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PODCAST

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)

Real CEOs. Real Stories. Hosted by Ben Fanning—2025 Gold Stevie Award winner for Best Business Podcast and ranked in the Top 2% globally—Lead the Team draws on over 600 CEO interviews to take you inside the minds of leaders from brands like Honeywell, HP, IBM, Dunkin’, and L’Oréal. In each episode, you’ll hear raw, unfiltered stories of leading through rapid growth, high-stakes decisions, and make-or-break moments—plus the CEO-tested tools and strategies they use to build high-performing

business careers

All Episodes

31:10

Why Scaling Deceives - CEO of Forescout, Barry Mainz

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2026/01/23

Scale deceives.Barry Mainz, CEO of Forescout Technologies Inc., reveals how leaders unknowingly become responsible for massive risks they never personally approved.As your organization grows, leadership doesn’t just get harder, the real issues become harder to see.More effort stops producing better outcomes.And more hustle just starts masking risk.Barry’s work shows something unsettling:even elite tech leaders are often blind to 30–50% of the devices actually connected to their networks inside their

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25:26

This RESET Made Him a Better CEO (CEO VitalEdge,...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2026/01/19

Vikram Savkar, CEO of VitalEdge Technologies, shares how a demanding moment pushed him to rethink how he was operating...AND why choosing to reset earlier than most leaders do changed how he showed up as a leader, at work, and at home.The business here wasn’t the problem.But time at home was shrinking.And the way work followed him everywhere wasn’t something he wanted to normalize.Instead of waiting for a breaking point, Vikram created deliberate daily reset—and what happened next accelerated his

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28:51

One Skill You Only Learn Under Extreme Pressure...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2026/01/13

Pressure doesn't change the game...it reveals the leader. Mitch Stevison, President & CEO of Frontgrade Technologies, recently shared how a high-stakes missile test forced a decision no textbook could prepare him for. In this conversation, we break down the one skill he leaned on when the eyes of two nations—and a Senior Admiral—were watching.If you've ever had to make a high-stakes call under a microscope, Mitch’s insight on trust is a masterclass in leadership. What is the most important trait

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26:26

The Question 99% of Leaders Are Too Afraid to Ask -...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2026/01/11

Questioning unlocks elite performance.Pete Harris, President of Pipedrive, was at the pinnacle of his previous profession (one that he’d spent his entire career pursuing).Everything was on track... the prestige and the rank. But while many founders and leaders might push uncomfortable thoughts aside, Pete did something different.He used a specific type of curiosity to ask himself a question that 99% of leaders are too afraid to face....a question that forces you to confront whether you’re actually

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31:47

Why Office Design Is a Leadership Decision (President...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2026/01/05

Your office is deciding results.Anna Squires Levine, President of Industrious, leads a company that has spent more than a decade observing how office space impacts human behavior (across hundreds of locations and millions of workdays).Many leaders assume the office is just a place where work happens.But it's far more than that!She explains that the office space is quietly influencing things leaders usually attribute to culture, motivation, or performance.In their work, incredible patterns emerged at

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41:08

The Mistake That Taught a Future President How to...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/21

Nothing was said.Marcus Perez, CEO of Altera Digital Health, described a moment that began as a mistake and still shapes how he leads thousands today.No meeting followed.No email.No correction in the usual sense.Instead, the situation escalated.The next day, someone more senior took control — not to punish, not to explain — but to recreate the risk.Closer.Lower.Long enough to make the point unavoidable.What stayed with me wasn’t the danger...It was the restraint.The decision to teach without

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17:00

A CEOs' Bold Move That Built Trust FASTER Than Any...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/16

Leadership tests you.Jason Liu, CEO of Wood Mackenzie, felt that test immediately when he stepped into the role right after a major merger.New team.New culture.Everyone watching how he’d show up.Instead of trying to project confidence the traditional way, he made a choice that could’ve easily gone wrong.It didn’t.What surprised me wasn’t the move itself......it was what it revealed about fear, trust, and credibility at the highest levels of leadership.Jason doesn’t talk about fear like something to

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15:28

How a President Built Speed Without Burning Out His...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/14

Pressure felt like leadership (until it wasn’t)Josh Epstein, President & Chief Business Officer at Coder, learned this the hard way.I’ve seen urgency do two very different things to teams.Sometimes it sharpens focus and everything moves faster.Other times, it creates stress, confusion, and quiet burnout—while leaders think they’re “pushing for results.”Josh shared how early in his career, pressure felt like the right move… until it started costing trust and momentum.Increasing pressure wasn’t

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24:40

Why Half of AI Projects are Failing - CEO of...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/09

AI failure rates shock me.Erin Gajdalo, CEO of Pluralsight, joined me and what she revealed about why AI projects collapse disturbed me even more..I expected to talk about tools, frameworks, and roadmaps.Instead, Erin asked me question I wasn’t ready for:“Is your team actually ready for this? How can you even tell?"Um...Because most leaders — myself included — push for AI adoption without slowing down to ask if our teams can actually absorb the shift.Erin has led major transformations at Avantax,

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49:04

Gold Medal Comeback: How a CEO Rebuilt a Broken Team...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/07

Winning gold didn’t end the pressure. It intensified it.A truth Phil Andrews, CEO of USA Fencing, came to understand through experience.That’s the incredible story behind Team USA’s recent historic gold……and the leadership turnaround that made it possible.When I sat down with Phil, I wasn’t expecting what came next.He walked into a sport in crisis.Broken culture.  Divided membership.  Declining trust.  High visibility.  Zero margin for error.And somehow, he rebuilt all of it…before making Olympic

