Corporate Competitor Podcast

Ep. 69: John Crowley's life story was made into a major motion picture called Extraordinary Measures, starring Brandon Fraser and Harrison Ford. This podcast offers its own life and business lessons straight from John himself, including the business he created to save his own children's lives that grew into a global biomedical giant. You will learn: (19:00) How to recruit "passionate entrepreneurs...

Ep. 68: Minnesota Vikings football shaped this business icon. Fran Tarkenton played professional football for 18 years! He reinvented the position of quarterback by honing the craft of scrambling with the ball rather than allowing himself to be sacked by opposing defenders. Today, the 81-year-old CEO, who has founded more than 20 businesses, hasn't slowed down one bit. You will learn: The business...

Ep. 67: Oklahoma basketball shaped this leader. Renzi is the Founder and CEO of Saxum and is nationally recognized for his political intelligence and public relations insight. He serves as a member of the governing board of the University of Oklahoma and on the global board of directors for YPO. In this conversation you will learn: [9:30] What leadership is NOT. [16:30] How to train yourself to ov...

Ep. 66: Growing up as the oldest of nine children whose parents ran a dental practice out of their home in New York, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian sought refuge on basketball courts and baseball diamonds, playing "just about every sport there is involving a ball." But no childhood bathroom squabble or station wagon road trip could prepare him for the challenge of leading a world-class company thr...

Ep. 65: Playing and coaching basketball-shaped this business icon. Long before he became a famous NBA coach with the New York Knicks and an analyst at ESPN, Jeff Van Gundy coached high school basketball in Rochester, New York, and Kevin LeGrett was all the wiser and better equipped to lead because of their relationship. Upon graduating from college embarking on a career of his own, Kevin developed...

Ep. 64: Robert "Bob" Glazer is a serial entrepreneur who has worked at think tanks such as Arthur D. Little and incubators such as Cambridge Innovation Center before founding a host of his own companies and charities. His longest-running priority, Acceleration Partners, began in 2007 and works with clients worldwide to develop and scale their affiliate partner programs. He thinks people glamorize...

Ep. 63: Rafe played linebacker for a Super Bowl Denver Broncos team and considered coaching until his entrepreneurial drive kicked into gear and led him to buy ODS Security Solutions. Over 15 years, he led the company through explosive growth, increasing his workforce from a team of 30 to more than 1,000. In 2016, he became a co-founding partner of CEO Coaching International with twelve-time triat...

Ep. 62: Football, basketball, and track shaped Mark Steffe, an Illinois native responsible for guiding First Command Financial Services in its efforts to make lifelong financial security possible for all military families. When an employee isn't performing up to snuff, Mark wants his supervisors to avoid telling them to sell more, deliver more, get better results, work harder, and the like. Instea...

Ep. 61: Cornell track and field shaped this entrepreneur.  Lokai's brand of beaded bracelets has become a phenomenon sold in 5,000 locations in 170 countries. The bracelets each contain a droplet of mud from the Dead Sea and water from Mount Everest to represent the highs and lows of earth and of life. Steven paid his dues going "door-to-door" around New York City, trying to get stores to display...

Ep. 60: Baseball shaped this highly competitive and goal-oriented executive. Adi Ignatius is a leader who comes to play—whether the "play" involves slow-pitch softball or transforming the country's oldest and most influential academic business journal. His success includes writing for the Wall Street Journal, receiving a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize, writing for the Far Eastern Economic Revie...

Ep. 59: University of Florida Crew shaped this technology leader. John O'Shea's career at Tech Data started in 1994 when he was hired from a temp agency. Flying up the ranks as swiftly as one of those sculls plying the waters of a crystal clear lake—"I was averaging a new job every six or eight months!"—he rose to the position of President of Global Business Units at TD Synnex. He has developed a...

Ep. 58: Bobsled & softball shaped this competitor and mother.  When Elana Meyers Taylor finally steps out of the bobsled for the last time, maybe after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, she will be able to look back at a trail-blazing career in which she became the first woman to earn a spot on the U.S. National Team competing alongside men as a four-man bobsled pilot. In this episode you will...

