Disruptive CEO Nation

In this episode, I am happy to introduce you to a great mind from my circle here in Chicago.   Lisa Guillot, a best-selling author and expert in personal branding, offers a transformative perspective on the significance of a clear vision framework for achieving success. With a rich background in design and branding, Lisa specializes in helping leaders craft vibrant and purposeful personal and prof...

From buying property while in his Harvard dorm to starting a business with his wife, Derrick has made it his life's mission to improve the process for and access to real estate investing. Derrick Barker, the co-founder and CEO of Nectar, is at the forefront of transforming the real estate finance landscape through innovative technology solutions. Based in Atlanta, his company provides liquidity to...

As the complexity and demands of technology continue to rise in our business lives, CEOs need to explore all available avenues of how to identify and attract top talent. This is where nearshoring comes in. Nearshoring is a valuable vehicle to augment existing teams, support rapid scaling, or bring new knowledge into an organization quickly.   To learn more about nearshoring we turned to Brian Sams...

Sandra J. Horton is a well-known author and speaker who offers valuable insights and practical strategies for today's organizational challenges. As a systemic leadership sustainability strategist, she penned "Activate Success: Tips, Tools and Insights to be a Leaders in Your Niche," a book packed with 27 activators to help leaders excel in diverse situations.   Sandra's take on sustainable leaders...

Imagine if, within 9 years of starting a company, you could grow to have 34 million people a month interacting on your platform. And that is the story you will hear today from Adrián Ridner.   Driven by a mission to provide life-changing and accessible education, Study.com is one of the largest online learning platforms for K-12 through college and beyond. With learners and educators representing...

Consumers are spending more money than ever on health supplement products, and yet, most people are confused, frustrated, and unsure of what is truthful and what works. Enter Caroline Carralero, a founder on a mission to help solve the metabolic health crisis and bring clarity to this corner of self-care healthcare.   While Caroline started Daily Nouri out of her kitchen, she has built the busines...

Have you ever thought about your communication fingerprints as a leader? Or the gap between what you say and what your teams hear? Well, we thought it would be interesting to talk with Oscar Trimboli, a renowned thought leader and expert on the transformative power of listening in effective leadership.   Drawing from his extensive background, including his tenure as marketing director for Microsof...

We know this has happened to you. You go to pick up a prescription and are floored by the price. Or even worse, you have had a loved one diagnosed with a rare disease only to find limited treatment options.   The pharmaceutical industry needs drastic change, and Dr. Jo Varshney is all in on making that happen. As Founder and CEO, VeriSIM Life, Jo leads a team of world-class scientists, machine lea...

Leadership has always come with challenges and stress but today's business environment has escalated the pressures on CEOs far beyond where they were just a decade ago. In this episode, we talk with Andrea Petrone who has been recognized as one of the top 2% of executive coaches in the UK.   Andrea became a CEO at 35 making his mark in the energy industry. Over his career, Andrea has lived and wor...

If ever an industry needs a bit of disruption, it’s the home equity loan or refinancing space. Well, we had the opportunity to sit down with Michael Gifford and hear how Splitero is revolutionizing how homeowners can access their home equity and feel more empowered when doing so. This interview weaves insights into Michael’s founder’s journey and the mission behind Splitero to deliver a greater po...

So excited to bring back a favorite past guest of mine, Jeffrey Klubeck, a pillar of his industry. Jeffrey is a well-known coach, consultant, and leadership expert, who is all about emphasizing the importance of soft skills for building strong leaders, teams, and organizations. Known for his book "The Integrity Game," Klubeck shares his wisdom on communication, emotional intelligence, and change m...

Can everyone tell when you use AI to write copy to write ads? Alex Persky-Stern, CEO of Waymark, is at the forefront of harnessing generative AI to transform video advertising for small businesses. He champions the idea that AI can significantly enhance the creative process, allowing for the production of high-quality video ads that small businesses might not have been able to achieve otherwise. U...

