Explore every episode of the podcast Make BIG Happen podcast with Mark Moses

Guest: Peter Platten, Chief Revenue Officer of Protos Security. Peter joined the company in 2020 and has helped lead its transformation from a $150 million organization to a $750 million revenue firm today.

Overview: Private equity doesn't reward incremental thinking. It rewards leaders who can scale under pressure, build systems that outperform, and push past what most teams believe is possible to Make BIG Happen. 

On today's show, Peter Platten explains his four-move framework to grow fast in a private equity environment. He also discusses how to build teams that overshoot goals instead of simply meeting them and why systems-thinking -- not siloed optimization -- is the real key to exponential success.

Guests: Jerry Vance, the Founder and Managing Partner of Preferred CFO, and Scott Crawford, a Partner at Preferred CFO focused on client prioritization and new business development.

Overview: A CEO who's led their company past the "I'll Do Everything" stage needs a true financial strategist at their side to stop surviving and start scaling. But the CEO also needs clarity on what kind of financial expertise their company truly needs at various stages of growth. Paying a full-time CFO to act like a glorified bookkeeper isn't going to accelerate your trajectory. And a "CF-No" who builds a moat around your cash might not share the CEO's bold vision for BIG. 

On today's show, Jerry Vance and Scott Crawford explore the state of the fractional CFO industry and why forecasting and five-year planning are strategic leadership tools, not just accounting exercises.

Guest: David Desharnais, a coach at CEO Coaching International. David  is a high-impact technology CEO and enterprise operator with over 25 years of experience leading organizations through scale, transformation, and value creation across more than 20 industries.

Quick Background:   Companies don't stall because their industries are stalling, or because of tariffs, or because of AI. They slow down because the CEO doesn't have a plan to maintain growth through the good and the bad. 

When your dashboards start blinking red, you need to find ways to plug your company into a broader ecosystem of customers, products, and partnerships that can recalibrate your business' trajectory, no matter what's going on in the rest of the world. 

On today's show, David Desharnais discusses how CEOs can break out of stagnation and accelerate their growth, as well as how to build a Jim Collins-style flywheel that will keep propelling your company towards BIG.

Quick Background: Anybody can be a critic, especially when times are tough and a business is struggling to find its footing in an uncertain economy. But, to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, not everyone has what it takes to stand in the arena and lead a company to BIG.

On today's show Angela Korompilas explains how she led her hotel operating supplies and equipment provider to 10X growth and $1 billion in revenue.

Guest: Frank de Jong, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Frank spent 33 years leading customer-centric growth and profit planning strategies for hundreds of business units and companies all over the world. He spent 20 years as an expatriate in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, learning regional business practices, unique market opportunities, and local culture with Emerson Automation Solutions. 

Quick Background: Learning to unplug from your company and separate life from business is an essential CEO skill. But how does a leader continue to lead through a loss so catastrophic that it completely upends your responsibilities, your priorities, and your very sense of self?

On today's show, Frank de Jong discusses what he learned about resilience, fatherhood, friendship, and leadership while coping with the loss of his wife.

Guest: Steve Patterson, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Steve spent more than 35 years as a successful executive and entrepreneur in a variety of areas, including professional sports, college athletics, finance and construction, media, branding, and crisis communications.

Quick Background: An effective brand fills customers with positive vibes and projects crystal clarity about what a company does and what it stands for. Whether a company is starting up, scaling rapidly, or recovering from a stumble, that brand also has to maintain a careful balance between consistency and adaptability so that customers want to stick with the business on its journey to BIG.

On today's show, Steve Patterson details the specific brand initiatives he executed for four professional sports teams and a university, and how CEOs can apply the lessons from his experiences to make any brand better.

Guest: Meghan Watkins, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Meghan has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and supply chain management in the wine and spirits industry. 

Quick Background: There are no shortcuts to getting BIG faster. CEOs who scale ahead of schedule follow the same tried-and-true best practices that support any effective annual plan. But the best CEOs also know which buttons to push to keep motivation high and how to leverage talent and systems to achieve just a little bit more every single day.

On today's show, Meghan Watkins reflects on the 5 factors that helped her quickly scale her businesses from startup to $100M+ in revenue.