Ep. 57: Georgia Tech football shaped this business icon. In 1971 Bert Thornton went to work at Waffle House flipping eggs and four decades later retired as the President and COO. His best leadership advice? Give out your cell phone number, because "when the trainees have access to the COO, communication improves among managers." Each of the 11 million bowls of Bert's Chili served annually is named...

Ep. 56: Baseball shaped this great leader who has served as the president of Baptist Hospital and founded his own businesses serving his two passions: healthcare excellence and strong communities. Many have read his books on leadership and business operations. Studer co-owns the Pensacola Blue Wahoos minor league baseball team with golf great Bubba Watson. The little-known team grabbed headlines i...

Ep. 55: NFL special edition with guest host John C. Maxwell to discuss the benefits of having a system your whole team buys into. "I used to say the job of a leader is to set the standard and demand all live up to that," said three-time national championship coach Urban Meyer. "I've come to believe the job of a leader is to earn your team's trust. And then you set a standard while equipping and in...

Ep. 54: Harvard Hockey shaped this business icon. Angela took her joy of sport and turned it into a high-profile career. She played longer than any other man or woman in a USA Hockey jersey and was only the fourth woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame! After she hung up her skates, she continued her studies at Harvard Business School and served on the International Olympic Committee. She was...

Ep. 53: Track and Field shaped this incredible leader. Before joining RE/MAX – one of the largest publicly traded real estate companies in the world with 135,000 agents operating in 110 countries— Adam Contos ran a SWAT team, working for a local Sheriff's Office. He describes the job as "kicking in doors, blowing things up, and saving people." In this episode, Adam shares that while his current pr...

Ep. 51: As an equestrian in her native Australia, Kristy Ingram had to learn how to make the transition from managing horses to managing people when her competitive days ended.  Her 15 years of consulting experience includes managing Ernst & Young's sponsorship of the Rio Olympics and developing their Women's Athlete Business Network. Today she is EY's Global Leader of Athlete Programs where she h...

Ep. 51: Pittsburgh Basketball and 10 years in the NBA shaped this entrepreneur. Charles Smith played with the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs. During that window, he was often asked to assume new roles, sometimes mid-season. The one skill he worked on constantly was shot blocking, and still today he ranks in the NBA's top one percent of all-time shot blockers. After re...

Ep. 50: Navy Basketball shaped this business icon. Carl Liebert played alongside two of the best players in the program's history in Vernon Butler and David Robinson. He went on to earn advanced degrees from Harvard, Stanford, and Vanderbilt en route to attaining two decades of C-Suite experience at Home Depot, 24- Hour Fitness, USAA, AutoNation, and now Keller Williams' parent holding company KWx...

Ep. 49: Delaware Lacrosse is just one of the FUN experiences Steve shares with Don Yaeger. Learn how spiking a football in high school impacted his first meeting with Jerry Seinfield. Really. Then he walks us through when 10 years of his Sony emails were stolen and released to the world by hackers. Finally, he details his experience working with Peyton Manning as host of his newest show, "College...

Ep. 48: Bubba Watson is an enthusiastic businessman with ownership stakes in the Blue Wahoos baseball team, a car dealership, and a candy shop in Pensacola, Florida. His heartfelt tears in the winner's circle, joyously goofy hip hop performance in the boy band Golf Boys, and passionate advocacy for adoption have endeared him to millions. In near lockstep with his considerable success on the golf c...

Ep. 47: Basketball shaped one of the country's best restaurant leaders. GJ served as CEO of California Pizza Kitchen and CEO of Texas Roadhouse, where he oversaw growth in revenue from $63 million per year when he arrived to more than $1 billion annually when he moved. Today he is in Austin, Texas, leading the rocket ship that is Torchy's Tacos, one of the fastest-growing brands in America. A prou...

Ep. 46: Harvard Basketball shaped this business icon. As a student, Jessica had the opportunity to work with the Robert Kraft family, owners of the New England Patriots football franchise and Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on ways to increase the stadium's revenue on non-game days. She parlayed the opportunity into a long term relationship with the Kraft family. Today, she is the CEO...

Ep. 45: Air Force Football shaped this business icon. Before coming to Chick-fil-A, Rodney served as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting complex criminal cases. As a White House Fellow, the nation's most prestigious public-service fellowship, Rodney was placed at NASA working directly for the NASA Administrator. He also previously served at the Pentagon as a Congressional Legislative L...