The People Playbook with Jason Taylor

What does it take to build high-performing teams, create cultures that thrive, and lead organizations through change? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with Ron Cecillon, President & CEO of Denny's Canada, Bar One, and the Northland UK & Ireland Restaurant Group at Northland Properties. With more than 30 years of leadership experience, Ron shares...

What if one of the biggest costs in your business doesn't appear anywhere on your P&L? In this episode of The People Playbook, Jason Taylor sits down with Bob Borcherdt, Founder & CEO of IN2GREAT, to explore the hidden impact of unused human capacity and why most organizations are leaving performance, productivity, and profitability on the table. Bob shares lessons from decades of lea...

What separates leaders who succeed from those who quit too soon? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast, Jason Taylor sits down with Adrian Capobianco, Co-Founder & CEO of Because I Love It (BILI), to discuss entrepreneurship, resilience, leadership, and the realities of building businesses in fast-moving industries. Adrian shares why vision without execution is just an idea, how great...

What separates great leaders from average ones? In this episode of The People Playbook, Jason Taylor sits down with Geoffrey Toffetti, CEO of Frontline Performance Group, to discuss the leadership principles that drive high-performing teams and thriving cultures. Geoffrey shares lessons from leading major business transformations, scaling a company from services to SaaS, and building an organizati...

What does it take to build a brand that lasts more than 60 years without losing its culture along the way? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast, Domenic Primucci sits down with Jason Taylor to talk about leadership, culture, franchise growth, and the people-first mindset that helped turn Pizza Nova into one of Canada’s most recognized restaurant brands. Domenic shares why listening is on...

What does it really take to build a business that lasts - and a culture that people actually believe in? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with Chris Fisher, Founder and Brand President of Shine Window Care and Holiday Lighting, to unpack over 25 years of leadership, growth, and lessons learned in franchising. Chris shares why “making a difference” is more tha...

What does it actually take to build a people-first culture that performs? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with Chris Caldwell, President & CEO of Community National Bank, to break down the leadership principles that don’t change, even as industries evolve. Chris shares why no one is “above the work,” how understanding your team’s “why” drives real perfor...

What separates average teams from high-performing ones? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast, Jason Taylor sits down with Nevil Corbeth, Vice President of Sales at NFI Canada, to unpack what it really takes to build winning cultures, lead top performers, and grow teams that stay motivated under pressure. Nevil shares lessons from leading across Canada and the U.S., why friendly competiti...

What happens when a police officer and military veteran builds a fast-growing coffee company rooted in purpose, culture, and community? In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast, Jason Taylor sits down with Shawn Black, Founder of Sheepdog Brew Company, to unpack how frontline leadership lessons from policing and the military shaped the way he builds teams, earns trust, and scales a values-dr...

Most leaders think they need better ideas. They don’t. They need clarity. In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with German Sanchez De La Cruz, Founder & CEO of Aslanova Group, to break down what actually holds leaders back as they scale - and why growth often creates more confusion, not less. German shares what he sees behind the scenes with founders and CEOs...

What does it really take to build and scale multiple successful companies - and more importantly, the people behind them? In this episode of The People Playbook, Jason Taylor sits down with Frank Cianciulli, Chairman & CEO of The Wish Group, to unpack the leadership mindset behind building high-growth businesses across industries. Frank shares how his journey started almost by accident - and e...

What comes first in leadership: people or performance? In this episode of The People Playbook , Jason Taylor sits down with Peter Kenyon , Vice President, Client Services at Entegra Canada , to unpack what it really takes to build strong teams, protect culture, and drive results that last. Peter brings decades of cross-functional leadership experience across sales, operations, supply chain, and ex...

In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast, host Jason Taylor sits down with Drew Gillett, VP of Retail Marketing at Guild Mortgage. Drew leads a high-performance marketing team supporting thousands of loan officers in the highly regulated mortgage industry, where he focuses on building trust, driving culture, developing leaders at scale, and helping people show up with clarity and confidence....