Guest: John Fadool, a coach at CEO Coaching International. In his 35-year career as a senior executive, John worked with three best-in-class companies: Darden Restaurants, Novartis Consumer Health, and Procter & Gamble. He has a proven track record of growing revenue and profit in businesses ranging from $10M to $2B in revenue.

Quick Background: Great leadership balances confidence in your company's current reality with a hopeful vision for the future that inspires the best from your team.

On today's show, John Fadool shares his five keys to providing the kind of inspiring leadership that drives massive growth, attracts top talent, and keeps Making BIG Happen.

Guest: Randy Dewey, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Prior to becoming a coach, Randy assisted Blackstone in numerous turnarounds, worked in a private family office and in other public markets, raised several hundred million in debt and equity financing, and participated in 15 M&A transactions.

Quick Background: Our proven Making BIG Happen System combines BIG vision with an actionable plan. You can't have one without the other and expect to grow. And the foundation of effective planning is a battle-ready balance sheet that will ground your goals and keep your company from growing broke. 

On today's show, Randy Dewey discusses how to identify the KPIs, the obstacles, the opportunities, and the team members you need to build your best balance sheet.

Guest: Shep Moyle, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Before coaching, Shep was the owner, chairman, and CEO of Shindigz party supplies and the International Chairman of YPO.

Quick Background: The true measure of a CEO's strategy isn't if his or her plan leads to BIG growth in a year or two. It's if the CEO's combination of vision, processes, people, and discipline can snowball into sustained growth year after year after year.

On today's show, Shep Moyle explains how he led his company to average 20% growth for 20 consecutive years.

Guest: Sean Magennis, the President of CEO Coaching International. Sean was the Global President and COO of YPO for more than seven years. He is a seasoned international business executive specializing in scaling professional services firms and has over 30 years of extensive growth, acquisition, turnaround, and international experience.

Overview: As CEO, it's a given that you have tremendous influence over your employees.  But many CEOs never reflect on how they're using that influence. True leadership isn't throwing your weight around and creating a culture ruled by fear of failure. Leadership is how the CEO expresses his or her purpose, values, and vision to the entire organization. The more inspiring that leadership model is, the more motivated your team will be to Make BIG Happen. 

On today's show, Sean Magennis shares his five pillars for effective leadership, whose complementary themes will help you integrate the hard skills of running a company with the art of leading effectively.

Guest: Jennifer Gressman, the CEO of Site Impact, a company that specializes in multichannel direct marketing services. Their clients range from Fortune 500 corporations to locally owned and operated small businesses.

Overview: No CEO is ever just handed the top job at a BIG business. Founders put all of their time, effort, and resources on the line. Successful hired guns spend years earning their reputations as fixers. And ambitious leaders who pursue a path to promotion have to set clear targets that build win-by-win towards that dream job. 

On today's show, Jennifer Gressman talks about how she purposefully navigated her transition from Vice President of Operations to become Site Impact's first female CEO.

Guest: Hillel L. Presser, Esq., Managing Partner of The Presser Law Firm, P.A.

Overview: CEOs who lead a company to BIG aren't just growing a business. Your success is also creating a better life for yourself and your family. Without proper asset protection planning, a single slip up or frivolous lawsuit could jeopardize everything you've earned, everything you've built, and everything you're hoping to preserve as part of your legacy.

On today's show, attorney Hillel Presser explains what a comprehensive asset protection plan is and why all CEOs need one. 

Guest: Greg Solomon, a coach at CEO Coaching International.  Greg is a former CEO who led McDonald's South Africa for 14 years. He quadrupled the size of the business and added 300-plus new restaurants while navigating three ownership transitions, a flat economy, riots, and a global pandemic.

Quick Background:   Scaling a business isn't just about growth. It's about evolving your systems, your people, and yourself as a leader so that you can keep pace with the opportunities in front of you and create some new opportunities along the way.

On today's show, Greg Solomon explains his  four-stage model for scaling a business 10X. We also discuss how leaders can reinvent themselves and their companies to stay relevant, keep growing, and Make BIG Happen.

Guest: Bill Betts, President of Betts Company, which has been owned and operated by Bill's family since 1868.

Overview: Think COVID was rough? When your company is strong enough to survive for 150 years, a pandemic (or two) is just one blip on a timeline that includes Reconstruction, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, two World Wars, the Great Depression, and everything since. That kind of longevity is only possible when a company knows how to use its values as both an anchor to its heritage and a catalyst for keeping pace with BIG changes. 

