Podcasts about net promoter score

Send us Fan MailEpisode SummaryGuests: Zac Curtis (Innovation Lead for NextGen Home at E.ON) & Chris Bernkopf (CEO of Podero)How do you scale residential Energy as a Service (EaaS) without upfront capital? E.ON and Podero's 18-home Midlands pilot demonstrates that combining automated zero-upfront multi-asset orchestration (heat pumps, solar PV, batteries, and EV chargers) into a single 10-year fixed tariff wrapper can achieve a +56 Net Promoter Score and stable household comfort. However, scaling this model to a broader target market of 680,000 homes depends entirely on overcoming physical installation bottlenecks, correcting widespread heat pump commissioning errors, and transitioning manufacturer software platforms from standalone thermodynamic efficiency (COP) toward predictive, time-of-use cost-curve steering.Technical Insights1. The Financial Architecture of Energy as a Service (EaaS)The core financial barrier to residential grid decarbonisation is the high upfront capital cost of low-carbon assets.The E.ON NextGen Home pilot addresses this by completely eliminating initial capital expenditure for the consumer. All hardware—including Vaillant heat pumps, SolarEdge solar arrays, and home batteries—is deployed at zero upfront cost.The asset capital paydown is amortised over a 10-year term and embedded directly into a stable, single monthly fixed tariff wrapper.To mitigate risk when a homeowner relocates during the contract term, the asset value is transferred to the property valuation. The incoming buyer inherits an optimised, low-operational-bill home with the initial capital pay-down effectively cleared through the house sale.Following the 18-home proof of concept, E.ON is planning a proactive call for entries to scale up to a representative sample of over 300 homes. This next phase will target specific home archetypes and a diverse mix of consumer behaviours to stress-test the model's mass-market viability.2. Multi-Asset Software Orchestration vs. Standalone COPTraditional heating controls are built to maximise standalone thermodynamic efficiency (COP).In modern dynamic, time-of-use energy systems where wholesale electricity pricing fluctuates sharply between midday and evening peaks, maximising standalone efficiency is an outdated metric.To generate true running-cost savings, Podero's platform bypasses physical gateways to communicate via cloud APIs directly with the assets every few minutes.The software engine shifts focus toward predictive cost-curve steering by calculating the exact building energy deficits and the specific thermal deferral capacity (the duration a building envelope can safely delay or store heat load without dropping interior comfort).3. Supply Chain Quality and "Unconscious Incompetence"The deployment of automated multi-asset steering lives or dies on physical installation quality.A significant portion of the UK installation supply chain suffers from unconscious incompetence—well-meaning installers who lack the specific expertise required for low-carbon engineering.Common field errors, such as incorrect heat pump commissioning, frequently cause internal backup electric immersion heating rods to run continuously, driving up electricity consumption.Additionally, the transition of the UK heating industry into a fragmented landscape of self-employed sole traders complicates the rapid dissemination of best practices. Overcoming this requires a strict, synchronised "waterfall" installation process to handle complex asset interdependencies over a tight five-day window.4. Expanding Beyond Air-to-Water ArchetypesTo scale the EaaS framework past the initial pilot phase toward a representative market sample of 300+ homes, utilities must look beyond standard air-to-water heat pump systems.To accommodate tight mid-terraced houses and flats where external space or pipework disruption prevents traditional setups, the pilot is actively evaluating alternative low-carbon technologies.This includes compact, single-room heat pump configurations operating without external units, localised infrared matting, low-electricity radiant solutions, and smart electric boilers dedicated to domestic hot water (DHW) production.Industry Resources & LinksHost Profile: Nathan Gambling, Head of Technical Education at BetaTeach and host of the BetaTalk podcast. Referenced Data Expert: Mick Wall (Sheffield University), field data analyst tracking "The Holy Trinity" of integrated heat pump, battery, and solar performance telemetry. Support the showLearn more about heat pump heating by followingNathan on Linkedin, Twitter and BlueSky

What if the biggest mistake companies make with AI transformation is treating it as a technology problem? Laurent Aufils, Chief People Officer at Orange Business, knows that it's all about people. In this episode, Kathi Enderes sits down with Laurent to explore how one of the world's leading digital services companies transformed its entire 30,000-people workforce through a people-first approach to generative AI. The results are concrete and striking. Orange Business's AI-powered contract management tool slashed what previously took teams weeks of painstaking analysis to under three hours — fundamentally disrupting not just how people work, but how they understand the value they bring.  Rather than letting 30,000 people go and rehiring AI specialists, Laurent and his team made a bold choice: there will always be a human in the loop. That principle became the foundation of everything — the cultural compass that kept employees from fearing the future and turned anxiety into engagement. The numbers tell the story. Among employees who went through Orange Business's reskilling and upskilling programs, employee Net Promoter Scores shot from a modest +8 to a remarkable +41. Over 90% of the company's workforce is now trained in generative AI, and more than 60% use it as a regular part of their daily work.  AI certifications became a business objective on par with financial targets, and the company won contracts specifically because clients knew their teams had the credentials to back up their pitch. But perhaps the most powerful insight Laurent shares is about learning. In the AI era, learning is no longer a one-time investment or a classroom event; it is a continuous business capability, and it must be embedded into the rhythm of everyday work. Orange Business's YouTime initiative — dedicating three hours per month per employee to learning — changed the entire mindset of the organization. Paired with an 11,000-member internal generative AI community, it created the kind of grassroots momentum that no top-down mandate ever could. Laurent's advice to CHROs and HR leaders: stay humble, keep experimenting, and never let technology outpace your people. Related resources Podcast: Why AI Is A Massive Job Creation Technology. Automated Integration. Findem. And Thank You.  The Superworker Organization: AI Goes Enterprise AI Pacesetters: Six Secrets Of The Superworker Company  The Age of the Superworker (and Supermanager) Get Galileo: The AI Superagent for HR   Chapters (00:00:03) - What Works: Changing the Way People Work(00:00:44) - Orange Business's AI Transformation(00:05:40) - How GE Prepared for the Generative AI Transformation(00:12:16) - How did the learning function change with the introduction of generative AI(00:15:09) - How Has Cognizant is evolving its culture(00:18:49) - Culture and the AI journey(00:22:02) - Top Executives: The AI Transformation(00:24:39) - What Works: Chief People Officer at Orange Business

eTail Palm Springs is one of the most important events on the e-commerce calendar. As one of the most anticipated events in the e-commerce calendar, eTail brings together senior retail leaders, DTC brands, and digital innovators to explore the evolving future of online and omnichannel retail. Every year, the event draws a powerful mix of founders, marketers, technology providers, and retail operators — all under one roof in the California desert.Isaac Morey, Co-Founder of Content Cucumber, was on the ground at eTail Palm Springs this year recording conversations for the Talk Commerce podcast. The result? A compilation video packed with some of his favorite interviews from across the show floor. Each one is a quick snapshot of the people, ideas, and energy that make eTail such a standout event.Here's a look at every clip in the compilation.0:40 Scott Ohsman, Always Off Brand5:38 Elizabethe Lachhar, RezolveAI10:57 Amrit Shergill, ShopVision14:21 Udayan Bose, NetElixer16:27 Andrew Watt, MAI18:17 Patrick Yoon, CHEQScott Ohsman, Always Off Brand: AI Is Moving Past the HypeScott Ohsman kicked things off with signature energy and a sharp take on where AI in e-commerce really stands. He argues that AI is finally moving from buzzword to tactical tool — but warns that a "blister" correction is coming, and that mediocre brands relying on AI as a crutch will be the first to get flushed out.D2C Brands Are About to Have a MomentIn the same conversation, Scott made the case that D2C brands are quietly positioned for a traffic windfall thanks to LLM-driven search sending users directly to brand websites. It's unpaid traffic, and the brands doing solid foundational work will benefit most.The Vibes at eTail Are UnmatchedScott closed with a love letter to the eTail experience itself — the Palm Springs sunshine, the resort setting, and the surprisingly positive energy on the exhibitor floor. According to Scott, even the vendors are in a good mood here, and that says a lot.Elizabeth Lachhar, Rezolve AI: The Case for Agentic CommerceElizabeth Lechhar from Rezolve AI broke down what agentic commerce actually means and why it matters right now. With Generation Alpha bringing five trillion dollars in buying power online in the next few years, the traditional e-commerce funnel is reaching end of life — and brands need to prepare for a conversational, hyper-personalized future.Shopping Will Become a 360° ExperienceElizabeth painted a picture of what the near future of shopping looks like: not just searching for a blazer, but asking an AI what to wear in Palm Springs, what goes with it, and whether you can still wear it to lunch. Commerce is becoming circular and lifestyle-driven, not linear.Get Your Data Ready NowIn her closing remarks, Elizabeth urged retailers to start preparing their data infrastructure for the agentic future. From multi-dimensional search to automated payments, the entire commerce stack is about to change — and Resolve AI is building the end-to-end platform to support that shift.Amrit Shergill, ShopVision: Why Retros Shouldn't Be AnecdotalAmrit Shergill of ShopVision explained how most brands rely on fragmented, anecdotal data when looking back at key campaigns like Black Friday. His company captures every digital touchpoint across competitors and reseller channels, turning guesswork into clarity and predictive insights.Pricing Intelligence: Finding White Space in the MarketAmrit dove deeper into a specific pain point he's hearing at eTail: pricing challenges. Brands with large wholesale networks are missing margin and product-line opportunities because they can't see how competitors are pricing similar products. His platform matches products across brands and surfaces the white space.Udayan Bose, NetElixir: $30 Million in Revenue Driven by ExperimentationNetElixir's founder, Udayan Bose shared that their machine-learning-powered experimentation platform has driven roughly $30 million in cumulative additional revenue across 250 experiments in the past year. The message is clear: performance AI — the kind that drives measurable outcomes — is the next frontier every e-commerce brand should pursue.NetElixir: AI Is Moving from Buzz to ActionUdayan also noted a shift in the eTail conversations this year: people aren't just talking about AI anymore — they're asking whether it actually drives results. NetElixir's high Net Promoter Score (84.4, double the industry average) backs up their claim that human expertise combined with AI delivers exceptional performance.Andrew Watt, MAI: Agentic AI for Google Ads ManagementThe team at MAI founded by former Google Ads and Instacart ad platform engineers introduced their agentic AI for paid media. Their platform plugs into Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Shopify, then autonomously builds and manages campaigns — taking over work that used to require agencies or in-house teams. They're expanding to Bing and Meta next.Patrick Yoon, CHEQ: Client-Side Detection: Cleaning Up Invalid TrafficPatrick explained how their client-side pixel unlocks intelligence retailers have never had access to before — from reducing paid media ad waste by up to 70% to identifying which bots on your site are malicious and which are actually acting on behalf of real consumers through LLMs.The AI-Bot Hybrid Future of Retail WebsitesIn a deeper dive, Patrick shared that Gartner predicts one in five interactions on retail websites will involve an LLM by 2028. The takeaway: you can't just block all automation anymore. Retailers need nuanced intelligence to distinguish between helpful AI agents and bad actors, and that distinction will directly impact ROI.

What if the spa experience isn't actually improving well-being, but simply creating a pleasant moment? In this episode of StarrCast, we explore the shift from traditional customer experience to true wellbeing experience design (WX), and what it means to create measurable, lasting impact for guests. What You'll Learn Why many wellness experiences fail to create meaningful, lasting outcomes The difference between customer experience (CX) and wellbeing experience (WX) How designing for outcomes, not just delivery, changes everything Why personalization, cultural awareness, and emotional engagement are essential A new way to measure success through Net Wellbeing Score (NWS) instead of traditional metrics Episode Highlights  02:05 – Are spa experiences truly improving well-being or just creating moments? 05:58 – The gap between service delivery and guest outcomes 11:20 – The shift toward transformation and long-term wellness expectations 20:22 – Designing experiences for impact, not just satisfaction 31:41 – The role of emotional engagement and multi-sensory design 43:17 – Well-being vs. longevity and what guests actually want 52:32 – Moving beyond Net Promoter Score to Net Wellbeing Score Meet the Guests Laszlo Puczko and Melanie Smith are co-founders of HTWW Life and globally recognized experts in health, wellness, and tourism strategy. With decades of research and advisory experience, they bring a forward-thinking perspective on how the industry must evolve to deliver meaningful well-being outcomes. Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned Wellbeing Experience Design (WX) Net Wellbeing Score (NWS) Holistic guest journey mapping (pre, during, and post experience) Multi-sensory and culturally informed experience design Closing Insight A beautiful spa experience is no longer enough. Today's guest is looking for something deeper, something measurable, and something that lasts. The future of wellness lies not in what is delivered, but in what is truly felt and sustained long after the visit ends. Looking for expert advice in Spa Consulting, with live training and online learning? Spa Consulting Live Training Online Learning Other Links: Connect with HTWW Life Connect with Laszlo Puczko  Connect with Melanie Smith Follow Lisa on LinkedIn Listen or Watch StarrCast Podcast on Your Preferred Platform or YouTube Join us on Facebook Join us on Instagram  

