Corporate Competitor Podcast

Ep. 142: Vanderbilt Basketball shaped Drew. Growing up in Tennessee, he disciplined himself as a young boy to take 750-1,000 shots a day on the basketball court because he wanted to be the third person in his family to play basketball at Vanderbilt, where his dad and grandfather played. "I want to eliminate 'destination disease.' Let's chase winning with everything that we have, but let's not allo...

Ep. 141: Golf shaped this PGA Golf Executive of the Year. He reminds us of the importance of building strong relationships in every area of an organization. Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode includes fill-in-the-blank notes and reflection questions.  If these lessons resonated with you, connect with me and my team at  maxwellleadership.com/don and together we can next-level your company culture!...

Ep. 140: Tennis and gymnastics shaped Angela who has been named to the Forbes Most Powerful Women list an incredible EIGHT times. Today she serves on the Board of Ralph Lauren, AirBnb, and Save the Children International , a charity focused on improving the lives of at-risk children worldwide.  Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode includes fill-in-the-blank notes and reflection questions .  +If the...

Ep.139: Princeton Lacrosse shaped this leader who won two national championships under legendary coach Bill Tierney. Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode includes fill-in-the-blank notes and reflection questions.  Click here to download the bonus resource . You will learn: 8:00 How to emphasize the power or "we" on your team. 15:00 The level of employee interaction required to achieve success. 18:3...

Ep. 138 Football and baseball shaped Chairman of Texas Mutual Insurance Company. Ron Simmons developed the practice of holding a 20-minute meeting with each of his team members with "no agenda other than getting to know each other." "I learned early on that if I wanted to be able to accomplish things, I needed to have my colleagues trust me," Simmons said. "If you can develop a personal bond with...

Ep. 137: Cricket shaped the leader who grew up in Yorkshire, England where "the humans were outnumbered by the sheep." Leave it to the CEO of WD-40 to figure out a way to smooth out the squeaks in his company's culture, but that's exactly what the company's new boss Steve Brass did on day one of becoming the leader of a brand whose name has become synonymous with making things operate better. Our...

Ep. 136: Harvard Football shaped this "business athlete" who bakes his company's purpose into his product while leading his 12,000 employees.  Scott founded Seattle Coffee Company in London before selling it to Starbucks and serving as the President of Starbucks Europe. In 2008, Scott and his wife Ally founded MOD Pizza in Seattle, a fast-casual restaurant chain that offers artisan-style pizzas an...

Ep. 135 REWIND EPISODE: To celebrate John's new book The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication , we are throwing it back to one of our first episodes. John began practicing leadership as a sophomore on the Circleville, Ohio High School basketball team, when was named captain.  "He might be the youngest," his coach said to the team, "but there is nobody here that wants you to succeed as much as John....

Ep. 134: Notre Dame Soccer Captain and Ad Age CMO of the Year encourages you to keep a "happy folder" of nice notes and projects you are proud of so that when you exerpience low points you can revisit the folder and get a little boost. Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode is  "Build Trustworthy Relationships"  which includes fill-in-the-blank notes and reflection questions for this episode. Click h...

Ep. 133: Johns Hopkins Lacrosse shaped Tracey who offers insights into skills that may not fit naturally on the resumé but belong in any true leadership toolkit. These include: How to give honest feedback that promotes learning without hurting people's feelings. Why learning to flex your "feedback muscle" is critical to mentoring in today's workplace. The real reason effective leaders ought to pra...

Ep. 132: Football shaped the leader in charge of Cigna's U.S. employer group business market strategy, sales, and local community engagement initiatives. Some people view corporate success as climbing a ladder, Mike Triplett views it as crossing a bridge, and he takes special care never to cross a bridge without bringing someone along who contributed to his success. Our BONUS RESOURC E includes fi...

Ep. 131: Oxford Basketball shaped Stephen whose portfolio includes brands like FIJI Water, Halos Mandarins, POM Wonderful, and JUSTIN Wines. Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode is  "What Happens When You Walk in the Room?"  which includes fill-in-the-blank notes and reflection questions from today's episode.  Click here to download the bonus resource . If these lessons resonated with you, connect...