On today's show, Bill Betts talks about the values that have guided his family business for six generations. He also shares some practical advice on maintaining ownership and succession planning that have helped the family business stay in the family's hands. 

Guest: Andy Harris, Managing Director of STS Capital Partners. STS guides companies through the journey to achieving an extraordinary exit by selling to a strategic buyer.

STS Capital Partners is a Strategic Partner of CEO Coaching International. Learn more. 

Overview: When it's time to sell your company, what are your options? What can you do to ensure you get the best possible exit?

Step one: put the best possible team together. A deal this BIG and this important requires a CFO who's been down this road before, an investment banker who knows how to get the best possible valuation for your company, and a CEO who is crystal clear on what his/her goals are for the exit. 

On today's show, Andy Harris explains how owners can prepare their company for a sale, present it in the best possible light, and sell it to a strategic buyer who might pay a significant premium over a financial buyer.

Guest: Chris Mellon, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Chris has over three decades of leadership experience as CEO, CFO, and COO in various industries, including wholesale distribution, banking, consulting and advisory services, formation and sale of SaaS entities, and public accounting. 

Quick Background: BIG growth isn't an accident or a stroke of good luck -- it's a process. And committing to that process through intentional planning and continuous review is the only way to sustain growth while staying true to your company's culture and values. 

On today's show, Chris Mellon explains the 4 things he focused on as a hired gun CEO leading a family-run business from $300 million in revenue to almost $4 billion.

 Guest: Frank Buonanotte, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Frank has been a founder, chairman, and/or CEO at several highly successful companies within the commercial real estate, retail, and franchise industries, including Party City. 

Quick Background: Working with a CEO coach gives you access to decades of top-level knowledge from business leaders who have been there and done that. And while no two companies are exactly alike, combining tried-and-true best practices with discipline and accountability is a formula that leads to winning, exponential growth, and Making BIG Happen.

On today's show, Frank Buonanotte shares the 7 Smarts to CEO Success that he used to lead companies in multiple industries to BIG.

Guest: Ken Eissing, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Ken has served as President, COO, General Manager, or Advisor in the Technology, Media, Telecom, and BPO Financial Services industries in public and private entities ranging from Fortune 100 to less than $20 million businesses.

Quick Background: Did you wake up this morning wanting to lead a single-digit growth company? Didn't think so. Exponential growth is the product of an empowering sales culture that stokes competitive flames and rewards top performers who aren't content to clear the low bar.

On today's show, Ken Eissing discusses six ways CEOs can assemble, manage, and motivate a top sales team that will drive fast growth and Make BIG Happen.

Guest: Juergen Rochert, a coach at CEO Coaching International. As an innovative and driven leader, Juergen has been highly successful in various executive roles for the Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck Financial Services Companies around the globe, including Mexico, Canada, the United States, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Quick Background: According to a study by McKinsey & Company, the top 10% of the largest companies in the world earn nearly 90% of the economic profit created. Meanwhile, the bottom 20% are coping with steep losses. That translates into a BIG opportunity for small-to-medium-sized companies that can leverage speed and creativity to compete with larger incumbents.

On today's show, Juergen Rochert identifies five areas where smaller firms can compete and win market share if they follow an effective plan.

Guest: Mateo Romano, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Matteo has more than 25 years of experience at top brands including Mattel and Tyco Toys. He is an exceptional driver of business growth, revenues, and profitability at companies across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.

Quick Background: Every new remote worker you hire, every smaller company you acquire, and every international office you open thinks the same thing: "We're different. We have a unique way of doing things, and it works."

Maybe. But when it comes to setting targets and measuring progress, a growing company needs to establish a baseline of consistency to ensure that every level of the organization is working towards the same goals.

On today's show, Mateo Romano explains the four elements of alignment that will keep a BIG decentralized team progressing towards your BIG vision.

Guest: Andres Molano, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Andres has led diverse, high-performing teams and grown international sales and operations throughout North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. 

Quick Background: No company gets BIG by staying the same. At those moments when momentum is stalling and growth is plateauing, struggling CEOs often start chasing shiny objects or throwing money at the wall to see what sticks. Effective leaders face those same challenges by going back to square one and reassessing what's essential to the company's culture.

On today's show, Andres Molano shares a five-part framework CEOs can use to drive a BIG culture transformation that will kick off a promising new chapter for their companies.