Today I sit down with Kelly Abbott, one of my absolute best friends and someone I have known for more than 20 years, and we get into a conversation I think all of us need to be having right now. Kelly is one of the most talented CIOs, internet entrepreneurs, and technology minds I know, and what I appreciate most about him is that he does not approach AI like a hype man. He approaches it like a builder, an artist, a strategist, and a deeply curious human being. That combination is rare. What really stands out to me in this conversation is that Kelly is not using AI in a shallow, gimmicky way. He is exploring how it can become a genuine creative partner. He walks me through a project he has built called Writer's Room, a tool designed to simulate the collaborative energy of a real writers room so people can develop long-form fiction with multiple AI personas, story structure, quality control, continuity, and creative tension built in. It is a fascinating example of what becomes possible when you stop thinking about AI as a shortcut and start thinking about it as a thought partner. We also talk about the AI-generated video he created for Seven CTOs, and this part of the conversation opens up something deeper than tools alone. Kelly shares how he used AI to translate an inner idea into a full creative artifact by scripting with ChatGPT, shaping voice in ElevenLabs, experimenting with music, and embracing imagery, archetype, and non-deterministic outputs along the way. One of the most powerful parts of this conversation is hearing him describe why he chose an unexpected narrator voice and how he thinks about the relationship between text, emotion, music, image, and trust. It is a masterclass in taste, not just tech. We also get honest about the tension many people feel around AI. I say in the episode that I am less worried about AI destroying the world by itself than I am about people using it stupidly and at scale. Kelly does not brush that off. He agrees that the concern is real, and he makes a strong case that the answer is not avoidance. The answer is learning. He talks about why he teaches Claude in particular, why he respects Anthropic's stance on safety, and why becoming capable with these tools puts you in the driver's seat instead of leaving you vulnerable to being outpaced by them. Another piece I love is that this conversation is not just about AI in the abstract. It becomes personal. Kelly starts exploring what it could look like to use tools like NotebookLM to understand my body of work more deeply, surface the real pain points my clients face, and eventually help build something like an on-demand “Johnny brain” people could interact with for coaching and insight. That is where this episode gets especially exciting to me, because it moves from fascination to application. We are not just asking what AI is. We are asking how to use it in service of real communication, real creativity, real usefulness, and real human connection. And then, because life is funny and friendship matters, we close by telling the story of how Kelly and I first met on a flight to South by Southwest. It starts with him defending an empty seat, me walking back up the aisle in a too-tight Flash T-shirt, and Kelly greeting me with, “I don't like you very much right now.” What followed was a conversation, a weekend, and a friendship that has lasted for decades. Honestly, that ending says a lot about this whole episode. Beneath all the tools and ideas is something more important: curiosity, candor, play, and the willingness to engage what is right in front of you. This episode matters because AI is not coming someday. It is here. And like it or not, all of us need to get familiar with what it can do, where it helps, where it misleads, and how to use it without giving up our judgment, our values, or our originality. That is why I expect this to become a semi-regular part of the podcast.   Key Takeaways AI becomes far more useful when you treat it as a creative partner rather than a magic shortcut. Kelly's “Writer's Room” concept shows how AI can simulate diverse voices, roles, and editorial functions to strengthen storytelling and idea development. A learner's mindset still matters as much as any tool. Kelly says one of his advantages has always been being “a page ahead in the manual” because he stayed up learning. Great AI output still depends on human taste, curation, and judgment. The tools can generate, but the human being still has to choose. Non-deterministic outputs are not always a flaw. In creative work, unpredictability can actually produce something more alive and surprising. Voice, music, and image are not separate from strategy. They shape trust, tone, and emotional impact. AI literacy is quickly becoming a real professional advantage. The people who learn how to use these tools well will be far less likely to be overwhelmed by them. Safety matters. Kelly makes a clear distinction between powerful use and careless use, which is one reason he emphasizes Claude and Anthropic's public posture around AI safety. The future is not only about automating tasks. It is also about making your ideas more discoverable, more creative, and more accessible to the people you serve. Friendship, curiosity, and long conversations still matter. Some of the best ideas begin with a human relationship, not a prompt.   Addressing Relevant Issues This conversation touches a nerve that a lot of people are feeling right now. We are living through a moment where AI is moving faster than most people can comfortably track, and that creates a strange mix of excitement, intimidation, skepticism, and risk. This episode speaks directly to that. We get into leadership, creativity, communication, entrepreneurship, technology, safety, and discernment. We also touch the deeper issue underneath all of it, which is whether we are going to let technology flatten our humanity or help us express it more powerfully. To me, that is the real issue. Not whether AI exists, but whether we develop the judgment, character, and skill to use it well.   Why This Episode Matters This episode matters to me personally because Kelly is not just a brilliant technologist. He is someone I trust. That matters a lot in a space where there is so much noise, so much hype, and so much confident nonsense. What really stands out to me is that Kelly brings both depth and play to this conversation. He understands the technical side, but he also understands voice, story, aesthetics, and what makes something actually resonate. I think listeners will come away with something rare here: not just more information about AI, but a healthier and more useful way to think about it. And honestly, I care about this because I do believe we all need to start getting familiar with what these tools can do. The people who learn thoughtfully are going to be in a much stronger position than the people who ignore this and hope it goes away.   Resources Mentioned Writer's Room Studio — https://writersrooms.studio/ Kelly's AI video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XteCrxWZIvA ElevenLabs — https://elevenlabs.io/ Mother / music sample generation invite — https://mother.is/invite/USER-D071D3FA Ideogram — https://ideogram.ai/ Google Flow — https://labs.google/fx/tools/flow NotebookLM — https://notebooklm.google.com/ BOL Agency — https://www.bol-agency.com/ The K State — https://thekstate.com/   Connect & Subscribe If this conversation gave you something to think about, subscribe to Live Like a Leader, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who is trying to make sense of AI, leadership, creativity, or where communication is headed next.   Next Steps A good next step is to spend a little time with Kelly's work and then actually try one of the tools we discuss. Don't just have an opinion about AI from a distance. Get your hands on it. Explore it. Test it. See where it helps, where it falls short, and where your own judgment needs to get stronger. And if this conversation resonates, stay with us, because this is going to be an ongoing part of the show. -----   Kelly Abbott is Chief AI Officer at BOL Agency and founder of K-State LLC, where he helps organizations stop talking about AI and start operating with it. A two-time exit founder (Match.com, Adobe), Kelly now builds AI-native systems for marketing agencies, law firms, and enterprise teams. He trains teams on Claude, designs agentic workflows, and creates products at the intersection of AI, music, and creative technology. He lives in Washougal, WA with his family. Ohio State alum. Still writing stories. --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

Customer experience isn't failing because people don't care, it fails because teams confuse slogans with systems. Jeannie Walters is joined by Larissa Salazar from Brand Builders Group for a special CX Pulse Check to celebrate the launch of Jeannie's book, Experience Is Everything: Making Every Moment Count In The Age Of Customer Expectations, and to talk about what it really takes for a message to break through in a noisy world. We get practical about the shift that changes everything: customer service is reactive, but customer experience must be proactive. If you only show up when something goes wrong, you're already behind. We talk about designing the end-to-end customer journey with intention, choosing how you want customers to feel, and connecting experience design to the outcomes leaders care about. Along the way, we call out a common trap in CX leadership: treating Net Promoter Score like a strategy instead of a measurement you influence through real changes. Jeannie also shares the mindset strategy discipline framework from the book, including how a clear customer experience mission statement becomes a usable North Star across teams. Larissa pulls back the curtain on what she sees with experts and first-time authors, why your best knowledge is often the “small steps” you forget to write down, and how templates and frameworks help customer experience change agents take action fast. If you're trying to operationalize customer-centricity, build a real CX strategy, and move from reactivity to discipline, this conversation is your push to start. If it helps, subscribe, share this with a change agent on your team, and leave a review so more leaders can find the show.About Larissa Salazar, Team Lead & Personal Brand Strategist | Brand Builders GroupSalazar is a highly respected personal brand strategist and speaker at Brand Builders Group, an international personal branding firm and an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company. As one of the youngest and fastest-rising strategists in the organization, she has quickly built a reputation for helping authors and thought leaders clarify their expertise, define their message, and build brands that create lasting influence.With a strategic mindset and a deep appreciation for storytelling, Larissa has a unique ability to distill complex ideas into clear, compelling messaging. She doesn't just help clients communicate their insights—she guides them in developing proprietary intellectual property and signature frameworks that make their teachings memorable, shareable, and scalable. Her approach ensures that thought leaders don't just teach for the moment, but create content and concepts that spread, endure, and position them as industry authorities.Follow Larissa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissa-ann-salazar/Book a meeting with Larissa: https://freebrandcall.com/lsResources Mentioned:Order your copy of Experience Is Everything -- http://experienceiseverythingbook.comExperience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.cEnjoyed the show? Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a quick review to help others find us. Leave your review at ratethispodcast.com/xact.Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP on LinkedIn!)

Today I sit down with my dear friend Sebastian Bates. Seb and I first met when he was a client of mine, and from the beginning, I was deeply impressed by him—by his drive, his heart, his courage, and the sheer scale of what he is building in the world. He is one of those rare people who combine intensity with purpose, and ambition with service. I respect him tremendously. In this conversation, Seb shares the extraordinary story of a wingsuit BASE jumping accident in the Dolomites that nearly killed him and left doctors telling him he would never walk again. He takes us inside the physical agony, the long rehabilitation, the identity shift, and the fierce defiance that helped him come back from one of the lowest points of his life. From there, we go back into his childhood, including years of bullying and the role martial arts played in helping him develop the confidence, discipline, and character to stand up for himself. That early pain became part of the seed for what would later become Warrior Academy—now the largest martial arts academy in the Middle East, serving more than 10,000 children every week. We also talk about fatherhood, purpose, and the moment Seb realized he could no longer live only for adrenaline and adventure. After becoming a dad, he redirected that same intensity into business, leadership, and service. Out of that journey came not only Warrior Academy, but also the Bates Foundation, which now serves thousands of vulnerable and at-risk children each week in some of the toughest environments on earth. One of the most powerful parts of this conversation is Seb's conviction that everything is downstream from character. If you can help a child build confidence, emotional intelligence, resilience, focus, and self-respect, you can help change the decisions they make—and in many cases, change the course of their lives. That philosophy is now reaching children in slums and deeply impoverished communities, where the Bates Foundation is combining martial arts, mentoring, nourishment, and hope in ways that are deeply moving and profoundly practical. We also spend time talking about communication and storytelling—how Seb refined his message, what happens when a great story is truly shaped to land with an audience, and why the smallest details in delivery can create a nonlinear leap in impact. That part of the conversation meant a lot to me personally. Most of all, this episode is about what can happen when pain becomes purpose, when adventure becomes service, and when leadership becomes something much bigger than personal success.   Key Takeaways A near-fatal accident can become a turning point rather than an ending. Character development shapes decisions, and decisions shape lives. Martial arts can become a vehicle for confidence, self-respect, emotional regulation, and leadership in children. Bullying often cannot be solved for a child; they need support, tools, and character to overcome it themselves. Fatherhood changed Seb's relationship to risk and redirected his life toward service. The Bates Foundation is built around a powerful idea: help children build character, belonging, and hope—and you help change their future. Great storytelling is not just about having lived through something extraordinary; it is about learning how to bring others into the moment so the story serves them too. Small refinements in communication can create a dramatic increase in impact.   Addressing Relevant Issue This conversation touches on several issues that matter deeply right now: childhood bullying, mentorship, ADHD and identity, emotional resilience, absent support systems, fatherhood, vulnerable youth, and the importance of building strong inner character in a world that often fails children who need support most. It also speaks to a bigger leadership question: how do we turn our pain, our setbacks, and our gifts into something that serves others?   Why This Episode Matters I really, really like Seb, and that comes through here. He has become a dear friend, and I support his mission tremendously. What he is doing through Warrior Academy and the Bates Foundation is not theoretical. It is practical, courageous, compassionate work that is changing real lives. If this episode moves you, I hope you'll do more than listen. I hope you'll check out the Foundation and consider contributing to the work.   Next Steps Learn more about Sebastian Bates, Warrior Academy, and especially The Bates Foundation. And if you're in a position to support meaningful work in the world, I encourage you to take a serious look at what Seb and his team are doing. Connect with Seb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-bates-4b70412b/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Seb_bates Warrior Academy: warrioracademy.ae   Visit livelikealeader.show for more episodes and resources. --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

