The Fast Leader Show | Strategy Execution & Systems Design

Chris Dyer quit his job and started a business in 2001, just two months after the biggest terrorist attack in American history. He took inspiration from tragedy. He rented every room in his house to pay the mortgage, created a backup plan and took the risk.

Greg Young needed to make changes quickly and radically to prevent losing market share. But he was ending each day with beating himself up because he was not completing his to-do list and it was getting longer each day. That’s when he realized that he needed to reframe his day.

Jeff Piersall was in a 14-year business relationship with who he thought was a good friend. But it ended in a betrayal. Despite another partner betrayal later in his career, Jeff holds on the belief that ethical capitalism is what the majority of the world believes in, desires and practices.

Olga Mizrahi knows that reviews are part of the gig economy and the future of work. So, after reading a negative review about her book she had three choices that we all can choose to take. After much contemplation, she decided to respond publicly in a way that’s surprising and bold.

Eric Kish was placed in an oil refinery to turn it around. Overloaded with debt and crippled by equipment that had failed inspection, Eric thought he had no option but to go bankrupt. That’s when in desperation, Eric’s work to make a major cultural shift paid off and it fueled a historic turnaround.

Dave Mattson had the opportunity to buy into an established business but was unable to secure the funding he needed. After being rejected by several bankers and taking a hit to his self-esteem, he thought all was lost. But without his knowledge, Dave’s parents put everything they had on the line for him.

Cash Keahey was facilitating strategic planning for corporate executives when he realized he wanted to try leading people. He was placed in an operations role and was seen as a corporate outsider to many on his new team. Listen as Cash describes the tactics he used to move onward and upward faster.

Jim Knight was asked by his CEO to deliver on a project with an extremely aggressive timeline. Despite all of their effort of working 18-20-hour days and on the weekends, Jim began to realize the task was larger than first assessed. So, Jim reported to the CEO and ultimately learned a vital lesson about transparency.

Doug Sandler was hired to be a DJ at a party hundreds of miles from his home. He was feeling on top of his game but within 15-minutes of the four-hour event, he realized why he was really hired sight unseen. He also realized that everything he had done in his career to that point was just about being lucky.

Lori Bocklund and her husband lived in the Washington DC area during 9/11 and then the anthrax scare and the DC sniper. She was living in constant fear. Despite loving where they lived, they decided to move. But they didn’t know here they wanted to live. After finally figuring that out, she took an even bigger risk which paid off in her becoming one of the leading authorities on contact center tec...

Michael Gale owned a number of trademarks on journey mapping when they built the methodology 14 years ago. But now he has to admit it’s no longer relevant because you can’t fit a journey map into a world of moments. With organizations now needing to digitally transform and customers being in complete control, Michael explains you must think and do things differently.

Jennifer Moss had two young kids when she founded her company and then her husband became almost fatally ill. They thought he would never walk again, but after a six-week recovery where he focused on gratitude, they realized they found a new passion that changed their narrative.

Ian Golding felt like he beat his head for 17 years working in an organization as a champion for the customer. Over the past 6 years he has traveled to over 60 countries and worked with organizations to help support those that thrive on the customer experience to be heard, recognized and supported. Listen as Ian shares insights on the future of customer experience as a discipline and profession.

Gabe Alves was working on a project that was going to digitally transform the way a hundred-year-old company managed its workforce. After weeks of presenting, Gabe finally got approval. Just prior to going live a vital component didn’t arrive. That’s when Gabe learned an age-old lesson that saved the day.

Heather Younger was leading the entire client facing team for a company that was going through a big merger. After about a year into the merger the company culture took a nosedive. Heather went to the head of HR, even though she was leading the customer experience, about making changes to improve the employee experience. Heather ended up being responsible to managing the experience for both.

Jillian Medoff was a business consultant with a passion for being a novelist. After having sold a few novels she was unable to sell her next manuscript. That’s when the editor of her first novel gave her some advice that she thought was crazy. But it paid off and Jillian is now following her passion of writing about corporate life.

Tal Shnall was promoted to managing a staff that was more than double the size of his previous role. But Tal did not realize that he was missing a lot of manager and leadership skills that would allow him to be successful. Tal struggled and paid the price. Eventually he found his way forward and now helps others from repeating his experience.

Debi Mongan decided to take a break from her career to raise her daughter. After five years had passed Debi decided to go back to work. She thought she was going to re-enter where she left off. Once she realized that wasn’t going to happen she took a step back, which helped her to take a leap forward.

Jenny Dempsey was working more than 50 hours per week, she rarely took breaks, and had the highest amount of vacation in the entire company. She kept stuffing her emotions down and wore a smile. Then one day she had an anxiety attack. A few years later, it happened again. Finally, Jenny realized that she had to make changes.

Dean Lindsay had a client that hired him for sales training. Everything went great and participant feedback was high. But once the client learned that Dean had some minor roles as a professional actor, he terminated the remaining sessions. This caused Dean to make some changes that had some unintended consequences.

Steven Keith was hired by a creative agency to build their digital consulting practice. As Steven began to build his team, he was hiring people and managing the team in a culturally different way than the legacy business. It wasn’t working. The CEO sat Steven down and told him he needed to fix it fast. Ultimately, Steven found success by getting the entire agency to focus on this one thing.

Christine Comaford fell to the ground and her body couldn’t stay standing. She had just found out that her step son died unexpectedly at college. While trying to cope with this tremendous loss, she had to fulfill numerous professional obligations. But she was unable to function. That’s when she found something that she had never realized before that has allowed her to experience an entirely new ex...

Jeffrey Shaw was tops in his class and returned home to launch his new business. Ready for success, Jefferey spent three long years moving down the path to failure. After he gave his best sales pitch ever, he realized how off he was trying to promote the message of his business. He was unable to speak the lingo of his customers. That’s when Jefferey launched his transformation and went from overlo...

Darrin Poole was challenged as a leader. He had to engineer a mindset shift. He suspended the normal drills and implemented a game changing tactic that dramatically changed their performance and helped everyone get over the hump.

Andy Swann was at a barbeque when he congratulated a guy who said he was at his job for 10 years. The man said he hated it. Andy realized he was that man and decided to make a resolution to do something about it. Now, Andy helps people to be rescued from the same fate.