We love speaking with MedTech founders and so we were excited to have Matthias Hofmann, the co-founder and CEO of Eyebot join us to explain how his team is transforming the way we receive vision care. Before this interview, we had no idea that 25% of US counties lack a practicing eye care provider. We also hadn’t thought about the increasing shortage of vision care providers or that our screen-obs...

Rarely do you meet people who you just know your life is richer because of that meeting - well, Chad Foster is one of those individuals. Author of Blind AmbitionTM, Chad is a globally recognized speaker and advocate for resilience, sharing his compelling journey from blindness at 21 to becoming a Fortune 500 corporate leader and motivational figure. Chad’s life story is the embodiment of living wi...

Angel Vossough, the brains behind BetterAI, is shaking up the AI game by focusing on making wine searches and recommendations more personalized through her cool project, VinoVoss. Angel and the team blend their skills and vast wine knowledge to craft an AI solution that opens the gateway for everyone to become a better wine expert as well as guide choices to lesser known quality brands. A big advo...

273 Scale Profits and Win Back Time By Training Teams to Lead with Christian Muntean, Founder at Vantage Consulting; Anchorage, AK, USA If you want different organizational results, tap into a different kind of leadership guru. For this episode, we headed north to Alaska to meet with Christian Muntean, a distinguished authority in leadership training helping CEOs drive improved financial results a...

Marc El Khoury, the visionary founder of aifleet, is transforming the trucking industry with a focus on enhanced driver utilization and technological innovation. With roots in management consulting and a discovered passion for trucking, Marc has steered airfleet to an impressive annual growth rate of 75% to 100%.  The trucking industry is highly fragmented and working conditions are often unfavora...

Duncan Kreeger, the visionary founder and CEO of TAB, is on a mission to democratize real estate investment by making it more accessible and liquid for a broader audience. Drawing from two decades of experience in the property market, Duncan seeks to revolutionize traditional investment methods, which he views as risky and limiting, by offering fractional ownership opportunities that spread risk a...

Raoul Davis, the CEO of Ascendant Group, is a pioneering advocate for the institutionalization of CEO branding, emphasizing its critical role in building trust and authentic connections. He advocates for executives to actively manage their personal brands, ensuring alignment with their company's ethos to enhance long-term market presence. Raoul underscores the importance of humanizing businesses t...

Cam Doody knows what it takes to move an early-stage start-up through product fit, function, and successful launch as he has honed in on creating the right environment and formula for success. As co-founder and general partner of Brickyard, a venture capital firm based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Cam and his team specialize in supporting early-stage tech startups and have built a reputation so stro...

Rohit Bhargava is a person you should know and follow. He is a pioneering thinker renowned for his expertise in non obvious thinking, a philosophy he champions through his speaking, consulting and body of work. We invited Rohit to tell us about his new book, Non Obvious Thinking: How to See What Others Miss. Rohit believes in the necessity of non obvious thinkers to drive innovation and disrupt co...

Every day CEOs and senior leaders are faced with a tsunami of information and requests so we invited Nuala Walsh, leadership expert and author of Tune In: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World to share her esteemed insights. With her distinguished 30-year career in financial services and as the founder of Mind Equity Consulting, Nuala brings a profound understanding of human behavior to t...

Charles J. Bonfiglio, a celebrated entrepreneur and founder of Tint World, has revolutionized the franchise business model with his innovative approach, earning him accolades such as the Inc. 5000 award nine times. Initially facing challenges in securing leases and loans for his business in Florida, Charles turned adversity into opportunity by embracing franchising, starting with a Meinecke discou...

We respect the mission of Two Chairs because we believe that human potential relies on individuals remaining mentally strong. Enter Alex Katz. He has a clear vision for company growth and expansion, deeply rooted in his personal experiences and commitment to improving mental health care. But this is not just about access, the systems are highly sophisticated to introduce the patient to the right t...

Supratim Srinivasan is deeply concerned about the fragility of the electrical utilities industry, so he is doing something about it. As an engineer with a strong background in finance, he co-founded Atma Energy to make distributed energy resources like solar and energy storage more accessible to the individual homeowner and business owner while at the same time enabling them to capitalize on surpl...