and Alabama.”
“I started with so little, and I needed it to work. My kid needed it to work.”
“Our childhoods and past traumas are tightly woven into how we handle issues in business.”

Action Steps:

Build trust through transparency: When approaching difficult conversations, clearly explain your purpose and intentions. This fosters openness and makes others more willing to share valuable information.
Prioritize fairness over assumptions: Approach every situation with the mindset that everyone deserves a fair process. This reduces bias and leads to more accurate, ethical decisions in both investigations and business.
Document and analyze details meticulously: Small inconsistencies often reveal the biggest insights. Keeping organized, detailed records helps uncover patterns and ensures accountability in complex projects or cases.
Delegate to strengthen leadership: Empowering capable team members builds trust and prevents burnout. Effective delegation also creates a structure where the business can grow beyond the founder’s capacity.
Invest in training and knowledge-sharing: Teaching others what you’ve learned multiplies impact and builds confidence across your organization. It turns individual expertise into a sustainable system for long-term success.