Today I sit down with cybersecurity experts Jay Korpi and Jeremy Dodson, two men I genuinely respect and really enjoy talking with. Jeremy and Jay came through Media Mastery Experts, and I think they are total salt-of-the-earth great guys. They also happen to be unusually deep thinkers with backgrounds in cybersecurity, attack emulation, AI, consulting, and systems design, so this conversation goes far beyond tech. What really stands out to me is that, underneath all the jargon and complexity, this episode is about leadership, trust, judgment, and responsibility. We begin with the world they know best: risk. Jay and Jeremy explain that although many people think they are simply cybersecurity consultants, the deeper truth is that they are really helping organizations understand business risk. That distinction matters. They are not just asking whether a company can pass a test or satisfy an insurance requirement. They are asking what risk a company is accepting, whether that risk is intentional, and whether leadership has built the right policies, defaults, and guardrails to support people when pressure hits. One of the most powerful ideas in this conversation is Jeremy's point that under pressure, people do not rise to their intentions. They fall to their defaults. That is a profound leadership insight, and it applies far beyond security.   From there, the conversation opens into one of the biggest issues leaders are wrestling with right now: AI. Jay and Jeremy are not anti-AI, not even close. They are building with it. But they are deeply clear-eyed about the danger of using it lazily. We talk about how AI can create an “easy button” mentality, how it can blur credibility when leaders stop thinking for themselves, and why the real job is not to let AI do your thinking but to let it sharpen the thinking you are already doing. I was especially struck by Jeremy's framing that AI should amplify rigor, curiosity, and expertise, not overwrite them. In other words, if you are thoughtful, it can make you better. If you are sloppy, it can make you sloppier at scale.   We also talk about the future they see coming: more niche, purpose-built AI tools, and a growing need to make team knowledge more usable across an organization. Jeremy describes a problem many leaders already feel without having language for it: people across a company are building valuable context inside separate AI conversations, but that knowledge often stays fragmented. Their work points toward a future where better systems can help organizations preserve decision-making context, reduce duplicated effort, and bring people into the loop faster and more intelligently. That part of the episode is especially relevant for founders, executives, and anyone trying to help a team move with more speed and less confusion.   Then the conversation gets even more interesting, because Jay and Jeremy bring all of this back to something very human. They share stories from attack work and real-world breaches, including one wild story about trying to access the literal “keys to the kingdom” in a municipality. It is fascinating on the surface, but the deeper lesson is not about movie-style hacking. It is about how ordinary blind spots, unclear access policies, and human behavior create vulnerabilities. Again and again, the issue is not magic. It is systems, habits, assumptions, and culture.   What really lands for me, though, is where we end. Jay makes the case that leadership communication cannot just be top-down. It has to come from the bottom up too. Leaders have to make it safe for people to tell the truth, safe for people to admit mistakes, and safe for people closest to the work to surface the real problems. He talks about being out on the floor, listening to the people with boots on the ground, asking what is getting in their way, and then removing those obstacles so they can do their jobs. That, to me, is real leadership. Not control for its own sake. Not authority for ego's sake. Service. Clarity. Trust. And the humility to build systems that help people do the right thing when things get hard. This is a conversation about cybersecurity and AI on the surface. But underneath, it is a conversation about character, leadership under pressure, how culture is built, and why judgment still matters more than tools. That is why I think this one is worth your time.   Key Takeaways Leadership is not just about setting intentions. It is about creating defaults and guardrails that still hold when people are under pressure. Cybersecurity is not merely a technical issue. It is a business risk issue that includes systems, people, policies, and culture. AI should refine and amplify human judgment, not replace it. Used carelessly, it can scale bad thinking just as fast as good thinking. Leaders can damage their own organizations when they hold on to unnecessary access in the name of control. Ownership does not automatically mean you should have admin rights to everything.   One of the most overlooked risks in organizations is internal movement. People often accumulate access over time and keep permissions they no longer need. The most resilient cultures are the ones where employees feel safe admitting mistakes quickly, so the team can respond and fix the problem. Bottom-up communication matters. Leaders need to hear from the people closest to the work, not just the people highest in the org chart. Small and mid-sized companies cannot afford to treat risk casually. For them, wise risk decisions can become a real competitive differentiator. The future of AI is likely to reward specific, purpose-built use cases and better knowledge-sharing across teams, not just bigger generic tools.     Addressing Relevant Issues This episode touches a nerve that a lot of leaders are feeling right now. We are living in a moment where AI is accelerating decision-making, cybersecurity threats are growing more sophisticated, and many organizations are still operating with outdated assumptions about trust, access, and authority. But beyond the technology, this conversation is really about leadership maturity. We talk about control, ego, communication, organizational culture, and what happens when people are afraid to speak up. We talk about service-minded leadership, the discipline of listening, and the responsibility leaders have to create systems that support good judgment instead of assuming good intentions are enough. That matters right now in business, in culture, and in every organization trying to move fast without breaking trust.       Why This Episode Matters This episode matters to me because Jay and Jeremy are the kind of guys I want more of in the conversation. They are smart, experienced, technically serious, and at the same time deeply grounded. They are not performing expertise. They have earned it. And what I appreciate is that they do not stop at the technical layer. They keep bringing it back to people, culture, responsibility, and leadership. I also think this conversation matters because a lot of leaders are being tempted right now by speed, convenience, and the illusion of control. Jay and Jeremy remind us that tools do not remove the need for judgment. In many ways, they make that need even greater. And if their work resonates with you, I'd encourage you to learn more about what they're building, because they are thinking about some very real problems in a very thoughtful way.   Resources Mentioned Piqued Solutions — https://piqued.solutions/ Jay Korpi on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykorpi/ Jeremy Dodson on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremydodson332/ Jay and Jeremy's work around access, onboarding, offboarding, and leadership-aligned system defaults — https://provisionr.io/    Connect & Subscribe If this conversation gave you something to think about, subscribe to the show, leave a review, and share this episode with a leader, founder, or team member who cares about building trust, making better decisions, and leading well under pressure.   Next Steps Take a look at Jay and Jeremy's work at Piqued Solutions and Provisionr.io. Connect with them on LinkedIn, and think honestly about this question inside your own organization: where are we relying on good intentions when we should be building better defaults, better communication, and better trust? --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

Alles für ein Lächeln und welche Rolle der Net Promoter Score (NPS) bei Coolblue gelingt, erfahrt Ihr im Gespräch mit Urs Möller. Es geht um das Zusammenspiel von Store, Online-Shop und Logistik, und auch um Kontaktpunkte, die Kund:innen begeistern, und die Rolle von Servicekultur im Handelsalltag.

Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS Watch Full Video Episode Host Carm Capriotto speaks with Jay Goninen, co-founder and president of WrenchWay, about insights from the 2026 Voice of the Technician Survey and what it reveals about the state of the automotive workforce. Jay encourages shop owners to download the free report to uncover blind spots and start meaningful conversations with their teams. The data show that technicians strongly prefer a four-day, 10-hour workweek with no weekends, along with proper equipment, paid vacation, retirement benefits, and paid training. While dealership technicians made up a larger share of respondents, independents stood out in workplace culture. 63% of independent technicians would recommend their shop to a friend, compared to 36% at dealerships, though dealerships scored higher in providing paid training. Across both groups, technicians favor an hourly wage plus bonus structure, which many feel better supports diagnosticians than traditional flat-rate systems. The discussion also highlights a troubling trend: the industry's Net Promoter Score dropped to -60 in 2026, signaling that many technicians would not recommend the profession to others. To strengthen the talent pipeline, Jay discusses ASE Connects, a new initiative aimed at connecting shops with high school and technical school automotive programs to support them through mentorship, advisory roles, and community engagement. Carm also advocates elevating the profession by shifting the language from “mechanic” or “technician” to “specialist,” emphasizing the expertise required to work on today's vehicles. Overall, the episode serves as a wake-up call for shop owners to use the survey insights to evaluate their culture, communication, and work environments, and to become employers technicians are proud to recommend. https://wrenchway.com/resources/2026-voice-of-technician-survey-report/ Jay Goninen, Co-Founder and President, WrenchWay Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS Learn more about NAPA Auto Care and the benefits of being part of the NAPA family by visiting https://www.napaonline.com/en/auto-care NAPA TRACS will move your shop into the SMS fast lane with onsite training and six days a week of support and local representation. Find NAPA TRACS on the Web at http://napatracs.com/ Connect with the Podcast: - Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RemarkableResultsRadioPodcast/ - Join Our Virtual Toastmasters Club: https://remarkableresults.biz/toastmasters - Join Our Private Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1734687266778976 - Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/carmcapriotto - Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmcapriotto/ - Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remarkableresultsradiopodcast/ - Visit the Website: https://remarkableresults.biz/ - Join our Insider List: https://remarkableresults.biz/insider - All books mentioned on our podcasts: https://remarkableresults.biz/books - Our Classroom page for personal or team learning: https://remarkableresults.biz/classroom - Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/carm - Special episode collections: https://remarkableresults.biz/collections - The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/ - Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through Story Telling and Open Discussion. https://remarkableresults.biz/ - Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z with Matt Fanslow: From Diagnostics to Metallica and Mental Health, Matt Fanslow is Lifting the Hood on Life. https://mattfanslow.captivate.fm/ - Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest. https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/ - The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level. https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/ - The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching. https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/ - Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: Develop Interpersonal and Professional Communication Skills when Speaking to Audiences of Any Size. https://craigoneill.captivate.fm ...

Today I sit down with Dr. Nicole Butts, best-selling and award-winning author, speaker, and organizational culture strategist and expert, whose new book is SHIFT: A Transformational Journey from Playing Small to Unapologetically Thriving. This conversation is a masterclass in what happens when high-achieving leaders (especially women) finally stop outsourcing their worth to other people's approval—and start leading from alignment. Nicole opens up about something almost every great leader experiences, but few say out loud: that moment right before a big opportunity where the old story shows up—I'm not worthy. I don't belong here. She literally started drafting me an email to back out… and then caught herself in the act. That “shrinkage story” (her words) became the doorway into the deeper work—and the reason she wrote SHIFT. We go into: why powerful women still play small in male-dominated systems (and how it shows up in everyday language), how “worker bee syndrome” keeps people doing everything… except being seen as a leader, and Nicole's core equation for transformation: consciousness + courage = transformation. If you've ever felt like your work should “speak for itself,” this episode will challenge you—in the best way.   What You'll Hear in This Episode   1) The real reason accomplished women still shrink   Nicole breaks it down into three forces: Cultural conditioning: being taught to be “likable,” defer, and not take up space—showing up as hedging language like “I'm not really sure, but…” Structural dynamics: being outnumbered (especially for women of color), which changes how safe it feels to be visible. Internalized stories: “If I just do a really good job and keep my head down, they'll notice.” Nicole is clear: that's not reliably true.   2) “Worker bee syndrome” and the promotion you never get   I share a pattern I see constantly: the whole department rides on someone's back… and then they're shocked when they're passed up. Why? Because leadership isn't only output—leadership is visibility, positioning, and presence. I call it “leadership me time”—stepping back from nonstop doing so people can actually see you leading. Nicole agrees and names it “reactive doing”—being busy, carrying everything, but not intentionally showing up as the leader. And then she drops a line I want you to remember: “By design, the work isn't the leader. You are the leader.”   3) The SHIFT framework: a roadmap out of “playing small”   Nicole shares the backbone of her book as an acronym: S — Set your North Star H — Here I — Illustrate your path forward F — Forge ahead T — Thrive And she didn't just write a roadmap—she made it real. After each step, she includes a section called “Follow My Journey” where she shows how she personally moved through that step.   4) The inner equation for leadership: consciousness + courage   Nicole explains why transformation requires two things: Consciousness (awareness): noticing the old pattern in real time so you can interrupt it. Courage: taking aligned action even with fear present—like deleting the email draft and saying yes to the opportunity instead.   Her distinction is sharp: Awareness sets the course. Courage fuels the journey.   Try This After You Listen (Practical Actions)   Audit your language for “softeners.” If you regularly start with “I'm not sure, but…” practice leading with the point first. Schedule “leadership me time." Block time weekly to think, plan, mentor, and communicate—not just execute—so you're seen leading, not only producing. Name your shrinkage story. When it shows up, don't argue with it—notice it. That awareness creates choice. Choose one aligned action you'll take while still nervous. That's courage—aligned action in the presence of fear.   Resources + Links Dr. Nicole Butts (website + books): NicoleButts.com Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn Book: SHIFT: A Transformational Journey from Playing Small to Unapologetically Thriving   About Dr. Nicole Butts Dr. Nicole Butts is a best-selling and award-winning author, speaker, and organizational culture strategist who helps individuals and institutions unlock transformation.   -----   If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star rating, write a few kind words about the show and our guest, and share it with someone who's ready to stop shrinking and start leading. --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

Today I'm joined by Joel Steele, co-founder of Steele Financial Solutions and author of the powerful new book Life Switch. Joel's journey from owning a failed healthy fast food restaurant to building a multi-million-dollar financial firm is inspiring, vulnerable, and packed with leadership gold.   We dive into how devastating failures can unlock hidden potential and why Joel refused to declare bankruptcy, even when he was drowning in nearly $500,000 in debt at just 24 years old. He shares the exact mindset shift that reignited his fire—and the three “P”s that form the backbone of his book: Potential, Passion, and Purpose.   This conversation is for anyone who's ever felt stuck, wondered if they're enough, or questioned whether their dreams are still possible. Joel is proof that when you flip the switch inside, everything outside begins to change.   In this conversation, Joel and I explore: The story behind Thinkers Grill, Joel's awesome, yet failed business, and what it taught him about grit and growth How a single decision helped him wipe out massive debt in under two years The million-dollar mission tied to his book sales, and why he's aching to write a very big check to charity. How to balance success and fulfillment in today's high-pressure world Why helping others is Joel's oxygen, and how you can find your own purpose Whether you're leading a team, building your brand, or climbing back from a setback, this episode is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and real leadership. Find Joel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-steele-9685888/   -----   Joel Steele is an entrepreneur, financial expert, and co-founder/owner of a successful financial firm. He has over 22 years of experience helping people build wealth, along with peace of mind. He's passionate about enhancing health and wealth, the business of sports, and building meaningful relationships, starting at home with family. Steele's journey — from massive setbacks to personal reinvention and professional success — fuels his mission to inspire others to win in all aspects of life. He is part of the ownership group of two professional sports teams (NBA G-League and USL Championship League), and has inspired thousands nationwide to achieve personal and professional growth. Joel is a former certified personal trainer and created a small chain of healthy fast-food restaurants in the early 2000s. Find his book Life Switch here: https://bookjoelsteele.com/book/ --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