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17:53

What Success Never Teaches (RLDatix CEO Dan Michelson)

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/03

Dan Michelson, CEO of RLDatix North America, shared the feedback that reshaped how he leads.When things go well, it can actually blind you to areas where he needed to improve....and this is why so many successful leaders often fail.Most top performers don’t realize they’re slipping until someone has the courage to tell them something they didn’t want to hear.Dan shared that his initial reaction to feedback early in his career was to blame the person giving him the feedback...and years later, he’s

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15:12

The CEO Who Built a Business That Can’t Win Alone...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/12/01

Winning alone is losing.Dennis Levene, CEO of Hometown, bet the business on his customers’ success… and it’s paying off.Most CEOs obsess over market share and margins.Dennis obsessed over a broken system robbing schools of money.And he asked the question that changed everything:“Why should $25 of my $100 school donation go to a fundraising company?”That wasn’t frustration — it was a blueprint.A blueprint for a company designed to win only when its schools do.Now, Hometown helps thousands of school

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12:12

Inside the Quantum CEO's Truth-Driven Comeback...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/11/12

Hugues Meyrath, CEO of Quantum, came back to lead the same company that built his career decades ago — a 45-year-old tech brand powering Hollywood, Space, and even the AI revolution.But when he returned, something was off.The spark was gone. The ownership was gone.And instead of hiding behind strategy decks or consultants, he did something far harder......he rebuilt the culture on truth.“If there’s a problem, we’ll fix it together. No excuses. No hiding.”That simple mindset — radical honesty +

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12:04

The Million Dollar Mistake That Made Him a Better...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/11/09

Ever made a call at work that backfired — big time?Rob Hahn, now COO at Pattern, knows exactly what that feels like.Early in his career as a young leader at Amazon, he faced a decision no leader ever forgets.At just 26 and leading thousands of people, a severe weather warning hit.He made the call to shut everything down.The storm never came.And the decision cost the company millions.But instead of hiding from it, Rob leaned in.He owned it. He learned from it.And that moment became the foundation for

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15:25

Kenneth Cole CEO Shares Their Hidden Advantage (Jed...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/11/04

Jed Berger, Kenneth Cole Global President and CEO, is building something rare in business today — a brand that grows because it stands for something bigger.In his third appearance on Lead the Team, Jed reveals the hidden advantage behind Kenneth Cole’s continued success… and how purpose became their ultimate performance driver.“Purpose can’t just be a campaign. It has to live in every part of the company.” — Jed Berger, Kenneth Cole CEOWhat stood out to me is how Jed turns values into velocity.It’s

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13:47

The ICEE CEO’s Secret that Became a Billion-Dollar...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/10/27

It started with a freezer then and became a billion-dollar lesson.Dan Fachner, CEO of J&J Snack Foods — the company behind ICEE, Slush Puppie, and Dippin’ Dots — posted a video on LinkedIn that immediately caught my attention......he gets emotional while expressing gratitude to his team for their hard work and dedication. You can see how much he truly cares about his people, and I knew right then I wanted to have a deeper conversation with him.You see, Dan began his career delivering and

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13:10

Jeff Bezos’ 5-Second Rule That’s Powering AI...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/10/19

Bezos' Law - Chai Atreya, Chief Product Officer at ActiveCampaign, once helped build Amazon Alexa under Jeff Bezos.During one internal review, Bezos made a single comment — short, specific, and completely unexpected — that changed everything.He looked at the team and said:“I want Alexa to respond in under five seconds.”That one sentence forced every engineer to rethink what “great” really meant.They reimagined the architecture, redesigned the systems — and eventually, brought response times even

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48:34

They Said I Wasn’t Ready — So I Became the CEO...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/10/13

He didn’t say he was ready. He proved it quietly.When I sat down with Dan Faulkner, CEO of SmartBear, he told me he was once passed over for a leadership role because he “hadn’t done it before.”The cruelest ceiling isn’t glass — it’s being boxed in by your own expertise.Being great at something… and never trusted with more.Instead of waiting for permission, Dan built his own readiness.He studied marketing at night.He learned product and finance from scratch.He said yes to the jobs no one thought he

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31:28

He Led Troops in Combat — Now He Leads Billion-Dollar...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/10/08

Leadership Under FireHe Led Troops in Combat — Now He Leads Billion-Dollar CompaniesI first met Lance Olmsted, now President of IFS Copperleaf, expecting a story about discipline and precision.What I didn’t expect was how deeply human it would be.Lance served as a U.S. Marine. He learned to lead in the most uncertain environments imaginable — where hesitation could cost lives AND empathy wasn’t optional.That’s right...empathy.And you’ll never forget why when you hear his story.Those lessons stayed

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42:16

AI Playbook Turns $2M into $134M - CEO, Invisible's...

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts) ·

2025/10/06

Leaders Miss ThisMatthew Fitzpatrick, CEO of Invisible Technologies—the #2 fastest-growing AI company in America—leads with a principle many overlook:AI may power the future, but people give it purpose.What makes Matt’s leadership stand out isn’t the speed of growth—it’s the intentionality behind it.He reminds us that real progress doesn’t come from louder voices or faster code.It comes from people.From listening.From slowing down long enough to get it right.Here are a few principles he shared that

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