Success Beneath the Surface

In this episode, Deborah shares her anticipation for the upcoming Chief Outsiders National Conference, where she will be recapping the event and conducting insightful interviews. Reflecting on the growth and success of Chief Outsiders over the years, Deborah emphasizes the importance of vision casting and fostering a culture of collaboration. As we look forward to the conference highlights, Debora...

Deborah Fell unpacks key insights on gaining alignment from her conversation with Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of the American Society of Landscape Architects. With multiple stakeholders to consider, Torey shares how he approaches creating change and uniting his team behind a common vision. Deborah reflects on how a lack of alignment in an organization, though often invisible, manifests in lower scor...

Do you aspire to lead with purpose and service? This week’s Success Beneath the Surface podcast features a remarkable discussion with Torey Carter Conneen, CEO of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Host Deborah Fell artfully draws out Conneen's inspiring path to nonprofit leadership guided by his family’s ethos of community service. From his first nonprofit role out of college to helmin...

When established "truths" in business become outdated, companies that fail to adapt often struggle. In this episode commentary, host Deborah Fell explores a Mark Twain quote on questioning assumptions with guest Barry Traylor, co-founder of Sales Mastery. Barry explains why the "perfect prospect profile" can limit a company's vision and relationships. He advocates customizing outreach to understan...

Learn how to boost your company's sales strategy. Deborah and her guest, Barry Trailer, Co-Founder of Sales Mastery Advisors, discuss research-backed approaches to building customer relationships and implementing effective sales processes. Discover common pitfalls in forecasting, analytics, and sales team structure and how to avoid them. You will gain insights from Barry on shifting dynamics betwe...

In this week's episode of Success Beneath the Surface, host Deborah Fell gives commentary on her conversation with turnaround executive Andrei Soran on balancing profitability and access in the healthcare industry. Having spent his career improving healthcare organizations, Andrei provides valuable insights into the opposing forces at play, where the drive for profits conflicts with the moral impe...

When hospitals face financial distress, every decision becomes crucial and partners like lenders gain outsized influence. Yet few leadership teams have deep expertise in navigating corporate turnarounds. This lack of experience can lead to missed opportunities and severe consequences. What struggling hospitals need are advisors intimately familiar with managing cash crunches, forecasting future ru...

We return to our conversation with Nancie McDonnell Ruder, CEO and founder of Noetic Consulting, to highlight her uplifting perspective on bringing passion and purpose to her work. As Nancie shares, she derives “peace of mind” and “happiness” from leading a company focused on “dynamic positivity” in supporting clients. She explains how Noetic aims to provide both conceptual guidance and practical...

In this Success Beneath the Surface commentary episode, host Deborah Fell reflects back on her conversation with Brad Waid, a Futurist and AI expert also known as "The Curious Pragmatist." Brad embraces new technologies quickly due to his innate curiosity. He then brings these learnings into his work - originally as a teacher engaging students, and now as a global speaker informing audiences of AI...

Do you feel your company's brand lacks purpose and focus? Is your brand failing to connect emotionally with customers? As CEO, you recognize the importance of brand, yet struggle with how to fortify it amid economic uncertainty. This week's Success Beneath The Surface podcast tackles that challenge. Host Deborah Fell interviews Nancie McDonnell Ruder, founder of Noetic Consulting, on the intersect...

What if you could preview the future before it arrives? Our guest today, Brad Waid, provides that sneak peek. As a former third-grade teacher turned AI expert and futurist, Brad has a gift for making complex innovations understandable and relatable. Listen in as Brad paints a vivid picture of how artificial intelligence, virtual worlds, digital twins, and more are poised to transform education, bu...

There are patterns we see for successful CEOs. The underlying factor for true success, meaning that the company grows, people want to work there and want to give it their all seems to be grounded in gratitude. Deborah is focusing on four successful CEOs in this episode with highlights of the gratitude that was loud and clear in their full episodes. Today she is highlighting Tien Wong, Lena Petrova...

