Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)

Jed Berger, Kenneth Cole Global President and CEO, is building something rare in business today — a brand that grows because it stands for something bigger. In his third appearance on Lead the Team , Jed reveals the hidden advantage behind Kenneth Cole’s continued success… and how purpose became their ultimate performance driver. “Purpose can’t just be a campaign. It has to live in every part of t...

It started with a freezer then and became a billion-dollar lesson. Dan Fachner, CEO of J&J Snack Foods — the company behind ICEE, Slush Puppie, and Dippin’ Dots — posted a video on LinkedIn that immediately caught my attention... ...he gets emotional while expressing gratitude to his team for their hard work and dedication. You can see how much he truly cares about his people, and I knew right...

Bezos' Law - Chai Atreya, Chief Product Officer at ActiveCampaign, once helped build Amazon Alexa under Jeff Bezos. During one internal review, Bezos made a single comment — short, specific, and completely unexpected — that changed everything. He looked at the team and said: “I want Alexa to respond in under five seconds.” That one sentence forced every engineer to rethink what “great” really mean...

He didn’t say he was ready. He proved it quietly. When I sat down with Dan Faulkner, CEO of SmartBear , he told me he was once passed over for a leadership role because he “hadn’t done it before.” The cruelest ceiling isn’t glass — it’s being boxed in by your own expertise. Being great at something… and never trusted with more. Instead of waiting for permission, Dan built his own readiness. He stu...

Leadership Under Fire He Led Troops in Combat — Now He Leads Billion-Dollar Companies I first met Lance Olmsted, now President of IFS Copperleaf, expecting a story about discipline and precision. What I didn’t expect was how deeply human it would be. Lance served as a U.S. Marine. He learned to lead in the most uncertain environments imaginable — where hesitation could cost lives AND empathy wasn’...

Leaders Miss This Matthew Fitzpatrick, CEO of Invisible Technologies—the #2 fastest-growing AI company in America—leads with a principle many overlook: AI may power the future, but people give it purpose. What makes Matt’s leadership stand out isn’t the speed of growth—it’s the intentionality behind it. He reminds us that real progress doesn’t come from louder voices or faster code. It comes from...

Sacrifice No One Sees Jakub Vanek, Chief Operating Officer at Genpact Americas, has moved six times across four countries while scaling teams of thousands inside a $5B global organization. He admits the hidden cost of leadership isn’t just jet lag or late nights in the office—it’s missing his wife’s birthday, missing holidays, and asking himself the same question many ambitious professionals face:...

Under Pressure, Leaders Rise When I spoke with Cyrill Kellerhals, COO of Andelyn Biosciences, I was struck by how calm and grounded he was while describing some of the toughest leadership moments of his career. At Novartis, one of the industry’s legendary companies, he encountered the kind of regulatory challenge that every leader dreads — a moment that could define the company’s future. Instead o...

Most leaders say they want transparency. But when the pressure’s on, many unintentionally create cultures where people hide mistakes. Camilo Rueda — CEO of Aeropost and former U.S. Navy Submarine Officer — learned this lesson the hard way, thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface. As a young officer, one bad call almost ended his career. In that moment, he had two choices: 👉 Hide the mistake a...

Real leadership begins the moment your team starts to doubt you. Jeff Meredith, CEO of Chamberlain Group, has lived that moment. He took a 70-year-old garage door company and transformed it into a global tech powerhouse with 14M+ connected users. But as Jeff shared with me, the toughest part wasn’t the technology or the strategy—it was earning back his team’s trust in the middle of massive change....

Erase silos. Unite the company. Rebuild trust—fast. When I first heard Amy Martin, CMO at TruWest Holdings, talk about her “One Number” strategy the TURNAROUND stopped me in my tracks. She didn’t know if leaders would embrace it… or fight to protect their own KPIs. But once it landed, everything changed: -True C-suite alignment -Faster growth -A culture of shared accountability Instead of sales an...

Everyone tells their teams to “use AI.” But as Lucas Mendes (CEO of Revelo) told me, that almost never works. Employees don’t resist because they’re lazy. They resist because new tools feel intimidating, misunderstood, or disconnected from what really matters in their day-to-day. That’s where leadership comes in. Lucas shared how he turned an almost-failing startup into the backbone of AI — a netw...

Thomas Neergaard Hansen — President of Amplitude and former Microsoft and Dropbox executive — proved to me that even the most hard-earned leadership skills aren’t always enough. He’s led billion-dollar teams, navigated career reinventions, and even learned leadership lessons on a windsurfing board. In this episode, he opens up about the next leadership superpower every leader needs to survive — an...