What You'll Learn in This Episode Why Freddie hates the word “expert”… and the standard most people are skipping. The “puddles → lakes → oceans” model for positioning yourself so the market can actually place you. Why podcast guesting + LinkedIn is still the highest-leverage authority play for most founders and consultants. Freddie's take on platform ROI: why Meta is “cheap,” why YouTube is powerful but expensive to do well, and what ad pricing signals about authority. Why storytelling is still the #1 leadership tool (and why our brains are built for it). My favorite practical exercise for influence: the “10-one-thousand pause”—and why silence makes people tell you what they weren't going to tell you. A real-world reminder: if you've earned expertise and you're staying quiet, you may be depriving the world of what it needs from you.   Ideas Worth Stealing (and Using This Week) Fix your positioning before you fix your content. Most people try to post more, podcast more, “be everywhere”… while the market still can't answer: what exactly do you do, for whom, and why you? Freddie's puddles→lakes→oceans model is a clean way to build authority without diluting it. If you want authority, use authority platforms. Freddie's argument is simple: for most founders/experts, podcast guesting + LinkedIn is still the highest ROI move because trust is already built into the medium. Silence isn't awkward—silence is leverage. Try the “10-one-thousand” pause in one conversation this week. Don't weaponize it—just watch what happens when you stop filling space. People often reveal what matters most when you let the moment breathe.   Resources Mentioned Freddie Pullen — Recognized: recognized.global The Healthy Entrepreneur Podcast (Freddie's show) Listen on Spotify or Watch on YouTube Connect with Freddie on LinkedIn   -----   Freddie has worked with 200+ founders to build demand, waiting lists, and revenue directly through LinkedIn. Along the way, one thing became impossible to ignore... All buyers do this one thing before they buy: They educate themselves with content. They want to recognize you first. They discover you through a LinkedIn post. Then consume your POV through longer form content. Then decide whether you're the person they trust. That's how modern B2B buying actually works. But this didn't come from theory.   After leaving his role as Head of Product at the world's largest media company serving 500M monthly users and generating $300k per day, Freddie built two 6-figure businesses in 8 months and helped 200+ founders do the same. The results: Multi six-figure profit in 8 months Podcast launched to #1 in 9 countries on day one $100k+ per year generated from the podcast alone Built a $3BN+ network starting with under 10k followers 50+ qualified HOT leads every month, predictably Which is why the goal of content is to be obvious.   Freddie helps clients position themselves as the authority people already trust before they ever speak to them.   Today, AI is accelerating this, but only if it's trained on the right positioning. Freddie and his team use AI to: Encode your POV Multiply what already works Turn LinkedIn posts into sales assets You need a new ocean on LinkedIn - where you're undeniable to your ideal clients. That's why Freddie and his team built a positioning first, AI powered approach to LinkedIn.   https://freddiepullen.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddie-pullen/ https://www.instagram.com/freddiepullen --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

In this episode, Camden and I cover: Starting early: Camden's “self-starter” drive—and the mentors who helped him learn fast (including Kathleen Walsh, President/CEO of the Metro North YMCA). Beyond the Crisis: how watching families in the Boston area wait in long lines for food during COVID sparked an “Uber Eats-style” nonprofit distribution model—and how they partnered with Catholic Charities of Boston. Momentum and credibility: how the charity's visibility led to major exposure and new relationships (including appearances on CBS, Bloomberg, PBS, the Drew Barrymore Show, and even White House conferences). NomadAI: why Camden believes travel is a perfect industry for AI disruption—and how NomadAI aims to build itineraries and handle planning like a “24/7 assistant in your back pocket.” Meridian Capital Partners: a founder-focused “hub” that invests very early stage in college founders—especially people who don't have the usual resume or network. The hard parts: being misunderstood in a high-pressure prep school environment, dealing with racism, isolation, and having to finish part of high school online. The turning point: Universe taking three years to get funded, losing an early investor, and Camden's “dark night of the soul” moment—where he had to stop chasing comparison and decide what he's actually committed to. The mission behind Universe: Camden's focus on helping Gen Z navigate a brutal job/internship market—and building something that serves them in a way he feels LinkedIn doesn't.   A few lines worth remembering Camden on mission: “I'm really committed to making a difference and solving problems and connecting people.” Camden on perseverance: after setbacks and many calls, they found an accredited investor who put six figures in because he saw the MVP—and the dream. Camden to Gen Z builders: if you're in a tough season, keep going—try new things—persevere.   Links / Resources Mentioned NomadAI: NomadAI.io Universe (waitlist): UniverseApp.com   About Camden Francis (from this episode) Camden Francis is a Gen Z founder based in the Boston area. He co-founded: Beyond the Crisis, a COVID-era food distribution charity that moved ~$100,000 in food/resources with partners like Catholic Charities of Boston NomadAI, an AI-assisted travel planning and itinerary platform He's also building Universe, a career/network platform aimed at helping Gen Z navigate internships and jobs.   -----   Camden Francis, a dynamic 21-year-old currently pursuing a degree in Finance and Business Management, seamlessly blends academic prowess with an entrepreneurial spirit. Beyond the confines of his desk, Camden revels in the exhilaration of sports, cherishes quality moments with family and friends, and takes leisurely strolls with his beloved Goldendoodle, Brooks. His summers are often punctuated with escapes to Cape Cod, where he finds solace and inspiration. At the core of Camden's ethos is his commitment to making a positive impact. In 2020, he founded Beyond the Crisis, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the community. Under his leadership, the organization diligently distributes food and resources to housing communities and homeless shelters. Camden's visionary approach extends to the research team at Beyond the Crisis, which collaborates with major organizations to strategically combat food insecurity and enhance nutritional health at a national level. Not content with just one venture, Camden is also the visionary force behind "Univerze," a tech company that has birthed a professional networking mobile application. His multifaceted abilities extend beyond the boardroom; Camden is a captivating public speaker, having appeared on renowned platforms such as the Drew Barrymore Show, CBS, PBS, Bloomberg, and NPR. His insights on entrepreneurship have been shared with a broader audience through various podcasts, while his recently published book further underscores his commitment to knowledge dissemination. Looking ahead, Camden is set to expand his horizons. He envisions penning another influential book, venturing into real estate, and strategically growing his investment portfolio. For interviews or business inquiries, Camden Francis invites you to connect with him at info@camdenfrancis.com. Embrace the opportunity to engage with a young luminary whose charisma, innovation, and commitment to positive change define his journey.   --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

357: Rethinking How Organizations Are Built to Change Lives (Logan Herring)Episode SummaryFive years after his first appearance on Episode #128, Logan Herring returns with a dramatically expanded vision and impact. What began as an ambitious community revitalization effort has evolved into a nationally recognized model for integrated, place-based change. As CEO of The WRK Group, Logan leads a vertically integrated set of tax-exempt businesses focused on housing, cradle-to-career education, workforce development, and community wellness in Riverside, Wilmington. In this conversation, he challenges leaders to rethink how organizations are structured, funded, measured, and branded. From rejecting the term nonprofit in favor of tax-exempt business, to treating those served as customers, to measuring Net Promoter Scores and social return on investment, Logan makes the case that lasting change requires business discipline, upstream strategy, and the courage to build institutions designed to solve problems permanently rather than manage them indefinitely.About LoganLogan Herring is the CEO of The WRK Group, a collective of tax-exempt businesses in Wilmington, Delaware focused on housing, education, workforce development, and community wellness. Under his leadership, the organization has evolved into a nationally recognized model for vertically integrated, place-based revitalization. Logan oversees the strategic direction of Kingswood Community Center, The Warehouse, and REACH Riverside, aligning infrastructure, programming, and capital investment to address intergenerational poverty through upstream, systemic solutions. He is a frequent national speaker on community development, impact measurement, and sustainable social enterprise models, and continues to advocate for business discipline and long-term accountability in the social sector.ResourcesThe WRK GroupPurpose Built CommunitiesSharehouse (technical assistance initiative of REACH Riverside)Book Recommendation: Jump by Larry MillerFollow Your Path to Nonprofit LeadershipLearn more about Armstrong McGuire

Three Operating Principles from This Conversation 1. White space is now dynamic, not staticWhite space used to be analyzed every 18 months. Today, Ryan is seeing strategy cycles compress to quarterly—or even monthly—reviews. Not because leaders love churn, but because technology and culture are moving too fast for set-and-forget thinking.White space isn't always a massive blue ocean. More often, it's a small, highly specific intersection of your value proposition, your customer's real needs, and what you can actually execute well, right now. 2. AI works best when it supports judgment — not when it replaces itRyan offers one of the clearest, most useful frames I've heard for AI and small business:Don't ask AI for big, sweeping answers.Ask it a series of small questions you can common-sense check, and let those answers ladder up.This takes longer. It requires thinking. And it keeps humans in the loop.That matters because for a small business, one AI mistake isn't annoying; it's expensive. One missed email, one misrouted opportunity, one wrong automation can cost real money.Interestingly, Ryan is also seeing large corporations pull back from “AI everywhere” toward controlled automation and fixed workflows. The lesson? We're not at the point where we can responsibly turn everything over, and pretending we are is risky. 3. Community is now a strategic advantageRyan makes a compelling case that small business owners should be in their local business community at least once every two weeks, not to network performatively, but to gut-check reality, compare notes, and stay human.Some of the most valuable insights right now are coming from people with just a few years of experience, because they're in it, learning fast, and willing to share what's actually working.You never stop learning. And you don't need decades of experience to contribute. You just need a clear point of view and an open mind. The Bigger PictureDespite uncertainty, Ryan is seeing more optimism in business than he has in years. Not blind optimism, earned optimism.As he puts it, we have more control than we realized last year. But control only matters if we use it.This is a conversation about:Staying human in an increasingly automated worldUsing powerful tools wisely instead of stupidlyShowing up—locally, imperfectly, consistently—for the world we want to createWe're the ones we've been waiting for. Connect with Ryan EdwardsCamino Five: camino5.comRyan Edwards on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ryanedwardsConnect with John Batesjohnbates.comexecutivespeakingsuccess.comlivelikealeader.show This episode makes no difference without you. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a five-star rating and share it with someone who's navigating leadership, strategy, or AI right now. That's how we learn from — and support — each other on the journey. Thank you! ----- Ryan Edwards is the co-founder of Camino5, a strategy consultancy built on a simple belief: insights create strategy and strategy creates growth.With more than 15 years of experience across digital, brand, and customer experience, Ryan's career began in web design and programming before evolving into creative and CX leadership roles. Over the last decade, his work has focused on understanding how people actually engage with brands across platforms, moments, and decisions, turning that understanding into strategies that move businesses forward.At Camino5, Ryan leads work through Paired Perspective™, the firm's approach to connecting customer behavior across a fragmented landscape. The goal isn't channel optimization in isolation, but strategic clarity that enables speed, alignment, and action.Ryan has partnered with global brands including Disney, P&G, NBCUniversal, Unilever, Chase, Nike, and Kaiser Permanente, as well as high-growth startups and emerging category leaders. His work has supported multiple unicorns, driven category-defining launches, and contributed to research that led to $20M-per-month business turnarounds.Ryan works with companies that believe strategy should create momentum and that growth starts with seeing the customer clearly. --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

Portnox is an enterprise access control platform that eliminates passwords and enforces zero trust security. The company was bootstrapped for over a decade, plateauing at a few million in ARR before investors brought in Denny LeCompte as CEO four years ago. Since then, Portnox has grown 8x. But this episode isn't about that growth story. Denny, a former cognitive scientist and professor who taught psychometrics, uses his scientific background to systematically dismantle Net Promoter Score—explaining why it's methodologically flawed, how it misleads organizations, and which metrics actually correlate with business performance. This is a contrarian take grounded in measurement science, not marketing opinion. Topics Discussed: The fundamental psychometric flaws in NPS: why single-item questionnaires are unreliable and why throwing out 7s and 8s violates basic statistical principles How NPS scores fluctuate based on survey UI presentation independent of actual customer sentiment Why NPS creates incentive structures that encourage gaming rather than improving customer outcomes The case for gross revenue retention and net revenue retention as the only ungameable metrics that matter How measuring human behavior changes that behavior (the Heisenberg principle applied to business metrics) Why investors care about retention rates above 90% but don't ask about NPS scores GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Single-item questionnaires violate measurement principles: Denny's background in psychometrics immediately flagged NPS as unreliable. One-item measures lack the redundancy needed for reliability, and the methodology of throwing out middle responses (7s and 8s) then subtracting detractors from promoters is statistically nonsensical. At a previous company with thousands of data points, he observed NPS scores drop and rise based solely on how the survey rendered on the page—no business changes, just UI differences. When presentation affects your metric independent of the underlying construct, your instrument is broken. Founders with technical backgrounds should trust their instincts when measurement methodology feels scientifically unsound. Compensation drives behavior more than metric accuracy: Portnox structures customer success compensation as 50% gross revenue retention and 50% net revenue retention. These are determined by finance and can't be manipulated. Denny had to rein in his CS team when they became overly focused on time-to-value because any number you give a team becomes their obsession. With NPS, teams game survey timing, cherry-pick recipients, and optimize for score rather than outcome. This is the Heisenberg principle applied to business: measuring changes the behavior. Choose metrics where gaming the number aligns with improving actual business outcomes. Investors evaluate retention rates, not satisfaction surveys: When Denny presents gross retention above 90%, investors don't ask about NPS. Renewal behavior reveals actual satisfaction—customers voting with budget rather than survey responses. The test for any metric: "What are we doing differently if this number is up versus down?" If it doesn't drive distinct actions or reveal information not already visible in financials, eliminate it. NPS often becomes a number that exists because "we've always measured it," inherited from previous leadership without questioning its utility. Question inherited practices ruthlessly: NPS gained adoption through Harvard Business Review credibility in 2003 and consulting firms building practices around it. The promise of "one number you need" appeals to executives wanting simple solutions. But herd behavior—"everyone else measures it"—perpetuates bad methodology. Denny's advice to founders stuck with NPS: give your team something else to focus on (gross retention is straightforward: don't let customers churn), then stop doing it. Sometimes you need to point to external validation to break internal momentum. The question isn't whether NPS correlates somewhat with growth—it's whether better alternatives exist that can't be gamed. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPLSMFimtv0riPyM