Guest: Erno de Bruijn, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Erno was the president and chief operating officer of the international division for a global manufacturer of building materials. He has also been an active YPO member since 2008.

Quick Background: Optimizing how to effectively communicate in a decentralized workforce world should be near the top of every CEO's to-do list for the remainder of the year. Many of your best workers consider WFH a non-negotiable now. Your next key hire might live on the other side of the world from your headquarters. And if you're contemplating an international expansion, you'll need to keep your whole team Making BIG Happen across time zones, language barriers, and cultural differences.

Guest: Francisco D'Angelo, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Francisco has extensive experience growing revenue in outsourcing supply chain management services in procurement, contract manufacturing, logistics, and 3PL environment across 13 countries in the Americas.

Quick Background: The pandemic showed many CEOs that they were taking their supply chain management for granted. To keep your business growing through the next disruption, CEOs need to reassess their core competencies and identify strategies that will keep their warehouses stocked and their customers happy.

On today's show, Francisco D'Angelo explains how companies can make their supply chains more resilient, more efficient, and more profitable.

Guest: Michael J. Slater, a coach at CEO Coaching International.  Michael is a longtime YPO member who co-founded and served as the CEO of Nik Software, an international software startup in digital photography that he co-founded and led to a $200M+ valuation before ultimately selling to Google.

Quick Background:  Every great company begins with a dream. But turning that dream into a reality requires more than just vision. It requires a defined process and an inspired team that rallies the whole company around the leader's BIG goals. 

On today's show, Michael J. Slater explains how his process of "Dreaming Backwards" can establish the principles and strategy CEOs need to Make BIG Happen.

Guest: Kelly Wade, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Kelly has nearly 30 years of sales, marketing, and management experience. She spent the last decade with one of the largest commercial roofing companies, where she helped transition the company to an ESOP as the COO and led the company through a highly successful sale to private equity as the first female CEO in the national roofing industry.

Quick Background: For many entrepreneurs, becoming the CEO is a natural -- and often necessary -- extension of leading a new company from startup to BIG. For others, becoming a CEO is the culmination of a journey from the ground floor of a business all the way up to the C-suite that develops character, skillsets, perseverance, and a unique appreciation for how high-performing teams work.

On today's show, Kelly Wade discusses the accumulation of work and life experience that helped her grow into a successful and trailblazing CEO. 

Guest: Pascal Brochier, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Pascal has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and general management roles at some of the world's biggest consumer products and technology companies, including Gillette (now part of Procter & Gamble), Vivendi Universal, and Electronic Arts.

Quick Background: The pandemic forced many companies to accelerate their online pivots. Now, it's time to start preparing for the next phase of your digital transformation. Web 3.0 could decentralize pieces of the global economy and create rapid advances in AI and data acquisition. And however you want to define "metaverse," there's no denying that your customers are going to increasingly live, shop, and play online. On today's show, Pascal Brochier reflects on lessons he learned during the first wave of online growth in the early 2000s to point CEOs towards a BIG digital future.

Guest: Ron Carson, founder and CEO of Carson Group, and Paul West, Managing Partner of Carson Wealth Management. Carson Group is a client and strategic partner of CEO Coaching International. 

Strategic Partner: Carson Wealth is a Strategic Partner of CEO Coaching International. To learn more, visit here. 

Overview: You're spending countless hours thinking about your business, working in your business, but how much time are you spending on effectively managing all the money that you're earning from your business or from that windfall that could come from a significant exit? Much like a good executive coach can help CEOs develop better business plans, Ron and Paul discuss how to think about your income and wealth, how to put it in perspective, and how to make sure you have a proactive wealth plan for your money so you don't have to worry about it. 

Guests: CEO Coaching International's Mark Moses, Don Schiavone, Craig Coleman, and Christopher Larkins.

Quick Background: In 2016, Mark Moses' book Make BIG Happen asked CEOs four questions that can transform businesses:

What do you want?
How do you get what you want?
What could stand in the way of you getting what you want?
How do you hold yourself accountable?

Now, Mark and three of his colleagues at CEO Coaching International have expanded upon that framework and detailed the proven system that we use to help CEOs achieve exponential growth.

"Our clients kept asking us, what is it that leads some firms to sell their businesses for nine figures or more," Mark says. "We wrestled down the rhythms and concepts of this execution framework to help companies perform at the highest level."