Running a theme park isn’t just rides and fun. It’s about leading elite teams that deliver with precision, creativity, and resilience—day in and day out. In this episode of Lead the Team, I sit down with Franceen Gonzales, Former President of Legoland Florida Resort—one of the hidden geniuses behind its success. We cover: - A strategy to inspire peak performance under relentless pressure. - The bl...

Some Lessons You Only Learn After Failing Rishi Rana—CEO of Cyara and former global product leader at Microsoft—shares the leadership lesson you just can’t learn in a classroom. His career has been incredible having shared the stage with Bill Gates. Tripled revenue in a brutal turnaround. Led global teams under immense pressure. But what stands most in our interview? ...how he talks openly about t...

If you’re not leading AI… it’s already leading you. Erik Huddleston, CEO of Aprimo and a 6-time exited founder, breaks down what every modern leader needs to understand about scaling with AI—before it’s too late. If you're leading a team and feeling the pressure of speed, complexity, and rising expectations… his message is for you. "AI can produce more in a day than your entire team can in a year....

When Ingram Micro Got Tested Sanjib Sahoo, President of Ingram Micro’s Global Platform Group, was already preparing to lead under pressure—long before the headlines. Before the headlines. Before the cyberattack. Before the world was watching… When we recorded this conversation, none of us knew what was coming. But what Sanjib shared then feels even more powerful now. You'll hear the bold transform...

Complacency costs growth. Sean Larkin, CEO of OnLogic, learned that lesson the hard way—just because your company is scaling doesn’t mean your people automatically will too. This really stuck with me... ...the same strengths that drive today’s success often become tomorrow’s roadblocks. He breaks out a 6-point professional development plan that’s as original as it is practical. It’s a must-hear fo...

He had the talent to chase Broadway fame. But he saw something even bigger. Instead of staying in the spotlight, Ryan Stana, CEO of RWS Global, decided to build an entire world behind the scenes—one that now creates over a MILLION unforgettable moments every single day: 🚢 Cruise ships 🎢 Theme parks 🎭 Broadway 🏟️ Stadiums 🌍 Seven offices around the world He wasn’t in it for the credit. He was i...

☕ Bold taste. Bold leadership. Leading a global coffee powerhouse is no small feat—especially when your brand ranks among the world’s most influential: 🌎 Over 4,100 stores across 37 countries 👥 More than 20,000 employees worldwide 🥤 Thousands of innovative self-serve Costa Express machines 🏆 #2 largest coffeehouse chain globally 🇬🇧 #1 coffee chain in the UK , with over 2,700 outlets and a 26%...

Cirque du Soleil fell—then made a HUGE comeback that no one saw coming. Enter Duncan Fisher, Chief Show Operations Officer. One of the world’s most iconic entertainment brands. Gone. Zero revenue. 5,000+ employees let go. Bankrupt. But instead of folding, they reimagined everything. 🔥 8 touring shows relaunched in just 18 months 🔥 Empowered teams operating 24/7 across the globe 🔥 Purpose-driven...

The Robot-Powered Future Is Here. When David Pinn, Brain Corp, stepped in as CEO —the company behind the world’s largest autonomous mobile robot fleet—he didn’t just scale innovation... ...he scaled belief. They've unleashed the power of 40,000 robots around the world... 250 billion square feet cleaned and scanned $190 million raised. One big lesson? Change management and leadership is at the very...

Skullcandy… he reimagined it. First week on the job at Skullcandy, Brian Garofalow scheduled a meeting called: “Teach Brian how headphones work.” Not a tech guy. Not an audio engineer. But a punk-rock marketer turned Silicon Valley founder turned private equity turnaround pro— And the new CEO of Skullcandy. What happened next? He did the unthinkable... 🔥 Partnered with Bose—the supposed enemy. 🔥...

“We eat chaos for breakfast.” That’s the mindset Eldon Schaffer, CEO of TekniPlex, instills across 9,000 employees in 13 countries. On his first day, they lost one of their top five customers. Instead of blaming or panicking, Eldon...rallied the team to innovate fast — launching a new product and outpacing the competition in just 150 days. Since then, they’ve doubled the business and led a sustain...

What if everything you believed about retirement… was wrong? Discover vital insights from Derek Coburn—author, wealth advisor, entrepreneur, co-founder of CADRE, an exclusive “un-networking” community for top business leaders, and now of the bold new book, Let’s Retire Retirement . He challenges the outdated notion that your best years come after your career ends .  Instead, he argues that me...