Modern founders spend years building toward a hopeful exit or liquidity event. Almost no one talks about what comes after the acquisition.In this episode, Nico Johnson sits down with Andy Klump, founder of Clean Energy Associates (CEA), for a thoughtful conversation about leadership after transition. After fifteen years growing CEA and completing a multi-year earn-out, Andy is in a rare season of pause — stepping back from the CEO seat and reflecting on what actually mattered.Rather than revisiting the early days, Andy shares lessons from leading through change, protecting culture during uncertainty, and recalibrating his identity once the nonstop pace slowed. They discuss why communication cadence matters more than vision statements, how internal Net Promoter Score became a tool for listening, and what founders often underestimate about earn-outs and transitions.This episode is for founders and operators who are scaling fast — or quietly wondering what comes next.Press play. You don't hear conversations like this very often.Are there other technologies you've scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast? Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.Check out OpenSolar OS 3.0 at: https://suncast.media/opensolarIf you want to connect with today's guest, you'll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today's guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

In this episode, we covered: 1) Pete's 4-part framework for modern leadershipPete lays out what he sees as “endemic” to great leadership today:Master cash flow (because nothing survives without it)Know whether you're a visionary or an integrator (and don't pretend you're both)Be the master motivator (the era of fear-based leadership is over)Own the culture (and use story as one of your most powerful tools to shape it) 2) Storytelling as culture-engineeringWe dig into why stories are more than “nice to have.” Stories become the myths that create the mythology of a company—how values become behavior at scale. And if you want to influence culture, yesterday was easier than today. 3) The next AI infrastructure shift: from training to inferencingPete breaks down the difference between:Training LLMs (building the model)Inferencing (asking the model questions in real time—what most people experience as “prompting”)Then he takes it further: the next wave isn't human inferencing—it's machine inferencing. Robots, cars, devices, sensors… constantly asking “what do I do next?” at massive scale. 4) Why “edge” data centers are coming backPete predicts we'll move away from only massive, centralized “mega” campuses toward distributed, high-performance data centers near the edge—“in every town,” similar to telecom “points of presence” in the 1990s. That's the strategic thesis behind Gray Wolf Data Centers.   5) The modern mystic: mind, body, and the inner gamePete shares a candid chapter of his own life—anxiety, therapy, CBT, and a pivotal lesson: don't make the events you can't control your “problems.” He connects this to resilience through sleep, health practices, and the belief that we can reshape the mind through neuroplasticity—and even how he sees us as “quantum beings,” responsible for how we observe and choose our reality. 6) A hopeful thesis: “good AI” vs “bad AI” + post-scarcityWe touch the fear many people carry (yes, I mention growing up in the Terminator era), but Pete offers a provocative counter: the way we beat bad AI is with good AI—models designed around human flourishing and shared broadly as a public service. He believes we're headed through disruption toward post-scarcity, and that our descendants will wonder why we didn't support each other sooner. 7) The closing leadership message: “we are all one”Pete's final note is the one that matters most to me: we're all connected—and we're here for each other. In my book, that's not just a spiritual idea; it's a leadership standard. ----- Resources Mentioned:Pete's company: Gray Wolf Data CentersPete's book: Living in Bliss: Achieve a Balanced Existence of Body, Mind and SpiritPete's site: PeteSacco.com (signed copies + meditation materials)Dr. David Burns: The Feel Good HandbookDan Sullivan: Who Not How (and other referenced works)Peter Diamandis: longevity reference ----- If you want to apply this immediately:Ask yourself: Am I the visionary or the integrator here? (And who do I need as my counterbalance?)  Choose one cultural value you care about—and tell a story that proves it.  If AI is making you anxious, zoom out: are you preparing for the training era, or the inferencing era?  ----- https://petesacco.comPete Sacco is a visionary entrepreneur, technologist, and modern-day mystic who blends conscious leadership with breakthrough innovation. As the founder of multiple ventures—including PTS Data Center Solutions, INTUVA, GRID7, InstaGuardIP, and Gray Wolf Data Centers—Pete has led transformative initiatives across AI, energy, blockchain, and digital infrastructure. His journey from electrical engineer to spiritual author and advisor reflects a rare fusion of high performance and inner awakening. Pete is the author of Living in Bliss: Achieve a Balanced Existence of Body, Mind, and Spirit, a guide for high achievers seeking fulfillment beyond success. A finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year, Pete holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and serves on the advisory board of its School of Computer Sciences and Engineering. Based in New Jersey, he helps purpose-driven professionals unlock clarity, vitality, and purpose—one system, one person, and one moment at a time.  --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

In this engaging episode of MSP Business School, host Brian Doyle takes listeners through a comprehensive exploration of Technology Business Reviews (TBRs) and their evolving role in the MSP industry. TBRs have shifted from data-heavy presentations to become more strategic and client-focused, addressing clients' growing needs around cybersecurity, compliance, and risk management. Brian Doyle delves into a structured approach to Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), breaking down the process into four distinct phases. Each phase targets specific aspects of technology management—from setting a solid foundation in Q1 to addressing security and risk in Q2, examining health and assets in Q3, and culminating in a year-end summary. By consistently updating scorecards, roadmaps, and strategic plans, MSPs can provide clients with a clearer view of progress and maintain transparency and trust in their business relationships. Key Takeaways: Brian Doyle emphasizes the need for MSPs to transition TBRs from sales meetings to strategic planning sessions to better engage clients. Implementing a quarterly QBR cadence helps in systematically addressing security risks, assets, and compliance, ensuring consistent client engagement. The joint strategic plan is crucial for aligning technology goals with business objectives, providing clarity on project impacts and fostering better decision-making. Regular feedback loops, such as CSAT and Net Promoter Score surveys, are vital for maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders in client organizations. Documenting risk assessments and client decisions is essential for liability protection and demonstrating value in MSP services.   Show Website: https://mspbusinessschool.com/ Host Brian Doyle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandoylevciotoolbox/ Sponsor vCIOToolbox: https://vciotoolbox.com

In this episode, Dave Hoekstra of Calabrio sits down with Jinesh Nair, Head of Service Planning & Performance at Hargreaves Lansdown, to discuss how one of the UK's leading financial services organizations transformed its approach to workforce planning.Jinesh shares how a 350-agent operation spanning 25 departments tackled declining schedule adherence, 43% shrinkage, and highly manual real-time management by building a service planning function from the ground up. With Calabrio at the center, the team introduced greater agent autonomy, meaningful adherence and performance KPIs, and a data-driven real-time approach that shifted planners from manual adjustments to proactive insights.The results speak for themselves: schedule adherence increased from 82% to 91%, multiskilling became a strategic advantage, and the contact center evolved into a more resilient, connected part of the organization.The conversation explores why investing in the right people and processes matters more than tools alone, and why Net Promoter Score remains the ultimate pulse of the organization, reflecting customer experience, brand, and revenue in a single metric.

Key Takeaways from this EpisodeYour digital presence is portable. You may not stay at one company for 30 years, but your platform goes with you — and it compounds over time.Social is a “rented” platform (this is a brilliant point!). Think owned, earned, paid — and rented. Algorithms change, and you don't control the land you're building on.Brands are losing lift; leaders are gaining it. At Qualcomm, Jess saw corporate campaigns decline while executive voices gained traction — because people want a human point of view.LinkedIn is no longer just a resume. Jess shares why it's become a writing platform and an editorial home for experts — not just job seekers.Pick 3–4 narrative themes and repeat them. The strongest executive brands aren't random — they're built on an editorial strategy that consistently returns to a few clear territories.Your voice matters (especially now). Many leaders think they have “nothing to say,” but your experience and point of view are valuable — and the world needs more constructive voices. Addressing Relevant IssuesAlgorithmic amplification and polarization: We discuss how feeds shifted away from chronological and toward “what keeps you engaged,” fueling echo chambers and intensity.The ethical wake-up call of social media: Jess describes the internal pivot moment — realizing the space had become toxic in corners, and questioning how to use her skills more constructively.Mental health and unintended consequences: I reference a stark data point Jess brings up — a 65% increase in the suicide rate for high school girls from 2010 to 2019 — and we talk about responsibility and systems.AI and the rising importance of trust: In an AI-dominated age, credibility, warmth, and real human presence become competitive advantages, not “nice-to-haves.” Next StepsGet Jess's free LinkedIn Audit: Jess offered to review both your profile and your editorial strategy and give actionable next steps. Mention you heard her on Live Like a Leader.Define your 3–4 “narrative pillars.” Decide what you want to be known for — and build content around those themes consistently.Publish what you already say internally. Turn your best internal leadership messages into public leadership content — and let it travel. Learn more about Copilot Communications: https://copilotcommunications.com/Connect with Jess Jensen on LinkedIn: https://us.linkedin.com/in/jessicakjensen ----- Jess Jensen is the founder of Co-pilot Communications, a Portland-based advisory helping bold executives sound like themselves online—clear, confident, and human.After 20 years inside Fortune 100 companies like Microsoft, Qualcomm, Nestlé, and Adidas, Jess left corporate life to help leaders stop playing small and start showing up online as their full selves—story-rich, imperfect, and unapologetically human.  Through sharp messaging, editorial strategy, and smart use of platforms like LinkedIn and podcasting, she helps clients build a digital presence that earns trust, inspires action, and sounds like them. --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

Attend the 2026 Summit Conference: https://get.biggerpockets.com/passivepocketssummit2026/ It's our “2026 State of PassivePockets.” Chris Lopez (now lead host, alongside co-hosts Jim Pfeifer and Paul Shannon) shares highlights from the 2025 member survey (96% accredited; 91% already LPs), explains why our Net Promoter Score jumped from -4 (2024) to 44 (2025), and unveils three big initiatives for 2026: (1) community-driven resources that go deep on due diligence—starting with debt funds; (2) using the community's pooled volume to negotiate better investor terms; and (3) doubling down on what's working—Sponsor Ratings & Reviews, LP Deal Reviews, the podcast, and a more active private forum. You'll also hear what members fear most (losing capital), what they want most (steady cash flow), and which asset classes they're targeting (multifamily and debt tied for #1). Key Takeaways Who we are: 96% accredited; 91% already in syndications/funds NPS turnaround: from -4 ('24) ➜ 44 ('25); top positives—education, trust, community Biggest pain points: pricing clarity, forum engagement, and site navigation- on our roadmap What members fear most: capital loss (72%); what they want most: steady cash flow (~30%) 2026 focus #1: Debt investing: series of pods, forums, expert panels, and a living DD checklist 2026 focus #2: Better terms: leverage pooled community capital for lower mins / improved share classes 2026 focus #3: Do more of what works: more Sponsor Ratings & Reviews + LP Deal Reviews + member spotlights Asset allocation pulse: multifamily & debt tied for top interest; industrial, MHP, self-storage next Host update: Chris Lopez assumes lead-host role; Jim passes the torch and remains co-host with Paul Get involved: post sponsor reviews, join the forum threads, and help shape the checklists we'll all use Disclaimer The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This podcast may contain paid advertisements or other promotional materials for real estate investment advisers, investment funds, and investment opportunities, which should not be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or testimonial by PassivePockets, LLC or any of its affiliates. Viewers must conduct their own due diligence and consider their own financial situations before engaging with any advertised offerings, products, or services. PassivePockets, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising out of reliance on information and advertisements presented in this podcast.