Ep. 130: When Stacie asks a client, "How do we compare to the competition," she's not going through the motions or being polite. She's showing interest and creating a respectful environment in which honesty can develop—and she's not afraid of what she might hear. Listeners to this episode will learn: 9:00 Growth questions every leader should ask themselves. 14:30 How to determine if you are a lead...

Ep. 129: Hockey shaped this cybersecurity executive, an industry with zero unemployment and three million open jobs on any given day. Download our "Make Your Employees Feel Like Superheroes" BONUS RESOURCE for this episode! If these lessons resonated with you, connect with me and my team at   maxwellleadership.com/don   and together we can next-level your company culture!  Special thanks to Samuel...

Ep. 128: Football, track, and baseball shaped Paul who was named to Glassdoor's list of Top CEOs determined by employee approval ratings. Listeners will learn how KPMG uses DEI principles and practices in its strategic planning, especially with talent acquisition. "Worrying is not a productive way to bring about change," he noted. "The leader's role is to be the calm in the middle of adversity." O...

Reflection episode : After more than 100 conversations with leaders from companies like Amazon, Netflix, Disney, and Google, I've learned that sports not only taught our guests great lessons that translate to business, but it is a common denominator that makes them more relatable. For our last episode of 2022, I invited Maxwell Leadership Executive Vice President Chris Goede to our reflection epis...

Ep. 126: College football shaped this executive in his 40 th year with Avnet. Phil leads more than 15,000 employees across 140 countiries. Phil doesn't believe in quick fixes and argues that integrity, the first among core values, has to be developed in the way we behave in the here and now—and over time. "There's an old saying," says Phil, "that people build trust penny by penny and spend it like...

Ep. 125: Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro shaped the way this Fortune 500 CEO leads Insight Enterprises, a $9.4 billion solutions integrator. Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode is  "How to Bring your Company Values to Life"  which includes four reflection questions so you can create powerful, positive change in your organization.  You Will Learn  8:00 The need for "players" to be able to play in more t...

Ep. 124: We're back for part 2 with the leader behind the phrase "Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."   Download our free BONUS RESOURCE for reflection questions that will empower your team and listen for lessons in: 5:30 The difference between mission and vision 7:00 How to hire for purpose, not function. 8:00 How to frame a common objective in a way that unifies people. 9:00 Hors...

Ep. 123: Become the best in a world of compromise in the first of our two-part series with longtime COO and President of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Download our free BONUS RESOURCE for reflection questions that will empower your team and listen for lessons in: 7:00 How to next-level your organization's purpose statement. 10:30 The difference between management and leadership. 13:45 Three thin...

Ep. 122: People admire perfection from a distance, but they can't relate to it. Most leaders believe that sharing their failures, shortcomings, and faults will make them less followable, and less respected. But author and motivational speaker Ryan Leak believes the opposite is true. Connection, not perfection, is the goal. Our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode is  "How to Start Meaningful Conversati...

Ep. 121: The NFL's top female executive was a competitive gymnast who grew up on a farm in Western Kentucky. Renie oversees the League's sponsorships, new business, and media sales for their NFL Network. You have probably seen NFL players using Microsoft Surface tablets on the sideline—that is a visual example of one of Renie's many roles on display.  Download our BONUS RESOURCE for this episode w...

Ep. 120: UNC Tennis and being classmates with Michael Jordan shaped Pam, who leads in the third largest electric utility company in the United States. She learned about preparedness not on the frontline of storm recovery but on the backline of countless tennis courts, where her father coached her to see how sports could teach you important lessons. Our BONUS resource for this episode is  "How to l...

Ep. 119: Former U.S. Bank CEO who currently serves on the board of Mastercard, Mayo Clinic, Dow Chemical, and Wells Fargo says sports taught him that win or lose, you tend to have more fun when you are in the game. So, instead of setting a goal to play a certain position, he always did whatever he could to be a utility player, in sports and business. "I've always believed that putting your hand up...

Ep. 118: REWIND EPISODE: To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his charity, Homes for the Holidays, we are throwing it back to one of the first episodes we recorded. Warrick Dunn has now given homes to more than 200 single parents, and Don began sharing Warrick's story to audiences all around the world as part of his keynote speech that teaches the 10 Elements of Well-Told Story . Don takes each au...