Their new book, Making BIG Happen, debuted at #5 on The Wall Street Journal hardcover business bestseller list and hit #1 on Porchlight Book Company's best seller list. On today's show, Mark, Don, Craig, and Chris dig into how the Making BIG Happen System works, client success stories, and the leadership mindset that separates so-so companies from the ones that grow BIG.

Guest: Chris Hurn, the founder and CEO of Fountainhead Commercial Capital. Fountainhead is a nationwide non-bank direct commercial lender that specializes in funding commercial real estate projects and providing growth financing for business owners. The company was recently named to the Inc 5,000 list of the fastest growing companies in America. Chris is also an executive coaching client of CEO Coaching International.

Overview: BIG growth sometimes requires spending BIG cash. And if you don't want to give up equity to get the cash, what are your options? On today's show, Chris Hurn explains the debt financing options CEOs should explore before they start breaking off chunks of equity that they may regret parting with in the future. 

Guest: Bill Brady, a seasoned entrepreneur, lawyer, and a coach at CEO Coaching International. 

Quick Background: The Great Resignation has sparked a lot of conversation about how companies can help employees achieve better work-life balance. But shifting workplace dynamics have hit CEOs hard as well. According to several studies, executive-level burnout is on the rise. CEOs who let their businesses consume them aren't just putting their health and sanity at risk, they're also crippling the growth potential of their businesses.

On today's show, Bill Brady explains three keys to developing a company that can keep Making BIG Happen while the CEO is living life to the fullest. And in terms of Making BIG Happen, Bill sold his company at age 41 for more than $100 million. 

Guest: Sasha Kelberg, Founder and CEO at Groglass and a client of CEO Coaching International. 

Overview: Where the best companies start out is often very different from where they end up. Sasha Kelberg began his career working in Latvia for a U.S.-based private equity firm that was developing glass coatings with ex-Soviet technology. After spinning the glass business off into its own company, Sasha expanded Groglass from its Latvian base into an international company that's now one of the leading developers and manufacturers of high-performance coatings for glass and other displays. And, with the help of his CEO coach, Sasha executed this expansion so well that he's able to oversee operations and 200 employees from his new home in South Africa. On today's show, Sasha discusses the decisions he made during several key pivot points that allowed his company to survive the Great Recession and identify new niches around the globe.  

Many small to mid-sized business owners are surprised to discover that TV advertising is much more cost-effective than they think. Sure, a Super Bowl ad costs millions for a 60-second spot. But you can be much more surgical in finding the right networks, the right day part, the right message, and fine tune your results based on the analytics to generate BIG growth on a very reasonable budget.

On today's show, Mic Feld explains how direct response TV advertising works and how you can use an insider's knowledge to get great results regardless of your budget.

Guest: LeAnn Boyd, President & CEO at Southern Scripts, which is a rapidly growing provider of pharmacy benefit management services throughout the United States.

Overview: Some entrepreneurs look at a market dominated by two or three major players and see an insurmountable barrier to entry. Others see a stagnant business space that's vulnerable to new thinking and BIG disruption. On today's show, LeAnn Boyd describes how she and her entrepreneur coach, Jaime Cohen Szulc, used our Making BIG Happen System to create a culture of innovation that redefined her company's value proposition and grabbed the attention of her target customer base.

Guest: Earle Pratt, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Earle is a seasoned CEO who has led companies in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America in the Education and EdTech, Franchising, and Financial Services markets. Earl has led multiple private equity backed businesses (investors include The Carlyle Group and Camden Partners) and has extensive experience prepping companies on both sides of a sale transaction.

Quick Background: What is the difference between selling your company and selling BIG? Preparation. CEOs eying an exit start planning to reach that finish line years in advance so that they can optimize both their businesses and that future opportunity. That longer runway also helps the CEO prepare for a major personal and professional transition once the sale is complete.

On today's show, Earle Pratt shares a five-step process that CEOs aiming for a sale should adopt sooner rather than later.

Guest: Sasha Kelberg, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Sasha is a Wharton-trained entrepreneur, CEO, and strategic advisor with over two decades of experience building, scaling, and exiting high-tech manufacturing and export businesses. He has led teams from lab concept to global scale with a leadership style grounded in accountability, continuous improvement, and values-based culture.