In this episode of The People’s Playbook , Jason Taylor sits down with Sherry McNeil, CFE, President & CEO of the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA), to explore leadership, franchising, and the art of building resilient organizations. From her early days working at the store level to leading one of Canada’s largest franchise networks, Sherry shares the lessons, stories, and strategies that h...

In this episode of The People Playbook , Jason Taylor sits down with Chloe McKenzie, SVP of People and Culture at SaltXC and founder of ChloLeads, a leadership platform supporting ambitious women and women of color. Chloe shares her journey building the People function from the ground up at SaltXC, creating one of Canada’s top workplaces, and leading with authenticity, identity, and emotional inte...

How do you lead a fertility clinic while keeping patient care, staff culture, and innovation at the forefront? In this episode of The People Playbook , Jason Taylor sits down with Mark Evans, CEO of Markham Fertility Centre, to explore his journey from young MBA to healthcare leader, the emotional challenges of fertility care, and how he’s transforming access to reproductive health across Canada....

In this powerful episode of The People Playbook, Jason Taylor sits down with Ryan Dymond, President & COO of FIKA Company – one of Canada’s fastest-growing cannabis retail organizations with over 237 locations. Ryan brings 25+ years of hospitality experience into the cannabis space and reveals how he’s flipped the traditional retail script: leading with genuine human connection instead of tran...

What does it really take to scale a company from $20M to $300M+ while actually putting people first? In this powerful episode, scale-up expert and former EVP Brad Furtney pulls back the curtain on the leadership playbook that transformed founder-led software businesses into high-performing, culture-driven powerhouses at Evercommerce. Brad shares the exact moves he makes on day one when stepping in...

In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with Matt Bell, CEO of Shelmerdine Garden Centre and founder of Geller's Design, to discuss what it takes to scale multiple businesses while keeping culture, leadership, and people at the heart of it all. Matt shares his journey from growing Gellers into Winnipeg’s largest residential landscape company to acquiring Shelme...

In this episode of The People’s Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with Kellie Lefaive, CEO of Go Direct Solutions, to explore what it takes to lead effectively in fast-paced and ever-changing industries. Kellie shares her insights on staying calm amid chaos, aligning teams across multiple departments, and nurturing future leaders. She also opens up about her personal leadership journey, th...

In this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , Jason Taylor sits down with Lindsay Wilson, GM of Sales Ontario at Molson Coors, to dive into authentic leadership, building culture through momentum, and nurturing high-performing teams. Lindsay shares her journey through significant organizational change, how she fosters inclusion and cross-functional collaboration, and her framework for spotting...

How do you scale culture, lead through chaos, and keep people at the center? Tim Banick , President of Entegra Procurement Services Canada , joins Jason to share the leadership principles behind his 30+ year career across PepsiCo, Entegra, and beyond. We dig into self-awareness, creating psychological safety (“tops & flops”), leading large teams without silos, staying available to your people,...

On this episode of The People Playbook Podcast , host Jason Taylor sits down with Jason Wentzell - a Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist, past president of CAPhO, and founder of Extend Pharmacy - to explore how oncology expertise can be brought closer to home. Jason shares why community-based cancer care matters, how the Extend Cancer Pharmacy Network (ECPN) trains and supports independent pharmac...

What makes a culture durable - and a team unstoppable? Jason sits down with Jeff Clark (ex-President, Kitchen Partners; now President & CEO, Jeff Clark Consulting ) to unpack four decades of building high-performing teams in food manufacturing and multi-unit restaurant supply. Jeff shares the “get the best people” play, how to coach A-players and strugglers, leading through COVID, and why purp...

Maple Ridge Living’s president, Tim Sieders , joins Jason to unpack 20+ years of building a client-first construction company across landscaping, hardscape, and renovations in Southern Ontario. Tim shares the leadership plays behind scaling from a one-man operation to a 21-person team: hiring for character, creating real career paths, giving people ownership, open financials, and building trust th...