In this episode of Live Like a Leader, I sit down with organizational development expert Gil Crosby (https://www.crosbyod.com/) to explore timeless principles for change, leadership, and frontline empowerment. Learn why most “programs” fail, how to balance authority with freedom, and how leaders can unlock performance by listening to the people closest to the work.Gil Crosby has been an Organization Development Professional since 1984. He applies the Social Science of Kurt Lewin to help organizations navigate change and improve performance, as the same principles apply in both business and society. He is also a Professor at the Leadership Institute of Seattle, and he has just published his 7th book, Leadership and the Front-Line Workforce, for anyone in an organization. Here's what we get into: Kurt Lewin's social science—and why it still worksGil explains Lewin's core insight: when people who live with the problem talk it through together, design solutions that make sense to them, and test them, change actually sticks. Whether it's improving productivity in a plant or reducing violence in a community, people implement what they help shape. Why “forcing best practices” often failsWe talk about how organizations take something like Lean or the Toyota Production System and try to copy-paste it—usually by forcing compliance. Gil highlights what gets left out: at Toyota, when a worker stops the line, the supervisor's first response is “Thank you.” That level of respect and engagement is the point—and when it's missing, the system becomes just another top-down “program of the month.” A perfect frontline story: the Channel Locks lessonGil tells an incredible example from a manufacturing plant: management tried to reduce theft by making workers check out channel locks (basic tools used constantly), which slowed production every time someone needed one. When we asked the obvious question—what does downtime cost compared to a $15 tool?—The plant manager immediately changed course: “Tomorrow, we're putting channel locks everywhere.”And the best part? Once workers saw leadership was actually listening, they didn't steal them. Trust went up, friction went down, and productivity improved. Empowerment isn't “nice”—it's operationalI share why bad customer service drives me crazy (including what I've seen in Slovakia), and the pattern underneath it: people on the front line aren't empowered to make decisions. If the people closest to the work can't act, everything bottlenecks—and leadership often doesn't even know what's broken. Battlefield leadership and “commander's intent.”We connect this to military lessons: when leaders hoard information and control, people suffer. When teams understand the goal and the intent, they can make smarter decisions in real time. That's true in combat, and it's true in business. Democracy vs. autocracy—at work and in societyGil shares Lewin's conclusion that hit me hard: every generation has to learn how to be effective democratic citizens, because democracy isn't self-sustaining. The same is true inside organizations: if people aren't taught how to think, participate, and take ownership, you'll get passivity… or rebellion. The leadership sweet spot: structure + freedomOne of my favorite parts: Gil breaks leadership down as a balance of structure and freedom.People need clarity, information, accountability, and guidance.They also need autonomy and space to think.Too much control creates compliance-without-commitment. Too little structure turns into leaderless chaos. Meetings, fear, and why delegation is so hardWe talk about why leaders struggle to delegate well: endless meetings, unclear authority structures, and fear—fear of upsetting someone, fear of saying no, fear of authority (often rooted way earlier than work). I share a line I coach leaders to use when they're overloaded: “I'd be happy to do that. I'm maxed out—what would you like me to deprioritize so I can take this on?” Gil's low moment, and a leadership lessonGil opens up about the Great Recession: no safety net, consulting work dried up, and he drove a taxi to survive. His takeaway is powerful: do your best, no matter the role. And don't get cocky when money is flowing, because it can stop.MY BIGGEST TAKEAWAYIf you want performance, stop trying to “roll out” solutions to people. Build solutions with them. The front line sees what leadership can't—and when you treat them like owners instead of obstacles, everything improves: morale, execution, and results. --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

In this episode, Sarah Eustis, CEO of Main Street Hospitality, explains how the company earned an employee Net Promoter Score of 78 in an industry known for hiring and retention challenges. She breaks down the specific leadership behaviors, hiring philosophy, and feedback systems that shape engagement long before someone's first day. The conversation focuses on interviewing for emotional intelligence, using 360-degree input, and treating development and feedback as daily operating disciplines. Hospitality leaders will take away a clear view of what high employee satisfaction requires and why it directly impacts guest experience and financial performance.See our previous conversation: From 14-Year-Old Housekeeper to Ralph Lauren to CEO: What I've Learned in Hotel Management and Beyond - Sarah Eustis, Main Street Hospitality Group A few more resources: If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free. Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together. If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve! Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Host Anusha welcomes Aaisha Hamid, VP of Belonging & Engagement at Alliant Insurance Services, for a clear, practical tour of belonging science. Aaisha defines belonging as the fit between a person and a setting—and explains why simple survey questions miss the mark. She maps seven core dimensions (from psychological safety and authenticity to recognition, wellness, and professional investment) and shares how precise measurement links belonging to outcomes like productivity and the employee Net Promoter Score over the long term. Drawing on her own journey—from feeling she had to “shrink” in meetings to finding respect and voice at Alliant—Aaisha shows how manager behavior is the hinge that turns strategy into culture. The pair dig into courage as a leadership necessity (interrupting exclusion in the moment), and agency & trust as antidotes to micromanagement, with practical ways to delegate, cross-train, and de-risk mistakes. Aaisha also spotlights the Alliant Insurance Foundation's work creating pathways into the industry. A crisp, research-backed blueprint for leaders ready to operationalize inclusion.Thank you to Alliant for sponsoring this podcast. Want to be considered for the podcast? Send an email to ashton@ellevatenetwork.com with your topic focus and a short bio.To learn more about Ellevate Network and how we're building a community that supports women+ at every stage of their careers, visit ellevatenetwork.com or reach out to info@ellevatenetwork.com.

We dive into:Why your beingness is the brand—and how to access itThe quiet resistance most leaders carry that keeps them from full expressionHer philosophy on “branding from the inside out”How she helps clients identify and speak from their core essence, not just what they doThe real story of how she and I met—and why she decided I needed a podcastThis conversation goes far beyond brand strategy. It's about being brave enough to be fully seen and fully yourself. Jenna doesn't just build brands—she calls people home to who they are.If you're ready to stop performing and start resonating, this is an episode you don't want to miss. ----- Jenna Flanagan is an award-winning broadcast journalist, host, and producer whose work bridges public media, local accountability reporting, and smart, accessible conversations about civic life. She has reported and hosted for WNET's MetroFocus, bringing audiences across the New York region in-depth coverage of policy, culture, and community voices. She has also been a field reporter responsible for covering how policy presented in the New York State legislature impacts constituents across the state for WMHT's government and public-affairs program New York NOW.Jenna began her career at New York's 1010 WINS, rising from production assistant to assistant editor in a fast-paced newsroom. She then went on to WBGO in Newark as a general-assignment reporter before spending six and a half years at WNYC's All Things Considered as a writer, reporter, and producer. Her work has also aired nationally on NPR.Her recent projects include co-creating and co-hosting the podcast Laid Off and Looking, a candid series that examines how news is made, who shapes it, and what's at stake for democracy as the media industry restructures. She has also hosted the award-winning podcast series, After Broad and Market, revisiting the 2003 murder of Sakia Gunn to explore the power and limits of local journalism.A Hudson Valley native who grew up in New Paltz, Jenna studied communications and journalism at Seton Hall University. She continues to champion localism and public-interest reporting across platforms, appearing on radio, television, and digital outlets to elevate stories that inform, challenge, and connect communities. Laid Off and Looking Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@LaidOffandLookingPodcastIn the Margins with Jenna Flanagan Substack: https://jflanagan.substack.com/Jenna Flanagan on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jflannys?lang=en --------John Bates provides 1:1 Executive Communications Coaching, both in-person and online. He also gets 92+ Net Promoter Scores for his large and small group leadership development trainings at organizations like Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Google, Intuit, Boston Scientific, and many more. Find more at https://executivespeakingsuccess.com.Sign up for his weekly micro-trainings for free at https://johnbates.com/mini-trainings and create a great leadership communications habit that makes you the kind of leader who inspires trust, loyalty, and connection.

How to Turn Patients into Raving Fans (and Referral Machines) In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Doc Danny breaks down why most clinics are stuck in "purgatory" with word of mouth and what separates average clinics from the ones patients can't stop talking about. Using a great chicken joint and a mediocre Italian restaurant as examples, he shows you how clients really think about your business and what has to change if you want more organic referrals in 2026. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why saving clinician time with an AI scribe like Claire can quietly add $30,000 in revenue per staff PT per year The two levers that drive referrals in any service business: outcomes and experience How a chain "hot chicken" spot crushed a local restaurant on basic execution Why "pretty good" is the most dangerous place for your clinic to live What a 9–10 Net Promoter Score really looks like inside a cash practice How your space, punctuality, and communication shape patient trust Why referrals jumped when Danny moved from a subleased gym corner to a standalone space A simple way to mystery shop your own clinic and see what patients see Claire: Freeing Up Time and Unlocking Revenue Danny opens by talking about Claire, the AI scribe built for cash-based clinics. On average, Claire is saving staff clinicians six hours a week on documentation. Even if you only recapture half of that time for patient care, that is three extra one-hour visits per clinician per week. 3 extra visits per week at $200 per visit = $600 per week Roughly $30,000 in additional annual revenue per staff clinician And it all comes from taking notes off their plate and putting that time back into patient care. Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai Two Restaurants, Two Very Different Referral Stories Danny shares a simple contrast to frame how referrals really work. On the same day, he took his son to Dave's Hot Chicken and later that night took his family to a new Italian restaurant near their house. Dave's Hot Chicken: Friendly staff, simple "honey hack" suggestion, clean space, food that exceeded expectations. He would happily tell people to go there. Local Italian restaurant: No clear host, missing reservation, clunky service, average food at a higher price point. He will not badmouth them, but he is not going to recommend them either. That is exactly how patients think about your clinic. They are either excited to send people, quietly neutral, or actively warning people away. Net Promoter Score and Your Clinic Danny ties this into Net Promoter Score (NPS), a simple question that predicts referrals. "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to refer a friend or family member to this clinic?" 9–10 = promoters who actively tell people about you 0–6 = detractors who may talk negatively 7–8 = passives who are neutral and mostly silent Most clinics live in the 6–8 range. Not good enough to be talked about. Not bad enough to be trashed. That is business purgatory. The Two Levers: Outcomes and Experience For a cash-based clinic, your referrals come from two places. Outcomes: Are you actually better than the average in-network option? Do people get results faster and more completely? Experience: What is it like to work with you? Space, punctuality, communication, how you follow up, how individualized things feel. If your space is a noisy gym corner or a rough sublease, you have to make up for that with flawless communication, punctuality, and outcomes. When you eventually level up into a standalone space, the experience finally matches the quality of your care. Danny saw that firsthand when his clinic moved from a subleased gym space to a standalone location. Referrals jumped. Patients openly said they were now more comfortable sending friends and family because the space matched the price and reputation. Are You "Just Okay"? Danny challenges clinic owners to be honest about where they sit. Are you truly a 9 or 10 out of 10 on outcomes and experience? Or are you a 6–8 where people say you are fine but do not talk about you proactively? He suggests a simple exercise. Have a friend or family member your staff does not recognize come through as a "mystery shopper" patient. Let them go through your entire process and give you brutally honest feedback about what felt confusing, clunky, or underwhelming. Getting Obsessive About Excellence Clinics that become referral machines look different on the inside. They: Obsess over outcomes and ongoing clinical improvement Obsess over small details in the patient journey, from first inquiry to discharge Answer quickly, follow up clearly, and stay ahead of patient questions Fix small frictions in their space and processes every month When you get this right, you build a stable referral base that cushions you from algorithm changes, ad costs, and platform shifts. You still might use marketing, but you are not desperate for it. Want a Clear Path to Go Full Time? If you are still in the early stages of leaving a job and going all in on your own cash-based practice, PT Biz runs a free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge that walks you through: Exactly how much income you need to replace How many patients you need to see and at what average visit rate Three different strategies to go from part time to full time The basic sales and marketing systems you need in place A simple one-page business plan so you can take action Join the free challenge: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

In this episode, we cover:✅ How Jeremiah went from bootstrapping websites during the dot-com boom to building a global cybersecurity business.✅ Why most cybercrime isn't about “hacking systems,” it's about hacking humans.✅ The emotional tricks scammers use, and how to spot them before you get duped.✅ Real-world stories of cybercrime that cost companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in seconds.✅ The single most important (and shockingly simple) thing you can do to protect yourself today. Jeremiah also shares powerful insights from his keynote, Confessions of a Hacker, including why it's often too late once the money is gone, and how you can take smart, preventative action without expensive software or technical know-how. 

Viatel Technology Group has achieved Cisco Premier Provider Status, marking another significant milestone in its partnership with Cisco. Following a rigorous audit process, Viatel also achieved Cisco Powered Service designations in Meraki Security & SD-WAN and Meraki Access. Cisco Powered Services is an elite designation for partners that have demonstrated their expertise in delivering outcomes built on Cisco technologies. To be designated as Cisco Powered, services must be organised into a structured portfolio with the requisite personnel, certifications, and technology to guarantee the highest level of quality and expertise. This achievement follows Viatel's success in securing three other key Cisco specialisations earlier this year: Customer Experience Specialisation, Cisco Select Integrator, and Environmental Sustainability Specialisation. Sheila Greaney, Cisco Partner Account Manager, commented: "Viatel's attainment of Premier Provider Status reflects their unwavering commitment to delivering best-in-class solutions. The audit highlighted a knowledgeable and professional team that demonstrated excellent teamwork. From their comprehensive onboarding and detailed ticketing system to their vibrant marketing, Viatel's dedication to the customer experience is evident. With a customer first ethos and an exceptional Net Promoter Score, Viatel is setting the benchmark for excellence in the Irish market." Eilish O'Connor, CTO, Viatel Technology Group, added: "Achieving Premier Provider Status is the latest chapter in our Cisco success story. Viatel has been a pioneer in the field of Cisco SD-WAN networking, deploying hundreds of sites across nationally and internationally. Our team of certified Meraki specialists delivers a fully managed service that allows organisations to maintain secure, high-performance connectivity while they concentrate on their core business." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

In this episode with Thom Shea, we cover:What makes someone truly “unbreakable”How to survive the worst day of your life, and what happens if you don't give upWhy “just doing the basics” is often the most advanced move you can makeHis life-saving experience during a firefight in Afghanistan that earned him the Silver StarThe Rule of Three; how simplifying complexity transforms business, health, and leadershipWhether you're leading a team or leading your own life, Thom shares insights that will challenge and empower you to show up—again and again—no matter what.