Quick Background:  It's impossible to lead your business with clarity if your identity is fused with your business. And it's impossible to achieve meaningful scale if your connection to the business is concentrating too much decision-making at the top. The best CEOs evolve beyond a start-up mindset as they learn to let go, pivot towards opportunity, and reinvent themselves as both leaders and as people. 

On today's show, Sasha Kelberg explains why learning to separate yourself from your business is one of the most overlooked keys to Making BIG Happen.

Guest: Emily Murphy, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Emily has held multiple leadership roles in the federal government, most recently serving as Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency charged with managing 371 million square feet of office space, over $75 billion in governmentwide contracts, and a number of shared services.

Quick Background: Think you have problems managing, compensating, and inspiring your team? Well, imagine your workforce is more than 11,000 strong, you're overseeing a $37 billion budget, and both you and your organization are responsible for supporting the operation of the U.S. federal government.

On today's show, Emily Murphy discuses the specific strategies and tactics that she implemented within the GSA that led to BIG improvements in culture, employee engagement, and leadership scores, all while generating multi-billion-dollar increases in sales and revenue.

Guest: Kevin Adams, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Kevin's experience includes leadership roles in publicly-held, private equity-backed, and family-founded businesses including Isagenix, ConAgra Brands, International Home Foods, and Stella Foods.

Quick Background: No, "growing broke" isn't a contradiction in terms. It's what happens when a CEO's eyes get so wide that she loses perspective on what made the company special in the first place. Without that clear focus on what's really driving your growth, your business could wander off track and burn cash with every wayward step.

On today's show, Kevin Adams describes a four-part framework for achieving rapid growth that's centered on the "secret sauce" your company needs to make BIG happen.

Guest: Odmar Almeida-Filho, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Odmar has extensive global turnaround experience in consumer packaged goods, telecom and internet media technology, and consulting at companies including Procter & Gamble, Dell, Telefonica, and Amway.

Quick Background: If a struggling company is in need of a turnaround, usually the CEO needs to execute a personal turnaround too. That doesn't mean completely changing who you are as a leader. But it does mean that you'll need to place a renewed emphasis on certain leadership traits in order to reorganize and reenergize your company before a bump in the road turns into a gaping pit.

On today's show, Odmar Almeida-Filho explains the five-part roadmap he's used both as a CEO and as an entrepreneur coach to execute successful turnarounds that set struggling companies back on track.

Guest: Jerry Swain, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Jerry is a highly recognized, results-driven Chief Executive Officer with over 20 years of experience in executive leadership, planning, strategy, and business operations. He had a highly recognized career in sales management at IBM and other high-tech companies and was also the founder of a high-end specialty chocolate company that he later sold to a strategic buyer.

Quick Background: If sales are falling short, then your salespeople must be falling short. Right?

Only if you hired the wrong salespeople to begin with. Assuming you're putting a premium on matching top candidates to your company's specific needs, it could be your processes and training that need an overhaul.

On today's show, CEO Coaching International's Jerry Swain shares his four-step process for getting the best out of your existing salespeople and preparing your incoming wave of talent to hit the ground running.

Guest: Douglas DeBoer, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Douglas is a three-time CEO with extensive experience leading companies to strong growth and monetization outcomes. He has led companies and brands in the USA, China, and Asia-Pacific, including Domino's Pizza, General Mills, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Colgate-Palmolive, and Unilever.

Overview: There's a point in every growing company's lifecycle where you've achieved product-market fit and it's time to scale your business and expand your executive team. At this moment, a growing business is staring at both maximum opportunity and maximum risk. Try to grow too fast without the right people in your C-suite, and you could "grow broke." Aim too low and you might be missing your moment to achieve something really BIG.

On today's show, Douglas DeBoer walks us through his four-part framework for effectively navigating these critical moments and scaling your business.

Guest: David Friedman, the founder and CEO of CultureWise and the author of a great new book, Culture by Design.

Overview: Effective CEOs have systems, plans, and analytics that manage and measure nearly every aspect of their businesses. But many don't have a system for guiding the company's culture, which is arguably the most significant driver of BIG growth. On today's show, culture expert David Friedman explains how to build a powerful cultural operating system that replaces all those inspirational break room posters with a set of defined, teachable behaviors.

Guest: LaQuita Cleare, an international speaker, public speaking coach, and the CEO of Clear Communication Academy. She has extensive experience working with CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 companies, public figures, and politicians in more than 50 countries across four continents, including many clients of CEO Coaching International.