Last week on Success Beneath the Surface, host Deborah Fell spoke with Tien Wong about the power of connections. Wong started ConnectPreneur over a decade ago to facilitate more regular forums for investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals in the DC/Mid-Atlantic area to connect and collaborate. A key insight Wong shared is that an engaged, diverse network structured for open interaction has emerg...

What's the secret sauce behind winning over employees and customers for the long haul? Our guest today, seasoned entrepreneur Tien Wong, believes it comes down to community. Having built several companies from the ground up, Tien shares how human connections and nurturing an interconnected community have been his competitive edge time and again. Whether it's obsessive customer experience or organi...

Change is inevitable like the changing colors of autumn leaves that draw visitors to admire their brilliance before they fall. But it's not the change itself that matters most, it's what we do in response - our creativity, courage and vision to move forward. Join me as we listen to key points Lena Petrova made when she spoke with Deborah Fell last week. Petrova believes that while artificial intel...

In this interview with Lena Petrova, Founder and CEO of Ad Astra, we learn how she has built a successful language services company focused on cultural understanding. Lena discusses curating a team around shared principles and vision, seeking people who align with the company's higher purpose. She sees AI as expanding, not replacing, human capabilities and believes creativity and emotions will end...

In this week's episode, we explore an insightful conversation about partnerships and adapting business models during economic uncertainty. Host Deborah Fell reflects on key takeaways from her discussion with Keith Scandone, founder of O3, regarding the power of collaborative partnerships. Scandone shares how his company has pivoted to offer smaller, "wedge" offerings that provide value to clients...

Want to learn how to optimize your customer experience and create seamless digital journeys? Deborah Fell interviews Keith Scandone, co-founder of customer experience consultancy O3. They discuss identifying gaps in the customer journey across sales, service, marketing, and technology and provide strategic recommendations to tighten up pain points. Keith shares examples of a recent broken customer...

Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Bielski, CEO of Ripple Effect, a company that collaborates across the healthcare, nonprofit, and private sectors. We dug into the keys behind Ripple Effect's success, with Bielski highlighting how collaboration is baked into their culture. From incentivizing cross-team support to ensuring every policy explains its value, Bielski stresses why meanin...

We all love an underdog story, and CEO Amy Bielski's journey building Ripple Effect has it all. After seeing big firms prioritize profits over people early on, Amy was determined to do things differently. Now, 20 years later, Ripple Effect's 200+ employees are a tight-knit, loyal crew, with many staying 7-10 years! Amy credits their emphasis on flexibility, collaboration, and promoting lifelong le...

If you joined us for our recent episode, you witnessed a powerful conversation between Deborah Fell, and Dan Lackner, a fractional Chief Sales Officer for Chief Outsiders. Today, we'll be diving deeper into that conversation. From understanding people's profound impacts on our lives and careers to the difference between mere activity and genuine, transformative impact, Dan and Deborah touched on s...

Navigating the intricate intersection of data and software, we pull back the curtain on the mechanics of decision-making in this episode. Join Deborah and her guest, Dan Lackner through the pivotal moments of an expert who has graced both the syndicated data landscape and the software industry. Before linking arms with Chief Outsiders, Dan spent his years not just as a staple in the room, but as a...

Joy is a powerful driver in overcoming challenges in business, as explored in our latest commentary episode. Deborah delved into this theme with the dynamic Charles Dobbins, founder of Multifamily Investing Academy. Charles recounted his journey from the insurance sector to fulfilling his dream of owning apartments, highlighting the roles of passion, persistence, and the courage to pivot. His stor...

Deborah Fell is joined by Charles Dobens. He delves into his multifaceted journey and shares his expertise in real estate investing and business growth. As a teen, Charles had a dream to own apartment buildings. With a side journey into law, this is precisely what he has done. In the first half of this episode, Charles discusses how he identifies opportunities amidst roadblocks. From overcoming hu...

In this podcast, Deborah does a round-up of perspectives on the crucial topic of culture, incorporating relevant highlights from prior podcasts of four CEOs:   Art Saxby, CEO and Founder of Chief Outsiders notes that the biggest lessons have been the importance and power of culture - the culture that draws the greatest leaders and contributors to work for the company and magnetizes like-minded cli...