We get into interesting topics like:Why communicating with human beings isn't logical—it's biologicalWhat Navy SEALs, elite surgeons, and business leaders all get wrong about stress and recoveryThe surprising ways trauma shows up in leadership, relationships, and performanceAnd the decisive importance of celebration in reprogramming the nervous systemWhether you're a high-performing executive or just someone looking to be free of your invisible walls, Tara's insight is not to be missed.

In this episode of The Broker Link, Mike Papuc, National Health Sales Director at The Brokerage Inc., sits down with Breck Garrett, Texas Leader for Oscar, to explore the company's rapid growth and forward-thinking strategy in the ACA marketplace. Oscar has surged past 2 million members and is preparing to expand into 20 states by 2026, including new markets like Alabama and Mississippi. Breck shares how Oscar is differentiating itself by designing personalized plans tailored to specific health needs — including solutions for diabetics, menopausal women, and other unique member populations. The conversation also highlights Oscar's new AI-powered member support platform, Oswell, built to deliver faster answers, smarter navigation, and a more intuitive experience for members. With a Net Promoter Score in the low 60s, Oscar continues to lead the way in member satisfaction. Agents will also appreciate Oscar's enhanced broker portal, offering real-time performance tracking and actionable insights to help partners grow and support their clients more effectively. This episode is a must-listen for agents looking to stay ahead of ACA trends and understand where the market is headed. Learn more about partnering with The Brokerage Inc. by visiting our website, www.thebrokerageinc.com. Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our show!  New episodes are available every Tuesday. Join our Community! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-brokerage-inc-/   Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/thebrokerageinc/  Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/thebrokerageinc/  YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@TheBrokerageIncTexas  Website:  https://thebrokerageinc.com/ 

In our conversation, we explore:What it was like to fly the legendary F-4 Phantom into combat.The moment his jet exploded — and the life-altering seconds that followed.What helped him survive nearly six years as a POW.The power of faith, friendship, and camaraderie under unthinkable conditions.One of the lowest moments of his time in captivity, and the lesson we can all learn from it. Why honor isn't just a virtue — it's also a strategy for long-term success.And how we can all bounce back from setbacks with resilience and grace.We also discuss Lee's latest and most heart-expanding book, Captured by Love: Inspiring True Romance Stories from Vietnam POWs, a best-seller that reveals powerful stories of real love forged in the fires of war and captivity.

Send us a textIn this episode of Navigating the Customer Experience, we sit down with Evan Siegel, Vice President of AI at eGain, where he leads the development of next-generation AI-powered conversational guidance. With a rich background that includes 16 years at Wells Fargo leading customer experience and contact center innovation, Evan brings deep insight into how technology can drive better service outcomes without losing the human touch.Evan's career journey began in entrepreneurship — running a successful residential painting business that grew to 300 employees before he sold it and pursued an MBA at Stanford. His experience at Wells Fargo honed his expertise in solving large-scale customer pain points and improving first-contact resolution in massive contact centers. Those experiences led him to eGain, a company dedicated to providing “the right answer to the right person at the right time, in the right channel.”Evan explains that eGain's AI-powered knowledge management platform helps companies clean, update, and centralize information so agents can quickly find accurate answers. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also transforms efficiency—some clients have seen up to 37% improvement in first-contact resolution, a 30-point rise in Net Promoter Score, and 50% reduction in training time. For instance, eGain supports the U.S. Veterans Administration, the country's largest healthcare provider, to deliver consistent, fast, and empathetic service across millions of interactions.A key theme in the discussion is balancing technology and empathy. Evan emphasizes that AI doesn't replace human connection—it enhances it by freeing up employees' mental space to focus on emotional intelligence and rapport-building. By handling the “how” of issue resolution, AI lets people focus on the “who.”He also shares how eGain builds knowledge bases for each company by analyzing customer inquiries, extracting top issues using AI, and rewriting existing materials to align with best practices for clarity and accessibility. This process—once lengthy and manual—can now be done in days or weeks.When asked about tools he can't live without, Evan points to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, which he uses daily as brainstorming and writing partners. His motto: “AI won't replace me, but someone who knows how to use AI better than me will.”Evan also discusses two books that shaped him: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, which taught him the power of genuine curiosity in relationships, and William Manchester's three-part biography of Winston Churchill, which inspired lessons in conviction, communication, and strategic thinking.Today, what excites Evan most is collaborative leadership—bringing teams together to brainstorm, check egos at the door, and make the best collective decisions. His guiding philosophy: “I don't need to be the smartest person in the room. I need to make the best decision coming out of the room.”He closes with another favorite quote: “You miss every shot you don't take.” For Evan, this embodies the spirit of innovation at eGain—experiment fast, learn fast, and keep improving.Listeners can connect with Evan on LinkedIn or email him at esiegel@egain.com to learn more about eGain's new AI self-service agent for small businesses, featuring reasoning capabilities, a free trial, and no-contract flexibility.Follow us on X @navigatingcx, and join our Navigating the Customer Experience Facebook community for more insights and resources.

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Dmitriy Peregudov, founder of Gift Baskets Overseas, shares his inspiring 28-year journey from sending flowers to loved ones in Russia to leading an $11M global gifting company with 120+ team members. He talks about building a business rooted in patience, perseverance, and people-first values. Dmitriy discusses how focusing on customer experience and team culture fueled long-term success. He also explains the role of SEO and AI in modern marketing and why brand trust matters more than ever. From overcoming fraud challenges to achieving a 64% Net Promoter Score, his story highlights sustainable growth and resilience. A must-listen for entrepreneurs who believe slow, steady, and thoughtful growth wins the race. Other Resources: An easy way to measure if your customers love you in 21 minutes – use the Net Promoter Score (NPS). And it's FREE. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? According to Dmitriy Peregudov, the hardest thing in growing a small business is having the patience and perseverance to push through the early, slow stages while learning things outside your comfort zone. He explains that growth often requires focusing on areas you don't enjoy, making tough decisions, and knowing when to let go and replace yourself in certain roles. Understanding every part of the business—even the ones you're not good at—is essential, because only then can you hire the right people and build a strong foundation for long-term success. What's your favorite business book that has helped you the most? Dmitriy Peregudov's favorite business books include Further, Faster by Bill Flynn, which provides clear frameworks for business growth, and Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, which inspired him to build a people-first company culture. He also recommends The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom for understanding balance in life and business. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Dmitriy recommends the Harvard Business Review (HBR) Podcast for case studies and expert discussions, and Lex Fridman's Podcast for deep, thought-provoking conversations that go beyond business into leadership and innovation. He also appreciates podcasts like Built to Sell Radio for real-world entrepreneurship lessons. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? He highly recommends HubSpot, calling it a game-changer for small businesses. From marketing automation to CRM and workflow management, it helped his team streamline communication, improve sales processes, and enhance customer relationships. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? According to Dmitriy Peregudov, the advice he would give himself on day one of starting out in business is simple yet powerful — “Just do it.” He believes that too many entrepreneurs hesitate, overthink, or wait for the perfect moment, but real growth happens only through action. Taking the first step, learning from mistakes, and adapting along the way are far more valuable than waiting for ideal conditions that may never come. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Success in business comes from patience, perseverance, and focusing on what truly matters — Dmitriy Peregudov Growth isn't always about getting bigger, it's about getting better with every challenge — Dmitriy Peregudov The best way to build a loyal customer is to fix their problem so well they never forget you — Dmitriy Peregudov  

What does it take to build a culture so strong that it powers 68 ships, 100,000 employees, and 12 million ecstatic guests each year? In this episode, Richard Fain, former CEO and current Chairman of Royal Caribbean Group, shares how he led the company's evolution from a small cruise line into a $16 billion global powerhouse by anchoring performance in purpose and people. Drawing from his new book, Delivering the WoW: Culture as a Catalyst for Lasting Success, Richard unpacks the mindset behind Royal Caribbean's growth—from defining culture as a shared North Star to prioritizing fit over fitness in hiring and leadership. He explains how the company grew leaders through cross-functional rotations, built transparency through metrics like guest satisfaction and employee Net Promoter Scores, and created alignment through a shared “culture dashboard.” Along the way, he highlights lessons from bold innovations like the VR Innovation Lab—and even a runaway blimp experiment—that shaped a culture of continuous improvement and accountability. Every CHRO who believes culture is the new competitive advantage will find in this episode the proof and the playbook for making it real.   ________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a buzzword in healthcare — it's becoming a real partner in how providers care for patients and improve everyday experiences. With rising patient expectations, limited resources, and mounting administrative complexity, hospitals and insurers alike are turning to AI to improve efficiency, communication, and satisfaction. In fact, Citi research estimates that roughly a quarter of all American healthcare spending goes toward administrative tasks — and intelligent automation could reduce that burden by nearly 30%, underscoring the enormous potential for AI to make care delivery smarter and more sustainable.But as adoption accelerates, one key question looms: Can AI truly make healthcare more human — or does automation risk depersonalizing care?In this episode of I Don't Care with Dr. Kevin Stevenson, guest Brett Kiley, Vice President of Healthcare Solutions at Ciklum, explores how artificial intelligence can elevate — rather than replace — the patient experience. Together, they discuss practical, high-impact applications of AI that improve outcomes for both patients and providers, while emphasizing that technology alone can't fix broken processes or disengaged teams.Key points of discussion…Fix the process first. AI only accelerates what's already working — it can't fix a bad workflow. Kiley stresses that organizations must repair operational inefficiencies before layering in intelligent automation.Predictive, proactive patient care. By modeling data from multiple sources, Ciklum helps healthcare organizations identify at-risk patients before issues arise, reducing readmissions and improving satisfaction.AI for empathy and efficiency. From ambient AI that automates clinical documentation to analytics that highlight emotional drivers of patient frustration, AI can empower providers to focus on care — not clicks.Brett Kiley is the Vice President of Healthcare Solutions at Ciklum, where he helps healthcare organizations design and scale AI-driven customer experience and operational strategies that deliver measurable ROI. With over 20 years at CVS Health, he led digital transformation and patient experience initiatives that lifted Net Promoter Scores from 24 to 76, drove $100M+ in EBIT impact, and reduced call volumes by nearly half. Known for his hands-on healthcare expertise and data-driven approach, Kiley now advises hospitals, insurers, and startups on turning complex systems into efficient, patient-centered experiences powered by AI.

In this episode, you'll hear:Why TEDx is hyper-local—and why that matters more than you think.The one mistake I made in my first TED experience (and what it taught me).Why feedback must start with self-awareness.What makes group presentations succeed—or fail—and how to avoid pitch disasters.Why listening to yourself on video is brutal but necessary (and how to make it less painful).Ruth is smart, generous, and a total TEDx pro, and this episode is packed with real talk, real tools, and real inspiration for anyone who wants to communicate at a higher level.

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  *This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠B⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠oulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠*Rob Markey is the creator of the Net Promoter Score ("NPS"), which has grown to become the de facto metric for measuring the health, loyalty and satisfaction of a customer base. He is also a longtime Partner at Bain & Company, where he founded and leads their Global Customer Strategy practice.Rob is the co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Rob also teaches at Harvard Business School, and serves on several nonprofit and corporate boards, where he helps leaders build customer‑centric businesses.

Kijuan doesn't just talk about resilience—he embodies it. Whether you're going through a tough season or just need a reminder of how strong you really are, this episode will leave you inspired and empowered. 

Client experience is more than good service. In this episode of the PSM Show, Damion Morris and Deirdre Booth talk with Tim Amos, CPSM and Head of Growth at Client Savvy, about how AEC firms can design and manage client experiences that create measurable business results. Tim shares his journey from in-house marketing to leading CX strategy and explains why repeat business does not always equal loyalty. He introduces practical ways to measure client sentiment, including Net Promoter Score and share of spend, and describes how firms can use feedback to inform go/no-go decisions, increase profitability, and strengthen retention. For marketers, this conversation shows how CX can open the door to leadership. Small wins such as mapping the proposal process or implementing a client feedback program can build momentum and demonstrate the connection between marketing strategy and firm performance. The discussion also highlights findings from the SMPS Foundation's research on CX in the AEC industry. Listeners will gain a clear view of how intentional client experience shapes reputation, growth, and long-term success.