Overview: People are not persuaded by information. An honest, well-crafted story that makes an audience feel something can make a lasting impression for both you and your business. Whether you're speaking at a conference or addressing your staff on Zoom, effective storytelling that showcases who you really are and gives your audience opportunities to engage with your main themes is key to connecting, inspiring, and making BIG happen.

Guest: Kurt Wilkin, a successful entrepreneur and CEO. He's the Co-Founder & Visionary of HireBetter, a company that impacts lives by connecting and empowering good people to build great companies. Prior to that, he founded, led, and sold The Controller Group, which was a professional services firm focused on accounting, technology and recruiting. Kurt is also an active member and officer of YPO.

Overview: Why are so many companies struggling to fill vacancies? According to hiring expert Kurt Wilkin, businesses that are stuck in a pre-pandemic mindset have to improve their value propositions and get creative about attracting the best talent. And just as importantly, CEOs have to demonstrate to prospective candidates that their passions run deeper than just turning a profit.

Guest: Lloyd Brown, the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Smart Chemical Services, which has been named an Inc 5,000 Fastest Growing Company for three years in a row. Lloyd is also the author of a new book, Refined by Failure.

Overview: Failure hurts. But according to Lloyd Brown -- who was fired from a company he co-founded -- if a CEO is humble enough to admit mistakes, hold himself accountable, and work on improving blind spots, failure can also grant wisdom that you can use to make BIG happen going forward.

Guest: Matt Shearer, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Matt is a highly motivated business leader and brand management executive with over 23 years of experience building teams and driving results on a global scale. Matt spent over 20 years at Under Armour and played a major role in the early stages of brand and business development, with significant focus on elevating the brand on an international level. Matt is also a member of YPO and a former professional lacrosse player.

Episode in a Tweet: In business and sports, aligning the best players with a great gameplan is the only way to win BIG.

Quick Background: Business is a team sport. And the very best teams use strong culture and clearly defined goals to put great players in a position to win consistently.

On today's show, Matt Shearer explains how his experience as an athlete and sports brand executive influenced his leadership philosophy and team management strategies.

Guest: Rod Reynolds, a coach at CEO Coaching International. Rod is a seasoned global executive and three-time CEO who's led major operations across Canada, the UK, and Asia Pacific. Rod is also a world-class endurance athlete. He has completed over 15 Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events, including two World Championships. He represented Canada at the 2024 World Triathlon Championships. Rod also participates in long distance (up to 100 miles) mountain trail running races.

Quick Background: Every elite organization is powered by talent, especially in the CEO's chair. But talent alone won't get your company to BIG. Sustainable growth requires a disciplined approach to performance, accountability, and resilience. Some of the very best leaders sharpen these skills through elite training and a commitment to excellence in and out of the office.

On today's show, Rod Reynolds explains how CEOs can assemble a high-performance team and how physical discipline can build the resilience executives need to Making BIG Happen.

To find the right leaders for your team, you have to separate the true high performers from the pretenders who've been bobbing along in the high tide at other stellar companies. And to fill a key chair in your leadership team, you'll also need to find candidates whose motivations and management styles fit with your company's most pressing needs. 

On today's show, Gordon Forsythe discusses how to vet and hire talent who will succeed within your culture and execute the tasks that will make BIG happen for your firm.

It's easy for CEOs to get so caught up in taking care of their businesses that we neglect an even more important responsibility: taking care of ourselves. Poor diet and exercise habits get compounded by no sleep and an excess of stress until one day you look in the mirror and can't recognize the person looking back at you. If you're not that lucky, you might not realize that go go go is no way to run a business until you're waking up in a hospital bed.

Luis Vargas was 60 pounds overweight and running on empty when he decided he needed to make self-care a BIG priority. On today's show, Luis shares the five elements he says he needed to win in order to transform his body, his mind, his business, and his life.

Guest: Megan Couch, the Chief Experience Officer at Integrity Staffing Solutions.

Overview: The millions of jobs lost to the COVID-19 pandemic have created a problem that many companies weren't anticipating: as the world begins reopening, the absolute best displaced workers have lots of options. Your total value proposition has to encompass culture, leadership opportunities, hybrid work models, and, yes, a competitive comp structure if you want to attract top talent.