In this episode of Inside Personal Growth, Jim Bramlett—business executive, author, and Vistage Chair—shares insights from his book Stop the Hassle: Simplify, Satisfy, and Succeed. Drawing from decades of entrepreneurial experience, Jim reveals how companies can move beyond competing on price and instead dominate markets by focusing on four critical buyer values: convenience, price, product experience, and trust. Listeners will learn how to: -Shift from inward-focused business strategies to true customer obsession. Apply Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Uber's innovation mindset to any business—large or small. -Use the “Hassle Score” as a smarter alternative to Net Promoter Score to uncover what really drives customer loyalty. -Build a culture of continuous improvement that eliminates excuses for customers not to buy. -Harness AI and innovation to simplify processes, enhance customer experience, and stay competitive. Whether you're a CEO, entrepreneur, or small business owner, Jim's “No Hassle” formula provides a roadmap to scaling with confidence, attracting the right customers, and creating sustainable growth Our Guest, Jim Bramlett: ➥ Book: Stop the Hassle: Simplify, Satisfy, and Succeed ➥ Buy Now: https://amzn.eu/d/dViYOcg ➥https://www.jimbramlett.com/ ➥https://strategiestogrow.com/ ➡️LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbramlett1/ Learn more about your Inside Personal Growth host, Greg Voisen: ➥ https://gregvoisen.com ➡️Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidepersonalgrowth/ ➡️Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsidePersonalGrowth/ ➡️LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregvoisen/ ➡️Twitter/ X: https://twitter.com/lvoisen/

Every customer conversation – whether in a branch, online, or through a call center – holds the potential to either deepen loyalty or increase attrition. Yet too often, those interactions create frustration, higher costs, and lower satisfaction scores. Today's competitive advantage isn't just having data. It's knowing how to transform conversations into measurable business value. From lowering cost-to-serve to boosting Net Promoter Scores, the opportunity is clear: banks that successfully harness AI and conversation intelligence are realizing game-changing ROI, while others remain stuck in pilot projects. In this episode of Banking Transformed, I'm joined by Caleb Johnson, VP at TTEC Digital, and Chris Dolan from Cisco. Together, we'll explore how financial institutions can build the infrastructure, insights, and strategies to orchestrate seamless customer journeys and turn everyday conversations into bottom-line results. If you're looking for practical ways to move past AI hype and drive measurable CX transformation, this conversation is for you. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by TTEC Digital TTEC Digital's AI Vision Workshop empowers CX and Operations leaders to unlock real business value from AI. Together, we'll define your CX and operational goals, identify challenges, and build a tailored roadmap for AI pilot projects. Powered by Cisco Webex AI and deep CX expertise, we help you move from curiosity to confidence—and deliver results. CIS: TTEC Digital + Cisco BFSI Campaign - AI Vision Workshop

Episode 255: One of healthcare's biggest blind spots? When patients turn 18. It's the moment they age out of pediatrics and fall headfirst into a system designed to prioritize older, sicker adults. Physicians, stretched thin, reserve energy for complex cases, giving young adults shorter visits and less attention. That means early signs of medical trouble, like anxiety or preventive needs, go missed. Jason Guardino and Karen San, care experience experts at The Permanente Medical Group, are addressing this massive and often invisible problem head-on. The Permanente Medical Group found that younger patients in their twenties and thirties consistently gave lower satisfaction scores than both pediatric and senior patients.  “They didn't feel listened to and they felt dismissed,” Jason says. “They felt like there was a lack of compassion during that [medical] visit.” That sentiment, combined with rising anxiety, digital misinformation from things like social media, and a national shortage of mental health professionals, creates a high-stakes problem few health systems are equipped to solve. When doctors unintentionally triage young adults as low risk, this puts younger patients' health at risk, “If you don't slow down and focus on providing a great experience, you can miss something that could be potentially very dangerous for this patient,” Jason explains. Fixing this gap means rethinking how we treat both patients and providers, from doctors to nurses to clinicians. To drive change, The Permanente Medical Group is listening—literally. Through live feedback tools and real-time digital prompts, they're surfacing patient pain points. That data is changing how care teams engage with young adults and helping leaders understand the double bind facing providers: everyone needs high quality care, despite limited time and resources. Guests: Jason Guardino, Chief Experience Officer and Gastroenterologist, The Permanente Medical Group, and Karen San, Senior Director of Care Experience, The Permanente Medical Group Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give us feedback: Customer Confidential Podcast Feedback Send us a note: Contact Rob Time-Stamped Quotes 00:01:00 – Why young adults often feel overlooked in adult care 00:02:30 – The Net Promoter Score drop for post-pediatric, 18-year-old patients 00:04:00 – Pediatric expectations compared to the reality of adult care 00:06:00 – How provider triage creates blind spots 00:08:00 – Understanding complaints from young patients 00:09:30 – Social media and how people's anxiety levels impact care 00:10:30 – The mental health burden on primary care 00:12:00 – Listening at scale, with real-time feedback 00:13:30 – What patient ratings can reveal, data-wise 00:15:00 – Why compassion still beats automation Notable Quotes 00:00:05 “We don't set [children up] well for when they make a transition into adult medicine. There's an opportunity to strengthen our care delivery model to meet those expectations and the ever-changing patient expectations.” 00:00:07 “If you don't slow down and focus on providing a great experience, you can miss something that could be potentially very dangerous for this patient. Even if they're in the minority, I always say, if something happens a few percent of the time, somebody has to be in that small percentage of time—that [means] an injury can happen.” 00:00:08 “The system stressors disproportionately affect our younger members because the providers are using this as a kind of survival tactic. They're saving their energy for the more complex patients with more comorbidities. And so it's not affecting our older population the same way it is our younger.” 00:00:09 “We have found that the younger population [does] have heightened anxiety. And that's fueled by a number of things. Covid-19 affected their perception of health. Social media is affecting how they define what good looks like. And so they're looking to primary care providers, who may not be experts in mental healthcare, to provide that mental healthcare. And that also creates a friction point that we need to solve for.” 00:00:11 “We did a pilot of 5 of our 21 medical centers for several months. And then, in December of 2023, we launched it throughout the entire medical group—so, 21 medical centers and all of our patients. So we're about a year and four months into this, and right now, we're sitting at about 2.5 million results. We have about 1.5 million—what we call 'caring moments'—[where] patients write about their clinicians and the staff. And as we say, it's an expression of gratitude, appreciation, and love—like something we've never had before.” Resources Check out Episode 197 of Customer Confidential, where we interviewed Jason Guardino back in 2022 on the importance of compassion in healthcare: https://www.netpromotersystem.com/insights/compassion-in-healthcare-podcast/

Today on the Talent Development Hot Seat Podcast, I'm joined by Lizzy Kizer, Director of Learning and Development at Johnson Controls, seasoned educator, and champion of building learning cultures for technical organizations. With a background spanning corporate, government, higher education, and K-12, Lizzy brings a unique blend of expertise in adult learning, instructional design, and science education to her work leading learning initiatives for JCI's 30,000-strong technical labor force.Subscribe to our weekly updates and monthly talent development newsletter here. Order Own Your Career Own Your Life on AmazonApply to Join us in the Talent Development Think Tank Community!This episode is sponsored by LearnIt, which is offering a FREE trial of their TeamPass membership for you and up to 20 team members of your team. Check it out here.Connect with Andy here: Website | LinkedInConnect with Lizzy Kizer here: LinkedInIn this candid and practical conversation, Lizzy and I dive deep into the real-world challenges and solutions for onboarding, upskilling, and fostering continuous growth in large, complex organizations. Drawing on her career journey from zoology major and science teacher to L&D leader, Lizzy shares insights into what it takes to create relevant, impactful learning programs that drive both employee retention and business results.In this episode, Lizzy discusses:Her unconventional path from science education to learning and development and why so many effective L&D professionals have roots in K-12 teaching.The critical importance of making learning immediately applicable and relevant, with adult learners motivated by real job needs and future career goals.How Johnson Controls transformed technical onboarding from a fragmented, manager-driven process to a scalable, centralized program with over 80% coverage and measurable ROI.The structure of their onboarding approach, including phased learning, strong “human touch” welcome, role-specific cohorts, and a blend of virtual and in-person components tailored to regional needs.Eye-popping results: 300% ROI, 5–7x improved retention, 36% increase in role performance, and huge manager time savings.Key strategies for upskilling and reskilling a frontline technical workforce—moving beyond product training to leveled, scaffolded learning pathways for foundational, intermediate, and advanced skills.How to pinpoint future skills needs (and stay agile as technology evolves), create responsive L&D solutions, and benchmark learning impact with real business KPIs.Practical approaches to evaluating learning ROI including measuring performance impact, retention, and even manager and employee Net Promoter Scores.Johnson Controls' evolving journey in career development, job architecture, and leadership pipelines, making it easier for employees to find new roles, grow their skills, and advance.Why passion for learning (and for your learners) drives innovation and impact in talent development...

Send us a textWhat if entrepreneurial success didn't have to come at the expense of your health, relationships, and happiness? Michael Erath, founder and CEO of Next Level Growth, challenges conventional business wisdom with a revolutionary approach born from personal experience.After watching his manufacturing business crumble when his partner embezzled half a million dollars in 2008, Erath rebuilt from nothing to create a thriving consultancy with a powerful "just cause" - entrepreneurs deserve more than just financial returns; they deserve a meaningful return on life.Through his work with hundreds of businesses, Erath has identified five core obsessions that separate elite organizations from the rest: great people, inspiring purpose, optimized playbooks, a culture of performance, and growing profits and cash flow. Unlike prescriptive operating systems that force companies into rigid molds, these principles provide a flexible framework that adapts to each organization's unique culture and goals."Most entrepreneurs achieve ROI at the expense of their friendships, family time, physical health, and emotional health," Erath explains. "With the risk they take and the leverage they have to take on, it doesn't seem fair." His firm tackles this injustice by guiding business leaders through customized growth strategies that prevent common pitfalls like outgrowing early-stage talent, failing to document crucial processes, or treating financial success as merely a byproduct.What truly sets Next Level Growth apart is their commitment to practicing what they preach. They require no contracts, take all financial risk in new relationships, and only get paid if clients find value - resulting in relationships lasting nearly a decade and an impressive Net Promoter Score of 81.Whether you're struggling to scale beyond current limitations or simply want to reclaim your life from a business that's become a prison, Erath's five obsessions framework offers a path forward that honors both your ambitions and your wellbeing. Discover how to build an elite organization without sacrificing what matters most.Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!

In today's episode of the Second in Command podcast, Cameron reveals a transformative approach to measuring and improving workplace culture—one that many businesses overlook despite its powerful potential: The employee Net Promoter Score. (NPS)You'll hear about a deceptively simple metric that goes beyond typical satisfaction scores, revealing the true pulse of a company's internal health. The conversation digs into why traditional methods often miss the mark and how a single question can unlock deep insights about employee sentiment, driving meaningful change without breaking the bank.Get a look behind the scenes of real companies that leveraged this tool to climb the ranks of the best workplaces nationwide, illustrating how culture can become a strategic advantage. From thoughtful ways to gather actionable feedback to surprising tactics that boost morale and loyalty, the discussion explores how cultivating happiness at work directly fuels productivity and profitability. Along the way, you'll discover how leaders can shift mindsets, set ambitious goals, and create a workplace where people genuinely want to stay—and thrive.Whether you're aiming to retain top talent, enhance teamwork, or simply understand what truly matters to your people, this conversation offers a roadmap to reimagine what a workplace can be.If you've enjoyed this episode of the Second in Command podcast, be sure to leave a review and subscribe today!Enjoy!In This Episode You'll Learn:How a simple one-question survey, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) can gather important feedback and improve company culture. (3:27)Why the process of gathering employee feedback is similar to writing a letter to Santa, as well as the importance of acting on that feedback. (4:33)Strategies for improving NPS, including setting ambitious goals and celebrating achievements. (10:59)The need to balance employee happiness with profitability, and why a high NPS can lead to increased revenue and profitability. (11:46)The impact of external competition and the importance of a strong company culture to retain employees. (12:27)And much more...Resources:Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedInGet Cameron's latest book – "Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO"Get Cameron's online course – Invest In Your Leaders

In this powerful episode of the Jake & Gino podcast, we're joined by Rob Finlay—serial entrepreneur, founder of 30 Capital, and author of Beyond the Building and Hey Dad. Rob dives deep into commercial real estate debt strategy, the importance of tracking OKRs and KPIs, and the long-term thinking that separates real estate professionals from amateurs.But this conversation doesn't stop at business. Rob also opens up about parenting adult children, financial literacy, and the “green gas” phone call that inspired his latest book, Hey Dad, a must-read for any parent raising self-sufficient young adults in today's world.Whether you're a multifamily investor looking to improve your financial game or a parent preparing your kids for life, this episode delivers hard-earned insights from one of the best in the business.Get the books:Hey Dad: https://heydadbook.comConnect with Rob FinlayWebsite: https://robfinlay.comInstagram & more: @robfinlay   Chapters:00:00 - Introduction  04:54 - KPIs & OKRs Explained (with Chick-fil-A References)  14:47 - Smart Leverage & Exit Strategies  18:15 - How New Investors Should Think About Equity, Recycling Deals, and Exit Strategies  21:41 - Refinancing vs. 10-Year Lockups  29:24 - The 2021–2022 Bridge Debt Trap  32:49 - Hey Dad: The Gas Pump Phone Call That Started It All  39:46 - Real Parenting Talk: Teaching Independence Through Exposure  43:05 - Kids & Money: Raising Financially Literate Adults  49:34 - Gino Wraps it Up  We're here to help create multifamily entrepreneurs... Here's how: Brand New? Start Here: https://jakeandgino.mykajabi.com/free-wheelbarrowprofits Want To Get Into Multifamily Real Estate Or Scale Your Current Portfolio Faster? Apply to join our PREMIER MULTIFAMILY INVESTING COMMUNITY & MENTORSHIP PROGRAM. (*Note: Our community is not for beginner investors)